POP 1: The Fool

"'It takes an idiot to go on an adventure.' -Professor Quentin Brooks"

Intro
The episode begins with Luke narrating the history of the school that the party attends/teaches at: the Joseph University of North Gibsonburg. It resides in the city of Gibsonburg, a small college town in Ohio. It was founded in 1903 by Burgess Aethelwulf Joseph, a former steel miller who believed that the rise of technology would destroy society resulting in an "iron apocalypse". Wishing to have a part in preventing this he founded the school as a place where students could study the liberal arts and bring about the “age of the mind”.

However Luke continues saying this is irrelevant to the current state of the school and the town, and that today it is a run-of-the-mill liberal arts college. However he mentions that the school has notable alumni, including the 44th president of the The United States of America, Henry Vladimir Dracula. This prompts some discussion and we learn that he was elected in 2004 and won the Democratic primary against John Kerry in this timeline.

Quentin's Class
Luke continues and describes the scene all of our characters are in. It is the first day after spring break in late March and all of the party are in Quentin's class. The classroom is not very well kept up, the lights are flickering, there is a strange smell, and two dead cockroaches lay in the corner of the room. It is about 10-15 minutes into the lecture for today. At this point Luke prompts Ty to describe what he is teaching.

Quentin pulls out a card from a Tarot deck and reads it, discovering it is The Magician. He then asks the everyone in the class to say what they know about magicians. Ursa enthusiastically raises her hand and says that they pull bunnies out of hats. Alexis says magicians lie to people for a living and that she does not respect them. Sloane shyly says that being a magician means resourcefulness and power. James says that magicians use misdirection. Quentin writes all of these down on the board and begins explaining about The Magician tarot card when a man walks into the classroom and sits in an empty desk.

This man identifies himself as Michael Clark and says Quentin should have received an e-mail about him, and seems to be observing the class. Quentin continues on and manages to give a convincing lecture and Michael comes up to him to talk to him after class. He says he is from a company called WebCapital which is in the process of buying the school and he is tasked with seeing which teachers are going to be cut from staff.

Appearances
● Alexis Lorentzen / Vivid Memories Turn to Fantasies (First Appearance)

● James Studebaker / Time After Time (First Appearance)

● Prof. Quentin Brooks / Speakerboxxx (First Appearance)

● Sloane Parker / Start A Riot (First Appearance)

● "Ursula" Ursa "Bear" / Revolution Lover (First Appearance)

Trivia
● The phone ringing sound effect in this episode is from the beginning of the music video for Ana Ng by They Might Be Giants