Rookiehood 101, Tuesday, Period 4

[raspberryturk]

"Yo, Rookies!" Reno took this opportunity to stick his tongue out as his students, yes. Don't knock it. Just smile and nod. "Today, we're gonna talk about a subject that's real near and dear to my heart. Downtime, yo."

Reno spoke only of the most important things, yes.

"Now, I dunno where you're all gonna go once you get outta this school. I don't know if you're going to be workin' some McJob at some cheap Mooby's ripoff where every now and again you gotta deal with special charity events and annoying clowns and junk, or if you're gonna go and take a runnin' leap into somethin' big and rough and dirty. Maybe a military job. Maybe politics." A small smirk at that. People were welcome to try to convince him that politics weren't dirty. He'd laugh at them and then offer to introduce them to his former boss. "Fact is, wherever you go, unless you're freakishly lucky, the work ain't gonna always be easy. You're gonna learn to appreciate the downtime that you get, or you're gonna break yourself by buryin' yourself in too deep all the time, yo."

Oh, he was so pointedly not looking at Elena right now.

"This kinda goes hand-in-hand with last week's class, zoto. It's a matter of knowin' your limits, or bein' able to listen to your superiors if they go ahead and tell you where they are, yo. So I'm gonna give you all a few scenarios to work with, and I want you to tell me what it is you'd do under those circumstances."

[OCD up! Open!]

Functional French, Tuesday, Period 2

[one-who-goes.livejournal.com]

By the time he got to the classroom, Henry was dressed fairly normally and had washed his face and hands.

He counted all of this as an accomplishment.

"We're talking about shopping for clothes today," he said. "I could spend the hour talking about the history of haute couture -- here, have a handout -- but that strikes me as a pretty boring way to spend a day." A beat, during which Henry could practically hear his friend Gomez laughing at him. "We're playing dress-up instead."

He passed out a vocabulary sheet, and gestured to a stack of French fashion magazines he'd requisitioned from the library.

"Spend as long as you want looking through these, then put together an outfit from the racks of clothes at the back of the room. Talk to each other in French about what you're picking out."

Library, Tuesday.

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Anemone had paperwork today. Forms to fill out regarding her new promotion. Forms for health care of all things. Retirement. Voter registration. A new bank account. All the things a Real Girl had to deal with as a legal adult, with a job, instead of being a student.

And letters from Dominic, who had sent pictures of apartments that he'd looked at for them. Apparently Talho, Hilda, and Gidget had invited themselves along so that he'd have 'a woman's perspective' on things, and they'd all included their own observations and notes.

It all made Anemone very, very glad she'd opted to stay at the school for a little bit longer.

[The OCD is out tanning.]

Breaking the Glass Ceiling, Tuesday

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"As sweet Polly Oliver lay musing in bed, a sudden strange fancy came into her head," Kerrigan quoted, sitting perched lightly on the desk in the classroom. "Nor father nor mother shall make me false prove, I'll 'list as a soldier, and follow my love." She shut the book in her hands with finality.

"Sometimes," she began, "The only way in which anyone will give you a chance to prove your abilities is by following the example set by sweet Polly Oliver. To exchange your clothes for someone else's, stuff a sock down your pants, and keep plugging away until you do something so impressive that they'll have to take you in, even if you are a woman, or a telepath, or a mutant, or whatever the hell it is they have a stick up their ass about."

She put the book aside. "Of course, that's banking on the idea that there will be something just that impressive to do," she said. "It requires subterfuge, and a keen mind. And a keen understanding of why you are doing what you're doing. Is it simply to get respect, with no ulterior motives? It might work. Or it might be a fool's errand. If you're going to disguise who you are, you'd better have a damn fine idea of what to do when you get where you want to get. No one got very far on life on respect alone. But to use it to get closer to someone or something you need-- Well. It might be a good way to tip the dominoes in your favour. After all, do you want to be put in a special, delicate position because you're the only one of your kind to get where you are? One shift in the ground below your feet, and you're toppling again. It's a romantic idea, but... find something permanent to hedge your bets towards, or you're in for a rude awakening."

With a glimmer of a dark smile, she pushed off the desk. "The other side of the coin is this," she said. "We pretend to be cowed, downtrodden, without power. We speak and we simper until someone else does the speaking for us. Let them open up the road before us and then stride down it when we get what we want. This is less... risky, and relies on getting enough people to do what we want them to do. But less risk can mean less payoff... or less of a fall."

She pulled the book towards herself. "O then Polly Oliver, she burst into tears, and told the good doctor her hopes and her fears, and very shortly after, for better or for worse, the captain took joyfully his pretty soldier nurse," she read. "That's an example of why not to do it. Just FYI. Lovers are so terribly unreliable." She tilted her head. "Would you rather be the example, or the influence behind the throne, arranging the puppets? I'm curious as to your opinions, children."

[[ wait for the ocd up! have at! ]]

Maritime Mammals, Tuesday, Period 6

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

Summer had handwavily let her students know to meet at the causeway. She arranged for a shuttle service to take them to a mammal care center. The drive didn't take too long since the center was located somewhat close to the island.

( All about the care center. )

"Explore to your heart's content, ask questions and have fun. If you need anything, feel free to come and find me."

[OCD coming up.]