Music Appreciation, Tuesday, Period 2

[furnaceface]

Students filing into the music room today would be greeted to the sight of two very different looking teachers, one clad in a superbly tailored and tasteful blue plaid three-piece and the other wearing more leather than was probably strictly necessary, even for a man who was on fire under all of those wrappings.

They would also be met with what was presumably pizza, though Jonothon seemed to be giving it a side-eye as he started to speak.

( Introductions Day! )

[Open!]

Great Roller Coasters of the World ; Tuesday ; Period 1

[1stinkinpercent.livejournal.com]

All of Riley's classes this semester were going to take place in the Danger Shop for reasons which would become very apparent very soon.

"Hey guys, welcome to an early class. Sorry to make you get up but I hope by the end of the class, you'll be wide awake," he said. "Anyway, I'm Riley Poole and if you're not here to ride roller coasters and generally have an easy time of it, well, I think you're in the wrong class but why would you wanna leave?"

Unless you had a fear of heights or something. Or got sick easily.

"Anyway, we're gonna do some quick introductions then get right to the class," he continued. "So, since we're a small class, I figure these intros will make maybe ten minutes and then we're off. Anyway, when it's your turn, just tell me your name and if you're afraid of anything. That's just gonna give me an idea on where to go and where not to go. Don't wanna freak anyone out or expose them to a phobia or anything."

He didn't need any lawsuits.

"And once we're done with intros, we're gonna take a ride on our first roller coaster," he said. "We're not gonna mess around either. We're taking a ride on Kingda Ka, the world's tallest roller coaster that's located in New Jersey. It hits top speeds of one hundred twenty eight miles per hour so if you've got a fear of heights or speed, take a seat on this one. If not, let's get to it!"

With that, the simulation came alive and Six Flags Great Adventure was there before them.

Practical Mechanics [Tuesday, May 6, 2014]

[momslilassassin]

A redheaded young man with a neatly trimmed beard, dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt, sat on the desk in the front of the classroom and let his legs swing as he waited for the class to arrive.

"Hey," he said with a slightly nervous smile. "I'm Ben Skywalker and this is Practical Mechanics. I graduated from Fandom two years ago, so I know that the experience in this class can range from 'we use carts and oxen at home, what's a car?' to 'I accidentally blew up a small moon and that's why I got sent to this stupid school', so I'm only going to base my critiques of your stuff on your own level of skill, not anyone else's." He glanced around the room. "Please don't use this class to try to blow up a moon. I've seen that sort of device before, so I'll recognize it and trust me when I say that you don't want to go to this particular principal or dean to explain."

He chewed on his lower lip. "I worked for two years at Stark's while I was here, I build droids--tiny and not so tiny robots--in my spare time when I'm not working on schematics for my own spaceship. I've also been stranded on a world where I had to use spare parts of a couple crashed ships to escape, so trust me when I say I know the value of practical mechanics. We'll get to the good stuff in a few weeks--there will be explosions, just not planet destroying ones--but today we're gonna start out small." He pointed to the first student on his left. "Okay, let's do the introduction thing: name, age, and the coolest thing you ever built."

He waved his hand at the piles of cardboard, compasses, exacto knives, pencils, wooden skewers, tape and mousetraps in the center of the room. "Today we're gonna build a better mousetrap...car. These are powered soley by the snap of power you get when the trap releases, so those of you who aren't familiar with how electricity works aren't at a disadvantage. You have a half-hour to conceptualize and build your cars, and then we'll race 'em against each other." He grinned. "It'll be astral."

How to Be Awesome, Tuesday, Period 3

[vanillajello]

Standing at the front of the class room after her students had filed in, Kate looked pretty perky and relaxed for someone who'd spent half the night before having an existential crisis in a hotel room and calling her poor sleepy boyfriend who'd really done nothing to deserve such massive verbal flailing at 2 AM. (In fact, Kate was pretty sure she'd spent half the time panicking at Seamus instead.) She looked just fine now. Like, she was still nervous as hell but at least it was contained.

"Hi," she said with a little wave once everyone had come in. "I'm Kate Gregson, and this is How to Be Awesome. If you think you're in the wrong place –– why the hell would you think that? Don't you want to be awesome?"

She really hoped they all wanted to be awesome because otherwise this workshop was going to bomb.

"So, yeah. In this workshop, we're gonna be going over what it means to be awesome. Like, how to feel awesome, how to be awesome in different kinds of scenarios and just generally how to recognize awesomeness in life. Stuff like that. But, this time we're gonna start really easy, with a classic: introductions!" Because she knew her stuff, okay. "I want you to tell me your name, and one thing you think is awesome about you." A beat, an she added, "Also if you're confused about the slang meaning of awesome, because that's kinda what we're working with here, tell me and I'll try to go more... in-depth with it."

Possibly by using Urban Dictionary.

"So, lemme go first. Like I said, I'm Kate Gregson. You can just call me Kate because if you try any of that 'professor' stuff I'll probably die of shock. And one thing that's awesome about me is that I went through a lot of crap over my student years here at this school, and still came out on top and could return here to share some of my insights with all of you."

She nodded, then pointed at a student at random. "You, go first."

The Day After Doomsday: Getting By In a Post-Apocalyptic World, Wednesday, Period 4

[raspberryturk]

"Rookies." It had been far too damn long since the last time Reno was standing in the Danger Shop, looking at a classroom full of kids he didn't know. It was kind of like coming home, and that much was apparent in his relaxed posture as he surveyed the group. All around them, the holographic landscape was a barren desert, the sky above them a sickly haze except for the giant burning rock hanging overhead, which managed to dwarf the moon by far. "Heh. Rookies."

Yes, this was his opening line. Hello, class.

"Look up there. That? That up there, is what brought my world as I knew it to a crashing stop. You wanna know what happens when a rock like that falls down from the sky?" He lifted his eyebrows pointedly as he looked at each and every student in his class, one by one. "No. No, you really don't. But you're in this class, so over the next few weeks, you're gonna learn anyway, yo. We watched that bad boy falling down on our heads for weeks, and there wasn't a godsdamned thing we could do to stop it, either. And believe me, we tried. The only reason I'm standing here right now is because the Planet tried even harder. We're gonna cover more than 'rocks fall, everyone dies' scenarios over this term, of course, but I figured, hey, probably not a bad way to catch your attention."

Thanks for that, Gaia.

"This week, we're gonna keep it light, yo. I'm not new to the island, but I'm new to all of you, and I want to know what the hell I'm working with this summer. So, you Rookies are gonna give me your names, tell me any experience you might have with the end of the world, or if you have none, tell me what it is you're hoping to get out of this class. And, if you were to look up in the sky and see that thing, and there was sweet fuck-all you could do to stop it, tell me how you would spend your last few weeks alive. I'm Reno. I'm here teaching this class because I lived that once or twice or... I lost count. And when I was faced with that one up there? First, I got pretty damn drunk. And then I tried to help evacuate what was left of Midgar, my world's biggest city, anyway."

On orders, sure, but that hardly mattered. When you were a Turk, you Did The Job.

"Your turn."

[Open!]