Philosophies of Mana, Thursday, Period 2

[deathsmajesty]

The students had all been handwavily instructed that they would be meeting in the Danger Shop for every class, though when they entered it today, it was currently set up to mimic a classroom. On the board at the front of the room a five pointed star was inscribed, and at each point was a word: Peace, Freedom, Perfection, Acceptance, and Power. Beneath the star, several questions were written out:

• What do you desire? What is your end goal?

• What means do you use to achieve these ends?

• What do you care about? What do you represent?

• What do you despise? What negatively drives you?

• Why do you like your allies and hate your enemies?

• What is your greatest strength? Greatest weakness?

Liliana was leaning against the front of her desk, sipping a cup of tea and watching the class file in. As soon as the bell or whatever rang, she began to speak. ( Have introductions on your own time. We have lectures in this class. )

"Each of the words listed here is a summation of what its corresponding color of mana ultimately desires. Due to either a similarity to how the mana seeks to achieve those goals or a similarity in what it repudiates, each color has two allied, or complementary colors. Blue mana plays nicely with black and white, green mana plays nicely with red and white. And, as follows, each other has to enemy colors as well. White magic is enemies with black and red, and red mana is enemies with blue and, again, white. The colors that one type of mana is allied with will be enemies of each other, and the enemies of one kind of mana will be allies."

It was a surprisingly elegant system, all things considered. "The questions on the board are questions we will seek to answer every week as we discuss each color in detail. Today, we'll be applying those questions to you, in order to get an idea of what color mana you might be personally drawn to. I'm also interested in hearing your opinions about what desired goal is linked to what color mana, and why you've decided that. And, of course, the required introductions. So. Let's begin."

A Shot in the Dark: A Comprehensive Guide to Coffee; Thursday, 4th Period [05/16].

[chef_chocobro]

With everything set out before him and the aroma of coffee surrounding him, Ignis was eager to get started on the lesson and wasted no time in getting right into it. "Good afternoon," he said with a nod to the gathered students, "and welcome to A Shot in the Dark: A Comprehensive Guide to Coffee, where over the next few weeks, we will be exploring a wide variety of aspects of a beverage that is very near and dear to my heart. I'm sure this class will consist of both coffee aficionados as well as some beginners, but I hope what we can all bring to the table is a good deal of appreciation not only for the brew itself, but also in learning more about its origins, cultivation, extensive variety, and different brewing methods.

"As there are both familiar and unfamiliar names on the roster this session," he continued, "assuming the moose has sent me the proper information," he had his doubts increasing on that as his confusion about some of his own classes lingered, "we'll take a few moments for introductions, of course, which will also prove to be helpful in discussing what your experiences with coffee currently are. Being from so many different places, I'm sure many of us come from very different coffee cultures, so let's delve into that a little, and, if you'd like, we can also share where your personal preferences may lie.

"After that," he said, "we're going to start with a simple exploration of what a difference various styles of coffee and preparation can make. We'll have three different classic but simple methods: an automatic-drip coffee maker, a French press, and a Moka percolator. We will also have a variety of options for coffee: your standard bargain grocery store grind, a higher quality ground coffee, a standard whole bean coffee, and a higher quality one. That way, not only can we examine how different methods might taste different, but also how much more of a difference the type of coffee you use is.

"So, with that, we'll get to the introductions and then, finally, we can get to the coffee."

Arts & Metal Crafts; Thursday, Fifth Period [05/16].

[special_rabbit]

Having a class so late in the day was a pretty novel experience for Amaya, truth be told, but she'd had plenty of time to get back into the swing of things after the extended trip to Daventry (and zounds was she glad that was behind her now!) and she was eager to be back in the shop classroom for another class.

"Morning, every--" she started, then caught herself with a shake of her head. "I'm sorry, afternoon! Which, honestly, is probably a good idea, considering that it always did make me a bit nervous, having people working with power tools and dangerous equipment when they were still shaking out their sleepies. But, anyway, welcome to Arts & Metal Crafts, the class where we focus on making lots of things....with metal! And, since introductions are pretty customary with the first week of classes, we're also doing our introductions with metal, too. Metal stamping, to be specific!

"Now, metal stamping by hand is quite the process, but it's quite commonly used with the creation of jewelry, and things like that. What I've got here are plenty of stamping kits that include what we'll need: stamping hammers, a steel block to work on, a variety of stamps for numbers, letters, and symbols, and some metal to actually stamp onto it, as well as a few other thing to make the process a little easier. And the process is pretty simple."

She pulled out a large A-letter stamp, showed the class, then showed how to set up the metal sheet over the block. "You just hold it very upright and still over the spot you want to stamp, and..." One firm and decisive hammer later, "...stamp! Just the once should be enough, although if you're not as used to hitting things with precision like I am, it might take a couple good trial whacks to really figure out how to get a nice clean stamp like this."

She held up the fancy A on the metal to show them.

"So," she said, "what I'd like you to do is go ahead and take some time to pick out some stamps and make something to use to introduce yourself. Ideally, that'd be your name, but if there's something else you'd like to stamp that you feel is more representative of who you are, then, by all means. We're all about creativity and trying new things in this class, as long as they stay within the parameters of safety.

"Which, by the way, watch your thumbs. But I've got ice packs if you need 'em, too. With that, I'll let you guys get to trying out the stamps, and get to stamping, and toward the last bit of the class, we'll have a look at what you've got and get to know each other!"

Booze Tasting & Drinking Games - Thursday 1st Period

[single_man_tear]

Caritas had been set up the night before for Dean with bottles of Whiskey lined up along with an organized set of glasses. Which included a note from Summer which made Dean chuckle when he read it.

It was a good thing everything was set up too as Dean was not at peak performance and frequently had to cover his mouth as he kept burping quietly into his hand. And each time making a face afterwards.

Once everyone arrived, Dean held up a bottle of whiskey and smiled. “Welcome to booze tasting and drinking games. I’m your host, Dean Winchester, and today’s beverage of choice is whiskey. You drink it and it makes you feel good. Too much and you feel bad. For today’s game we’re playing two truths and a lie. But everyone should drink at least one glass before we start.

Cultural Appreciation, Thursday 5/16, 6th Period

[but_mostly_america]

“Welcome to Cultural Appreciation!” Sam Eagle said, looking out over the assembled students. “Where you shall all learn to appreciate culture! We have a fine summer of exposure to culture planned for all of you!”

He was using the word ‘we’ very loosely here. Sam had grand plans. Beaker had grand plans of his own. Those two plans were likely not even a little compatible.

"Meep meep meep!" Beaker said, triumphantly rolling in a huge cart filled with different varieties and flavors of yogurt. So much culture, Sam! So. Much. Culture.

“Beaker. Why is there yogurt? We are meant to be sharing culture with our students to help them appreciate the finer things in life. We are not meant to be eating dairy!” Not unless it was extremely fancy cheese, Beaker!

"Meep meep meep meep meep meep meep meep!" Beaker protested, pointing to the yogurt. These had culture! Maybe cultures? Something! He was very sure Jamie Lee Curtis had mentioned it at least once in those yogurt ads! It was healthy! Tangy! What was there not to appreciate?

“Jamie Lee Curtis is a fine actress,” Sam was forced to agree, “but this is not the culture that was discussed!” By which Sam meant, of course, that he hadn’t listed off yogurt when rattling off the things he thought worth informing students about.

And Beaker had been hungry and only a quarter listening, and so…here you were! Eating yogurt! "Meep meep meep meep?"

Maybe someone would enjoy the yogurt pretending to be from Iceland? Or Greece?

“Greek yogurt!” Sam exclaimed. “Greece, the birthplace of democracy! Use that yogurt today, students!”

Library, Thursday 5/16

[noonedecidesmyfate]

The library was loud today.

One group of gremlins was standing in a clump shoving each other and yelling and throwing a ball around and eating and generally being disruptive.

Another lone gremlin kept banging on things.

Amd somewhere a group of voices was singing 'Happy Birthday. '

Belle, meanwhile, was just trying to get some work done but it was difficult.

Arts & Crafts For Beginners [Thursday, Period Three]

[wrongkindofsith]

Class was in the Danger Shop this week, and Cara looked resigned. Incredibly so. Was it because the possibility of violence had been greatly diminished with this class? Or was it the tub of glitter that sat next to the rest of the supplies for today's craft? That glitter would last aaaall semester long, folks.

Enjoy it.

"Hello everyone," Jane said, already distracted by glitter on her cape. How did it get there already?? "Welcome to Arts and Crafts. I'm Jane..."

"And I'm planning revenge on the moose." Sweet, sweet, never to be achieved revenge.

"Cara," Jane said with a sigh. "This is Cara. Sorry, this was one of those assigned to us classes. But we're making it work!"

Were they?

"With slime," Jane added. "And introductions."

And the dilemma of whether they had to touch slime with their bare hands or risk getting glitter slime all over their leather gloves. Or was that just Cara?