The Library, Thursday 20

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

When Zatanna first arrived, she had found Cassidy already there. They had conversed as usual, or at least it looked like they had, but then the redhead had suddenly declared she needed to take te day off. She wasn't feeling too well, apparently, and thinking back, Zatanna realized that indeed, Cass looked a little paler, and a little less lively than she usually did. This only managed to worry her, and if Zatanna didn't have the obligation to stay in the library she would have left already behind her friend to ask her what was wrong. Poor Zee wasn't precisely in the know regarding Raven, although she could have already connected the dots if she had taken a moment to sit and think about it.

Well, she was sitting, but her mind was somewhere else at the moment; she just wasn't doing the whole point connecting routine.

Tapping the counter lightly, Zatanna looked around, suddenly feeling small. "It's silent in here", whispered, as if libraries were supposed to be louder. At least they felt like that with Cassidy around? She was just going to try not to think about it.

[[(nothornlessrose) modded with permission, as my lovely aide partner has the sickies.]]

Primatology; Thursday, Fourth Period [ 01/20 ].

[bootlessjane.livejournal.com]

"And welcome back, class!" Jane greeted the room with her usual pomp brimming on the edge of excitement, which was likely to fall to pieces as soon as she got into lecturing again. "I hope you all enjoyed some of the odd weather we've been having; I know I've been finding it quite fascinating, and if any of you have any observations about it, I'd love to hear about them. But first, we'll discuss our primates, and today's topics in getting you better acquainted with this fascinating animal are anatomy, physiology, and morphology, oh my!"

( Cut for images, extreme length, and shameless Wikipedia plagiarism. )

"In fact, as a firm believer in a healthy mind and a healthy body...Lights, please, Mr. Calvin...let's all get up and take a little trip over to gymnasium, where I may have set up a bit of an obstacle course for us to get more in touch with the brachiation and bipedalism, leaping and climbing of our primate cousins! But before we head over there, let us open the floor up for any questions you may have about what we discussed, and I am going to pass around a copy of an image of various skeletons of different primates. Please study this image for next week, keeping an eye out for differences in the skeletal structures and we will discuss them next week. Any questions? If not, let's shake out those limbs and head out! Pity we haven't got prehensile tails ourselves!"

[[ please wait for the ocd is up! ]]

Ethics [Thursday, January 20th, 1st period]

[sith_happened]

Anakin had sighed a little heavily when he'd realized what the class topic today was: misplaced pride in his ability to save Raven from his father had led to absolute disaster that weekend. None of that showed in his expression, which was slightly severe than usual as he walked into the classroom and wrote Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.--TS Eliot on the board and then turned around to face his students, passing out a sheet of paper. "Today we begin our discussion of the seven deadly sins. While the 'if you indulge in these vices, you're doomed for eternal damnation' religious dogma seems a bit dramatic to me, I believe there is something universal in the call of the vices they chose to highlight: wrath, pride, gluttony, sloth, greed, lust and envy. Pride--or hubris, if you speak Latin--is considered the original and most serious of the deadly sins. We want to believe that we are different, better than everyone around us. And in a school where most of you have extraordinary powers, titles or both, many of you have been told for years how special you are." His gaze sharpened. "But everything is connected. You, me, the rocks outside, the deer in the preserve, the beings who live across the causeway, the trillions who make up the multiverse around us. Those who hold themselves to be better than all of the rest of us generally learn the hard way how untrue that is."

He leaned back against his desk. "I grew up as a slave on a desolate planet beyond the normal reaches of the law in my society. When I was rescued by Jedi and told that with training, I could be like them, my pride in myself and my abilities quickly spiraled into arrogance and disdain for those who were teaching me. It took some very difficult lessons for me to realize that pride was--is-- probably my greatest fault."

He glanced into the distance for a moment, stuck in memories of the weekend before shaking his head and continuing. "Learning to swallow our pride and admit we're not quite as special or brilliant as we thought we were is never a fun process," he continued. "Have you met someone here who is better than you at something you'd always taken for granted you were superior?" He smiled a little ruefully. "I am the fulfillment of prophecy and the most powerful Jedi in terms of raw power in the history of my Order. And then I met a god."

Nation Building and the Origin of Government, Period 5, Class 3, Thursday, 1-20

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

Today, class was meeting in the Danger Shop, which was only because Alex's students might want to speak with individuals themselves. and so I can play with NPC icons

"Last night was a busy one, in your country," she said, once everyone had filed in to a replica of their usual classroom. "You asked the patrol guards to keep their eyes open for any suspicious or questionable activity, and they found a fair amount. The official tally is on the blackboard."

( Crime and Punishment (unrelated to any Russian authors) )

Myths and Legends of the Deep {Thursday, Period 2}

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

Today, the class was held in the Danger Shop and they'd been handwavily notified ahead of time.

The room depicted an ancient city, some of it in ruins.

"Welcome to Atlantis," Summer smiled, gesturing at the cityscape behind her. "The legend of Atlantis comes from Greek mythology. It's legend is well known throughout history. It's said to be a lost continent of antiquity and though there isn't much evidence to say that Atlantis ever existed, many people, scientists included, are fascinated by it."

"There are those who believe that Atlantis could have existed in the Atlantic, others believe it was in the Mediterranean Sea. And then there are those that believe Atlantis was once located where the Bermuda Triangle is today," Summer explained. "Now, the Greek philosopher Plato, had works that were contained the earliest mentions of Atlantis. Some say that the Greek gods divided up land between and Poseidon was granted the island of Atlantis. Atlantis was said to consist of eighteen rings alternating between land and sea. The center island was ruled by Atlas, son of Poseidon. Under the rule of the gods, Atlantis became great; unfortunately, the entire island was engulfed by the sea and disappeared."

What Summer would give to learn if the island was real or not.

"According to Plato, the Egyptians described Atlantis as as an island comprising mostly mountains in the northern portions and along the shore, and encompassing a great plain of an oblong shape in the south. There are accounts that some ancient writers believed Atlantis to be real, while others saw it as fiction." She paused, wondering if evidence would ever come to pass.

"Though we may never know if it truly existed, I'd like to think that there's some truth to the legend of Atlantis," Summer smiled. "Many have different takes on what Atlantis may have looked like and what you see before you is how I envisioned Atlantis to be. So, feel free to explore and if you have any questions, feel free to find me."

[OCD up.]

{Syllabus & Roster}

How to Be a Really Famous Actor (And Other Acting Tips), Friday, Period 1

[nosefullofsnot.livejournal.com]

"Hey, 'sup guys?" Lucas said to start the class. He was sitting casually on his desk. You know. To appear casual. Standing next to the desk was a guy who looked a lot like Lucas, down to the leather jacket, black shirt, chinstrap beard, and raised eyebrows. He was less attractive and had a scar on his cheek and was a couple inches shorter than Lucas, though. "This is Doug. He's part of my stunt team, so we've known each other for a while. You might even say we have a rapport."

"We have a rapport," Doug said.

"Ha. That's funny, Doug," Lucas said, holding a fist out for some respect knuckles. After Doug gave him a fistbump, Lucas continued. "Nice wordplay. And that's what we're talking about today. If I didn't have to teach you guys stuff, I would have said something back to him like, I don't know, 'I didn't even know there were French rappers.'"

Doug paused, thinking hard about what Lucas just said. "I don't get it," Doug said.

Lucas hopped off the desk, grabbed Doug by the jacket, dragged him to the window, opened it, and defenestrated Doug. Then he closed the window, turned back to the class, and said, "He'll be fine. He's a professional stuntman. He knows his shit."

"So, rapport. You build it up by either being really familiar with somebody else, or just having some instant chemistry, or you're just good at fake liking someone while talking to them. The key to really good banter is to talk really fast. That way even if what you're saying isn't funny, at least it's two people saying things at each other fast enough that something's going to end up being kind of funny. If you're into that kind of thing. Not my cup of java, personally, but that's why I'm an action star."

"So! What you're doing today is pairing up with someone that you think you can banter with. Don't worry about being funny or anything right now. That'll mess you up. Just talk at each other without thinking about what you're going to say. Whatever you do, don't let a pause crop up in the conversation. Because if that happens, you fail at banter. And if you can't even manage to pull off a fast-paced conversation, you're pretty much failing at life."

"Just like Doug," Lucas said, peeking back out the window. "Horrible at living. Great at falling out of windows. Heh. He'll appreciate that. I'm gonna text that to him while you guys start talking."

Being a Proper Sea Dog, Friday, Period 3 [Session 3]

[cunningkingfish.livejournal.com]

Today's class again met in the Danger Shop, and again Hook had programmed a three masted vessel for the activity of the day.

"There we are, there we are. Everyone here and ready?" Hook said, after the class had gathered. "Jolly good job with the rope work last week. Jolly good. You all got up and went straight into things, and for that I applaud you, at least figuratively."

He paced back and forth on the deck a bit, as he spoke.

"As for today, the activity on the syllabus is an exercise in following orders. Which is simple. On the sea, there are instances where you'll have to put your own mind aside and follow orders so that you and the rest of the crew survive. Originally I had something rather harsh planned for today, but given recent events I've decided that would be bad form. Instead, I'm going to test your limits."

He opened a large chest on the deck of the ship, which contained several frilly pink dresses (including one frog-sized). He also gestured to a barrel which was full of dead, whole fish (and one sardine).

"Everyone is to pull on a dress, grab a fish, and slap another student across the face with it. Not hard, mind you, I don't want any permanent damage. A slap, not a wallop. If you find that too difficult, I can provide other orders, if you really feel you can't follow them."

He snapped his fingers. "Chop chop, get to it. This is an object lesson. Don't object to it unless you're ready to present a very good case for why you should mutiny."

And perhaps that was part of the object lesson as well.

[ooc: OCD first, plz. Up and ready to go!]