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[Poll #664787]

Methos has his feet up on the desk. "I don't feel like working too hard today. Next Wednesday is your first exam. Today? Talk about Greece. Talk about Egypt, Sumeria, Crete, whatever we've discussed in class. Throw spit balls at each other. I don't care.

"Next Tuesday we'll have a formal review session. Your illustrious TA, Janet Fraiser, has volunteered to run an additional study group after our meeting next Tuesday."

[[OOC: No OCD threads because work is kicking my ass. Go.]]

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Janet signed in sat down. She was going over her reading and notes, looking very absorbed in them. Though she'd probably notice if someone slipped her something that wasn't very classroom-related.

Archie took a seat near the door and started going over the last couple of classes' worth of readings, unconsciously chewing on the end of his pen. To a perceptive observer, it might have been obvious that he looked a bit intimidated by the amount of material there was to cover.

From where she was sitting nearby, Molly leaned over and whispered to Archie. "Hey, Archie? I was wondering if you would want to study with me for this test. I really think I'm going to need some help."

Archie turned to Molly with a smile. "That would make two of us then, wouldn't it?" he whispered back, his eyes twinkling. "Perhaps between the two of us we can shore up each other's weak points. I'd be pleased to do so. Though I hope you're not averse to calling in outside assistance if we need to."

Molly grinned. "I think all of my points are weak, but I'll help shore up yours in anyway I can." She wasn't quite sure of the metaphor there, but it sounded right. Sort of. "We should probably plan on going to the study group after class next Tuesday. I have no problem with admitting I need extra help."

"Yes, that's a good idea, provided I don't have anything conflicting with it, which I don't believe I will. I feel as though I can use all the help I can get in this class," Archie told Molly in a confidential tone. "At the very least, we can both figure out where we need the extra help."

Molly nodded and smiled. "Much better to narrow it down than go in hoping to get help with everything."

"I like the way you think, Molly," he told her with a smile of his own. "It seems as if there's just so much to go through, doesn't there?"

She widened her eyes and nodded. "It seems like everybody else in class knows all this already. The discussions go right over my head."

"I know what you mean. The homework is one thing; I have plenty of time to mull over my answers and rewrite. But the discussion sections move so fast, I hardly have time to process them, let alone get a word in edgewise." He looked slightly embarrassed. "I don't believe what I had to say would be quite as substantial, either."

Molly giggled quietly. "I feel exactly the same."

"Well then," said Archie in a playfully gallant voice, "I believe you and I have forged a powerful bond over this common discovery. Thus united, we shall go forth and conquer this fair land of academia, no matter how daunting it shall seem."

He finished off this little speech with a brief, silly bow -- or as close to one as he could manage from a sitting position, with his desk in the way.

Molly giggled again. "Super! Now I can worry about it a little less."

"As can I," Archie continued in the same tone. "Strength in numbers, and all."

He reached over and briefly laid a friendly hand on Molly's shoulder. "Incidentally, I'd like to say that I'm relieved you made it through the weekend in good health."

Molly grimaced a little, but she was getting over her disappointment. She gave Archie a wry grin. "Yeah, it helps that I slept through most of it."

And then she remembered what she heard on the radio. "You're recovered now, right? The radio made it sound like you had a rough time in detention."

"Oh, I'm fine," he reassured her. "I spent most of it wrapped up in blankets and thawing, myself, and really, I saw no action at all. Those snow monsters took me out almost immediately after they attacked."

He rolled his eyes. "At least I'm not carrying on about it like some people I could name."

Molly giggled. "Some people just aren't used to this type of thing. They need more attention to tell themselves they actually got through it in one piece."

"I suppose one might have said that of a friend of mine back home," replied Archie. "For a while there, after he first joined the Navy, he was best distinguished as 'the midshipman who was seasick at Spithead.' You see, we were at anchor, and not ten minutes on deck and there he was, miserable and vomiting. But the last I knew of him, he was turning into a damned fine officer with a brilliant mind. He never did get over his weak stomach, though."

"People will surprise you," Molly said.

She looked down at her books and whined a little. "So much reading. I'm beginning to think I should have dropped this class before the cut off."

"I might have considered that myself, except I'd be below the minimum three," said Archie, giving her a comforting smile. "I think I prefer to think of it as character building. Besides, if we don't do the reading, how will we know what we need to work on in that study session?"

He did look at his own books with some apprehension as well, though.

Ivanova limped into class and settled herself into a chair with a relieved sigh. She stayed mostly silent and began fiddling with her notes. She might have been folding a paper Starfury. Or maybe not.

"So," said Janet. "Do you have a favorite culture discussed so far?"

"I'm rather fond of the Sumerians," Ivanova replied. "The law-makers. There's a nice sort of justice about the Law of Shamash." ~~says the mun, who can't remember what she learned in class and what in "class".~~

"That was the sun god, right?" asked Janet. "The mythological figure that inspired Hammurabi to write his code of laws. ~~You could always say you did extra reading IC?~~ But they also originated bureaucracy, and I don't know if I can forgive any culture for that."

Ivanova grinned. "Right on the sun god bit. And right again on the bureaucracy. But I'm sure the Greeks would have gotten around to it even if the Sumerians hadn't. They seemed to have invented everything else for a fully non-functioning government."

"Yes, but we do get the concept of modern drama from them," said Janet. "So I could forgive them a lot if they'd ended up being the inventors of bureaucracy."

"Well, the concept of modern drama could have been subsequently invented by the lost Gallic tribe of Emo, close relatives of the Goths."

Janet grinned. "You know, I wonder if Dr. Pierson is going to test us on them later?"

"I doubt it," Ivanova replied, still completely deadpan. "They were quickly conquered because the very thought of having to go to war caused them all to collapse under the weight of existential angst, and ultimately provided nothing of historical value."

"Gosh, that's tragic," said Janet, smirking. "Someone should write about that. Possibly in verse."

"With overuse of the words, 'black', 'sorrow', and maybe 'drowning'." Ivanova didn't break expression. "In fact, one little-known fact about the Emos is that in their native language there were no words for colours, all shades being expressed only in 'black', 'blacker', or 'blackest'."

"That's absolutely fascinating," said Janet. She propped her chin in one hand. "You know, I think I've heard something about this culture. Didn't they have fifty-seven words for 'rain' and about a hundred or so for 'night?'"

Ivanova nodded. "They were primarily cave-dwellers. Referred to the sun as the Daystar or the Big Dread Fire That Hangs in the Sky. Their pantheons of deities seem to revolve around vampirism and shrieking men and women - probably a variant of the Celtic bahn-sidhes, or banshees."

"Ooh, neat," said Janet. "We should see if we can talk Dr. Pierson into doing an entire class session on the Emos. ~~Say, around April 1st?~~"

OOC: RL bedtime. Night!

"We should. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to convince him." She didn't crack a smile once. Ivanova was the master of deadpan.

[[Night!]]

Isabel sat and read through her notes. Occasionally her attention would wander and she would stare vacantly into space as she tried to think of anything else they could do to help out on Friday night.

As TA, Janet felt obligated to try to talk over some of the material from class. "So is there anything you're not sure on?" asked Janet. "You seem to have a pretty good grasp of the material, though."

"I think I have it all under control for the moment. Which is good. I have some other things to take care of before this test. Feeling better?"

[ooc: Ping me? Because computer issues suck...]

"A little," said Janet, who wasn't thinking about her fight with Sam. Really. "I find it helps if you triple the recommended dose of ibuprofin." She grinned wryly.

"Or be a total wimp and manage to avoid being injured in the first place because everyone else stepped up to be heroes." No, Isabel still doesn't feel a little guilty. Really.

"What were you going to do?" asked Janet. She smiled reassuringly. "You didn't have a huge backpack like I do, and Vala's actually pretty good in a fight. You're not a wimp."

"I don't know. Something." She shrugged, "Actually I'm supposed to meet Aeryn in the gym tomorrow. She's going to show me some stuff to defend myself."

She still wonders if blasting would have been an option, but since she really didn't have that much success with healing Vala, it probably wouldn't have.

"It's better than you stayed back and stayed safe," said Janet. "That way you could help us get Vala to the clinic--and you helped out with Cameron, so it's not like you did nothing. And Aeryn's a good one to talk to for that. She's got a lot of experience with self-defense."

Lyta signed in, and appeared to be a bit subdued. While she didn't have a migraine, she did have the old, familiar light sensitivity and vague, out-of-it feeling that usually preceeded one.

Sitting down, she flipped through her notes a bit, anxiously awaiting the move away from Egypt, Sumeria, Crete, and whatever else they've discussed thus far in class. There was importance to these cultures -- she recognized that much. But they didn't quite draw her interest as the European civilizations did.

Flipping a page, she paused long enough to move her injured shoulder a bit, then went back to her reading.

Broots sat in the back, re-reading his notes and hoping that he was at least in the right class for a change.

Text messaging yay!

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