Photography Through the Ages; Thursday, Third Period [01/11].

[hashtag_chocobro]

At the front of the classroom, sitting on the teacher's desk with his legs excitedly beating out a small rhythm against it in his anticipation, Prompto waited for his class with an eager grin on his face. Oh, man, he'd been looking forward to this a lot, and, even though his class was pretty small again, he hoped that meant just meant they could really get into things with a detail and depth that a larger class just couldn't provide!

(Even if two of those names on that very small roster made him sweat....a lot....albeit for very different reasons).

But a small class also meant not having to wait too long before everyone was there and settled and he could get into it. "Hey, guys!" he said. "And welcome to Photography Through the Ages, a course where we're going to look at the history of photography on this particular world, maybe a little touch on some of it from my world, and probably do some cool photography stuff ourselves, too. Now I know there's at least one face here that's not that familiar," with that, he grinned and pointed a finger at Arden assuming she was there omg, and almost sighed a sigh of visible relief that her face was as unfamiliar as it was, but also, like, he got thrown off a train because the dude could change form....and he would just go around and change just the one letter and do a new last name and---

Prompto shook his head, seeming to remember a bit too late that he was in the middle of something. "Right, anyway, hi, I'm Prompto, I'm a freelance photographer and my wife and I run the Photo Hut here in town, and photography has been a passion of mine since I was a little kid, so it's always exciting to get to share that love and the the craft itself with other people. And, in this course, all the cool ways in which it has developed and changed and shaped the world and stuff like that!

"And," now he hopped off the desk and moved excitedly over to where he'd had something hidden underneath a black cloth, "since this is sort of a retrospective and a history, I thought it would only fit to start right at the beginning!"

Dramatically, he pulled off the cloth to reveal a large wooden box with a lense.

"This," he said proudly, "is a Camera obscura, one of the first iterations of the modern camera as we know it. I actually unearthed this baby in the back of a storage room at the shop, if you can believe it, and these things are so cool. Basically, camera obscura means, like, 'dark room', in a language called Latin, which..." He stopped himself, laughing a little. "We don't need to get into what a trip Latin is for an Eosian like me right now, that's not why we're here, but anyway, so the idea with a camera obscura is that when light passes through this little hole...."

And just like that, the lecture was on, and, unceremoniously, the class was being treated to the lecture on how it works from clearly very eager photography nerd.

Battle Tactics and Strategy; Thursday, Fourth Period [01/11].

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis was rather hoping that his glasses would serve an extra purpose today beyond their usual buffer of comfort, in that they would also help hide just how tired he was at the moment. He had been able to sneak in a quick catnap just before the lesson, but it (and the coffee he was clinging to as if his life depended on it) did little to eradicate the effects of a truly sleepless night followed by far too many hours of training. He knew he probably shouldn't have gone that hard, but sometimes, the only way to keep the mind of overworking itself was to overwork the body, instead.

And, given the choice, he'd choose to save his mind over his body any day of the week.

But. Anyway. That was neither here nor there, because he had a class to teach, and he was dedicated to giving that class his full, albeit sleepy, attention today.

"Welcome," he said, when his phone gave a helpful little chime to alert him to the fact that it was the start of the period exactly, and he wasted no time in forging forward, and those who might have been late to the party would just have to catch up, "to Battle Tactics and Strategy. As most of you already know, my name is Ignis Scientia, and I will be your instructor in this topic. I have studied the arts of strategy and war almost my entire life, as well as had a great deal of field experience, and, hopefully, I can impart some of that knowledge to you in a helpful way, and, in turn, I hope that your own expertise and experience can inform my own knowledge as well."

He gave a tight smile there, the smile of a very tired, strict, an dstiff man attempting some semblance of warmth and approachability, and probably not getting to terribly close.

"Of course," he said, "this week is our first week, which I know traditionally focuses on introductions. However, efficiency in strategy, battle, and in life as well, is something we should always strive for, so let's up the stakes a little more than just getting to know each other on a surface level. Let us get to know each other on a strategic level. One thing to always keep in mind, especially when it comes to tactics and strategy, is that what we perceive as strengths can also be turned into weaknesses, and what some might consider a weakness, we can turn into a strength.

"For example, one of my strengths is speed, which isn't much use in a slow, meticulous sort of strike, and one of my weaknesses is my visual impairment, which actually puts me at an advantage of not having a disadvantage when fighting in the dark.

"Another thing to keep in mind, of course," he added, "is that when we choose to reveal our strengths and weaknesses, we are putting out that information to perhaps one day be used against us. So what you decide not to make known may be as significant as what you do.

"Now, then," there was a nod of conclusiveness as he came around to the end of the introduction, "simple enough, correct?" The smile now was much more natural, though small, tucked only in the corner of his mouth, an eager sort of smile, intrigued to see what might come out of the exercise. "Who would like to go first?"

Library, Thursday 1/11

[noonedecidesmyfate]

When Belle arrived at the library after her class a gremlin approached her, handed her a laptop that was faintly smoking, and walked away.

"What am I meant to do with this?" Belle asked. The gremlin ignored her and walked out the door. "It's smoking!"

Another gremlin looked up from where it was sitting on the floor looking at a book and shrugged. It could have suggested giving it to the gremlin who worked at Stark's with Rey but what would be the fun in that? Letting the library aide be confused was far more entertaining for all gremlinkind.

Feeling rather thrown by the laptop and not wanting to do anything besides leave it alone lest it explode or catch fire, Belle set it on a table by the door with a "DO NOT USE" sign on it and settled in at the desk with a book of modernized fairy tales.

Necromancers Guide to the Undead, Monday, Period 1

[deathsmajesty]

First period was an offensive time to have class and yet, here she was, leaning against her desk, clutching her precious cup of coffee as if it were the only thing keeping her going.

Quite possibly because it was the only thing keeping her going. Mornings were a curse even on normal days. Today...well, she wasn't going to think about anything but her class this morning. She was especially going to ignore the petulant rumble of her stomach, thank you. Sure, she'd skipped breakfast this morning for...reasons...but she'd been skipping meals for two hundred years. There was no excuse for this kind of behavior, stomach. She was just going to drink more coffee and ignore it while her students filed in.

"Good morning," she said brusquely, as soon as the bell rang. "Welcome to Necromancer's Guide to the Undead. I am your professor, Liliana Vess, and I am the necromancer in question. I have been studying necromancy for over a hundred and seventy-five years, as well as receiving my degree from the College of Witherbloom at Strixhaven University, with a Dreadbones major focus and a Bleed Doctor minor focus, all of which adds up to saying that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to the various necromantic arts and the taxonomy of the undead. Now, the required caveats of the class."

"The first and foremost is, of course, that while all of the information I will be providing you is true in my Multiverse, no guarantees can be made for how things work in yours." And if you thought that Liliana was aggrieved about that, you were entirely correct. "For all I know, one of you may come from a dimension where the undead are created and controlled by the healing powers of hugs. That has nothing to do with the veracity of my information, simply the absurdity of your reality. Secondly, this is a purely informational course. I am teaching you about these creatures, yes, but in no way is this a class focused on how to create or control them. If that's what you were hoping to get out of this class, you should have read the summary more closely - that being said, if you're interested in pursuing necromancy as a calling, I commend your life choices and feel free to see me after class to discuss this further. And finally, this is not a debate class. I don't actually care about your opinions on the morals and ethics of the creation of the undead - Ethics was offered last semester and if you missed out, that's your burden to bear. If I believe a discussion of ethics is valid for whatever lesson we're discussing at the time, I'll ask you to share your opinion. Otherwise, assume I'm not interested. If you decide to bore me with your ethical pontifications anyway, I will indulge you only so long as I have the patience for nonsense - and, as I am most emphatically not a morning person, it will not be a particularly long time - and then I will toss you out of class in your ear so the rest of the class can get back to learning."

The door was over there, folks. Feel free to use it now if you didn't like any of the above.

"Now then, I've since learned that I'm expected to give over a full class period to introductions, rather than just getting right in to teaching--" Yes, she looked aggrieved about that, too. Look, aggrieved was clearly the emotion of the day. Seventeen classes was already barely enough time for a survey course, and here she was, losing one to introductions. "--so let's begin with your name, the reason you signed up for this class - if you're here by mistake, take a moment to come up with at least a semi-plausible lie - and what, if any, knowledge or experience with undead you already have. If you have none...suggest to me your favorite piece of media involving the undead. It will give me a chance to see what nonsense I'm up against."

Dice & Danger, Thursday - 2nd Period

[needsacatchphrase]

There were a lot of books on the teachers' desk when class started. Like, just a lot of books. Because you could hardly DM teach this subject without them, right?

"Hi," Jane said, bolding powering on through this weird topic. "Welcome to our class. It's not the class we expected to teach, but here we are."

Cara looked up from examining a die. Why did it need so many sides? "Apparently adventuring is a complicated business, doubly so when you're only pretending to."

"So, in the spirit of things, you'll be rolling dice to tell us about yourselves. Or, at least, the selves that will be part of this class," Jane said.

"Then maybe tell us a little about the real you, like if you've had any experience with this before." Because your teachers sure as hell didn't.

"It'll be fun," Jane promised with zero proof of this.

"So much fun." Cara it helped if you sounded the slightest bit enthusiastic about it.