Fandom Library, Wednesday, January 8th

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

The temperature was cold enough that even Arden's ability to regulate the temperature of the air around her wasn't up to the task. What was worse? Something (Arden was betting gremlins) had broken (or sabotaged) the library's heat. As in, there wasn't any.

She'd put in an emergency work request for Fosse, but until then, your friendly neighborhood aide would be huddled behind the circulation desk, wrapped in the blanket she kept handy for Gray's Sloth attacks, and looking very miserable about the whole thing.

The Great British Bakeoff! But American! - 2nd Period

[imafuturist]

It was a good thing that Ignis had made sure the Danger Shop's fire alarms worked on Monday because the teachers for the Great American Bake Off Class had been known to use the shrieking of the fire alarm to tell when their food was finished.

The room was set up just like the show on Netflix, so the students had come into a white tent that was going to be subject to the elements (so today it was freezing.) Their benches came complete with standing mixers, porcelain bowls, and tiiiiiny ovens with doors that could accidentally be ripped off even if you weren't a super soldier.

"Welcome to Cake Week!" Steve said excitedly from the front of the room.

Tony nodded like he'd ever baked a cake that wasn't somehow both burned and underdone in the middle. He was a scientist and still managed that, everyone. "We'll start out easy with box cakes that we want you to make taste better with a handwaved assortment of ingredients you can use to boost things."

"Please make them taste nice," Steve asked. "You can follow the directions on the back of the box if you need help, and then Tony and I will come around and taste them. After that, we'll give you another challenge, and finally you'll have a homework assignment to bring with you next week."

Bettering Your Community & Yourself, period 3

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Jon nodded as people filed into the classroom, fidgeting a bit. He was in his standard first-day-of-class appearance, which meant he wasn't as strung out as he sometimes got, and his clothes were neat and professional, albeit his hair was a bit rumpled from his nervously running his fingers through it.

When it was time to start and he judged everyone had made it in, he cleared his throat and stood up straight. "Welcome. I'm Jonathan Sims, and I'll be teaching this course. Although I suppose it's less teaching and more a sort of guiding." He frowned. "I don't know we're likely to learn new things, so much as experience them. Though I could be wrong."

Look, he'd just told the moose he wanted to do something, anything, where he could teach on his own. He'd given up trying to turn in actual outlines.

"Anyway. This class is meant to involve bettering the community and ourselves, and in order to do that, we have to know what needs bettering. And we've got at least a few people here I haven't taught before. So, let's introduce ourselves, and along with your name, give me one thing about the community and one thing about yourself that you would like to better."

He cleared his throat. "As I said, my name is Jonathan Sims. You may call me Mr. Sims or Jon. I am from London in modern Earth. I would like to see if there's a way to make the steps less slippery when it rains, and I suppose I could get better at relaxing."

He nodded stiffly to the students. "Now you."

Introduction to Paleontology - Period 1

[itsananomaly]

“Good morning,” Cutter began that morning’s class, he and Connor had gotten in yesterday after spending Christmas and New Years in London, “welcome to Introduction to Paleontology, I’m Professor Nick Cutter and this is Mr. Connor Temple,” he nodded in Connor’s direction, “we’re going to be starting things off simple today by doing introductions and providing an overview of what paleontology is,” he explained, “paleontology is the scientific study of life of the geologic past that involves the analysis of plant and animal fossils, including those of microscopic size, preserved in rocks. It is concerned with all aspects of the biology of ancient life forms: their shape and structure, evolutionary patterns, taxonomic relationships with each other and with modern living species, geographic distribution, and interrelationships with the environment,” he finished, smiling over at Connor for him to continue the lecture.

Connor smiled as he stood and nodded to Cutter as he continued. "Paleontological research dates back to the early 1800s. In 1815 the English geologist William Smith demonstrated the value of using fossils for the study of strata. About the same time, the French zoologist Georges Cuvier initiated comparative studies of the structure of living animals with fossil remains. This semester we will be looking at fossils and what they can tell us about the world- long ago and even today!" With a smile he turned back to Cutter and picked his cup of coffee up again.

“For the rest of the class I’d like to cover introductions, so I’d like for you to tell me your name and what you know about paleontology or would like to learn about it,” Cutter concluded as he nodded for the first student to start.