Coping With Change - Tuesday, Period One

[furnaceface]

"Hello, everybody!" Cecil beamed and waved at the students.

//Ah, hello class,// Jono echoed, looking a little less enthusiastic but no less comfortable at the front of the room, fire and all. He didn't wave, just sort of gave a nod of his head. //Welcome to Coping With Change. I'm Jonothon, please, just call me Jon or Jono. 'Professor' is somebody else.//

"And I'm Cecil. You can call me Cecil, I suppose," Cecil said. "We're here to teach you all sorts of things about coping with change, and hopefully it'll be really useful." He had pulled the obvious straw for this class.

Jono gave Cecil an amused side-eye before deciding to pull the other straw and kick into a proper lecture.

//If you're in our class, it's probably likely that you've been through some manner of extreme change, or you're expecting one in the future. Maybe you're taking this class as a precaution, just in case something happens down the road. Or,// he sounded a touch wry, //you're here because of an office mix-up. Those happen. You're welcome to swap out if you feel as though you're in the wrong class, though it might be worth sticking around all the same. You never know; you might learn something.//

"And really, who doesn't have some sort of weird changes in their life, right?" Cecil asked. "I mean, there's puberty, and extra limbs, and city-wide calamities, and all sorts of things every year. It couldn't hurt to learn how to deal with them."

... The hell of it was, Jono could only just nod his agreement to that one. The other school he taught at had basically all of those things on a regular basis.

//For the duration of this class, you can expect not only theory, but also candid discussion as to how that theory can be applied to your own personal situations. Cecil and I won't require you to share anything sensitive with the room at large, though of course you're welcome to contribute to the conversations with personal experience if you feel comfortable doing so. And if you don't but you'd still like somebody to talk to who might be outside of your situations, Cecil and I are both willing to make the time. I even keep rum on hand to bribe the squirrels for privacy, if you'd rather things not end up in the morning gossip.//

Whereas Cecil was likely to broadcast everything. Not that he was on radio at the moment. It was habit.

"So let's start by finding out who we all are!" Cecil said. "Well, who everybody else is. Unless you don't know who you are, either, in which case, just give us a name to call you by until you figure it out."

//If you'd like to share with us your reasons for taking this class, or any changes that you've been through or are expecting to go through that you'd like to be able to apply this to, please, feel free, but don't feel as though you have to, either. And before anybody asks, no, the telepathic speech doesn't mean I'm reading anybody's minds.//

Look, he got that question at least once or twice a year. Better to cut it off at the pass now.

"Or me," Cecil added. "That would just be rude." Also impossible. But still worth stating.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

Sign In

[furnaceface]

Ch-ch-changes!

Re: Sign In

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante

Re: Sign In

[boneyard_girl]

Ada Miller

Lecture

[furnaceface]

Turn and face the strange...teachers who talk a lot.

Introductions

[furnaceface]

//As I said before, I'm Jonothon,// Jono began. //And I've seen my fair share of changes in the past. I used to not be on fire, for a start. I'm also in the process of hopefully, eventually, actually getting married.//

There had been mixed results so far.

"And I'm Cecil. I've seen mostly just the general sorts of changes - job, ages, number of limbs and eyes and so forth - so hopefully I'll be able to give a more common perspective on things."

So common.

//Your turn.//

Re: Introductions

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante shrugged.

Realizing that wasn't enough of an introduction, and realizing he still had no particular reason to piss off Starsmore, at least, he finally spoke up. "I'm Dante," he said, "I'm just here 'cause I was afraid Jonothon would get bored without me."

One: he was really glad he wasn't hocking up earnest everywhere anymore, because around Starsmore, that'd be a pain in the ass. Two: ... look, he had his own special version of 'not trying to piss off', here. Three: He was here ironically. That was his story and he was sticking by it.

Re: Introductions

[furnaceface]

//... Somehow, you make me regret not getting everybody to just call me Starsmore, mate. How do you do that?//

It must be some kind of strange talent that only Dante possessed. Either way, Jono sounded more amused than anything.

//Here to keep me on my toes, mm?//

Re: Introductions

[voiceoverdue]

"Hi, Dante!" Cecil added with another wave. "Don't worry; I'm sure there'll be something useful anyway."

Re: Introductions

[boneyard_girl]

Share the actual reason she was in this class? Hell no. Even if her eventual fate had made radio on that weird weekend, Ada didn't exactly want to advertise it. Especially since Fandom Magic had kicked-in and left most of the details blurry, and it was starting to fade, even for her.

"'M Ada Miller, an' I guess th' biggest change I've ever had t' deal with was comin' here," Ada said, cotton candy sweet and big innocent eyes. "M' family does homeschoolin' since we're on the road so much, so this is th' most I've ever been 'round Townies, an' the first time I've ever been t' a Townie school."

Re: Introductions

[voiceoverdue]

"Welcome, Ada!" Cecil gave her a big-eyed look of his own. "You've never really had a town? That sounds so dangerous!"

Re: Introductions

[furnaceface]

//Takes a bit of adjusting, getting used to being educated in groups like this, I suppose?// Jono nodded faintly. //I know a thing or two about steering clear of the Townies, myself.//

Really, look at him and just try to guess why.

//How's this place working out for you so far? A bit different still from most of the public schools you might find elsewhere, but likely still something of an adjustment.//

Re: Introductions

[not_every_mage]

Anders had chosen his classes in a bit of a blind rush after getting back to the island, so it wasn't as though he'd given it careful thought.

"I'm Anders," he offered. "I just went through a change, actually. I was taken home for a bit, some tings happened there, and now I'm back."

He'd give details if Starsmore asked, but he didn't exactly want to lead with them.

RE: Re: Introductions

[furnaceface]

But damn, it was good to see Anders back and in one piece. Jono gave him a little nod in greeting.

//It's good to have you in the class, mate,// he said, sincerely. //A change, oh?//

Yes, Jono. That was the point of the class.

//If you'd like to talk about it without sharing with the room at large, I'm here after class,// he offered. //If not, I won't try to drag it out of you. It's good to have you back, though.//

He'd worried. The students were giving him plenty of reasons for that this year, it seemed.

Re: Introductions

[thewrathofkaan]

Roscoe leaned back on the back legs of his chair when it was time to introduce himself. "I'm Roscoe. Hi again." He threw a smirk in Jono's direction. "Boarding school was a change, I guess. And living in those plastic pieces of crap out on the rocks."

Re: Introductions

[cracksmostly]

"Hello, I'm Merrill," she spoke up, slightly more like a jumpy, wide-eyed halla than usual today. "And what sort of change are we talking about, exactly? Because there's moving around a lot, and I'm used to that. Oh, but going home again eventually, that might -- take some getting used to, I think."

She trailed off, fiddled with her sleeve, and looked down at her hands, muttering softly, "Should I have said that? Maybe I shouldn't have said that."

Re: Introductions

[sampippy]

"I'm Xanthippe Voorhees."

And she had a reason for being in this class, but she wasn't volunteering it at the present time.

Re: Introductions

[vrajna_kralis]

Hyacinethe managed to rush in at the very final moments before the bell, fastening the laces on his bright shirt and a sandwich clamped between his teeth. A week as a flower of all things had a tendency to leave one feeling starved, he'd discovered.

He flung himself into the first open chair with a kind of sprawling grace in time to get the basic gist of the lecture in between bites of his sandwich. Not that his sandiwch lasted long; he inhaled it with the speed and precision that came from a childhood that knew hunger well. "I'm Hyacinthe," he said in his lilting accent when it was his turn. "I'm from what you know as France, though we call it Terre D'Ange. And a thousand years ago." Give or take. "And, were those not changes enough, I spent this past week a flower."

Re: Introductions

[notamascot]

"I'm Kaylin Neya," she said. "And I'd have to say my life has had a great deal of change in it. And probably will continue to."

Re: Introductions

[studyingfear]

"Rufus Shinra," he said, rather dryly, given that the last time he'd spoken to one of the teachers it had been at Jono's wedding attempt.

This was a more normal venue for introductions he supposed. The reasons he was here were multiple, and most of them he didn't feel like sharing.

"I'm here because my father will find the name of the class to be innocuous and non-objectionable."

Yeah no. Though that was also true. Handy!

Talk to the Teachers

[furnaceface]

When they tag in!

Re: Talk to the Teachers

[furnaceface]

Jono was here for a little while after class, in case anybody wanted to talk. He had offered, after all.

Re: Talk to the Teachers

[voiceoverdue]

Cecil was here, too! Just sort of hanging out, in case anyone wanted to talk.

Talk to the TA

[furnaceface]

Yeah, guess what, Rufus!

//Random winner on the roster for the position of TA this term is... Rufus Shinra,// Jono announced. //Congrats, Rufus. You get the comfortable chair.//

And to help with handouts or whatever.

Re: Talk to the TA

[studyingfear]

Well.

This was... something he didn't actually object to.

He didn't really think the chair was more comfortable though, which showed with a sardonic glance at Jono.

OOC

[furnaceface]

I'm going to sleep past six in the morning one of these days. I will. It's a new life goal, so help me...