IoD Class #1 :: Afternoon

[davian]

Welcome To
INTEGRATION
OF DISCIPLINES
AKA
'USING WHAT YOU KNOW'

Prof. Davian Boyle
Class #1

He sipped idly at a mug of coffee, leaning against the desk and looking out over the once more empty seats. Morning class had been... exciting, to say the least, and now Prof. Davian Boyle, Shibusen's very own steampunk gentleman, was getting ready for the second go. A fresh stack of syllabi and handouts sat on the desk for easy student access, the giant smart board gleamed dimly as the midday light filtered in through the windows... overall, he was feeling good about the afternoon class.

After all, he'd survived the morning class without too much trouble. This teaching stuff wasn't that hard; harder than disassembling a backwater cipher, sure, but not nearly as hard as some of the things he'd done in his life.

The trample of feet and the chorus of voices nearing the door stirred him from idling thoughts. Davian put the coffee mug down, straightened his tie, and prepared to meet the next wave of students head-on.

Let the learning begin... again.

[[NOTES: Student characters will earn Points for every class they attend. Today's class is an easy 40 Points. You must sign up in order to get credit, though.]]

[song]

Ein stumbled into the classroom, bad enough he was stumbling down the hallways to get to class. Ugh- why in God's name did they have to make classes now? In truth it was noon but he was nursing a major hangover from last night, from some late night drinking. The sun just seemed a tad too bright right now...

Grumbling he walked in wanting to fall on the floor right there and sleep. Though refrained it and gave a half hearted wave and a grunt to the teacher as he passed by to find the farthest back part of the class. Geez he didn't even manage to find any decent clothes to wear! After he stumbled out of bed he showered and just put on whatever- which consisted of a wrinkled navy blue hoody, and a pair of old cargo shorts, with his usual boots- though he was wearing two wrong socks.

Bah- who cares anyway right? Not like he was trying to impress anyone... Taking the row in the farthest back he walked through the aisle to reach the seat next to the window. Putting his books on the long desk, he let his head bang into the wooden desk as he groaned again.

Ugh... why him?

[lynn]

Lynn wasn't sure of what to expect when she walked into the classroom. The little meister stood there at the doorway, her green and red eyes scanning the room. First off, she noticed the classroom was set up more like a lecture hall than a traditional classroom with desks. Then again, the teacher himself was dressed in steampunk styled gear that was more suited for an anime convention than a classroom. And of course this room had a smartboard. It seemed like every classroom now a days had one. She could clearly remember how much trouble they caused back at home with their touch sensitive screen.

Lynn soon realized that she has been standing at the doorway for a solid five minutes and probably holding back traffic. She gave a shrug, not really caring, and went to go look for a seat. At first Lynn thought she was the first one to arrive until she saw there was a boy sitting at the back of the room who looked like he literally just rolled out of bed. Then again, Lynn wasn't one to judge. She pretty much put on the first clean set of clothes she could find in the morning. Today that happened to be a dark purple tank top, baggy jeans, and black running sneakers. Her messy, long, dark brown hair was worn down with a plain black headband to keep the loose strands from her eyes. The girl also had a bronze Victorian style pocket watch that hung loosely on a thin dark chain around her neck. She wore it more for convenience than style since the clock inside was fully functional.

Lynn dropped her navy messenger bag by a seat near the back. She didn't bother taking out anything since she wasn't sure what was required for the class. Lynn was never a fan of class back at home and found sitting in back a good place to doodle or nap if she found the class boring. She wasn't sure if this class was going to be any different from the ones back at home. "Integration of Disciplines" sounded like a vague title to her. Oh well, she will find out what they will be learning soon enough. The meister sat back and let her mind wonder as she waited for class to start. Her thoughts were simple at the moment and were concentrated on what she was going to have for dinner tonight and wondering when was she going to find a weapon partner. The girl flipped open her pocket watch pendant and stared at the hands with dull anticipation for class to start.

[claymore]

Clay let out a yawn while walking the empty corridors of shibusen, having an big gap in his lessons and no missions since he had no partner yet. He had spent most of his time sleeping on random objects and eating snacks but had somehow not lost time of the sun's movement to find out when to go to class instead of using a regular clock like everyone else since he found them to be an vile creation demanding to steal your time. Arriving to the door walking slowly, relaxed and lazily with his back crocked and his hands like shovels while dragging his feet inside to the classroom.

The lesson didn't seem to have started since the teacher didn't make much sound of himself yet, typical of a teacher to have coffee on the desk to look impressive and successful but Clay found that behavior a proof of wanting to be bigger than a teacher on a messed up school with brats up his nose. Perhaps it was the heat who drove Clay to complain about the most simple things? he wasn't used to this kind of climate and it had annoyed him greatly to adapt to it.

Standing by the door opening, he looked for free seats around the classroom and ended up at one of the front seats due his laziness to go any further. Feeling that the lesson was probably just going to be another boring part of school he rested his head on the bench in front of him waiting for something of interest to happend, or at least something to keep him awake so he wouldn't look to bad.

[niels]

Outfit: No.1

To Niels, todays was glorious, marvellous, wondrous and everything in between. The sun was shining and the day was all kinds of grand! And Niels still had a lesson to go to, that meant the day could only get better still. Not to mention it was a new class, with a new teacher!. Who was apparently a past student at Shibusen. But it wasn’t that that had made Niels excited. It was the fact that all morning, break and lunch, multiple groups of the lady type had been bickering about him, or rather, swooning. That alone had Niels grinning like an idiot and skipping down the hallway, more than eager to get to class. The tails of his sleeves and coat danced behind the rather lanky teenage Autonomous, a brown shoulder bag slung over his shoulder. Even though he’d been at this school a couple of months now, he still was shot the odd glance by the people he passed. Not that it bothered him at all; he’d wave back and smile, saying a speedy hello as he went. Just another normal Shibusen Student, for sure.

Even when Niels got to the door, he just stood there for a while, the other students passing back and forth down the corridor as he stood and grinned at the door. He was fiddling with the strap of the bag, almost nervous as well as strangely excited. Strange for everyone else, not for him. How much Niels wanted to make a good first impression but he didn’t know how. He suddenly felt like a teenage girl going on her first date with the guy she adored. Niels didn’t even know the teacher for a start. Nor was he a girl. And there was a (unknown) age gap of above 20 years. Besides, having a crush on your teacher was a bit strange to start with. But Niels didn’t know any better. He thought for a minute, standing there, almost as tall as the door itself.

“…I wonder if he’d want a cookie…” He said to himself, pulling a convenient cookie in a wrapper from his bag. He starred a while longer before he decided to go into the class room. ’Just act calm and cool, and you’ll be fine’ he told himself as he opened the door slowly, acting cool, calm, well mannered…

“WWWWHHYYY HELLO SIR!!”

…And totally not forward at all. He zipped over to the, rather good looking, new teacher, a smile on his face paired with a slow blush. Whether it was from his Furnace Weapon effects or genuine flustering was not all that certain. “Have a cookie, darling.” The Weapon put the cookie down on the desk almost lovingly , before he went to sit down at his desk, looking over his shoulder every now and then to look back at his new Professor. He took a place at the front of the class, next to fellow student Clay, though unaware. For a short while just seemed to stare at the teacher, a dreamy look in his eyes, probably creepy as shit to anyone else, but Niels didn’t seem to care. Before he came around long enough to grab a plain note book from his bag and a black pen, writing his name, the subject and ‘Professor Dreamy’ On the three lines on the cover. Before he lent his head on his hand, and started to chew on the end of his pen. Niels was going to attend to these lessons vvveeerryyy often.

[davian]

“WWWWHHYYY HELLO SIR!!”

The unexpectedly loud greeting startled Davian, but not so much that he did a spit-take while drinking his coffee. If he'd heard it at full volume -- blessed headphones he'd crafted -- his surprise would have been such that he'd probably have fallen over while spitting mocha java with cream. And that would have been a simply unforgivable lack of composure in front of his class.

"Uh... hello?"

“Have a cookie, darling.”

Davian blinked in confusion, watching as the cookie -- fresh from the school cafeteria, most likely -- was placed tenderly on his desk. He'd always liked those cookies, but... glancing over at the somewhat ornately dressed young man who'd offered it to him... those chocolate chip cookies suddenly seemed... awkward. He tried to turn what had just transpired over in his head before finally settling on the conclusion that he needed more data.

Coffee mug resting on the desk, Davian took a deep breath and prepared (once again) to start class.

"Welcome, all, to Integration of Disciplines, or 'IoD', if you like. I am Prof. Davian Boyle, and this will be my first time teaching solo at Shibusen."

"This class is all about one thing: learning to use what you know and what you are being taught in your other classes. As such, the content may seem somewhat random and --" Here he emphasized with finger-quotes. "Out there at times... but, rest assured, it's all connected."

"In fact, it's no stretch that the goal of this class is nothing shy of revealing to you how everything is connected, as well as how to use those connections."

"Now to get us started off..." Here he strode towards the center of the room, pulling out the tablet as he did so. "I have a little exercise for you. On a clean sheet of paper write out your four strongest and four weakest areas. These can be classes, in combat, aspects of your personality, talents, hobbies, anything. And don't think on it too much; just write whatever naturally pops into your mind."

Giving the students a few minutes to work on that, Davian then tapped in a few quick commands and the screen changed. "Now, don't feel you have to show these to anyone; just so you know I won't ask anything of you that I wouldn't subject myself to, here's my list:"

[/u][/b]
Machinery
Science
Marksmanship
Zen gardening

WEAKEST
Melee combat
Art
Socializing
Cooking[/ul][/color]

"When you've finished your list, put it aside. We're going to have a quick class discussion."

"And the topic... is Shibusen's guiding principle -- the one thing I'm sure you've all heard so often you could recite it in your sleep. 'A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body'."

"The question -- and, mind you, there are no wrong answers per say -- is this: in what way, or ways, do the mind and body influence the soul? How do they interact, and why do they depend on each other so much?"

[lynn]

Lynn almost fell out of her seat, startled, when that blond boy, at least she thought he was a guy, gave that awkwardly loud greeting to the professor that resonated through out the amphitheater styled classroom. Her ears then perked when she heard the word cookie and her mind went back to food. Sadly for her there was not much anticipation for dinner since all she had was instant ramen at the moment at home. It was not that she minded ramen, but this would be her third day in a row eating that stuff. The meister then snapped out her daydreaming of food when she noticed class had started.

Lynn sat there trying her hardest to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. She was a bit confused on how everything could be connected. Sure, somethings could be connected to each other, but she had her doubts on everything. The girl then realized that they in fact were given an assignment to do. She lifted up her messenger bag on her lap and searched for a notebook and writing utensil. After a few minutes of digging through the unorganized mess she calls her bag, Lynn had taken out a simple red notebook and a pen. She gave a few minutes of thought of what to write and then just decided to put down the first things that came to mind.

STRENGTHS

• Eating
  
• Fighting/Close combat
  
• Speed (As in running, not the drug)
  
• Improvising
  

WEAKNESSES

• Aiming
  
• Swimming
  
• Short attention span
  
• My handwriting
  

Lynn finished and put her pen down. The young meister's penmanship was extremely poor and her list looked more like a collection of scribbles than actual words. One could just make out what she had written if they tilted their head and squinted their eyes. On the bright side, if the professor mastered reading her handwriting he'll probably be able to read almost anyone's handwriting.

"The question -- and, mind you, there are no wrong answers per say -- is this: in what way, or ways, do the mind and body influence the soul? How do they interact, and why do they depend on each other so much?"

Lynn just sat there confused at her seat. She was terrible at hiding or masking her emotions so it was clear on the girl's face that she had no idea how to answer that question. Of course she has heard of the whole soul, body, and mind saying before. Her father used to tell her about it when she was young. Her mother probably did too before she became one of those psycho over-protective helicopter parents. For now she planned to just hear what the other students say and create some kind of answer out of that. If the teacher decided to call on victims rather than volunteers, the meister was ready to make up some sort of answer on the spot.

[song]

Ein was startled awake (since he fell asleep again) due to the sound of a very flamboyant and annoying male voice causing him to lurch up eyes narrowing on the effeminate male. This was one male- Ein concluded. That he would stay away from...

"Welcome, all, to Integration of Disciplines, or 'IoD', if you like. I am Prof. Davian Boyle, and this will be my first time teaching solo at Shibusen."

Oh joy... he thought sarcastically. A lesson. Why couldn't they- I dunno just talk a bit or whatever so Ein could sleep? Feh figures this would happen. Just his terrible luck.

"This class is all about one thing: learning to use what you know and what you are being taught in your other classes. As such, the content may seem somewhat random and --" Here he emphasized with finger-quotes. "Out there at times... but, rest assured, it's all connected."

Connected? What was this fruit talking about? Seriously? Oh well, whatever as long as he got whatever this lesson was about over with soon....

"I have a little exercise for you. On a clean sheet of paper write out your four strongest and four weakest areas. These can be classes, in combat, aspects of your personality, talents, hobbies, anything. And don't think on it too much; just write whatever naturally pops into your mind."

Ugh... Great... Pulling out his notebook and a mechanical pencil he began scribbling down whatever came to mind in a messy font.

Strengths:

Strong
Quick
Agile
Intelligent

Weaknesses:
Aggressive
Ill-tempered
Uncooperative
Mornings


Well- there he had it. Not something he wanted to think about but hey.It was done at least. Putting his pencil down he sighed now a bit more awake he glanced around the class before settling his eyes on the teacher. Alright what next?

[claymore]

((sorry for being gone without telling and this crappy post being crappy but im suffering lack of sleep and imagenation right now.))

The attempt Clay performed not to laught at the blonde boy and his strange behavior seemed to be an success when he hid it behind his arms and stopping all breathing for 10 seconds. Only seconds later he raised his head again to find the crazy student next to him ''aahu'' that weird sound came from his lips in total confusion of why would anyone sit close to him, that just isnt normal. Turning back to the teacher since he had no way to respond to this kind of... stuff. The teachers talk about all things being connected made Clay wonder when his brain became disconnected during the talking and only responding to the strongest and weakest part. Looking for a short moment on the blone boy's paper, professor dreamy? finding the blone boy a bit weird he returned to his own work stareing on the blank piece of paper he started thinking and later tried to write as good as possible... well, acceptable anyways.


STRENGHT

STRONG- he wrote it with overflowing confidence that he was the strongest in the room even if he was younger than the others.

PARTIAL TRANSFORMATION- due to have being trained even before he came to Shibusen and having great talent at it he wrote it down while sure no one else had written that.

MELEE COMBAT- was written with extra nicely made letters since he was proud of his abilitiy to make his opponents fly away and break down on the wall

MUSIC- he proudly wrote thinking about his violin and the wonderfull sounds it made in his hands.

WEAKNESS

ATTITUDE- since he didnt make much friends his way, there had to be something wrong with his attitude ofcourse which he wrote slowly while being reminded he better change that.

NOT FAST- maybe he didnt describe it right but he wasnt quick on his feet neither quick to react or anything between.

NEGATIVE- he was sure of this since his mind had already found 5 solutions to complain about this little test but chose to keep silent about it for the better.

SOCIALIZING- as true as it was a fact that he hates, among many other things that he hates.

Finally finished with the paper he pushed it forward and leaned down on his bench, but he didnt get much rest untill the teacher had another task for them. More of the impossible to make sence of left the teachers mouth only to put Clay in more confusion. He had no answer for that one and would just look silly trying to figure it out so he decided to pass the bucket to someone else.

[break]

GAH!

He was late!

How could he be late? Frustration was etched on his pale face. He sprinted around the numerous corridors of Shibusen, alone. Everyone else had gone to class. How could he be so tardy? The sound of his footsteps bounced off of the walls, giving off a clunky impression. That alone was testament to how rushed he was; the pale blue-haired meister normally moved with grace and elegance. In his hands was a notepad and pen, both embellished with teapot designs. Those that knew him would be able to tell from those alone who the tardy student was.

His cravat bounded with abandon as he ran, becoming a general nuisance to him as he neared the door to the classroom. His face fell once he caught sight of it; it was closed. Class was probably well underway! Increasing his speed, the meister burst through the wall; presumably as someone was talking. He gave the teacher -- Professor Boyle -- an apologetic look before racing up the steps to a seat. He found himself sitting behind a boy with blonde hair, and adjacent to a guy who seemed to be stifling a laugh. From his vantage point he could see the notebook of the boy infront: written on it was "Professor Dreamy". Max smiled. Someone seemed happy to be here, unlike the message the scowl of a thousand storms was radiating.

Everyone was writing strengths and weaknesses, and so Max followed suit. It wasn't too difficult to come up with things to write down, and Max was idle for a while; others were still writing. There was no internal debate about how to define himself; the meister knew who he was, and was proud of it. He put:

Strengths

O Agile
O Smart
O Tea parties

Weaknesses

O Pain
O Heavy lifting
O Dirt

"So...uhm, what do we do now, Professor?"

[niels]

Niels’ vivacious personality seemed to deem as the lecture of this good-looking professor was being stored in the young weapons brain, every detail and every word cherished by the noble in blue, as he began to take neat, well laid out notes on the first page of his text book. He didn’t even hear the chuckles of laughter projected towards him when a new student came and sat behind him, Niels’ obsessive personality was removing everyone from his reality but the new Professor. Creepy? Yes, without question, but to him? It was perfectly normal. In his head he was subconsciously thinking up over 101 different ways to get on said professors ‘good side’. His face was still a bright red, and would probably stay that way until the day ended, or he found someone new to stalk and get flustered over. Still, while Niels had his eyes on the new professor, there wasn’t much anyone could do without ending up injured. Or dead, maybe?

When ‘Professor Dreamy’ asked each if the students to write down both their strengths and their weaknesses, Niels was the first to pen his pen to paper, with no avail. Niels was almost self-conscious about his flaws and didn’t know whether he should write down his real flaws as to be a good little student, or to make them up in order to be seen less weak by his new favourite teacher. He sat a stared at his blank piece of paper for a good long while, thinking about what he could write and what he couldn’t. Still, these lessons would prove to become more and more difficult if he made them up and no doubt Professor Boyle would hate him all the more. Or ‘dislike’, hate is such a strong word. So against Niels’ ‘better’ judgement, he decided for the long term, writing down his strengths and weaknesses with something close to reluctance.

[/b][/u]
[li] Physical Strength
[/li][li] Intelligent
[/li][li] Quick and Agile
[/li][li] Cunning
[/li][/ul]
His Strengths were listed with as many as he could think of in order to make himself seem a little more impressive then he might have been, though all of them true. Niels, for the most part, was incredibly social, but you didn’t want to get on the wrong end of him, either.

[/b][/u]
[li] Prone to overheat, in combat or not
[/li][li] Bad Endurance
[/li][li] Spontaneous and somewhat reckless
[/li][li] Easily distracted
[/li][/ul]

Niels took a long glance at what he’d written, to make sure it was neat, well laid out and correct. A couple of times he went back to make an E look prettier or something like that, before he tentatively put the pen down, still worrying about what he’d written. Sure as hell no one else cared as much about how it look or at all, Niels was verging on paranoia, and most of the time hid it well, but every now and then it would show on his face on in the way he shuffled uncomfortably in his chair that something was wrong, but still, it was unlikely of anyone to ask. And it was unlikely that he would respond to anyone but the Professor himself, who, in his vision, was surrounded by bright red roses in all his steampunk glory. Niels simply smiled to himself, not realising it at all, waiting for his lesson to continue.
[/blockquote]

[davian]

Davian looked up as a student in surprisingly formal attire -- was that a cravat? Truly? He'd assumed kids these days didn't even know what those were! -- came rushing into the classroom, clearly tardy. He considered giving a reprimand for a few moments, then just shrugged it off; this was the teacher's first day in his new role, so he could afford to be a bit lax. No sense creating bad blood with the students, after all.

"So...uhm, what do we do now, Professor"

Ah, that musical word... at once, all was forgiven and Davian considered the student to be back in his good graces. The professor cleared his throat and, noticing that everyone was either finished or seemed almost done with their lists, addressed the question.

"Well, once you've finished your list, we'll be discussing the relationship of the soul to the mind and body. Any answer is acceptable -- this is just a casual discussion, nothing you'll be graded on. Now then..." He glanced around the room. "Who'd like to begin?"

[lei]

It was her first day as a Shibusen student (she hadn’t even met her weapon partner!) yet she was already late for her afternoon lesson, after having missed the morning slot!

Everything was perfect; arriving at the girls’ dorm the night before, making sure she had everything, setting her alarm for 3 hours before the lesson. Everything was absolutely perfect...Until she got stuck in her own toilet for 6 hours straight.

Having been freed by the cleaning maid she was now bounding at full speed around the halls of Shibusen, juggling a map in one hand and bag in the other; she hunted for the classroom while trying her best to avoid killing unexpecting students in the corridor.
There it was! The classroom of Professor Davian...Boyle? Was it? Lei frowned and quickly glanced down to check after having frozen on the spot. Yes, Davian Boyle. The door of the classroom seemed like a brown wooden monster from where Lei stood.

She took her first wobbly step towards the door, ‘O Fortuna’ beginning to play in her head and the pangs of nausea starting to overwhelm. Staring at her shoes the entire time it wasn’t until she bobbed her head on the door that she jumped up in surprise....The monster staring her down.

Her mouth began to tremble, her legs turning to jelly, the chorus of O fortuna only around 10 seconds away and she was fighting tears, when she was so close.
She made a decision, to close her eyes and jump through the door at full speed so it wouldn’t be as scary.....3.2.1 JUMP!
She took a powerful stride with all of her available strength, she was invincible! Nothing could stop her! Except the plastic threshold plate below the door...

By the time she realised what had happened, she halfway across the room, face down on the floor with her pink flowery knickers flashing the entire class. She lay frozen, as someone said:

"Who'd like to begin?"