Spring Semester Start! Biology class group B

[Alaine Kensington]

Alaine had finished setting up for the first class of the new semester, and was hoping for a few more faces than last time. Two or three was a rather low turnout, after all. She'd set up a few images to show, had a stack of handouts ready with the syllabus, and her speech memorised. Now all she needed were the students.

[Herbert "Herbie" Skik]

Herbie walked into the class, and sat down with a sigh of relief. "Why is dis on de fou'th floo', dear God in heavan." He looked at the blackboard expectantly. He had his notebook under his arm, now on the desk, and unclipped his pen to take notes.

[Damien Griffiths]

Well, biology was the most normal class he could get, right? Damien sagged into a chair slightly behind Herbie, unsure of the new student. Somehow, he seemed to have stripes on his back. With his notebook and pens in front of him, he waited for the class to start.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less wandered into the classroom with his notebook in one hand and his new laptop in the other. He sat down next to Damien and began absently doodling in his notebook. "There are a lot of new students," he said conversationally. "And I hear one is planning a thing. A bonfire is the same as a regular fire, right? I hope they will not make it in the forest."

[Tane Matthewson]

Tane walked in right on time. He'd never been particularly interested in biology (though he supposed it was necessary for endangered species conservation, something he had a deep if amateur interest in), but he figured he might as well take the subject.

He sat down at an empty desk and opened a notebook, ready to begin.

[Beau Boudreaux]

Beau walked into the class room, smile on his face. Having grown up in the Bayou surrounded by wildlife, he knew this class had to be easy...right? He sat down and got ready to begin.

[Philbert Decanter]

Philbert bursts through the doors with a dramatic flair, his coattails and high-collar billowing about. The lights flicker and thunder bursts around him. "I am Philbert Kenneth Reginald Decanter, and I attend this class only as an obligation. I have severe reservations that your pitiful class could teach me more about the subject of biology than I have learned from my father, scores of tomes, and my own personal experiments! I would suggest that if you do not wish to be thoroughly shamed in the subjects of science, that you avoid interacting with me entirely!"

His diatribe finished, he turned around to pick up the machine he had attached to the light switch that flicked the lights on and off and had a set of powerful speakers then found a seat in the corner of the room.

[Alaine Kensington]

Alaine raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Mr Decanter, I'm sure you are an expert in the field. If you are indeed, I'll expect you to have a very high or perfect grade at your end-of-term test. However, I will now warn you that this class will take place at the normal level set for students your age, and will cover basic subjects first.
"Also, for future reference, I do not appreciate any tampering with apparatuses in this classroom, however insignificant, and if you do that again I will send you down to Headmistress Cutty's office for a detention."

She looked at the rest of the class, and smiled. "Now then. Welcome to the biology class for the spring semester. I think I've got all of your names down from the register, so we'll skip the tedious introductions from your side. My name is Professor Alaine Kensington, and I'll be your biology teacher here. We'll study a varied set of subjects within the field, including ecosystems, behaviour, a bit of evolution, humanoid physiology - that's anatomy, for those who don't know the word - and we'll also do a bit on plants, but since Professor Shiyal does the forestry class we won't go into plants too much. I do intend to have one class outside, to draw plant anatomy, but that will be when it's a bit warmer outside. Do you have any questions so far?"

[Herbert "Herbie" Skik]

"Uh, Professah? I wanna be a herpetologist wen I go ta college, can ya tell us anythin' about sneeks too? Or do ya knoo any good books I could read? I really wanna knoo anythin' I can about dem." Herbie had his hand pointed straight up into the air like a flagpost. He really wanted to know this.
It did show anybody behind him the stripy patterning on his shoulders and back, even if he was wearing a long T-shirt.

[Less Than Beta East Tundra]

Less snorted at Philbert's dramatic entrance, more at a sense of annoyance at the boy's lack of respect towards the class than because of the display itself. "Will we be learning about weres as well?" he asked as he opened a word processing program on his laptop. Fortunately, he had failed to break this one yet. Since he still had a habit of hitting the keyboard too hard, it was only a matter of time.

[Alaine Kensington]

"We can tip on the subject of weres, yes, as they are an interesting group, taxonomically speaking. They're a very interesting in-between between humanoids and animalistic species with a magic background. I'm not sure if i can also discuss snakes, for herpetology you should find a specific study after you graduate here, Mr Skik. I can direct you to some books we might have in the library later today. Now, as we seem to have settled down, let's continue.

"Our first subject will be biology itself. What exactly is biology? Can anybody tell me? It's a bit wider than you might think."

[Beau Boudreaux]

Beau's jaw dropped as he watched the spectacle this new boy put on as he entered. Not because he was impressed, but how big were the egos around this school? He wondered just how many other students he might have to put in their place besides that demon boy. But...this student looked weak so how...that was it! Nothing would upset this boy more than if Beau scored higher than him. But Beau knew he wasn't as smart, so he would just have to outwork this arrogant child. He'd definitely be going to the library after class. He realized the professor had asked but had no clue what it was. So instead, he blurted out, "We can learn 'bout da Bayou? Dere lotta bio stuff in da Bayou, mmhmm."

[Alaine Kensington]

"There are a lot of things living in bayous, yes, Mr Boudreaux. We'll be looking at bayous in the ecosystems class in the future, as one of many environments. Sadly, that doesn't answer my question. Anyone else?"

She looked at the people in the classroom.

[Damien Griffiths]

Damien raised his hand, but started talking without waiting for approval.

"Isn't it the study of living things? How they work?"

[Philbert Decanter]

"Psh, magic," Philbert snorted derisively.

"There's no such thing as magic, only science that has yet to be explained! That we have a class that can explain consistent principles of it only proves my point!"

[Herbert "Herbie" Skik]

"Waaaaat?" Herbie angrily turned towards this horrible brat of a boy, and his tongue flicked out of his mouth unvoluntarily, a thick black thing. It looked rather gross.

"Don't ya be dissin' de hoodoo, mon, magic's de won thin' dat meeks dis wo'ld so good an' fun. Dere's plenty a theengs ye ken't do wid de sciency stuffs, theengs magic does. I ken meek frogs flah. Nuthin' in de sciency stuff det ken expleen dat, no?" His fangs were quite visible, since he opened his mouth kind of wide to talk. A bit too wide for most faces, really. It was showing that this annoyed him.

[Philbert Decanter]

"I can make a frog fry too! A few judicious modifications to it's skeletal structure for g-tolerance, a few miniaturized rockets..."

Philbert's eyes narrowed. "Actually I need to do that sometime. Take note Terrance."

[Alaine Kensington]

"You are essentially correct, Mr Griffiths. Biology studies living things, and, as you put it, how they work. It also concerns itself with environment, at a large scale, and chemical reactions at the smallest scale, though that also tips on chemistry."

She cleared her throat loudly as the two boys started arguing about magic and frogs. "Mr Decanter, Mr Skik, please refrain from arguments in this class, unless you're arguing with me about something. Magic is very much a real, irrational force, Mr Decanter, and if you change a frog that way it will no longer be a frog. Also, Mr Skik, you will not be levitating frogs in this class, you'll have to ask Professor Freeman for that."

"Now, we'll continue. Biology is about life, and as such, it involves a great deal of things all around us. The larges scale is the environment; the collection of living things - animals, plants, bacteria, funguses - that exist all around us...."

The Professor went on to explain her students about the complexity of everything around them, what existed everywhere, and the difference between environment and climate.

(( I'm not going to type out the entire lesson, I don't remember that much from my own classes, but anyone can ask questions about the subject, or mess around behind her back. Feel free. ))