fandomhigh | These United States [Wednesday, June 18, 2014]

These United States [Wednesday, June 18, 2014]

"Since this is the closest this class is getting to the Fourth of July with me," Josh began, starting at his class from behind a pair of sunglasses, "it seems only fitting that we end up in the City of Brotherly Love-Unless-You're-Rooting-Against-Their-Teams, Philadelphia. Here, in Independence Hall just behind us, the Founding Fathers wrote a document on parchment in calligraphy that invited the King of England to bite us, if you please."

Thanks for that summary, Sam. Josh was going to steal it. "The more technical term for it is the Declaration of Independence and its held in the Archives back in Washington, DC, but here's where our nation started. Well, my nation, anyway. Your mileage may vary. We're gonna go have a look at Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, then we're gonna head over to Reading Terminal for some food. I think it's a crime to leave Philly without having a cheesesteak and a soft pretzel." He tugged at his collar. "And some water ice. It's hot as hell here today. Imagine how the Founders must have felt in boiled wool and no A/C. Poor bastards."

He grinned at all of them. "And Riley Poole, one of the other teachers, has been invited to join us if he didn't have better things to do. Philly's one of his favorite cities."

Not really, Josh.

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Melting.

"In this teeny tiny, stupidly hot room, the Founders of our nation debated the wording for the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution," Josh told them. "They were stuffed in here for months on end and, despite certain movies to the contrary, never once burst into song. I'm as disappointed as the rest of you to know that."

Look around, wonder how no one killed someone else, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING. The guards get pissy.

Edited 2014-06-18 11:27 (UTC)

"Tradition tells of a chime that changed the world on July 8, 1776, with the Liberty Bell ringing out from the tower of Independence Hall summoning the citizens of Philadelphia to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon," Josh said. "Unfortunately, historians with their annoying 'facts' say that's not true. Its association with the Declaration of Independence was fixed in the collective mythology, due to fictional accounts made popular a decade after Abolitionists had, by 1837, made an icon of the Bell as a symbol of emancipation and liberty. And it's a pretty sweet bell, you got to admit."

Look at the bell. Don't lick it ~~like some friends of the mun might have done while drunk and in college. Long story.~~

~~omg pie~~

"The Reading Terminal Market (http://www.readingterminalmarket.org/) ~~which hopefully works better for ya'll~~, established in 1892 at 12th and Arch Streets, is the nation’s oldest continuously operating farmers’ market and has emerged in the 21st century as one of the greatest public markets in the country," Josh said. "The Market boasts more than 80 unique merchants, three of which are descendants of original stand holders from when it opened more than 110 years ago. Sit-down eateries are scattered throughout the market. Go nuts."

And Riley, if he made it!

God, I'm hungry.

Paddra Nsu-Yeul

Vider Bearskin

Vider had questions for Josh. Such as: "Where is the World Tree?"

Kathy Li

So, the other places were interesting from a historical standpoint, yeah, but they were also sweltering hot and Kathy was still pretty tired from last night's Baltimore excursion. She grabbed herself an impressive tower of food (everything smelled delicious!), plunked herself down at a table, and then kind of melted into a tiny puddle.

Will West

"Ah, the site of my greatest triumph," Riley said fondly. It was just too bad Ben wasn't around to let him relive his big accomplishment.

Riley was just gonna tell some random person, yep.

Riley had made it even if it was hot and his glasses kept fogging up. He couldn't pass up the chance.

Will had seen the Liberty Bell in pictures but it really was something else to see it up close. He walked around it and took it in and figured his dad would love to see this.

After enjoying the Liberty Bell, Will found a place to eat and relaxed with some good food.

Soren Bearstar

Soren knew better by now than to expect that the Philadelphia of this world was anything like the one he knew of, but markets, at least, were pretty similar no matter where you went, it seemed.

Although the lack of honey soda was still disappointing.

"The what now?" Josh repeated.

"The New World Tree," Vider repeated patiently. "And the White Hall," while she was at it.

"Do tell," Josh said, grinning. "I love a good story."

"Um," Josh replied eloquently. "Nothing that I know about?"

Vider was just. Going to stare for a moment. "You don't know about the World Tree." Then she sighed. "Of course you don't, your world is weird."

"The teacher doesn't know where the World Tree is," Vider reported as she popped up next to Soren. "Actually, the teacher doesn't know what the World Tree is." She sounded appropriately disturbed by this.

Edited 2014-06-18 19:27 (UTC)

Mercy was here and not too bothered by the heat. Not that she'd turn down a cool drink, of course!

"Weird in that way where we don't have alien invasions or vampires or giant robots?" Josh offered hopefully.

"Weird in that everything's in the wrong place and you don't have half the things you should," Vider complained. "I still don't understand why Washington is on the wrong side of the country." And didn't quite get that it was a city, not a state.

((Sorry, currently experiencing footballing agony, this was bound to happen.))

"And this is a good one," Riley said, smiling proudly. "I don't think I ever told you what happened to me before I came here, did I?"

"Well, there's two Washingtons," Josh said, eager to fix at least one problem. "One's a city, the other's a state on the Pacific Ocean."

"Nope," Josh said. "It involves Independence Hall?"

"Among other things yeah," Riley said, scratching his cheek. "Me and a friend of mine, we, uh, actually stole the Declaration of Independence to keep some lowlife treasure hunters from stealing it. There's an invisible map on the back."

Yeah.

"YOU STOLE THE DECLARATION?"

Inside voice, Josh. Inside voice.

"I helped but...yes. It was for a good reason!" Riley said defensively. "And we gave it back along with the treasure that we found. Everything went back to be preserved for history. We didn't want some money grubbing thieves to get their hands on it."

"It wasn't being preserved enough in the vault at the National Achives?"

Less screechy, Josh. Please.

"Apparently not since we broke in and took it easily enough," Riley said, shrugging. "It was for a good cause. We didn't even go to jail. And we had help from an employee who actually worked at the Archives."

Well, Abigail had helped...eventually.

Josh reached up to massage away a sudden headache. "Okay. How did this work? Pretend I'm very, very stupid."

"We stole the Declaration while it was in the Preservation Room," Riley told him, shrugging. "There were some very bad men who were going to take it and not have any sort of regard for the document it is. They wanted the Templar treasure and we stole it so they didn't get it. They wanted it for their own personal greed and we found it and returned it to who it belonged. We gave it back to history and the Declaration was fine. We weren't even arrested!"

"Templar treasure?" Josh repeated. "That's a thing?"

"It's definitely a thing and we found it," Riley told him. "Returned it all to various museums and rightful owners so it could take its place in history."

"That sounds like a lot of stuff," Josh said. "So what did you need here in Independence Hall?"

"This is the place where I, Riley Poole, knew something that Ben Gates did not know," Riley said proudly. "The place where I stumped the unstumpable and saved the day!"

"Do tell," Josh said.

"One of the clues led us here but, according to the clock and my friend Ben, we were too late and we'd have to wait till the next day to figure the clue out," Riley shared, crossing his arms and still looking pleased. "That, of course, would put us behind and give the not so nice men with guns time to catch up. But, what Ben didn't know was that back when the map and clue was written, Daylight Savings Time hadn't actually been put into effect yet so we were totally on time."

"Nicely done!" Josh said. "Time zones are the devil. And Indiana. I'm gonna lump Daylight Savings in there too."

"I was pretty proud of myself," Riley said, breathing in and sighing. "And I promise, we kept the Declaration safe. My friend Ben actually said he would have saved the document over the girl who ended up being his girlfriend. And she agreed with that decision!"

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These United States [Wednesday, June 18, 2014]

Sign in [6/18]

Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell

Reading Terminal Market

Talk to Josh or Mercy!

OOC

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