Fun with Magic | Friday, First period

[nuclear_snide]

Class was back out on the lawn today. In front of them were chairs - one for each student. Eliot hung back, his guitar slung over his shoulder, looking like he sort of mildly regretted being there. He eyed the chairs suspiciously.

The chairs were moving. Not much, but shuffling a bit as if they were restless. Despite this (or be real - because of it), Bob was grinning.

"Right. Today, we're playing musical chairs. Or, well, magical chairs." Bob waved at the chairs. "If you've never played, there's music." Eliot saluted. "When it stops, you have to sit down. Whoever's not in a chair is out. Whoever's left last, wins. It's usually played in a boring circle."

Bob didn't approve of that.

"These chairs have spells on them. First of all, they won't be sitting still, so I hope you all brought running shoes. Secondly, you'd best pick wisely. You see, there are enough chairs for all of you, but when the music stops, one of them will disappear. And one more each successive time."

He let them all think on that for a moment. "Once you're out, you have three options - you can choose to sit and watch the others, if you like. You can also choose to help someone else find whichever chair you think is good. Or whichever one you think isn't. You could also choose to help the chairs escape. It's entirely up to you."

He looked around. "Questions?"



[OOC: played with assistance from the lovely vdistinctive!]

Survive the Island, Thusday 3rd Period

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara's class was in the Danger Shop for the first time since the first week, even if it resembled nothing more unfamiliar than the grounds of the school. Cara leant against the side of the deck.

"Invasion of things that want to kill or attack you are the easy ones to deal with," she began. "You kill them first, if killing them is undesirable for whatever reason, find some other straightforward method of stopping them."

Cara moved to sit on the deck steps instead. "The real fun comes when the other kind of invasion," she said. "The inanimate objects that aren't, the miniaturised animals, the small children claiming to be yours. Things you can't kill or attack in good conscience because they don't actually pose a danger to you, they're merely bothersome and irritating." Or emotionally traumatising in the case of her last example.

"Those you have to find other methods of dealing with." Which would be when the army of plush animals appeared on the lawn.

Sexual Safety [Friday]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Good morning!" Today, when Irene greeted the class, it was with an assortment of BDSM goodies on the table at the front of the room -- several riding crops, a whip, a pair of fuzzy handcuffs, a pair of distinctly non-fuzzy handcuffs, a cat o'nine tails....the list went on modily. "So, some of you will always prefer the more vanilla approach to things, and I'm here to tell you that that's fine, and that if you're intimidated by any of...this," she gestured to the table, "it's perfectly natural."

"But." She clapped her hands together briskly, once. "It's also natural to want to experiment, and if you and your partner are feeling adventurous, bringing a little BDSM to your bedroom can be terribly, terribly fun. BDSM, for those of you who don't know, is an acronym that stands for 'Bondage, Discipline, Sadism and Masochism.' What that all means is that sometimes, the contrast of a little bit of pain with your pleasure can be enormously enjoyable." She quirked a smile at them. "I haven't shared this with a class before, but this -- all of this -- used to be a bit of a speciality of mine, professionally, so it's fairly near and dear to my heart. And that's why, as an expert professional, I want to make sure that you all know what you're doing before you start venturing into the waters of playing with pain."

"Before you start incorporating any gear like this, I'd say there needs to be conversations outside of bed, when you're both thinking clearly," Irene started seriously. "Both parties need to be on board with what's happening, what's expected of either of them, and how they want this to go. And then, before you incorporate any gear like this, I'd really recommend starting with just your hand." She held up a hand, waving her fingers delicately before miming a quick, hard, open-palmed slap. "There are areas that will absorb pain better than others -- I'm sure you're all perfectly aware that a blow to one's behind doesn't hurt nearly as much as a blow to the face, for instance, because of the cushion of fat. I'd avoid erogenous zones unless you two talk it out and that's thoroughly discussed -- you might think you're ready for nipple clamps, but it's an unpleasant surprise to discover you're not, is the thing."

She picked up her riding crop and flicked it out once, gently. "Above all, always start out light. You can always ramp it up, but it's very hard to decelerate from a very forceful starting point, especially if you've already inflicted a fair amount of pain. And finally, you two need to decide on a safe word ahead of time -- a cue to stop, because so often pleas of stopping or begging for mercy are actually meant to herald more, and add to the excitement. I recommend a word you'd never otherwise say in a sexual situation -- 'marshmallow,' or 'porcupine,' or even just 'magenta.' I wouldn't use something that means something to either of you, especially -- if you use the name of your puppy, for instance, you'll probably always look at the poor thing differently afterwards."

She gestured to the table, smiling. "Browse. Play. Ask questions. If you need a demonstration, I can help with form." She rolled her eyes a little, adding, "Not like that, you know."

Practical Philosophy, Friday

[endsthegame]

"Judgments," Ender said. "We all make them."

He gave everyone a faint smile. "About actions, and about people. It's the idea of judging people that drove the philosophers of old into endless debates, on when it was okay to judge something terrible or evil. They developed extensive theories on what made something good and right. Take the old Greek philosophers such as Socrates and Aristotle, who believed in what's called 'virtue ethics' - the idea that the character of the person defines the morality of his actions. Socrates argued, for instance, that if a person knew what was right, then he would do right. It was only not knowing what 'good' was that might cause someone to do evil."

"Then there were the stoics, who believed virtue laid in contentment, in being happy with what you're given, whatever it was. Opposite them, the hedonists, who believed 'good' was anything that made you feel happy. Later philosophers came up with the theory of consequentialism, the idea that one's morality depended on the consequences of what someone does. Some philosophers felt that good deeds were only good if they worked to better the country, for instance. On the other hand, deontologists such as Kant believed that goodness came from doing, and the reasons someone might have to do something - if you did something because you felt it was your duty, Kant would've thought you were doing something good no matter what happened."

He sat back.

"As I said, we all make our judgments. Of ourselves, of the people around us, of their pasts - especially around here. On what do you base your judgments? I think most of us realize that there is no such thing as pure good and evil - but how we judge other people tends to depend a lot on what we were taught and where we come from."

Another faint smile.

"I personally believe that character is important," he said. "Once you try to understand what makes people do what they do, it becomes that much harder to see them as evil. After all, most of us do what we think is right, even if our ideas of what right is are different. And in doing these things, we inspire other people to act in their own way."