fandomhigh | Language Classes, 12/19

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Language Classes, 12/19

For some reason, Dream has a balloon today. Don't ask questions.

"Hello. As I promised, you have a quiz today on your last units. After you have passed it in, you may work on your final projects in the computer lab, or stay here and watch a DVD. I have Sailor Moon episodes for Languages of Asia, and Clash of the Titans for Classics. The academic value of these things is limited, but I hope you will at least be entertained."

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Dream unfolds himself from his desk and walks over to John, arms crossed.

"I did, yes. Sit."

John does. "So, what all does this entail?" John looks at the professor, not certain that he'd met him before.

"You sit in on as many classes as possible and help me track attendance, make sure I give quizzes and collect papers when I say I will, run class if I'm called away," Dream explains. "I can be a somewhat distracted by other responsibilities sometimes."

"In return, I will give you an independent study credit and tutoring in the language of your choice. There is also a small stipend."

"Does that appeal?"

"Are you away often? Seems like so many people just up and leave here."

"Well, I'm passable in Spanish. I'd like to learn more of French or German, more than just the smattering I know. Which languages are you planning to teach this next semester?"

Stipend. Always a bonus. "That does appeal."

"Not terribly often, no. I keep my promises, so I am in class almost all the time."

"Unfortunately, there wasn't much student interest in European tongues. Should administration approval come through as expected, I will teach Classics II, Creature Tongues, and Foreign Literature in Translation. Your Spanish would probably be most helpful in the last class, Mr. Connor."

The last name strikes him. "Are you related to the former principal, by chance?"

"Ah. Well, that's a relief. One less person leaving."

"Classics? Like, Latin? Greek? Very well rounded. Creature Tongues?"

"She's my mom. She's also missing."

"Classics II will mostly be Latin and a little Greek. The students covered Hebrew and Greek in Classics I this semester. Creature Tongues will be ... parseltongue, sharkspeak, dragon, western spider, and perhaps a few insect languages. Gremlin, maybe. Not all languages worth knowing are human ones."

I'm sorry to hear about your mother. She hired me."

"Wish I knew enough to help on those. I've had a month or so of Latin, little less on Greek. Only Hebrew I know is part of a prayer, so I'm not much help on that. Western Spider? I take it there's an Eastern Spider, as well? And is it more of a dialect or more of a separation of languages?" And did I just ask about spider patois?
"Gremlin sounds interesting. Didn't realize they could talk."

"Yeah. Seems like you're the first one here to express any sort of interest. Regret, even."

"Knowing the languages is less important than being willing to learn," Dream says. "I believe you are. Western Spider and Eastern Spider have been split for many, many generations, so they are separate languages by now. And gremlins have a launguage, albeit a primative one."

He rubs his forehead. "You are curious, aren't you? An excellent quality for this job."

"The gremlins one makes sense, I guess. They're far too organized for simple mischief, though I really don't want to know what Shakespeare sounds like in Gremlin. Gremish. GremLanguage. Check that. Yes, I do, just so I can never want to hear it again."

"Not always a benefit, but, yeah. Curious. So, what is parseltongue? And Dragon? Real dragons?"

"Um. Sorry. If you got things to do, I don't want to be taking up all your time with questions. Just wondering a bit."

"I have time," Dream says simply. "Parseltongue is the language of snakes. There is one student here who is a native speaker, I believe. Dragon is not spoken on this planet; Professor Tick's companion is one of the few native speakers left."

"I can understand why one would wish to avoid the gremlins."

"Do all animals have some sort of native language? I mean, except for spiders, who have the two, like you said. Wierd. And there's a student who can speak snake? Well, I guess that's not the wierdest thing, what with witches and someone named Death on campus."

"Every creature has a language. And no, it is not by far the weirdest thing here."

"So... you've talked to this Death? Is he a student or a professor?"

"Speaking of TA duties and all, what if one of my classes conflicts with one that I'm supposed to TA for? I mean, I haven't picked any yet, but I'm just wondering."

Dream rubs his forehead. "The DEATH you speak of is a student. And no, I have not met him."

"You do not need to attend every languages class, just as many as possible -- I would like for you to check in at least twice a week. If I am absent and the class you need to run conflicts with something else, it should be an excused absence for the other class; if it is not, you may try to reschedule, or even cancel class if need be. I would expect to be able to coordinate things with relative ease."

"I'm not expecting a problem, just trying to plan for all contingencies."

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"I appreciate your thoughtfulness," Dream says. "And no, not in particular. I'll let you know as things come up. My syllabus for next term should be posted shortly -- are you here for the break?"

"I... I haven't decided." John swallowed and looked away. "I've had offers to visit some of those who are leaving, and I'm not sure if ~~I'm allowed to leave campus to go gaming on someone else's servers~~ I'm going."

"Do you have plans over the break?"

"Not in particular."

[OOC: Sorry, but can we call this done? I don't like doing really long slowplay becasue it confuzzles my poor brain. Email me and we can talk OOC about the job, if you want.]

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Language Classes, 12/19

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