fandomhigh | Outdoor Adventure Time!, Tuesday, period 1

A ~~handwavy~~ email had gone out letting the students know to meet on the beach by the lighthouse. Eliot and Parker waited for them a little ways down, away from the boardwalk. Eliot was dressed for the location in a pair of cargo pants, a fishing vest, and a floppy brimmed hat. He was even barefoot, though that was mostly because he hated trying to get sand out of his boots.

Parker was wearing a wetsuit, and had a selection of them on a movable rack with her. Also a large selection of windsurfing boards behind her, and the excited look of someone who was about to do something dangerous. Or, you know. Just looking like Parker.

“Welcome to Outdoor Adventures!” Parker said, looking over the students, grinning at the familiar faces. “And Outdoor Chilling Out, with Eliot.”

Eliot sighed. "Not everyone is an adrenaline junkie. Which is fine. The whole point of this class is to get you all outside and exploring. Whether that's by jumping off things, or by chilling out. Parker's terrible at the low-key stuff, so we're splitting the load a little." He clapped his hands together. "First thing's first, which around here is apparently introductions. Like we said, I'm Eliot, she's Parker. Some of you'll insist on 'Mr. Spencer' and 'Ms. Parker' --" He totally wasn't eying Kathy when he said that, "-- which is up to you, but honestly, it's the summer. Eliot and Parker works just fine."

“So yes, tell us what you want to be called. It doesn’t have to be your real name,” Parker added. “But it’s what I’ll call you for the rest of the term, so don’t pick something you hate. And then we wind-surf!” EEEEEEEEEE.

"Or fish," Eliot said. "Or go lookin' for shells and rocks and things." He jerked his thumb towards a set of fishing poles and tackle set up down the beach a little ways. "Fishing will happen upwind of surfing. You do not want to catch your classmates instead of a fish. Or shark or sea monster or whatever's lurking out here."

Eliot's options would not quite be entirely free of adrenaline, no.

“Pick an option, give us a name, and get started!” Parker paused, and added, “The wet suit is not optional if you’re going in the waves. Our boyfriend totally ended up with pneumonia when he thought he could go swimming in cold water.”

Eliot managed not to twitch visibly at the mention of their 'boyfriend'. That was still a new term for him, okay? "Yeah, you all aren't invulnerable. Or if you are, we don't wanna hear about it, and you have to wear one, anyway. So. Tell us your name and any other random fact you want us to know about you, and then let's have some fun."

“Kathy and Toby are our TA’s.” If you didn’t know that before, guys, now you do! “So if you need extra help or are afraid of Eliot, you can ask them questions.”

Eliot opened his mouth to point out that he wasn't doing the scary stuff, then just gave up. He pointed to one of the students. "You start."

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Eliot automatically gave her a short, shallow bow in return. He'd spent enough time in Japan not to be thrown by the gesture. "Welcome, Ringo. Nice to meet ya."

The familiar gesture drew out a smile, and a slight relaxing of Ringo's shoulders as a bit of her new-kid tension slid away. "Thank you." She hesitated, not entirely sure how to address a teacher who seemed so, well, casual. That meant that her words came out just a bit stilted when she spoke again. "It is nice to meet you, too."

"If you're more comfortable bein' formal, that's fine," Eliot told her, noticing the stiltedness and guessing the source. "But folks around here are pretty lax on the formalities, so practicin' being casual might be good."

"I," Ringo hesitated again. "I can do informal, I think." Her smile was self-conscious, and it took some effort to keep her eyes from sliding down to stare at her feet. "I just, well, I'm not used to doing it with teachers." Or adults in general, really.

So it might take her some time to adjust.

"That's alright," Eliot said. "Culture shock can be tough. You from Japan?"

Hopefully she wouldn't be offended if he got that wrong, but her mannerisms read distinctly Japanese to him.

The relief at Eliot being so understanding, and recognizing where she was from, made it through to Ringo's smile as she nodded, more energy coming into her movements as she relaxed a bit. "Yes. From Tokyo."

She shook her head slightly in wonderment. "America has proven to be very different than I would have thought," she admitted.

"I wouldn't take Fandom as bein' too typical of America," Eliot suggested. "Though it does lean a little more that way than it does towards Japan."

"Yeah," Ringo nodded. "And most of the time, I'm just fine with casual. Just," she shrugged, ducking her head slightly, and her voice grew a bit softer, "not with authority figures." Sorry, Eliot!

"I figured," Eliot said. "If it makes you feel better, I'm still gettin' used to being seen as an authority figure."

And not just a threat.

"But, you're a teacher," Ringo said, blinking in surprise.

As if that were fundamental, and Eliot had obviously always been one.

"Only for about the last six months."

"Only for, oh." Right. People weren't born teachers.

"What did you do before that?" Ringo asked. "Were you a fisherman?" That sort of made sense given the precisely two things she knew about Eliot: that he was named Eliot, and that he was teaching people how to fish today.

Eliot huffed a small laugh. "Nah, that's just a hobby. I run the diner in town."

And went around punching bad guys. But that was harder to easily summarize in a class setting.

"Oh! You're a chef!" That was neat! Ringo could cook, like, three dishes, so people who could actually cook were super impressive.

"I am," Eliot said. "Though you don't actually have to be one to run a restaurant. That's mostly about paperwork."

Ringo frowned. "Paperwork? Why would you need to do paperwork?"

The world was a lot simpler when you were fifteen.

"Because paperwork is what secretly runs the entire world," Eliot said. Sometimes he missed being fifteen.

Don't disillusion her, Eliot!

"It does?" Ringo was definitely frowning. "But paperwork doesn't sound like it's any fun at all!"

Oh please. He was old. He lived to disillusion teenagers.

"It really isn't. It's like homework, only no one grades you on it."

Ringo blinked as she had trouble processing that last bit. "If you're not getting a grade, why would you do it?"

"For money," Eliot said. "Money is basically grades for grownups."

Re: Listen to the lecture/Introduce yourself

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"What's that?" Parker asked, looking intrigued.

Eliot looked back at her suspiciously. "You are not interested in paperwork, Parker."

"Nope. But running the world... nope, not interested in that either." Parker grinned at him. "The look on your face!"

"You're terrible," Eliot told her.