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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 1, 2022 15:01:05 GMT
Pocahontas had to admit: the decorations were looking pretty good for the Halloween party this year. The banners had an array of pumpkins, ghosts, and bats. Orange, black, and purple were everywhere. The food was all decked out with candy corn, gummy worms, and a whole assortment of candy. Heck, there was even a little animatronic grim reaper whose eyes glowed and laughed loudly as you walked past it by the entrance. Kids were already filling in, either chatting with friends, checking out the buffet, or dancing to the music. It looked like they had decided to go all out with their costumes, and even some of the teachers too. Pocahontas had kept it simple this year though, dressing up in an 80s workout costume, complete with brightly colored leotard, leggings, and leg warmers. It was outdated by today's standards, but Pocahontas had a soft spot for 80s stuff. For the moment though, she sipped on some punch and kept an eye on the students. They were behaving well so far, but you never knew with them sometimes.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 1, 2022 15:54:56 GMT
Jack could practically smell the sugar the minute he entered the gym. Gone were the blank walls. Instead, the place was a wash of orange, black, and purple. Students were mingling. Well some were, some were glued to the wall with no interest in chatting with their peers. This was his favorite time of the year. Not just because of the tricks and treats, but because he was able to share his familia's greatest warm up recipes. The crock pot he held in his bony hands was filled with champurrado aka Mexican hot chocolate. He volunteered to make a batch for the party to give the students a different beverage besides the party punch that would inevitably go flat. He set it down, careful to avoid spilling any of the rich creamy froth.
"Hey, Professor Huevos! Don't you know that Day of the Dead isn't the same as Halloween?" A student sneered.
Jack wagged a bony finger towards the smart alec. Yes, he had gone out of his way to paint his face with the Easter egg stylings traditional to calaveras and even snazzed himself up in a mariachi style suit, complete with a scarlet cumberbund. But with his appearance, finding costumes were slim. Besides, he could get away with the look because of his heritage. After sauntering away with a cup of punch, he spied Pocahontas in the corner and approached.
"Observant as always," he said as a greeting.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 1, 2022 20:51:17 GMT
Amidst all the colorful costumes, Jack's stood out with the bright colors painted on and the snazzy-looking suit. It was actually kind of cool. Pocahontas had wondered if he would dress up as anything or just come as himself. The whole skeleton thing kind of made him look ready for Halloween any day of the year. He soon found her, after a student made a comment about Halloween and Day of the Dead being separate things. "They love to flex their knowledge, don't they?" she said lightly. Kids were just like that. It probably made them feel superior or something. "You wear the look well though. I like the colors," she complimented.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 1, 2022 21:29:29 GMT
To she get appreciated her compliment, he raised his glass with a smile. Kids could flex their knowledge and “woke” mindsets, but he wasn’t going to let that get in the way of him enjoying his favorite holiday. He nodded to her 80’s attire. “I’m surprised you aren’t leading the kids in a dance, or trying the new dance fad.” He laughed at his bad joke. She pulled off the workout look well. All she needed was a side pony.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 2, 2022 18:36:59 GMT
"Maybe later, once things have gone on for a while," Pocahontas replied. "Best to let them have their fun and make sure they don't do anything dumb." Parties and dances could be hit or miss with this age group. Sometimes it went fine. Other times, a fight had to be broken up, or they got caught trying smoke something or take some kind of drug to "liven things up." Teenagers could get a little wild when it came to social events.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 2, 2022 19:57:26 GMT
“Fair enough.” The party had only just started after all. Nothing that would be inappropriate behavior had yet to be seen. It would take lots of planning to get drugs past them. Alcohol was inevitable, though. Especially if John Constantine was going to be here. “So, how has teaching been for you this year? You have quite a lot of kids in your class this year.” It was surprising that so many had biology. It wasn’t normally a class for supers. He had a lesson plan idea he wanted to pitch with her, but it could wait
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 3, 2022 23:55:01 GMT
"Good so far, although that may change once we get to dissecting a frog," Pocahontas replied. "That always brings about some drama." True, it was gross, and anyone whose powers involved talking with or turning into animals didn't like it too much. Unfortunately, it was necessary, and Pocahontas was an animal lover herself. Animals could be a big part of a superhero's job, whether they were a cuddly sidekick or under the control of a supervillain, and it was important to understand how they worked.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 4, 2022 23:16:40 GMT
"My students get queasy whenever I bring up talking to forensics, so I get what you mean." That always was the part that made several would be heroes go white as ghosts. Talking about possible deaths while a body was spread out was never fun. Jack never took it so far where pictures of true cadavers were used, but he did warn them about the grizzlieness of some supervillains. "Speaking of which, I wanted to ask for your help with a lesson plan. I was hoping to do a class on poisons, and since you're our resident natural poison expert, if you could give me some tips. I mean, they're bound to run into literal toxic supervillains." That and identifying the right poison would track the student after the right criminal, which in the end, was what Jack wanted.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 5, 2022 23:20:31 GMT
Jack had a point. If dead frogs gave students the heebie-jeebies, dead bodies were probably worse. A superhero always tried to save everyone, but that wasn't always possible. Heck, sometimes a victim was dead before anyone even realized what was happening. Pocahontas had been called onto a few crime scenes before and it was always a bit unnerving. She looked up though when Jack asked about getting her help for a class focusing on poisons. It didn't sound like a bad idea. That was a common method of attack for supervillains, along with guns, bombs, or whatever powers they happened to have. "That sounds like a good idea. They're more likely to come across stuff like that then, I don't know, a super-sized Venus fly trap." That would require a bit of work, even if they had the ability to control plants.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 6, 2022 0:11:26 GMT
Jack’s bony grin grew wider at her praise on his lesson plan? And she agreed that the idea would apply to supervillains. “So, which natural poisons would be the most likely for our students to be weary of?” Supervillains based on different animals were common. Of course, that meant venomous animals. It was already something he had in his lecture to drill into students. Venom and poison were different, but it still could be dangerous.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 7, 2022 0:22:10 GMT
"I'd say belladonna is what they go for most often," Pocahontas replied. "Too much of it and boom." She smacked a fist into her open palm. "You've got everyone running around crazy out of their minds. Although you'd be surprised at how often tiny quantities of it were used back in the day. I mean, women back in the day used to stick drops of it in their eyes to make their pupils bigger. Apparently, that was hot back then." At least beauty standards had changed somewhat, although Instagram filters and botox injections were probably a poor substitute depending on how you looked at it.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 8, 2022 23:24:57 GMT
“I recall a scholar article saying that ideally was the poison used to put Snow White into her slumber. An apple dipped in belladonna would go unnoticed.” At least, that was what the article theorized. Jack wouldn’t know. The hankering to try a handful of harmful, if not pretty, berries never really was on his bucket list of things to do.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 9, 2022 20:19:23 GMT
Pocahontas gave a little laugh. "Fairytales, still always relevant, one way or another," she commented. Some had even compared superpowers to magic before, although Pocahontas felt like there was a difference between the two. Superpowers always had a drawback, some kind of weakness that you had to deal with. And you had to work at them if you wanted to use them to become a superhero. Just because you could fly or had super strength didn't mean you were ready to fight crime immediately. You had to learn how to use your powers so you didn't accidentally hurt someone else, or yourself.
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Post by zuyuri on Oct 10, 2022 1:33:41 GMT
Jack joined her laughter. Yes, the old notion of storytelling. Back int he old days, what people called superpwers, they called magic. Heck, some people STILL considered a branch of supers magical in one way. And much like the old fairytales, the powers could be used to used to either help or hurt dependent on the situation or the side of the story. It was part of what made his job teaching criminal investigation so difficult. Everyone was a bad guy, or could be labeled as the criminal.
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Post by angelofmusic1992 on Oct 11, 2022 0:07:53 GMT
"I'll get some ideas back to you about a joint lesson though," Pocahontas continued, getting back on track. "I'm sure some students will find it interesting. Just gotta work it around some that I'm taking into the field soon." Some teachers didn't take on sidekicks, but Pocahontas had been doing it for a while now and hadn't run into any problems yet. Once students had participated in some basic scenarios, like stopping some bank robbers or helping people get out of a burning building, they could get onto a few more complicated situations before graduating. Heck, during Pocahontas's year, she'd tagged along with a superhero while they'd had to fight off a swarm of robots while defusing a bomb. That had tested her on pretty much everything she'd learned as a student. But she'd held her ground, and the day had been saved.
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