fandomhigh | Journalism Class - Monday September 19

Journalism Class - Monday September 19

This morning, Spider is properly dressed, looks far too awake and chipper, and is seated on the edge of his desk, reading what looks to be a short stack of print-outs. The cat is frolicking beneath some of the desks, chasing invisible two-faced mice and batting at anything she might find on the floor. There is a small box on one of the desks, neatly labeled 'Medusa St. Clair'.

Duce arrives at class just slightly over one hour early.

Engrossed in his reading, Spider glanced up only long enough to be certain he knew who was there, before going back to his reading. He crooked a finger at her and indicated the package.

Duce tilted her head, eyeing the box for a moment before realization dawned. "Ah. The bottle. Thank you. Wednesday would have our a.. butt on a plate if we didn't get that back."

"I enclosed a thank you note," Spider told her absently, still scanning the pages. "Please be sure to read it thoroughly."

Nodding, Duce takes the box to her seat and places it under the desk. "We'll be sure to do that." She then gets on with class per usual.

Waiting until he appears to have a full class for the day, Spider begins to speak, not looking up from his reading. "First things first. Because there's been some unrest on campus and a number of complaints from concerned students and staff, we've all been stripped of our weapons. Therefore, lesson one today is to please be fucking responsible or your fellow students and/or faculty will also be paying the price because Principal Connor believes in being fair. Now, unless you, like I, are accustomed to armed death squads breaking through your door and invisible assassins visiting on a regular basis, I don't want to hear a single goddamn complaint - not because I'm a company drone, but because I will regard it as gutless whining. If you can't defend yourself without a weapon or manage to improvise on the fly, then I have no confidence in your ability to defend yourself, period."

Looking up from his reading, he continued, "This all boils down to the simple fact that if some people exercised common sense and responsibility, we'd all still be armed. I'm hoping that if everyone behaves their damn selves instead of acting like a bunch of puling, spoiled brats, we might eventually be allowed to get our weapons back. However, childish or irresponsible behavior on the part of any one person, could easily get all weapons banned permanently, including from the firing range and fencing salle. Please do not fuck this up for the rest of us, and please feel free to spread the word."

The cat chose that moment to interrupt, leaping onto the desk and beginning a hunt for cigarettes. Spider found and lit one for her before turning back to the class and holding up a print-out. "I assigned no homework for this week because there's been a great deal of flux in the student body, so you can all save your extra-credit points to spend on skipping your homework next week. Instead, I'm going to offer you a chance to score big."

Spider fended off the cat as he stood and gestured to one of the screens where a website popped up. "This, my children, is The Weekly Tentacle. This is a class about Journalism and I feel that this is the perfect opportunity to get you to demonstrate that you understand what that means. Submit something to the Tentacle this week and if it turns up in the next issue, you get extra-credit. This will require spying, bribery, sneakiness and the ability to prove to me that you did the work and that whatever scurrilous gossip you actually submit has a solid basis in truth. For today, I think that class would best be spent articulating your views on the articles in this week's rag. Discuss."

((OOC: Spider's player is rather grossly sick this morning and probably will not make it into work and will instead go back to bed. He'll probably be available on AIM this afternoon, if that's the case, and the Townie backlog will be dealt with as will any other admin-type things that built up on his day off. Sorry, guys.))

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Regarding the editorial about not being the center of attention, shouldn't the writer of said letter just find a new nemesis? I mean, there are plenty of kids at this school who would probably be more then willing to go toe to toe with the letter writer.

Go provoke someone, letter writer. I did last night *flexes still sore wrist* and that worked perfectly fine in order to gain me somewhat of enemy.

*Beka steps off the Maru into Dierdre's place and rushes to class*

Professor, I can't stay long ~~because I'm just about to make a big score~~, but I wanted you to know that I'm still here and still participating in classes.

I heard about the weapons-ban. It seems to me that there's more at work here than a simple effort to keep people from getting trigger-happy. In this universe, weapons require permits. Some of us have weapons that don't even exist here. ~~Like Professor Camulus's hand device, that I hope has been confiscated or I'll have to get into his rooms to do it myself.~~ That makes it difficult to have them registered.

Perhaps the Principal might be induced to create a special registry for weapons.

Second, the liabilities to the school for failure to protect it's students from death or dismemberment is enormous. The cost of insurance alone must eat our registration fees. As a ~~space-trash~~ merchant, I can understand that lessening the likelihood of claiming against that policy is a very good idea.

However, the Principal should probably keep in mind that we have dangerous beings on the grounds, and that some of us have enemies that would destroy the school to get to us.

I'm used to living in a place where not having a weapon was an invitation to death. Having one is always an invitation. The possibility that I might not make it to tomorrow is always with me. Given a choice, I'd rather have a chance at defending myself. But I can understand the reasons behind the decision.

Not whining. Just discussing.

one lone member of the undead could hardly have presented that big of a threat

I really, seriously, and with History aforethought, beg to differ. I mean, said lone member of the undead almost sucked my entire ~~timeline~~ ~~universe~~ ~~planet~~ world-earth-thingie into Hell. Mostly because he was bored, I think.

*notices that Crichton is in the classroom and feels embarrassed and angry she owes him an apology*

Quietly: Crichton. Are you willing to talk to me for a minute? If not, I do understand.

No problem. We can talk for a minute.

*looks a little surprised but also relieved*

I don't really know how to do this. But I'm just gonna spit it out.

I'm sorry. About the stupid mother-frelling prank. ~~And making you guys miserable by turning weird and psycho.~~

I should've seen from the beginning how bad it was going to be. But I didn't until it was too late. I did what I could to minimize the damage, but it probably just made it worse.

I should've told Parker absolutely no, and if she tried this, I would bust her to you and Cameron. I should've stopped it about a hundred times before Aeryn and I did. You guys were my friends first. I broke my own codes of loyalty and you guys paid for it.

I'm very very sorry.

*looks away from him*

Rogue walks in, and takes a seat. In response to the weapons ban, she says, "I just don't really understand what this fuss about weapons is all about. In my world, the people without weapons are the ones you really needed to worry about--you never knew what they might be capable of. I mean, you know what a gun can do, but you don't know what the guy in the red shades is capable of. I think that here, that's also true. I mean, there are vampires, werewolves, possibly evil aliens, and I know there are mutants, none of whom need weapons. So, I just don't get it."

"You're missing the point, Crichton," Spider told him, raising an eyebrow. "It's called the 'gutter press' for a reason. This sort of rag is practically a tradition, and I wrote for one myself once. Of course, I used my own name, but that's how the hit men knew where to find me. The anonymity of this sort of thing is as traditional as the mud it flings. It doesn't exist to tell the truth or to expose its writers to conflict, it exists to bring attention to things that might not otherwise be discussed."

Spider shrugged. "I doubt very much whether or not the staff of this particular periodical are interested in a fight. They're trying to provoke a reaction and, judging by you, succeeding. Not everyone is interested in combat, particularly with the demonstrated tendency of half the school population to go for weapons instead of using their brains."

"Having been privvy to the weapons ban, it was instituted because of irresponsible practices and uses on the part of several teachers and students. This is supposed to be high school, not a war zone, and if a war zone is what people want, they're in the wrong place." Spider lit another cigarette for himself. "Guns and other weapons were freely allowed until people began discussing using them on each other. As we can't track all the rumors to find out which ones are true and not wanting student blood on our hands, they had to be taken from everyone. If you want to complain or discuss the issue, I'd say find a way to assure the principal that people won't be using said weapons on each other."

Spider blew a few smoke rings. "I haven't gone anywhere without a weapon for longer than you've been alive and have probably seen and caused more deaths than you've had hot breakfasts. If I have to find a way to cope, so can you."

"I'm afraid that I have to agree with you there," Spider told him thoughtfully. "Not that we have undead where I come from, but we have lots of other interesting things. A single person can cause a great deal of havoc, given the proper opportunity."

[ooc: Also because he thought it was really funny.]

"I've been persecuted heavily when my only weapon was the written word," Spider told her approvingly, "and I've brought down entire heavily armed governments with that one weapon. If a portal opens on campus and vomits forth the armies of hell... I can see wanting and needing a weapon. But if people are so insecure as to fear and hate their fellow students and/or faculty, I think it's time for them to quietly pack their bags and go home. This is a fucking high school, not a war zone, and the drama should not be punctuated with bullets or blades."

((OOC: *snickers*))

[ooc: *sends you good vibes so you feel better*

*has fairly good idea what made you want to throw up*

*says no more*]

((ooc: I still love you and want to bear your twisted spiderspawn. But I'm going to kick your ass for making me laugh when my stomach hurts, biznatch.))

"Understood, sir. Like I said, I'm just trying to objectively examine some of the possible underlying issues with allowing students and teachers to carry weapons."

She smiles, sort of tentatively. "Liability and insuring safe delivery of cargo are kind of in my blood."

A pensive expression comes over Valentine's face. "I'm not sure how we can go about assuring the principal that we won't use the weapons on each other. Tempers run high around here. I'll think about that. Maybe we can have some kind of student-consensus about what we can each to do intervene in a situation that looks like it might get weapons-hot. Maybe some kind of buddy-system or maybe we can get one of the mages to cast some kind of spells to prohibit us from attacking each other. I'll see about organizing a student meeting to discuss."

Not so much a reaction as confusion. If Mr. Hero wants a nemesis, he should not be whining to the press but going out and finding himself one.

As for the weapons thing, doesn't really bother me. I'm resilient and have been beaten up before. With the ban on weapons, don't you think people just might use fists instead? Or paperclips?

[OOC: Spider scares me. :-)]

"The writer is obviously attempting to stir up high feelings, although I'm not sure exactly what he or she is going to do with those high feelings. As to the other, if people are determined to fight, there's no real way to stop them," Spider told him, grimacing and making a gesture with his cigarette. "It's our responsibility to try to lower the chance of a lethal encounter, particularly when tempers are running high among the adults and the students, particularly those not involved, begin filing complaints because they don't feel safe attending classes or living on campus."

Spider gestured at the classroom. "Despite the monsters, for which occasions weaponry will be gladly provided, this is supposed to be a place to learn and, hopefully, enjoy it. If the students are afraid to come to class, steps have to be taken. Every student is supposed to walk through these doors with a clean slate. Every teacher is supposed to be getting a fresh start and offering an environment for learning. When that begins falling apart, steps, however personally loathesome, have to be taken."

Taking a drag on his cigarette, Spider grimaced. "Personally, I don't think there's a soul on campus more unhappy about the weapons ban than the Principal."

((OOC: He scares me, too... this is one of his huge 'I will fuck you all and then KILL YOU DEAD' hot buttons, I'm afraid. Not the gutter press, but the weapons thing. *grimaces* Both he and Sarah Connor have this... insane history of attempting to protect the innocent at insane cost to themselves and they're both so pissed off and bitchy right now it's unreal.))

"That," Spider told her, "is a brilliant idea. Self-policing might be the best possible answer, although I'd be sure to run the idea past the Principal before proceeding. I'm not certain if she'll be removing the ban anytime soon or at all... but this is definitely a good place to start. Congratulations, Valentine. I'm very proud of you."

((OOC: *mimes obscene air-kisses*))

((OOC: Beka can totally sympathize, personal code thing. But recent events have demonstrated to her that sometimes protecting the innocent is... er... complicated. And a very bad idea.))

((OOC: Yeah, Spider's been that route, too. He's currently pissed off at everybody and is actually making pains to be polite when he wants to go on a drunken, naked rampage and foam at the mouth.))

((OOC but sorta IC: Might I suggest a brawl with Camulus, sir? It did wonders for me. *embarrassed sort of smile* and then totally OOC: yeah. I can see how that might be. Beka appreciates the normal interaction though. It's helping her feel like maybe she can come back after-all. So, if it means anything to Spider, he's doing his job as a teacher very well.))

Rory quietly begins to brainstorm in the class, but all the examples she can come up with have to do with her own life.

Oh, God, I hope no one gets any dirt on me, she thinks.

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Journalism Class - Monday September 19

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