fandomhigh | Freelance Treasure Hunting, Monday, Period 5, Class #2

"Good afternoon," Vala greeted the students cheerfully as they entered, still wearing her customary clothing, "and I hope you all had a profitable weekend. As you know, last week we discussed what treasures are valuable to each culture. This week, we'll begin to learn how to find them."

"The first thing you have to figure out is whether your information is reliable. You can determine this easily if you know your source, but if you don't, you'll have to do a little research. This generally involves the library and looking up information yourself, talking to a village elder about the local legends for the area, or finding a scholar who knows about the myth behind the treasure you're looking for."

"Once you have your reliable information, or information you are willing to believe is reliable--not nearly the same thing, in case you were wondering--if you're lucky, you will have a map that tells you where the treasure is. If you don't, you'll have to come up with a map of your own, based on the information you've gathered from other sources. This map can either be of the terrain, generally including landmarks such as temples, statues, or landing fields, or physical features such as rocks, streams, and mountains. You want a map that uses items that won't erode or move over the course of time, because it makes it easier not to get lost. These, of course, are more expensive than the regular maps and you should take that into account when you are budgeting for your expedition."

"As a last resort when it comes to figuring out where you are, there is also the option of celestial navigation--using the stars to pinpoint your location. That's all well and good on this planet, but on other planets, the stars won't be familiar and the constellations will be missing. Don't forget that, or you could end up lost in a desert when you're meant to be in the woods, having lunch with a charming man and his mother. Er, not that that ever happened, of course," she added quickly.

"For this class, I'll ask you to explain your favorite way of verifying information, and then I'm going to let you loose with the maps--you have one of Fandom, and one of the night sky in the northern hemisphere of this planet. If you have a town map, I would like you to explore with it--mark what is at each location, or pick one location, and write down something valuable that you find there, so you can find it again. If you're using the star maps, I would like you to go out at night and attempt to find as many constellations as you can. As a tip for those of you who are interested in dating, this is an excellent activity for that sort of thing. Please mark them off as you find them."

[ooc: OCD is up! ~~in a second.~~ Handwaving is, as always, possible, if not as much fun.]

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Grinning with a bounce as she went to answer the question, Turtle pulled out today's copy of the Wall Street Journal (which she conveniently had in her bag) and smacked it down. She gave a significant nod towards it. "There we go. Gotta do some searching, but you'll find the best leads in here, guaranteed."

Vala eyed the newspaper with interest. "And how do you know the people who write those articles are trustworthy?"

"Because they have journalistic integrity and you can totally tell when companies have been bribing them to put in a good review," Turtle said, babbling slightly and rolling her eyes a bit. "It so shows. Besides, there's always the numbers to back it up, and the numbers don't lie, ma'am."

"Numbers can be manipulated, though, can't they?" Vala asked, though she wasn't as familiar with this method of stealing.

"Some can," Turtle agreed with a nod, "but these are pretty straight forward. I mean, the value of a stock is completely in what the number says. If the number says it, then it's true."

"What if you're dealing in something other than stock?"

Turtle shrugged. Why would anyone want to deal with something other than stock, anyway? "Intuition, I guess. If you don't feel it's a good investment, odds are that it isn't."

Vala nodded, "Yes, very important point, thank you, ah, Turtle. Your instincts will keep you out of trouble that you didn't even know you were in. How do you hone your instincts, to keep them in proper shape?"

"Keeping a good eye on the market, seeing what works and what doesn't, and following the trends. There's always trends, and you can get good at predicting them if you're good."

"What is your favorite trend--the irresistible one that will always draw your attention?"

"Technology," Turtle answered after very little thought. "There will always be a rise in the market for technology, but what technology is hot at the moment is always changing, and it crashes harder than anything, too, so you really gotta keep on your toes if you wanna make money there. I like that excitement, because when you do pull it off, it feels really good."

"Sounds a bit like gambling," Vala said with approval.

"A bit?" Turtle said with a smirk. "It is gambling."

"Now I understand the appeal, thank you."

"Hey, no problem!" Turtle bounced a little. "If you ever wanna get into it, lemme tell ya, come to me. I'll get you in good, promise."

Freelance Treasure Hunting, Monday, Period 5, Class #2

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