Monomyths [Tuesday, January 5, Period 3]

[steel-not-glass.livejournal.com]

The good thing about being a spy for over two hundred years was that you learned to fake things really well. Benefits to on-the-job seductions aside, it meant that right now, Cindy appeared to be a confident and relaxed veteran teacher of hundreds of classes.

Although those classes were clearly taught at roughly the same time as Cindy looked far too young to teach a hundred anything back-to-back.

She smiled at her class as they filed in and then rose to lean against the front of her desk to begin the lecture. “I’m Cindy Perrault--” ha ha, Bigby was so funny “--and welcome to Monomyths,” she said, giving the class a smile. “We’ll be discussing the masculine and feminine heroic journeys. Now, some of you may have heard of Joseph Campbell and his Hero’s Journey. This class is not about him and his ideas, unless I suddenly have a lot more time than I expect to. So those of you who have heard of Campbell, forget him and those of you who haven’t—-be grateful.”



“Now, the two types of heroic journeys we’ll be looking at come from the ancient epics meta for The Epic of Gilgamesh and meta for The Descent of Inanna. Don’t worry, we’ll be going over those epics as we discuss the journeys, so don’t stress if you’re not familiar with either. At your age, I’d be amazed if any of you were.” Still, Cindy paused to glance around the room to search for any signs of recognition from the students. This high school was different enough from anywhere else she’d heard of (which was a feat in and among itself) that she didn’t feel she could just assume.

“In the future, we’ll be reading books and watching movie clips to help illustrate the concepts covered in class. If, as the semester goes on and you feel you have a better grasp on the materia, feel free to suggest different clips to show to the class. Be prepared to back it up with a better reason than just ‘it’s my favorite movie.’ Specific scenes you want to show make it that much more likely I’ll say yes.”

“We’re not getting into much today. I’ve been told that this week is usually for introductions. In fact, I may be in breach of contract if I don’t participate and some of you end up introducing yourself less than four times this week.” And with that pajama-wearing Vice Principal around, that might even be true, for all they knew. “So: name, class, and a bit about your favorite character from a work of fiction. Books, comics, movies, TV shows; they all count.”

Cindy leaned over her desk to grab the syllabi and began to hand them out. “Also, I’ll be looking for one or two TAs for this class, so if you’re interested, please stay after class a moment and talk to me.”

[TAs have already been chosen, FYI. OCD on its way up!]

Comments

Re: During the 'Lecture'

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

Beauty noticed first of course and a draconic head turned towards Blysse and Blind Seer, her eyes sparking orange and starting to whirl more rapidly.

Menolly turned a moment later at Beauty's sendings of distress, her hand reaching up to reassure the firelizard and her eyes widening at the sight of the two wolves girl and her wolf.

Re: During the 'Lecture'

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

There was something! Lizardlike and looking back at them with eyes like neither had ever seen before.

Firekeeper was... probably going to continue to stare, for a bit, curiosity winning out over human standards of politeness.

Re: During the 'Lecture'

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

"She won't hurt you," Menolly said quickly, sending immediate orders to Beauty not to attack and urging her down to Menolly's forearm. It was a bit funny to be reassuring a huge wolf, but... "Her name's Beauty."

Re: During the 'Lecture'

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

The creature in question appeared to be a dragon. Exchanging a glance with Blind Seer, Firekeeper could tell he had much the same thought. A very small dragon, but one nonetheless, and given their previous experience with the breed, the reassurance was certainly welcome. And one Firekeeper sort of understood having to make.

"She is a dragon?" she asked, finally.

Re: During the 'Lecture'

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

"A very small one," Menolly explained with an obvious note of fondness. "She's a firelizard. Dragons are much, much bigger than my little girl here."

Beauty inched forward, stretching her neck to examine the pair of wolves. Her eyes were still spinning quickly but the color had changed to green and she looked more curious than concerned.

Re: During the 'Lecture'

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

"They is Cousins, then?" Firekeeper assumed, drawing on her own experience with the Royal Beasts and their Cousin-kin. Blind Seer nosed at her hand and Firekeeper nodded.

"He wish me to tell you his name, since he cannot himself," she translated. "He is Blind Seer."

Re: During the 'Lecture'

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

"The dragons claim the kinship," Menolly agreed, a note of awe in her voice. She smiled tentatively at Blind Seer, wondering if he made the othe girl get up to feed him every morning. "I'm Menolly, and you already met Beauty. I can introduce you to the other firelizards later if you like. Did you Impress your friend?"