Library, Monday [10/25]

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle was perfectly accustomed to the library's random whims by now, and was always more than happy to indulge the more harmless ones for the sake of keeping the books happy. (Shh; this was a logic that worked in her head.)

Today, that meant reading the volume that had been atop the books in the returns bin -- not lying on the stack haphazardly or splayed out like it had opened in mid-dropoff, but actually standing at attention with its cover facing her directly. She could take a hint -- which meant she spent a good portion of the morning half wrapped around a cup of coffee and blearily reading Hopscotch and the Art of Vital Longevity, wondering the entire time what in Hades a playground game had to do with anything.

It was a slightly welcome distraction from worrying about Karla, at least. For the moments when it worked.

Kappa Kappa Gremlin Meeting, After Classes, Monday [ 10/25 ].

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

While the boys would find their usual spread of pizzas, salty snacks, and carbonated beverages available for them at this week’s meeting, they would also find a few things extra. Alexander and Zack had come in early to decorate the table with spiderwebs, plastic spiders, and a generous smattering of gummi bugs and worms.

“Heya, guys!” Zack, decidedly mustard-free and in a fairly awesome mood, grinned and waved hello to the group. “I guess next week, there’s some kind of holiday coming up? I’m not really from around here at all, so I don’t know much about this kind of thing, but I know that it’s supposed to be all spooky, so we’ve got a bit of a community project planned out for next weekend that hopefully you’ll all enjoy!”

“We were sort of thinking,” Alexander grinned just as easily, “that, perhaps, we could find some space and set up a sort of haunted house to go along with the holiday. A spooky haunted house in one area, and a scary movie marathon in another area, as well. We could each contribute something to the haunted house, and we could start raising money for the fraternity by charging a very small admission fee.”

As to what they were raising money for, that was still to be decided.

Probably a spaceship.

“So! Grab yourself some snacks, and let’s get brainstorming about things we can do to make this haunted house awesome!” And when Zack talked about awesome things, darn it, he meant it! “We want to have this thing on Saturday night, so that people can do their usual Hallow-thing on Sunday, so if you’ll be around that day, it would be awesome of you to swing by in costumes to help out, too!”

[[ Please wait for the slowly approaching OCD has arrived! Have at it! ]]

Introduction to Personal Weaponry [Monday, second period]

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

Max looked rather relaxed. This wasn't unusual, of course, and probably not even worth noting. So we'll move on.

"Most hand-to-hand weapons are fairly simple. What I mean by this is that there hasn't been a tremendous amount of technological development in the field. A sword is a sword. Of course there are some swords that are better than others, but generally speaking there haven't been massive sword design revolutions. And, in fact, this is true of most hand-to-hand weapons."

Max cocked his head, wondering if anyone was going to object. "The same can't be said of ranged weapons. To bring us up to modern time here in Fandom, we've got through three or four major phases, depending on how you count them. And most timelines seem to go through at least one more. Thrown weapons, mechanical weapons, tension weapons, chemical weapons, and often energy weapons."

Max waved broadly. "We've already worked with thrown weapons, so you should be familiar with those. The next major development is usually mechanical weapon. Which is a fancy way of saying a tool that helps you throw things better. We'll be looking at just two of them today."

"First up is the atlatl." Max held up a stick that looked to be about two feet long. "Some people call this a 'spear thrower', which turns out to be a pretty good name since that's what it's designed to do. And it's simple." Max picked up a narrow spear about four feet long, clearly not designed for anything but throwing, and fit it against a notch at one end of the atlatl. Then he turned to the side, toward the targets set up against one of the walls, and whipped his arm forward. There was a low hum as the atlatl swung through the air, and then the spear was buried in the target.

"The atlatl essentially makes the arm longer, adding more leverage to your throw. When made with the right materials, the atlatl can also compress the force of a throw into a shorter time. Both of these things add power which results in longer range and greater penetration."

Max put down the atlatl and picked up a piece of thin rope about six feet long that had a little patch of leather in the middle. "And this, some of you may recognize, is a sling. It operates on pretty much the same principle as an atlatl, but it achieves that principle in a slightly different way." Max picked up a marble from his desk, loaded the sling, whipped it around his head once, and let go of one end. There was a faint whistling sound as the sling spun over his head, and then a thunk as the marble hit the target.

"Again, the sling serves to increase the effective length of the arm in order to provide greater range and penetration."

"So today I want you to pick one of these two weapons and get familiar with it. Then pair up with someone who picked the other weapon and compare notes. Figure out if you think you'd be better suited with the one you didn't choose. And do this seriously because this week? You've got homework."

Ha! Bet they hadn't expected that!

"Another advantage of both the atlatl and the sling is that they're extremely simple weapons. The atlatl is a carved stick, and the sling is a length of rope with a cradle of some sort attached to it. So each of you is going to make one, and next week you'll demonstrate it for the class."

"So take the rest of our time today to figure out which one you want to make." He smiled. "Good luck."

Macro-Tactics, Monday

[on-her-korhal.livejournal.com]

"Today is your midterm," Kerrigan announced, arms crossed. They were in the main classroom this time - desks at the front, simulator table at the back. "Each one of you is getting a card. Each card will give you some idea of what your base army will be like. Study it, then find a partner. Together with your partner, you will decide upon one of three maps. Study it. You can take a copy of it home and work on the assignment all week if you want - or you can finish it up now. It's up to you. And no, you don't have to tell your partner what's on your card."

She took a breath before continuing. "The two of you will wage a campaign against each other," she continued, "Or at least plan it out. Assume that at the start of the campaign, both of you have met in the middle, vertically speaking, and maintain equal land. What do you budget, what do you strike, what tactics will you use based on land and troop expertise? I want to know all of it. Write it down, play it out in a computer game, I don't care. I just want to see a fully prepared campaign from every pair in this group next week."

"I also know some of you aren't from this time. I expect you all to agree on what level of tech you'd be using prior to getting on with the assignment itself. Now get to work." She motioned for the TAs to spread ( the cards across the class. )

French Study Group - Library [Monday after classes]

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

"Nice to see y'all in your proper bodies this week," Sookie said with a smile, waving at the assembled group. "Hope Homecoming didn't wear you out too much, because today's a fun vocabulary day: candy! And Halloween, which I'm not sure they actually celebrate in France, but more importantly: candy. Des bonbons.


"In my world, the French consider it an 'imported holiday,' and it's only celebrated by certain demographics," Emma added. "Halloween in France is usually celebrated by young people in costumes going to parties at friends' places, parties or clubs. The costumes themselves tend to be traditionally scary creatures such as vampires, ghosts and witches, rather than costumes like princesses, superheroes, or the 'sexy' ones you find at the store here. Which are tacky, and none of you ought to wear."

"Trick-or-Treating is known as des bonbons ou des coups de bâton. The French, being the French, have to come up with phrases of their own for the holiday -- such as un feu follet for Jack O' Lantern -- because using the American ones would be un-French."


"Even," Sookie added, "if our terms are cuter. But anyway, work with the vocab! And feel free to look up the French version of your costume, if you've planned ahead to Sunday."

Spaceships 101- 1st period- Week #8

[solo_sword]

"Hey, guys," Jaina greeted the class when everyone had shown up. "We're going to be changing things up a little for you guys today. I know most of you have experience with X-wings, and if you don't, don't worry. But we're not going to be flying them today. You're going to be flying against them."

She activated the projection of this week's ship, and continued, "This is a clawcraft. It's originally an Imperial design, now best known as Chiss ships. No, you're not expected to know who the Chiss are. They look a little different than you're probably used to. They're built with some impressive shielding, which protects the pilot in the cockpit, and the way they're built means they can manueuver really well. I've been shot down in an X-wing by a few of these; they're good ships." And she could actually say this like it was nothing, go her. "I also have to add the disclaimer that while I have a lot of experience flying against and alongside these, it's one of the few I think I haven't flown, because some people won't let you take their ships out for a joyride no matter how nicely you ask."

She adjusted the the projection to show an X-wing to those who might not know. "You're going to be dogfighting today, which means you're in the clawcraft going head to head with the X-wing. The objective's simple: blow them up, don't get blown up yourself. If there are no questions, let's get the first person in."