Everything's A Weapon, Wednesday, Period One

[raspberryturk]

"Alright, rookies," Reno said, leaning back against what was, perhaps disappointingly, a classroom desk instead of anything fancy in the Danger Shop today, "while I understand that a lot of you probably want to hit things today, this class we're gonna be havin' a discussion, doing some critical thinking, yo. See, improvisation is kickass, but it requires a little more finesse than just 'grab the closest thing and swing' if you're lookin' to actually do some real damage, yo. There's the thing - if you're gonna be picking something up and using it to do something it wasn't intended to do, you're probably gonna hit a few snags. Some of you have already made an art form out of usin' strategy out there - I saw some firebombs, red-hot grill accessories, some creative use of a net, temporary weapons until you could pick up the ones bein' used against you, rock throwin'... and about five hundred umbrellas bein' swung about."

( Reno spread his hands a little, wearing an 'eeeh?' face. )

[OOC: Open!]

Fun With Microwaves!, Wednesday

[toteshammered.livejournal.com]

"I hope you all have been having a pleasant week so far," Thor greeted the students as they filed in to the Danger Shop. He'd spent the weekend believing himself to be the heir to a 'mob dynasty', whatever that was. Midgard was strange.

"Today's task will not involve anything catching fire," he said, sure that at least a few of his students would be disappointed by that. "We are going to microwave soap. I am sure you are all familiar with the way it reacts when it gets wet," at least he hoped they were familiar. They did seem like a group that cared about hygiene, anyway. "So let's find out what happens when we heat it up."

Customer Service and You [Wednesday, July 16, 2014]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Hey all," Josh said. "You probably don't recognize this kind of store: it's one that sells records of music to people face to face with money being exchanged instead of getting your stuff via torrents and iTunes."

He was judging you, teenagers. With your free music and things. Also, he was forgetting Groovy Tunes was a store in town.

"Anyway, today your job is to help people find music they want, even if they come in with stupidly unhelpful descriptors as the only clues. Bonus points if you get them to buy Rick Astley."

Practical philosophy, Wednesday

[endsthegame]

"First of all," Ender began, "I want to invite anyone who wants to do so to talk about the weekend. Sometimes Fandom draws us into strange versions of ourselves that do terrible things, and sometimes the best way to process it is by talking about it."

For him personally it hewed a little close to home, but he wasn't going to deprive them of the chance to talk about it.

"Otherwise, let's draw this on a broader scale. From what I can tell, last weekend fell within the bounds of certain movements in fiction. Usually these movements are born at a time when reality itself seems bleak. When it seems like you can't trust anyone, that the world can at any point come down on you as a pile of bricks and crush you. Is there any value in that kind of cynicism, in that sort of negativity? You could argue it's a good way to protect yourself - but for how long can you do that?"

He smiled briefly. "Or maybe that really is reality, and our conception of everything else is... overly optimistic. Maybe thinking in any other way is a foolishness, a blanket we tug over our own eyes so we don't have to deal with the reality of it all."

He paused briefly, then shrugged. "Or maybe the island's just mad," he said, "and so are the writers and filmmakers it tries to imitate."