Fandom Library, Wednesday, September 4th

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

The library was on some kind of origami kick. At least, she was assuming it was the library? There were origami how-to books scattered across the table, crumpled up sheets of origami paper from attempts that didn't quite work out, and even a few interesting finished pieces. Arden was charmed right up until she saw a bunch of books huddled on the safety of the circulation desk, their pages also folded into the beginning of shapes.

"All right!" she called across the library, not fussed about whether or not she was making too much noise for a library, this was important. "We do not use other library materials for origami paper! Not books, not magazines, not periodicals, not things I'm forgetting off the top of my head! Origami paper only!"

She wasn't sure if it was gremlins or the very stacks themselves that sighed and grumbled at her announcement, but she didn't care. Not since she was going to have to spend the rest of the afternoon attempting to unfold and flatten pages in much-abused books.

Morality of Action, Wednesday Afternoon

[despisestheforce]

Kreia had not wished to be here. She had been whisked away from her chosen fate and deposited here like a package, moved around by the hands of fate, her own choices stripped away from her with the simple flex of a multiversal finger.

In other words, the disdain she radiated as she faced the class was nothing personal.

"I did not choose you as my students," she began. "You were forced upon me by powers far greater than any of us. I suppose that in and of itself is an object lesson: that to enact your will on one weaker than you is to strip them of their agency and their power. To take their destiny in your own hands and mold it as you see fit. It is the way of the galaxy that such things occur."

She folded her sleeves together; one clearly held a functioning hand, the other did not. "In this class, we will primarily speak of the considerations that come with wielding such power, but it will not weaken us to consider what it is to be the one against whom power is wielded. How we endure it placing us within conflicts we did not choose, or taking from us challenges that were rightly ours to face."

She considered the faces in her class. "Have you ever been stripped of such choices?" she said. "You all must have. Did it weaken you? Or did you find within it some conflict, some new choice of your own, that made you stronger, more capable?"

This one had certainly made her feel weaker. Intolerable.

"For however long I remain here, teaching in this abominable place, we will discuss what this means to you and your victim, to you and your victimizer. But you will also be tested. Many grand words and declarations are spun, only to perish in silence on battlefields and Senate floors. Be ready. I will not warn you in advance."

Which, by proxy, meant that this class, at least, would be free of tests. You were welcome.

Exploring American History, Wednesday, September 4, 2024

[heroic_jawline]

Well, why not start off with a bang and a portal trip out to Massachusetts? More specifically, to Bunker Hill.

"Hello, everyone! I'm Tony Stark," Tony began before glancing over to Steve.

"And I'm Steve Rogers," Steve said with a earnest-to-slightly-dorky wave at the students. "I'm also known as Captain America in some universes." And that almost explained their US History class! "Welcome to Massachusetts. Thirteen colonies on the North American continent that we now call the United States of America declared their independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. This national park is a monument to the Battle of Bunker Hill, which took place more than a year before that."

"While this battle was considered a victory for British forces, it marked a turning point in how seriously both the rebelling colonists and British took the rebellion due to the higher number of casualties on the British side," Tony added. "It's also said to be the battle where someone told the rebels: 'Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes.'"

"Which is pretty good advice when you were firing a rifle made in the 1700s," Steve admitted. "They only worked half the time. Of the 2400 British soldiers and Marines in the battle, more than a thousand were killed or wounded. The rebels only had about 1200 fighters. So while tactically, yes, the British retained this hill at the end of the battle, the morale of the undefeated British Empire took a significant hit. It also led the colonies to realize that they might just be good enough shots to give a full-scale revolution a try."

"So, let's explore both the museum and then onto the monument itself," Tony suggested.

Introduction to Fossils - Wednesday Period 1

[itsananomaly]

After everything that had happened in the last several months it felt weird being back in a classroom and teaching again but Cutter was looking forward to a new semester and teaching with Connor again, “good morning,” he began as he started class, “welcome to Introduction to Fossils, I’m Nick Cutter and this is Connor Temple,” he said, nodding in Connor’s direction, “we’re going to keep class simple this week and focus on introductions but we’ll start doing some basic ground work on what a fossil is and build on that next week,” he said, nodding over at Connor for him to continue the lecture.

“Most of you probably know the basics, so we are going to go with a general overview to see where everyone is and then dive deeper next week,” Connor said with a nod back to Cutter as he turned to face the class. It did feel weird to be back, but it was a familiar routine he was also looking forward to getting back into after the insanity of the last few months. “To start off the introductions, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself- name, why you signed up for this class, and what your favorite type of fossil, dinosaur, or ancient creature is. My favorite dinosaur is the Coelurosauravus. And I have a fairly good idea I know what Professor Cutter’s favorite fossil is,” he said with a grin as he looked back over for Cutter to finish up the introductions and get the class kicked off officially.

Cutter grinned at that, “aye, my favourite fossil is the trilobite, which we will be covering he said rather excitedly, “so how about you?” he said, nodding at the first person to get started with the introductions, “name, why you signed up for the class and either your favourite dinosaur, ancient creature or fossil?”