Creative Writing- Tuesday- 3rd period

[justrealistic]

There was a mistletoe above the desk, and a very annoyed-looking Daria standing very much not under it.

“Last week you had to revisit a previous work. This week, you’re going to pass them up,” Daria said.

”I don’t see anyone kissing...” said the mistletoe.

Daria frowned harder. “It’s supposed to be exam week. So for your exam, I want you to come up with a creative way to destroy talkative mistletoe, and then you can go home. It doesn’t even have to be a story. It can be one word. I’m looking for ideas. Extra credit if I use yours.”

Diplomacy, Relationships & Tactics: the Art of War [Monday, Period 1]

[atreideslioness]

 "Well, you made it all the way through to the last chapter of the book," Ghanima said with a wry smile. "This is the chapter where Sun Tzu talks about something that people may consider dishonorable or unacceptable for discussion, but are often used when it comes to warfare. Namely, spies."

 

"Spies are lovely.  Generally clever people -- since stupid ones don't survive long -- incredibly loyal, despite what the media would have you think, and wonderfully resourceful." 

 

Were your ears burning somewhere, Aly? Ghanima hoped so.

 

"While I am quite adept at manipulation and subterfuge, I lack the temperament -- and ability to blend in -- that a spy requires," Ghanima admitted bluntly. She tended to view things in a much longer game than one where the spies were players.

"Industrial espionage, eavesdropping on a friend, employing reconnaissance behind enemy lines, all of these count as spying. However, it is not as straight forward as you would think. There are five types of spies," she stated, turning to write on the board:

 

(1) Local spies (2) inward spies (3) converted spies

(4) doomed spies (5) surviving spies.

  

"When you have these working together properly, it is your greatest resource, greater than munitions or soldiers or generals. Information, as always, is the most powerful weapon of all.  Why?  Resources.  War is expensive, and all people have physical and mental limits. You cannot afford, financially or strategically, to repeatedly send a thousand troops into a situation blind only to put everything on hold to rethink your strategy because you did not have any information. Being prepared is generally the smarter course."

 

"All spies, however, are not created equal," she stated. "Having local spies means employing the services of the inhabitants of a district, usually to help you detect localized troop movements and to be aware of changes in terrain. Having inward spies means you are making use of officials of the enemy. My personal favorite are the converted spies, getting hold of the enemy's spies and using them for our own purposes." 

 

Ghanima beamed at the class. "Subversion of a loyalist is always so entertaining."

 

"That said, bear in mind that when dealing with deception, you are -- like in last week's lesson -- playing with fire. Your spies are the last people you want to alienate.  They do know everything that you know. Or at least, they know what you know they know, and probably more besides.  There's a reason that Tzu said 'None should be more liberally rewarded. In no other business should greater secrecy be preserved.'" 

 

"For which you have the final categories of spies: there's the 'doomed spies'. Some squeamish generals try to avoid this grouping, but they are indispensable to a solid victory. Having doomed spies, doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allows our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy. This is especially vital to situations where you need to manipulate someone to move in a particular way."

 

"Surviving spies, finally, are those who bring back news from inside the enemy's camp. To have the deepest, darkest, blackmail material possible, you must deploy your doomed spies and your surviving spies, and use the combination to bring back to you the things of most vital importance."

 

"Generally speaking, you know your spies well, on a personal level," Ghanima continued. "You must, to know if they are capable of carrying out their mission. Essentially, this boils down to you sending people you trust implicitly out to die. The odds a spy will survive any given mission get lower and lower with each action undertaken, until the law of averages catches up with them." 

 

"They may have children, lovers, families. They may be your family, or your best friend. And you must look them in the eye and send them out into hostile territory over and over until the day they do not come back, and then you must disavow them." 

 

No, Ghanima was not going to pull any punches on this topic. Intelligence was messy, heart-breaking work, and the sooner the students understood that it was not a Bund film, the better. 

"This, every general must know, be they the masters of the boardroom or the battlefield: how prepared are you to send people into tough situations? Can you have that on your conscience?  Will you be able to send someone out on a doomed mission, with a clear head and a clear heart?  And, most importantly, can you live with yourself afterwards?"  
 

Library, Monday

[intotheout]

Bill was overjoyed to see his sentient mistletoe friend again. Tip . . . not so much.

"I'm fifteen," she told it. "And at work. There will be no kissing happening."

She wasn't sure how it managed it, but the mistletoe totally managed to blow her a raspberry before going back to playing tag with her pet robot.

[open!]

Ethics, Monday

[saddeserthermit]

"Stop it," Anakin said firmly to the mistletoe that had been chasing him into the classroom. "I'm not kissing anyone."

The mistletoe hissed at him, then began pelting him with berries. Anakin sighed heavily. "Right. Should we talk about the ( ethics of harassment )

Fandom Radio- Tuesday, December 12

[justrealistic]

Hello. I'm glad there's no mistletoe today, but I haven't figured out what today's holiday trick is.

I trust nothing.

At school, The Art of War finished up talking about spies, and discussed what they learned this semester, Ethics talked about harassment, and the mistletoe might have wanted to listen in on that, and Creative Writing came up with creative ways to destroy mistletoe.

*chittering*

Like you've never used a class as a threat.

In the library, Gratuity was telling the mistletoe off, and got a visit from Breq, who had been stabbing plants. I like it.

In town, Eliot was spared the kissing orgy at Luke's, and Miguel wanted to make sure it would go away after a day. Good news: it did. At the Devil's Nest, Verity was dealing with both the mistletoe and Tiny, and got a visit from Liam, who told her about a day at the trooper station and a lot of blown kisses.

I'm glad I can end on that note. Enjoy the day, and the mental image.

Computer Science- Tuesday- 3rd period

[throughaphase]

Kitty was just barely on time for class today. She'd had to teach a class first thing in New York, then had to catch a portal back here, and by now she was just slightly frazzled. Luckily class today meant that the Danger Shop looked exactly like it did when it wasn't in use.

"First off, sorry about last week. Trust me when I say I would have rathered being here," she greeted them. "This is our last class, and hopefully you learned something, or at least had fun. And for today, you're going to try your hand at programming the Danger Shop yourself. You've seen some ideas of what it can do now, and you're going to get your tablet full of instructions, so everyone's going to have a turn to show what you come up with here. Who wants to go first?"