fandomhigh | Hello, class

[OOC: Class will be Mondays, Wednesdays, and possibly Fridays, all day. As long as people post that day, they are considered present. However, for your character's scheduling purposes, consider it magic time. Jareth has a busy schedule. He holds class whenever it suits him, and you can just get snatched over to the class when it starts and sent back at the same time when it's over--even when you're sleeping!]

CLASS IN SESSION

"Good afternoon, class. Welcome to Manipulation, Myth, and Magic. I am, of course, Jareth. The Goblin King. My teaching assistant this year is

darkchylde_. I hope you all checked in with her when she gathered the class roster.

"Let's start with my expectations, shall we?

"Defy me, and I will send you to the Bog of Eternal Stench. Most other things--for instance, not completing your assignments--are negotiable, but are not without their price.

"The purpose of this class is to explore how manipulation, mythology, and magic interact together and with people, throughout history and the present. There will be practical demonstrations.

"Occasionally we will have a lab class where I will present several specimens for your further study. I will also give pop quizzes at my whim.

Today's Lecture

"All of the themes in this class relate and apply to sentient beings. This is convenient, since presumably all of you are sentient beings. Take manipulation, for example. Everyone in this room has used manipulation at one point or another. It is the act of doing one thing in order to trick someone else into doing what you--" Jareth pauses and gets a distant look in his eyes.

"I'll be back in a moment." He walks out of room (through the door, this time), is gone for precisely two seconds, and strolls back in, wearing a different outfit, and carrying a child. He snaps his fingers and four goblins scurry in with a throne. He directs them to put it down, kicks one out of the way, and collapses with the baby.

"Now, as I was saying, each of you has used manipulation many times in your life, starting from when you were small children," he jiggles the baby. "You would cry to get what you wanted. Granted, you could not outright ask for what you wanted, but that does not make your actions less manipulative.

"Your assignment for today is to write about at least one time in your life where you have consciously manipulated another person. It need not be the length of a grimoire, but the more thorough and succinct you are, the higher you will be graded.

"They will be due [in this post] by tomorrow morning.

darkchylde_ will count them to make sure everyone has turned theirs in. And now I open the floor to your questions and...concerns." Jareth shifts the baby to the side of his lap and looks out at the class.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kiki comes in eagerly, smiling, and sits in the front. Her smile fades nervously as Mr. Jareth starts talking, and by the time he hits his stride, Kiki's eyes are wide with terror. After he gives the assignment, she sits chewing her fingernail and twiddling with her pen and staring at her paper for several minutes, looking worried. Beneath her chair, her cat Jiji makes a noise that sounds supiciously like he's coughing up a hairball.

Kiki suddenly seizes her pen and starts to write.

As a witch raised in a very traditional - some would say "old-fashioned" - way, I was taught by my parents to be helpful, charitable, polite, and respectful, and I have done my best to live up to their hopes. Behaving this way is not only right, but it also does much to make life run more smoothly. More flies are caught with honey than vinegar, as is said. However, being raised traditionally also meant that at age 13 I left home to live by myself for a year in a town I had never seen before. When I got there, I had little money, no food, no place to stay, and the people were very unfriendly. Although I was discouraged, I found that by, first, being as polite and kind as I had been instructed to be and by, second, by looking exactly like what I was: a 13-year-old girl thrown into a big city all alone, I got quite a lot of sympathy - as well as a room, rent-free, above a bakery. Free breakfasts, too! Manipulation is indeed a part of every life, both manipulating or being manipulated, and whether or not it is a decision made from the get-go. Manipulation doesn't have to be a sneaky plan; it can be as simple as just charming people by being polite.

Kiki sets her pen down with a sigh.

"If I get a passing grade on this, it will be the biggest bit of manipulation I've ever done," she mutters beneath her breath.

Hello, class

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