fandomhigh | Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Class Three (09/18)

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Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Class Three (09/18)

Tuesday, September 18, Second Period

The usual offerings of delicious breakfast treats, along with tea and coffee, were in place on the table in the center of the room. Aziraphale was kicked back in his chair, reading a novel.

No really, he was. It had a picture of a woman in a froofy old-fashioned dress on the cover, too. He stuck it under his chair once the class began to assemble, however.

"Good morning! Today's discussion will focus on the perceptions of prophets and fortune-tellers in popular culture. I'm sure all of you, whether you've had personal experience with prophecy or not, came to this class with a specific idea in mind of what constitutes the sort of person who makes predictions. Perhaps it was that of a traditional witch, or a gypsy reading tea leaves, or even the man who tells you what tomorrow's weather will be. Your experiences, and the society you're raised in, are going to color your ideas about people who predict the future. As well as the level of acceptance you're likely to feel toward what those people tell you.

"So your discussion topic today is this: In your own view, does the methodology a person uses affect the "validity" of his or her predictions? For example, is a prediction from a professional tarot reader more, less or as valid as a prediction from a religious seer? Please keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers, but I would like to hear what each of you has to say on the subject, and I'd like to hear your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with your fellow students."

Once the discussion was over, Aziraphale indicated a large palmistry chart on the wall. "Today you'll be doing your first real hands-on exercise, if you'll excuse the pun. Chieromancy, or the practice of telling a person's future through the shape and coloring of their hands and the arrangement of lines on their palms, is perhaps one of the best-known methods of fortune-telling." He passed around some handouts, and gave a brief lecture on chieromancy.

"Now, I'd like you to choose up partners. For the remainder of class, I want you to practice reading one another's palms. Before you leave today, please remember to turn in your homework from last week. We'll be having a test next week, so your assignment is to study what we've discussed thus far."

[ooc: You get to choose your partners today, but the RNG will be making an appearance again in future, just to keep things interesting. ~~Please wait for the~~ OCD threads are up and class is in session.]

Class Roster
Syllabus
Class Requirements
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Chris snickered. "I'm definitely not planning to father any babies either. Hell, I can barely get more than three dates with the same girl."

"Really? Come on! A guy like you?" Andrew couldn't believe it. "You seem nice enough, you look, well, yeah. Maybe you're dating the wrong kind of girl?"

"Apparently," Chris said with a shrug.

Andrew felt that maybe he had gone a little far. "So... are you an alien, demon, warrior from some future time?"

"Half witch, half white lighter from the year 2020," Chris said. "And a white lighter is like a guardian angel for witches. You?"

Andrew should be used to answers like that, but it still took him a moment to comprehend what was just said. "I'm just me." He wasn't sure if demon summoner was applicable being that he wasn't born that way.

"Where you from?" Chris asked.

"Sunnydale, California," Andrew replied. By now, he pretty much expected that most people had heard of it before. "How about you?"

"San Francisco," Chris replied. "Sunnydale... that's where Willow is from, right?"

"Yeah! Though, this Willow doesn't know me. Not that I really know her. I mean, I saw her around school, sure, but she was older - one of Buffy's crowd." Andrew shrugged.

"I love San Francisco. I haven't been there in a long time -- my aunt isn't big into traveling, so we didn't really get out much."

"You were raised by your aunt?" Chris asked. "My grandpa raised me and my brother."

"You have a brother? Older? Younger? I have an older brother, Tucker. We haven't spoken since I've come to Fandom. I think my aunt has this number blocked." Andrew took a sudden interest in his cup.

"My brother Wyatt is about a year and a half older than me," Chris said. "He's going to school here, too."

"I had a workshop with a Wyatt this summer. I never got a chance to talk with him, but he seemed like a nice guy. Do you two get along?" Andrew wondered what it would be like to get along with your family.

"Most of the time," Chris said with a smirk. "He can be kind of a pain in the ass sometimes though. Do you and your brother get along?"

"Oh, sure. I mean, we fight like most brothers do..." Andrew rubbed a small scar just below his elbow. "Well, maybe not like most brothers. This one time Tucker sicked a hell hound on me because I learned to speak ancient Sumerian before he did."

He chuckled. He could laugh about that now, being over 3,000 miles from home.

Chris blinked. "You speak ancient Sumerian?"

Because that was far more interesting that a hell hound in Chris's opinion.

Andrew nodded and said, "Yeah. Ancient Sumerian was actually pretty easy. And I decided to learn that one before tackling the older Egyptian scripts and dialects like Coptic and Demotic because they both have strong roots in the Sumerian. Plus, a surprising amount of demonic texts have been translated into ancient Sumerian, so it's pretty key to know if you're into that kinda thing..."

Andrew could talk about dead and dying languages at length.

"What do you know about demonic texts?" Chris asked, totally intrigued and a tiny bit jealous. He had some incredibly rusty latin skills and that was about it.

"Oh, I've picked up a few over the years. Living in Sunnydale, it's not hard to come by some pretty interesting books in places like the school library or a specialty shop. My brother Tucker got into summoning a few years ago and I picked up a few scrolls and books from him as well. Now, Mr. Giles is giving me some private lessons. It's pretty cool.

"Are you interested in stuff like that?"

Chris nodded. "My family comes from a long line of witches," he said. "We've got an heirloom book of magic that's been passed down. It has spells and information about various demons and other supernatural entities. But my parents and aunts were killed when I was a baby and my brother and I are still learning about our powers and our heritage."

There was a slight gleam in Andrew's eye at the mention of this heirloom book and he might have unconsciously been rubbing his hands together in that slightly greedy way that people do, but that all vanished with Chris's last statement. "You lost your family? Is it just you and your brother now? No one else?"

"Just us and our grandpa," Chris said with a nod. "The official story is that there was some kind of gas explosion in the house but my grandpa was babysitting us when it happened. Now that we know our mom and aunts were witches, though..." he shrugged.

"Wow..." Andrew didn't know what to say. Family was an uncomfortable topic for him in the best of situations. "I'm sorry to hear that," he mumbled.

He went back to studying his cup and added, "But if you need any help with that book or if you need something deciphered, I can, um, I can help if you want."

"Don't worry, dude," Chris said. "It was a long time ago. I'm used to it. But that would be awesome. Do you have any of those demonic texts with you?"

Prophecy in Theory and Practice, Class Three (09/18)

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