Library, Monday

[faithandscience.livejournal.com]

Things were, it seemed, growing more dire as time went on. And so William opened up the library a bit earlier than usual, made an extra-large pot of tea, and settled in for what he suspected would be a long day.

Basic Strategy, Monday, Period 4

[halfman-lion.livejournal.com]

Tyrion glanced out over the students, doing a mental tally of who was there and who was missing. He hoped the missing were deep in the library or had found their way safely home, nothing more untoward.

It was hard not to worry.

"This is a strategy course," he said. "Let's not doom our strategy to failure by wasting the resource of time. If there's something that you feel would be a better use of your hour -- whether it's books or practice fighting or some other personal project -- you are fully excused to go do that. The same is true for every week's class until we've solved this or the island vanishes entirely, by the way."

He waited a moment to let anyone leave who wanted to, then smiled grimly and brought forward a game board. "And now -- since I doubt any of you left want to talk more about auditors or people vanishing or any of it -- the rest of us are going to play a game. This is called cyvasse. It's played in pairs and is often used for wagers in my home world, especially in the region of Dorne."

If there still was a Dorne, anyhow. He ignored that stabbing thought and briefly explained the rules.

"You may now pair off and play."

Cultural Understanding, Monday.

[ofthe-wilds.livejournal.com]

"By now, we are all aware that darkness stalks the island's shores," Morrigan began simply, once everyone had arrived. "So today, we shall simply talk. Each culture - not to mention each person - meets adversity in a different manner."

"Some people, especially the big, strong and quiet types, like to beat things up, or sit around brooding," Alistair said, his usual chirp very much absent, though the dry humor wasn't. "Which is a little boring, if you ask me. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone like that? I mean, with some of the templars, I'd taken up making faces just to see what they'd do."

You did not want to deal with a bored Alistair. Especially not during times of crisis.

"Others find their solace in nature, or by sharing their feelings with their friends," Alistair continued, "Me, I don't think there's anything wrong with a good joke or two. After all, what's a good end of the world if you can't laugh about it?" He sounded distinctly sardonic, though, edging towards downtrodden.

"Some of us have simply do not have a previous frame of reference for loss," Morrigan continued frankly, "-and may not not know what it is they should do with themselves. Others simply repress all feelings in favor of carrying on and not letting anyone know that something is wrong, which cannot be healthy." Yes, students, she's referring to most of you.

"So," said Alistair, a little bolstered by the fact that Morrigan was putting in an effort like this - not that he'd ever admit it, "We're here to talk. To share. To strategize. Or to make terrible jokes. It's up to you."

Creative Arts, Monday 2

[screwyoumarvel]

Steve looked around at his students, and sighed. "I'm sure some of you think you have better places to be today. Unfortunately for you, I am the responsible adult here, and I will be the judge of that. Anyone who promises to head straight for the library--and don't think I won't check--can be excused. Anyone who is planning to go looking for trouble, or to try to get themselves killed, or to go straight back to bed and pull the covers up over your heads...well, you have to stay. I have an activity for you that requires a little more time, but the end results involve both violence and candy. We're going to learn about the medium of paper mache...by making piñatas."

Steve proceeded to explain a little of the history and symbolism of the piñata, though he didn't take very long about it. "Now, I've provided everything you'll need to make your piñata, including the candy, although if it doesn't ever make it into the piñata I certainly won't hold it against you. This project obviously takes longer than we have here in the classroom, so feel free to take it with you and work on it in the coming days." It would give them a distraction, he figured. "If you want to use any of the art supplies for anything else, I'll be leaving the classroom door and supply closet door unlocked." He offered them a tired, doubtful smile, and said, "I hope you have fun with the piñatas."