fandomhigh | How to Blow Things Up: Period 1, Week 3

Today the class wasn't meeting in the Danger Shop. Following the directions in the note ~~handwavily~~ delivered, the students would find themselves in a clearing with sandbag 'bunkers' at one end facing a large pile of stones and twisted metal. On the other end, several rows of different types of grenades were laid out carefully. Aly stood in the middle, trying not to be nervous over her students' first experience in class with live explosives. She was mostly failing, but the nerves weren't showing through to her students as anything other than a bit of tenseness.

Once everyone was assembled, she spoke up. "Morning, everybody. As I hope you've noticed by now, we're not in the Danger Shop. Which means that the grenades over there are live. Today is so not the day to fool around or be in less than your absolute top form or you'll be lucky if detention is the least you get."

Confident she had everyone's attention, she nodded. "This is going to be fun. Those of you who haven't handled live rounds before, don't be nervous, just be very careful. You'll be fine." She gave a short and thorough lecture the development and uses of different types of grenades before going on to the proper procedures for arming and throwing the weapons.

"No explosive we try is going to be the best possible choice in every situation," she said, wrapping up. "For grenades, the delay between pulling the pin and the explosion means you can throw it, but the enemy could throw it back at you or it could bounce off a wall and roll back towards one of your allies. So what I want you to do today before trying them for yourself is discuss with a partner or two the tactical advantages of grenades. Why use them and not a Molotov cocktail that can't come back at you? Or a gun which has a longer range? Or would you use them at all except as a last resort?"

"After that, come over and try them out for yourself."

Aly had positioned herself so only one person at a time could approach the bunker with its firing position. No need to for more chaos to impinge on some of the students.

[OOC: Whee, things go boom! Aly's completely serious about the penalties for horsing around in this class. If you want to get detention ping in the OOC thread, otherwise I'll give you a heads up if your character is skirting the line. ~~Please wait for~~ OCD is up!]

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Setsuna tilted her head a moment at the staring Annette before asking, "Need a partner?"

"Hi, Setsuna," she said, nodding. "Yeah."

"So," she said. "Grenades. Do you have much experience with them, Annette?"

What? Setsuna didn't really know her all that well; it seemed a perfectly feasible thing to ask.

"Not really. I've thrown a smoke one before but that is it." she answered. "What about you?"

"Minimal," Setsuna admitted. "It's very rare that they're actually available, although I have used smoke and gas bombs which are similar, and tags like Yondaime-sensei teaches. They seem a bit more effective, although I do know some people who are just crazy about grenades..."

Well, there was definitely more to Setsuna than Annette would have ever expected. She raised curious brows and said, "I've never tried to purchase any actually and I would hope that they were not readily available for your everyday consumer. But what are tags? I'm probably not crazy about them but I would be lying did I say I wasn't eager to throw a couple."

Setsuna smiled a little at that last part. "Tags are usually used by ninjas. Paper ~~or something~~ pouches with gunpowder and the like inside, detonated through the release of chi energy. I also know some paper magic spells that can be used to the same accord. Their much smaller and easier to manage than grenades, really, which are clunky, older technology at best..."

Annette always looked at Setsuna as a dainty figure of a girl. Small, petite, cute. She never thought her to be a ninja or a person of magic - and that's what she was saying right? That she was a ninja? Better ask to be sure, "Are you a ninja, Setsuna?"

Setsuna arched an eyebrow at Annette. What? Did this girl live under a rock or something? Although, really, it wasn't like Setsuna ever made much of a presence about herself in class or anything like that. But...that kind of went along with the business.

"Uhh...yeah," she said, with a slight laugh. Maybe that just meant she'd been ninjaing exceptionally well. She hoped Alianne-sensei heard that question. "You could say that."

So she didn't get out much or pay much attention, really. It wasn't that much of a sin, was it? Girls and ninjas - she just didn't think about them going hand in hand. Except for Tori. She knew Tori was a ninja.

"Cool," Annette replied. Hey, was Setsuna laughing at her? Great. Now she felt stupid. Geeze.

And now here came in the real test, but she was pretty sure...

"...Are you?"

For a brief moment, Annette thought about answering yes. She was a ninja. She could do all sorts of neat ninja-y things. But then, yeah, she'd probably feel more stupid.

"...no."

Setsuna's head tilted a little. "You were in that spy tech class in that one semester, with me, weren't you?" she asked. "And now this class. Do you plan on doing any spy work or anything like that? Or just sort of a...general interest?"

She smiled, "I was, yes, and I loved it!" That was a class that Annette had thoroughly enjoyed. "I've considered it. I think I could be good at it if I had a chance to do some real training outside of any workshop classes. I am also in Aly's spy class."

Setsuna smiled a little. "I took that class, too. Or one very similar to it. She's very good, Alianne-sensei..."

"Why do you call her that? I mean I know her name, but why the sensei?"

"Out of habit more than anything else," Setsuna's head ducked a little with her smile. "It's Japanese, for teacher, but, here, I use it mostly to signify when I have a particular respect for a teacher and her craft."

"Oh, I see," Annette said. "Aly must feel very proud that you refer to her that way. I really like that, Setsuna."

Setsuna shrugged. "Like I said, habit, mostly. Just as you might call someone sir or ma'am. In Japan, honorifics to the name are very important, but I've been here long enough that, for the most part, I've stopped using them except for in certain situations. It just isn't the same here."

"One day, I think I should like to visit Japan." She said thoughtfully.

"It really is a beautiful country," Setsuna said softly, her smile a slightly wistful, homesick one. "But, then again, I might be considered rather biased."

Annette smiled, sensing her homesickness. "Do you think you will go back?"

"I know I'll go back," Setsuna said, her tone suddenly very firm, but backing off just as quickly, with a frown. "It's just a matter of figuring out...when..."

How to Blow Things Up: Period 1, Week 3

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