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Monday - period 1 - Fuck Yeah Science

Once again it was Monday and 8:00. Time for science class!

The usual notices went out to the students in typical handwavy fashion requesting that they wear tank tops to class. If they did not have one Barry would provide. Along with that notice was to meet in the park once again where Barry had arranged a tent for changing (much smaller this time) and a table with coffee and snacks.

And yes, there was another table covered in a sheet.

“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return,” Barry said once everyone had gathered. “That’s not me saying that. It’s fucking Leonardo Da Vinci. Who for being the bastard son of a peasant girl did pretty well for himself. As for me bullshiting around with one of his famous quotes, that’s just my clumsy way of saying we’re going flying today.”

He pulled back the sheet to reveal... cans of RedBull and goggles. “Everyone here can drink one of these and... well fuck. I’ll just demonstrate. “

Barry opened a can and took a long drink. Moments later feathers and then eventually wings sprouted from his back. He began to flap and eventually was hovering above the students.

“Yeah. That’s what is fucking happening right now,” he said with a grin. “And if growing wings or fighting gravity isn’t for you-“

He motioned to another table filled with books.

-“You can write an essay on birds today. Don’t forget for everyone flying to wear the goggles to protect your eyes. Also make sure to write down your observations about flight in your journals.”

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Ready to fly

Astrid Magnussen

Wayne

Shuri

Arabella Baylor

Julius ~~Heartstriker~~ Quetz

Wei Wuxian

Miles Morales

For listening and whatnot

Julius looked slightly pained throughout the lecture. Here his teacher was, offering him the chance to fly again...and he still wasn't sure how whatever weird things that Mr. Ween was doing was safe for someone who was technically a magical lizard creature from another plane of existence. (Well, he'd been born on Earth, but genetically...)

Safety? Or flight?

Drink your RedBull and fly!

No crashing to the ground. Barry has safeguards in place.

Astrid was a little reluctant, which was weird, because wings shouldn't be any stranger than turning into a whole ass dinosaur, and she was wondering what sort of changes it would make to her body
--would she temporarily have hollow bones, like a bird? Because the wingspan required to give a human body the ability of flight would be untenable and impossible to actually use, wouldn't it? Was it really a good idea to put teenaged bodies already going through so many changes through rapid alterations like this one? Was she thinking about it too much?

Probably. So with a slow breath, she told herself to save all of that for the journals, closed her eyes, and got ready for wings.

Which would be dangerous, because wings were just the sort of thing she could get used to having, but it helped to remind herself of how ridiculously on-the-nose she probably looked with them.

Of course, like the dyed-in-the-plaid skeptic he was, Wayne definitely showed up to class in the usual flannel, but okay, Ween. Ween, okay, he could see the reasons behind a wardrobe change in this case.

He still had his reservations, but he figured if he could get over an alien shark mutant hot tub STD that one time, he could get over anything this class threw at him, too, and it was actually really hard to not appreciate the whole concept conceptualeh, what with the Red Bull an' all.

Well, he thought it was funny, anywhey.

And this was going to take some concentration and gettin' used to...

Was every week of this class going to involve shapeshifting? Arabella was going to have to start meditating again, wasn't she? In fact, she did something that looked very like meditating just now, closing her eyes and checking in with the Beast where it lived in her mind before she decided that it was okay and took a sip of the Red Bull.

Wearing a tank top meant Wei Wuxian had to take off two layers of robes and his undershirt. It'd've been absolutely shameless back home to wear his trousers as outerwear in public, but it seemed pretty common here. If Lan Zhan could see him now!

Flying wasn't new, but wings were, and he delighted in discovering all the ways he could maneuver with them. He was doing loops in no time.

If you don’t want to grow wings

Reluctantly, Julius decided to play it safe and turn back to his books. Though, Barry was going to end up with a half-assed essay at best, with the way Julius kept staring wistfully up at his flying classmates.

"You'd rather write an essay than fly?" Wei Wuxian asked.

Not even a little bit.

"I..." Julius's mind blanked on a suitable excuse, leaving his gaping like a fish for a few seconds before he could pull up a decent lie. "Am afraid of heights?"

And immediately looked like he was trying not to facepalm. Really, Julius?

"Oh," Wei Wuxian said. "Well, I'll fly with you and I can catch you if you start to fall, so you won't have anything to worry about!" He grinned.

WHY WERE YOU LIKE THIS, WEI WUXIAN?! You couldn't just weaponize nice like that ~~that was Julius' schtick~~!

"Really?" Julius's smile was rather sickly. "That's so kind of you. But. You know. Uh. Still scared. Of heights? As a phobia. Yes."

If it helps, a lot of people find him very annoying.

"Oh, okay." Wei Wuxian can understand that. He's got a phobia of his own. "What's your essay about?"

"Uhhh..." Julius looked down at his paper where he'd gotten so far as writing his name, the date, and the word 'The' for a title. "Birds?"

Wow, Julius. Just wow. Try harder.

"And, umm. How they fly?" Better.

"...Different wing shapes?"

"I've always thought wing shapes were interesting," Wei Wuxian said. "It'll tell you a lot about a bird, like how they travel and how they hunt." He picked up a nearby book and started looking through it.

Edited 2020-09-08 02:30 (UTC)

Julius nodded, smiling a little now that they'd moved away from the topic of him. "Which birds are built for speed and which glide on thermals," he offered as an example. "Which are predators and which are carrion-eaters."

"Dude," Arabella called from where she was fluttering around in the air. "You don't want to fly?"

"Uhhh..." Well, he'd already used the excuse with Wei Wuxian, so he might as well keep it going. He sucked at lying, but even he knew that you didn't switch excuses partway through. "I'm. Uh. Scared of heights?"

This was totally embarrassment in his expressions, Arabella, and not, say, being the worst at lying ever.

Arabella's sister was a Truthseeker and a private investigator, Julius. She had taught her all the tricks. You were going to have to lie a lot better than that. Maybe make it sound less like a question next time.

"Well, if that's what you wanna go with. But it's fun!"

Edited 2020-09-07 23:04 (UTC)

Sorry, Arabella. This was as good at lying as he got.

"Yeah," he said, trying to not look as wistful as he felt, staring up into the sky. It was a beautiful day for flying. "I'm good. I just. Really am scared of the. Flying."

"You don't have to go really high," Arabella pointed out, even though come on, they both knew that wasn't the real problem.

She was, because she had zero fear of heights, real or fake.

"Phobia!" Julius said quickly. "Terrible phobia. Of heights. Higher than my head and I get all swimmy."

He was trying so hard.

Good thing he wasn't particularly attached to his pride or anything.

Oh, well. She'd tried. If Julius didn't want to fly that was his business. "Good luck with your essay, then!" she called, and flew higher. Like, several stories higher. She wanted to see what the world looked like from Beast eye level when she wasn't the Beast.

And Julius watched after her with longing, brilliant green eyes. Flight.

Stupid essay.

Miles was not ready for this. Any of this.

So he went to the table and picked up a book on bald eagles and started taking notes.

Yay Shuri!

“Miles? Come see me after class.”

Miles sighed and headed to Barry once class was over. "Did you want to see me Mr.-"

Yeah. He could not say that name.

"Sir?"

"Yeah," Barry said, pulling out Miles' essay and handing it to him. "Can you tell me what this is supposed to be?"

"My essay?" He replied, and playing dumb.

Barry sighed and took the essay back and began to read it. "Dinosaurs are just organic rip-offs of the ~~meta~~ Dinobots. The Dinobots are a rowdy, arrogant, lowbrow, disobedient band of warriors that some Autobots would rather scrap than deal with. They're also one of the most devastatingly powerful and close-knit combat units in the Autobot army, being incredibly powerful in robot mode and taking alternate modes based on dinosaurs, the most powerful creatures to ever roam the Earth."

He looked back at Miles. "Seriously?"

Edited 2020-09-08 12:55 (UTC)

"Uh. You don't have Dinobots on your world?" Miles asked, lamely.

"Funny," Barry said putting the essay back down on the table. "Don't play me, Miles. You're a bright kid. I checked your transcripts. You aced geology last year so I know this essay is bullshit."

He gave Miles a sympathetic look. "You're trying to quit. And I'm not going to let you."

Miles didn't say anything. He just stood there trying to avoid eye contact.

"I’m assigning you a personal essay," Miles said crossing his arms. "Not about science, but about you and what kind of person you want to be. Because I don't think this is it."

Miles nodded in agreement. "Sorry," he said, quietly.

"We all need an adjustment period coming to this place," Barry said, sympathetically. "Give this place a chance. It might surprise you."

Traveling through most of the day with only phone access. Enjoy your class safely.

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