Tao of a Silly Old Bear, Monday, Period Two

[uncertain_dume]

It really was a good thing today's class was second period, because the moment Kanan had told Stance, "We're going to be gathering some sticks for class," Stance had been a dog on a mission. They just barely finished trotting to meet the class at the front doors to the school today when the bell rang for the lesson to start.

"Today," Kanan said, "we're going to walk while I give the lecture, otherwise we'll never get to do our class activity. But first, take a stick. Stance spent a lot of time this morning making sure they're all the best stick ever."

"They are! I made sure!" And that would be Stance, who was sitting like a good boy next to Kanan, letting him talk. "I looked really really hard for all the best sticks ever!"

"So no worrying about which is which," Kanan said, not terribly concerned that they would, no. He nodded toward the preserve and started walking, and Stance immediately bounded up and started trotting along. "Today, we'll be talking about the principle of Wu Wei, which basically means, 'without doing, causing, or making.'" A beat. "Yes, I know. Half of you already hate it before I've even explained it. What it means, practically speaking, is to go about life without combative or egotistical effort. To respect and follow the nature of things, like water flowing over and around the rocks in its path. It still gets to the place it's going. Hell, it still affects change along the way- erosion is a mighty force enacted with patience over time. But when we follow our own inner nature and respect the natural laws that govern the world around us, things are meant to work--"

"Stick! This one's mine!"

"Uh." Kanan glanced at Stance as he trotted a big, happy circle around the entire group, making sure all their sticks were still perfect ones too. "Anyway, the rest of this lecture was supposed to be about square pegs and round holes, but we're coming up on a stream now, so I'm going to have us just play a game that was in the book, instead. We're going to be racing our sticks."

Stance stopped in his tracks, staring up at Kanan with wide eyes and a small branch in his mouth.

Kanan just kind of grinned back. "We drop the sticks into the stream all at once, and the person whose stick passes a certain point is the winner. No cheating - this all has to be done using the natural force of the water's flow. There are two fallen logs over the stream, we'll use those as our markers, drop the sticks on one side of the first log, and then wait for the sticks to pass by under the second. Any questions?"

"Cahn ahh kee mai thick?"

"Yeah, buddy. You don't have to drop yours."

Comments

Sign In!

[uncertain_dume]

Going with the flow.

Or with a stick.

Re: Sign In!

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina

Re: Sign In!

[seriesofbaddecisions]

Sabine Wren

Re: Sign In!

[intotheout]

Gratuity Tucci

Lecture!

[uncertain_dume]

Walking, talking, moving through the woods. No, Kanan doesn't necessarily agree with every aspect of this, but this class is the Tao according to a silly old bear, not a jaded twenty-something Padawan.

Stance seems to have the swing of it, though.

Re: Lecture!

[bookbeltof_love]

Stance was adorable and Nina was definitely paying more attention to her stick and to Stance than she was to Kanan.

Besides, it was a glorious day out and who'd want to listen to grumpy bus driver?

... sorry, Kanan

Activity!

[uncertain_dume]

It's Pooh Silly Old Bear Sticks! Stand on the first log, drop your stick, and wait for it to cross by under the second log!

RNG says that after a slow journey and hitting the occasional patch of water plants or getting caught in little twirly currents, the sticks come out from under the log bridge as so:

Sabine, Tip, Del, Lana, Nina, Nell.

... Or it looks like that's the order people's sticks will come out from under the bridge, but Stance can't take it anymore and jumps into the water at the last moment to try to round them up before they're all lost forever.

"IGOTHEM!"

"Yeah, buddy. Yeah, you did."

Inner Nature, folks.

Re: Activity!

[seriesofbaddecisions]

Sabine dropped her stick.

Go, stick. Go.

Re: Activity!

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina had been mildly put out that her stick was losing (which even she realized was ridiculous) so Stance ruining everything?

Was super great!

"Go, Stance!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Re: Activity!

[uncertain_dume]

Stance was going! He was going he was gonna get every stick life was great and!

"Nina." That would be Kanan, not Stance, stepping up beside her and watching his dog ruin the activity, there. "Can I have a moment?"

Re: Activity!

[bookbeltof_love]

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, well that was a little bit ominous, wasn't it? Still, like, they'd already served their detention for it, so even if he was grumpy, Nina was pretty sure she could, like, take it.

"Sure!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she chirped, clasping her hands behind her back. "What can I do for you?????????????"

Besides, like, if the Dean hadn't hit them, she was pretty sure Kanan wasn't going to either.

Re: Activity!

[intotheout]

Tip pretty much immediately lost track of which stick was hers, so she was just fine with Stance doing his thing.

What? This was all going with the flow, right?

Re: Activity!

[unusual_sith]

Lana dropped her stick, a bit bemused at the whole thing.

Just until Stance jumped in. It would take a better Sith than her to avoid cracking up at that.

"Well, the things that he does, he definitely does well."

Talk to Kanan! Or Stance.

[uncertain_dume]

One is your teacher. The other wants to talk to everybody anyway!

Re: Talk to Kanan! Or Stance.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

Don't mind Sabine, who was just going to crouch down and call, "Here, Stance," because she wanted to see this up close.

Re: Talk to Kanan! Or Stance.

[uncertain_dume]

"Oh! Sabine, hi Sabine! Hi how are you thank you for dropping that stick for me, that was very nice of you!"

Why yes, Stance was totally running over to jump up and say hi even if the icon was going to forever be Kanan today.

Re: Talk to Kanan! Or Stance.

[seriesofbaddecisions]

"You're welcome," she said, smiling as she gave him pats. "You have more energy than I thought!"

There was something about hearing it.

Re: Talk to Kanan! Or Stance.

[intotheout]

Yeah, Tip was definitely going to be chatting with Stance today.

"So," she said without preamble. "What you definitely need to do this week is talk to the ducks."

For a peace treaty? For the joy of watching a dog actually yell while chasing the ducks around? Honestly, either way would be just fine with Tip.

Re: Talk to Kanan! Or Stance.

[uncertain_dume]

"They don't wanna talk to me," Stance said, and that was absolutely a little doggy pout, there. "They think I'm a menace."

Because he kinda was.

Re: Talk to Kanan! Or Stance.

[intotheout]

Yeah, that didn't surprise Tip in the least.

"Oh yeah? Did you ask them why?"

Re: Talk to Kanan! Or Stance.

[unusual_sith]

"So this is a new weird," Lana observed.

Re: Talk to Kanan! Or Stance.

[uncertain_dume]

"So far as weirdness goes," Kanan mused, "I can cope with this. Except when he calls me 'daddy.'"

Kanan was never going to get used to 'daddy.'

Talk to the TA!

[uncertain_dume]

When she tags in!

Re: Talk to the TA!

[seriesofbaddecisions]

Sabine was here, and kinda figured that every week she internally proved that she was terrible for this class.

OOC!

[uncertain_dume]

Oh, pooh sticks.