The warrant officer, watching Corwin with that cold expression that bears a remote redolence of disgust or contempt, and after Jackie runs down, repeats softly, "To get therough the course as quickly as possible." Raising her voice again, she continues. "Does anyone recall what, speaking as your instructor, I added to that assigned task?"
Jacq was looking at the others briefly, hesitating a few good heartbeats. After all, this wasn't 'ask Jackie' hour... did others have something they've gleaned out of this?
And the stony Corwin. She'd feel bad for him... but this was dangerous stuff. On many levels. She was trying to understand some of those levels herself...
So was Corwin sinking? And should she try and bail him out in all of this? No. She had to let him go up and down, for now. Anything she was going to do, she would do later.
Bill raises his hand.
"WO Foucaut, can we run the course again?"
"Does anyone recall what, speaking as your instructor, I added to that assigned task?"
Mei speaks up. "That we put forth maximum effort, sir!
Foucaut slashes Bill with a glance at his non sequitur, but Mei's answer, fast on his heels, allows her to continue. "That you put forth your maximum effort," she repeats, adding, "this time and every time. Cadet Younger," she says, looking over at the capitellum interruptus, "do you recall the two stated purposes behind these exercises?"
Bill flushed, realizing that he had allowed himself to become distracted by his thoughts. His cheeks still red, he responds:
"To improve our skill in movement using our different movement powers, and to..." he struggles for a moment "...learn which abilities are better to use in different contexts."
"The second part," replies Agrippina, considerably less coldly than she's been, "is part of the first. No, the second purpose is to record your movement methodology, your endurance, your focus, everything that goes into moving at your very best, so that we - and by 'we' is meant myself and the other Movement Training Instructors, not myself and you - can understand how to help you learn to move better.
"You," and here she turns her attention back to Corwin, "did not execute your task. You did not follow my instructions. You did not give us the information we need." She stands there for a long moment, then says, "Costas. Kreis. How many levers on today's course?"
Costas: "One hundred twenty-eight."
Kreis, simultaneous: "One hundred twenty-six."
Arlene looks at Yakoub, who shrugs and says, "The two in the Maze."
"Oh, right, inaccessible. One twenty-six, then, ma'am," agrees Costas.
"Very well," Warrant Officer Foucaut says, swiping the surface of the TriPIT to turn off the holo then picking it up and making a notation. She then puts it back down onto the picnic table in front of her, folds her hands, and regards Corwin with cool aplomb. "Cadet Private Junior-Grade Corwin Talmadge. I don't know what you were thinking - that you knew better than your instructors; that you wished to be able to plan ahead in the future even when you were informed that within the month this course's arrangement would be altered; that you have difficulty following orders; that you are trying to see how much you can get away with; that you already knew all you need to know about your abilities; that you are trying to show that you can think on your own; that you do not need further training, and are ready to take on the Thunder today; that you want to display how much of a military mindset you have.
"Cadet Talmadge, I do not care what you were thinking; I care that you did not succeed at your assigned task, openly disregarded my instructions, and by your deliberate actions refused to provide me with the information I require in order to do my job. You have in your squad someone who tried to pace herself, someone who used what many would consider a throwaway ability with great cleverness, someone who took risks in order to try to use his skills in a situation to which they were not suitable. You did none of these things. Instead, you stopped frequently to take rests, many of them unneeded; you did not use your abilities in several situations in which they would have been exceedingly appropriate; and you were passed, not only once as might be understandable - Chippie Kingsley passed up Chippie Price, but didn't get too far ahead of her - but by five individuals. Going by course total time, only if we had placed you first would someone have come in after you.
"Failure to execute task, blatant disregard of instructions, refusal to provide information. There are one hundred twenty-six levers in the course today; I am assigning you one black mark for each lever. One hundred twenty-six black marks. I expect that's a record - several, probably. You may, as any of you may, request a review of the allocation of black marks upon your record; I personally recommend against it, but it is your right as a cadet. You may step back."
Agrippina then climbs off the bench and, standing, glances at the face of her TriPIT before looking around at the squad. "Chippie Younger - very good. You asked about running the course again." She smiles slightly, a faint little crease of a curve. "Feeling rested? Up for it? Well, we have another hour, so by all means, let's get you back on the horse, see if you can put my brief advice into action before it's time for you to get out of those things and into your afternoon classes. Costas, please lead them to the start."
"Yes ma'am!! You heard the lady, chippies, let's go, let's go, let's go!!"
Bill sets down in a runner's stance at the starting line, and, upon receiving the signal, takes off at full flight speed town the first leg of the track. This time, knowing where the switches are, he has less trepidation about speeding past them. He flies over the climbing obstacles, through the jungle gym, and down the straightaways, flipping switches as he goes. He slows for sharper turns, careful to not skirt outside the course. He is slowed considerably by the water course, which precludes the use of his flight ability, but he emerges and speeds along the one kilometer run (beach sand swirling in his wake) to the tree climbing obstacles, floating from switch to switch.
He completes the course and decides to do something risky with his newfound ability. He extends his hands in front of him and flies directly at the Plug at combat speed, willing himself to tunnel through it on the move.
He really hopes this works...
... but unfortunately, it doesn't - or at least it doesn't in a way that Bill would prefer, i.e. one that doesn't knock him silly.
Bill is finding that his flight requires a peculiar sort of mindset - as if, somehow, he is persuading the molecules of the air around him to unify, to lift and move his body in a way it normally never would. The flashing glimpse he had of the Plug before was almost exactly the opposite - telling the tiny things that are together to be not-together any more.
So at almost 7m/s he smacks into a concrete panel. The heavy block doesn't move, but Bill's hard head (or, rather, head and fists) manage to create a moderately impressive impact-crack pattern a good foot and a half wide; the panel appears moderately disgruntled by the situation. Bill might be a little stunned at his failure to go through a concrete wall while flying head-first at speed, but at least nothing's broken.
Kreis, standing nearby, shakes his head in slow amazement. "You're not allowed to attack it, Younger!!"
Here's the roll to get your Tunnelling to work at the same time as your Flight:
Eventually you'll be able to do both at the same time, but it's considerably further down the road IC-time-wise.
Functionally, this means you perform a Move-Through on the panel (6 DEF, 5 Body). stun, 6 Body.
This goes against half the 6 DEF of the concrete panel, but as the panel has more than 2 Body, it'll only crack. Since it doesn't take knockback and didn't break, you take the same damage (17 STUN, 6 Body). Against your 8 PD (the doubling doesn't apply in this case), that means you take 9 STUN which, though it's more than a third of your STUN, isn't above your Con score, so you're not Stunned.
"Ugh... Ow..."
Bill rises unsteadily to his feet, places his hands upon the cracked plug, and tunnels through it to complete the course.
"Failure to execute task, blatant disregard of instructions, refusal to provide information. There are one hundred twenty-six levers in the course today; I am assigning you one black mark for each lever. One hundred twenty-six black marks. I expect that's a record - several, probably. You may, as any of you may, request a review of the allocation of black marks upon your record; I personally recommend against it, but it is your right as a cadet. You may step back."
Holy Sh!t!, Mei thought. How long is it going to take to work those off? Either way, he deserves them.
Mei eagerly joins Bill on another run through The Course. She focuses more on trying to hit her spots on her leaps now that she has a good measure of far she can jump. When she reaches The Pier she traverses it in the more traditional manner, as instructed. Other than that, she tries to go a little bit faster on the runs in between obstacles, pushing her stamina more than on the previous run.
OCV rolls for Leap targeting.
OCV 5 vs. DCV 3
Corwin steps back as directed until redirected to move with the others to the starting line.
Reviewing his notes until just after Mei starts on the Course, Corwin himself then follows, this time literally flying through the course as fast as possible.
'Holy damn!' She watches Corwin go... that must have been a... no, it didn't seem to have phased him? She should probably have a word... if it meant anything at all. But not here. That would have to be an 'in-group' conversation...
Which left her looking to Foucaut. A short, ballerina dancer? Jacq had so many questions, but instead she watched Bill's progress. Until he reaches the impact, at which point she winces. Ow. But he was still moving... "Bill?"
Her expression was a carefully balanced... no, she was just trying not to laugh. "Holy s$~!, you okay Younger?" She heads towards him, raising her eyebrows and looking his face over. Still trying not to laugh. Yeah, he looked okay. "Start with small steps, eh?"
Bill chuckles. "I think I need to practice tunneling a little more for next time." He cracks his knuckles and dabs at a trickle of blood creeping down his forehead, examining the blood on his glove quizzically.
"I really could have hurt myself there, couldn't I? Weird..."
((Oops, rescind my post a little. Jacq will take the run after Bill then! She'll comment on what happened once she catches up...))
Jacq had 'hoofed' it again... but to her, the only parts she had to get clever was that infernal climbing bit with the rebar. She was still finding ways to better slip through... at least her outfit didn't seem like it would catch much.
---
"Really, you really coulda. I mean, it'd have been a shame, but keep your noggin on your shoulders." She looks at him and then over at Corwin's run progress. "Generally, we are supposed to take the course on our own, aren't we?" Jackie glanced over at Foucaut.
Perhaps the taken notes assist Corwin; perhaps they don't. It's very tough to determine, considering he doesn't have a real baseline to compare it against. Nevertheless, he completes the course in the much faster time of 19:15.
Jackie, too, achieves some improvement; her previous time of 16:15 is improved when instead of swimming the Rafts, she runs the Race; she is much faster on her feet than in the water, bringing her in with a time of 15:18.
Mei's time, understandably, slows down because of the need to swim. Her clever clambering across the bottom of the pier and the fences made her faster, but the energy cost and need to still do SOME swimming and diving means her next time isn't too much slower. Unfortunately, she clearly needs practice hitting her target, slowing her down to 15:54.
Bill's, err ... impact ... with the Plug perhaps slows down how fast he could have been had he stopped and set himself, but hey - you gotta give him credit for trying, right? It still takes him a handful or two of seconds to find and trigger that mental 'switch'; unfortunately, perhaps, the sense of the concrete's makeup is far less this time than it was the first. However, flying the Walls and knowing that he can take the Plug apart has helped him cut his time down to 16:12.
The other students manage minor improvements - ten, fifteen, thirty seconds at most, because having gotten a feel for what's in store definitely helps when it comes to being able to anticipate doing it.
This is an opportunity to RP freely with each other or any one or two of the Group A cadets. If, on the other hand, y'all want to move on to your afternoon class session, we can move on to that - 30m to get back to the locker room, shower, change, and get to class. And then I can show you what classes are like!! :D
At the end of her second run, Mei listens to the counsel of WO Foucaut and the senior cadets carefully. When they are done with her, she bows to WO Foucaut, the senior cadets, then her comrades. "Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita. I thank you all very much for your advice and instruction! I will do my best to use what you have taught me today to improve." She then clips back into silent contemplation.
Another run, this one felt much better. God, she felt such a fool. "Do...mo?" Man, Jackie felt off after seeing that mess of Corwin. But she was still doing better on the run... and it was easy to forget. She looked over to see how Corwin was doing.
Yeah, she's definitely going to talk with him. "I think we did pretty good, all things given. Experimenting is rough, right?" She was looking over at Bill, but her eyes went back to her roommate.
"Once we get the gist of this, I think we should do a run for all of us together. If we can. It might be interesting to see how we can do 'running as a group'. Especially over the obstacles." She looks to Foucaut. "Not for numbers, is that allowed?" Scheming! She was grinning as she looked back to Mei and Bill for confirmation as well.
To Cartwright, Foucaut nods courteously. "We've a lot more to go through, chippie, but it's a start."
In response to Jackie's question, she continues by saying, "You are allowed to request time on a Course during your three hours of free time on each of Saturday and Sunday. You will, of course, be at least one short during the foreseeable future, as punishment tours - I believe the cadets call them 'hours' - must be worked off before free time is accessible." Foucaut is clearly allowing you to do the math for yourself. " While none of the MTIs recommend attempting team movement at this point, almost everyone tries it within the first month."
"Thank you WO Foucaut for filling my weekends with things to do for the next" he paused to read from his PIT, "five point two five months. I appreciate your enabling me to set a record so eary in my time here. Before I was wondering what I was going to do with so much time on my hands."
Corwin smiled and looked very sincere as he addressed the WO. He turned to address Jackie "I am sorry that I won't be able to participate in your free time activities or any of those of the rest of our squad for the next 5 months."
She looks blankly at Corwin. Poor bastard. She expected a lot of things, but that must be a shock. "You'll be through it before you know it."
"But really man, why were you using a notepad? I mean, it's kinda weird. What were you trying to do?" One verbal nudge was as good as another...
Foucaut looked up to regard Corwin as he spoke, her eyebrows lifting slightly at his comment about 'wondering what I was going to do with so much time'. Before Jackie replies, she says mildly, "Learning three clearly-sorely-needed lessons, I hope. If you aren't, well, you'll be spending four years here; there's plenty of time for you to learn. Or, if you prove too stupid to learn, die from it; hopefully you won't take any promising cadets with you."
When Jackie does reply, though, Foucaut is not the only one keen to hear Corwin's answer. If there had been a spotlight, he'd be standing in the middle of it.
Watching the interaction between Corwin and WO Foucaut, Mei feels a strange sense of relief. I have a feeling he's going to be drawing a lot of attention over the next year. That will be good for the rest of us. Unless the instructors decide that the rest of us need to be punished for his transgressions, as was done in my great-grandfather's day. Mei shudders at that thought.
Mei steps up next to Jackie as she questions Corwin. She has a decided interest in trying to understand her squad-mates.
"I will make sure that if I prove too stupid to learn, that I will be the only one to die from it. However, given that I have proven otherwise for quite a long while, I expect that I will learn much while I am here, WO Foucaut." Corwin replied grimly.
With a less grim expression he shakes his head while addressing Jackie. "I don't want to waste the WO's time with my reasoning as the WO has clearly stated that she does not care what my reasons were. For those who are truely interested, I will be willing to do so later."
Her eyebrows raise up as she listens to Corwin's back-fire at Foucaut. Kid was pissed. "First time I've seen you hint at what you're feeling, Cor." Heh. She spoke wryly, but she was sympathetic. Not that he didn't deserve it, but maybe he was starting to wake up... "Now we just got to get you shouting curses at an old log on the trail, and we'll know just what kinda person you really are on the inside."
"I will make sure that if I prove too stupid to learn, that I will be the only one to die from it. However, given that I have proven otherwise for quite a long while, I expect that I will learn much while I am here, WO Foucaut." Corwin replied grimly.
With a less grim expression he shakes his head while addressing Jackie. "I don't want to waste the WO's time with my reasoning as the WO has clearly stated that she does not care what my reasons were. For those who are truly interested, I will be willing to do so later."
Mei's eyes widen in shock at Corwin's disrespectful response. What in the actual f*ck is wrong with this kid!? she wonders. She looks at the faces of the other cadets and WO Foucaut in alarm. She decides to step in.
Mei bows deeply to WO Foucaut. "Tsumimasen, WO Foucaut! I deeply apologize for the actions and words of my squadmate today. Please give us the opportunity to correct Chippie Talmadge's behavior within the confines of the squad before you punish him further. We will try to teach him proper respect for his superiors so that he does not shame us further." She bows again to WO Foucaut and all the other cadets in attendance.
Jacqueline curbs her own sharpness at Mei's words. She looks back to her, then back to Corwin. Okay, what she had said was snipey, behind the rough encouragement.
She breathes in and bows to WO Fourcaut as well after Mei. "Pardon us for this, sir." This has sure as hell been a whirlwind day...
The warrant officer rises from her lean against the picnic table, and waves a casual hand, palm outwards, across her body in response to Mei and Jackie's apologies. "Cadets usually - what is the military phrase - yes, 'have the opportunity', to learn this lesson much later on, in the months five or six when things begin to be very difficult indeed. You have the chance now, so carpe diem.
"Instructors do not punish a team for the actions of the one - unless by their actions or failures to act they clearly and consciously permitted the person to act. No instructor punishes a squad for the words of one of their members; only if you all agree do we issue penalties, and as I said before in regards to black marks, you can request a review of such responses; if the reviewing officer agrees that the instructor's response was incorrect" -- both Mei and Corwin will notice that she said neither wrong nor bad - "then the instructor's disciplinary action is placed in abeyance. If you think of instructor's discipline as, mmm ... administrative?" She sounds a little uncertain, and she glances at the scattered older cadets to clarify what she means.
After a moment, CCpl Rausch S puts his hand halfway up and, barely hesitating, speaks up. "Commander's mast, ma'am, or adminstrative discipline."
Everyone knows what that means, since it was one of the Big Sunday Events. All the recruit companies assembled to hear the boot camp commander review disciplinary actions, or significant disciplinary requests, from the senior drill instructors that headed the three or four recruit companies. If you really screwed up during the week, that's when the penny dropped, when 'Dad came home', as it were. Recruits could be assigned severe punishment duties, dropped back to Day 1 of training, or be kicked out if the recruit was a hopeless case, or a habitual offender, or if the situation was a no-strike-policy one. On (very) rare occasions, the commander could decide that the offense was actually borderline illegal, and the situation got kicked over to a formal court-martial.
"Merci, Sean. Yes, we are administrative discipline. If the reviewing officer decides that the response is incorrect, it goes to court-martial." She glances around. "As you now already know, there is no removal, no being sent home." The results of that she leaves for you to decide for yourself, although there's undoubtedly detailed information to be found in your PITs. "But instructors do not penalize the many for the one. In the field, you will be commissioned, non-commissioned, or warrant officers. You will work with unThreaded people, people like me. In recruit training, you learned to become a member of a team. Here, you must learn to carry your discipline always with you, always inside you. You will become leaders of people who cannot do what you can, not - not usually - members of a team of others like you. This Saturday," she adds, and smiles slightly, one might almost say ghoulishly, as she does, "you will find out what this is like from the view of the people you will lead."
Her wrist beeps at her, and she glances at her own remote-PIT-readout. "If you decide to have some 'informal discipline' among yourselfs," she says in a raised voice as the older cadets, and then other members of your squad, start to rise, "I recommend that if it is physical, it leave no bruise; if it is social, it lasts only a day or three. You may not be punished as a squad, but you need to interact with each other anyhow to get all the things done that you must. Now - off to locker rooms and your next class." She gives a sharp, loud clap. "Dismissed!!"
Corwin remains silent and emotionless throughtout the rest of their time with WO Foucaut when dismissed, he salutes and leaves with the rest of his squad.
Bill falls in alongside Corwin as they head to the locker rooms. As he walks, he looks over at his squad mate gravely.
He speaks in what borders on monotone "I am pressuring you now socially. As you can tell, it is tremendous social pressure, and you are very disconcerted by it. <pause> I have now completed the social pressure, much to your relief."
He then chuckles and bumps a companionable shoulder into Corwin as they walk. When he speaks, it is in his normal voice. "There. That's out of the way."
"You better watch your ass with that W-O. With all of them, or you'll get your ass in a sling."
"Come on. This suit makes me sweat like a moose and I smell like an ass-crack that's been dead for a week! Shower-time!"
Mei snaps to attention at the squad being dismissed. "Ho!" She then heads back to the dorm with the others, eager for the opportunity to discuss the experience they just shared.
Corwin listens to Bill and looks back at him while replying, "Thank you Cadet Younger. I was on a bad path and I need to change it before the sling my ass is already in gets bigger. By the way, you really don't smell that bad. But you're right, this is a good time for a hot shower."
Jackie was dismissed. "Sir!" And then it was time to go.
But Foucaut's words followed her. 'This Saturday... This is going to be... really rough.' Rough was an understatement. This was the first time that one of the officers said anything that actually made her afraid. Those butterflies just won't go away.
As she walked with the others, she was looking at Younger and Talmadge. Whatever stiffness he had held was breaking. Shock, probably. 'Ass in a sling, indeed'.
Well she wouldn't laugh. The next few months for him are going to be... miserable. 'Hell, it was probably just his way of coping with all this.'
While walking back to the dorms, Mei says, "I think we should get together as a squad after we get cleaned up and discuss our first run through The Course. Let's see if we can learn some lessons from each other so that we can all improve next time. We need to get to know each other better as well."
"Squad meeting. Probably a good idea." She turned her head, looking at Corwin and Bill. "But seriously, you can go through walls Bill? That's good stuff, isn't it? Rare. I can swim and run like hell, but I haven't noticed anything truly fancy."
"I agree that a squad meeting is a good idea. We are going to need to know each other well be we can become a cohesive unit. I...apologize if my actions have threatened any of your progress."
Don't sweat it, Corwin. We'll make it through together."
He turns to Jacqueline, and then looks down at his hands "Yeah. that was crazy. I wonder how it works... Will it work on metal? Organics? My flight is pretty direct, but this is something else entirely."
"Corwin, I'm just happy to see this side of you. You are going to have a hell of a lot on your plate the next few months, and honestly, this way you at least a chance to have us at your back. You know?"
Eyeing Bill's hands, she nodded silently. "Weird stuff. I can see how so many accidents happen."
They would get back eventually. Which, really, was just an excuse to get clean or ready, and regather...
Welcome to CLASSTIME!! ;)
If you haven't read Shakespeare's Henry V, or watched it (I highly recommend the Kenneth Branagh version), well, it'll play a large part in classroom discussions. You'll have read - acted, in part, actually - the entirety of Acts I-III during the first three-hour classtime, just as orientation ...
Afternoon Class Period
Alicia Alonso classroom
4:16 PM
"Good to see everyone. Snacks on the table, drinks in the fridge" indicates the classroom supervisor. Classrooms at PDF International are nothing like what you're familiar with. To start with, there are not one, but three teachers - the classroom supervisor, then your squad's instructor (Warrant Officer Turner Ellis), and then the other squad's instructor. The other squad changes every class period, the school computer pairing you up with a different section of your Company in order to both introduce you to all the other members of your class as well as to make sure there are no ultra-intense rivalries built up.
Not that rivalries aren't encouraged, at least to a certain extent; trying to be the first to solve a problem, to find the answer to a question, or to explain why someone did something becomes a perfect generator for perfectly healthy competition. However, cooperation is required as well, as the simplest thing - getting through the play - requires multiple people from both squads interacting, reading lines, throwing back and forth thoughts on what is meant by a particular line or scene. And already, a half-dozen sections have been briefly looked at - Henry's logic for invading France, the treason of Scroop, Grey, and Cambridge, the famous speech at the assault on Harfleur as well as the discussion about mines there, as well as the hanging of Bardolph, one of Henry's prior close friends.
And the three instructors really do keep you hopping. While you have use of a TriPIT in the 'classroom', there's been a mobile chalkboard in both of them (and, perhaps presuming too much, in all of them) for people to have to jump out of their seats and hurry over to and figure something out, or sketch something. There's also a low table-like 'holotank' in the middle of the classroom ... which in truth looks like someone's oversized living room. And that's because that's pretty much what it is.
While the squad instructors are actually teachers - the three Warrant Officer instructors you've seen so far seem to indicate that they went for the best teachers they could find, not the best military instructors - the classroom supervisor is always a military man. A veteran, and in point of fact, one of you. Not all the Threaded casualties of the war (or of the school, in truth) are KIA; some of them are 'simply' terribly maimed, becoming combat-ineffective. Apparently one of the acceptable 'rear echelon' jobs of these brutally-wounded Threaded is to become a classroom supervisor, a teacher and an example of what you must live up to.
As a result, however, you basically come to their 'front room', a space large enough to fit twenty people in ease and comfort - couches, bookshelves, chairs, tables, lamps, the sorts of things you'd expect to find in anyone's living room back in the rest of civilian life - plus whatever transport-assist gear is necesary for their continued functioning. Lieutenant Shiloh Walker uses a powered stand-up wheelchair, as he has lost pretty much everything on his right side - arm, leg, ear, eye, probably a good portion of the lung, and possibly other portions of that side of his body. The scarring on the right side of his face, if you didn't get the shock of your life from the 'half-gone' part, is twisted and discolored compared to the creamy chocolate of the rest of his body. The young man seems to have accepted his battle-honors, though, and is dealing with his limitations and quite willingly serving in this different capacity.
And make no mistake, he is Threaded, and a graduate of this very Academy. Which means he has power, and control over them that is likely to be far above that which any cadets passing through his classroom possess ... which is probably why he's there, and none of the squad's 'assistants' are. (You know, since they have their own classes to attend.)
"All right," says Lt. Walker, after you've had a couple minutes to a) grab a snack and maybe a drink (clearly the staff understands that your Threaded metabolism is seriously supercharged) and b) figure out the seating arrangements, "settle down. My name is Shiloh Walker, Lieutenant, PDF International Delta Company, Summer 2068. Oscar Company, Second of the Third, First of the First, welcome to the Alicia Alonso classroom. Alonso was a Cuban prima ballerina of the Twentieth century, mostly blind but widely considered to be one of the top dancers of the century. Like any of our Classroom Heroes, in your spare time you can find out more about them by opening up their file. Now, Henry the Fifth. We'll be starting where I see you both left off, at the opening of Act IV. Do I have a volunteer for the Chorus?"
Mei grabs a drink and a snack as she enters, then takes a seat in the second row on the right side of the room.
Settle down. My name is Shiloh Walker, Lieutenant, PDF International Delta Company, Summer 2068. Oscar Company, Second of the Third, First of the First, welcome to the Alicia Alonso classroom. Alonso was a Cuban prima ballerina of the Twentieth century, mostly blind but widely considered to be one of the top dancers of the century. Like any of our Classroom Heroes, in your spare time you can find out more about them by opening up their file. Now, Henry the Fifth. We'll be starting where I see you both left off, at the opening of Act IV. Do I have a volunteer for the Chorus?"
Mei waits a while, then looks at the rest of the class. Seeing no one else volunteer, she stands up and begins reading.
"Now entertain conjecture of a time
When creeping murmur and the poring dark
Fills the wide vessel of the universe.
From camp to camp, through the foul womb of
night,
The hum of either army stilly sounds,
That the fixed sentinels almost receive
The secret whispers of each other’s watch.
Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames
Each battle sees the other’s umbered face;
Steed threatens steed in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night’s dull ear; and from the tents
The armorers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation.
The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,
And, the third hour of drowsy morning named,
Proud of their numbers and secure in soul,
The confident and overlusty French
Do the low-rated English play at dice
And chide the cripple, tardy-gaited night,
Who like a foul and ugly witch doth limp
So tediously away. The poor condemnèd English,
Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires
Sit patiently and inly ruminate
The morning’s danger; and their gesture sad,
Investing lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats,
them unto the gazing moon
So many horrid ghosts. O now, who will behold
The royal captain of this ruined band
Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent,
Let him cry, “Praise and glory on his head!”
For forth he goes and visits all his host,
Bids them good morrow with a modest smile,
And calls them brothers, friends, and countrymen.
Upon his royal face there is no note
How dread an army hath enrounded him,
Nor doth he dedicate one jot of color
Unto the weary and all-watchèd night,
But freshly looks and overbears attaint
With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty,
That every wretch, pining and pale before,
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks.
A largesse universal, like the sun,
His liberal eye doth give to everyone,
Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all
Behold, as may unworthiness define,
A little touch of Harry in the night.
And so our scene must to the battle fly,
Where, O for pity, we shall much disgrace,
With four or five most vile and ragged foils
Right ill-disposed in brawl ridiculous,
The name of Agincourt. Yet sit and see,
Minding true things by what their mock’ries be."
She struggles and stumbles at some points where the language is especially archaic, but manages to get through it.
INT rolls
"Shakespeare's talking about morale! Henry's troops are surrounded but he's moving among them to keep their spirits up."
Corwin quietly attempts to serve snacks and/or drinks for any other members of his squad before they sit down to class. When the lesson starts, he is sitting in the back.
Corwin was quiet. Not that she was surprised; Jacq took the snacks graciously, still eyeballing them in thought. They were quite well treated.
"A little touch of Harry in the night...?" Younger had it, prolly. "It sounds like they're in a castle, and there's a siege?" Culture classes. She was living it.
"Morale's a big thing... For military history. Bigger I guess than I thought, isn't it?" She glanced over at the other students in the classroom, then eyed their Teacher Trio.
Now, if she could only predict the pattern of their eccentric topic-hopping. It was like that of an epileptic squirrel...