Food Appreciation [Week 5, Period 4, Mon. 9/27]

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

"Okay, I'm gonna talk fast so your fries don't get cold," John told the class the moment he counted close to the usual number. "Today I've gotten a bunch of Happy Meals - hamburger, cheeseburger, and chicken nuggets, all with plenty of dipping sauces and fries. Have at. While you munch, I'm gonna show you all this great documentary about the fast food industry and how terrible their food is." He was kind of an ass for that one. "Then I want you to ask each other, do you still wanna eat it? Do you care what people say about fats and trans fats and caloric intake?"

He started passing out the moddable Happy Meals at random. "And no, there's no McDonald's in town. These puppies are fresh from a connection I have off-island. Have at and try not to pass out or glaze over during the movie. Talking is encouraged."

Library, Monday (9/27)

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Things in the Amazon village were moving along at a good pace, it seemed, or at least that was the impression Gabrielle had gotten so far from the long, long missive that had arrived from her regent Ephiny this morning. There was still some friction with the remains of the faction that had backed Velasca's claim to the Queen's Mask, but it was a bit hard to stubbornly maintain your loyalty to someone (despite their recent ascension to godhood thanks to eating purloined ambrosia) who, when last seen, had been crazy, white-eyed, and plunging into a lava-filled chasm with an ear-piercing shriek of rage. Other than that, rebuilding seemed to be going well, relations with the neighboring Centaur settlement were even smoother than before (although Ephiny's son Xenon had had a bit of a painful incident with a rock embedded in his left front hoof last week, by the way), and some of the younger Amazons had been asking about Gabrielle and Xena.

Not that kind of asking about them. As far as Ephiny was telling.

It was good news, and although the letter was interesting Gabrielle found the writing a little . . . well, dry. And even though she'd hardly asked Ephiny to act as regent in her stead on the strength of her skill with written words, Gabrielle couldn't help revising it in her head as she went about her library tasks today.

Purely for her own amusement, of course.

Kappa Kappa Gremlin Meeting, After Classes

[puppy_fair]

It should be known to the world at large, or, at least, to the members of the Kappa Kappa Gremlin, that Zack was trying very, very hard to not bounce too much as people filed into the classroom for their very first meeting of the semester.

But he couldn’t help it! It was all so exciting!

“Hiya, guys!” That, at least, was accompanied by a merry little wave. “Welcome to the frat! Today, we’re going to be taking it pretty easy. Getting to know one another, chugging root beer, coming up with ideas for stuff to do this semester, that sort of thing!”

And if it involved belching out the letters of the alphabet during some sort of silly root beer drinking game, then what of it?

Alexander, thankfully, was much better about controlling his bouncing, though he couldn’t help chuckling a little at Zack. Let him be hyper; it helped take his attention off of how nervous he felt. “You’ll notice,” he said, “that we’ve got plenty of mugs of root beer and a lot of pizza here. But, before you dig in, there are a few caveats. We figured it would be a good way to get comfortable with each other, as well as prove the time-honored fact that most people are motivated by their stomachs.”

“For the root beer, we’re going to do a version of that game, I Never, where you make a statement about something you’ve never done, and those that also have never done that thing, quaff a chug of root beer! As for the pizza, you’re only allowed to grab a slice if you make a suggestion of something the fraternity could do this semester to better our school and community and lives.” He grinned a little. “We figured that would be a good motivator to get a lot of ideas, even if they’re only silly and hunger-driven to begin with. And, finally, when we’re done, because of all the root beer....”

He trailed off, gaining more of a grin, and figuring Zack might like the honor of finishing up this part.

“Belching contest!!!” This exclamation, of course, was accompanied by Zack’s arms being thrown into the air, and a bit of a splash of root beer from the mug that he was holding as a result. Oops.

Welcome to the Kappa Kappa Gremlin, boys.

[Please wait for the OCD! OCD up! Come on in, boys!]

Introduction to Personal Weaponry [Monday, second period]

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

No jumbled pile of weapons this week. Instead, there were well-organized weapon racks set against the wall.

"Last week I used the terrible oversimplification that blades are a combination of the leverage of a stick with the force-focusing of a punch-dagger. Continuing in that theme, today I'm going to use the, perhaps even worse, oversimplification that a pole weapon is a stick with a blade on it."

His lip twitched wryly. "Actually, that may not be too terrible an oversimplification since a lot of pole weapons are sticks with blades on them..."

"The point of a pole weapon is to let you stab or cut someone without having to get close. In the same way that a sword has a reach advantage of a dagger, a pole weapon has a reach advantage over a sword." Max picked up a simple spear from his desk and held it up for inspection. "There aren't really any fixed rules for what makes something a pole weapon, but in general you can think of anything that has a longer handle than it has a blade as being one."

"With few exceptions, the shaft of a pole weapon is made of wood since wood is lighter than metal and there's a lot more weapon than with a blade. Weight is extra important as a weapon gets longer, too. The same leverage that allows you to bring more force to bear with a longer weapon also makes it harder to handle, so every little bit helps."

Max hefted the spear in one hand, then ran through a rather flashy little flourish with it. "While the spear is pretty much a punch dagger on the end of a stick, pole weapons can get quite a bit more complicated." He set the spear down and picked up a halberd. "This is a halberd. It's a combination between a spear and an axe. You can stab people with it, yes, but you can also swing it to great effect. Because the shaft is so long, you can get a lot of force into a swing, too."

"There are some major disadvantages to a pole weapon, though. The big one is that the blade doesn't cover the whole weapon. While getting close to someone with a sword may make it more awkward for them to swing, you're still in range of the blade. Which isn't the case with one of these," he held up the halberd. "Once you get past the blade, the only thing a pole weapon is going to do is be awkward. And while there are combat techniques for using these things at closer ranges, your best bet is going to be to simply make sure whoever you're fighting doesn't get too close."

"Which brings us to today's activity." Max grinned. He was looking forward to watching this one. "Grab a weapon that looks interesting to you. A spear, a pike, a halberd, a naginata, whatever strikes your fancy. Feel free to test a few out before deciding. Then pair up and take turns trying to slip past one another's weapon to get inside the arc of its blade. Danger Shop safety systems are on, but don't take that as some sort of encouragement to be reckless about it, okay?"

"Now get to it."

Macro-Tactics, Monday

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Now, this is a class on macro-tactics. Top down. That's the theory." Kerrigan was grinning like a shark today. The walls of their usual Danger Shop hideout weren't metal this time, either. They were solid brick, old brick, cracked brick. "But sometimes, you need to know a little bit about what goes on on the floor to make it work."

Her eyes slid across the students, looking for Blackagar if he was there. "Some of you wanted to know how to combat the tactics we talked about last week," she said. "I'm graciously giving you a chance to figure it out for yourself. Let's do this the classic way."

She kicked open a door in the corner of the room. "Medieval castle," she said, smoothly. "You're surrounded right now, and your enemy's going to be trying all kinds of tactics to get in here. You can command whatever moddable NPC soldiers, archers and knights you run into. I have five kinds of battle stations. Pick yours, swap it around if you're through with it. You do learn by doing..."

French Study Group. The Library, Late Monday Afternoon.

[icecoldfrost]

Those arriving for the inaugural meeting of the French study group would find that Emma and Sookie had laid claim to some of the large study tables towards the back. There were some tartes aux fruits and petite madeleine to one side for people to snack upon.

No, Emma hadn't made them. She'd gone to Patisserie Poupon.

But don't think for a second that Sookie hadn't taken careful note of what she thought the ingredients in said pastries might be so she could make her own sometime. Hey, if she was studying like the French, she should cook and eat like them, too!

It was excellent logic, thank you.

"Welcome!" Sookie said to the newcomers as people wafted in. "I mean, um, bienvenue."

Sookie, sadly, was not able to really get rid of her own accent to replace it with a French one, no. The effect was...memorable.

Memorable was a good word for it. Emma just kept a smile on her face and managed not to dissolve into giggles. "Enchanté," she said dryly. "Je m'appelle Emma Frost, son nom est Sookie Stackhouse."

"Oui!" Sookie agreed happily. "And I'm gonna switch to anglais here, since we're studying French and don't know it parfait yet. So, welcome to our French study group. For our first day, we were kinda thinkin' we'd just introduce ourselves and say why we're learning French. In my case, it's 'cause a number of people 'round my parts have French roots, and it'll be more useful for me."

Emma waited until Sookie was finished before nodding. "At my former school, it was required that the girls learn at least one foreign language," she said. "Those of us in the upper class--" and she did not mean upperclassmen. "-- were expected to take French, as our teachers felt it was a language that required elegance of thought and mind, and I enjoy the discipline required to learn other languages."

"So let's hear who you are, and why you're here, and what you'd like to study in particular, be it verb forms, literature, or whatever else you want to work on."

"I'm working on my accent," Sookie shared.

We could all tell, Sookie.

"And help yourself to all the pastries," she added with a Vanna White-like wave.