Fandom High School

The class was in the Danger Shop today, in what looked a lot like Chicago's Union Station. And the teacher looked really apologetic.

"Sorry that you guys have a final like right after a crisis," Kitty said, handing them all the phones they'd been using in class. "But we still should get through this one. This is Union Station in Chicago, current day, and slightly warmer than it is for real there. All you have to do is find out something you want to go to, and then find a way to get there. You can walk or use public transportation, there is GPS on your phones, you can look up things to do, you can use any means necessary to get there. Don't find someplace just down the street that you can walk to in two minutes, you are being graded on this. And on another note, thanks for being a great class and I hope this helped.All right, have at it, guys."

Today the Danger Shop was set up like a large moddable park in the spring. Playground, plants, assorted small woodland creatures, they'd all been programmed in.

And there was Kitty at the front of the group with a box in her hands. "Hey, guys. Glad to see you're all teenagers today, and that's the last I'll mention of that. There's one thing that I can't believe I didn't get to when we were doing our first unit, and that's pictures. They're kind of popular these days, and you've probably had some exposure to them by now, even if it was just the photography booth at homecoming. It's a still frame of a moment or a peron or a thing that you want to capture. People take pictures for their weddings and parties, of scenery on vacation, or because you're having a good hair day and that warrants a selfie. Which, by the way, is a picture you take of yourself, in case you somehow hadn't heard that word by now. Most often now, people will take them with the camera app on your phone," she said, reaching into the box and picking up one of the phones they'd used at the start of the semester, "where you can upload them to social media, apply filters, whatever. But there are still some uses for digital cameras-" She pulled one of those out of the box, too. "-where you can move the pictures onto your computer or whatever and do it from there. They also can store a lot of pictures, so they're good for big events, or if you don't want to drain your phone battery by taking pictures constantly. And you're going to get to use both those kinds of cameras."

Kitty ran through the basics on how to use both, and then passed one of each to the students. "You've got a lot of different things to shoot here. Go nuts with the flowers, or take pictures of each other doing things, and if you just want to sit on the slide and take selfies, there will be no judgment. Just get a feel for things."

The students were directed back to the classroom instead of the Danger Shop today, because ugh, basically.

"I'm so sorry, and I'd be giving you a normal class but apparently the island decided to make us all crazy people and so you're getting a movie day," Kitty said. "We're going to watch Illinois Smith which has nothing to do with the subject of technology but I had it on hand and at least some of you probably haven't seen it. Next week won't suck, I promise."

And in went the movie.

When the students got to the Danger Shop today, they'd find themselves in the middle of a huge, busy train station. Honestly, Kitty wouldn't have Danger Shopped this if she didn't think they'd possibly run into time constraint issues.

"Welcome to Penn Station, in New York City," Kitty greeted them, passing out subway maps. "Today we're going to be covering the subway. In big cities public transportation is a must, unless you're in LA and then I guess you're okay sitting in traffic for hours instead." Kitty did not spend like any time there, no. "Big cities have a lot of people, a lot of cars, and using something like subways or trains or buses is a good economical way to get around all that, even if it might take a little longer sometimes. We're not going to focus on buses today, but know that if you take them, it means a lot of waiting outside for them to show up, and you're going to need a card or money for your trip, depending on what city you're in. Now what I gave you is a subway map. The routes are color-coded, and named by numbers and letters, which makes them easier to read, and they stop at several places to get people get on and off. At certain places you can even transfer onto other lines, either at the station or by getting off and walking a block or whatever to the next station.

"So, locate Penn Station on the map. It's south of Manhattan there," she said. "Now I want you to find Battery Park, and figure out the best way to get there. And then based on what you guys come up with, we're going to take that way in, and then once we get there, we can hang out for a bit."

"Welcome back, guys," Kitty said as everyone got back to the computer lab setup in the Danger Room. "Even to those of you I saw on the trip. And speaking of, you might be wondering how a trip like that might be arranged. Okay, you're probably not, but at some point you might want to take a trip of your own, and this is how you're going to learn to do it.

"First of all, you're going to want to research the trip, and think about when you want to go. Get online, ask people, go to the library and look stuff up. Find out how hot or cold it is, when they're the busiest, and you can decide when to go based on that. Or you flip that around, but either way, know what you're getting into," she said. "And then you have options on actually booking a trip. You can call a travel agent and have them work things out for you, or you can go down to the Portalocity office and work it out, but the most common option is to book it online or via and app. Now, whether you go via plane, train, bus, ship, or portal, the basic information you need will be the same.

At this point she started using the handy dandy projection to show them how to input their start and destination, dates, and walked them through the process of selecting a flight, seats, and inputting personal information. "Next week we'll be working more on travel, but for now I want you to do some idea trip planning. Figure out a place you want to go- or a time if you're going the portal route- decide how you want to go, and then do some research online and see what kinds of things you'd like to do there."

Today's Danger Shop simulation was a common room. Or rather, a reasonable facsimile of a common room. Kitty had been in the dorms all of on time and it'd been the night before the Nothing swallowed everything but the library, and so she hadn't really been paying attention to details back then. So it looked like a common room, but not exactly. She'd tried.

"So you've all been here a while, and you've probably figured out that TV is a big thing here," Kitty began. "There's a ton of different programming out there, it's something mindless you can put on for background noise, it can be entertaining or educational... There's something out there for everyone, really. But beyond just knowing how to turn it on, you can record TV shows to watch later. There are DVD's and Blu-Rays that you can buy or rent of a movie or a TV show so you can play it anytime. And if you have a Netflix or Hulu account online, you can watch it that way, too.

"Today we're just focusing on the basics, though, and if you've already figured this part out, sorry," Kitty said, handing each of them a remote. "This is a universal remote that controls the TV and cable. You do not actually need like half the buttons on this thing in your everyday life."

She gave them a quick rundown on how to do that, and said, "I'm going to show you how to program the DVR. Then I want you to take turns recording something yourself. And then once you've all done that, you can pick a DVD and we'll watch that for the rest of class."

Today the class was meeting in the Home Ec room. Also, the teacher was looking pretty damn happy to have her memory, so you were all going to have to deal with that.

"Sorry about this weekend, Fandom sucks sometimes," Kitty said. "But everyone's got their memories back now, so we're starting the day off with learning about something you may or may not have experience with: the kitchen. Now, this isn't a cooking class, so I'm keeping it simple. Anything I show you, there will be instructions on the package telling you what you need and how much, so, simple. But I want to make sure you know how to use the stove, the oven, the microwave, and the coffee maker so the common room's a little easier for you.

( cut for cooking )

The students who showed up to class today would find a note telling them to meet at the Danger Shop, which was made up to look like a little computer lab. Each desk had a laptop on it, which would not be able to be broken in any way. Thanks, Danger Shop!

"Morning," Kitty greeted them, trying for cheerful when she already knew her week was going to suck. "Welcome to Technology and You. I'm Kitty Pryde, and I don't really care what you call me. In this class, you're going to get to learn more about the technology available on present day Earth so hopefully things will get a little easier for you, and you can get questions answered. This means we're going to be covering things like computers, other electronics, and transportation. We're going all in here.

"So! It's the first week and I get to do the very first introductions you're all going to get sick of. I want to know your name, when and where you're from, and where you think you are in understanding technology. And if there's anything you definitely want to cover, mention that too. Then we're going to work on some stuff, so let's start with you there."