Flight and Flying- Monday- 1st period

[solo_sword]

Today the class was in the Danger Shop, where they'd find themselves near the edge of a cliff, with some contraptions nearby. Hope no one was afraid of heights! If you were, that's on you, it's literally a class on flight and flying.

"It's December, the weather is going to get terrible, so I'm bringing you- virtually- to Brazil, where it's warm and beautiful," Jaina told them. "Today we're going to really by flying, in hang gliders. You're going to strap into one of these things, fling yourself off a cliff, and the wind will carry you around over a great view. Now let's get you all suited up and let's go."

Cryptozoology, Monday period 2

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Today's cryptid comes from the local-to-here area, which is to say, the Appalachian mountain range, particularly Maryland and Virginia." Jon put up a picture...of a yule log.

He frowned. "That is...not it." He tried turning the monitor off and back on, but it refused to show the image he'd saved last night. Or any part of his laptop, come to that. Just a burning yule log.

He huffed in annoyance. "Fine. Apparently the island is getting started early on the holiday nonsense. The snallygaster is a reptilian, bird-like creature. It has a dangerous and possibly metallic beak, teeth, and talons, along with tentacles, because if you're going to dream up an unnerving creature, why wouldn't it have tentacles. It supposedly preys on livestock. And presumably other small animals that humans wouldn't notice; I doubt it specifically aims for domesticated ones.

"Its name apparently comes from the early German settlers to this area, who called it a 'schneller geist', or 'fast ghost', although there is no indication of it being phantom in nature. They painted seven-pointed stars on barns and houses to keep it away, as early as the eighteenth century. Stories of it were used to scare small children. Most documented sightings happened about the same time as those of the Jersey Devil in 1909 and were likely influenced by it."

He threw up his hands. "And that's all we have. People saying they've seen it. No evidence, not even mutilated livestock. Just 'this creature exists, and I think I saw it'. We don't even have any plausible ideas of what it might be, though as it flies, it is presumably not a kangaroo."