Uncreative Killjoys | Metric School of the Arts

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 22, 2016 21:01:52 GMT -5

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Post by Lori on Apr 22, 2016 21:01:52 GMT -5

Willis' shirt & pants & shoes / Carla's shirt & leggings & scarf

"Alright, good lesson. See you all next week," Willis finished his lesson and his students exited the room. Of course Willis would have to stay behind until they were all gone. Not like he was in a rush to leave, anyway. Though he'd love to get some lunch. Teaching was hungry work! But there was no class that came in directly after his nor did Willis have to rush anywhere after. Once the last student left, Willis picked up his book and made his way out of the building. For whatever reason his Creative Writing 101 class was not in the same building as his office so he would have to go to the cafeteria to pick up lunch before heading to his office. With any luck he could just close his door, put up a 'do not disturb' and munch on a couple slices of pizza while watching an episode of Star Wars Rebels.

Willis could already picture his lunch as he made his way to the cafeteria. A couple slices of pizza, a nice tall drink of soda, a bag of gummy bears on the side and maybe a brownie or cookie for later. Dammit, that was making him more hungry. "Outta my way! Important professor coming through, very limited lunch break time! Oh hey, great paper yesterday!" He yelled numerous things as he pushed his way through the crowds of students. He used his typical 'important professor who needs to eat' excuse as an attempt to get to the cafeteria faster. In pushing through a crowd and seeing one of his students of course he was going to compliment their paper. But it wasn't the time for Willis to go into details. It was time for him to eat. The most important meal of the day. The thing that would get him through the rest of the day. The thing that would help him focus on grading papers and doing his job to the best of his ability. Unfortunately for him it was also time for one other very important manner....

Carla was one of two students that Willis had asked to meet in his office during his hours. Her and another guy from one of his writing classes. Which Carla was shocked about. She had straight A's, rarely ever any B's; she took the most possible detailed notes, participated and gave as accurate answers as she could, not to mention she was sure she aced the short story she handed in two classes ago. Except that she didn't. What shocked her just as much was the other student who the professor wanted to see, Elliot, was just as smart. They had to be a couple of the best students; why the hell - excuse her language - would a professor want to see them about their papers? There was no way this was possible. She was not about to get a bad grade. Not even a decent grade.

On top of that, the professor didn't even seem to show up at his office on time. Carla's last class got out fifteen minutes ago and was in the same building, so she figured she'd just sit in the hall and wait. On a side note, why his office door specifically read Willis the Dillis was questionable. Trying to keep her thoughts calm and occupied as she waited, Carla took the opportunity to take one of her notebooks out of her backpack and go through the observations she needed to catch up on from the day. Unfortunately for her, it was to no avail? Where was that stupid professor? Excuse her language again. This was impossible. Taking in a breath, she ran her fingers through her thick locks before quickly turning her head, hoping it was the professor approaching. No, it was just Elliot. "Not here," she answered his unspoken question before turning her head back to her notes.

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
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Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 23, 2016 11:41:41 GMT -5

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Post by pierce on Apr 23, 2016 11:41:41 GMT -5

Elliot outfit

Meeting with his Creative Writing teacher was the only thing Elliot was dreading today. If he wasn't obligated to show up after Prof. Dillis' request, he would be doing a lot more productive things, like finish up assignments for professors that he actually wanted to impress. But no, his hands were tied on this one. One thing he could say for this little meeting though, was that it piqued Elliot's curiosity. Why, out of all the daydreamers and knock-offs in their class, did he request that he and Carla Davenfourth to see him? As far as Elliot knew, they were the best students the guy could ever hope to have. No off-the-wall excuses, no late assignments, not a word of complaint or anything like that - he just didn't get it. Unless maybe, he was thinking of assigning them to a short story competition after being blown away by their most recent assignment.

Now that wouldn't surprise Elliot, though he would easily win something like that with his eyes closed. It was probable at least. He knew what the judges of those sort of competitions liked - for the most part. Of course they loved to throw in a wildcard judge and make everyone squirm about it, but Elliot saw right through that trick. Well, whatever the reason, he'd be there on time and maybe even a few minutes early. He had much more important things to do with his time and talking to the wackiest creative writing professor he ever had just wasn't one of those things - no offense to him.

He approached the office of Willis Dillis and what do you know, there was Carla, but no professor. Elliot tisked at her two word explanation. "Figures." he exhaled, crossing his arms and looking over his shoulder to see if maybe he was right behind him - but nope. Looks like he was going to have to wait, like someone who actually had the time to wait. "So what do you think this is all about?" he asked, curious to hear her opinion. Elliot was aware how astute the older girl was. She spent almost as much time in the library as he did, which was a feat in itself seeing as he worked in the place. Either way, he didn't know what to make of them both being called here and he was open to hearing her interpretation on the matter.

Last Edit: Apr 23, 2016 11:43:13 GMT -5 by pierce

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 23, 2016 16:49:57 GMT -5

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Post by Lori on Apr 23, 2016 16:49:57 GMT -5

"Makin up my lunch, makin it real good..." Willis sang to himself. He made it to the cafeteria and proceeded to grab everything he wanted to satisfy his hunger. Two slices of pizza? Check. Bag of gummy bears? Check. Large soda? Check. Ooooh a bagel. Actually that could be his breakfast before class tomorrow. "I see you staring at me right there," he grinned at one of the seeded rolls. "My tummy is going to be so happy to meet you!" Picking up the roll, he added it to his container and then journeyed to look at the desserts. Gummy bears weren't technically a dessert so Willis was in the clear. After searching through a couple of the shelves and fridges, Willis settled a small pack of sugar cookies. He now had all of his lunching food groups satisfied.

But he couldn't head to the line just yet. "Why do I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something...?" he asked himself. He imagined a mini Willis dressed up as C3PO and went through his day. He graded the last of the assignments, went to class, taught his lesson.... And now it was lunch time. Huh. Was that really all? He didn't have to call his parents today; it was senior's day at one of their favorite restaurants. He was pretty sure Susan was busy so it wasn't like he had plans with her or any of his other friends. Did the other professors like him? Huh. Willis never really thought about it. Maybe he needed to catch up on his blogging. No, that wasn't it. He updated last Monday and he had a solid three days left before he would update again. Maybe he needed to set the DVR for something? But he watched most of his shows on the internet now like most people. What in Yoda's universe was Willis forgetting....? Shrugging his shoulders, Willis grinned and made his way to the cashier. "It's probably nothing," he decided.

"It's got to be something," Carla answered, thus completely contradicting Willis' thoughts. Both she and Elliot had better things to do than talk to a professor about anything to do with their assignments post-class. Clearly not all teachers, be they high school or college, received the memo that students had more than just the one class to be concerned with. Somehow she had hoped to expect more from the writing professor, but when he had walked into their first class of the semester wearing one of the most unprofessional attires Carla could have imagined - tie-dye jeans, Batman sneakers and some shirt with a Star Treck (or was it Star Wars?) quote, the only potntial saving graces being a tweed sweater over the shirt and a pair of glasses - her hopes for anything important from him had gone down the drain.

"I highly doubt this is anything overly positive unless he wanted to give us such high praises it would have made anyone overhearing feel completely inferior," she said. And even that was doubtful. As amazing students as both she and Elliot were, no students were naturally that good unless they were some perfect, flawless character. Marking her place in her notebook, she placed it in her bag before removing another one and going through some of her observations. "Let's look at the facts. One, a professor asks us to see him and purposefully waits until the room is empty to say anything. Two, he comments on our grades; an avoidance tactic. It's like why reality competitions have to have a token 'nice' judge, to compliment on a minute note when the performance as a whole was that horrible. And three, as much of a nut as he appears, he had a look on his face. A look that looked like he was trying to cover something up." But really, that was all just one girl's opinion based off of basic observations and facts on top of memory. It didn't mean she was right, specifically. Closing her notebook, she glanced around the hallway. Still no professor in sight. Would they really have to resort to completing their other assignments in a hallway of all places? Letting out a quiet sigh at the thought, she glanced to Elliot from the corner of her eye. "What are your thoughts?" she inquired.

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
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Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 24, 2016 19:13:51 GMT -5

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Post by pierce on Apr 24, 2016 19:13:51 GMT -5

Elliot nodded, yeah of course it had to be something. The guy wouldn't call both of them to see him if he just wanted to show them his collection of Star Wars figurines that he probably had a surplus of behind his office door. “That much I've already concluded,” he replied, walking over to the wall and standing a friendly enough distance from her sitting position. He wasn't going to sit, though if he did Professor Dillis would probably feel like he'd made them wait for much longer than they were bound to already. Elliot wasn't one for guilt trips, so he opted to stand and just lean on the wall, hearing Carla's working verdict out and glancing down as she read off observations from her notebook. So was that what she was writing most of the time? Observations? Interesting. Well, everyone had their nuances.

“Though I was hoping for something along the lines of positive feedback, you have a point. Three points, actually.” he ruminated over them, his hand at his chin before speaking back up. “Considering the fact that Dillis is officially the least competent of all of my professors, I wouldn't be surprised if he had us come here to play some sort of joke on us. Or just something equally redundant... especially at this point. Maybe we should just leave him a note proving that we were here and be on our way. I'm sure you've got better things to do as well.” He suggested, it sounded like a great idea as it came out of his mouth and he stood by it. It wasn't their fault that he didn't show up at the time he'd told them. They shouldn't be subject to any more waiting for someone who likely wouldn't have anything of merit to say to them anyway.

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 24, 2016 20:17:57 GMT -5

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Post by Lori on Apr 24, 2016 20:17:57 GMT -5

Of course it must have been completely obvious that the professor wouldn't have called them in for anything good and that he clearly had something planned for them. Still, Carla couldn't help but have a bad feeling where this was going. Even though it was difficult to take this particular professor seriously, how did one act any different when waiting in front of the office? "Sadly that sounds just as plausible," she admitted with a sigh. Professor Dillis did seem like the kind of person who would do something despite his profession. He would get along well with her brother.

"I've debated that," she admitted. "But suppose we end up in a worse predicament for leaving? Although it would be nice to actually get started on another assignment. Likewise I'm sure you have other classes you'd like to focus on." She hated to admit it, but Elliot had a point. It made no sense to continue waiting around. What excuse would a professor have for keeping two of his best students waiting for him when all parties were on a time constraint? Carla didn't want to think about the repercussions that could come with their decision to leave, but maybe they did have no other option. Placing her notebook in her bag and zipping it, she rose from her spot on the floor. It would have more than likely been their cue to leave had the professor not come up the staircase and turn the corner to reach them a minute later.

Willis had happily made his way to the office with his lunch in tow, singing to himself about exactly what he was going to do. "Gonna eat my lunch.... Gonna eat it good.... Mhmmm gonna eat up my pizza.... Watching some Star Wars...." It all sounded so good. Maybe if he didn't have too many papers to catch up on later he could add another story to his blog after all. He just had to come up with a good character, a decent enough plot.... Unfortunately for him, that thought seemed to go out the window when he stopped in front of his office and saw his two students standing there. Willis took a minute to look back and forth between the two of them and then at his lunch. He took a long, deep sip of his soda almost thinking it would wake him up from something. But nope. This was the real deal. Unless he was just forgetting something, still. But he hadn't remembered anything; Willis just assumed it was in his head. Slowly pulling away from his stray, he tried to keep his eyes open as long as possible before finally blinking. Against most professors' better judgements he decided to ask the burning question. "What are you nuggets doing in front of my office?"

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 25, 2016 13:12:18 GMT -5

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Post by pierce on Apr 25, 2016 13:12:18 GMT -5

"Doubt it." Elliot shrugged, "Even if it is important for us to see him, it's obviously not of importance enough for him to actually be here to meet with us... talk about unprofessional." Shaking his head at the thought, he sighed, "If I were a professor and had two of my best students scheduled for a meeting I'd keep to my word and be there, ready and waiting to get to the point of the matter." Seriously, it was a little grating to think that their professor more likely than not just up and forgot all about them. Not two delinquents or slack-offs, no, them. It was incredible. "I sure do." he nodded, glad that she was coming around to see his view on the matter. Elliot pulled a small notepad out of his back pocket and a compact pen out of his front left - scrawling out a note that stated they'd been there. He hadn't been. Date and time. For good measure Elliot signed his initials and was about to hand it to Carla when low and behold - Professor Dillis arrived. Juggling his lunch in his hands.

Just as Elliot thought too, the clueless look on the man's face was a clear indication that he'd forgotten all about calling them here. It frustrated him so much to think that they weren't important enough to consider a self reminder or two on his phone or computer, just so this didn't happen. But he wasn't Elliot and thankfully, Elliot wasn't him. He crossed his arms, looking over the guy expectantly while he looked both of them over - seeming to be perplexed over the fact that they were there. Looking over to Carla with a 'this guy has got to be kidding us' twist of his expression, Elliot met Professor Dillis' wide gaze with a disapproving one of his own. This was painful - neither of them talking and waiting for someone, anyone to speak up. Before Elliot decided to, the question escaped the professor. "You're kidding me. You asked us here. Don't you remember having something important to say to us? Or wait, what were his words exactly Carla - Dire importance of something or other?" He couldn't believe this guy, wasting their time like this and all for what? Obviously nothing as important as he'd painted it to be if he couldn't even remember what it was as he looked at both of them!

Last Edit: Apr 25, 2016 13:12:26 GMT -5 by pierce

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 25, 2016 14:04:43 GMT -5

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Post by Lori on Apr 25, 2016 14:04:43 GMT -5

As much as Carla despised the fact to think that they would get in trouble for not being there when the professor did arrive - even if they did leave a note - the more she thought about it, the more she agreed with Elliot. Why should they have to risk waiting longer than necessary? Somehow this particular professor was indicating that it was the slackers he was more concerned with or else he would have never asked the two of them to meet up in the first place. Part of Carla felt like she was swallowing her pride by just leaving, but in retrospect it really was for the sake of her other classes. And the same clearly went for Elliot. She would have signed the paper along with him had the professor not shown up when he did. Carla's first response was to blink. He seriously forgot about them? A moment ago, she would have called that a slight exaggeration. But obviously it was no longer the case. She met Elliot's gaze and rolled her eyes in agreement before thinking back to exactly what Dillis had told them. "'I need to speak to the two of you in my office. It's extremely important,'" she repeated almost his exact words from their last class. "And when we questioned why you just said to be there and told us to go eat lunch." Though now she could see why he ended with that statement. No one could work on an empty stomach but this particular person...he was worse than Chase! A moment after speaking, Carla raised an eyebrow, unsure how she should feel about Dillis' words. "Nuggets?"

Willis listened to his two students and tried to play back his last class with them. Huh...so that's what he'd been forgetting all along! Silly Dillis! "That's right! Heh. Well I guess my Star Wars Rebels will just have to wait then." He motioned for them to move slightly so he could gain access to his door easier. Switching his weight to help balance the multiple foods he was carrying, Willis removed the keys from his pocket and used them to unlock the door. "Step into my office and let's get started, nuggets." Almost as soon as he entered he turned back around to them. "Oh I'm sorry, would you prefer nuggets or ducklings?"

'We have a choice?' Carla mouthed to Elliot. Neither sounded preferable to her, personally. Sadly, neither terms surprised her considering the professor either. While Willis settled himself at his desk, placing his foods down and logging onto his computer, Carla and Elliot took the empty seats. Carla couldn't help but scan the office at all of the Star wars memorabilia, space-like decorations, Happy Meal toys that graced a few of the shelves and.... Was that a gummy bear lamp on his desk? This sight should not have come as a surprise to her, or to Elliot she was sure.

While his computer loaded, Willis took a sip of his drink and then set a napkin on the desk so he could enjoy his pizza. Just because he scheduled a meeting with his students didn't mean he had to skip out on lunch! "Alright, delay is over," he announced. Willis opened his desk drawer and removed his glasses case - a sure sign that he was either going to be dramatic or fake-serious. "Let's get down to business.... Pop quiz! What's the next line?" He leaned forward slightly in his seat and switched his gaze back and forth quickly between Elliot and Carla, awaiting a response from either.

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 26, 2016 20:44:45 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on Apr 26, 2016 20:44:45 GMT -5

Elliot held back what could be viewed as a storm of frustration within him. Here they were, obliging their professor's request in meeting him - out of the obligation they had just by being his students... and one: the guy couldn't apologize for being late and two: to make it worse, was disappointed over the fact that he couldn't watch his Star Wars program? Whatever he had to say to them had better be good, or Elliot would report this misuse of authority to someone... of higher authority. "I'd actually prefer my given name thanks, seeing as I'm not any form of fowl - recently born or way past dead then fried to a crisp." Elliot remarked in his defense, shaking his head in temporary defeat at Carla's silent words and entered the office. They were going to have to deal with this, like it or not.

Taking a seat, there wasn't much more to do but sit stewing in his own confirmations at this setting before them. The office looked less like a professor's office and more like an overgrown teenager's hideaway. How this man was able to keep his job was nothing short of a miracle, Elliot was sure. Heck, he probably had relatives on the school board for all he knew, wouldn't surprise him. The guy's methods had always been questionable - but now, Elliot was just amazed - watching his professor wolf down a couple bites of pizza with a serious glance over at Carla. She looked just as peeved, though definitely not more than he was, especially once Dillis posed the sudden 'pop quiz' question. Surprisingly Elliot knew this answer. Berty, his younger brother was introduced to Disney movies around the time that Mulan came out and was completely enamored with Mushu and the entire movie in general. "...to defeat the Huns," he muttered, not really pleased with himself about it as he met the gaze of his professor with his typical deadpan expression. "Now can we actually get on with this? I do have other class assignments to focus on."

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 27, 2016 0:14:11 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on Apr 27, 2016 0:14:11 GMT -5

Lucky guess, Willis thought. He nodded in approval or Elliot's answer and took another long sip of his drink as he pondered his next statement. "Nuggers it is then," he decided, which was distinctly different from 'nuggets' and not even a real word.

Swallowing her pride, Carla reluctantly spoke up. She never wanted an authority figure to believe that she was going against them in any way, but she had to side with Elliot on this one. "And I have an exam on Friday to prepare for. And instead of being called chickens or...whatever you said...can we just be students?"

"See, that's exactly the reason I called you both in today," Willis spoke. If they wanted him to jump right to the point he would, although Willis didn't see much fun in it. Letting out a sigh, he placed his drink on the desk. "Did you two notice anything about your last assignments? "

Fortunately Carla had her last writing piece with her, as she was sure Elliot must have had - or at least one of his writing notebooks. Actually, she just had her whole writing folder to be on the safe side. She removed her assignment and took another look at it. "You didn't write anything on it..." she observed. There were no comments, no remarks, no adjustments (although really, what adjustments would there even be?)...no nothing. She glanced at Elliot with a quirked eyebrow before Willis spoke up again.

"Yeah, how can I put this nicely...?" Willis tapped his fingers against his chin. "I couldn't write anything because your short stories put me to sleep! I needed three cups of coffee to get through them! Each!"

Carla blinked. Was he seriously insulting their work? Them? Two of his best students? Two writing majors? Getting criticized for the very thing they were at Metric for? No, no, no, this could NOT be happening! Carla started brainstorming for that assignment the first thing that night, after her next class. She started writing during her break the next day and made sure it was done early so she could go through revisions herself and do any necessary rewriting. She double checked and triple checked to make sure there were no grammatical errors, no typos, no nothing. And yet this nut of a professor was saying otherwise. "Wait...are you saying we..." She couldn't even start to get the word out! Was Willis implying that she and Elliot were going to.... Fail?

Fortunately she didn't have to say it; Willis knew where she was going. "Keep your scarf straight, no one's failing anyone. Yet." He snapped his fingers, "Actually, great idea. Fix your scarf, mess up your hair a little. You look like you're in a meeting." He then pointed to Elliot, "And you, take off that sweater. Unbotton your shirt a little or something. No wonder your stories were so boring! You're both sitting here like a couple of well-dressed logs who can't write! But that's changing. Today."

"Are you sure there isn't...?" Carla started to ask but was interrupted by the nutty professor.

"Do it or I'm not telling either of you what you did wrong," he folded his arms.

Carla exchanged a look with Elliot. She couldn't quite read his expression, if it was more annoyed, mad, impatient or some combination of all three. She couldn't say she was too thrilled about this either. With the professor's suggestion, his words or the way any of this was going. Slowly she turned to look at Willis again, who was maintaining his stance and somehow managing to give the two of them a look. A look that said.... Did it even matter what it said? This was one professor who was completely unpredictable on every level imaginable! Holding in a groan yet still looking defeated, Carla slowly removed her scarf. But she wasn't going to mess up her hair in any way.

Willis looked to Elliot and waited for him to do something. Anything to messy his appearance in the slightest. And if Elliot were to say anything to contradict him, Willis would pretend not to listen. He'd whistle or look at his hand or hum the Star Wars theme or something.

"What exactly is the point of this...?" Carla couldn't help but ask, interrupting his humming.

"What took you so long to ask?" Willis responded. "I'm trying to get your creative juices flowing here! This is creative writing, nuggers! CREATIVE!" He pointed at Elliot, "The stories aren't supposed to be about everything being so specific, all about dates and times and how that specific day and time changed something without any real examples!" He then turned to Carla, "And you, you got something against dialogue or something? Actual speaking helps moves things along! It's like the two of you are.... Uncreative killjoys or something!"

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 27, 2016 22:08:22 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on Apr 27, 2016 22:08:22 GMT -5

Elliot was doing his best to follow Dillis' process as he questioned them – clearly ignoring the fact that they definitely didn't want to be called anything other than their names or respective title and also the fact that they weren't just his students, that they had other things to do. Something told him that their professor wouldn't be hurrying this along though, which only added to the feeling of powerlessness and frustration. Elliot hadn't brought his writing assignment in, but really, he didn't have to. He knew that it had been returned just as it'd been turned in. When he received it he'd gotten the feeling that Dillis hadn't bothered to even read it. He was surprised though when he'd informed them that he did read them and it had been some kind of chore to him. The dismay of this showed upon his face and knit his brows together. Was he kidding them? He just had to be!

Carla began to speak up and Elliot caught her drift just as quickly as their professor did. The relief for both of them rose when Dillis told them in his own way that they didn't need to worry, but that relief was so momentary - deflating the second he added that 'Yet.' He was starting to deeply resent this man. He was just playing them for fools and they were the opposite! He was the fool! It was written all over him, the way he dressed, the decor of his office, the way he spoke, just... everything! Elliot's hands clenched at the arms of the chair he sat in, his face morphing quickly from distaste in to a clearly mortified expression as Dillis began not only criticizing their writing, but their wardrobe as well! "What." he said flatly. He couldn't believe this! Was he really threatening to fail them because they weren't 'creative' enough with how they dressed? "No way." Elliot's arms folded, mimicking the man's posture before them.

He met Carla's glance and shook his head, she couldn't possibly be falling for this silliness... this complete disregard for personal taste and neatness. "This is completely ridiculous. You're holding an assignment over our heads because our individual style doesn't fall in line - I mean, out of line, with your own? I can't believe you're wasting our time with this. We did our papers, possibly better than average, but just because we added realism, structure to them you say they weren't even worth grading?" Elliot was absolutely fuming, and in his heated words he ended up roughing up his organized appearance - pushing up his sleeves as he stood. But it was like banging his head against a brick wall, the man clearly was not giving his words any attention. Instead he opted to hum the silly, ridiculous tune even louder to drown him out.

"Oh yeah that's very mature." he huffed, his eyes narrowed at his professor as he dropped in to the chair - arms still crossed and his fingers drumming upon the rumpled cloth of his sleeves at his biceps. Carla spoke and Dillis finally broke from his melody to answer her. Elliot just had to defend his own work, how was it that this professor saw something so wrong about attention to detail that none of his other professors had never bothered to mention a word about. "I'm not going to apologize for being specific, that's just the way I write. Not everyone can write with their head in the clouds, you know. Some of us actually have a method to our way of writing." The audacity of Dillis had Elliot's imagination going, incidentally, picturing a very spirited advertisement for a boxing match between the both of them. Yeah, he knew who'd be winning that and it wasn't this creatively overbearing professor right in front of them.

Last Edit: Apr 27, 2016 22:13:33 GMT -5 by pierce

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 27, 2016 22:40:38 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on Apr 27, 2016 22:40:38 GMT -5

It wasn't difficult to tell by Elliot's look or tone of voice that he was growing tired of the professor and fast. Carla doubted he was none too happy with her either, having actually listened to the professor. As far as she was considered, the sooner they listened and did what was asked the sooner they could get out of there. Her expressions varied hardly besides the fear of failing and the questionable looks about the professor. She probably had Chase to thank for that; she had no choice but to ever keep a straight face around him. Still, it didn't feel like it was helping too much in their particular situation.

"What does the style of writing have to do with creativity anyway?" she couldn't help but ask. "It's like comparing Pride and Prejudice to a To Kill a Mockingbird or A Tale of Two Cities to Uncle Tom's Cabin."

"One nugger at a time!" Willis insisted.

Carla quickly shut her mouth at the sudden raise of the professor's voice. Aside from the fact that the last thing she wanted from this meeting was to get in trouble, she wasn't there to push anyone's buttons. Perhaps it was better she kept quiet anyway. Her writing reflected just what she did in reality - observed. She didn't need to always hear what people were saying nor did she ever feel a need to get involved if things looked messy. If the professor would let her speak up again she would defend her style as well. But it could very well be that the best thing for her to do was to observe the situation at hand and figure out exactly how to please the professor.

In the meantime, Willis turned his attention towards Elliot. Though once in a while during his speaking he did acknowledge Carla, as the two students were in the same position. He wasn't going to let one thing they were off the hook just because he was dealing with someone talking back to him. "See now we're making progress! Why couldn't you have this kind of feeling in your story? Where's the passion? Where's the interest? What did I just say about it being creative writing? It's not very creative imagining the narrator as some emotionless robit!"

"Robot," Carla corrected under her breath.

Wills pointed at her, "You had your turn and you'll get another one!" He slowly reached for a gummy bear, "Also I say robit." He chewed the fruity bear and swallowed before turning back to Elliot. "My point is, do you - either of you - ever think that the reason you write the way you do has to do with the way you dress or where you work? All the two of you are, are a couple of organized, barely colorful filing cabinets. If you dress like that and work in an office or classroom or library that's all your writing is going to amount to. Why do you think I keep my office this way? Aside from space and Star Wars being awesome? It's so I can pick up any figurine and imagine them doing something! If you two don't loosen up then your writing won't either! Do you ever think outside the box? Or even open the box a little bit? Maybe if you actually experimented with your writing styles and let loose with it more you would've gotten better grades. We wouldn't be having this conversation in this room, neither of you would be worrying like some...I don't know, lost confused ducklings that are completely helpless without specific directions from Mommy Duckling...about your grades or your near perfect averages and I wouldn't be falling behind on my Star Wars cartoon! They were literally just about to have Princess Leia guest star! Am I making any sense to either of you on any level??" The more Willis talked, the higher his voice slowly got and the more passion he spoke for his desire to get through to Elliot and Carla. It didn't matter what either of them said, what they did or how they said it. If they didn't walk away from this meeting with SOMETHING, Willis was not only going to lose his mind but walk away from this knowing there was nothing he could do to help two of his best students who had so much potential and were not doing anything with it other than plateauing.

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 28, 2016 20:44:03 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on Apr 28, 2016 20:44:03 GMT -5

It was safe to say that Elliot was pretty thrown off the track of his aggravation when Dillis more or less encouraged it. He just... wasn't sure how to respond to that. He knew he wasn't emotionless and he certainly wasn't a robot or robit or whatever he'd called him – and he was pretty sure his writing wasn't the product of an emotionless automaton either. At least he was pretty sure. After all, he'd been writing for some time. It was a passion of his - a passion that had gotten him accepted here, so it really couldn't be as boring as he'd been implying! Boring for him maybe, but he was only one professor. His wacky opinion was certainly not in line with the public view, so really, was he doing himself much of a favor by allowing him to talk him in to altering his way of writing? Doubtful.

Elliot's silent apprehension surfaced plainly as Dillis took command of the spotlight. He'd called them so many things already and now was calling them filing cabinets... what the - ? Where was this guy even coming up with all of this nonsense? It was incredibly clear where their professor was going with this and as he ended the speech with a question Elliot was resigned to nod simply. “Yeah. You're telling us to... expand our imaginations in so many ways,” he responded, still pretty resentful over all this but he figured the sooner they got out of there the better for all involved, and to do that they needed to comply.

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Apr 28, 2016 22:48:10 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on Apr 28, 2016 22:48:10 GMT -5

"Finally! Thank you for helping us get somewhere!" Willis announced in an exaggerated manner. But maybe now it meant he could tone down what he was saying. He ran his hand over his forehead, "But it's not just that. Do you know what else I'm trying to get at?"

"that you don't approve of anything about us?" Carla raised an eyebrow.

"What? No! he folded his arms. "Not entirely," he muttered. Willis then quickly shook his head, "But that's besides the point. I am being so hard on the two of you because you have all this potential. No two people see the world exactly the same and you two, especially you two with the grades and the near perfect academic records and all that junk, have so much to offer and write. And yet you're just sitting there with your near expressionless faces and tight-nipped clothes. Why would I be going off on anyone this much if I didn't think there was stuff buried deep inside you?" He gave them all of two seconds to respond before he spoke up again. "Why do you write?"

There were a few answers Carla could think to give. She wrote because it's what she's always done. She wrote because that's who she was. She wrote because without a notebook and pen in hand, she was nothing. She couldn't imagine her life with something replacing writing. She shrugged her shoulders briefly before giving what sounded like a simple answer, although it was a stark contrast to someone talking so passionately about something they loved to do. "I write because that's who I am. I want to write everything that I see and be able to share it some how, to be able to do something with what I see. I look at a scene in reality, whether it's two people or an animal or anything and try to imagine what they're thinking; what circumstance must have led them to what I'm watching in the moment."

Willis tapped his fingers together and leaned back in his chair. "You want to share your view of the world."

"You could say that, I suppose," Carla stated. It was lamest terms but one could look at her observations that way. She wasn't opposed to hearing suggestions about what she could do with what she saw.

Willis gave a nod before turning his attention back to Elliot. "And what about you?" he pointed. "What's your reason for writing? Why, out of all the programs in this school, did you choose writing?"

Last Edit: Apr 28, 2016 22:49:01 GMT -5 by Lori

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys May 3, 2016 12:44:14 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on May 3, 2016 12:44:14 GMT -5

Elliot wasn't proud of himself regarding the fact that he answered correctly yet again, because if it didn't get them out of that office then it wasn't close to good enough. That was something he hated, not being good enough - but well, he was gradually coming to hate Professor Dillis and his presumptousness about how they weren't at all creative enough for him. His eyes were as narrowed as they could get, completely disliking the feeling of his pressed shirt and sweater crumpled up the length of his tensed arms. Keeping his ears sharp at their little back and forth before Dillis really came out and explained himself, Elliot was surprised when he actually sensed some seriousness in the guy. No, it couldn't be. If it could be, well, he bet it wouldn't last. He was unsure of whether he should be grateful or suspicious that Dillis was beginning to act more like a teacher. He was actually interested in how they came to be writers...without any more silly nicknames? That was a start.

He listened as Carla answered first, making sense of how she always had her pen and notepad at the ready, to write the things she saw. He respected that. What drew him to writing was all a part of the unspoken yet blatantly obvious rivalry between him and his twin. Margot hated writing practically anything. She was all about mathematics, strictly business and a connoisseur of everything that involved numbers. To get accustomed to and comfortable with writing meant that he'd always have something that he was better at than her. Out of both of them, Elliot was the creative one... he'd chosen the creative route, yet he wasn't creative enough to be a 'creative writer' - not according to the professor in charge of the subject. It stung, sort of. But he had his opinion whether it was professional or not, Elliot didn't have to agree with it.

"Because it's something I've always enjoyed." he answered back, obvious in his tone that he was not about to conclude it right there, "When I was little I'd hear history and different retellings of events and I'd think of how the subject is one big story. Helps that my Father is a historian - we had a whole library's history section right in our parlor room and I would go through them all. I started practicing rewriting history. Not in a false way. In a way that wasn't so... stiff you could say, but still accurate. Then I got my hands on my Mother's anthropology journals, which opened up my way of explaining things and helped me keep things to the point."

And now he was here being told that all that time practicing and getting his own direct voice through his writing was more or less in vain, or well, maybe not. Maybe this guy just had a drastically different way of putting things that just wasn't anything like Elliot was accustomed to. After all he did say they had potential. "So correct me if I'm wrong: you are picking on us and not the day dreamers in class because we're students of a higher caliber, so you expect more of us? Why not just come out and say that right away?"

Last Edit: May 3, 2016 12:44:37 GMT -5 by pierce

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys May 3, 2016 14:14:56 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on May 3, 2016 14:14:56 GMT -5

Willis shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. "Because that would've been the easy thing to do. Can't get through to you just by taking the easy path."

Well it was nice having the professor quiet for a brief moment, at least. She was intrigued listening to how Elliot found his own way with writing. She could only imagine how it must have been growing up with such a huge library at his disposal. Naturally it should have been something he enjoyed as well, or else what would the point have been? Still, for that brief moment it felt like there was some progress in the right direction - the professor sounding less like a child and all - until he went and opened his mouth again. "Sill us, why should we expect anything less?" she half mumbled sarcastically.

"Now you're getting it!" Willis snapped his fingers.

"But I didn't..." Carla tried to explain herself. It wasn't like she was trying to sass him or talk back or anything like that. It was merely an observation that she stated in a sarcastic manner because, having somewhat of an idea how the professor taught, it should have been obvious that it was a simple answer.

"Yup, yup, yup." Willis moved his hand as though it were talking only to have it snap shut, as if signifying Carla to be quiet as well. He looked back and forth between the two students, almost as if he were waiting for another comment from either of them. Then, before he could give either one a chance to speak again, he opened his mouth. "Good. Now we're making progress. so, we got one of you who writes everything that happens exactly how she sees it and another who is taking history and kind of mishmashing it his own way. Now we're getting somewhere. That's why you two are so picky, picky, picky with everything that you write! Why you're so accurate and detail nit-picking and all that tight-lipped junk. Have either of you actually tried going outside that comfort zone you created for yourselves? Explore different genres outside of actual reality and let your imaginations run wild? You guys do know what your imaginations are, right?"

"You mean the thing that causes my brother to think that he can get away with turning a pool into gelatin?" Carla rolled her eyes.

"What, really?" Willis blinked. He then threw his hands up, "See? That's the kind of thing I'm talking about! Why can't either of you think like that?"

Carla couldn't help but automatically take her hand and hit her head. Out of all the people in the world why the heck was she being encouraged to act like Chase? The one person she strove to ever not be like - aside from this guy who was calling himself their professor - and yet it sounded like he preferred Chase over Carla, who was actually in a writing major, unlike her brother who couldn't decide what the heck he wanted out of anything except to get in trouble and flirt with girls. Moments like that almost made her wish she carried around a baseball bat.

Willis raised an eyebrow at Carla's less than enthusiastic reaction before glancing at Elliot to see his response. Willis could describe that a few ways to really get his point across, but it was probably best for the moment to just settle with the obvious first word that came to his mind: complete and utter disbelief. Why Willis even thought he would magically get a positive reaction out of either of them was another story entirely. It looked like he was going to have to pull out the big guns. This was something he really didn't want to have to bring out. He thought they were making progress and it almost seemed like they were getting somewhere. But now it was too late. "Looks like you nuggers left me no choice," he shook his head. Going under his desk, he pulled out a toy light saber before standing back up. He pressed a button on the handle, causing it to light up green. Willis cleared his throat before attempting to speak in his most announcing, almost authoritative, voice. "This is the light saber of creativity! And it's the only way to prove to me that you will actually be walking out of this room with something. Behold its mighty, glowing powers for when I tap you with this saber you shall speak a five sentence paragraph of the most creative thing you could possibly think of. Only then can you both prove to me and to yourselves that you are capable of more and you are completely unafraid to go into this type of territory." He then quickly added in his normal voice, "Oh yeah, and it's also for a chance to actually boost your grade so I'm pretty sure that's important, too."

Last Edit: May 3, 2016 14:15:45 GMT -5 by Lori

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys May 4, 2016 19:07:27 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on May 4, 2016 19:07:27 GMT -5

Elliot really wasn't taking it very kindly how he generalized their own writing as more or less varieties of junk. But then again, it was clear that he thought they could be doing better than settling with one defined style - obvious that he wanted them out of their comfort zones. His own words were case and point. What Elliot dreaded was having to comply with professor Dillis' whims when it came to broadening their creative horizons.

If it affected their grades - he'd have no choice but to. One little slip up with with this professor and he'd be hearing about it from Margot in no time. Her passive aggressive postcards were infuriating enough, but he'd absolutely hate to find a whole letter to him about how devastating the news of his potential failure as a student was and how oh so sorry she was to hear how he was slipping as a son. No way, that wasn't going to happen. If he had to play along with silly Dillis' games, it was way better than Margot's glory gloating from across state lines.

"I have an imagination," he insisted flatly, adding, "but I won't be using it for any reckless, purposeless pranks that would just get me in trouble." He really wasn't going to make them do that jello thing... right? He just didn't know with this guy. Cue the toy lightsaber. Elliot could barely stifle the groan that he released, hoping that it wasn't as loud as it sounded and just keeping himself from further sounds of disbelief as the toy was explained. Of course its mighty glowing powers were nothing more than a few batteries and a colored light bulb, but Elliot figured that bringing that reality to light would only impair his stance in Dillis' grade book even more.

The challenge he posed didn't seem all that difficult. Though when he really considered it he knew that he'd have to really pull away from whatever kneejerk reaction he'd have. He had to make it 'creative' according to his professor's wacky standards... that wouldn't be very easy.

Last Edit: May 4, 2016 19:11:15 GMT -5 by pierce

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys May 5, 2016 10:43:20 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on May 5, 2016 10:43:20 GMT -5

Willis couldn't help but let out a light scoff. "Please like either of you could pull off anything like that anyhow."

Carla raised an eyebrow. Was that a compliment or an insult? She couldn't quite tell. What she could tell, however, was that this had to be the most childish way possible to get two students who were legally and mentally adults to actually do their work. Couldn't he just do what most teachers did and write everything down or communicate with them via email? Sadly, Willis Dillis was not most teachers. She maintained her unimpressed look even as the toy was brought out. "And this supposed method of yours has consistent results of success?" she asked doubtfully.

"Yes," Willis half lied. He pointed to the saber. "See, it's green which symbolizes growth which is what the two of you will be doing today." Still seeing their looks unchanging, Willis let out a groan. "Fine, the light saber of creativity used to be red because it looked way more menacing but it broke. Anyway, that's besides the point. Look, I'll show you how it works." He tapped himself on the shoulder with the saber. "A long time ago in a galaxy far away...there used to be a pickle," yeah as if he was really going to recreate the entire Star Wars story in five sentences, "that contained mysterious life force energy. It was lost to its entire alien colony and somehow crash landed on earth, slowly becoming lost and buried into the core. Now an all-out war has broken out between its hometown alien colony and its worst enemies and the aliens are coming back for it - with vengeance! Only one chosen cat and one chosen dog can put their differences aside and protect the planet. Because if they don't, not only with the aliens retrieve the success they've so longed for after all these years, but they will also take control of the cats and dogs on our planet and thus destroy everything!" Actually, that sounded like it could make a good story to add to his blog. He could call it...The MisAdventures of Fluffykins and Mc Woofwoof! Not wanting to forget that, Willis dropped his light saber and struggled to write it down as quickly as possible. Once that was done, he picked up the light saber again and faced his students. "See, that's not so hard is it? Creative, unbelievable, and what could start a kick*** adventure! None of that perfect structured sentences or everything completely put together and whatnot. Just a completely out of the box idea that could turn into something!" He tapped Elliot first with the light saber. "You said you have an imagination, Elliot. C'mon, enlighten us. Share that imaginative five sentence creative story that's just bubbling up inside of you waiting for a way to come out!"

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys May 5, 2016 20:01:56 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on May 5, 2016 20:01:56 GMT -5

Elliot was still trying to convince himself that this was worth the time he could otherwise be spending on his lastest project – all he could come up with in favor of this was how ahead he was in the other class, and how behind it seemed he was in this one. But that was because Dillis had other plans for him and Carla as top students. He felt like if he even tried to report this wacky conduct there really wouldn't be room for deliberation in his favor. Dillis as a professor had every right to encourage their creativity in writing, though Elliot was taking mental notes as to how unorthodox that encouragement was, as he was sure Carla was doing the same.

He rose his brow as Dillis explained the saber and then gave his example. He just... wanted them to pull whatever from their behinds? That plain and simple? Well yeah, Elliot could do that... he could channel his inner lofty daydreamer. It just had to be creative, unbelievable, outerworldy, and a potential start of something franchise-worthy. Not that he'd ever pay money to go see or read the story of a magical life-giving pickle. Talk about out of the box. No one would even want to put that in a box, it was just that silly. Okay. The toy tapped his shoulder and he shuddered slightly, he could put on a show if he so chose. He could surprise this professor, easy.

Elliot rose his head dreamily and met Dillis' gaze, beginning his tale. “The origin of the Rainbow Cloud begins way beyond our known galaxy -” He was tempted to give at least a semi-accurate trajectory of where that could possibly be if either of them cared to fact chack his fiction, but no. He knew this would stay between him, Dillis and Carla – and she had her own story to consider. “Some say it came to be when the Cosmic Unicorn sighed in remorse for its cousin Galaxy Stallion as he left for battle – others insist it is the spawn of King Cumulonimbus the Wise. A forgotten child, it is always following its only known sibling Rain Cloud – beaming down a spectrum of color for all as a sign of its hope to be reunited with the King and its siblings. But as far as Rainbow Cloud is concerned it claims it has always been here as a reminder for all that there is no sadness without happiness to follow.” Elliot ended the story, his expression soon releasing the relaxed quality it had during the length of the speech.

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys May 5, 2016 22:08:34 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on May 5, 2016 22:08:34 GMT -5

Willis sat at his desk, tapping his fingers together and nodding slightly listening to Elliot's tale. He was deep in thought processing what could have been Elliot's thought process and how well this was looking in his favor. he had to give Elliot credit for one thing at least - he finally lost that stiff look he'd been holding the entire time. "I see what you're doing there. You were trying to butter me up with the galaxy part," he stated. "That aside, definitely an improvement over the short story you handed in. It's got potential. A good premise for character development. Bonus points for the ponies. Ponies are very 'in' right now. I still think you got more in you than that. Just one thing, one small, minor detail may not hurt to remember for next time.... You're still being a little too precise! You can loosen up even more! Don't be afraid to take that next step outside of the box! Even that one pony being named after a cloud...come on, man! Give it some of the same feeling you did with Cosmic and Galaxy! Sunburst, Star Gazer, King Beetlejuice even!" Willis decided to leave it at that - for the moment. He didn't want to go too overboard too much. He had to remember, this was probably elliot's first real example of creativity all semester. He had to give the kid some credit on some level. Fortunately for Willis, he had another student to bag on...or rather, encourage. "Alright, Miss Prim and Proper, what you got?" he asked, tapping Carla with the light saber.

Carla still very much questioned the professor's methods. Not to mention she almost preferred 'nugger' to 'prim and proper'. She just didn't like the way he said that. But was the professor serious when he gave his example of a creative short story? It sounded like a wild adventure for three year olds...at least three year olds wouldn't care if nothing made sense! How much longer did they even have to sit in here listening to this? Part of her was hoping that if she kept quiet and listened, save for making a few comments, she could take in everything that was happening and conjure up the right responses when necessary. Not to mention if the professor took her silence as an agreement then maybe they could get out sooner. So much for that.

She had continued to keep quiet, just listening to Elliot's version of a creative short story. She didn't know hat the professor was getting at; it seemed perfectly creative to her. and she personally saw nothing wrong with a king pony being named after a cloud. It sounded professional authoritative...oh wait, maybe that's what Dillis had against it. But it seemed as though he gave it a good enough consensus. Or so most students would believe. Was it good enough to earn Elliot a better grade and prove that something the professor said was sinking in? Carla believed so. On the other hand, if something like that would only give Elliot a B compared to an A then there was a problem. And now somehow she had to get on a similar enough level. Letting out a sigh, Carla came up with one of the few possible things she thought the professor might approve of.

"On our planet we see chocolate as a substance of sweetness, derived from the cocoa trees and as a treat that can be served in a variety of ways. Little do we know that far away chocolate is anything but; they have their own population, their own colony, and their own way of life. Unfortunately, life for the Chocians is not so sweet. A bitter battles rages between the Whites, Milks, and Darks. If only they knew that three small Chocians, all with mixed cocoa in their veins, were the key to maintaining peace then perhaps not only could the siblings all grow up together but so could all the small Chocians in the colony."

"Mmmm, chocolate covered gummy bears," Willis thought aloud licking his lips. "Ok, bonus points to you, too, for basing characters off chocolate. That sounds like the kind of story with important lessons and can teach everyone the importance of diversity and getting along. I respect that. Still too much on the serious side, but respected. Just one thing, another really minor detail in the grand scheme of things.... Why did the first sentence have to be so accurate? That's the kind of thing that sets it up to be some documentary or science book, not a creative short story! Come on, girl, you know you can work it more than that!" Willis leaned back in his seat, rubbing his fingers against his forehead. He would admit, both students took a step in the right direction. They were at least listening; nothing less to be expected of these two. Still, Willis knew they could do even better. He couldn't just stop it here! What should his next move be...? "Ok, that all said, let me ask you guys a couple of questions," he said leaning forward again, "what grade would you give yourselves on those ideas? What do you think of the others' idea? Creative enough? Interesting enough? What grade would you give your classmate? Are the ideas good enough that you believe you could create a viable enough short story to fill, let's say, five to eight pages, and hand them in before the next class, thus boosting your grade and receiving any amount of extra credit in the process?"

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys May 6, 2016 18:22:46 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on May 6, 2016 18:22:46 GMT -5

Elliot was enjoying the constructive praise, up until Dillis commended him on the story being about ponies. “But,” he almost began to correct him – but, it was obvious that the pony thing had given him bonus points and he wasn't going to take it back. "um yeah, I'll have to remember that. For next time." he relented, just glad that it was as easy as he thought it'd be. It really didn't take much to please this professor now did it? Maybe he'd remember to bring the guy a bag of gummy bears or... jelly beans or something like that next time they met for class. He wanted to keep on his good side, after all - and it seemed like sugary treats would ensure that just fine.

Looking over to Carla as Dillis tapped her to begin her story, Elliot winced only slightly when her introduction hung heavy in the air. He knew that sounded stiff for their crazy professors standards, though it was good to him - concise and informative. Elliot tuned in to Carla's creative processes as she continued, the Chocian life certainly a bittersweet one. It had the makings for a saga, perhaps. He doubted Dillis would be too entertained by the hardship of the races as much as he would enjoy the imagery of a chocolate world with a chocolate populous. Needless to say, Elliot's logic on this was confirmed pretty quickly – the respect acknowledged and everything. So, had he really... done better than her? Not that he was going to boast about it or anything, but it was going to inwardly puff him up if so. He seemed to have more criticisms for her story than his. But of course they weren't going to be let loose, not yet. How could Elliot expect them to be off the hook already...

“To be honest,” Elliot began, answering each question as it had left his professor's mouth. “I could give myself a high grade, but only if it were longer.” He resisted saying 'more thorough' just in case. “Carla's idea is creative, but it has been done many times over. I don't think she was intending it that way and I think if she was given the chance to really expand upon the Chocians and their dilemma she could come up with something that could blow even you out of the water. But as it stands, I would give her an above average grade, a decent one - ” He spoke, both in attempt to make his story out to be the superior one as well as giving Carla the credit where it was due. He was sure she would do both things for his story, or at least he hoped as much. They were in the same boat on this, it didn't make much sense for one to try and completely sink the other. “Wait, clarify that last part. Are you saying I would take her idea and try to make a whole story of it? Or my own?” Again, Elliot just couldn't be sure with this pickle Dillis presented them. “I mean, I could make a story out of either of course – but, clarification is definitely necessary here.”

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys May 6, 2016 21:46:19 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on May 6, 2016 21:46:19 GMT -5

Of course Elliot would give himself a high grade. Carla would be the same way, though for different reasons. They were trying to advocate for themselves, after all; what kind of professor wanted his students to hear that they were ripping on themselves? Still, she didn't believe his story was better than hers. Just because the professor went and mentioned the story was about ponies didn't mean Elliot deserved a higher grade for playing along.And it wasn't like this was a competition...today. Carla believed the goal today would be survive whatever the professor had in store for them and maintain their near perfect averages. But if elliot really wanted to play that way....

"Elliot's idea may be original but I don't think it showed completely what he's capable of. His idea maintained some serious undertones as well," she stated. "Not to say my story was better or showed more potential than his; however whether my idea has been done over many times before or not that's the case with numerous stories. How many times has Cinderella or Romeo and Juliet been rewritten and re-performed? The variety is still there because no two people are going to take the same story and tell it exactly the same way. For the chance to tell my version of something in a more fictional world, to be able to put some different spin on it, I believe I would deserve a higher grade than Elliot. "

Willis sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Neither of you are getting this! This isn't about who has the better idea or who should get a higher grade or any of that mumbo jumbo!" he groaned. "What does it matter if anything even needs to be clarified? Because it sounds like neither of you would write the other's story if you think yours is so superior. Creativity isn't a competition! You know, unless you actually enter a creative writing contest...that's besides the point!"

Carla couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Do you need a refill on those gummy bears, professor?"

"What did I tell you two about using words like 'sir' and professor? Do I look like either to you?" Willis gasped. Oh wait, he probably didn't want to know the answer. "Never mind." He let out a sigh and tossed his now empty container into the garbage. "We're gonna try this exercise again. You two are going to continue to be pushed out of the box. That means with your writing and your thinking. That is, unless either of you really want me to use the light saber of creativity to give you two grades like, oh I don't know...a B minus? Or would a C really freak you nuggers out?" Despite what they may have been thinking, Willis was not done pushing their buttons yet. If he could pull out more stuff - whether it was from his mind or butt - and it was for the right reasons, Willis would pull out every step he had to!

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys May 11, 2016 15:07:53 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on May 11, 2016 15:07:53 GMT -5

Elliot grinned mildly, his ear tuned to Carla's defense and criticism. Sure she had a point, but choosing to recreate a fictional template when they were supposed to be as creative as possible? That was a cop out. She could afford to be a little less safe than that, especially when Dillis was asking for no holds barred. "Though she makes a good point, regardless - as a stand alone piece, I feel like Carla had every opportunity to be original and expand beyond a mold that's been-" he began to counter calmly, stopped short by their professor's discontent.

His brow quirked as Dillis had to correct himself and stifled a laugh with a clearing of his throat as Carla made her little observation. It seemed like his words took precedence over his thought process at this point. He was getting pretty worked up. He wondered how this guy thought about writing contests, if he was so against one mind competing with another. In Elliot's experience, competition was the spirit of life. It made things interesting, to use your mind and come out victorious over all others. The fact that Professor Dillis wanted them to show him what they were made of and yet didn't want to pit them against each other was beyond him.

If he wanted them to be more creative individually, why had he asked them to meet him at the same time? It seemed very counter-productive and just lazy. He probably wanted to save time for something silly like watching his Star Wars or playing with all his figurines instead. But of course the guy was full of surprises, Elliot had to give him that, along with how dedicated he seemed to pushing them out of this imaginary box he spoke of. His eyebrows furrowed with the challenge. There was something about Dillis' threatening their grades that really pissed Elliot off. It wasn't fair of him to do that, but if he called him on his bluff and he wasn't bluffing? Margot would have a field day. His eyes flashed with that anger and he clenched at the chair's arms, gritting his teeth behind pursed lips.

"I don't think that's necessary," Elliot said pointedly. "We get it, you have this authority over us and are trying to get us to do something that just isn't what we do by using your power to make us feel like we can't say no. Not that I'm not willing to try and play your games, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is your method is way out of whack. You're essentially blackmailing us to break out of our own cultivated writing styles. It's not going to work that way, it takes time. I don't see you being patient enough to wait and see what we could really do. No, you're happy just bullying us in to some kind of creative submission so you can just crack open our imaginations and rifle through them like they were treasure chests! Some professor you are to think you can do that! Why not wave your magic light saber thing and find yourself a more creative approach to this? Because all you're doing is making it harder by the minute to respect you." Though he hadn't meant to go off like that, Elliot sat back in his chair once he concluded, satisfied enough to cross his arms over his chest - his gaze trained upon Dillis' face.

Last Edit: May 11, 2016 15:08:41 GMT -5 by pierce

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Jul 5, 2016 11:27:26 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on Jul 5, 2016 11:27:26 GMT -5

Carla attempted not to roll her eyes at Elliot. He was entitled to his opinion and just because he thought her idea didn't have enough merit to be different or that she could do better, that didn't make him right. Granted, she could do better if given more time to actually come up with something. She was sure Elliot's case would be the same. However in thinking about the numerous books and movies retelling the same thing or based on the same idea - Romeo and Juliet/Grease/West Side Story as well as the countless Cinderella tales being the obvious ones - each retelling still had something that made it uniquely different from the original despite the fact that the plots were the same. Did it or did it not take a creative mind to tell their own version of an old story and make it stand out from all the others?

Those thoughts quickly left her mind when Elliot began talking back to the professor. While she did see his point and she didn't like the idea of any grade of hers being in jeopardy, she wasn't going to open her mouth and comment. Carla was more curious to see what the professor would actually respond and how he would handle himself.

Willis' eyes were on the verge of twitching and a couple of his fingers were tapping against his desk in an uneven pattern. It was almost like he had no idea how to respond to Elliot. All those things coming out of the boy's mouth and the way he was holding his ground with it...why the heck couldn't he put that into his writing? Ok, so it was still very right-field thinking. but to Willis it at least felt like a small step in the better direction. Still.... "De...but...who...wha...gah!" He laid his hands evenly on his desk before forcing on a straight face. "Excuse me for one moment," he said simply. Pushing himself out of the chair, Willis walked out of his office. Glancing both ways down the hall he made sure no one was around. Perfect. With no one around and his two students on the other side of the wall, Willis proceeded to lightly hit his head against the wall on the opposite end. It was an overdone and childish thing to do, but Willis could also very much be a child. Once he hit his head a couple of times he walked back into the office feeling refreshed somehow.

"Thank you for that moment, nuggets," he said calmly before sitting back at his desk. Going crazy on them wasn't going to work. Simply talking to them at this point probably wasn't going to be enough. Did willis really have to swallow his pride and be an...adult to them? Any of his students could say anything about him, as far as Willis was concerned. But none of them could say he didn't care about the students. Was he never getting that point across even once? Sighing, he took his glasses to fiddle with slightly in his hands. "I wasn't trying to blackmail you, I was trying to make a point. Neither of you are deserving of C's, not even B minus. What kind of professor do you think I am?" Seeing them both about to respond, Willis quickly held up a finger. "Actually don't answer that." He sighed and put his glasses back on. "You know what, you're right. I do think I can crack open your minds like treasure chests. Because the imagination is in there. Neither of you seem to get that. The two of you are clearly so comfortable in your own styles and, I don't know, how some sort of robot genes in you or something and if I can't break you out of that in the slightest bit and attempt to show you guys in any crazy way I can think of some other ideas or thought process and to really crack open those imaginations of yours then clearly I'm not doing my job as a professor." He leaned back in his chair, somewhat anxiously waiting their responses. "Comments?"

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Jul 5, 2016 21:18:10 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on Jul 5, 2016 21:18:10 GMT -5

Elliot's heart raced in his chest as his words settled between them, falling down in to a big pile of backsass upon Dillis' desk. He witnessed the unease those words caused, the nervous break in his professor's eccentric behavior. He'd actually gotten through to the man. It was almost like a miracle, but Elliot felt something else along with the pride that it gave him to see Dillis actually speechless. He felt a little guilty, too. It was made clear that his professor's intentions weren't bad - not even misguided - they'd just been presented to them in the wrong way. Or to him at least. He wasn't sure what Carla got out of all this. He looked over to her when their professor took a moment outside, a light thumping occurring directly after and stopping a few seconds before Dillis' return.

It was good to see that he hadn't completely lost his mind, even if he had knocked himself against the wall enough to leave an obvious red mark on his forehead. Elliot was coming around to that guilt within him, which turned to pity as he began to speak. So now that Dillis was finally leveling with them, there was a reason to try and impress him. It took respect to give it back as far as Elliot was concerned - so now that he wasn't treating them like, bad dogs that were supposed to be pedigree or something - it would be easier for him to try and show respect to his professor. All he wanted to do was see if they could stretch and expand their boundaries.

"You can't force the imagination out, it has to be inspired. You haven't inspired us, you just told us to sit and make up nonsense. I could do that all day, and I'm sure Carla could too - but that wouldn't make us happy. If we could... find some kind of median here, where we do attempt to express our imaginations more - but not to the point where we're grasping for all the silly things in our heads just to appease you - I think this could work. We might all be surprised with the results. Just put on your thinking cap, or tap yourself with that magic saber and come up with something we could all benefit from."

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Jul 6, 2016 9:21:25 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on Jul 6, 2016 9:21:25 GMT -5

Carla had no idea what she was expecting the professor's reaction to be but it definitely wasn't that. The stammering, the speechlessness, actually getting up to walk out of the room.... Her only relief was that she wasn't the one that caused that. She raised an eyebrow and glanced at Elliot when a thumping came from the other end...was the professor hitting something? That was.... Different. Whatever he did it worked because when Dillis walked back into the room he seemed more - not quite normal, but a little less to the right side of thinking. She listened and appreciated his apology, though she could still do without him referring to them as nuggets.

"I do agree with Elliot. And we only have so much time we can devote to pulling nonsense out," she said. "You can try to convince us to think differently and alter our writing styles all you want but in the end we're overall comfortable with how we write. For us to change anything, that doesn't happen overnight and it certainly won't happen throughout the course of this meeting. You've said you know we're capable of maintaining our grades, that we're not those C students. Give us the chance to prove it and we will - under the right circumstances."

"You guys think nonsense just comes outta nowhere? I have to come up with nonsense after nonsense just to post the very right story on my blog. If I type the first thing that comes to my head every time I would never come up with the idea I get five nonsenses later," Dillis explained. He pointed to Carla, "You say you need time. You'll have a week to hand in a new assignment, both of you. I know you nuggets can come up with something in a week." He then pointed to Elliot, "And you say that you need to be inspired. Give the nonsense a chance, it can be so inspiring! It can take you to a world you never knew existed. Come on, guys. Give it just one more chance. No pressure.... This time."

Did he really have to pause right before saying 'this time?'

Willis picked up his light saber and tapped each of them once. "Take a minute and come up with the silliest thing you can think of. It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to be a story or a plot. One silly thing and tell me what that silly thing makes you think about. If it makes you think about a setting or an idea for a character or if it's trying to tell you anything. I will even accept if it makes you think about what to eat for dinner tonight." He wasn't saying it in a more forceful manner this time. Willis was still trying to pull something out of them, but it wasn't to create a silly story or to prove a point to him. At this point he just wanted them to see for themselves that there was potential for something else instead of all the brainy, obvious and what-was-right-in-front-of-them stuff.

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Jul 7, 2016 18:02:32 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on Jul 7, 2016 18:02:32 GMT -5

It was nice to be on the same page with Carla again. Elliot sat proud in his seat as she told their professor what's what. Did he really think he could threaten them in to changing their styles right off the bat? Considering the fact that he'd completely forgotten he'd asked them there, Elliot was willing to give him some benefit of the doubt and just assume he rushed through the first part of their pow wow. He knew how rushing led to desperation, he'd seen it plenty of times at the end of many high school semesters as he and Margot begged and pleaded their confused teachers for just one more assignment, something extra that could break an academic tie between them.

As Dillis seemed to defend himself and his own writing style (much like they had been doing) Elliot listened intently. It sure seemed like the shoe was on the other foot now - though Elliot wasn't past giving the man a chance, especially now that he was coming to his more teacherly senses. The second he mentioned an assignment, his notepad was drawn out from his pocket along with his pen, ready for notetaking. Though he only scribbled down "week" and "nonsense" before looking up at the professor pointing at him. He nodded brief, tucking the items away.

Of course even though Willis Dillis was becoming a little more reasonable in his approach, it didn't make him any less eccentric. As he wielded his lightsaber of creativity again, Elliot held in a groan. The instruction wasn't difficult. What was one silly thing out of a hundred billion? A few ridiculous things came to mind, but taking those things and relating creatively to them was... harder than Elliot had figured it would be. Nonsense just wasn't his best source for inspiration... but still, he was going to at least try.

"Okay, well I considered a few silly things but what stood out the most was a zoo of balloon animals. You know, the kind that just hover with the paper feet? Yeah, so that made me think about how regular zoos would be if the animals turned to balloons and just escaped out of their cages by lifting up out of them." It was a funny thought to Elliot especially, he never liked zoos much so there was a poetic justice factor in his imagination of the situation.

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Jul 8, 2016 8:41:51 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on Jul 8, 2016 8:41:51 GMT -5

Come up with something creative in a week? Or...at least more creative by the professor's standards? It definitely sounded doable. Although Carla could have done without the light saber and trying to pull something out of her butt on the spot. Then again, was there any less to be expected from this professor? She let Elliot go first with his 'silly' idea. The first thing Carla came up with was that they were in a video game designed by alien races constantly at war, but what kind of video game involved going to school and learning that wasn't for elementary schoolers? She could come up with something at least a little sillier than that.

"Ok, that's pretty silly," Willis nodded. "Balloon animal zoo, how many people do you think can think of that? There are possibilities with that. Don't be afraid to tap into those possibilities at least a little bit. If it run by clowns? Did the clowns make all the animals? Is it some alternate reality where animals are all balloons? Is a wizard playing jokes on someone? Ok I'm getting ahead of myself." he too quickly jumped into a few possibilities himself and had to cut himself off. He didn't want to force Elliot to use the idea or help him come up with something creative, in the smallest sense, so Elliot wouldn't have to. All Willis wanted to do was show his students that coming up with something more out of left field was possible. Come on, even serious people had to have some silly thoughts.... Right? "Alright girlie, what's your silly thought?" he asked Carla.

"Well...I had a hamster a few years ago. I always thought it would be silly if, when I left for school or work, he'd sneak out of his cage and get into everything. Play games on the internet, read my books, steal back something that my brother stole from me..." she admitted.

"A hamster opening a big ol' textbook with his tiny paws? Ok, that's kind of silly," Willis admitted. Actually, he could kind of picture that. A little cartoon hamster trying to get a heavy book open and constantly falling on his back...ok that was more adorable than silly. "But that's it? No crazy hamster adventures, no flirting with the neighbor mouse? No super powers?"

Carla bit her tongue and looked down slightly, hesitant to admit to it. Did she really have to just to make a point? "He...he sort of had the power to detect the delicate spot in any hard material and could break it down by nibbling on it.The only thing in his way were dogs and severe allergies."

Willis blinked. "Ok so still kind of specific." He paused and shook his head. "But do you two see my point now? Not everything has to be all accurate or descriptive or serious. You're allowed to take some liberties. You have more in you than you think. Don't be afraid to use it. Or, at least every once in a while. You can try to perfect your writing styles all you want but at the end of the day, if you're not willing to at least trying something else at some point, you're never going to get any better. And you're not gonna be the best writers you can be. That I know you can be. Get it?"

Carla raised an eyebrow. "Why couldn't you just say that in the first place?" she inquired. "Why the antics, the pushing and...why a light saber? Is that really necessary."

Willis chuckled lightly. "I'm a teacher. I'm supposed to challenge nuggets, aren't I? What's the fun in just getting right to the point and not seeing what you have inside of you?" He picked up the light saber and swung it lightly between his hands. "And yes. As long as I prof here the light saber of creativity will always be necessary."

Last Edit: Jul 8, 2016 8:42:58 GMT -5 by Lori

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
Swag Master

Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Jul 11, 2016 14:33:50 GMT -5

Quote

Post by pierce on Jul 11, 2016 14:33:50 GMT -5

Elliot was... somewhat inspired by the subsequent ideas of Dillis. He blinked blankly, brows raised at the numerous possibilities, here he thought he'd come up with an imaginative enough idea only to have his professor shoot the moon. There was the reason why he was the head creative writing professor, right there. Though yeah, he did get ahead of himself, he also gave Elliot an idea of exactly what he'd been pushing on them. He nodded and looked over as Carla spoke. Again, her creative concept was one that he could swear he'd heard before.

He kept his mouth shut though, thinking of the ample examples where either animals or inanimate objects did things that their owners had no idea about. It caused him to wonder - if the concept was passe yet or if it still had plenty of spins to keep people interested. He could only suppose so. If the characters were relatable enough, he could sit through another "blank comes to life when the doors are closed" kind of movie.

As Dillis began to speak to both of them again, Elliot considered his words. He was sure he'd said this before, maybe in a different way - but only now was it taken to heart. Their professor just wanted them to challenge themselves and not get too comfortable. He'd been saying that this whole time! He half-smirked as Carla began her questioning.

At this point he already realized that Dillis' methods for the most part weren't supposed to make any sense. Not in the sense that they made sense, anyway - if that even made sense. But as perplexing as the methods could get, they were coming from a good place. From the start he'd been winging it, Elliot was sure of that. He'd been mistaken when he thought he could scare both of them in to abandoning their cultivated styles to make them more to his tastes. "Why don't you use it during class then, if it's always necessary? Or better yet - why not carry it with you at all times? You never know when you'll need it." Elliot suggested in amusement. Maybe Dillis did crack his shell a little bit, enough for him to see that yeah - it didn't all have to be so serious.

Last Edit: Jul 11, 2016 14:34:17 GMT -5 by pierce

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Lori
Kool Kat

Joined: July 2015
Posts: 706

Uncreative Killjoys Jul 13, 2016 0:46:39 GMT -5

Quote

Post by Lori on Jul 13, 2016 0:46:39 GMT -5

Of course, what a silly question of Carla to ask! Why would the light saber possibly not be needed at all? Of course that was the utmost important thing for a creative writing professor to have above all else! Dillis really was just too much like her brother; while she should know better hot to handle that she just had to try. At least she didn't have to think exactly like them for the professor to like her idea at all. Or else that would have completely destroyed the idea of the exercise. She was sure Elliot had his own opinions. If his earlier responses were any indication, he would have pushed her a lot farther than the professor. But unlike more incompetent people she knew, Carla respected Elliot. Neither of them would be in the program, let alone earn and maintain the grades they did, unless they had the passion and talent. Still, while Dillis had to have similar qualities, could they not have been toned down a little? Carla could only handle so many crazy people in her life.

Willis started out with a scoff and then let out a laugh. He laughed a couple more times, although they became increasingly sarcastic. "Are you trying to get me fired?" Ok, maybe that was a horrible question to ask. If only they knew how many times Willis actually tried to bring his light saber of creativity to class. He could picture the cartoony versions that were barely accurate in his mind as if they just happened last year.

Day One: Willis carries his light saber and dresses in his casual Star Wars attire. He enters his classroom on his first day to happily greet the new freshmen in the writing program. "Good morning students! I'm your new creative writing professor Willis! And this..." He pulls out his light saber and turns it on. "...This is my light saber of creativity!" He proceeds to accidentally hit his own desk and knock over a globe he didn't even realize was there.

Later: Willis stands in Headmaster Audet's office, getting scolded by Headmaster Audet for bringing a weapon to class, breaking something, and sending the wrong message to students. At least he's pretty sure that's what's happening. Most things coming out of the Headmaster's mouth sound like the adults in an old Charlie Brown cartoon. Also Cartoon Headmaster Audet has a funny mustache and a big butt.

Day Twenty-Six: Willis invites a student having creative problems into his office. Willis acts like a 'responsible' professor only to suddenly pull a glowing light saber out from under his desk. He goes to tap the student with it, and the student proceeds to freak out. Student falls back on chair and somehow hits their nose on the door.

Later: Willis returns to Funny Mustache/Big Butted Headmaster Audet's office. He's pretty sure he's called Sue. Unless Headmaster Audet said someone wanted to sue him.... Huh. Good thing that never amounted to anything. Nacho time!

Day One Hundred Ninety-Nine: Willis is only allowed to remove his light saber from his office when he moves into the room at the beginning of the year or cleans it out at the end. Willis attempts to sneak out in the middle of the school year with the light saber to show it off to a group of Star Wars nerds. He just wants to be cool like the students. Willis barely takes five steps out of the office with his saber before he's stopped by a Funnier Mustache Wearing/Big Butted/Pudgy Bellied Headmaster Audet staring him down. Willis gives an innocent yet funky smile. He slowly backs into the office. He emerges moments later with a slightly broken, non-glowing, somewhat old school red light saber and a Darth Vader mask. "Wanna enter the costume contest as Vader and Skywalker for Halloween...?" he asks hopefully. Audet is unamused. He takes the red light saber, breaks it, drops it, and walks away. Willis cries rubber duckies over his toy.

Bottom line was, Willis wasn't exactly allowed to bring his light saber around campus let alone to class unless he was moving it somewhere. Too dangerous his tiny butted behind. But that didn't matter. By this point Willis had been silent in his cartoony flashbacks for a few minutes, more than likely confusing his students. When he blinked and saw them still sitting in front of him, Willis shook his head. "Sorry, what were we talking about?"

There were a few ways to handle this. Option one was to say Dillis was dismissing them and they could finally be free to not only begin their own projects but also focus on the numerous other assignments Carla and Elliot had. Option two was to bring up the light saber of creativity and how Dillis failed to tell them verbally why he couldn't bring them to class; but that would mean they would continue sitting in his office and how much more could either of them really take? Option three was to take a page from Dillis' own unwritten book. Somehow it seemed like there was only one clear choice, especially considering how this meeting had gone.

"You were telling us about your pet imaginary giraffe," Carla answered.

Willis grinned. "Ah yes. My good friend, Elsonburg. I call him Burger because he's colored like a cheeseburger and wears a green bowtie."

Somehow that response did not come as a surprise.

∫ The Momma ∫ The Flirt ∫ The Hookup ∫ The Lover ∫ The Good Girl ∫ The Ryan
∫ The Pokémon Master ∫
∫ The Goof ∫ The Nerd ∫ The Big Guy ∫ The Quiet ∫ The Proud ∫ The Quirk ∫
∫ The Girlie ∫ The Struggle ∫
∫ The Light Saber of Creativity ∫

pierce
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Joined: August 2015
Posts: 1,079

Uncreative Killjoys Jul 15, 2016 23:36:51 GMT -5

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Post by pierce on Jul 15, 2016 23:36:51 GMT -5

“Uh, no?” Elliot's gaze blinked at his professor and widened before his eyes veered toward Carla as Dillis seemed to completely zone out. “Should we... do something?” he asked in a hushed voice. Their professor's blank stare was definitely disconcerting at this point - just when it had seemed a conclusion was on the horizon. Even though they were top students and had plenty of other things to do... Elliot couldn't bring himself to get out of his chair and leave the office. He waved his hands in front of his face a couple of times, but that did nothing to bring him back.

As if by some divine intervention, Dillis surfaced back to reality – seemingly unaware of where he was at in their conversation, or that there'd been a conversation to even speak of. Thankfully Carla spoke up before he did. It made him smirk slightly, both her answer and Dillis' reply. “And you were saying how Elsonbrug would've been quite the addition to a balloon zoo. That he'd, in fact, be the leader of the balloon resistance against the zoo keepers and its owners.” he fibbed just the same. Elliot normally wasn't the kind of person that would fabricate anything... but hey, Carla had started and who was he to not join in the fun? At least they were being creative, Dillis would be proud if he knew what was going on.

the Girls:
Tamara Dudley * Cleo Leon * Julietta 'Remy' Polait * Eloise Temple, PI * Perla Mercer * Lynn Goodwin * Lilith Peters

the Guys:
Bennett Dudley * Elliot Sadler * Lance Fleece * Clay Carpet * Wade Rawlson * Sylvan Peters * Clint Clark * Miles Lambert * Marty Rivers * Calvin Powell

Metric School of the Arts
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Post by Lori on Apr 22, 2016 21:01:52 GMT -5

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Post by pierce on Jul 15, 2016 23:36:51 GMT -5

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