Discovering Earth, Friday, Period 2
Class had been handwavily contacted ahead of time to be informed that their usual meeting place would be Portalocity, and that for today they should bring warm-weather clothes, and swimsuits if they were so inclined.
"Hello," Hannibal greeted them all with a smile. "Welcome to class, which this semester is Discovering Earth. If you think perhaps it sounds rather like an excuse to show off my planet to those of you not from it, you would be absolutely right."
And that included his co-teacher.
"And that includes me," Kanan noted, not privy enough to the narrative to keep from being repetitive. He was a dick that way. "This class is going to be a little bit of Hannibal showing off, and a little bit of me indulging my curiosity. And I have it on good authority that I have a healthy curiosity."
Or, at least, he used to.
"See, the thing about this planet is, I don't know kark-all about it. So what's going to happen this semester, and is probably going to happen a lot, is that I'm going to go, 'hey, you said Earth had something like this,' and the good Doctor here is going to prove it, lest I start to doubt that Earth can have, say, a sunny beach even while we're on our millionth consecutive week of cold and rain. Apparently to do that, Dr. Lecter here is taking us to the other side of the planet."
Hannibal waved them through the portal.
"Welcome to Townsville, Australia."
They came out in a small park, water glinting in the distance in the bright afternoon sun.
"Australia is the name of both this continent and this country," Hannibal explained. "This state is in the eastern portion, and is called Queensland, and Townsville is the city. It is roughly one-third the size of Baltimore. The local language here is, for the most part, English. Or whatever it is you speak that sounds like it," he added with a wry grin at Kanan.
"Basic," Kanan supplied, taking it upon himself to hand out brochures to students as Hannibal spoke. "I guess the real fun is going to start when we head somewhere that speaks a language we don't even have where I'm from."
"One of the main draws here is the Great Barrier Reef," Hannibal said, "the largest living coral reef in the world. It's actually visible from space," he added to Kanan.
"See, you say things like that, and I'm going to go barvy trying to find fuel for my ship," Kanan replied, smirking a little. "Sounds like one hell of a view."
"One of the best ways to experience it, until you can find that fuel, and unless you can SCUBA dive," Hannibal said, "is via a glass-bottom boat, and we have such a tour arranged. However, there are a number of other things to do here as well, if you would rather, or if you want to investigate them afterward. There are a water park, an aquarium, a casino, a wildlife park, and two different botanical gardens. There is an assortment of shopping and dining options on Flinders Street."
He checked his watch. "For those of you who were only planning on an hour's stay, there will be a portal back here in one hour. However, for the rest of you, there will be a portal here around ten p.m. which will also return you to the school one hour after you left."
"Before we get to that, though, we're going to keep you for a minute," Kanan noted. "You know, for the traditional pain-in-the-neck introductions. Don't worry, it's the last time most of you are going to have to do it this semester. I'll start. I'm Kanan Jarrus, from the Core Worlds region of my home Galaxy." That narrowed it down a lot, but still left it fairly open-ended. Just because he wasn't hiding the whole Jedi thing all that much these days didn't mean he was going to just out and say 'Coruscant.' "And I'm looking forward to seeing this whole 'single planet with multiple biomes' thing in action."
"And I'm Doctor Hannibal Lecter, from Earth," Hannibal added, with a grin at his own redundancy, since that was probably patently obvious by now. "So. Tell us who you are, where you are from, and if there's anything in particular you'd like to learn or see of Earth."
"Hello," Hannibal greeted them all with a smile. "Welcome to class, which this semester is Discovering Earth. If you think perhaps it sounds rather like an excuse to show off my planet to those of you not from it, you would be absolutely right."
And that included his co-teacher.
"And that includes me," Kanan noted, not privy enough to the narrative to keep from being repetitive. He was a dick that way. "This class is going to be a little bit of Hannibal showing off, and a little bit of me indulging my curiosity. And I have it on good authority that I have a healthy curiosity."
Or, at least, he used to.
"See, the thing about this planet is, I don't know kark-all about it. So what's going to happen this semester, and is probably going to happen a lot, is that I'm going to go, 'hey, you said Earth had something like this,' and the good Doctor here is going to prove it, lest I start to doubt that Earth can have, say, a sunny beach even while we're on our millionth consecutive week of cold and rain. Apparently to do that, Dr. Lecter here is taking us to the other side of the planet."
Hannibal waved them through the portal.
"Welcome to Townsville, Australia."
They came out in a small park, water glinting in the distance in the bright afternoon sun.
"Australia is the name of both this continent and this country," Hannibal explained. "This state is in the eastern portion, and is called Queensland, and Townsville is the city. It is roughly one-third the size of Baltimore. The local language here is, for the most part, English. Or whatever it is you speak that sounds like it," he added with a wry grin at Kanan.
"Basic," Kanan supplied, taking it upon himself to hand out brochures to students as Hannibal spoke. "I guess the real fun is going to start when we head somewhere that speaks a language we don't even have where I'm from."
"One of the main draws here is the Great Barrier Reef," Hannibal said, "the largest living coral reef in the world. It's actually visible from space," he added to Kanan.
"See, you say things like that, and I'm going to go barvy trying to find fuel for my ship," Kanan replied, smirking a little. "Sounds like one hell of a view."
"One of the best ways to experience it, until you can find that fuel, and unless you can SCUBA dive," Hannibal said, "is via a glass-bottom boat, and we have such a tour arranged. However, there are a number of other things to do here as well, if you would rather, or if you want to investigate them afterward. There are a water park, an aquarium, a casino, a wildlife park, and two different botanical gardens. There is an assortment of shopping and dining options on Flinders Street."
He checked his watch. "For those of you who were only planning on an hour's stay, there will be a portal back here in one hour. However, for the rest of you, there will be a portal here around ten p.m. which will also return you to the school one hour after you left."
"Before we get to that, though, we're going to keep you for a minute," Kanan noted. "You know, for the traditional pain-in-the-neck introductions. Don't worry, it's the last time most of you are going to have to do it this semester. I'll start. I'm Kanan Jarrus, from the Core Worlds region of my home Galaxy." That narrowed it down a lot, but still left it fairly open-ended. Just because he wasn't hiding the whole Jedi thing all that much these days didn't mean he was going to just out and say 'Coruscant.' "And I'm looking forward to seeing this whole 'single planet with multiple biomes' thing in action."
"And I'm Doctor Hannibal Lecter, from Earth," Hannibal added, with a grin at his own redundancy, since that was probably patently obvious by now. "So. Tell us who you are, where you are from, and if there's anything in particular you'd like to learn or see of Earth."