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Class had been advised to meet in the Danger Shop today, and when they showed up, they would find themselves in a simulation of Hampstead Heath.

"One thing that's supposed to be good for focusing is taking a walk," Jon explained. "I'm not about to go walking around in the current weather, though." He was English, but not insane.

"So here's Hampstead Heath. It's good for walking; there's all kinds of nature and it's not too hilly or anything. Let's go for a walk."

throughaphase

When the students got to the Danger Shop and stepped into their own individual simulations, they'd find a Kitty to hand them their task. And each Kitty was looking a little annoyed thanks to how she'd slipped halfway down what had once been stairs. And then she'd phased, ended up half in the slide, and then it turned back into stairs while she was there just to add I suit to injury.

ANYWAY.

Do the best thing with this cement mixer. You have until the end of class. Your time starts now.

Oh, also there was a cement mixer there.

imafuturist

Today the dogs were laying on the ground happily destroying Kongs in front of a huge flat screen television.

"The Westminster dog show was this past week and while it's normally not my idea of a sport," Steve said, "it's strangely addictive to watch when you get started."

"We might have taken to betting on the winner, " Tony admitted. "Feel free to join in!"

"They never love the hounds like they should," Steve muttered.

Tony patted him on the arm. "So, let's all settle in to watch."

ifwebeworthy

Today, Thor had a knife, which he kept flipping in the air and catching by the handle as he spoke. "A knife is the simplest weapon to carry," he proclaimed. "They are small, portable, and in some times and places, ubiquitous, although in this time and place there are laws regarding them that you would do well to familiarize yourselves with." He didn't necessarily say you had to follow them. Just know how to break them without getting caught, okay?

"Today we will learn the basics of fighting with knives," he said, before proceeding to give a lecture on the topic, complete with appropriate demonstrations. "Please pair up, select your weapons from the ~~handwavey~~ assortment available, and practice."

stykera

“Today's cupcakes come from Morocco,” Stark said. “Or they may just be inspired by Morocco I'm not entirely certain. One of the components, at least, is definitely something that is used often in Moroccan food. Something called amlu which is a little bit like peanut butter but not really. It has almonds and honey and oil and I have some here if you would like to try it outside of a cupcake.”

“I also have, of course, some already made cupcakes for you to try. There may not be enough time for getting everything done though you can always stay longer if you need. I've nowhere to be after this. So! Today's cupcakes. There's chocolate and the amlu and caramel and I think they're delicious. Now, we have already made amlu and caramel but you could always try to make those yourselves. If you like. Caramel can be tricky it's very easy to burn it and ruin it.”

"Oh! The map!" Stark pointed to said map indicating where Morocco was. "In case you were wondering."

ifwebeworthy

"Okay," Don said bracingly, and then, under his breath, "Should have gotten drunk before this." Then he said, "Okay," again, and rolled up the screen covering the whiteboard to reveal a family tree. Actually, two family trees, one for the Aesir and one covering Loki's whole...situation.

"We talked before about Ymir," he said, using his walking stick to point at that name at the head of the larger, more intimidating tree, "and how his descendants, including Odin, become the gods that create the world. This is what that looks like. Here's our local friend Thor--" Ha "--over here," he said, pointing to him. "Son of Odin and--huh, they got that right." Jane ~~if she was present~~ would probably be confused by that aside, but Don was moving on to the other family tree. "Over here we have Loki, who is not one of the Aesir but a jötunn, also known in my universe as a frost giant. Where I'm from he was adopted by Odin, but--apparently not everywhere.

"Now, this family tree probably raises a lot of questions. Some of them, like, 'Why are Loki's kids a wolf, a sea serpent, and a horse?' I have answers for, and will cover in this class. Others, like, 'Why does Heimdall have nine mothers?' I'm at a bit of a loss for." Then he muttered under his breath, "No, I don't want to know." He was happier not knowing. "So. Ask me any questions you have about...all of this, and I'll see what I can do and what we'll have to save for another class." A beat. "This is the very simplified version, by the way." He just wanted them to know that.

noonedecidesmyfate

Why was there a small group of gremlins giggling to themselves? Belle did not know but it was honestly adorable and they weren't causing any trouble that she could identify.

Perhaps the giggles were for trouble already caused. Or trouble that would be caused. For now they were just relatively pleasant background noise in the library.

wrongkindofsith

The classroom was decorated for Christmas. No, your teachers didn't do this. No, they didn't know how it happened. But they were rolling with the punches here. It's what they did best!

"So, we have a Christmas movie for you all today," Jane said, enjoying a mystery candy cane.

"Apparently they're another of the weird rituals people have around that holiday." Cara, who very much did not come from a world with Christmas, said.

"It's fun!" Jane insisted with a grin. Like that would sway Cara somehow.

Cara was unswayed, because she was aware of the kind of movies they'd been showing in class so far. "That's one word for it."

One day they'd get her!

"So, everyone settle in for the show. It's romantic." Jane, no.

Look, at least this one didn't involve a career woman giving up her hopes and ambitions for some guy?

deathsmajesty

Liliana had been switching up the places she brought the class to get a feel for the kind of landscapes that produced which kind of mana. And she'd come into the Danger Shop with an idea for a new forest as well; she'd thought a trip to Naya might be fun. Except when she'd turned on the sim, the forest from last summer's class had been waiting for her: a forest that seemed like it might have been taken from the pages of a fairy tale. Sunshine like golden honey poured through the gaps in sprawling hardwood trees. Small animals skittered and played in the underbrush while birds sang in the trees and yet there was the slight hush that came with being deep in an old forest. A clear stream burbled beside them for awhile, filled with fish that had silver scales that glinted in the sun. The air smelled earthy and wild like rich loam and sharp sap and subtlest hint of scent of something like cedar but not quite.

Sentiment was a stupid, useless thing. Liliana had no time for it. And yet...she allowed this sim to remain.

Because they were studying green mana, of course. Green loved traditions, history. She was just leaning into the spirit of the lesson, here in this clearing that no one else in the Multiverse remembered but her. It wasn't sentiment, it was a lesson, yes.

...She did not realize how lucky she was that her class was today and not yesterday, no.

But none of that was visible on her face when the class made their way to the clearing where she'd set up the traditional circle of pillows and cushions and blankets. As always, the whiteboard was there, too, upon which was written the word
Acceptance
• What does green mana desire? What is its end goal?

• What means does green mana use to achieve these ends?

• What does green mana care about? What does it represent?

• What does green mana despise? What negatively drives it?

• What is green mana's greatest strength? Greatest weakness?

( Acceptance Through Growth )

"Green is instinct, old wisdom, traditions that remain in tune with the natural world. It understands and values community, it is wild and primal, relying on strength, stamina, and sheer numbers to overcome problems. A single elephant can kill, and so can a swarm of bees. Green makes judicious use of both, and often will increase the size of either, so you end up dealing with an elephant the size of a house or bees the size of rabbits. It tends to eschew overthinking; again, the answer can often be found in nature or the more primal instincts within ourselves if we only looked. As an extension of accepting its role in the world, Green is also strongly fatalistic, trusting in destiny to decide the right way for things to go. If you live, great; if you die, it's what was meant to be. At its worst, green can become hostile to the idea of free will and the right of individuals to do as they want instead of as they were 'born' to do - the role that they were given, either by genetics or their natural, determined destiny."

afraid_of_marshmallows

Arden couldn't skip two weeks of work, even though she felt 'bitten by a gremlin' was a really good excuse for missing one, and so she was back behind the circulation desk today. With a book. And determinedly ignoring everything the gremlins did, so long as they were doing it more than five feet away from her. See if the little jerks got any attention from her for awhile.

talentforlying

"I would say I'm sorry I missed last week, but I'm not," John said bluntly as everyone arrived. "I went to get supplies for class, and got sidetracked making some bets." He pulled a fistful of bills out of his pocket and tossed it all on his desk. "But now we have decent counterfeit cash for you delinquents to play with."

Was it an Honesty Day? Honestly, Constantine wouldn't even fucking notice.

"You're all broke students, so you'll like this one," he continued. "Change raising, also known as a quick-change artist, is a common short con and involves an offer to change an amount of money with someone, while at the same time taking change or bills back and forth to confuse the person as to how much money is actually being changed. The most common form, 'the Short Count', has been featured prominently in several movies about grifting, notably Nueve Reinas, The Grifters, Criminal, and Paper Moon." Yes, John watched movies. What else was there to do around here?

"For example, a con artist shopping at a gas station pays for a cheap item - under a dollar, say, for you Americans - and gives the clerk a ten dollar bill. The con gets back nine ones and the change then tells the clerk he has a one and will exchange ten ones for a ten. Now, here's the con: get the clerk to hand over the $10 before handing over the ones. Then the con hands over nine ones and the $10. The clerk will assume a mistake and offer to swap the ten for a one. Then the con will probably just say: "Here's another one, give me a $20 and we're even." Notice that the con just swapped $10 for $20. The $10 was the store's money, not the scammer's."

"Now, say you're the clerk. To avoid this con, keep each transaction separate and never ever permit the customer to handle the original ten before handing over the ten ones. It's just common sense."

"Another variation is to flash a $20 bill to the clerk, then ask for something behind the counter. When the clerk turns away, the con artist can swap the bill he is holding to a lesser bill. The clerk might then make change for the larger bill, without noticing it has been swapped. The technique works better when bills are the same colour at a glance like, for instance, American money. It doesn't work so well in places where a ten is pink and a twenty blue, and so on, unless you've scooped your mark in advance and know he's colorblind."

"A similar technique exists when a con comes to a gas station with a young clerk, buying something cheap, showing him an uncommonly huge bill while not giving it and telling the clerk to prepare the change. While he's busy counting the change, the con would ask many questions in order to disturb the young clerk. When change is counted and ready the con is acting as if he had given the huge bill. If the clerk does not remember having received the bill, the con will say he gave him the money. If the clerk is weak or disturbed enough, he could let the scammer go away with the change."

"Now here's your money." John started pulling even more counterfeit money out of his pockets, tossing random handfuls on their desks. "See if you can scam each other, and keep a hold of your own money at the same time."

good_for_six

"Welcome back, everyone!" No, neither Isabela nor Aphra would be explaining or acknowledging their absence last week.

"Today we'll be doing some flash writing exercises," Aphra said. "Because sometimes the best way to get really creative is to put yourself in a situation where you can't over think things."

Isabela waved an arm in the direction of what could only be described as an oversized slot machine. "You can get a prompt by pulling the handle," she explained. "Then you'll have fifteen minutes to write something inspired by that prompt, then we'll rinse and repeat for the rest of the class."

throughaphase

They were in a classroom today, where all the desks had been pushed against the walls, and a giant white tarp had been laid down under a long piece of butcher block paper, with supplies placed neatly next to it.

Kitty also knew what day it was because she'd been humbled by a first grader this morning, and she was deeply annoyed she had to be out and talking today.

"I'm annoyed I have to be out and talking today," she announced to the class. "And today I'm going to put you to work making the banner for Three Minute Dates, because I don't actually have any kind of syllabus for this class and this is what you're getting. I've got a bunch of supplies here, you can do what you want to it. The only rule is: the more glitter the better."

She added, "And I'll deny I ever said that if asked later."

carbsliftthespirit

"Okay!" Raiden told his class. "Today we're going to learn about God's perfect food: pizza. Now, this is basic cooking, so we're not going to make pizza from scratch. That's another class. Instead, we're going to explore the wonderful world of frozen pizza. When it comes to frozen pizzas, the world is your oyster. There are all sorts of options in the grocery store now, and if none of those float your boat you can buy a cheese pizza and add the toppings you want to it. Me, I'm a 'more is more' guy, so I go for a supreme or a meat lover's." Mmmm. Meat. "And if you're not adding stuff, you just read the directions on the packaging and follow them. Easy peasy! Just remember to let your pizza cool for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven, so it's not the same temperature as lava. Now, I've got a ~~handwavey~~ selection of pizzas for you guys to choose from, plus some toppings you can add. Get to pizzaing!" That was a verb, right?

sith_happened

"Good morning, everyone," Anakin said. "Today we're going to talk about what to do when an organization you belong to turns out to be disappointing and morally corrupt."

The Jedi, the Senate, the Republic, Anakin himself...

"And what not to do." Like not becoming a Sith.

These things happen!

Anakin nodded. "Because in the moment, it's hard to remember your training."

"Which might be why it's a good idea to spend all that time meditating." So you didn't accidentally a fascism.

Again, something something peer pressure!

"We'll be starting with meditation," Anakin agreed. "And then we'll get to the horrors."

Ahsoka had somehow never been peer pressured into committing the horrors. "Yes, the horrors."

Because Anakin had been a good teacher?

Anakin had been an excellent teacher. Which made it all the more baffling.

"Everyone on the floor," Anakin said, matching words to action and settling easily onto the ground. "Eyes closed, focusing on your breathing."

"Just let your mind empty of thoughts," Ahsoka added.

sharp_man

Class had been ~~handwavily~~ asked to meet at Portalocity today, and Hannibal smiled at the students when they arrived. "Good morning. There are several field trips we may take this semester, to experience first-hand some things that might benefit from it."

He paused. "If any of you have difficulties with green light, I suggest you don sunglasses before we embark." He wasn't particularly fond of this world's sun, but the people at the store were very friendly and helpful.

Once anybody who wanted to had put on their glasses, Hannibal waved them through the ( portal )

intheeyeofthebeholding

Today, class would find a paper taped to the classroom door like it was the 20th century: Squirrel class: Meet in the library. - Jonathan Sims

When they got there, they would find Jon looking slightly disheveled and very sheepish.

"So I...um. Well, I got distracted last night and forgot where I put the notes for class, and I couldn't find them this morning, either." You would think an entity of knowledge would be helpful here, but the Eye just seemed to be enjoying Jon's mortification.

"Fortunately, that is more or less on-brand for this class, so we'll call it a learning experience - it's best to keep things in specific places rather than putting them down...somewhere. And today will be a study period. We've got books, computers, CDs, and videos here. Learn something new and come back and tell us at the end of class. Even if all you learn is how they organize the library."

throughaphase

Today in the Danger Shop, the students would arrive to their little individual house simulations. Once they stepped outside, they would find a basketball, a basketball hoop, and a task.

Get the basketball through the hoop. You may not touch the basketball with your hands, you may not wear gloves or anything that could be reasonably construed to be gloves. Powers are not allowed. Best time wins. Your time starts now.

Simple enough!

ifwebeworthy

Today the Danger Shop had been set up with punching bags, and Thor explained to his students, "Today you will learn how to throw a punch, or review the skill, if you have already been taught. First, and most critically, learn how to make a fist: your thumb goes on the outside of your fingers, not the inside. Tucked inside, you risk breaking it. Do not do this. Second, learn where to punch. The face is an obvious target, but it is full of bones close to the surface, and punching hard surfaces risks damage to your hand. This does not necessarily mean you should not hit someone in the face--a swollen eye or a broken nose can debilitate your opponent enough to assure your victory or escape--but that you should be prepared for the consequences." Thor pulled up an anatomical diagram made of hard light and pointed out other good targets, such as the solar plexus, the kidneys, and the groin.

"Now, how does one throw a punch? There are six basic forms of punch: the jab, the cross, the lead and rear hook, and the lead and rear uppercut. You may have heard of the 'haymaker,' which is similar to a hook but unbalanced and leaves one open to counterattack. You will learn better form here."

Thor ~~handwavily~~ guided his students through each form of punch, then sent them to the bags to practice for the rest of class. "You may focus on one punch or rotate through all of them. The choice is yours, but I would recommend the latter approach. No one tool will serve in all circumstances."

imafuturist

The teachers were in the Danger Shop today, bundled up. They'd wanted to play in the snow with the dogs, but Fee and Libby got distracted and they decided that the walls were necessary so the entire class period wasn't spent chasing the dogs all over the island.

"Hi," Steve said, grinning. "Turns out that the dogs love snow."

"Good for them, less great for us," Tony said with a sigh as the dogs were attempting to barrel around through the programmed snow.

"We've put up some of their obstacle course gear," Steve said, gesturing at the tunnel and then the little weave poles, "but they aren't really interested."

"But we thought fetch might work," Tony added. At the word 'fetch' three pairs of ears perked up from in the snow.

"It will definitely work better than trying to run the course," Steve said.

stykera

“Something different today,” Stark said. “Although that’s the idea, isn’t it? New things each week. We went, some of us, to Indonesia a few years ago. Stayed on a lovely warm island…”

He sighed and looked outside. Was this winter colder? Maybe it was just him.

“With a beach and plenty of sunshine and no snow or cold at all. Now, I don’t know if any of you went there or not. If you did, I hope you remember it fondly. Today’s cupcakes are from Indonesia.” He lifted the cloche on the table in front of him to reveal today’s cupcakes.

“These are called Bolo Kukus.” Hopefully he’d gotten the pronunciation right. “They’re a type of steamed cupcake. Very different from what I usually make, or eat, or what you might find in the bakery here. Here things have frosting and I would usually say cupcakes need frosting but I’m trying to be a bit more open-minded about that sort of thing.”

“So! These are steamed rather than baked. Something new, as I said. So we’ll need tins to steam them in and a steamer.” He pointed to the relevant objects as he spoke.

“Don’t worry if things don’t work out the first time. We’ve time to try again and this is a new recipe for most of you if not all of you. There’s a copy of the recipe for all of you, and I’ve got different colors to use to dye the cake different colors. I wonder if edible glitter would work? We had glitter in drinks yesterday in Kitty’s class…”

“So! Let’s try to steam some cupcakes. You can try one of the ones I’ve already made first, if you like, or save it for later, or not eat one at all. And there’s no decorating needed today. Oh, maybe the glitter could go on at the end…or colored sugar?”

noonedecidesmyfate

It was cold and Belle was rather over it. Bundled up warmly and with a very hot tea in hand she entered the library to find...

A kiddie pool. A palm tree. A small sandbox. And the heat was cranked up. Presumably fit the gremlins lounging in the sand.

"Well, that's better," she said. And then she noticed all the books set out that took place in typical climates.

"Much better!"

ifwebeworthy

"I realized I left out an important piece of information at the beginning of this class," Don admitted. "When we talk about the 'sources' for Norse myths, what are those sources? What are the texts?" He held up two books. "These are the texts: the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda. Both were composed in the thirteenth century CE from older sources, but while we know the Prose Edda was written by Snorri Sturluson, an Icelandic scholar, we don't know who wrote the Poetic Edda. And, fun fact, we don't know what the word 'Edda' means. So even in the source material, there's so much missing information. Why? To be really blunt: Christianity. For a long time in much of Europe, Christian religious institutions were responsible for preservation of knowledge, and they didn't want to preserve the knowledge of 'pagan' religions. We're lucky we have this much.

"So when I say, 'This is what these people believed,' that's maybe not true. Maybe that's just the version that got written down, and most people believed a different version of the story. Where I come from, Loki was adopted by Odin and raised as Thor's brother, but that's not in either Edda and it upsets Thor. But that doesn't necessarily mean people didn't know that, or that that wasn't true in other universes. It just didn't make it to the page.

"Your lesson this week isn't about a myth or a story. It's about the preservation of information. Just because it isn't of value to you in your time doesn't mean it won't be valuable to people in the future. Who knows what other stories we might have if there was a whole third book?" Maybe something that would explain what Odin's problem even was...no. No, that would take more than one book.

needsacatchphrase

Apparently your teachers were on a weather kick with the movie that was queued up for the class this week.

These things just happened, you know.

"We have another natural disaster movie that seems less natural than I think is real life," Jane said.

Cara shrugged. "Could be magic," she said, completely sincerely.

"She's not wrong," Jane sighed. Because it was true. Magic or whimsy were both possibilities here!

They couldn't even blame the island, given they both came from magical worlds.

"So, let's all enjoy this, hopefully, fully fictional event," Jane continued.

Totally. Fully. Fictional.

deathsmajesty

Today's class met across the river from a small valley, surrounded by high mountains. Perched on the side of one of those mountains was a lofty monastery where chanted voices sang out from time to time, caught upon an echo through the mountaintops. "And this is Kaladesh," she welcomed. "Far from the parts of the plane I usually roam; I'm much more at home in Ghirapur, the capital city. But the Devra Cliffs are known for being lovely."

"Today, as you have likely put together already, we're going to talk about red mana," she said, the white board behind her filled with the now-familiar questions and, more importantly, the word at the top now
Freedom
• What does red mana desire? What is its end goal?

• What means does red mana use to achieve these ends?

• What does red mana care about? What does it represent?

• What does red mana despise? What negatively drives it?

• What is red mana's greatest strength? Greatest weakness?

( Freedom Through Action )

Liliana took a sip of her tea as the lecture wound down. "Even with its focus on relationships and bonds, red is a very individualistic color, placing its own beliefs of what's right above everyone else's - though, thankfully, those beliefs generally extend only over what is right for oneself.. Red's greatest strength is its ability to know what it wants, the purpose and clarity so many others lack. In addition, red is committed to taking action to get the things it wants. Others might pine for things; red actively takes the steps to acquire them. This drive grants red a passion and speed that can often overwhelm its adversaries. Red's enthusiasm creates an energy that allows it to do amazing things - it is a color heavily associated with art, with passion, with creativity - art is, of course, often meant to make you feel."

throughaphase

The class today met at Caritas, during the day, with no Tino, no zombies (don't ask where they were, it's a game mystery), just an empty bar except for them.

"So. Edible glitter," Kitty began. "I think we might do two weeks on this, but today we're going to be making drinks. It's not like craft glitter, this is made of things like sugar and additives, so it's safe for you to eat or drink. We're going to be doing mocktails today, because it's class during the day, but stuck around after and I'm happy to let you play around with the real stuff. I've got a few recipes you can try, or you can get creative and do your own thing."

sith_happened

"There is no ignorance, there is knowledge," Anakin said. "The second portion of the Jedi code."

"Which is not saying a Jedi knows everything, despite the value and mystique in having that kind of reputation," Ahsoka said. "But an acknowledgement of the idea that you should always be learning, of turning ignorance to knowledge."

Anakin nodded. "You never know everything," he said. "Especially in your twenties."

"Except when you're a teenager, because then you know everything." Some things were universal, even among the Jedi. "But the first step to true knowledge and wisdom is knowing that you don't know how much you don't know."

"And learning to accept that," Anakin added. "You may have pockets of expertise -- I'm pretty good with a lightsaber and with anything I can convince to fly, but terrible at bantha care."

"Whereas I have a certain knack for community organising," and euphemisms. "But some of my other social skills can be rusty."

"Some," Anakin said dryly.

Did Anakin want to get I to the whys of that choice?

"Some," Ahsoka repeated.

He did not. "Some is good," he backtracked. "Where are areas in which you excel, and how could they become blindspots?"

knightinshinarmor

Gambit had missed class last week. He wasn't going to mention it if the students didn't.

"Welcome back," he greeted as the students arrived. The Danger Shop was set up to resemble a humid jungle environment today. "And welcome to the Savage Land." He looked around at the trees. "Or a reasonable approximation, I guess. It's a jungle in here, but out there?" He gestured over his shoulder at the edge of the treeline. "Out there is Antarctica. Trust me, you don't want to be out there. Not unless you've got ice powers or something."

Or you were possessed by an energy ghost and had a god-like alternate self around to rescue you when even the energy ghost couldn't help, anyway.

"What's a jungle doing in Antarctica? One of life's little mysteries. And anyway, the fact that this is a jungle ain't the most important bit."

An uncanny -- but not Uncanny -- roar sounded in the distance.

"That's a t-rex," Gambit said cheerfully. "You'll also find sabertooth tigers, giant crocodiles, and basically any other big prehistoric predator you can think of out here. They ain't gonna argue with you. They're not gonna care if you agree with them or not. They just gonna eat you. Kill or be killed, kids -- or run away and hide, that's a good option too." He grinned. "Have fun, neh?"

[open]

carbsliftthespirit

"Chilly out there, isn't it?" Raiden asked his students. "My brother's refusing to leave his warm cozy bed, but that's not unusual for him anyway. Still, glad you made it to class! Today we're going to learn about the perfect combo for a cold day: a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. Now, these are easy recipes, but you don't even have to get this complicated! There's nothing wrong with heating up a can of tomato soup, and a grilled cheese is where a slice of American cheese really shines. But we're gonna get just a little complicated, okay? I've got some different cheeses besides what the recipe calls for, so you can pick your favorite grilled cheese option, and you'll get to use a stick blender; it's fun. Like a boat motor for your food. Let's get started!"

throughaphase

There was no Kitty visible when the students got in today. Not because she wasn't there but because sometimes you had to add a little mystery. The Danger Shop was programmed as usual, with them in their individual little simulations, starting with a decorated cake on the table in the study, with an envelope in front of it.

Destroy this cake. Most beautiful destruction wins. Your time starts now.

sharp_man

Some instructors might be wimps, but Hannibal was not one of them. He rather enjoyed this weather; it gave him a chance to wear his warm clothing.

He would hear no slander against his hat!

He nodded and waved his students over to his counter at the front.

"We'll be discussing a number of sauces and techniques later in the semester, and you will need to know some techniques before we begin on them. The first is called a roux. A roux is flour and salt cooked together; it can be used as a base for some recipes, and some of the techniques it uses will help with others, such as gravy or gelatin."

"Our roux starts with clarified butter." He put a square block of butter into a small pot and began heating it. "Standard butter consists of butterfat, milk solids, and water. Clarifying it removes the water and milk solids. Clarified butter can get much hotter without burning, which makes it very good for frying." He demonstrated how to skim the butter as it cooked, leaving only the part they wanted.

"Once we have our clarified butter, we can start on the rest of the roux. A good roux is essential to many sauces. It helps to thicken them and adds some flavor. It's important not to burn it, and to make sure that the fat and the flour mix evenly." He showed how to finish making it.

"After that, the next challenge you face with any sauce, particularly as a beginner, is avoiding lumps. You must add the liquids slowly, and it helps if they're cold. If you add them too quickly, or too much at once, it won't be pretty."

After he'd demonstrated the proper technique, he nodded to them. "Today we'll be making a béchamel sauce, and you'll be clarifying your own butter and making the roux. Please let me know if you have any questions."

intheeyeofthebeholding

This morning, everyone in the class had been sent a message.

Sometimes the distractions are too much. I'm not going out in this weather. Stay home.

Jon was cold, still emotionally sore from his conversation a few days ago with Liliana, and disinclined to go out in this. Enjoy a day off, class! Or do like your instructor and curl up in a ball under the covers and stay warm.

heroic_jawline

Well, there weren't any more bite suits in the classroom. Everyone be happy about that. No, instead, there was a little set up for a movie.

There was also popcorn! ...decidedly less popcorn than they'd arrived with, granted, but popcorn! (Shh, supersoldiers got snacky.) "We decided to give the dogs a break," Steve said, "and you a break from the dogs. They can be a lot."

"Also, Fee chewed through an entire door, so she's getting a little check up at the vet," Tony said like that a normal thing.

"She needs to stop doing that," Steve agreed.

"So, movie!" Tony said clapping his hands together.

"It's very educational," Steve assured them. (Steve had not seen this movie.)

ifwebeworthy

Dr. Donald Blake had been called in for emergency surgery, and for some mysterious reason this meant Thor Odinson was unavailable to teach today, which meant the students would enter the Danger Shop to find a movie theater and a film cued up to start at the time class began. Enjoy your movie day!

stykera

“Have any of you been to Germany?” Stark asked. They were meeting in the Home Ec room again, of course. “Today’s cupcakes are from Germany or at least like something you might find in Germany. Black Forest Cake. Black Forest cupcakes. The Black Forest, the Schwarzwäld, is in Germany. I think I said that right.” He hoped he had.

“Black Forest Cake has cherries. And chocolate. And Kirsch, which is alcohol that tastes of cherries because it’s made of cherries. The cherries have been soaking in kirsch overnight. There wouldn’t have been time to do that during class today.”

“Oh! I have a map today.” An actual paper world map that he’d stuck to the wall and stuck a gold star sticker on Australia and another on Germany. Stark pointed at said map. “There’s Australia for last week and Germany for this week.”

“So, we should bake. Or if you like you can just assemble. Or just eat some after I’ve finished putting them together? I have all the components here to put together if you like or you can try and make your own though you’ll likely need more time.” Of course, this was the last class of the day so there would be time for that.

“If you have questions, please ask. Or if you’ve anything to say about Germany or chocolate or cherries, please do…any of it.”

wrongkindofsith

"There are more types of movie than just nature documentaries," Cara told the class once they'd arrived, which wasn't technically wrong.

"There are action movies," Jane said, trying and failing at not laughing at the movie on the docket today.

"With daring leads and thrilling fights." None of which would be in this film.

Yeah, there was Jane giving up on trying to look serious. "How did we find this again?"

"Library." So really, it wasn't either of their fault they'd picked it.

"That... actually makes sense," Jane settled on. "So, everyone relax and enjoy The Pumaman."

A cinematic wonder. Truly.

noonedecidesmyfate

The castle had not survived and it seemed that the cardboard fort had been utilized to fashion a number of bizarre sculptures around the library.

Belle walked around, admiring the artwork, and then settled in to read about various apocalypse.

There were absolutely some post apocalyptic romances out there.

She was hoping no gremlins were feeling bitey.

ifwebeworthy

"Last week, we discussed the Norse traditions' origin story for the world," Don reminded his class, "but it raised some questions. Where did the cow come from? Why was there a god already buried in the ice at the beginning of the world? And the answer is very simple: to come to the beginning, you must start with the end. You may have heard of Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods, before. It's the story of how the world will end, and the survivors will make a new one. Where I come from, Ragnarok is--was--a cycle, until it was ended." By Thor. "The world ended and was made anew, over and over. So the cow and Buri were both survivors of a previous cycle. See? Simple. Why a cow? Why not a cow? Survivorship of disaster is arbitrary." Don shrugged.

"We'll talk about Ragnarok itself in another class, but for now I want you to think about the cyclical nature of it. Leave aside that where I come from it's pure truth. What does it say, allegorically? What do you think about it? Discuss."

deathsmajesty

Unlike last week's pastoral meadow, this week the class would find themselves sitting around a large table on the balcony of a bustling cafe, overlooking a vast waterway, with tall, elegant buildings that seemed just as much part of the waterway as above it. Rather than more pillows and cushions, they were sitting on a balcony of a coffeashop, many, many stories above ground level, high enough to see the tops of several of the waterfalls. With them was the whiteboard, though the word at the top was no longer peace but
Perfection
And, of course, the same questions from the last two weeks were written out:

• What does blue mana desire? What is its end goal?

• What means does blue mana use to achieve these ends?

• What does blue mana care about? What does it represent?

• What does blue mana despise? What negatively drives it?

• What is blue mana's greatest strength? Greatest weakness?

"Welcome to Ravnica, class," Liliana said and there was no denying the warmth or the fondness in her tone. She loved this plane quite dearly and a lot of care had been put into programming the simulation. "Ravnica is an ecumenopolis, a city so vast it covers the entire plane, serving as proof that mana can thrive even when surrounded by the trappings of industry and civilization, rather than wild, untrammeled nature. This area is rich with blue mana - so much so that the building with the giant statue over there is the home of Isperia, a great sphinx and the guildmaster of the Azorius Senate." Its silhouette was leonine, but only because they were too far away to see the wings folded along its sides.

( Perfection Through Knowledge )

"To follow the philosophy of blue, one must train oneself to examine the world and discover any and every opportunity that awaits - or can be made. Use these opportunities to learn, because with knowledge and mastery one's fingertips, there is no problem that cannot be solved, no question that cannot be answered. Seek not not just knowledge but omniscience, which is just as impossible a goal as perfection, but for blue, it isn't just the destination that's important, but the entire journey to get there, because the journey is where that knowledge is gathered - and where one's own essence is shaped and molded.

talentforlying

"A merry fucking un-birthday to you all, your fake IDs are here," Constantine proclaimed, pointing at the piles of various identifications on his desk. "Find your documents, then grab a seat."

"I want you today to come up with the identity that goes with those documents -- what makes that person different from you, what's the same? Even if you used your real name, if you were trying to get out of a sticky situation, what lies would you tell about yourself?"

"All the really good lies have some basis in truth, and it's best to practice them in advance. Knowing your persona before you start getting quizzed by a cop can be a lifesaver."

afraid_of_marshmallows

The castle from last week was still in the library, but now it was somehow suspended, upside down, from the ceiling. Arden was ignoring it. She had also been ignoring the gremlins dueling one another with foam swords, but that had led to a little bit of a mishap.

Which was why Arden was busily affixing fake flowers to the gremlins, a bite mark visible on her hand, murmuring, "If the rose is knocked off your chest, you lose the duel."

Sometimes these things just happened, okay? Don't worry about that, just focus on the baller song playing pretty much on repeat all day.

good_for_six

Your teachers were here, and a projector was on, so they really were hitting three for three so far this semester.

"The thing is kids," Aphra started them off this week. "In order to write, you need to read. A lot. Good stuff so you can learn what works, bad so you lean why it doesn't."

"And utterly terrible so you have the confidence that whatever you come up with will be better," Isabela added. "And luckily there's a place where you can find all three."

Isabela dramatically pressed a button, and a website appeared on the screen. Isabela frowned at it, then took out her phone, poked at it, and frowned at that.

It wasn't that neither Isabela nor Aphra hadn't noticed the clearly labelled upcoming maintenance warnings on the site, it was just that when it came down to it, they didn't care enough about Earth time-zones to realise it'd be down during their class.

"I guess there's also the library," Aphra said eventually.

sith_happened

This was entirely Anakin's fault for bragging to Rey about how everyone else got the flu in his house but him.

Class cancelled. Germs are the worst. Earth needs bacta. -AS

[OOC: Both muns have had Days. We'll get you next week!]

carbsliftthespirit

"Okay," Raiden said. "Now that you're familiar with the equipment, let's talk food! Specifically, let's talk eggs. Now, there are a million ways to cook eggs. You could make a whole class out of that! In fact, hmm." He paused, then said, "Something to think about for the future," and shook it off. "Today we're going to make scrambled eggs, because they're easy and delicious. With toast, you've got a great breakfast, or any meal, really. Breakfast for dinner is always a great choice!"

Raiden proceeded to demonstrate how to make scrambled eggs and toast for the class. "You can also add stuff to your eggs, from herbs to cheese or even some bacon or veggies to make 'a scramble,' which is like an omelet only you don't have to be so fussy with it. The sky's the limit! Get to cooking," he encouraged them.

throughaphase

Once again the students were in the Danger Shop, in front of the house. There was a golf hole with a flag in the distance, surrounded by a red mat around it. Surely whatever it was would be easy!

"Sorry about last week," Kitty said. "Was a lion, et cetera. But we're back this week, and if you follow me, I'll get you into your own scenarios. Come on, it'll be fun."

sharp_man

"Today," Hannibal announced, "we're going to discuss measuring. When following recipes, it's important to measure correctly. Dry ingredients and wet ingredients are measured differently."

He discussed how most common items were measured, then presented them all with a simple recipe. "Today, we will each make a batch of these cookies. We will discuss each step as we go through it - how to properly position the oven racks and pre-heat it, how to measure everything, and how to cook them. Please ask for any additional help you may need."

intheeyeofthebeholding

When everyone arrived in the classroom, they'd find the chairs all pushed aside to clear a space in the middle of the floor, and Jon holding a box.

"One thing that's supposed to help concentration and stress is doing puzzles. All sorts, including things like sudoku and crosswords." Which he had considered, but decided to forego. You're welcome, medieval Henry.

"So I thought we could work on one together." Surely that would foster cooperation and nobody would get annoyed at someone else doing the puzzle wrong or piece-hoarding, right?

He opened up the box and poured the pieces into a pile, then set up the box to one side.

imafuturist

Today, the classroom had an assortment of suits scattered around for students to grab. Because Tony was Tony and what even was money? How much could a banana cost? Ten dollars? That sort of thing.

"Welcome back, everyone!" Tony said, holding onto a leash tightly as Fee was losing her goddamn mind over the suits. "Today we're jumping right into the deep end."

"Fee and Libby have been trained to take down intruders," Steve said, "because our lives can be a little...extreme. They're still puppies, so they think this is a big fun game and they are definitely not going to hurt you."

"But they will knock you over. Probably." Had they knocked over Tony? He was not going to tell.

"They might also just run right past you and miss entirely," Steve admitted.

"Hence the training!" Tony said. "So, how about everyone suit up and we'll see how this goes."

"It'll be fun!" Steve said enthusiastically, already reaching for his suit. "And we won't video anyone."

This time...

ifwebeworthy

"We will begin," Thor told his class without further preamble, "with some basic self-defense. Some of you may be more advanced than this, but it never hurts to review the basics." And some of you seemed to think magic would always save you, so learning how to kick someone in the groin was a step in the right direction. "Pair up, and I shall demonstrate, and then you can practice on one another. Please remember not to actually follow through. You are not simulations, and I do not wish for you to harm one another grievously. Let us begin."

stykera

“This week,” Stark said once everyone had arrived, “I thought we’d start with somewhere I’m not from but sometimes I’m told I sound like I’m from. Sometimes I’m a koala and those are from Australia even if I’m not when I’m my usual self.”

Did you all know your teacher was a koala on occasion? You did now!

“Australia is a country here, on Earth,” Stark said. “In case any of you aren’t aware. I should have brought a map. Next time. We can mark off where we’ve had cupcakes from. Keep track of it.”

He’d try to remember that for next week and the following weeks.

“First off, I have the recipe for today’s cupcakes. They’re lamington cupcakes because lamingtons are a dessert in Australia. This is just that but made into a cupcake. Cake, chocolate, and coconut.”

“So, you have the recipe. We have all the ingredients and equipment you might need. I’ve made frosting already, if anyone wants to use that instead of making their own. But first off we’ll need to make the cupcakes. If you need help, please ask. I’m happy to help. Always.”

Fandom High RPG

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