Tricks, Cons and Bamboozles | Wednesday | Period 1

[charming_thief]

Class today had been handwavily scheduled to meet in the Danger Shop, which was set up to look like a Thanksgiving dinner table. There was a place for each of the students, some (sadly) holographic food, and a small envelope at each place setting with a student's name.

"Hey, guys," Neal said from off in the corner, where he was enjoying some non-holographic food. Sorry. "So. Show of hands, who's ever heard of a mystery dinner theater?" Too bad he was too busy focusing on his coffee to count the hands. "So what it basically is is a dinner where you show up and you get assigned roles, which you then take on for the rest of the meal. It's sort of tacky."

Thank you for that, Neal.

"Anyway. The backstory is that someone in the group is responsible for stealing a priceless painting that belonged to someone else, who's also at this table." No murder. He had to draw the line somewhere, you guys. "Using the cards assigned to you, you will each take on a role that was randomly assigned to you. Someone here is the thief, someone's the victim, and so on. How much you disclose is up to you, but your goal by the end of class is to appear innocent to everyone else if you're guilty, and figure out who the perpetrator is, while keeping whatever secrets your character has, if you're not."

A beat.

"And stay in character, guys? That just makes it fun."

Tacky, Neal? Riiiiight.

What was the school board thinking giving Jamie Madrox a teaching position?

[multi-madrox.livejournal.com]

Today the class was held in the Dangershop where instead of desks there was a long table where everyone could sit.

There was also a cartoon beagle walking around and serving everyone popcorn, toast, pretzels, jelly beans and ice cream with whipped cream and maraschino cherries.

"Hello my dear students," Jamie said cheerfully. "I know that we're all going through a rough patch at the moment but tomorrow is a holiday where we can hopefully take a rest from our worries. It's called Thanksgiving. It's a holiday where we give thanks for what we have and spend time with family. You might wonder how this holiday came about and so my duplicates and I have put together a little sketch to help you understand the holiday."

"The year... is 1620. Fleeing from their homelands for religious persecution the Pilgrims arrived on Plymouth Rock after a long, long voyage on the Mayflower."

( And lo... there was a play. )

Jamie sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Happy Thanksgiving everyone."

Library, Wednesday [11/23]

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle had been a little too absorbed in her own concerns -- she'd call it soul-searching but a less charitable person could easily accuse her of navel-gazing and not be at all wrong (and let's face it, with her usual outfit it could be literal) -- lately to have taken much notice of the widespread disappearances around the island. The guilt trip later when she realized this would be epic, but for now she was just . . . in her own little world, really.

Once her morning tasks were done and she'd had a chance to settle in at the desk, she started reading the latest correspondence from home. No mention of Joxer in Xena's latest letter, much like the last one, but he popped in and out of their lives so randomly and irritatingly that Gabrielle didn't think anything of it. That was about normal.

It was the report from her Amazon tribe that had her concerned; as Queen's Regent, Ephiny should be the one keeping Gabrielle up to date on the tribe's welfare and well-being, and Gabrielle had been hoping to hear if any progress had been made on the Habitat for Humanity project she'd proposed for villages in the region. Instead it was Solari who'd sent the letter acting as Regent, which was . . . Solari wouldn't be a bad Regent, but the letter didn't say anything about Ephiny at all, and as tightly-knit a sisterhood as Gabrielle's Amazons were, whatever tragedy had befallen her ought to have been detailed. Instead the letter carried on as if Ephiny had never existed in the first place. Reading between the lines made things worse: the tribe should still be preoccupied with strengthening their alliance with the Centaurs, but there wasn't a single mention of them, either.

By the time she finished reading, Gabrielle's face was stuck in worried-expression mode, connections to the posters she'd only halfway noted in the hallways had been made, and Gabrielle herself was hurrying around the library, making sure chairs were straightened out and tables were ready in case anyone needed to come in and research.

There was plenty of coffee ready, too.

The Art(s) of War and Peace; Wednesday, Second Period [ 11/23 ].

[atreideslioness]

Ghanima was sitting on the desk at the front of the room today, legs swinging slightly as she drummed her heels against the sturdy wood. The Atreides Prescience was itching under her skin worse than usual lately, and her hands kept reaching for the Dune Tarot the moment she let her focus lapse.

"I am aware tomorrow is a holiday," she said, giving the students one of her rare, bright smiles. "So I shan't be too hard on you today."

"I'd like to hear how your assignment went for the last week, then we shall speak a bit on the concept of terrain."

"Sun Tzu said: We may distinguish six kinds of terrain, to wit: (1) Accessible ground; (2) entangling ground; (3) temporizing ground; (4) narrow passes; (5) precipitous heights; (6) positions at a great distance from the enemy."

"Terrain is vitally important. Which I am sure you are all dreadfully sick of hearing me talk about," she continued. "However, if you do not know where or how you stand, in any battle, you will lose. I cannot stress this enough. It doesn't matter if you're facing a troop of Sardaukar on Salusa Secundus, or trying to make dinner plans with a cranky significant other. If you cannot understand the terrain under your feet, you will find yourself on the wrong end of a metaphorical or physical blade."

"This all goes back to what we discussed that first week of class, "'Hence the saying: If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.' To know your soldiers, you must know yourself. You must be able to assess both the capabilities of your fighting force, and your own ability to command them in terrain before you. If you cannot give the soliders what they need, even the most elite squad in the Empire can fall against a small handful of women and children." Not that Ghanima would know. At all.

"First, however, I want to hear how you did over the last week."

Strange Creatures of the Deep, Wednesday, Period 3

[takesaftermom.livejournal.com]

Summer had a projector set up in the classroom and a wide screen in the front, against the board. She waited until her students settled in to begin.

"Since tomorrow's Thanksgiving, I thought we could take it easy and watch a film in lieu of today's lesson."

Continuing with the movie theme, Summer had set out some snacks for her students to munch on during the film. "Feel free to take some notes on the film if you want. We'll discuss some of the creatures in the video next week."

[OCD up!]