Debate, Wednesday, December 7, 2016

[imafuturist]

"It's time for getting people gifts, at least for most of us," Steve said with a little smile. "And I know when I was a student, money wasn't exactly laying around for extras."

Tony did not shuffle awkwardly behind him at all. Don't be silly. "Not that a gift has to cost a lot to mean something," he chimed in.

Steve nodded. "When I was a kid, it was a big deal to get an orange. Don't laugh, Tony."

"I would never. Scurvy is a dangerous disease," Tony replied with the utmost sincerity. He was the least helpful person ever right now. "I think my most prized Christmas gift as a kid was a Captain America doll."

Yep, still not helpful.

Steve turned a delightful shade of pink at that. "So our debate today centers around buying gifts on a limited budget and whether gift cards are a good idea or not."

Tony beamed at the class, kindly ignoring the blush. "Many people consider gift cards to be the lazy man's gift giving. Other think it's genius to allow people to buy what they want for themselves. A gift card, if you're unfamiliar, is a monetary value to be used at specific locations or businesses."

"It's lazy," Steve said. "It says, 'I don't know you well enough to get something you like. Here, have money.'"

"That would explain so many gifts from my parents," Tony said dryly before carrying right on with the subject at hand."Or you're concerned someone else might get them this gift, so you hedge your bets. Like getting a gift receipt."

Steve tilted his head. "Gift receipt?"

"In case something doesn't fit or just plain isn't what you wanted, you can return it," Tony replied, both for the class and teacher. "They don't say how much the gift costs. You only find out in case you return it. They're nice, I hear."

"We didn't have them when I was a kid," Steve said, then gave a little grin. "Took too long to chip into the stones we used for paper, I guess. So, your thoughts, kids? Would you rather have a real gift that someone took time to pick out for you or a gift card that says, 'hi, you're worth 25 bucks.'"

Tony threw his hands up in the air and mouthed 'oh my god', pacing away before he harmed someone.

"Yes, And:" Improv Theatre and You, Wednesday, Period One

[furnaceface]

Jono's headache from last week? Had nothing on his headache this week. The difference was apparently that the island was up to something unpleasant, because looking out the window of the house out beyond the backyard this morning, he could have sworn that some large, fiery... thing was staring back at him. He'd blinked and it was gone again, but the way it had held itself had him more than a bit unsettled.

//Island's up to something,// he said, sitting on the edge of the Danger Shop stage with one hand to the side of his head and his eyes glowing faintly white. //I could keep you all here today to strut around up here pretending to be different animals in a barnyard or whatever, or I could let you all leave to batten down th'hatches or arm yourselves or whatever you do on days like these. Going by th'bloke I spotted before I headed in today, though, it's gonna be a big one.//

He shuddered a little, and then shook it off.

//Personally, I'd rather you started with the hatches and the battening down of them. Find a safe place, find safe people, check to see if the Causeway's been shut off yet, spend today coordinating escape plans and emergency backups if you need them. Maybe the island is just feeling weird and showing us the ghosts of Christmas deadly or something, but t'is the season, and better safe than sorry. General rule is that th'dorms and Caritas are safe havens, but I've been grabbed from my bed before in my time as a student here, so better not to swear by that one.//

Happy December, students.

//We don't know what's coming, so I couldn't tell you what the best approach is here, but feel free to... you know. Improvise.//

Library, Wednesday

[talentforlying]

Something was hinky.

It felt like half the wards in John's apartment had gone off screaming, jolting him awake, before falling silent, reset like nothing had happened. And as far as he could tell when he checked them, nothing had happened, like he'd dreamed it or some shite. Which, given how hungover he was, was a distinct possibility. Three-day-old Chinese food and a bender with bad horror movies was a bloody terrible idea.

Still, the office was sending him a fresh batch of victims to feed to Special Collections, so he hauled his arse out of bed (again) and went in to the library to start the required paperwork. Fucking paperwork. There had to be a spell or some shite to outsource this, didn't there?

The library was open, and the librarian was... John Constantine. We're so sorry.

What NOT To Do In A Fight / Wednesday, Period III / Week 14

[atreideslioness]

Very, very rarely did Ghanima wish she had the innate, powerful, prescient talents of her brother or father. She had seen growing up what that sort of wishing had done to Alia, and that was not a path she wished to take. Her own, modest abilities were more than she wished or needed, most days. She was Sayyadina, and that was more important to her than all the visions the Golden Path could offer.

Today, however, she had the beginnings of a prescient migraine, some of her Tau voices were screeching at her, and her Dune Tarot had been infuriatingly chaotic and unreadable. She would not risk the Spice trance again, not yet, but it was more than enough to make her change her lesson plans.

"You've seen a lot of things that are terrible ideas over the last few weeks," she said, once everyone had gathered. "But today we are going to learn how to do things properly. We're going to learn some basic self-defense moves."

Library, Thursday (December 8)

[wildandbrave]

The fog that seemed to envelop the entire island today was hardly enough, in and of itself, to cause Cosette much alarm. The strange creatures, on the other hand, and the sudden deterioration of many of the buildings in town?

Those things were more than enough to have her hurrying into the library early today in lieu of her morning walk, and making sure that the tables and chairs were arranged to accommodate a good-sized group of people. She was fairly certain she knew what to expect today, if past experience was any indication.