text; un: silverrose

[fionnuisce]

Since I'm clearly going to be stuck here for a while, I'll be teaching university-level chemistry for a while. I think I can handle the subject itself, or rather that's the least of my concerns about the position.

The thing is, I've never taught ordinary students that haven't had wildly abnormal lives by virtue of being mages. And I've definitely never set foot in a university that isn't a massive web of political struggles and assassination attempts.

Don't suppose anyone has advice on how to approach or handle any of this?

Comments

un: trienemybest; text

[droptheious]

I mean honestly, I'm still getting used to high school, I'd love to try university-level chemistry. There's only so much I can play with litmus paper before I lose my mind.

[Varian that wasn't an offer.]

Anyway, I'm not so sure on the teaching side of things. Maybe play it by ear? They could still be a web of assassination attempts!

[fionnuisce]

Give me a call sometime and we'll see if I can't arrange something extracurricular.

[it is now.]

You're probably right. maybe I'm overthinking it; even if I wasn't, anything could happen around here.

Text; un: Koromaru

[whatsamada]

Teach as normally as you can? Although, I doubt anyone would mind given how they ignore a lot of the supernatural things going on.

[fionnuisce]

I can do normal, probably. I think.

It's just adjusting to 'normal' that seems strange, ironically enough.

Text; un: Opera_Ghost

[not_a_possum]

Well, I've been a teacher for years so I could probably give you advice. It's pretty easy, really. Just treat it like a normal job. You go in, teach your subject, grade some papers, then go home. No political struggles or assassination attempts, you just have to focus on teaching the class.

[fionnuisce]

What, that's really just it?

That sounds too easy.

[droptheious]

OH MY GOSH, REALLY? Thank you! That would be amazing!!!

[Waver is going to deeply regret this life choice.]

Exactly! There are lots of us from different worlds, or you have people who were born in this world who have memories of other lives from other worlds. Honestly, you'll probably be okay however you play it.

[fionnuisce]

Ill-advised or not, setting off something like that whole mess would have taken work and talent. I think you could be better served putting that skill to a little more carefully applied uses, and that's my exact specialty.

[no one in the multiverse will ever test his patience like flat escardos]

[he has been forged in the fire of annoying and mildly hazardous students]

If all else fails, I can probably just cover any mistakes or unwarranted paranoia with 'sorry, I'm British.' People would probably buy that.

[droptheious]

Thank you. That was definitely a case of not doing the right research. The one back home didn't go that badly. Well, except for the sabotage.

Anyway! Yes, I'd be happy to learn more.

[Just gonna breeze past the sabotage.]

You know, that's worth a shot. It might actually work, they might think it's quirky or...something.

un: ecraig | text

[fiddlestick]

[UHHHHH]

To be clear, you weren't one of the ones involved in the assassination attempts right?

Because that's. Definitely illegal here.

[fionnuisce]

'Involved' can mean a lot of things.

If you're asking if I'm an assassin, mercenary, or anything in that area: No.

[fionnuisce]

Then sure, I think we can arrange something.

[hey, it happens.]

Either way, passing one form of culture shock off as another is just stupid enough to work.

[fiddlestick]

Eheh, sorry. I just thought I'd check...

[Because YIKES]

Anyway, I'm a high school music teacher. And I can say that while a lot of your work won't fall into the abnormal category, you'll probably still get your fair share of weird to deal with as a teacher. I mean I have a lot of students from other worlds, and some of them aren't even human. So...expect a lot of that!

So much, actually. [He's so tired]

[fionnuisce]

Oh, it's a fair question. Two of my closest friends are mercenaries, and it's common enough for infighting to spring up among mages in more than the merely political sense.

[as you do.]

You raise a good point. I didn't entirely consider how the scale of normal-to-weird could fluctuate.

[fiddlestick]

Wow, really? Well I guess that's one way to make a living... but if everyone's mages, why didn't they shoot their own fireballs?

[If you're gonna kill someone do it yourself!!!! ]

Mm, it certainly does. And for a lot of these kids, us teachers are their only adult figure around. For instance, the kids who made that portal are some of my students, so I've been sorting whole thing out.

[fionnuisce]

A lot of reasons, usually. The type of mages who hire mercenaries are either too arrogant to bother with taking out what they see as the trash, or just too cowardly to take the risk themselves. Sometimes even both at once.

[you know, aristocracy.]

Right, I'm still sort of catching up--I showed up with all that, but it sounds like a bunch of kids with more talent than common sense made one hell of a mistake.

Hard for me to entirely fault something like that, I know extremely clever teenagers can have way more mistakes than successes.

[fiddlestick]

[Reading that...it sounds all too familiar. Elliot can't help but get the vague sense that's something he's dealt with...over, and over and over again, in that previous life. So much so that he can precisely pinpoint what kind of folks he's talking about]

Ah. So in other words, they're terrible rich people. Got it.

[Screw rich people]

Mm, you're not wrong. Hunter and Varian are some of my best and brightest students. And they really meant well, I think they just got a bit ahead of themselves.

But even if I don't fully fault them, there's still making sure they learn from this while also not getting crushed by their failure. You know how it is.

[fionnuisce]

Exactly. Than again, I'm unfortunately part of the aristocracy myself, but I like to think there's a handful of us with common sense.

I definitely know how that is. My whole class excels in getting ahead of themselves. It's mostly just a matter of encouraging the talent put into it while redirecting them to work towards something that doesn't break the universe or summon dinosaurs.

[whatsamada]

Take your time, I don't think anyone is going to criticize you for trying to be normal.

I think a good majority of us are trying to adjust being a "normal" citizen.

[fionnuisce]

It looks like all of us are some flavor of goddamn weird around here, so that makes sense enough to me.

[droptheious]

Aweosme! I look forward to it.

[LEARNING!! :D :D :D]

That's true. Really hope it works for you.

[fionnuisce]

I guess all I have left to worry about now is whether or not all of you drive me as crazy as the kids I already have. Surely not. Hopefully.

[droptheious]

I don't know. Do amazing science experiments and pushing the boundaries of chemical compound knowledge sound like something that would drive you crazy? Or do they sound like something AMAZING?

[fionnuisce]

You sound alarmingly like a student I've had for a while.

At least now I know it won't be boring.

[whatsamada]

[...Does he dare ask? A part of him knows he probably shouldn't but at the same time?]

Then what kind of flavor of weird are you?

[...He wants to.]