Well I still think the field trip was interesting and informative.








Hall of Human Origins - Museum of Natural History - Upper West Side - Manhattan

The museum's permanent exhibit on human origins entwines together the fields of paleontology and genetics - the area to the right of the entrance is dedicated to the former, while the left represents the findings of the genetics community. In addition to these main displays, the back of the gallery reviews what makes us different from other species through the cultural aspects of evolution and shows an exact replica of a cave painting from France, and a replica of a 75,000 year old decorated piece of ochre. There's also a side room called Spritzer Hall which offers microscopes and laptops for school groups and individual visitors to examine fossils and try decoding DNA, while a multimedia bulletin board tracks the latest developments in these fields of research.
The most striking displays on paleontology’s side are reconstructions from fossilized remains. Here are the faces and forms of the famous Lucy skeleton, Neanderthals, even the Hobbit-like creatures found in Indonesia. Based off of one of the most complete set of remains ever uncovered, the Homo ergaster, about 1.9 to 1.4 million years old, is just short of six feet tall and shares a surprising number of features with modern humans. There are also over 200 casts of pre-human and human artifacts and fossils, as well as tableaus that detail life-scenes of our predecessors.
Geneticists get to tell their version over on the other side of the hall, which is not as visually striking, but filled with computerized displays and videos that provide a wealth of evolutionary and inter-species information. Set up near the front are three skeletons and three vials containing the DNA of a chimpanzee, a human, and a Neanderthal, while interactive displays detail the similarities and differences between the three species in these terms.



Bright and early on a Thursday morning the students who had signed up for the field trip boarded a bus at the school to the museum. After gathering everyone up to do a headcount, Basset led them through the other class trips towards the Hall of Human Origins, where she now gathers them in a little group, not far from the way in. "Gather around please!" her voice breaks through the din of chattering students, and from her bag she begins handing around multiple-paged worksheets, in a 'take one and pass it on' method. "You'll have the morning free to complete your assignments. You will find we have some equipment reserved in Spritzer Hall. Stay in pairs and do not - I repeat - do -not- step one foot outside of this building for any reason. We will meet back here at noon exactly for lunch. Do not be late. Now, are there any questions?" She looks around at the group expectantly.

Bringing up the rear, putting some distance between himself and the teacher and keeping the stragglers moving, Wesley stands with his hands in his pockets. He takes a sheet as they come by, looking it over. "Leave after lunch?" he wonders, calling over the other students.

A small cluster of general confusion is caused when Ralph accidentally only takes /one/ of the pages of the multi-page worksheet, and is forced to track down the circulating pile to find the rest of them. Still, once he gets his worksheet, he clings to it dutifully.

For a day out in public, Jill is dressed up in her human disguise. For those in the know, it's a holographic disguise on loan from the school. And a good thing too; she isn't the least bit blue today, excepting her eyes. She raises her hand above her head. "Are we allowed to work in groups?" asks Jill, eyes rising from the worksheets to Basset.

Barbara is out wearing her “nice” outfit. A leather green trenchcoat with matching gloves and scarf and boots, as well as a long brown skirt and brown blouse. She glances around with clear and obvious interest. She glances over at Jill with clear and obvious confusion before the voice causes her to just sort of gape in confusion... then she turns back to Basset. "Who chooses the group and where will we be eating lunch, miss?" she asks raising her own hand.

Laura accepts one of the bundles of worksheets once they come around to her, glaring down at the first sheet in a bit of a bleary-eyed manner. It's entirely too early for this, her expression seems to say. But at least she's quiet about it. At the mention of working in pairs, she pulls a bit back from the rest of the group and glances around, looking a bit unsure. However, she doesn't wander too far, mindful of the fact that Wesley appears to be corralling them to some degree.

Basset begins addressing the questions in turn. "After lunch we have a viewing in the planetarium's space theater. Following that, we will return to the school." She's not giving any free time to run around the city, no. Glancing at Jill now and sort of passively taking in the new appearance, she continues, "You may work together but I expected a completed worksheet from everyone. Of your own work. I would discourage outright copying of answers." And now she glances at Barbara to address her question. "Lunch will be in the cafeteria. You may choose your own groups, but I reserve the right to split up any groups who are failing to be productive. Anyone causing trouble will be spending the day waiting for us on the bus and will be dealt with upon our return to the school. We are on our -best- behavior," she reminds the group at large.

Ralph nods dutifully as Basset lays down the rules. At the mention of groups, he casts a hopeful glance over the rest of the student body - of course, it isn't actually his nature to be /proactive/ about grouping up with anyone, so instead he finds himself just sort of mentally willing someone or another to come over and ask to partner with him. This would work a lot better if his psychic talents weren't solely limited to the realm of beating people up.

Wesley spots Laura, nodding her over. He looks over the blonde Jill, then around the larger group.

Jill's back stiffens, a little militarily, at Ms. Basset's final reminder. "Yesma'am," she responds as if it were one word. She ducks away from the central gathering, covering her mouth with her worksheets. Her eyes flick around to people already forming groups, picking out familiar faces. Or more likely, the leftovers.

Barbara doesn’t seem to be brave enough to ask any of them to join her group as well before she bites her lip, she glances between them and just sort of decides to look down for now.

Another sweep of the group has Laura spot Wesley's gesture. Almost morosely, she wanders over, though there's a little look of relief. Nodding at him, she mutters, "Hey. Thanks. Uh, don't mind if I tag along, do you?" This last is asked with a bit of a hopeful note, considering she knows him best out of the whole lot.

Basset watches the students begin that awkward dance of choosing workgroups. "You only have until noon, ladies and gentlemen," she reminds them, trying to speed this along. Having gotten back the leftover worksheets, she returns them to her bag, knowing too well that at least one student will end up needing another copy before the day is through.

Wesley smiles at Laura. "Course not." He spots the three little wallflowers, smiling lightly. "Mind if I invite them?" he wonders in Laura's general direction.

Ralph smiles expectantly as an older student seems to beckon him over for a moment. Then he realizes the older student was gesturing to another older student a few feet behind him, and he deflates summarily. He sees Wesley and Laura starting to congregate soon after, however, and when he's gestured to, he blinks and looks just a bit hopeful, starting to move toward them.

Bright blue eyes wide with hope, Jill catches Wesley's glance in her direction. The worksheets lower from in front of her mouth to reveal a sheepish little smile. She totters up, apparently on the balls of her feet. "Hi. I have extra pencils," she says by way of greeting and an enticing offer to let her join his group.

Holding the papers in one hand while shoving her other hand in her pocket in that familiar closed-off type of stance, Laura shrugs at Wesley. "Sure. Fine. Let's just get this over with, okay?" she murmurs, glancing about with a semi-disinterested, semi-anxious expression. No, she doesn't want to be here. These sorts of things just seem to set her at unease. She turns a bit to offer nods to those who join them in the meantime.

Wesley turns to each of the wallflowers, gesturing them over one at a time. He smiles at Jill. "Come on, more the merrier, Jill," he invites, chuckling lightly.

The first few pages of questions are at least mostly fairly easy, though some of the later ones will require using the laptops and microscopes in the side room. Two of the last questions will actually require talking to one of the staff here though, evilly, that's not mentioned anywhere on the sheet. Meanwhile, Basset relaxes a bit as the students finally begin splitting off into smaller groups.

Ralph smiles nervously at his classmates. "Hi guys," he greets. "So, um... I guess we should, uh, start... filling some of these out?" He waves the worksheets uncertainly. "I think I know one or two of them, but we should probably check around to make sure..." Because yes, Ralph's already peeked at the questions. Of course he has.

Jill flaps her worksheets at the others excitedly. "Ooh, I know this one already. Number three: How many chromosomes do human beings have? It's forty-six. Two pairs of twenty-three." She tries to write on her paper, but lacks a flat surface and does this somewhat awkwardly.

Barbara blinks lightly... looking up to see as the group forms and the Barb-flower just sort of begins to write down the answers she knows, being Science Genius! (Tm) does come in handy. Still... after a bit she wanders over to the group. "May I join?"

Looking sort of like she swallowed a lemon, Laura shrugs at Ralph. "Yeah. I guess. 'S why we're here, right?" she replies reluctantly, sighing as she glances anywhere -but- at the papers in her hand. She glances over at Jill as she seems so enthusiastic about the assignment. "Someone make sure her caffeine is cut off today, eih?" she quips in a mild joke.

"Jill's always like that," Wesley says to Laura, smiling, feeling a /bit/ like a den mother all of a sudden, however. "Okay, so, should we just go somewhere, do the answers we know, then start working on the ones we don't?" he asks the group, looking down at them.

Basset watches the largest of the groups as it begins to work, but is slightly distracted when she notices a partnering group of older boys are using this time to flirt with some girls from another school. "Unless you're all discussing the origins of mankind, I suggest you get to work," she calls out to them, but she seems at least fairly calm so far since everyone is more or less behaving.

"Sure thing, Barbara," Wesley tacks on as she comes over.

The blonde girl with the blue eyes waves Barbara over. She's decided to crouch and use her leg as a desk. "We should still check all the answers before we turn them in, anyway." Jill straightens up and blows eraser dust from her worksheet.

Barbara gives a nod before she glances to the others. "I know some of the answers. I suppose I could help us find the rest. I do like science," she says with what looks like it is trying to be a bright smile... glancing over to Laura...and blushing and then to Jill,.. and blushing and finally to Ralph which makes her blush just because she has gotten used to it.

Nodding a little at Wesley, then looking at Jill, Laura falls silent as she feels more than a little like the object in that old 'which of these things doesn't belong' type of games. She's not a keener, not a science genius and not 'into' these sorts of outings. Black sheep. Yep, that's her. Sighing, she shrugs a bit at Wesley, "Yeah, sure. Whatever works."

Wesley smiles at Laura. "Hey, make the best of it, right?" he wonders, turning to the others. "Let's find something to actually write on," he recommends, heading towards a nearby display with plenty of counter in front, leaning over to use it as a pad on which to scribble down some answers.

A couple of boys are clustered around one of the Neanderthal tableaus, laughing and jostling each other. They must be from another school since all they earn from Basset is a perturbed frown for their behavior. When one hops up into the exhibit, they finally get yelled at by a security guard on his way past. The boy hops free and they both make quickly for the exit, leaning in together and laughing further.

Jill smiles encouragingly at Laura, the kind which is supposed to be infectious and cheerful. Whether this is the case remains to be seen. She offers up a nice, fresh pencil in addition to the smile. One of the nice ones without teeth marks on it.

Glaring at Wesley a bit, Laura finally says a little sharply, "The best of what? This. Is. Lame. I never asked to come, you know. Have fun, Brady Family." This last is semi-addressed to the rest of the group. Perhaps sadly, she doesn't accept the pencil from Jill, either not noticing it or ignoring it completely. She promptly balls up her hand into a fist crumpling the papers in it as she turns and wanders off toward one of the exhibits in a bit of a glowering huff; the one that the laughing boys just left. Ooh, someone's moody today.

Barbara gives a small frown at Laura. "This isn't lame.,. just a very simple assignment," she says with a cock of her head before glancing at Wes in that 'what are we supposed to do' kind of way.

Wesley looks at Laura as she storms off, then down to Barbara and Jill. He looks at Ralph. "You guys go get started, I'll catch up," he says, heading after Laura.

The smile on the blonde Jill's face looks like it's starting to hurt. Some credit must be given, because it's actually still there, however forced now. "Well," she says breathlessly after a long pause.

Oblivious to what's going on behind her, Laura continues to wander off, finally coming to an abrupt halt at the barrier between the visitors and the display in question. She's not, however, even really looked at it.

Basset continues just watching over the groups. She frowns as she spots Laura split from the group, but as Wesley goes after her, she decides it must just be the group breaking into smaller units to complete the worksheet.

Barbara blinks at Jill. "She doesn’t like museums I imagine," she says to Jill before she cocks her head. "Are you aware you are still smiling?" she asks before she bites her lip, feeling awkward.

"Hmmph," Jill snorts softly and turns back to her worksheet. The smile goes away. "We could finish this ourselves," she asides to Barbara and Ralph. "Then they'll come asking us for the answers. Just you watch." She pencils in another answer, gaze flicking up to the display to check how many zeroes are in 250,000 BC.

Wesley walks up behind Laura, patting her on the upper back. "Hey, Laura. What's wrong?" he wonders.

Laura's jaw is set as Wesley comes up. "Told you. This is -lame-..." Her voice dies off. She doesn't seem to be focusing on him now but the display in front of her. "What the hell??" she barks out, glaring at something before her. Her lips press rather thinly together going white with anger as she then just points. And yes, her voice likely carried a bit.

Ralph so far has had his face mostly buried in the worksheets, seeing how many of the questions he thinks he knows the answers to, and occasionally looking around to see which exhibits might have the most likely answers. He frowns when Laura announces the field trip's inherent lameness and heads off, but can't honestly feel too surprised, given some of the... opinions she's previously voiced. When Jill suggests they finish themselves, he grins nervously to Jill. "Y-yeah, we probably could... anyway, it looks like Wes has things under control..." Then Laura yells at Wes, and Ralph jumps a little. "...Or not?"

Barbara shrugs. "I don't mind her taking answers off us. She did say she wasn't good at teams. I imagine this is that trait showing," she says before she nervously puts a reassuring hand on Jill’s shoulder... managing to stop right before her hand would go through the clothing image.

Jill gives a start at the sudden yell, but then her nose scrunches up like 'what now?', turning reluctantly away from the worksheet to find Laura and whatever she's taken offense to this time.

"Just grin and bear it," Wesley says. "It'll be over soon, and maybe you'll make a friend other than me." Then she screams, and he follows Laura's line of sight, frowning at the display. He turns, spotting the security guard who chased them laughing gang off, waving him over.

Basset frowns as Laura's voice reaches her keen teacher ears. While nothing seems to be going -horribly- awry, she considers for a moment before moving from her sentry post by the door and heading over towards where the two students stand by the exhibit, though she has to weave through a group of small schoolchildren in uniform, all holding hands in a long chain. Just as that obstacle is clearing, another student comes running up to her with a story of how her partner decided to try some of the suspension fluid in the 'make your own DNA sample' exhibit and now isn't feeling very well.

The security guard is busy giving directions to a gaggle of tourists and doesn't seem to immediately notice Wesley's waving hand in the crowds of children.

The pointing finger lowers. Both of Laura's hands are out of her pockets now, both balled up into angry fists. She shakes with anger, but doesn't bark out again. Instead, she remains rooted to the spot, staring at whatever caused her outburst in the first place, practically vibrating with anger. "Yeah... and coming out here was a -good- idea?"

Barbara cocks her view before she folds her hands behind her back. "Give me a moment,” walking over slowly towards the exhibit with some deal of curiosity.

Ralph tries concentrating on the worksheets, but can't help but have his attention drawn by Laura... um... apparently arguing with one of the displays. "...Uh... th-that's kind of... weird...." He exchanges glances with Jill and Barbara. "D'you think, she's all right...? Should we go, uh... help her... somehow?" Not that he actually has any idea what the problem is or how they could help, but they're mutants dammit, they should be able to do something.

Wesley wraps an arm around Laura's shoulders, squeezing her far shoulder. "Come on, we'll handle it," he says, looking around for Basset, since the security guard is so very not helpful.

"I don't know what's going on," Jill says slowly. She lowers her worksheet and squints past Barbara, finally offering a helpless shrug at Ralph as she too moves in that direction.

And as Jill now comes around the corner, suddenly it becomes clear what has Laura so upset. There on the stone wall is some spray-painted graffiti, not all in keeping with the era of the tableau. 'We'll be neXt. Don't let THEM do this to us,' is scrawled in uneven letters on the faux-rock. And then larger beneath, the single word: MUTANTS with a crossed out circle running through it.

Barbara cocks her head as she sees the graffiti and has a very different response to Laura... every trace of emotion leaves her face. "This level of anarchy will not be tolerated," the girl says, her voice completely monotone as she glances around, trying her best to see if she can spot the boys, beginning to walk towards where they were.

Looking up at Wesley even as he wraps his arm around her shoulders, Laura replies, "We'll handle it? How? Why? Why are we even damned-well here? So we can see crap like this?" She's getting more and more upset and angry by whatever she's seeing in the exhibit. Where Barbara seems to be more emotionless to the situation, the new girl seems to be getting more worked up.

The boys, having left when they first got yelled at by the guard, are long gone by now, it seems. It might be they're just out in the museum proper, but there's no sign of them in here.

Ralph walks up to the agitated Laura and protective Wes, weaving away from any oncoming students (he never likes to give anyone an opportunity to activate his powers), trying his best to be unobtrusive but probably failing. "Um... Wes? Laura? I-Is everything all right? What's the problem..?" He looks past them, toward whatever Laura was shouting about/at.

"No, not to see stuff like this. It /is/ a school, Laur, field trips come with the territory," Wesley explains, before turning, again, to the guard. "OI!" he calls out, right over Ralph's head as he walks up.

Jill comes up behind Laura and the others slowly. She's fairly good at slipping through crowds. Her mouth's open as her eyes take in the impromptu graffiti. "Heeeey," she says in a low, saddened tone, the kind usually followed by 'That wasn't nice'.

Basset, having finished ascertaining that the suspension solution-eater isn't going to die from it, is berating him for putting it in his mouth in the first place. She sends him off with his partner to go get a drink of water. It's only now that she spots the large group congregating around the tableau. Her eyes flicker up in a give-me-strength gesture before she starts to cross the main room.

Laura, however, has fallen silent by this point, merely staring at the display before them all. Perhaps she's listening to Wes. Perhaps she's not. There's no real way of telling at this point.

Barbara frowns as she stops, not seeing the boys and she is about to go get a guard when she settles for Basset, turning back to walk back towards the others, avoiding contact with quick jerky motions rather then her usual smoothness.

The group of tourists goes happily on its way, chattering amongst themselves. The guard does notice Wesley's yelling and his eyebrows lift a bit as if to ask 'who me?' But the group of people is getting larger around the exhibit in question now, with other visitors getting drawn in by the students' antics, so he starts sauntering in that direction.

Ralph pales slightly at the graffiti. "...Oh geez..." He takes a step back, and finds himself looking around nervously. "Th-that's... w-why would anyone want to do that?!" Maybe the boy's gotten a bit /too/ sheltered at the Mansion? In a lower voice, he adds to his companions, "Y-you don't think anyone knows...??"

A fleshy-colored hand touches Laura's elbow hesitantly. The fingertips are cool and slick, like a Jello cup, beneath the insubstantial illusion. "Come on," Jill says with quiet sincerity. "Let's go tell Ms. Basset."

Wesley shakes his head to Ralph, checking on Jill, seeing if she's still blonde. "Think we're good on that." He turns back to the guard. Yes, you. Now hurry up. He waves him over.

Barbara rejoins the group and she frowns at the guard. "Their security system is flawed if they allow this sort of lawlessness," she says glancing over to Ralph and Jill for a moment and as the guard approaches she heads over to meet him. "Sir...are you aware that an act of vandalism has occurred on your watch? That exhibit has been defaced by those boys," pointing towards it.

"Why would they want to do that, Ralph? Because they -hate- us," Laura murmurs quietly and with a certain amount of venom, though the way she stares at the display, perhaps it's obvious the venom is not aimed at the timid boy. Despite Jill's insistence that they go get Basset, Laura remains rooted, as though burning the image in her brain. "Ignorant bastards," she grumbles. It might be just graffiti but it's bothered her greatly.

"What?" the guard asks Barbara as he's already coming up upon the exhibit. "What's going on? Oh geez, not again," he mutters as he eyes the problem. He doesn't exactly seem too upset about it, but then, he's only getting paid minimum wage to care about this stuff. Out comes the walkie as he radios this in to his boss. "Which boys?" he asks, looking rather blankly at Barbara.

Jill's fingers on Laura's elbow become more insistent. "It's not about *us*," she says and turns her head to find the security guards. "Just tell them if you saw who did it and maybe they'll get caught."

Ralph is clearly bothered too, though his natural reaction is more one of fear, rather than Laura's righteous anger. "B-but... no one's... geez," he sighs, trailing off, unable to complete the sentence. He looks around weakly at Barbara, Jill, and Wes, as if hoping they'll have some sort of bright and wonderful perspective besides the obvious conclusion that their kind is unwelcome, here and anywhere. Of course, when the security guard comes, he immediately shuffles to the side, trying not to look /too/ suspicious - after all, it would hardly do the school much good to call attention to the fact there's a group of offended mutants in the museum.

Wesley starts to try and shepherd Laura away from the exhibit. "Come on, let's get started on that sheet. Can't be worse than this, right?" He looks to the guard, then Barbara. "I'll let you copy my answers," he offers to Laura.

Barbara frowns lightly. "The ones you chased away. I will send as detailed a recollection as I can. However in the future please try to accomplish the task for which you have been financially compensated," she says before she turns and begins to stomp off towards Wesley. "I can find the answers... but I do not feel very well... and I will not enjoy the planetarium show. I should leave."

Laura lets herself be lead away by whomever is the stronger of the two herders, Wesley or Jill. "It -is- about us," she insists. "Even if it's not us specifically, we're still part of that group..." She's getting frustrated now. To Wesley, she blinks a bit and replies, "We're just supposed to ignore it and get back to life? Ignore it and they'll go away? Ignore it and the problem will dissolve? Is that it?" She's still pretty angry. "How... how can you even -think- of school work with that glaring at us...?"

By this time Basset has made her way across the room to join the throng, and she has a way of parting the seas to come up to the front to join her students. "-What- is going on here?" she demands, looking around at the ones who remain. Her gaze comes only secondly to the actual graffiti and she sets her lips in a firm line. "Ah," she notes with understanding, shaking her head. "A shame someone would deface an exhibit." Her gaze actually carries a hint of warning as she looks around at the students.

Jill's head ducks reflexively at the authoritative sound of Ms. Basset's voice, but she continues in step with Laura and Wes. "The only reason anybody does anything like that is just to make you afraid or angry," she offers quietly, sounding a bit like a quoted section from a book.

Wesley looks to Barbara. "You sure, Barb?" he wonders. "Would it help if you just sat down for a little?" He turns to Laura. "I'm /not/ ignoring it, but I'm not letting /them/ ruin my day. You can't let idiots like that get under your skin, because that's their entire point for existing," he says, nodding to Jill. "Don't feed the trolls."

"Hey, listen kid," the guard begins, sounding offended. "For all I know -you- coulda done it. Your group's been hanging around here for awhile now." He eyes the remaining students with a little suspicion. But they really don't pay him enough to care, so he just shrugs as Barbara storms off. He eyes the graffiti a moment more, scratching his head, before he heads off to get the janitorial staff on it.

"Mr. Peakes!" Basset calls to the remaining student in that authoritative tone of hers. She beckons him over as she moves aside from the exhibit.

To Jill, Laura mutters, "Keep telling yourself that even as they decide to take a baseball bat to your face and we'll see the truth in the matter." She then falls into a silent brooding, staring pointedly up at Wesley for a moment even after his words of advice before glaring down at the floor as they move along. Looks like she'll be getting an F on this assignment. Her papers aren't even getting looked at.

Ralph watches as everyone else disperses, and yelps when Basset addresses him. "M-Ms. Basset?! I, uh... r-right..." He looks at the graffiti, still visibly shaken, then scurries over to join the teacher. "U-um... should I... do something? I-I mean, y-yes?" As usual, he is courageous and stalwart in the presence of the overbearing teacher.

Barbara cocks her head and she shrugs. "I should be fine. Let us just get this over with," she says though again not a single emotion flashes on the girls face. While she does write from time to time she seems to have gone almost statuesque. "Such tactics are the result of an inferior intellect and can easily be avoided with proper foresight and planning."

"Relax, Mr. Peakes," Basset says, though her tone doesn't really shift to soothing. "I'd like you to make sure the other students stay clear of this area. We will be leaving for lunch early, in fifteen minutes. In the meantime, no one is to do anything ... amiss about this. Do I make myself clear?"

The color drops a little from Wes's face at Laura's retort. "Hey," he says, holding the girl close. "It's alright. Come on," he soothes, shepherding her along to a place to sit, glancing to Barbara, and then Basset. "Will you except an incomplete?" he wonders towards the teacher.

Jill's fingers trail off from contact with Laura and the blonde girl frowns, having no memorized self-actualization phrase to respond to that one with. "Okay," she says glumly. The frown fades a little when Basset announces an early lunch, Jill giving Laura an apologetic look like 'at least it'll be over soon'.

Ralph ulps. "N-no, Ms. Basset! I mean, /yes/, Ms. Basset! I mean, uh... understood, Ms. Basset!" Of course, Ralph is hardly playing it cool, but one can't expect too much of the boy. He looks at his fellow students, approaching them if they've wandered off, worried frown clearly painted on his face. "Uh... well... c-c'mon, Ms. Basset says we're leaving for lunch early, in about fifteen minutes... so we should... we should probably, uh, finish our worksheets soon..?" He flaps his own woefully undercompleted worksheet lamely.

Jill's look is caught before the moody girl looks back down again. Her own expression doesn't change much but she shrugs. Laura is nothing if not stubborn. She will not cry here in front of her classmates and strangers. Anger is good. She can do angry. So she remains angry. Though she doesn't really look up at Wesley again even as he starts leading her toward a spot to sit. "Yeah. Fine. Peachy," she mutters to the squad monitor.

Basset gives a little nod as Ralph accepts his assignment, with whatever lack of panache. She lets him go with that before starting away from the exhibit with one last worried look at the graffiti. Passing the group of distraught students, she pauses long enough to answer their questions: "In lieu of a completed worksheet, I will accept a 500 word comparative essay on the respective roles of genetics and anthropology in charting evolution," she informs them off the top of her head. "Please help gather your classmates and meet me by the door in no more than fifteen minutes."

Basset then moves off towards the appointed meeting spot, informing a few students as she goes.

Wesley stares up at Basset, considering that the harder of the two assignments by far. He sits with Laura. "Here, hand me your sheet," he pulls out his sheet, filling them out frantically, with little to no regard towards accuracy, running purely off his own knowledge. He's /more/ than willing to let his group copy.

Laura lowers herself onto whatever bench or chair Wesley's led her to and stares off into space. "Yeah, sure... whatever," she replies, passing her crumpled mass of papers to him as he asks, finally leaning forward to rest her elbows against her knees, letting her hands dangle before her.

The stapled pages of her worksheet fold and roll into a tube, Jill working the sheets between her hands in a kind of nervous, unfocused energy. Knowing she only has 15 minutes left makes the unanswered questions seem that much more difficult and she's forced to join in the sharing of answers.

Barbara in the meantime looking around, trying to use her own ability to get as many of the answers off the exhibits as possible and writing them down. "I am only missing 4,” she says looking up to the others. Mind you she copied the ones she was missing that they had already, so...





Lame field trip to the museum. Some kids from another school deface one of the exhibits. Laura freaks out. A good time is had by all.