fandomhigh | Ocker 101 - Week one [Friday 14/05]

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ocker 101

Ocker 101 - Week one [Friday 14/05]

Mick had been assigned a classroom. That didn't mean he was going to use it. When the students arrived, they'd find a note stuck to the door which read:

Outside, near the big tree.

-Mick

It also had a simple map, with a path from the classroom to the tree.

As promised, Mick was outside near the big tree. He was sitting on its lowest branch, hat forward over his eyes, to all appearances asleep. When his class was all there, he hopped down with a big grin.

"G'day. I'm Michael J 'Crocodile' Dundee," he tipped his hat to the class, "call me Mick. Teaching's not my usual lark, but I've got you blokes, and sheila," he nodded at Cara ~~if she was there~~, "for the next few weeks, so I'm gonna show you a thing or two." He waved at them to sit on the grass. "Before we get started, you're gonna tell me about yourself, where you come from, all that, 'cause you've gotta know who your mates are. Then you're gonna learn how us Aussies talk."

"I'll go first for the intros." He mimed a couple of dance steps. "Up north in the Never Never, where the land is hot and bare, there lived a mighty hunter named Mick Dundee, who could dance like Fred Astaire." He grinned again. "Can't rhyme for shit, though. I come from Australia, from Walkabout Creek up in the Territory. Spent most of my time out bush, doin' a bit of huntin', a bit of fishin', a bit of taking drongo tourists into the Outback and keepin' 'em from being eaten by crocs. Spent some time in New York city, 'til my Sheila went walkabout overseas, and now I'm here." He pointed randomly at a student. "Your go."

Once the introductions were done, he pulled a pile of papers from under a rock. "One of the sheilas in the office put these together for you lot," he explained as he passed them out. "Don't hold much with book learnin', but you're gonna need these. Couple of things to pay attention to: g'day, mate, bush, bloke, sheila, dag, no worries, fair dinkum, stubbie and shout." He nodded at them knowingly. "Them last two are real important. Have a go, practice with each other, talk about your weekend or what you're gonna get up to tonight, or somethin' about where you come from, just make sure you do it in Strine. Oh yeah, and I want you to try speaking Aussie at least once this week."

Before everyone left at the end of class, he told them, "Next week we're gonna be in that Danger Shop place, so I'll see you there."

[~~Hangabout 'til I get the~~ OCD's up, bog in!]

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Mick's mates with everybody, but he likes to know a thing or two about 'em.

"I'm Edmund," Edmund introduced, starting them off. If he sounded a touch bewildered, that was because he was. Apparently Mick had that effect on him. "I'm from Narnia, though before that I lived in England," he explained for the benefit of the Australian.

Mick grinned at him. "Pommy, eh?" He had no idea where Narnia was; before a couple of months ago he'd had no idea where New York was, so it didn't worry him. He focussed on what was important. "Not gonna whinge, are you?"

Edmund looked affronted by the implication. "Narnians don't whinge." Well, not any more anyway. Not that he really knew altogether what whinging was, except that it sounded a lot like whining.

"Fair enough!" was the response, along with another grin. Not that the first had ever quite left. "Then Eddie, me mate, you get to be my TA. School says I've gotta have one, and you're it."

For a few moments, Edmund looked like he was going to protest. Whether it was because of being called Eddie or the TA part was really open to debate, because in the end, Edmund instead composed himself and managed a "thank you?"

"I'm Cara." She enunciated every word as clearly as possible. No reason. "I'm from the Midlands."

"G'day, Cazza." He tipped his hat to her. "I'll try to go easy on you, you being a sheila and all."

She still hadn't started feeling comfortable without them, but now Cara's palms were fairly itching for her agiels.

It looked like this was going to be the Margrave all over again. If he started expecting her to speak in rhyme then rules or no rules someone would die.

"Cara," she ground out, with oddly more vowels than the first time. "My name is Cara. I do not need to be gone easy on."

He positively beamed at her. "No worries, luv, I can treat you like one of the blokes." She was still going to be Cazza, though. "You've not been spending time in Aus, have you? Sounds like you've gotta touch of the Strine about you."

A muscle in Cara's jaw worked overtime as she reminded herself that it would upset Kahlan and Richard if she killed a teacher in the first week.

"No." It'd be harder for those vowels to multiply with monosyllabic words. Not impossible, but harder.

Re: Introduce yourselves [14/05]

whatacrocdundee.livejournal.com - 2010-05-14 10:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Introduce yourselves [14/05]

wrongkindofsith - 2010-05-14 10:28 (UTC) - Expand

"I'm Jonas," he said, nodding politely at Mick, "and I'm from a place called the Community. There was no real slang like this so it's all a bit new to me. It sounds very interesting when spoken though. I'm really learning on how much I missed living there."

"G'day, Jonno." Mick nodded in return, flashing him a smile. "No slang, eh? Gonna have to do something about that. Tell you what, we'll make you an honorary Aussie. That'll give you more words than you'll know what to do with."

"Thank you, sir," Jonas said, unable to keep a smile from crossing his face at that. "I've never been an honorary anything so hopefully I can do this honor proud. If I ever do get to go back home," Jonas started, even if he knew that wasn't going to happen, "I don't think they'll be able to understand me once I learn all this. I think that might be beneficial."

"Man after me own heart," Mick said approvingly. "Nothing like being able to call a drongo a drongo when they don't know you're doing it." And then realising Jonas wouldn't have any idea what that was, he added, "A drongo, that's someone who's not too bright."

Once Mick filled in that blank, Jonas snickered and ducked his head. "Hopefully, I can go from being a drongo to being...someone who is not a drongo so I can use that word correctly."

Drongo. Jonas repeated it and decided he liked ho that one sounded.

"I think most people back home would deserve that label being applied to them," he said, nodding. "They can all be drongos while I learn everything I can."

Re: Introduce yourselves [14/05]

whatacrocdundee.livejournal.com - 2010-05-14 11:37 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Introduce yourselves [14/05]

see-beyond.livejournal.com - 2010-05-14 11:54 (UTC) - Expand

Right, his turn to bypass the confusion and mimic the teacher's tale. "Uh hi, I'm Clark Kent," he flashed a bright smile. "I'm from Smallville, Kansas. Uh, that's this continent. I seem to be studying a lot of foreign languages this semester."

"G'day, Clarkie," Mick said. Yes, everyone got a nickname. Everyone. "Strine's not like one of them other foreign languages, it's actually useful." He grinned. "Specially in this class."

"Hi! Or, g'day! I'm Robin, and I'm from the Florida Everglades."

"G'day, Robbo," he said, staring at Robin with unabashed curiosity. "You're a frog, ain'tcha?"

"Uh huh! A Muppet frog which is a little different than other kinds."

"Strewth, never seen anything like you before!" he said, pushing his hat back to get a better look at him. "Good on ya for takin' the class. You need anythin', you let me know. Don't want a litle fella like you gettin' in trouble."

"Most people not from my world haven't." Robin nodded. "I'll be fine sir, I might not have grown up in the Outback, but I've been going to this school for three years."

"James, of Krondor. I'm from the Kingdom of the Isles, on another planet." By his dress, he was not from modern Earth times.

"Jame-o, g'day." Another grin, another tip of the hat. "Nother planet, hey? What's that like, then?"

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