Blacksmithing Basics - Thursday, First Period [05/16].

[special_rabbit]

"Welcome back, everyone," said Amaya, nodding to the students and sounding not exactly as chipper and eager as she was last week, and the look around the shop that was decidedly lacking in all of those nice shiny metal weapons and tools from last week only seemed to emphasize this. She gave a general gesture of her hand. "As you can see, the shop has had a bit of a...thematic makeover. The island's gone Stone Age, so, unless I manage to catch her up to speed with the Iron Age here soon, we're a bit limited on exactly what a blacksmith, a person who works specifically with the iron that apparently hasn't been discovered yet in this shop alone, can do. There are, however, still some interesting weapons to be had with more primitive materials like rock and bone, so, due to the circumstances, we're taking a detour from bein' beginner blacksmiths to be beginner arrowsmiths."

Note the spelling. Not like the band. Amaya doesn't even know what that is.

( Walk this way... )

"And there you have it! An arrow, using no iron, no steel, zounds, thank the heavens for the Iron Age, but it's always nice to know you can still make do in a pinch. Go ahead and use the extra time to make one or two or more if you can manage it, trying to improve on your first one. Hopefully, next week, it'll be back to proper iron smithing."

Though she supposed she could always do bows next week if it wasn't.

[[ocd is....up! Have at it!]]

Practical Philosophy, Thursday

[endsthegame]

"Last week, some of you brought up the topic of the island's influence on our perception of consequences," Ender said. "It's a topic that has been discussed by many generations of Fandom students across the years, and it's always worth revisiting."

No, no invasion could stop him from gathering by the tree on the lawn, bar a sudden rainstorm or extreme cold. The sandwiches were there again, as were the drinks. "And also, lo and behold, the island has thoughtfully brought us many lumbering conversational pieces."

Ah, dinosaurs. That took him back... all the way to his freshman year, wasn't it?

"So we might as well pick up where we left off," he said. "Dangerous animals now walk the island. How do you feel about that? Fear? Excitement? Do you still worry about what might happen with them, or no?"

A beat.

"Or talk about anything else. Conversation is always free in this class."

Sparkly Destruction - Arts & Crafts That You Can Use, Thursday 3rd Period

[wrongkindofsith]

At least one of your teachers was really excited to fight a dinosaur. At the very least, one was pretty much bouncing with suppressed energy as class began.

"We should have dinos in our next fighty class," Magnus said.

"I like the feathery ones better." That wasn't a disagreement, giant, feathered murderbirds seemed a lot more dangerous.

"We can find those after!" Compromise, children. About fighting giant, feathered murderbirds.

Magnus grinned at the class, gesturing out into the woods. "So there are super dangerous things out here now. Let's make a simple weapon out of what we've got!"

And in case they hadn't figured it from the fact what they had were pointy sticks and sparkly rocks, "Since most of these super dangerous things are bigger than you, that means you want something with reach."

"A spear!" Did he need to emphasize the word that much? No. But it was fun to say like that. "Please don't stab each other, though. I think we'd get in trouble for that."

"Let's not find out."

Magnus nodded in plaintive agreement. "We've got sticks and rocks and extra glitter."

Working the Long Con, Friday, Second Period

[talentforlying]

It was a grumpy, rumpled librarian that stomped his way into class after the students had arrived, bonelessly dropping into his chair and kicking his feet up on to his desk as he fished about in his coat for some cigarettes.

The school board might make him teach -- again -- but they couldn't make him behave.

"Right, I'm Constantine, and you're most likely here because you're gullible and thinking this is going to be an easy 'A', a delinquent, or for some strange reason thought this was an academic class with philosophical value," he said, lighting up. "More the fools you, but I can work with it."

"So, let's start with the basics. A con is a game, one where hopefully you're the one writing the rules and the people around you are the pieces you're moving. Like how you lot probably showed up last week when I didn't." Because he'd been really really hung over on the mainland.

"It's a scam, a grift, a hustle, all those words designed to make it sound as shady as possible, although the number of reasons you could be running a con are infinite, at least when you're justifying it to yourself. It usually just boils down to one, very simple motivation: You want something," he continued bluntly. "So give me your name - or whatever the hell you want to be called for the purposes of this class, I don't care - and tell me one time you ran a scam on someone. Give me an idea of what you already know, kids, then we'll get on to Arts and Crafts."

...yes, that actually was as ominous as it sounded.