fandomhigh | Myth Into History, History Into Myth, Week 1: Reintroductions [Danger Shop, Thursday 1st Period]

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Myth Into History, History Into Myth, Week 1: Reintroductions [Danger Shop, Thursday 1st Period]

When students arrived in the Danger Shop, they would find it set up to look like the interior of an old canvas tent -- not a pup tent, but the kind you would find at the base camp of an archaeological dig site from the late 1930s or early 1940s. Piles of crates lined the walls at varying degrees of dubious balance, and inexplicably a large Gatling gun (sans ammunition) stood on a tripod opposite the door. Next to the Gatling, behind a desk cluttered with artifacts and notes, sat Janice with her booted feet up on the desk, her fedora down over her eyes, and an unlit cigar clenched in her teeth.

"There you are," she said finally, once everyone was seated in the half circle of camp chairs at the center of the tent. "First things first. My name is Doctor Janice Covington, and the first person to call me Doc gets detention faster than I can crack a whip -- which, let me tell you, is pretty damned fast. I'm an archaeologist, in case you can't tell, and I'm here to teach you something about the myths and history of the ancient world. We'll be focusing mainly on Greece and Rome in this class, but some of the material will cover events in Gaul, the British Isles, Egypt, and even China. Come up at the end of class and pick up a packet with all the reading material you'll need for the semester. If you don't, you have no excuse."

She stood up and paced slowly around the tent, sizing up her students; God only knew how she managed to keep that cigar in her teeth and still speak fairly clearly around it. "Whatever you think you know about the ancient world? You're probably wrong. For centuries scholars have been missing a huge part of the puzzle. But thanks to my father's research, my partner Melinda Pappas and I have made a huge discovery that changes everything. Everything," she repeated, her toothy grin hinting at perhaps a slightly unbalanced psyche. She picked up a fragment of well-worn parchment and held it in both hands, almost reverently.

"This was the first piece my father found. The key to finding the last piece of the puzzle: the most important archaeological find of the century. Something that will revolutionize the way we look at the ancient world. It has the power to turn myth into history -- history into myth." The dramatic pause was, perhaps, a touch overdramatic. "This was the first fragment of the Xena Scrolls to be unearthed, and it tells the story of Xena's first encounter with her nemesis, the crazed warlord Callisto."

Janice handed the bit of parchment to the nearest student, along with a translation in Mel Pappas's impeccable hand. "It's only a virtual replica, but treat it with respect," she ordered.

Once the parchment had made its rounds, Janice tucked her thumbs into her belt and surveyed the class again before speaking. "So. We'll keep it pretty basic today. Who you are, when and where you're from, why you're in this class, and a brief rundown of what exactly you know so far about the myths and stories of this time period. After that, we've got a little activity to do."

Syllabus, Roster, and Class Info

[OOC: OCD is up. Have at!]

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Who are you? Why are you here? About how much knowledge do you have of ancient Greek and Roman myth and history?

Yes, Janice is taking exhaustive notes on everything you're saying. Don't ask why.

"I, um, I'm Evelyn Carnahan," Evie said nervously. "I'm here because I want to-- I'm *going* to be an archaeologist. Egypt. I'm from Cairo, and London, 1916. So I know I have a great deal to catch up on, recent discoveries being made very recently and all." She took a deep breath. "I've read all the standard treatments of the Greek and Roman myths known through 1915, but I realize that new information means they've probably been re-examined since then. I understand Budge has been completely thrown out in some areas. And, and, um, I'm interested in the Library of Alexandria and Hamunaptra."

"Um, hi. My name is JC Broots, please call me Broots and not whatever name might happen to be on the roster. I'm from about twenty minutes away and from this year. I spent some time in Blue Cove, Deleware as well. I like computer and am here because I might have not always obeyed the law when playing with them." He grinned ruefully. "I'm in this class because I spent two years taking pretty much only math and science classes so now I need some history and English to actually apply to college."

"My name is Zack Addy, I'm here because I want to be a forensic anthopologist, and this class counts towards that."

"I'm Carmela Rodriguez. I'm here because I like a good adventure. I don't know much about Greek or Roman myth ~~though I have met an incarnation of Athena, sort of, though s/he was dressed as a cranky teenage celto-goth at the time~~ but that's what I'm here for- to learn."

"I'm Marie D'Ancanto and I'm from present day Mississippi," she said. "I thought the class sounded interesting and I like history better than science. I don't really know much about ancient Greek or Roman myths though. Just the basics that I've learned in school."

"I'm Cedric Diggory from England in 1999. I'm here so as to learn more about tis world and their history. I know very little. As for what I know, apparently this place is quite old and has a lot of history. Apologies but that's about all I do know."

Joxer cleared his throat, having no idea what was about to hit him.

"I'm Joxer the Mighty, possibly also known as Joxer the Lion Hearted. I'm here because learning about my time back in Greece might help me be a better hero when I return there. A better one than that Xena person, even."

He was so doomed.

"Kleinman," Janice growled, stalking over to where he sat. Lowering her voice so the other students wouldn't hear too clearly, she hissed, "Think you were a hero back there? How deluded can you get? Claiming to be your ancestor? You're not fooling me, kid. Where are my scrolls? Cough 'em up!"

"Kline man? No, lady, you must have something in your ears. I said Joxer the Mighty. I'm a warrior from exactly what you're planning to teach, right? You must've heard about me." Joxer was smug.

Ensuring his doom, probably.

Janice snorted. "I've heard of some screwed-up fantasies in my time, but keep scraping the bottom of that barrel and you'll get splinters, Kleinman . . . if you can scrape it that hard."

"Look lady, I'm not this screwing fantasy person," Joxer said. "I'm Joxer the Mighty. I was born Joxer, I've always been Joxer."

Janice rolled her eyes. No point in antagonizing the pasty little jerk too much just yet; she still had to figure out where the hell he'd hidden her Scrolls.

"Yeah," she said, tone clearly implying her lack of belief, "whatever you say, kid."

Suddenly she had a good idea of what next week's lesson was going to be.

"My name is Janet Fraiser, I'm here because this is my senior year, I've put off most of my social science requirements for the end, and I took Classics all last year, so my knowledge of Greek and Roman history has expanded proportionately." She sighed. "If you start talking about aliens in the ancient world, can I drop the course? Please?"

Janet? So did not want to deal with another crazed archaeologist. One was plenty. ~~Never, ever, ever let her drop this course. Bwah!~~

"I'm Matilda Wormwood. I'm here because I didn't fit in quite right were I used to go to school. And I've got an extensive knowledge of Greek and Roman history. I've read a lot of books about it."

"I'm Sam Winchester," he said, "and I've lived all over the place, but I was born in Lawrence, Kansas. And, uh, technically I'm from 1997. I don't really know what I want to do when I get older, but I like history, so I figured this would be a good class. And I don't know much about the ancient Greeks and Romans except for their languages."

"The name's D'anna. I'm here because I was required to take an additional course for the term. I don't particularly give a damn about Greek myth but their Gods are my Gods and I'd like to see where the stories differ."

D'anna almost left it at that but... no, she couldn't ~~even though Zach already said something with a better argument~~. Perhaps she'd had too much coffee. Maybe she hadn't had enough. But it was probably because the professor had mentioned one of D's least favorite people, Xena. "And you might want to back up off Callisto. She's a friend, teacher and even mentor ~~cheerleading coach doesn't sounds as impressive so...~~ to several of us."

Janice froze as she finally took in D'anna's appearance.

"Meg?" she muttered to herself. "That's an . . . unexpected sentiment coming from someone with that face."

D'anna crossed her arms and drew her lips into a thin line, "what about my face?"

"How is that possible? For so many people to be dead ringers for Xena herself?" Janice asked, too curious to answer the question directly. "First Diana, then Meg, and Leah, and Mel, of course -- God, how many copies of you are there?"

At the mention of Xena and one other name that rang a bell from last Halloween, D'anna's face rapidly contorted, her brain short-circuited, - Copies? Did she just say COPIES? - and before she should stop herself, she let out a shriek of rage!

"Xena? Excuse me, but did you just say Xena?! Oh, no! No! No-no-no-no-no! No! No Xena! I'm D'anna and I'm the only person on this entire frakking island who looks like me." D didn't shout and there were a lot of angry hand gestures and possible flailing. "It's not enough she almost got me killed last year? Attacked by a harpy? Hit on by a GOD? Or killed my friend's entire family and village? Now she has to invade my classroom too?! This is entirely too much!"

"I'm Phoebe Halliwell and I'm from present day San Francisco. I'm taking this class because I like studying the myths ~~as some of them are probably true and listed in my Book of Shadows~~ and the historic events that brought them about. Last year I took Celtic Studies and Arthurian Mythology and I wanted to take this class to learn more about the Ancient Greek and Roman histories."

"Uh, I'm William Kessler, from about 10 years in the past. I've..." he paused. He'd almost mentioned he knew a man from back then. Sort of. "Heard, some supposedly accurate accounts of some events from that time. He hoped he didn't look or sound as shifty as he felt. "I'm taking this class because it interests me and to find out if there's any truth to the myths and stories that i've heard."

"I'm Will Vandom, most recently from Heatherfield, in what I'm pretty sure is this year. I needed another class to get transfer credits from my old school, and this sounded kind of interesting. I don't know much about Ancient Greek and Rome besides the basics they teach in general history class, though."

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Myth Into History, History Into Myth, Week 1: Reintroductions [Danger Shop, Thursday 1st Period]

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