The Art of Haiku; Monday, Second Period [08/01].

[sake_shinigami]

Ahhh, Fandom. And it's little...quirks. Shunsui was rather used to most of them skipping right over him, for the most part, but it would seem that, last weekend, he was not quite so lucky.

The whole thing had been completely ridiculous, of course. Any reality where he became the Captain Commander of the Gotei 13 was an absurd reality, indeed. Even if Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto actually did wind up kicking the bucket (and Jūshirō....and Unohana-sama....and....), it certainly wouldn't have been passed off to him.

A faint chuckle to himself. A dismissive shake of his head. Ignoring the odd thrum he felt in his chest. And that missing eye. That missing eye was, unfortunately, not entirely new. And he kept getting flashes of Katen's particularly amused grin, and how she always seemed to get him, just under the left eye...Zanpakutō were reflections of their wielder's souls, after all...and Katen....

He just may have to go have a little...talk with her later.

But for now....he had a poetry class to teach.

And they were absolutely going on a field trip today. Hopefully the students were ready for a bit of a portal hop, though why anyone would object to spending a little time in a beautiful Japanese garden to lounge about and write poetry, especially after a weekend like that, was well beyond his understanding.

"Welcome to Taizō-in, ducklings," Shunsui announced, as brightlyl and amused as ever, as they stepped through the portal onto the conveniently lush grounds on a splendidly sunny day with just the right amount of cooleness, "in northwestern Kyoto, where we shall find ourselves able to embark on a truly authentic Japanese poetry writing experience ♥. Today," he started to walk, his robes billowing around him despite the slight breeze in the air not being nearly strong enough for such an effect, with a small gesture for them to follow him, "we will be participating in Kyokusui-no-en, or 'winding stream party'. Such parties were quite popular with Japanese nobility and poets, where they would go to a beautiful location to enjoy the winding of a stream or the blossoming of the flowers or the falling of snow, play games usually involving poetry, drink very enthusiastically, all just to see where the night may lead them...♥."

There was nothing subtle about that grin to suggest exactly where that might have been, even though that was very clearly not where this was expected to go.

"The winding stream party poetry game is simple," he continued, as he gestured toward the very winding stream they now found themselves at. "We will each take a seat here on the shore, and the person upstream will set a cup of sake....well, traditionally, it is sake, but since this is a class, we have instead a refreshing tea ♥...into the water. Participants must then challenge themselves to compose a poem within the time limit set by the passage of the cup floating towards them on the water. When the cup reaches the poet, they must then drink its contents, either in celebration of the poem's completion or as a forfeit if they have not composed a suitable verse in time. Pretty simple, neh ♥? So find a spot you feel is a comfortable distance for poem composition, and I will pour some tea and set the cup loose, and we'll see how you do ♥."

Coping with the Non-Modern World, Monday Period 5

[tellmehowstuffworks]

Yennefer would not be discussing anything that may or may not have happened over the weekend (or Jaskier's choices regarding haircuts) today, thank you very much. "Our past few workshops have focused on planning for what's plausible: what can you recreate with the resources available to you, what can you take with you, and so on. And that's all well and good. However, there is always the possibility all your planning may come to naught. Your magical expanding bag of chocolate may get left behind, or the coffee plant may fail to grow in your universe's soil. No matter how much you attempt to convince people that no, really, this will be better, they may refuse to embrace indoor plumbing as completely unnecessary when they have perfectly good outhouses. Portalocity may dump you in the wrong place. All sorts of things can go wrong, even with the best laid plans. Or, like our Shunsui, the things you turn out to miss most about this world may not be tangible or replicable at all. How are you going to cope? How are you mentally preparing yourself for disappointment and a life without Angry Birds? Discuss."

British History, Monday

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon was in front of the class today, his hair tightly slicked back, his shirt and trousers crisp, and his spine as straight as he could stand. His demeanour was just as stiff.

"Today we're talking about Elizabeth Fry. She lived in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and was known as "the angel of prisons". She was a prison reformer, social reformer, abolitionist, and philanthropist.

"She was a Quaker minister, she advocated for and helped distribute smallpox vaccines in the villages around where she lived, and later in life founded a school for nurses where they were taught the radical notion that the poor should be treated as well as the rich.

"One of the things she was mainly known for, however, was prison reform. She visited Newgate Prison and discovered appalling conditions, then worked to get them improved. She consulted with both prison authorities and the prisoners themselves, who came to respect her. She introduced a system of classification of prisoners, helped to get women and men incarcerated separately, and got them new clothing, education, and paid employment, with the idea of reforming rather than punishing. Her testament to the House of Commons also helped to get measures passed that instituted female wardens to guard female prisoners, did away with iron manacles, and abolished the death penalty for 130 crimes.

"She continued her work to also improve conditions on prison ships, and she opened a homeless shelter and provided help for the poor. She also, as did many Quakers, opposed slavery and campaigned for its abolition. All in all, she was remarkably influential and helpful and did quite a bit of good in her lifetime and after."

He nodded curtly. "Any questions?"

2Paint2Ball, Monday, August 1, 2022

[heroic_jawline]

Well, that had sure been a weekend, which could explain why Steve and Tony were standing so close together that their shoulders brushed. And all of the pillow forts scattered throughout the space.

"Welcome back to paintball," Steve said with a smile. "I'm guessing some of you might need to work things out today."

"Or some time to hide a bit if that's how things went," Tony added. It was how things went for them at least.

Steve would much rather still be hiding, honestly. "The paintball guns are in their usual places and we also have non-human targets in the back if you'e prefer to do that."

"Call this a breather class," Tony suggested. "It'll let you be prepared for next week."

Treasure! [Monday, Period One]

[good_for_six]

Today the workshop was being held in the Library, and while last week Aphra had had the vaguely annoyed air about her, this week it was Isabela.

"Today we're doing research," she said, in a deceptively light and airy tone. "Both because it's what we had planned for last week, and because some of you couldn't recognise treasure if it was right in front of you." But not you, Belle, you were doing great.

Aphra, for once, wasn't going to touch that last part. "Anyway, libraries are great, even if this one being full of actual, physical books is pretty retro," she said. "And doing research is like its own treasure hunt but for knowledge." Hope you enjoyed hearing a grown woman wax rhapsodic on shelving systems, guys.

"Anyway, your task today is to find a book on a subject you really treasure."