fandomhigh | Phys Ed: Week 3, Period 1 (Fri. 1/23)

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Phys Ed: Week 3, Period 1 (Fri. 1/23)

When students entered the Danger Shop this week, rather than a gym, or even a freezing powerless scape, they would find themselves transported to a lush green hillside. With a whole bunch of sheep. And a whole lot of heat.

As usual, Ronon started talking when he felt like it. "Today you'll work with a partner to shear some sheep. My teammate said this is a traditional gym class for the Scottish people. Call it cultural education or whatever." Ronon gestured to an area with all the necessary equipment for the process. "Grab some tools and some instructions and get started."

Ronon stopped himself from turning away. "Don't forget to dress out. Locker rooms are right behind you." Ronon himself was again wearing his standard leather ensemble with his massive hair pulled back in a band. And the whistle, just because.

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Well.

As far as learning new things went, shearing sheep was pretty much up there. Still, it was an exercise that could prove to be useful.

If Ender ever found himself on a planet full of sheep. He would have sighed in annoyance if he'd been the type.

Claire was not about to risk getting kicked or bitten or whatever the hell sheep did all by herself, and even though she didn't exactly know Ender, she'd seen him in class enough to know he probably would be one of the less annoying people to do this with.

"Hey, do you mind working together?"

Ender looked up and away from the sheep, finding a familiar face it took him a few seconds to come up with a name for. Claire. He was pretty sure he'd never spoken to her before. "Sure," he said, "My sheep-shearing skills are a little underdeveloped as it is."

"Mine are just nonexistent," Claire volunteered. "I've never even cut a person's hair before, let alone done the whole ... wool thing."

"I think the teacher's bored," he offered, picking up shears and considering them. Their use seemed fairly straight-forward. "It's not much of an exercise."

"Bored or sadistic," Claire said, eyeballing the sheep. "And I guess how much exercise it is depends on if sheep run fast."

She had no idea if they did or not.

"Whether they do or not, it's probably a good idea not to find out," Ender said, "So one of us will have to hold it down." He looked at Claire. "See any you like?" It was all of half a joke.

"You already have the clippers," she pointed out, scanning the sheep. "I hold, you cut? And, um, that little black one looks like he's not a kicker."

She had no idea.

"I guess we're about to learn an important lesson about sheep strategy," he said, straightfaced, and started to pick his way towards the sheep. "Do we or don't we get kicked."

"Important and incredibly valuable to our future lives," Claire agreed, also approaching the sheep and hoping the Danger Shop hadn't made sheep poo. That would just be gross.

"I'd rather it kicked than that it bit," she added. "Sheep probably have rabies or something."

"I'm in favour of neither," he commented, moving around the sheep so she'd have room to grab it. The idea of sheep poo didn't really cross his mind, but then Ender wasn't that used to live animals walking around. "Ready?"

"On three," Claire agreed, a look of concentration tinted with fear on her face.

She sort of threw herself at the sheep, which tried to throw her off in return and did, in fact, kick even if it didn't bite. But after a few seconds, she had a decent grip on its midsection. "Ow. Fuck. Ow. I have it, just ... do it fast."

"Working on it."

That part of Ender's mind that filed away all important lessons filed away the kicking-sheep thing, shook its head, and laughed. But on the outside, Ender was all concentration and nimble speed as he clicked on the clippers and pulled a nice stripe of wool off the sheep's side.

It was a really diagonal stripe, though, and it wasn't as deep in some patches as it was in the others. He also had to watch for Claire's hands, and that meant this might take more time than he'd originally thought. "Try the head," he said, covering up a mild frown with a carefully neutral expression.

"You mean, hold it there?" Claire was uneasy, even though she could see holding it by its middle was possibly not her brightest idea. "But then I have to let go."

"Break," Ender decided, turning off the clippers and moving away a few steps. "Then try again."

"... all right," Claire finally agreed. What was, she, a baby, to be freaked out by holding onto a fake sheep?

She let go, stepped back, and -- before the sheep could go anywhere, grabbed it snugly around its neck. "It's kinda cute from this angle," she decided. "Hurry."

"Just keep it steady," he said, moving back in, "It shouldn't be able to kick you from there."

A tactical brain, apparently, could be applied to just about anything.

Ender turned the clippers back on and swooped in, pulling a much neater stripe along the sheep's belly this time.

"But I'm within biting range," Claire informed him.

The sheep glared; Claire glared back, holding steady.

Edited 2009-01-23 16:18 (UTC)

"Not if you keep behind it," Ender said, settling into a nice rhythm of taking long, quick strips of wool off. He was starting to get a feel for the clippers, which made things go more smoothly. "Immobilize the head if you think there's a threat."

"It's a sheep," Claire couldn't help pointing out, because words like "Immobilize" and "threat" didn't really go with sheep in her worldview.

But she moved back anyhow.

"I'd figured that out," he said. In his worldview, words like 'immobilize' and 'threat' worked on just about anything.

Ender quickly finished up with one side, then dodged along the sheep's legs to get to the other one.

Claire made a little hmmphing noise in response, then shifted to give him more room to work, rotating her head to watch his progress. The sheep seemed subdued for the moment.

"You could carve in our initials," she joked.

Edited 2009-01-23 17:20 (UTC)

"I'm not sure they'd stick," he said. Ender wasn't being as thorough as he might have liked, but he had to keep in mind that the sheep could start bucking at any moment. His next few movements were rough, but they got most of the job done. "Maybe I should draw something."

"Stick figure?" Claire suggested, as the sheep grunted. "Something fast."

Ender flicked his wrist just enough to leave the crude impression of a smiley face on the sheep's leg, and then he backed away again. "Done," he said. "I'm an artist."

He didn't sound serious. Val would've said he was making headway.

Phys Ed: Week 3, Period 1 (Fri. 1/23)

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