I was the underdog, so excuse me a bit, Lesson 003 Options

[Carpe Izepic-Nec...]

Carpe was going to be late, but it wasn't his fault. He had been trying to run through the gardens with a heavy suit on, and sweat was practically dripping from his face. He was only 5'7" but trying to lug around at least a hundred extra pounds on his lean frame. The suit was black and white--a thick coat of fake fur. To him, he felt like he belonged at an amusement park more than he did in the middle of a forest. Carpe tripped over the large fur paws that he had taken the time to put on, and then tried to hold his suit up with another pair of paws on his hands.

He got there late by a few minutes, but his instructor was already frowning. "Sorry," he huffed, "it was a long run--"

"Two minutes." The man was large, nearly a foot taller than Carpe, and burly. "That's two extra minutes you owe me for wasting my time."

"Sorry..." Carpe's shoulders sagged a little and he shuffled his feet.

"Yeah. On the ground," came the reply.

On the ground? Was this like in gym class where he had to do pushups? This was not in the Animagus instruction books! Carpe started to go into pushup position, when the man cleared his throat. "What exactly are you trying to do? On all fours. How do you expect to learn to be like a panda if you are trying to do pushups all day? Ridiculous." Carpe grimaced, and went onto his hands and knees. "Now, how do you think a bear walks? They don't walk like humans, they walk like bears obviously. So start walking like one."

This was going to be a fun class, Carpe could tell.

Post 001
WC: 291

(IMG:http://i.imgur.com/m82vY.png)

This post has been edited by Carpe Izepic: Apr 4 2012, 10:42 PM

[Carpe Izepic-Nec...]

Carpe looked down at the tufts of grass growing out from between the soft dirt under his covered hands. It was staining the undersides of the paws. Walk like a bear. How did they walk? Carpe looked up at the instructor, Mr. Waserstein. "Okay, now growl madly."

Growling. Carpe, for the life of him, couldn't remember a time when he ever needed to growl, and even at that, he was pretty sure it wouldn't have any animistic character to it. He cleared his throat and gave it a try. The sad gurgle that erupted from his throat made him feel like Simba in the face of three hyenas. "You call that a growl?" the hyena of an instructor asked in disbelief. "Use your gut."

Carpe instinctively looked downwards at his belly. "Right. My gut--I can do that." He tried it again, and this time, a little something came out. However, his instructor pinched the bridge of his nose and slapped the boy on the back of the head. "Concentrate! Don't feel stupid doing it. No one is here but me. Breathe in deep and let your shoulder rise. When you exhale, put everything into it. Your whole body should be growling and it's a statement! See, bears growl when something is considered dangerous. You're warning them, not inviting them to beat you to pulp. Now do it like you mean it."

His shoulders sagged under the heavy weight of the costume, but he did as he was told. Carpe closed his eyes and breathed in deep, before letting it all rush out of him. Damn, it felt good.

Post 002
WC: 287

This post has been edited by Carpe Izepic: Apr 12 2012, 01:29 AM

[Carpe Izepic-Nec...]

"That was weak. You're going to be a bear, not a damned weasel." Carpe let out a loud sigh and sat back down onto the ground. He got a disapproving sound from his instructor to which Carpe looked up and gave him a 'what now?' look. "Alright, well it was good enough for now. Up, up, up." Mr. Waserstein started to walk away and Carpe scrambled from the ground to follow after him, nearly tripping on his fake paws. They walked in awkward silence to the back areas of the vast gardens, off from the sidewalks. Carpe brushed some hair out of his eyes and looked up where the tall towering bamboo shoots were hovering over his head.

They stopped after a bit and the instructor turned around to face him. "Now, we're going to work on the instincts of the animal. We all know that animals need to eat. So eat." This man has GOT to be joking. Carpe raised a paw to the back of his head and looked up at the tall bamboo. "Yeah okay. Cool," he replied and walked to the nearest bamboo. He put his hand on the stalk and for some reason, thought that he could simply pull it down and start picking off the leaves.

Wrong.

It was as stiff as a board and Carpe frowned. This meant that he'd have to go up to get food. His instructor totally knew this was going to happen, and he could tell by the small chuckle from behind his back. He ignored it and stepped back a few paces. He was getting up that bamboo shoot no matter what. With a flying leap, he hurled himself towards the shoot and jumped up the stalk. He made it a good couple feet up before he attached himself to the plant. This had to look ridiculous but if this was how pandas got food, this is what he was going to do.

Post 003
WC: 335

[Carpe Izepic-Nec...]

His muscles were already starting to ache. Not only was he trying to hold his own weight, but he was trying to hold up the weight of the costume. Carpe grit his teeth together and tried his best to keep his hold on the stock. He could feel the failure sinking in, and almost as soon as the thought slipped in, his foot slipped off the holding in the stock.

His cheek smacked against the side of the plant and his other foot fell down just as well. The nineteen year old was slipping down and soon enough, was standing on the ground still hugging the stock. "Great, just great." He angrily let go of the tree and kicked the bottom of it. There was two reasons why this was bad: First, bamboo doesn't look it, but the bottom is pretty sturdy and two, his instructor had a fondness of slapping the back of his head.

"OW!" Carpe cried out and stumbled to the side a bit with a slight limp and rubbing the back of his head. "I'm not going to learn better if you kill all my brain cells, you know!" His instructor just shrugged and pointed to the tree again. Great. Carpe grumbled incoherently under his breath and looked up at the top. He felt like Mulan trying to get to the arrow at the top of the pole.

....Wait. That was brilliant.

Post 004
WC: 236

[Carpe Izepic-Nec...]

Some how, all this training had made Carpe reflect back upon things that he took for granted in his childhood. Things like sleeping through classes, skipping out on gym while still attending muggle school, and having no idea what books were meant for any thing other than to build forts. The instructor was still there behind him to bring him back to the hard reality that he was failing at his current goals.

But truth was, he had spent this entire second half of the session trying to think of new ways to get up the tree. Sure, he could summon a chainsaw and just make the bamboo shoot fall down where he could enjoy the moment of clever glory, but he also figured out a way that he could get up there without using any magic at all. With his large black paws, he put his arms around the shoot. All he had to really concentrate on was not letting his fingers lose grip of each other.

He lifted a heavy foot up flat against the base of the trunk and with his butt sticking out, he pushed himself up and made his other foot land a little higher on the trunk than the other. He quickly shifted his arms up against the tree and pulled his other foot up, like as if he was walking on the tree trunk. The strain on his back was unbearable. His entire weight was against his shoulders and the costume's weight immediately made him regret every attempting to put one on again.

Huffing and puffing slightly, he looked up at the top area of the bamboo. It was at LEAST twenty metres tall. He had heard that in China, there was actually bamboo that was thirty-five metres. Carpe was at least grateful his instructor was making him do that one.

Post 005
WC: 309

[Carpe Izepic-Nec...]

Foot by foot, little by little, Carpe the Giant Dressed-Up Panda bear was making it up the bamboo stalk. His mind was positively giddy with the idea that he was getting this far and in this way that he had partially thought all by himself. His arms, he knew, would regret it later. With his giant black paws, he shifted upwards and pulled himself up, his face twisting as he tried to extract all the extra strength that was required. The Hufflepuff looked over his shoulder and downwards where the ground was a good four metres under him.

Butterflies fluttered around the pit of his stomach and he hugged the bamboo tighter. Carpe decided it was best to just keep climbing instead. Sweat trickled down the side of his face, and he was close to the lowest branch. He was so close, he was sure that his fingertips could almost touch it. He wiggled up the branch a little more and let go of one of his hands to try and reach it. Already the toll was on his other arm still clinging around the trunk. "No," he uttered softly, reaching as far as he could. That's ALL he needed. Just one branch! His arm holding him up was failing though. "Just--no--c'mon baby!"

But his foot slipped it's hold and in a swift moment, Carpe's face smacked against the side of the branch and he started to fall down against the trunk. Carpe's feet slammed against the ground sending shocks up his calves and he fell down against the hardened dirt. Gasping for breath, the boy lay sprawled on the ground and let his body relax for a moment.

"What was that?!" the instructor yelled, waving his arms around in the air. "You couldn't even get up a decent tree?"

Carpe started to laugh uncontrollably and opened his back paw. Crumpled and a little torn, a small bamboo leave was cradled in his his palm. "Here you go. Dinner's on me~"

Post 006
WC: 334