DISCLAIMER: All Marvel concepts belong to Marvel, TCP belongs to Kielle, Melanie belongs to me. And no one is making any money from this, so be nice, eh?
Write What You Know
"For the most part the papers were acceptably well done, a few were even well done." The tone indicated that there was still much room for improvement. "After six months the majority of you have even managed to grasp the concepts of capitols, periods, and standardized spelling." It would have been funny if it weren't for the fact that he seemed serious. He probably was, he wasn't known for his genial personality. "I will place the papers in piles at the front of the room and then you may come get them. "A-G will be on the left, H-N center, O-Z to the right."
Pausing, as if just remembering something, he turned to scan the students. "Miss Melanie King, is she here?"
A hand went up in the audience, towards the back of the hall. Those around the non-descript girl eyed her with pity; "Here Sir!" came the quiet reply. "Please see me after class!"
"Yes sir."
The professor stepped away from the piles of papers, "Try and do this with some level of decorum," and watched as they surged forward to gather up their papers. Their faces were a comic mix of relief and disappointment as they left, filing up the stairs and out the double doors at the back. A single figure was left sitting at the back.
"Well?" he said impatiently. Melanie gathered her things into her green backpack, and walked down the stairs towards him. He eyed her with distaste as she approached his general dislike of students increasing as he got a look at her. 'They get stranger every year,' he thought to himself. 'This one is no exception, she looks like she's been stretched.' Tall and gangly, with a nose far to long, lips far to small, and an odd reptilian way of moving, she was not very attractive as human standards went, the indifferent attitude to clothing not helping much. Her one saving grace was her eyes, a deep glowing bronze. 'Really, you'd think she'd at least make an effort to come to class looking presentable.' Giving himself a mental shake he returned to the problem at hand, the student had stopped several feet away.
" Miss King, I must say I am quite disappointed with your term paper, if not surprised." The student began to say something but he cut her off. "The assignment was to write a paper explaining some thing or process in which you were interested in, and had some experience with. And this interest was to be based in reality, not some fantastical creatures created by hacks with too much time on their hands." He glared down at the girl in front of him. "Really, all this nonsense about Dragons, how they fly and breathe fire. What on earth were you thinking? Did you actually read what you had written? Further, even if I allowed this…this…subject as a valid one, your evidence is ridiculous, listen to yourself '…the limestone reacts with the digestive fluids creating helium gas, causing buoyancy, allowing the dragon to fly despite it's size.' Honestly, Miss King! Of course they couldn't fly due to their great size, they don't exist."
Getting carried away, he continued the tirade in a louder tone of voice, "And here you state '…the helium gas, when expelled out the mouth, ignites when coming into contact with an electrically charged bone at the back of the mouth. This causes the fiery breath allowing the dragon to both defend itself and land.' Further your use of Dickinson and McCaffrey as scholarly references borders on the absurd, and we won't even begin to discuss the grammatical, spelling, and syntax errors, of which there are many. I can not believe that a student at this fine institution would hand in such trite nonsense."
The professor raised his eyes to the ceiling as if asking for divine intervention with these 'foolish' students the faculty insisted on giving him. In doing so he missed a look of anger and annoyance pass across the face of the student he expected to be cowed, and brow beaten into submission. Her eyes glowed momentarily, as if with an inner fire, then her face returned to its usual impassive expression. He looked back down at her.
"I'm going to be very generous and allow you to have a week to write another paper, and this time I suggest you write what you know, from the real world. All this fantasy nonsense is hardly real writing, and certainly not suitable for this class. I expect it on my desk no later that 12:00 next Friday. Is that understood?"
Without waiting for her answer, he picked up his brief case and stormed out of the lecture hall. She watched him go, an odd expression on her face.
************
Melanie walked towards the park, after her last class, considering her writing professor's comments. What is must be like to live in a world so stagnant. Heading down a deer trail, leaving the main path through the park, she stopped in a small clearing, placing the backpack in front of her. "Write what you know, hmmm? I suppose I could write about how birds fly on thermals, would that be real enough for him?" Shaking her head she stretched, feeling the breeze in her face…
***********
The brilliant bronze dragon rose into the air, winging its way home, carrying a green backpack carefully in its talons. Spreading her massive wings to the fullest, she allowed the thermals caused by the mid-day sun to carry her helium buoyant body higher into the sky.
The End