Keeping Your Advantage: Terrain and You, Week III [Monday, Period 4]

[atreideslioness]

"Welcome back," Ghanima said as the students entered the Danger Shop. She was standing beside two large trunks, and the room was blank, not yet assigned an environment. "Today, we're going a bit farther north than many of you, myself included, are accustomed to."

She pressed a button on the remote, and suddenly the students would find themselves surrounded by snow and cold winds. "Welcome to the Arctic!" Ghanima said cheerfully.

( There are strange things done in the midnight sun / by the men who moil for gold; / The Arctic trails have their secret tales / That would make your blood run cold )

"Now get to work," she said, opening the second chest to distribute tools to the class before taking a knife for herself. She wasn't going to ask the students to do something that she was unwilling to attempt herself. "Feel free to work solo or in groups. I programmed the room so that we've got one hour to dark, and you don't want to be caught out without a place to sleep."


[OCD Up!]

Basketball- 6th Period- Class #3

[slapbetcommish.livejournal.com]

Yep, Lily was back for class today, though minus her guitar.

"Hi, guys!" she called. "So I know you might not be used to going to class on a holiday. And some of you might not even know today is a holiday, because our education here is sorely lacking in that kind of thing. But today is Memorial Day, which is a day when we remember- see, it's pretty easy there- people who fought in wars. And we have a lot of those. So to celebrate, we usually get the day off, and even though the real first day of summer isn't until June this holiday marks the real start of summer because this is when cookout season starts.

"So since most places would have the day off, I'm going to just play some music, and you all can do whatever you want today!"

Lily, you let them do that every wee- Oh, never mind, she was already hitting play on the little CD player she'd brought, as it was more festive than the guitar.

Civil War Re-Enactment; Monday, Period Three [ 05/25 ].

[civilwarsongs.livejournal.com]

Feeling a little iffy about the weather, Jasper had the class meet again in the Danger Shop, in an open field surrounded by some trees. "Welcome back," he said, going straight into things. He wanted to get to the battle, so they could finish it and he could get to the point of today's class. "We're a few months past where we were last time, at Fort Sumter. Where we are now is near Manassas Junction, where two unseasoned generals from both sides will be clashing in what is considered the first real battle of the American Civil War. Called the First Battle of Bull Run by some, the First Battle of Manassas by others, this is a pivotal moment where America realized that they'd gotten themselves into something big. Pressured by public opinion to march on the Confederate capitol of Richmond, Virginia to put an early end to the war, Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell of the Union met with Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard of the Confederacy, both finding that their inexperience was leading the situation to be nothing like what they expected."

"At first, however, the Confederacy seemed at the disadvantage, until reinforcements arrived under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston; this changed the course of the battle. It was also helped significantly thanks to a brigade of Virginians lead by a then-unknown colonel by the name of Thomas J. Jackson -- that'd be you, Miss Stackhouse." He gave the girl a smile assuming she was there. It was kind of hard not to feel warmth toward a girl who'd picked Stonewall in a heartbeat. "These Virginians stood their ground, which is how Jackson earned his infamous nickname of 'Stonewall.' The Confederacy was able to pull a strong counterattack, causing the Union to withdraw to Washington, D.C., panicked and surprised to see what they thought would be a quick victory turn into a defeat."

"Pretty straightforward, really, so the object of today's battle is for the Confederacy, no matter what, under Colonel Jackson's command, to hold their ground against our Union. Our Union's bigger than our Confederacy, which works, as the Union had significantly more men, but, for the purposes of today, Mr. Cullen, you're going to be our already-there Beauregard force. When I give the signal, Colonel Jackson and the others will arrive to reinforce you. Union, give Beauregard hell until then." Again, he couldn't help grinning.

"Suit up, to arms, and I'll have a little more to say once the Confederates have their victory."


[[ wait for the ocd is standing its ground! Class Roster and Syllabus ]]

Spy Games, Class 3, Monday period 5

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

When the class filed in, they didn't find Sarah waiting for them, but a rather familiar looking priest.

"Hello class," he greeted them. "Your teacher couldn't be here today so she asked me to fill in for her. I'm Father Winchester.

"Our sermon today is on disguises. Yeah, sure you can get a lot of information by the breaking and entering route, but sometimes you're going to have to interact with people. Sometimes you're going to want to blend in, get them to not notice you. Other times you're going to want to get them to trust you, tell you things they might not ordinarily do so. Disguises are an important tool in both situations.

"Say you need to check some medical records -- you're going to have a lot better chance of getting to them without incident if you dress like you belong, some scrubs or a white coat and suddenly youre an orderly or a doctor and no one's looking at you twice or questioning why you're roaming the halls or going into that office.

"Or say someone's died and you think there's something hinky about it. The family's in mourning, they're not going to want to talk to just any Joe Blow about the details." Dean put on his most pious expression. "But a priest paying a courtesy call to pay his respects and offer his condolences, now that's someone they'll feel comfortable talking about the gory details to."

Dean grinned at them. "Every situation is going to be different, but with a little ingenuity you can come up with a disguise to fit. Need to get into a place and have some uninterrupted time there? How about posing as exterminators that are spraying for something that requires an empty house? All you need is to think outside the box."

He gestured to a set of racks full of all sorts of clothing and boxes of accessories. "Over there is a broad selection of things you can use to create a disguise. What I want you to do is to not only put together a disguise but come up with a senario where that particular disguise would be useful. Extra points given for originality."

[ooc: wait for ocd's up! Have at it]