Defending Yourself Against Magic | Friday, period 2

[nuclear_snide]

"Well," Bob greeted them all, "I hope you enjoyed yourself last week. Your task was to stop the magician from killing you all; well done." More or less. "However, magical opponents don't always come in convenient, easily discovered packages, standing there saying they're going to kill you."

Unless you were Harry. He seemed to attract them.

"So." He waved, and the Shop dissolved into a reasonably well-populated city, people wandering around, the occasional car, and shops along the streets. "Find the magician before he finds you. Stop him before he kills you. Or, well, turns you blue and you're out." Even this school didn't actually let the teachers kill the students. Usually.

Bob waved at them. "Go on."

Hitting Things Makes You Feel Better, Thursday, 3rd Period

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara's class was back in the salle this week, where she stood with a staff in one hand.

"In combat your most important weapon is yourself, but that doesn't mean you should neglect other kinds if the opportunity arises to use them," she said. "A staff is one of the more basic weapons, and an easier one to find a makeshift version of in a pinch. So you're going to spend today poking at each other with sticks."

She gestured with the staff. "Form up and first we'll go through some drills, then you can pair off and try drilling with a partner. If you pay enough attention to the drills then you should be able to avoid getting hit. Much."

Advanced Driver's Ed: Driving Other Stuff, Friday, First Period

[10secondcar]

"Riding a motorcycle," Brian began today's class, "is not just like riding a bike. It's a lot faster, it's a lot heavier, you don't have to pedal. You do have to brake, accelerate, switch gears, and steer, though. So how do you do that? Let's find out.

"First things first, safety. Crashing on a motorcycle is much more dangerous than crashing even in a car, so to give yourself the best chances possible, always wear your safety gear. That means a helmet. Also, unless you just like road rash, wear long sleeves, gloves, and long pants.

"Next, actually operating it. The motorcycles we'll be using today mostly have handlebar controls: the right hand controls the accelerator and the brake, the left side controls the clutch, and the gear shift is on a foot pedal." Brian handwavily went over how that worked in more detail while passing out an informational packet. "Once you're on your motorcycle and have it turned on, don't forget to retract the kickstand. That's kind of like leaving the parking brake on on your car; it ends in tears. Take a few minutes to drive around the lot on your motorcycles and get the feel of it, and then you're going to race around the block. Sound good? Good, let's get started."

20th Century American History, Friday, January 22, 2016

[heroic_jawline]

Steve was practically vibrating with excitement at the front of the class, where there was a small selection of dresses and suits for the students to look at. Their teacher was already in a suit and holding a hat by the brim.

"So I figured out how to do the field trip thing," he said, eyes twinkling, "but we don't want to scare the people in 1904, so everyone needs to dress like they do." He blushed slightly. "Hopefully you girls know what to do with a corset because I am gonna be no help there at all."

After giving the class time to pick out their outfits and change into them, Steve led them down to Portalocity. "We're going to St. Louis," he said. "It's the World's Fair, hosted to celebrate the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase. There are exhibits from 62 countries and 43 of the 45 US States. It was visited by almost 20 million people, including Helen Keller and John Phillips Sousa, in the seven months it was open. It's going to be impossible to see everything-- the Palace of Agriculture alone covered some 20 acres--so pick the areas you're most interested in and have fun. This fair popularized ice cream cones, hamburgers, hot dogs, cotton candy, iced tea and Dr. Pepper. You can out-hipster the hipsters and try all of those things before they hit the mainstream."

Steve had been living with Tony Stark for a few weeks. Of course he'd learned about hipsters.

"As a warning, they have real human beings on display," he said, frowning, "which is awful." He held out a map. "So avoid these areas if you don't want to see members of the Apache tribe, or Alaskan natives being used as props."