Camping 101; Friday, 3rd Period [06/07].

[sword_chocobro]

"We're actually not going to be heading into the preserve like usual today," Gladio admitted with an apologetic smile, especially since it was pretty clear that their little walk in the woods to the campsite was pretty big highlight of the class so far, "but we will be gearing up and taking a bit of a walk all the same. You'll notice," he gestured toward the waiting packs, "that today's gear is also a little bit different, because today, we're going to start going into some various camp-adjacent activities, and it's been a good week for fishing, so that's what we're going to focus on today."

He paused, for the expected groan he'd be hearing from Prompto at this news (or from anyone else, for that matter), and grinned faintly.

"We'll go into it more when we get on location," he said, "but, in the meantime, grab a pack, and we'll hike our way on over to Selkie Lake and start casting lines."

Yoga; Friday, Fourth Period [06/07].

[died8yearsago]

This was definitely one of Rosa's least favorite chakras to have to go over, so and so wasn't wasting any time getting started with class once it was time and everyone who was showing up was there on the beach with her.

"This week," she said, with a faint grunt of distaste and a sigh, "we're covering the heart chakra, or the Anahata chakra, which is said to be located....you guessed it...here," her fist settled on the center of her chest, "in your chest, near the heart. And, at the center of the chakra and at the core of your body, it's considered the chakra most important to over-all well-being, balancing your emotions, promoting good health and a sense of self-awareness, and also..."

Another sigh. She didn't quite roll her eyes, but it was a very near thing.

"Building meaningful relationships with others."

Blech. Just mentioning it was sending her manipura chakra out of balance!

"Honestly, if it wasn't the bridge between the upper and lower chakras, I'd say it's the most useless chakra out of all of them, but some people are pretty into it, I guess. Basically, anahata means unstuck, and the whole idea is that opening it allows you to love in a way that is 'unstuck'," pardon her while she unstuck her lips from each other in a little bit of a snarl, "from expectation or attachment, as well as from negative emotions or past trauma that might be holding someone back from attaining love from both self and others.

"The heart chakra is said to be where all of our life energy is regulated, so I guess that's important, and it's associated with the element of air and the color green. After we get warmed up with our usual sun salutations, we're going to go over some asana that will help open your heart chakra, which will include poses like the camel, the half bridge, the hilariously named cow faced pose, and the extended cobra pose. And if you're feeling like you want a little more challenge, there's the wheel and the dancer. Basically all poses that are going to open up your chest a lot. For...obvious reasons. Let's get started."

The sooner they did, the sooner they could move on from it all, really.

Wonders of the Weave, Friday - 6th Period

[aroughtempestiwillraise]

"My apologies for last week," Gale said as class began for the week. "I had important matters to attend to and was unable to pull myself away from them."

He found an interesting book and forgot what day it was.

"But today we will break into one of the schools of magic: evocation. Evocation is the summoning and control over the very elements themselves. Be it fire, ice, lightning, or even acid. Which is usually a very damage heavy school where your spells are meant to attack your opponents and prevent them from even being able to return the favor through the force you have deployed."

If they don't do super great at the dex saves in some cases.

"However!" Gale added, pointing a finger in the air. "This may not seems like the greatest of ideas should you be with a group who might very well be in the thick of things."

Like proper fighters and barbarians would.

"But you would be wrong. As a tool of this particular school allows you to sculpt your spells and create pockets of safety for them. I shall demonstrate with the assistance of my dear friend Tara here."

Had Tara been there the whole time? Yes. She'd been having a very nice nap before her name was said, yawning and stretching out both paws and wings. "A fireball, Mr. Dekarios?"

"A fireball," Gale replied cheerfully, taking a careful step away from the students for his tressym to just yeet that fireball at him with a booming arde. Only to reveal a very much safe Gale in the middle of a still smoldering circle. "Ah, now I will just wait for this to go out and we can practice with some dummies."

Doctoring 101, Friday, Per 1

[doesdoctorstuff]

Once more through the portal, once more into the fray, once more into Navaan's crazy world. If nothing else, perhaps the class was learning more about the kind of world that could produce a being such as their teacher.

Sadly, there was no carnival today when they walked through the portal. Instead, they were back at Navaan's house, though luckily, they landed outside of the swamp. Looks like you were due for a regular class. Not normal, no. Never normal. But Navaan's version of regular, yup. "So, last week, we were gonna get to doctoring, but I think we can all agree that the carnival was more important. Doctoring is a highly stressful job, what with all the excitement and danger, so it's important to take some time out to relax. However, this week is a holy week for my little guys, so they're not in their monastery anymore. They've all gone to a casino to perform the rituals and try to earn enough money to keep their temple going for another year."

They were monks who worshiped the god of luck. Going to a casino for a high holiday just made sense if you thought about it.

"But don't worry, we still have patients to diagnose and treat!" Because Navaan knew you lot would be worried about that. "In fact, these guys are even better than my little guys, because they're you can try out new cutting-edge treatments and they'll still be fine even if they don't work!" She whistled and twelve...creatures...walked out of the front door. They were purple, featureless and lumpy, like someone had smushed together hairy chunks of mud into a vaguely humanoid figures. "These guys are shapeshifters! They're great, because they can look like anything you want 'em to. My friend Grier, who hates fun, once got one to look like a voluptuous woman with a sack of gold for a head!"

"Yeah," one of the shapeshifters sighed. "I never did get paid for that job. Stupid village."

"Aren't villages the worst?" Navaan sympathized. "Anyway, students, each of you is gonna get a shapeshifter with a medical issue. Your job is to diagnose the problem and then come up with a medical solution. I want to see creativity here, too. You're training to be a doctor! That means creativity! Some doctors might be happy toiling in obscurity, using ancient methods that have been passed down for generations, but not us! We're at the forefront of medical technology! We're pushing the boundaries and coming up with new treatments. So I don't wanna hear any boring medicines or practices here. I want exciting new ones! Go!"

[SFW comic today! Huzzah!]

Food Network Appreciation, Friday 6/7 2nd Period

[stykera]

"Welcome back,” Stark said. “I haven't brought anything made of cicadas for you to snack on today. I promise. I wouldn't do that to you.”

Stark would never.

“Instead I have cookies. Girl Scout Cookies! Which are not made of girls or scouts or bugs. Just usual cookie things.”

As far as anyone was aware, anyway.

“There was a show called Girl Scout Cookie Championship one year. Contestants had to make other desserts out of the cookies, or at least the flavors. The first episode was space themed and so we'll watch that one.”

Space people gonna space, after all.

“And we'll eat cookies. I like the caramel and coconut ones best.”

Improvisation in Action [Friday, 5th Period]

[good_for_six]

"So we're at the halfway point, and we haven't really gotten into why improvisation is a valuable thing." I wonder why, Isabela, I wonder why.

"Which is why we've prepared this helpful learning video." No prizes for guessing what you were about to watch. No prizes at all.