http://furious-maximus.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] furious-maximus.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] fandomhigh2011-08-29 11:30 pm

Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

Cindy was leaning on the desk when the class arrived, stirring a cup of coffee. More coffee and pastries were set off to the side for the class to partake if they were so inclined. “Morning class,” she greeted. “And welcome to those of you who are new. I’m Professor Cindy Perrault and this is Bringing Literature to Life--Through Violence.”

Max was standing at a loose sort of attention off to the side just a bit. Jeans and a slightly rumpled white button-down shirt were dressy enough for class, right? He grinned. "I'm Antillar Maximus. For this course you can call me Centurion." His grin broadened. "I suspect you can guess which part of the class is my forte."

Cindy raised an amused eyebrow at him, but didn’t argue. Not everyone needed to know about her weapon specialties, so Max’s statement could stand. “So, the way this class will work is pretty simple. The Centurion and I will be trading off classes; your classes with me will cover some famous battles in literature and then, in your classes with him, you’ll get to experience the way the actual battles and weaponry work.”

Hey, Max knew she could kick his butt, but that wasn’t part of her cover. And if he could help her build that up, he was happy to. “We’ll be doing some pretty physical stuff, so wear something you can move in. And let me know if there’s anything we should know about your physical condition.”

He grinned. “One of the things we’re hoping you can do is put together the two segments of these classes in your head. Understand how the reality of combat and the way it’s used in literature line up with each other. And how they don’t.”

“And we’ll get into all of that next week,” Cindy finished. “This week is for introductions and heaven forbid we skip tradition.”

Max nodded in agreement. “Yes. We’re very traditional in here, after all.”

Cindy snorted. “Damn right we are. So--introductions. First the basics: name, class, and where you’re from. Then the good stuff--tell us about how war is waged back home. Are armed clashed generally small battles, where everyone can see one another’s faces? Massive armies? Fleets of ships or tanks or what-have you? What kind of weapons are used? Or is warfare shunned entirely, and all problems are solved through diplomacy? Whatever you feel like sharing is fine.”

“At the same time, we want you to tell us a bit about how war is treated in stories. Is it a glorious example of individual prowess? Is it a warning against the horrors that people can inflict on one another? Are wars presented as glorious nationalistic narratives, or as a way of highlighting the evils of warmongering? Let’s all get a feel for how we think and talk about war.”

Re: Talk to your teachers

[identity profile] steel-not-glass.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Cindy was mostly shooting amused looks at her fellow teacher in his attempt to look professional. And drinking her coffee.

Sweet, life-giving coffee.

Re: OOC

[identity profile] regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
Where's My Cow?? (http://archiveofourown.org/works/62635#comments)

Re: Sign in #1

[identity profile] regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
Violent Literature! (Kenzi)

Re: Listen to the lecture

[identity profile] regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
Fighty stuff; and English credit. Good, she kind of needed both of those. Ha! "Kenzi, junior, Canadian, aspiring astronaut." Why not, right?
Edited 2011-08-30 15:37 (UTC)

Re: War--What is it good for

[identity profile] regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 05:39 am (UTC)(link)
Hard. Questions. Kenzi flopped forward onto the desk, feeling mournful. "Um. Well. We're Canada. We fight where we're needed. We ... live next door to the U.S.A. Whose butt we kicked when they tried to invade us a couple times a zillion years ago. They're way more obnoxious. And glamorous. We don't get into as many wars on our own, really. Just get pulled in when our allies ask for help."

No apology to any Americans in the room from the girl who steals stuff, no.

"...we send volunteers?" Kenzi tried, not sure what the teachers wanted here. Wasn't this supposed to be English? Not history? This was hard. "People used to head north of our border to escape the U.S. draft and slavery?" Not at the same time, no. *



*[all mistakes are the mun's, because I'm not Canadian. :o]
Edited 2011-08-30 07:09 (UTC)

Re: History is Written by the Victors

[identity profile] regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
This was a little easier. "It's messy and you walk in the mud and you get shot in the head or maybe the spine, or maybe you starve or get dysentery, and it's noble but pointless and did you see meta for Passchendaele (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Passchendaele_%28film%29)? Totally depressing. Right, so, I'm going to go with: War sucks. Peace out."
Edited 2011-08-30 07:07 (UTC)
hurtingzeebo: (I like to hit things)

Re: Sign in #1

[personal profile] hurtingzeebo 2011-08-30 08:44 am (UTC)(link)
Sam Puckett
hurtingzeebo: (I have a cute grin)

Re: Listen to the lecture

[personal profile] hurtingzeebo 2011-08-30 08:45 am (UTC)(link)
Sooooo, they listened to one of the teachers talk about books, and then the other one helped them beat each other up?

Best. English class. Ever.

"I'm Sam Puckett," she said. "Junior, from Seattle. And totally way cuter than the other Seattle Sam running around."
Edited 2011-08-30 08:47 (UTC)
hurtingzeebo: (I'm proud of myself)

Re: War--What is it good for

[personal profile] hurtingzeebo 2011-08-30 08:49 am (UTC)(link)
"Well, my best friend's father's an air force officer stationed on a submarine, but we don't get to hear a lot about what he does. Big international wars always happen somewhere else, you know? With lots of infantry and intrigue and war correspondents, and sometimes people protest back home, but mostly they all just pretend it's not happening.

"But I totally managed to start a fan war at Webicon this year. That was really fun. They were all yelling at each other and hitting each other over the head with their souvenir convention pamphlets, and I made them shut up by shooting off a flare gun."
hurtingzeebo: (I'm sad at the ceiling)

Re: History is Written by the Victors

[personal profile] hurtingzeebo 2011-08-30 08:54 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't really know much about literature," Sam said, "but there's this game, World of Warlords, that my friend's brother's all into, and war in that is a bunch of running around in weird dresses, and fighting battles by throwing magic and singing at each other."

Re: Sign in #1

[identity profile] withasword.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 10:36 am (UTC)(link)
Kate Daniels says violence, only has literary icon.

Re: Listen to the lecture

[identity profile] withasword.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 10:42 am (UTC)(link)
"Kate, I'm a junior from Savannah except it's 2032 not 2011, and there was a kind of apocalypse a decade or two ago." Fancy-ish, as intros went. This one was easier than yesterday's class.

Re: War--What is it good for

[identity profile] withasword.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 10:50 am (UTC)(link)
"We don't have many wars on a glabal scale anymore," Kate said after a moment. "The world is a lot bigger without two thirds of the population and safe intercontinental travel." There were bigger problems.

"But there's a lot of infighting. Turf wars, and trying to hold off the magical problems keeps our government busy enough without going off invading people."
awakestheghosts: (Thinking)

Re: Sign in #1

[personal profile] awakestheghosts 2011-08-30 12:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Chloe Saunders

Re: Sign in #1

[identity profile] dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 12:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Ramona Flowers

Re: Listen to the lecture

[identity profile] dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"Ramona, senior, from New York," she said, tossing off a little wave and shrugging. She didn't have a lot more to contribute aside from that. It was eeeearly.

Re: War--What is it good for

[identity profile] regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com 2011-08-30 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"And a navy and an air force. But it's not like we have to defend our borders every day or anything," Kenzi said, looking up at the big guy with a small amount of trepidation. "Foreign wars, mostly."

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