Creative Problem Solving, Tuesday, period 3

[vdistinctive]

[class #9: The Go(odie) Bag Job]

The class met in what looked like a perfectly normal classroom this week -- though it was still the Danger Shop. The room was lined on all sides with tables covered in a very large variety of items, everything from basic first aid supplies to piles of generic clothing to what would look to be on first examination a stack of blank passports from various countries around Earth (and would turn out on closer inspection to be -- a stack of blank passports from various countries around Earth. Yeah). The table closest to the door had a large variety of bags on it, from large purses to backpacks to duffel bags to rolling bags. The teachers sat at the back of the room at a final, empty table. The middle of the room was empty, with plenty of room for the students to stand.

They won't have seen Eliot look quite so relaxed, before. It was possible that Parker hadn't seen Eliot look quite so relaxed, before. He was leaning back in his chair, tilted precariously on its back legs, his feet up on the table, idly spinning a small black claw on a cord around his neck. When the students started filing in, he looked up and waved with a smile, then went back to fiddling with the necklace.

Parker was shooting Eliot random looks of confusion, because when did he go all zen? Was he planning on killing someone without telling her? Had he discovered a new spice? Did someone drug him? Anyway. “Hi guys. This week, we’re talking go-bags.” She pointed around the room. “What do you take with you when you have to go on a sudden trip? A trip you might not come back from? Or when the apocalypse happens?” She figured some of the kids at least might have to deal with that concept back home. “You should always be prepared. Like those scouts.”

"She means Boy Scouts," Eliot said, without sitting up. "We've got bags for you to choose from, and a wide-range of supplies. My advice: pack light. A bar of soap, a change of clothes, and a good knife will get you plenty far and won't weigh you down when you have to run."

“But maybe you need something special. If you’re not sure what something is, ask me. You don’t want to be like our friend Maggie.” Parker made a sad face. “She would have mixed up the plastic explosives with the toothpaste.”

"None of the explosives'll work outside this room," Eliot told them. Because of course they had tubes of plastic explosives in here. "They're samples only. Same with the weaponry. If you can get your hands on something you can use outsida here, though, they can be useful."

“Now. Make like you’re equipping for time in Antarctica! Or maybe just Texas.” Parker beamed, shooing at them with her fingers. Then she leaned over to poke Eliot in the neck to see if he would react.

Eliot grabbed her by the wrist, face going blank as he squeezed -- then let go and shot her a raised eyebrow. "When you're done," he told the class, a slight edge to his voice. "We've got cookies."

Basic Mis-Intelligence [Monday, Period 2]

[doubleohblonde]

The Danger Shop theatre was nothing out of the ordinary today.

"Good morning," Bond greeted his class. "Now that we're done with Agent M for the moment, we're moving onto a British series revolving around former Bletchley codebreakers that touches on many of the same post-war issues, albeit in a more restrained way."

"Now to give some historical context, Bletchley Park was the central site for intercepting and decoding Axis transmissions, work that was vital to the war effort, and which required both great intelligence and great secrecy, as most of the vulnerabilities that they needed to crack these nigh-unbreakable codes were the result of procedural flaws and human error, that could have been corrected if the Axis had ever realised their codes had been broken. Hence the work at Bletchley was classified at the very highest level, not only during the war, but also for decades after."

[Class Roster]

How to Develop a Personal Style [Tuesday]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

When students made their way to the Danger Shop today, they'd find that it had been transformed into a lush, green, sunshiney park -- complete with a few tennis courts, a track, and a playground -- though without any adorable rugrats running around, of course. Irene was ambitious, but only so patient. The woman herself, of course, was standing over by an array of cabanas similar to those that had been on the beach that day a few weeks ago, wearing a pair of Norma Kamali yoga leggings and a Michi jacket, along with sunglasses and trainers.

"Looking good is not all sitting around and being fed grapes by boys in togas, though I'm sure that's probably what loads of people think I do all day," Irene greeted them with a wave. "Sometimes people do like to go outside, and just now, the first nips of spring are in the air and I'd bet more than a few of you are ready to stretch your legs. It's still icky out in the real world, though, so I thought I might give us a sunnier one to play in just now. Now, exercising, whether outdoors or in, doesn't have to mean putting on your very oldest t-shirt and your brother's ratty running shorts. More to the point -- even if you don't especially care about looking good when you exercise, you really ought to ensure that your outfit fits the activity."

She gestured down to herself, sending her ponytail (treasure the moment, kids -- you'll never see her hair in one ever again) bouncing. "I do yoga, so I wear form-fitting clothing when I exercise so that I'm not worried about getting tangled in layers. Runners often also wear tighter clothing so they don't have to worry about the excess fabric weighing them down or reducing their speed. But if I were to run over there and play tennis, I might be looking for something different in my clothes to complement my activity. Take a little while to poke around in the cabanas and try some things on, then come on out and feel free to go play."

She paused, then held up a finger. "Oh, one last thing -- without embarrassing you lot too badly, I do want to touch on the question of underthings, just briefly. Whether you're concerned about upstairs or downstairs being protected while you play, it's imperative that you wear something supportive. Ladies, poke around the sports bras. Gents, there're cups available if you're so inclined. But please do keep that sort of thing in mind -- less a style thing, more a safety concern."

Ethics, Tuesday

[saddeserthermit]

There weren't two men in robes greeting the class today, but rather one man in a robe, a man in a tunic and jacket, and a very pissed off perched in the latter's hands. The first was looking at the latter two with rather clear perturbation in his expression.

"I'm sorry, but... why are you here?" Obi-Wan asked.

Atton rolled his eyes. "Because your co-teacher's a cat," he said. "And when I was gone, he covered my class, so now I'm covering his."

"There's really no need," Obi-Wan said, carefully disguising his irritation as politeness. "I can handle the class myself, I can assure you."

"Sure, but two teachers is better than one," Atton retorted.

The cat mewed angrily.

"See?" Atton said triumphantly. "Skywalker agrees with me." That was actually... pretty debatable. Skywalker-the-cat, if that cat truly was Anakin and Atton hadn't just picked one up off the street, didn't seem pleased by anything. "Anyway, hey, Ethics class. ( I'm Atton Rand... )