Comparative Culture, Tuesday, Period One

[doubleohblonde]

Rather than a selection of pastries, there was a breakfast buffet set up along one side of the room this morning.

"Today we're going to start looking at the place of food in culture," Bond said, once they'd all arrived and he'd greeted them. "As one of the fundamental human needs, food plays a large role in various human cultures, with styles of cooking and ways of eating being influenced by any number of factors, some obvious, such as availability of ingredients or dietary restrictions, others more subtle for example that in the English language the names for livestock and names for the meat from said livestock come from two different language groups from reflecting the difference between the population raising the meat and the one eating the meat."

"So your topic for discussion today is to consider the place of food in your culture, what kind of things you eat, any kinds of ritual involved, are there taboos about where and when you can eat, or what you can eat, and also how they differ from here in Fandom."

[Class Roster]

Keeping Your Advantage: Terrain and You [Weds, 3rd Period]

[atreideslioness]

Today's portal set everyone out to a nebulous midwestern prairie at twilight. "Hello, students," Ghanima began once everyone had arrived. "Today, we're back in a slightly more familiar climate: the prairie."

"Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, and the steppes of Russia and Central Asia," she said, the Danger Shop starting to cycle through various landscapes as she spoke. "This type of terrian is found on many planets, and in many varieties."

( In which Ghanima does NOT do Little House on the Prairie very well. )

"Your assignment is to find your way to a campsite, about two miles due East of here," she said, handing out star maps and flashlights to people. "Once you get there, you'll find supplied for pitching tents, and s'mores. Of course, you'll still need to get your own firewood, and find a way to get the fire started."

"Now hop to it!" Ghanima laughed, clapping her hands. "There's chocolate waiting."

Announcements, Wednesday Morning

[bigdamnprincipal]

Early in the morning, the PA system came to life with a shriek (someday they'd get that fixed, maybe) and Zoe's voice could be heard soon after.

"Good morning everyone. The following students need to report for the first Student Council meeting on Friday: Emma Swan, Sparkle [microphone feedback], Minako Aino, Alana [microphone feedback], Gwen Stacy, Cecil Palmer, and Mara Jade. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you, and thank you for volunteering."

You know, assuming the squirrels hadn't volunteered you or anything.

[Yay StuCo! Open for reactions.]

Heroic Tales, Wednesday, Period Two

[toteshammered.livejournal.com]

Thor's students would have recieved an email sometime last week telling them to read The Trio of Soldiers which is the player's awful meta version of The Three Musketeers in preparation for today, and also that they would be meeting in the salle. Hopefully anyone who had signed up for Thor's class thinking they were getting a typical literature discussion course was not too disappointed at how this semester was panning out.

Once everyone was assembled, Thor began to speak. "If you read the assigned tale, I'm sure you can hazard a guess as to why you are here. If you have not- well, that is unfortunate, as you missed a truly exciting tale of intrigue and adventure! But you are still welcome to participate in today's lesson.

The idea of dueling was instrumental in setting off the events of the novel, and so today that is what I will have you practice doing. Although I do not encourage you to take this knowledge and use it to challenge your other schoolmates, as that is not considered common practice here," he warned. He picked up an épée and began to demonstrate the blade and footwork involved in fencing. It wasn't his preferred method of close combat, sure, but he was reasonably good with a sword, as it happened. "Please equip yourself with the necessary protective equipment before trying this yourself," he added. "Begin with practicing the movements on your own, and once you feel confident, you may practice hitting an actual target," Thor gestured to an array of practice dummies. "And of course, should you desire an actual opponent, you may challenge a classmate, though again I stress the importance of the protective equipment."

How To Get By In A Hostile World, Wednesday

[suitably_heroic]

So Atton was fifteen minutes late. So what? It happened. Sometimes, it just did.

He walked into the Danger Shop like he owned the place anyway, showing no sign of any conversations he may or may not have had in the past couple of hours because frankly it wasn't anyone's business. "Hey," he said, "Sorry I'm late. I had a whole class planned out, but my prep time got all mucked up, so we're just going to sit and talk a little more."

At least being in the Danger Shop meant he could call up some nice chairs instead of whatever butt-breaking nightmare the school shoved into its classrooms.

"So last week we were talking about impressions," he said. "We also talked a bit about what particular impressions can be good for. I let you guys run around coughing up whatever nonsense came to your minds and that was fine, but we're done with that part now."

"Why do we talk about impressions in a class like this? Because they matter," he said. "Sure, local culture goes on a lot about how they shouldn't, but they do, and once you know what impression you give off to everyone else, you can start to use it. Control it. There are a whole bunch of reasons why that's an important thing to do. It can help you find work, it can help you get out of sticky situations, it can even save your life. My personal favorite is the part where it can also keep nosy telepaths out of your head, if your universe happens to have those."

He poked himself in the head to make that point. "See, most telepaths aren't very interested in looking deeply into your head. They probably see a lot of idiots on a daily basis, so they tend to stick to the surface. The surface is where impressions work. You occupy your brain with enough busywork - hell, you occupy your brain with how hot the telepath in question is - and you'll see they look away pretty fast. Same goes for normal people, actually."

He looked at the students. "Okay," he said. "We're in the Danger Shop, so we might as well make use of it. I found a dress-up program somewhere in the systems that you guys get to use. Poke around. Find an outfit that either pushes the impression you give off to the point where people won't want to pay you any attention, or find one that gives off the absolute opposite impression of who you are. Experiment a little. Show off to your classmates. Go."