fandomhigh | Myth Into History, Week 2: The Gods You Thought You Knew (But Didn't) [Thurs. 1st Period]

Today, like last week, the Danger Shop was programmed to look like the interior of a canvas tent on a dig site, with long tables and folding camp chairs set up in two rows for the students to take their seats. Among the simulated artifacts laid out on these tables were a small golden bell, a large diamond, and a perfectly ordinary-looking set of quills and parchments, one for each student. Notable, though, were the plates of brownies and cookies perched on a stack of crates near the door; apparently Janice had taken Dr. Wilson's suggestion to heart.

As for Janice herself, was chomping on her usual cigar, notably irritated that it wasn't lit, as she waited for the students to arrive.

"Okay," she said once everyone was seated. "Now that we've gotten the useless formalities out of the way and I know exactly how much all of you have to unlearn, we're going to start studying the two gods who figure into the Xena Scrolls the most: Ares and Aphrodite. The gods of war and love. Not too surprising, right? Get used to those themes. You'll be seeing a lot of them. The first thing you need to know, though, is that the gods were petty little bastards. Even the rest of the academic world agrees on that, but they don't have the insight I do."

She stepped out from behind her desk and paced around the tent, stopping to affectionately pat the unloaded Gatling gun. "Now, Xena had a lot of dealings with the gods, and a real gift for pissing them off, so she got to see a lot of that pettiness firsthand. And thanks to the Scrolls, we now have an idea of just what little bitches they could be."

"Take Ares, for example," she continued, picking up the tattered remains of an elaborate leather vest. "You'd think the God of War had some pretty big things on his plate to worry about, right? Wrong. He was a god. He had all the time in the world to get himself into some pretty stupid situations. Some of the Scroll fragments we've retrieved seem to hint that he might be Xena's father. Others indicate that they were once lovers. And well, it's Ancient Greece we're talking about. Those two aren't necessarily exclusive. Ares wasn't above manipulating the warlords of the Mediterranean into doing his bidding until they no longer served his purposes. That was fine while they all feared him, but when he became mortal for a while? Yeah, that was a real bitch, and you bet your ass it was Xena who bailed his ass out. She even forced him into hiding once, but that's a story for another time."

Janice moved on to a seven-foot-tall pillar swathed in canvas, and pulled the tarp back to reveal a gaudy golden statue of a woman clad in what could only be described as Victoria's Scantiest. "Aphrodite," she intoned. "Goddess of Love. You want to talk petty? No one did petty better. There's nothing she loved more than herself, and Xena didn't exactly make her look good most of the time, so Aphrodite retaliated by being the ancient world's biggest five-year-old pain in the ass. Bonus points if she could get some laughs out of it. There are examples in your reading, like the time she turned a guy from a useless bumbling fool to a suave hero and back again every time he heard a bell ring."

Janice's grin turned malicious at that. No, it wasn't directed toward Joxer; that's just a trick of the light. "That's a personal favorite of mine. Or when she stole the North Star so she could make it part of her own new constellation, and just to throw Xena and her friends off the trail made all of them obsessed with the first thing they laid eyes on. And then there was the incident with Gabrielle's enchanted scroll, which is what we'll be studying in depth in today's exercise. But first, let's talk a little about last week's exercise."

When everyone had completed today's activity, Janice clapped her hands together. "Your assignment for next week is to think about what you just did. Next discussion will be about whether you think Aphrodite would have done something like this. If your answer is no, you're still wrong, but I want to hear your reasons anyway. That's all for today. Now get out of here."

[OOC: OCD up -- play away.

ETA: Ping me in the OOC thread if you want your character to get detention for anything you write down. *g*

Class Info/Syllabus/Roster]

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"She's not unlike Ishtar or Aphrodite. Or Freya," Evie said, wondering what Janet had been put off by. "Love goddesses appear in every culture. Granted, not all of them are also warrior goddesses, or goddesses of drunkeness, but she's really not that much different from them."

"Oh, don't even get me started on Freya," said Janet, rubbing at the back of her neck, where there was a very faint scar. If you looked closely enough. Honestly, what was it with Daniel and snakes?

Another look of askance. "You've learned different versions? From Dr. Jackson, perhaps?" Evie's smile brightened.

"Oh, yes," said Janet, smiling tightly. "You can learn a lot from Dr. Jackson. Ask him about Hathor and Freya some time." She paused. "And Osiris. He has stories about them."

It was possible Janet was still carrying a bit of anger about Daniel ignoring her all summer.

"Then I most definitely shall!" Any excuse, really, although Evie's already got one in the prospective archaeology club.

"Just don't tell him that I told you to do that," said Janet. ~~Tell him, tell him, oh, definitely tell him.~~ "He's very easily embarrassed, and he'd hate to find out I was telling people about how much he knows about the subject."

"Oh, I shan't, then." Evie's never been able to keep secrets if people asked, much. "Do you know him very well? Or just from having taken his class before?"

"I've never taken Dr. Jackson's class, really," said Janet, who was blissfully unaware that Evie couldn't keep a secret to save her life. "He's a friend of my uncle's, and he taught at my last school. So it feels like I've known him forever."

"Ohhh," Evie said, slightly enviously. "I adore his class. Although several other people seem to be having ... some slight difficulties. We're going to form a study group!" She grinned happily. "But he's really a very good teacher, isn't he?"

"Difficulties?" asked Janet, leaning forward. "Difficulties like what?" Then she stopped and studied Evie. "You don't have a crush on Dr. Jackson, do you?"

"What? No!" Evie shook her head vehemently, spluttering, then repeated firmly, "No. No, I just, just respect his expertise. Really." Possibly this wasn't entirely convincing. "And, and, he told us all about his dig on Monday, and I found it fascinating, but, well... I'm afraid some people don't know as much about Egypt, and, um. They asked if perhaps a study group would be a good idea." She turned bright red. "I don't think it was Dr. Jackson's fault. Really. I followed it quite well."

Janet snorted. "Please, Evie," she said dryly. "Women fall all over Dr. Jackson." Including the magic teacher, which, no, Janet wasn't still annoyed by at all. "I think Dr. Jackson tends to go on and on and on about things that interest him, which Egypt certainly does."

Evie's blush got even darker, and she looked down at her notes. "Well, I'm interested in Egypt too," she said stoutly. "And, and, of course nothing improper has happened. I would never say anything to Dr. Jackson. He's a teacher."

Janet nodded firmly. "Of course you'd never say anything," she said. And then Janet wouldn't have to do anything drastic, like set squirrels loose in Evie's room. "And why are you so interested in Egypt anyway?"

Evie looked up, the blush fading, then did a little chair dance. "Because I'm going to be an Egyptologist." It got easier to say every time. "My parents are Egytologists, and I grew up in Cairo until I was twelve. I've wanted to be one ever since... well, forever."

Myth Into History, Week 2: The Gods You Thought You Knew (But Didn't) [Thurs. 1st Period]

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