The Various Gods & You, Monday, First Period

[ifwebeworthy]

No, you had suddenly remembered you had a class to teach tomorrow after a week of vacation and a few other things occupying your mind and texted your co-teacher, Class??? at like 11 PM last night. You know. Hypothetically.

Fortunately, there was a topic ready at hand.

"This week is Halloween," Don told the students, "the time when the veils between the worlds of the living and the dead are at their thinnest, and all things spooky reign. Also, candy."

"Mostly candy," Jane agreed. "But we'll be talking about the goddess of death from the Norse pantheon, Hela! Who the mythology books say is Loki's daughter, but back home she's Thor's older sister who was locked up."

Jane's expression said a lot about her opinions on Odin's parenting skills.

"She's--no," Don said, very intelligently, to that. "No, she's not." Thor could not handle any more surprise relatives right now, Jane. He was still processing Frigga not being his mom and Don being real. "She was raised by Loki...and also she was originally an Infinity Stone." What? Infinity Stones didn't become people in your reality? Weird.

"What?" No, no, go back and explain the Infinity Stone thing, Don. "No, she's definitely Odin's. You don't get that messed up without him."

Look, she wasn't around her Thor and didn't need to pull her punches about his shitty dad.

Don's Thor could hear her, though, and he was...conflicted, but that wasn't the point. Neither were the first several things Don almost said in response to Jane, because she wasn't wrong, was the thing, but Don was still pretty sure Hela was not Odin's daughter where he was from. "Anyway, the point is, Hela. Goddess of death. It makes sense that most pantheons have some kind of god or goddess of death or the underworld, because everything dies, eventually. But they tend to be kind of bitches about it. Hela, for instance, will go on kicks of coveting certain souls and trying to get them to hurry up and get to her faster via...curses, unleashing monsters on them, wild schemes with Loki, you name it."

Jane couldn't find much fault in that either, honestly.

"In Norse mythology... and possibly real life all things considered... the souls of the dead who die in battle go onto Valhalla, not to Hela. Who rules over Helheim with all other souls." Because everyone always be fighting, folks.

"So if you can die in battle you definitely want to do that, not just because Valhalla is a big party but because then you don't have to deal with Hela." Don realized, "This probably wasn't supposed to be the moral of our class. Uh, don't die if you can help it. How's that instead?"

"And have some candy!" Jane added. Because they'd brought a good amount to share with the class. Mmmm. Pumpkin shaped Reeses.

Fast Talking, Monday, Period 2

[good_for_six]

This morning your teachers were fashionably late. And wheeling in a projector.

Look, these two were big believers in 'show, don't tell'. It had nothing to do with laziness.

"So, when we talk about fast talking, it encompasses more than just talking," Aphra said, after making an appearance right about the time most of the class was probably considering leaving. "It involves all kinds of thinking on your feet."

"For example, maybe your husband has just bought a boat, and then your assassin lover shows up to let you know someone's taken out a contact on him. Your husband that is." That was an extremely specific scenario, Isabela. "Most people wouldn't know what to do, but a girl who can improvise can seize the chance to become an amazing pirate captain."

After a few moments, Aphra broke in with a bright and cheerful. "Anyway, let's watch the movie."