Master and Apprentice

[lothrat]

Master and apprentice. Teacher and student. Whatever you want to call the roles, there's something special about the bond that is shared by a mentor and someone learning from them. Sometimes it's planned, sometimes it develops without either one realizing it's there until one day it just is. This meme is for those moments where that bond is growing, whether the student is learning, or showing what they've learned, or whether the master is realizing just how out of their depth they are trying to teach whatever it is, whether the moments are serious or hilarious. Or maybe things aren't working out so much. Maybe there's a disagreement about something. Is the master or apprentice shirking? Controversial things being taught? Do we need to sit down and have a talk?


Type of apprenticeship

1. Friends - Nothing formal here, just one buddy learning a neat trick or skill from another.

2. Paid - It's just a job, and not necessarily any more than that.

3. Formal apprenticeship - It's not just a job, it's part of your life. The Master wants to pass on what they know, and the apprentice wants to be a Master someday.

4. Circumstantial - Because sometimes it's just not planned.

5. Other - Because there's all sorts of variations on this theme.

Scenario

1. A natural - Whether you're the teacher or the student, you've got this. You know what you're doing and you can't wait to show your stuff.

2. Overconfidence - You only think you know what you're doing. Oops.

3. Second thoughts - No matter how much you know, you don't feel like you know enough. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

4. Incompetence - Who hired this idiot? Who signed this dimwit up? There's no way there's going to be any teaching here. You should just quit right now!

5. Slacker - Someone's goofing off or shirking their work.

6. Overdoing it - Or maybe someone's trying to do too much. Learn to take a break sometime!

7. Illicit - One or both of you is up to something you really shouldn't be doing at all.

8. Rebellion - You are tired of teaching or tired of learning, or you don't like the other person or all their rules, or you don't like what's being taught. Whatever it is, you've had enough!

9. No choice - By accident or circumstance, you're in a position now where you have to teach or learn from this person. Maybe there's no one else, or maybe there's no time to find someone better, or maybe things are just that bad that you'll take any help you can get. Maybe they just didn't give you any choice.

10. Prove yourself - The teacher won't teach until the student has proven themselves, or the student refuses to accept the teacher until the teacher can prove that they're capable.

11. Approval - It's not so much about what's being taught as the fact that you look up to them, or you want them to look up to you.

12. Graduation - Congratulations! You pass! That moment when a student has learned all the teacher has to teach, and now it's time to celebrate and move on. Or perhaps the apprentice has surpassed the master and is about to show them that.

13. Role reversal - When the student ends up teaching the teacher.

14. Hurt/comfort - Not everything goes well every single day of your life. Good thing the other person is there.

15. Failure - That didn't go the way that it should have. Now the teacher or the student has to help the other cope with the results.

16. Apprentice ship - When you realize you want more than just the relationship that a student and teacher have.

17. Family - They've grown to mean as much to you, or more, than anyone related to you by blood.

18. Wild card! - For all the other options out there!


Post a top level and any preferences you might have, then hit other people up. Mix and match, or combine as you like. These are just ideas!

Comments

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel gives him a level look. "Are you really telling me that if you had to be told to try again ten or more times, with no indication as to which ones are right, you'd be just fine and not at the end of your patience?"

He thinks not.

[lothrat]

The sting of truth gets under Ezra's skin. He huffs, folding his arms across his chest. "No, because it's not going to take me ten tries."

How's that for confidence?

[neverwantedtobesith]

"Not now that you know of three you don't need to look for anymore," Garth'zel agrees. "Of course, I could always send you back to the ship for a bit so I could rehide the ones you've found."

In other words, Ezra had better quit while he's ahead.

[lothrat]

Ezra's mouth clicks shut. He already learned the hard way once (probably more than once, at this point) not to test Garth'zel's patience too far. The man's proven he'll only tolerate Ezra's attitude so much before Ezra has to deal with consequences.

"I, uh... I think I'm ready to give this another shot," he says.

Let's not give Garth'zel the chance to decide he's going to send Ezra inside after all.

"The rocks over there." He points, only half certain he feels something different in the pile. "And there's one buried in the dirt a foot away."

[neverwantedtobesith]

Smart decision. Garth'zel would rather not have to redo things and wait who knows how much longer for all of them to get found.

He shakes his head. Both guesses are wrong. "Try again."

He may already be thinking about what comes after this when its time to collect everything and head back.

[lothrat]

"What?" Ezra startles, then furrows his brow. "No, there's something there, I swear." Maybe not the rocks, which he'd mostly just thrown out to move the conversation away from the topic of hiding the bugs again, but that patch of dirt definitely has something else in it. He hops down off the stump and heads straight to the spot, digging the toe of his boot into the ground

Sure enough, after a moment of poking, he does manage to dig something up.

Something so old and rusted that who even knows what it might have once been, except that it was mechanical at some point in time. Wow, way to argue with your teacher over something you end up being wrong about Ezra. Good job. Ezra flushes, a little embarrassed.

"Oh. Well, I was right that there was something there."

[neverwantedtobesith]

Garth'zel snorts and shakes his head. "That's probably been there for the last three thousand years. It's a wonder there's anything left of it."

Considering it was exposed to the elements. Although perhaps being buried in the dirt protected it just enough.

"Give it here and go back to trying to find what you're actually looking for." He may as well see if he could figure out what it was.

[lothrat]

Ezra sighs and hands it over without argument. At least Garth'zel has something to occupy himself with now while Ezra's busy making bad guesses. Maybe it's even still marginally functional, considering it pinged Ezra's senses.

Though speaking of his senses, he better get back to work. Ezra closes his eyes again. Focus, he tells himself, searching for the tiny sparks that feel like the ones he's already found. Quit letting yourself get distracted. He takes a deep breath and tells himself to rake the area more slowly, more thoroughly, looking for anything he might have missed the first few times. The trees, the rocks, the grass - and no, at second glance, it doesn't feel like there's a bug planted there after all. The dirt, the bushes, and the old tree stump, and...

Wait...

No, don't tell him.

Ezra abruptly has to stifle the urge to facepalm.

"The stump." He's an idiot, how did Garth'zel not laugh?

[neverwantedtobesith]

Through a little thing he likes to call 'self-control'. Which he doesn't bother to exhibit anymore, laughing again. "That was the last one."

Then he turns his attention back to what he was holding, turning it over in his hands. Something about it was nagging at him but he couldn't quite place it.

With a small frown, he tucks it away. Maybe he'll work it out later after the back of his mind has had time to work on it. Or maybe it'll come to him while he's meditating.

"Ready to head back?" It was heading into the later part of afternoon and it would probably be better if they were buttoned back up in the ship before it actually became dark. Night is when most of the predators were active.

[lothrat]

If Ezra wasn't still fighting embarrassment, he'd be a little more pleased at his success. As it is, he blows out a breath at Garth'zel's laugh.

Then decides he'd rather take it in good stride.

"See? Told you it wouldn't take me ten tries." And he can't repress the impish grin. "Yeah, I'm ready to go back now. I think I need to drink some water."

That's probably half the source of his headache.

[neverwantedtobesith]

"You start heading back, and I'll get everything and follow," Garth'zel says, heading to the bush to collect its bug first. Of course, if Ezra decided to stay and at least retrieve the one he sat on, he wouldn't complain.

Garth'zel could actually also do with a drink, but as he wasn't the one who was working on learning how to sense certain things, that need is easier for him to ignore.

[lothrat]

Sorry, Garth'zel, but Ezra's going to do as he's told, heading inside the ship. If it makes Garth'zel feel any better, though, the boy at least makes sure to have a second glass waiting for when his teacher comes back inside, too.