Basic Questing! Wednesday, Period Four

[toteshammered.livejournal.com]

As the students assembled in the classroom, they'd see a table at the front was piled high with what looked like different camping supplies, as well as a backpack for each student.

"Sometimes," he began, once everyone had settled in. "We may not neccessarily know we are on a quest until after it's already begun. Other times, we are lucky enough to have time to prepare for a quest ahead of time. Today, we're going to do the latter. Before you, you see a number of supplies. Your pack can only hold a certain amount. You must choose which of these items you think will be the most useful, and pack accordingly."

Friendship is Teamwork!!!, Wednesday, Period 1

[justlurkinghere]

The class room today was absolutely covered with terrible motivational posters.

Did you kids feel motivated yet? Did you? You better feel freakin' motivated or so help them…

"Today we're talking about… mission statements," Derek said, making the last part seem like he was attempting to speak Chinese. And his Chinese was awful. Just awful.

"Mission statements are super fun!" Pinkie said, a bit like if she said it cheerfully enough it had to be true. "And they're really useful. They can help you figure out what your values are and what you really really really want out of life, which helps you figure out what kind of team you want to be on. If your values don't match your team's values, then it's not really going to work out very well."

Between that and some basic communication, you could succeed! Unless you live in Beacon Hills. In which case, don't talk to anyone unless it's off camera. And ruins lives.

Yep.

Derek was giving Pinkie a look at wondered if she could have enthusiasm like that for everything. "We can start."

He stared at Pinkie some more. Because, let's be real, he wasn't that great at this.

She could, you know. Everything. As long as someone liked it, it was generally okay by Pinkie. "My mission statement is that I will throw parties and do whatever I can to make everypony happy, because making people smile makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and super gooey inside and then I smile right on back!"

Please, like you thought her mission statement would be anything else? She was basically the most adorable thing on the planet. Well, right up until her sudden failure to make someone smile drove her to a psychotic break, anyway. Fear it.

"Sure, that works," Derek said, glad he didn't have to come up with any. Because he totally agreed with 'smile at people'.

"Deeeeereeeeeek," Pinkie said. "You can't just borrow somepony else's personal mission statement. That's totally defeating the point."

You can't make him come up with a mission statement, Pinkie. Well, you probably could if you threatened tears, but that would be mean. Don't do that to him.

Derek sighed, looking away. "Fine. I will…" Oh god, this was both painful and horrible for him. "Help people when I can?" Because everything he could have said was too depressing.

"That'll work!" Pinkie cheered. "So everypony, you're going to make mission statements of your very own! They can be whatever you want them to be. You can work on them by yourselves or pair off with a friend! Just get writing!"

Library, Wednesday

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Up through the time they had to leave to make sure Zeela got to her Wednesday class on time, Sholeh's shift seemed perfectly normal. Once they got back, however, that was when things changed. It started when she was reshelving books that had ended up on the circulation desk during her break. She'd put them away and turned around--to see a wall of shelves behind her where no shelves had been before.

She went left, found herself in the religions section which normally was nowhere near the botany books, and soon met with another wall.

The rest of the day was spent trying to make her way out of the makeshift, moving labyrinth that the library had decided to trap her in.

Don't worry, though. The books were getting a very stern piece of her mind the whole time.

Diplomacy, Relationships & Tactics: the Art of War [Wednesday]

[atreideslioness]

Today when the students arrived the desks were gone in favor of Ghanima's preferred set-up of rugs and pillows, the classroom having been redone in Fremen-style for the rest of the semester. In the center of the room was a pile of small red books, one for each student to take and keep.

"Good morning," Ghanima said once the majority of the class seemed to be settled. "Welcome back, I'm glad to see I did not frighten any of you off. Today we are starting with the first chapter, 'Laying Plans.'"

"War." Ghanima surveyed them sharply, making sure she had everyone's full attention. "The term calls to mind battlefields and generals. The most successful battles, however, are not fought with soldiers, but behind closed doors with words. They are the battles you never hear about, because there is no glory to them."

"There is the war of the sexes, the war between companies and corporations, economic wars, ideological wars, political wars, and wars between the social classes, all of which tend to start on a more basic level, and escalate to the stereotype. Whether you are wooing a romantic partner or a business rival, or meeting an enemy with your weapon drawn, the same principals hold true."

"The Art of War." Picking up a well-loved red book from her desk, Ghanima flipped it open to her marked page and began reading. "The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining int he field. These are: One - The Moral Law. Two - Heaven. Three - Earth. Four - The Commander. Five - Method and Discipline." She snapped the book shut and placed it beside her.

"The Moral Law," she announced, hopping off her desk, "causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger."

"Heaven and Earth are metaphors for the conditions you face, which is slightly more applicable to physical confrontations. However, if you view each type of terrain as a mental condition, you will have a large advantage over your opponent," Ghanima said briskly as she walked through the rows, hands gesturing as she spoke. "Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons, whereas Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death."

"The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness."

"By method and discipline, it is to be understood that it means the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure."

"These five heads should be familiar to every general," she recited, eyes glowing bright for a moment. "He who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail."

"Now, when you take these five factors, you must decide how to apply them. Luckily for us, Sun Tzu provided seven ways you can weigh them before making your decision."

"First, which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? Who has the army and the populace behind them? Because without the support of your people, you cannot win." Ghanima turned to face all of them as she leaned against a wall. "I cannot stress that point enough. Even if it is simply your friends, or the other members of your company, you will win nothing without the support of your 'troops', if you will."

"The others are more basic; which of the two generals has most ability? With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? Which army is stronger? On which side are officers and men more highly trained? In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?

"Now, I'd like you to pair up, and discuss which of the five constant factors you feel to be the most important, and why."

[OOC: For those following along at home, I will be using this translation of Art of War for the semester.]

Breaking Things 101, Wednesday, Period 3

[electrocynic]

The Danger Shop was filled with paper cranes today. Really. All sizes. From tiny to about the size of the average adult human head.

"Right, we're starting off easy on the path of destruction," Electroclash announced once everyone had shown up, twirling a moderately sized paper crane in her hands, before holding it up. "Paper. I know you can't technically break paper, but I don't care. It's my class, deal with it." Did she look smug for getting to say that? Maybe a little. "I want to start with paper because it's easy. You can tear it or burn it or whatever other more creative way you might want to come up with."

She shrugged.

"I just want you to do it. You can either attack the paper cranes in a manner of your choosing, or, if you can't bear to destroy Japanese paper art – and personally I don't understand why you wouldn't, but that's just me – there are also plain sheets of paper available. So get to it."

Literature 101- Thursday- 4th period

[puppyinacup.livejournal.com]

There was no Mark Twain getup today. Instead there was Jess in her everyday clothes, in front of the regular classroom, holding a copy of the meta for Huckleberry Finn and walking a little as she talked.

"Last week I gave you guys a bit of reading," she began. "Hopefully you all did it, or at least did enough research to fake participating, since it is a great big part of your grade and all." Oh, had she not mentioned that before? "And really, you should want to read these books, not just because they're classic works of literature, but because you're missing out on a ton of pop culture references throughout your life if you don't. Now, with that in mind along with how you totally did the reading, let's talk about it. I want to hear your thoughts. Do you like the main character? What do you like or not like about the book? What are your thoughts on the language in the book, especially if you have the version where the meta for Jim is a robot? Whatever you want to talk about, let's hear it.

"Also, for next week I want a two-page book report on this, so the more you talk, the better for all involved."

That's right, kids. You had signed yourselves up for what might be Fandom's first 100% normal class.

...Well, it was Jess, so like, 95% normal.


[SparkNotes here for anyone who actually wants to discuss it!]