Swimming in December! It was a thing! At least your teachers had overruled McGarrett's instinct to break out the wetsuits had chosen sanity, and you were meeting in the indoor pool still.

"Welcome, everyone. I'm glad you could tear yourselves away from Yule Log television," Anakin said, "and we're very grateful today isn't polar bear related because we would've just let them have the pool."

Steve look less convinced about that. "We could've shared."

"We are not sharing with polar bears."

"They give people soda, I don't think they eat us," Steve countered.

"We cannot afford another hike in the insurance premium!"

"That is the oldest thing I've ever heard you say."

Having left Anakin speechless, Steve continued alone. "Today we'll work on our endurance. Pick the stroke you feel strongest in and see how many laps down and back you can get. If you start feeling tired, tread water, regain your strength, and go again."

Ugh, 2026.

Do YOU Need This Form?

• If your character is a current teacher and would like to continue teaching, or a current townie who'd like to start or return to teaching, you DO need this form. Just scroll on down and fill it out below.
  
• If your character is an alum/expat who would be returning to the island to teach, first YAY, and second, you DO need this form. Please drop us an e-mail at fandomhighadmins@iambicnut.com to let us know you plan to bring the character back, then mosey back here to fill out the class proposal below!
  
• If your character was dropped from the game, and you'd like to bring them back as a teacher, also YAY, but you'll need to do that by submitting a character application as described here and including your class plans in that. So congratulations, you DON'T need this form!
  
• If you are a current teacher wanting to move to townie status, just drop us an e-mail to say so; you also DON'T need this form. If your teacher is running away for good, tell us over here in the dropped character post.

What's Needed for a Class?

• The ability to come up with 17 weeks worth of classes (16 + 1 exam)
  
• The ability to post each class by noon Pacific or 3pm Eastern the day it's scheduled (you can also post the night before).
  
• The ability to interact with your students (slow play is fine, you don't need to be around all the time).

( CLICK ME )


Your adult character's form will need to be in these comments by Monday, December 8th for great scheduling justice! The class ideas are screened for the fun of the surprise.

A very, very small problem being married to Tony Stark was trying to come up with gifts for the holidays that weren't 1) something he'd already bought for himself 2) something he couldn't make for himself and make better and 3) an island.

Steve tried to go with experiences rather than things, and wandering Chelsea Market, already done up in festive lights, and poking around at the various stands while wearing the patented "don't notice me" superhero costume of ballcaps and hoodies was, in Steve's opinion at least, a swell way to start the season.

He smiled at Tony as they went past the Imports from Marrakesh booth. "We don't have to go to Morocco now," he teased.

Rey was back in town after spending the holiday in Connecticut. It'd been a great time. She felt included, she'd met great people, there was so, so much pie. (So much.)

She was also kind of glad to be back at work where she could decompress for a bit. There had been a lot of talking, and as someone who'd spent that much of her life alone and left parties early, the quiet was kind of nice. She'd still welcome anyone who came in, though. Just don't bring a crowd.


[Open!]

Gregorith's sense of time had gotten a little out of wack by his estimation since coming here. And it wasn't the concept of the work week, or even set months that was irking him this morning, it was the deadline regarding holiday shopping.

His circle people had expanded recently with the addition of Lily and Sharkie, and now had increased again with Steven, and maybe Jon. And when you lived in a place outside of time, that gave you plenty of time to figure out, and acquire gifts for people.

His habit had been to make or commission something, as they also lived in a place where it was so easy to get things you wanted for yourself.

All of this was to say that Gregorith was a bit distractinated at work today, poring over lists of gift ideas and stressing if he had enough time to finish any crafty things.

But the museum was open.

Yes, it is somehow almost December already. Here's your advent events for the first week of the month! (Pretend I wrote that more elegantly.)

Monday, December 1st: The island starts us off gentle - every screen now plays the Yule Log.
Tuesday, December 2nd: The audiovisual terror continues - anything with a speaker or less-digital sound-making abilities now plays Carol of the Bells. Exclusively.
Wednesday, December 3rd: Across the island, floors - flat surfaces big enough to host one, really - randomly turn into ice rinks. Not all of them, but many.
Thursday, December 4th: Christmas lights come to life! Yes, little snakes of multicolored lights will be crawling all over the island.
Friday, December 5th: It's your old friends, the tiny white horses, wandering across rooftops and sticking their heads into chimneys and maybe, occasionally, being tempted down by a nice carrot.
Saturday, December 6th: It rains marzipan fruit everywhere. Om nom.
Sunday, December 7th: The Coca Cola bears show up with free Coke, in case you need to wash away all that marzipan.

It's Small Business Saturday! I must get out there and--oh, very well, but this had better not take long!

...it is not going to take long.

Good morning, everyone. I am here to report the news the squirrels bothered with from the town yesterday, as the school was out of session and they apparently didn't bother with the dormitory again--not that I'm complaining!

Detective Watts found a turkey in a cell at the Trooper Station, and was joined by Mr. Grant for luncheon. At the bakery, Mr. James Stark sampled the pies on offer.

Those are all the notes the squirrels have seen fit to give me, so if you will excuse me, I must get back to the sales!

Stark had, unsurprisingly, done nothing for the holiday yesterday. Today he'd gone out in search of pie. Which meant, naturally, that he'd found himself at Jeff, God of Biscuits looking at a case of pie trying to choose one.

He couldn't choose one. He ended up with small slices of pumpkin, chocolate pecan, and cranberry pie laid out in front of him on a table by the window. It was a reasonable compromise from wanting 3 entire pies that he likely wouldn't be able to finish on his own before they started to taste less delicious.



[open, obvs, for your baked good and/or alien needs]

Weeks, no, months of anxiety, tension, terror (of being seen, of not being seen) had rolled over Jack like waves. They'd left him restless, sometimes prickly, often sleepless. And yet, this week, after everything-- a sense of quiet had settled on him.

Like he was a real Jedi Master now, or something.

He hadn't expected it to last all the way to gig night. And yet, even staring at the name of his own band (much, much smaller, underneath the much, much bigger name) on the facade when they'd entered early that day-- it'd done nothing. He was cool. Collected. By the time they were backstage, with fifteen minutes to go until stage time, the rest of the band was giving him weird looks. Like they'd expected him to be plastered against the roof again.

And then the lights dimmed. His stomach folded in on itself, collapsing into a limitless void-- He took a deep breath. It released.

Biggest show they'd ever played.

( And he felt fine. )

[[ open to anyone who has a reason to be here ]]

There was a turkey in the cells today. Why? Nobody was willing to admit, least of all the turkey. Watts was just going to assume there were shenanigans related to the fact that it had been American Thanksgiving yesterday.

Why am I here?

*nervous chittering*

You couldn't find anyone else?

*more chittering*

Right. Well, where are the notes?

*MORE nervous chittering*

You brought me here and forgot the notes?

*loooong silence, them slamming door*

That's right, he better run. This has been Captain Flint with an absolute waste of your time.

*click*

*chittering*

No, I don't think that would be good in the gravy, or the stuffing...or any other dish, I'm a terrible cook and I even can see that.

Not a lot of notes, but that's to be expected this time of year. Let's see, up at the School, Space Pirates, Pirates in Space was cancelled so everyone could ponder their orbs, while Health Education was all about the value of flared bases, and in the Library Arden watched a terrible reddit mistake, which a words that made sense to the squirrels.

The Dorms were quiet, as was Town, with the only thing of note being Adrian on the phone at Pick Your Poison, to his mother and to Rey.

Adrian was on the phone as he entered the shop. "--I'm sorry, Mom, but Rey's spending the holiday with her own family. Yeah, Connecticut. I know that's not all that far away from the Blackwood, Mom, but I don't think her whole family wants to decamp to a forest for the holiday. No, I--"

While his mother chatted at him over the phone, a headline on the front page of a local newspaper caught his eye: Recycled Plastics Clothing Mogul Found Dead In His Office!

"Mom? Hang on a sec, I'll call you back."

He picked up the paper and read it, confirming that, yup! It was the same guy as the article he'd showed to Pam the other week.

...Surely that was unrelated though, right? A crazy, random coincidence?

Surely.

Hmm.

...He was going to stop trolling Pam with greenwashing articles though, just to be safe.

Arden had meant to be very productive and get everything tidied up and put away before leaving for California after her shift, but then she'd gotten distracted by some guy's weird bricks supposedly "inspired by the blockchain." Or rather, she'd gotten distracted by everyone in the comments covering their eyes and saying, "Oh no" to every new detail that came out about how this guy was building his house.

Did she know anything about engineering, or construction, or building history? Nope! But she was learning!

"Oh look! His Reddit post..."

Dr. Donald Blake had been having...a week. A week of doing difficult, important, lifesaving surgery? No. A week that had led to this class.

"Today we're gonna watch an educational film," Don told his students. "On...decorating. And the importance of a flared base. And then you can go. Happy Thanksgiving."

Good morning, it’s Wednesday again and I’m here again to tell you about yesterday while it’s today so someone else can tell you about today tomorrow.

At the school classes began with Ghanima taking the students in Reclaiming Your Childhood to the cafeteria to bake cookies. Then Anakin and Ahsoka forced Diplomacy students to work a customer service desk and…I think one of the squirrels may have just fainted? Oh, he’s faking. That was very convincing. Well done. And then in Dealing With Other People’s Trauma we discussed how holidays and families could be difficult.

Nothing from the dorms but that’s no surprise. And in the town Kitty crushed Tino’s dreams at Caritas. Doesn’t that happen often? And Lucifer was making purple drinks at The Devil’s Nest including one fancy floral one for Octavia.

That’s all from yesterday.

There was a sign on the door of the Danger Shop today.

Class cancelled due to upcoming holiday.

HAPPY LIFE DAY! ENJOY YOUR ORBS!

What? What other holiday was Aphra going to celebrating this time of year?

Tomorrow was the Americans' Thanksgiving, which meant that Blathers had very kindly offered Steven the day off. Which he normally might not have bothered with, but Watts had pointed out it gave them an opportunity to extend their date night with an overnight stay.

More importantly, as autumn marched closer to winter, the outdoor skating rinks were starting to pop up around the city, including one that could be paired with a dining experience that was totally open now and not in a week and a half because it's pretend and we say so.

So after they were checked in to their room, Watts and Steven headed up for dinner.

"Isn't this charming?" Watts said, as he opened the door into their private 'cabin'.

Today, students had been handwavily summoned to the kitchen area of the cafeteria, where they would find both Ghanima and Trebor waiting for them, and supply stations set-up in the space.

Trebor, for his part, seemed very happy to be back with his mother.

"Holidays often involve baking," Ghanima began cheerfully, Trebor perched on her hip as she held him in one place with one arm. "Many people have fond memories of baking with family when they are young... or the movies have lied to me again."

"Today, we have two baking options: Peanut Butter Blossoms, which I have been informed are fairly easy to make, and a slightly more complex option, the Linzer cookies."

"Even -- especially -- if you do not celebrate any of the upcoming holidays, everyone deserves something sweet."

She gestured with her free hand to the pile of aprons laying on one table, grinning. "Chefs, grab your armor! I have been assured that the cafeteria has faced far more fearsome foes than us, so let's get cooking."

What up, Fandom? It's me, ya girl Arden Finch, here with the all the best gossip from yesterday, delivered straight to your listening ears. I gotta run from here and continue my packing before I head out for the holidays, so let's get this going!

School! We had it! Cryptozoology talked about a spectral cat from the English moors! How To Not Drown once again used 'tactical floating noodles'! That's never a sentence that will be normal to say!

No Dorms! But Town! And I'm actually pretty tired of exclaiming everything. Huh, that took energy, who knew? Anyway, at Pick Your Poison, Dr. Isley was checking out the stock of shampoos, and at Infinite Consortium, Professor Vess was making plans for later that evening. Raiden was having stressful phone calls about the holiday at Pizza Planet - of course I'm coming home for the holidays, Ray! - and Professor James Stark was just having a stressful day at the Clinic because of random screams coming from the back room? That's horrifying, no thank you. And later, Professor Vess's plans came to fruition at the park, where a group of people settled in to watch the Miss Universe pageant. Or just the National Costume portion? Of course Mr. Scientia was there and they made a bet and discussed stakes, and Lydia was also there looking fabulous in a new cape. Oooh, can't wait to see it, Lydia! Billie didn't know what was happening, but was happy to get into the spirit of things. Mr. Argentum showed up with Little Miss, who was very excited about sparkles. Dr. Lecter showed up with homemade popcorn, and Professor Sims showed up with a belated birthday present. Dr. Isley explained fossil fuels to Professor Vess. Mr. Gregorith, Luma, and Eleanor rounded out the watch party. Sounds like fun!

And that's it for my notes, so this is ya girl, Arden Finch, signing off for the holidays. Have a great rest of your week, Fandom, and enjoy Nikki Vianna's Mambo. Bye!

“There's a holiday coming up this week,” Stark said. “On Thursday. One that is often spent with families. Some of us don't have families. Others might have difficult families. Others may have trauma about holidays or families or both. So this time of year when there are so many celebrations where people focus on families can be very hard.”

“I made cranberry cupcakes,” he added. “If anyone would like one. Or more than one. That's fine.”

“So, sometimes the holidays are hard because you have no family. Nowhere to go. Maybe you used to have somewhere or used to have family and don't any longer. Or maybe…maybe you were able to be with someone else's family before but that's not possible at this time. Maybe you just can't go home right now. Or ever, maybe. There are many reasons for all of those things.”

“So…are any of you celebrating? I'm not, this year, as far as I know. It's not my holiday but I do enjoy the food. But then none of the holidays here are really mine at all, really. Which can be hard. But I borrow some of them.”

Stark paused then, looking at the cupcakes contemplatively for a long moment.

“It you know someone who has trouble with holidays, are there ways to help, do you think? Invite them to share yours if you celebrate? Do something unrelated together? Simply express that you know things are hard? Try to help them some other way? Take them away somewhere? And what if they have trouble with family? Do you…share your family?”

Stark wasn't sure what the right answer was for him, even, but it could make for a good discussion. Maybe.

"This holiday is about being thankful. At least in part. Maybe one of the best ways to help someone would be simply letting them know you're thankful they are in your life?"

"It is the most wonderful time of year," Anakin intoned, poking at a Santa hat with barely concealed disdain. "The time when people go shopping and lose their entire kriffing minds."

"A time when the idea of saving a few credits overrides not only good sense, but any consideration they possess for others. Especially others they view as lesser." For example, people working in service roles.

"So you will be working the customer service desk," Anakin said. "Where you will not murder anyone, Flint."

"While staying within the uniform policy." Ahsoka had not picked the uniform.

"It will be fun." Mostly for the teachers.

"I realize this is a bit you're doing," Lucifer informed Tiny, "But I refuse to entertain it."

Tiny crossed his arms and remained standing in front of his Christmas tree.

"Well, don't come crying to me if Eric eats you," Lucifer sighed, and went back behind the bar to pick-- hm. How about a purple cocktail night? Yes.

Anyone entering the bar would find all purple bottles sitting on the bar. And some police tape around the tree.

[[ open ]]

Tino seemed pumped for Wednesday, the day that everyone would pile into the bar for the night before Thanksgiving, to escape the family they were visiting.

"That doesn't happen here," Kitty said. "That's never happened the entire time I've worked here, at least not for that purpose."

Great. Now she'd crushed his dreams.


[Open!]

Liliana was going to send her steward to collect the remaining beanbags, braziers, blankets, and board and beverages, but as she and Ignis entered the mansion, she had a far more important duty to attend to first. "Get rid of this," she ordered, thrusting the lavender popcorn that Hannibal had made into his hands.

Her steward bowed, taking the popcorn tin. "Yes, Mistress."

"I don't wish to smell even the slightest trace of lavender, here or anywhere on the grounds," she continued, breezing past him and into the house proper.

"Of course not, Mistress."

"Very good," she said, and staunchly refused to think about it again.

[Mostly establishy and NFB (I tell myself, lol)]