Off The Grid: Laying Low for Beginners, Tuesday, Period Two

[uncertain_dume]

"So," Kanan said, leaning back against his desk with his arms crossed, "while I allow that not everybody who has ever had to drop everything and run has had the slightest indication that they might have to do so someday, I am going to assume that most of you are in this class because you're expecting trouble in one form or another eventually."

Not just because so many of you potentially were trouble, but the thought was there, sort of.

"So today, I'm going to stress the importance of having a game plan, in case you need to run. Figuring out what you'd take with you is just one step, and while I appreciate the reasons why a weapon seems like a good starting point for most of you, there's more to running than that. Figuring out where you're running to is important. You could pack up and run forever, yes, but even knowing there's somewhere that you can stop and take cover is a big help. Having a safe place lined up in case you need to sleep is invaluable, trust me. Even if it's just a quick stop along the way. Having some way to get your hands on food? Also pretty important. Or, if you're simply running from some bullies who just want to shove you into a locker," because Kanan was aware that not all of his students were warriors and refugees, "knowing the best hiding places that they'll pass by without noticing you will save you a few really cramped nights."

He assumed. He'd never spent a night in a locker, himself. That he could remember, anyhow.

"Do you know what travel routes are safest? How about which ones are most dangerous? If there are dangerous routes, are they the sort of dangers that you can handle, but your pursuers can't?"

He waved a hand vaguely toward the door.

"Right now, we're on an island flying through space, hovering over a forest moon populated by tiny carnivorous tribal locals. It's probably safe to assume that we'll be somewhere else before the week is through. So, here's your discussion topic for the day. If our next stop happened to be somewhere that was more dangerous to you than staying on the island would be worth, and if whatever made it dangerous knew where you considered 'home' away from here, where would you go next? How would you get there? Have you got a means of escaping this place, and do you suppose you would have to hide or fight along the way? Let's hear your escape plans. Feel free to collaborate with one another to come up with something that could actually do the trick for several of you at once. Maybe strength in numbers will work for you. That one is your call."

[OOC: Open!]

Beat The Heat: Indoor Activities 101, Tuesday, Period 3

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Class was back in the Danger Shop today, and would see Hardison lounging on a couch in front of a truly ridiculously-sized TV screen. "'Sup class," he said with a lazy wave. "So, with the advent of the internet, TV got hella cooler. No commercials, for starters, an' you get to watch stuff on your own time. Better than that, we have whole series of TV shows just waitin' at our fingertips to enjoy, from the hottest new shows to stuff you ain't even thought about since you were a kid. You can kill whole days just watchin' TV, avoidin' the heat an' the outdoors. It's great. Hell, it even gave rise to a cultural phenomenon called Netflix an' Chill, which I ain't gonna explain. Y'all have access to the internet, you can look it up if you wanna find out."

Because nope, nope, nope! No way was he going to explain that to a bunch of teens.

"Between Netflix, Hulu, an' Amazon Prime, there's a ton of programmin' for you to enjoy. The only trick is makin' sure you can find somethin' y'all agree on."

Extreme PE [Monday, Period Three]

[doubleohblonde]

Today the inside of the Danger Shop looked a lot like the outside of the moon they were orbiting. Namely in that there was a giant not-Redwood taking up most of the apparent space. The class itself was taking place on a wide platform attached to the side of the tree, and ropes and pulleys dangled off the side.

"Good afternoon," Bond greeted them. "Now today you're going to be trying out a form of abseiling commonly referred to as the Australian rappel, due to its origins within the Australian Armed Forces."

Which was a very round about way of saying theyw ere going to e running down the tree attached to ropes.

Working the Long Con, Tuesday, First Period

[talentforlying]

"You're all broke students, so you'll like this one," John said once everyone had shown up. "Change raising, also known as a quick-change artist, is a common short con and involves an offer to change an amount of money with someone, while at the same time taking change or bills back and forth to confuse the person as to how much money is actually being changed. The most common form, 'the Short Count', has been featured prominently in several movies about grifting, notably Nueve Reinas, The Grifters, Criminal, and Paper Moon." Yes, John watched movies. What else was there to do around here?

"For example, a con artist shopping at a gas station pays for a cheap item - under a dollar, say, for you Americans - and gives the clerk a ten dollar bill. The con gets back nine ones and the change then tells the clerk he has a one and will exchange ten ones for a ten. Now, here's the con: get the clerk to hand over the $10 before handing over the ones. Then the con hands over nine ones and the $10. The clerk will assume a mistake and offer to swap the ten for a one. Then the con will probably just say: "Here's another one, give me a $20 and we're even." Notice that the con just swapped $10 for $20. The $10 was the store's money, not the scammer's."

"Now, say you're the clerk. To avoid this con, keep each transaction separate and never ever permit the customer to handle the original ten before handing over the ten ones. It's just common sense."

"Another variation is to flash a $20 bill to the clerk, then ask for something behind the counter. When the clerk turns away, the con artist can swap the bill he is holding to a lesser bill. The clerk might then make change for the larger bill, without noticing it has been swapped. The technique works better when bills are the same colour at a glance like, for instance, American money. It doesn't work so well in countries where a ten is pink and a twenty blue, and so on, unless you've scooped your mark in advance and know he's colorblind."

"A similar technique exists when a con comes to a gas station with a young clerk, buying something cheap, showing him an uncommonly huge bill while not giving it and telling the clerk to prepare the change. While he's busy counting the change, the con would ask many questions in order to disturb the young clerk. When change is counted and ready the con is acting as if he had given the huge bill. If the clerk does not remember having received the bill, the con will say he gave him the money. If the clerk is weak or disturbed enough, he could let the scammer go away with the change."

"Now here's your money." John grabbed a large basket of Monopoly money out from under his desk and started tossing wads of bills at the students. "See if you can scam each other, and keep a hold of your own money at the same time."