Teamwork 101 - Period 1 [Class #11] [Monday]

[the_merriest]

The bouncy blonde girl was missing her lanky Turk counterpart today.

"Today, we're going to discuss an important part of teamwork," Rikku said. "Which is, in a kind of backwards way, the times when you have to wing it by yourself. It happens. A team's especially strong because no one has to carry the load alone, but every now and then, you're gonna be carrying things solo just for a short little while until your teammates are back on their feet."

She shrugged and perched on the edge of the desk. "If you're in a fighting situation, maybe your teammate just got knocked out. If we're talking about schoolwork, then maybe the other half of your group presentation just got called home for a family emergency. If you're a waitress in a restaurant, one of your coworkers might have their car break down, and so you're stuck taking extra tables until they come in."

She rolled her eyes, looking amused. "Orrrrrrrrr your co-teacher could have some kind of super-death-flu that makes him puke all over the place, like, nonstop, in which case, you might have to tell Mr. Stubborn that he has to stay in bed and that you'll come up with a topic by yourself, honest."

You know. Hypothetically speaking.

"So what we're gonna do today is talk about ways of handling those little complications -- how you can cover for an absent team member without juggling too much, how to keep all those balls in the air, that kind of thing. You can come up with general strategies or even just shared times that it happened to you, and ways you dealt with it. Aaaaaaaaand then if there's time at the end of class, you guys can get into your groups again, 'cause you should be working on your charity fundraising assignment stuff, you know? You should probably pick a date and figure out how you're going to set it up and so on. So! Let's get started."

Library, Monday

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

The English and French-language history books were fighting today.

William made a few cursory attempts to resolve the situation peacefully, but became somewhat distracted by the thought of whether or not they were re-enacting any specific conflict, or just bickering as is the wont of the French and English.

When the English books suddenly started managing to scale the sides of the desk the French books had gathered on- a seemingly impossible task- he had his answer.

"The War of the Conquest then, is it?" he said to himself, keeping an eye on the books to make sure they didn't follow history too closely. He didn't want to have to explain to the librarian that the books had killed each other.

Fighting With Powers [Monday, Fourth Period]

[furious-maximus.livejournal.com]

“Glad you could all make it for yet another day in my continual quest to make you all better people, or at least better at handling yourselves well in a fight that involves people using powers.” Apparently Max was feeling amusing today.

“When we discussed high-speed movement, you’ll remember that I suggested working in tight, constrained spaces where there’s less room to maneuver. That works because while it restricts your movement just as much as theirs, they rely on it more than you do. Today we’re going to talk about a situation where you want to do the opposite.”

“The thing about most powers is that they provide advantages by changing the degree to which certain things hinder or help you. If you’re. say, magically resistant to fire, then fighting in a burning building isn’t a problem for you. Well, beyond the way it’s liable to collapse while you’re in it, at least. So the trick to fighting with powers is to get yourself into situations where your special advantages are maximized, and whoever your fighting has theirs minimized. It’s pretty much like a regular fight that way, but with a lot more advantages and disadvantages to think about.”

“Anyway, when we talked about speed we were dealing with people with a movement advantage, so it made sense to try to reduce that advantage by offering fewer places to move. This week we’re going to talk about something that’s sometimes called ‘phasing’. The ability to move through solid objects. It’s also a power that provides a movement advantage, but the way to counter it is the opposite of how you counter speed.”

Max grinned, eyes sweeping across his students thoughtfully as he looked for signs that any of them might jump ahead to why that might be.

“Because phasing means you can move through objects, it basically means that obstacles like walls, or doors, or whatever aren’t actually obstacles for everyone involved in the fight. Only for people who don’t have phasing abilities. So while fighting someone with super-speed usually means that every obstacle effects them more than it does you, when you’re fighting someone with phasing the opposite is true. This means that the best way to fight a phaser,” which was totally a word and Max hadn’t just made it up on the spot, “is to be in the middle of a wide open space where they can’t really use their abilities to their advantage.”

He paused thoughtfully. “Actually, there’s another reason to fight out in the open: your instincts. For most people you’ve spent much of your life with the knowledge that if there’s a wall to your back, no one is going to come up behind you without knocking down that wall. You feel safe, and you don’t check behind you. That means that someone who can phase right through that wall has your instincts working for them rather than for you. If you stand out in the open, though, you automatically know that someone could come from any direction.”

A slow grin spread back across Max’s face as he rolled his shoulders back in a slight stretch. “Now that I’ve said all that, prepare yourselves for todays activity, which is designed to drive home how important it is to fight phasers in the open. By making you fight them in enclosed spaces.” The Danger Shop shifted, and suddenly they were all standing on the roof of the dorms. “Everyone has five minutes to get to their rooms. Wait there until the exercise begins,” don’t worry, they’d know when that was. “And then your goal is to get out of the building. Class is over as soon as you manage it, so if you’re fast enough you can take some time for coffee or something.”

The Science of Sexuality, Monday

[justhisblogger.livejournal.com]

( On characteristics primary and secondary... )

Kappa Kappa Gremlin Meeting, After Classes, Monday [ 03/21 ].

[wwiii]

When the members of the Frat arrived for today’s meeting, they’d probably notice the NPC photographer, chilling in the corner, fiddling with his lenses, contemplating each and every student who walked into the room.

“I hope you guys don’t mind,” Warren said, smiling at the Frat at large, “that I took the liberty of hiring a photographer so that we can get a head start on getting a fraternity calendar done up before things like graduation, and... you know, next year.”

Apparently, calendars were time-sensitive merchandise. Who knew?

“So,” Alexander offered, “we’ll be doing some test shots and getting an idea of what we might want to do or what we might need for the final product. Just let Mr. NPC Photographer know what you’d like to achieve and we’ll see how well we can accomplish it. Technology even allows us to see the shots very soon after they are taken, so we can get an idea of how they’re going to look.”

“So, just take it easy today, guys. Be yourselves. Eat pizza or play cards or strike a few poses just because you feel like it.” Warren allowed a small smirk to cross his lips. “Make sure you show him your best side, right? And we’ll go over the samples near the end of the meeting and figure out what direction we want to take with this calendar from here.”

Alexander nodded in agreement...and was already fitting on his adventurer’s cap. “Let’s get started, gentlemen!”

[Open frat is open!]