Cooking for Camp and Field; Friday, First Period [05/21].

[chef_chocobro]

After last week, Ignis was wondering if he'd started out a bit...ambitiously for this class. He hadn't really expected a situation where Prompto was actually one the least concerning students. But hopefully this week would go a bit better, the recipes were a bit more toned down, and he could only imagine that the cooking aspect of the course was actually going to be the easier part.

"Good morning, everyone," he greeted them as they met in the same old campground spot in the preserve as last time, "and welcome back. The next few weeks of this course will be exploring different ways to procuring ingredients in the wild, especially if your resources are running a bit dry while you're out on the field. Today, we'll be looking at foraging.

"Now, naturally, the breadth of wild, foragable foods available to you will depend vastly on your location, region, perhaps even what planet you are on, so it's always a good idea to research an area and the edible plants one is likely to find there before going there. I have compiled for you a general guide of things that are most common in a wide variety of places. Please keep in mind, if you are unsure if a certain plant, vegetable, fungus or berry is edible, it is better to be safe than sorry. Stick with what you know will be safe.

"Luckily," he added, "this particular island seems to exist bound by its own rules of flora and fauna, and it turns out that there is a oh so convenient and handwavey vast array of edible plants to forage here in this very preserve if you know where to look for them. So we'll take some time, look over your guides, and venture out to see what you can find. We'll go over it when you return so you can start indentifying good foraging from bad, and then we'll get into how to make them into a satisfying meal. Any questions before we begin?"

He had his own question, really, about how long it would take some of them to get lost in the foraging efforts, but he was keeping that thought to himself.

Blacksmithing Basics; Friday, Third Period [05/21].

[special_rabbit]

"Good morning, everyone!" Amaya seemed pretty chipper when it came to class that morning, because the last time she did this course, it had been the summer where everything went a bit wonky each week, meaning she had to improvise a lot of her lessons because of various complications such as being stuck in the stone age or having a flooded shop, but this summer, they had been spared such things and so she could forge (HA!) on ahead with business as usual! Just as it should be!

"Now, last week, you had the chance to learn about some of the basic blacksmithing techniques when shaping your metal. We'll actually be working with steel for these new few weeks, as well, so you can see how different metals feel, since we worked with iron last week, and we'll be focusing on making daggers. Daggers are smaller, so they won't take as much time to heat and forge, but they're also small, so there's more attention to detail and more attention paid to what you're doing because there's not a whole lot it's being done to.

"But first? A recap, especially on tapering because that's what we'll be working on most today," said Amaya as she pulled out a piece of steel she'd been heating in the forge and went over some of the finer points of tapering and rounding that would be useful coming up, being sure to go over the various angles and pressure point, surface contact ratio, so on and so forth, stopping occasionally so that she could really show the students the results of what she was explaining.

"And now the fun part," she said, gesturing to the steel and hammers, gloves and goggles and tongs on each of the makeshift workstations. "Actually making the knife. Now this should be a lesson in using the tongs to hold your piece while you're forging it, because the pieces we'll be using are too small to really hold with our hands. These pieces are still too big, though, so go ahead and get them in the forge to heat them up, and then you'll take turns trying to shape them. Be sure to watch the others while waiting, too; you might learn something just from watching. Case in point, while you're waiting, I'll hammer out the sort of shape we're looking for, and the way to forge the tang--that's the term we use for the handle, basically--so you can have an idea as you try to work it out yourself. Today is entirely just hitting and shaping, really, so let me know if you're having trouble and we can see what needs to be fixed, or if you think you've got it, just keep working, go in for a few more heats in the forge if you've got the time. And remember, the nice thing about steel and heat is that once you get it hot enough, it's malleable, meaning if you mess it up, just heat it up and try again, though if you do mess up, try and see if you can figure out how to just pound it back to where you want it to be, first. You might be pleasantly surprised.

"There's also plenty more where that came from, so if you keep messing up to the point where the integrity of your steel is compromised, we can just start fresh with a new rod. Anything you'd like me to go over again before getting to the anvil? Or shall we just quit the yammering and start hammering?"

...yes, she was stupidly proud of that one, shut up.

Paintball!, Friday, May 21, 2021 [6th period]

[imafuturist]

The course had changed over the week--few barriers to hide behind, for one, and a few more spots to climb up and snipe from, but only if you got up there before someone hit you. The water balloons full of paint had stayed, though: Steve and Tony had immediately noticed how competitive this group was and had decided to stay away from weapons that left bruises for now.

"Just a reminder," Steve began, "that once you've been hit with paint, you can no longer hit someone else with paint to eliminate them."

Anakin. He's so disappointed in you.

"So try to make it a mutual elimination rather than, well, cheating," Tony suggested. Again, so disappointed, Anakin. But he didn't have those Captain America super powers of disappointment.

"So suit up, grab some paintballs, and get ready to have fun!"

Cupcake Skirmishes, Period 3, Friday 5/21

[stykera]

Like last week, cupcake class was held in the Home Ec room because that’s the best place to bake things in the school.

“This week I was thinking of cookies and cream cupcakes,” Stark said. “Because the idea of Oreos came up. So,” he gestured to a box in front of him, “I brought cookies to add to cupcakes!”

Why not combine two baked goods, after all?

He opened the box and pulled out a package of Oreos, followed by some chocolate chip cookies, and then a package of animal crackers which he held up with a slightly confused expression before shrugging and placing them next to the other cookies.

“I have recipes for Oreo cupcakes, and chocolate chip cookie dough ones. I’m...not sure why the animal cookies are here. But you can use those if you like. Or make something else, that’s also fine.”

“If you need help, I’m here. You can always pair up, as well.”

So You Want to Be a Hero. [Friday, Period 5]

[misshapen_spark]

"Welcome back," Yang said, once everyone had arrived at the Danger Shop. This time, she was wearing her metal arm, but again in a tank-top so the contrast between her two limbs was very obvious. "Grab your bracelets, and let's get started on threat assessment."

"What is a threat? Honestly? You're in more danger from situations that you don't see as threatening," she said, shrugging. "It's when you underestimate someone or something that you're going to find yourselves in trouble."

"But you can start by applying the basics to everything."

"First off, we have 'Identification.' Your ability to identify threats to commit a potential unfavorable act. Now remember, just because something has the potential to act in a way that could negatively impact you doesn't mean they will. You don't get to act on a 'maybe' without any evidence. You don't get to sterotype people, or make assumptions."

"Which brings us to 'Initial Assessment.' Not all threats are created equal, and you have to determine the seriousness of a potential problem. When you're solo, all you've got is you, and maybe the reports of issues in an area. If there's a Nevermore nest in the area, there's going to be farmers complaining, or livestock going missing, or a town that's been flattened. Or if it's a person, find out who they're close to, talk to them to get a bigger picture. If you've got a team, you bounce thoughts off each other, to find the different angles. If you can talk to other people, you're always going to be able to build a better picture of what you're facing."

"Then you've got 'Management.' You have to develop an intervention plan to address the underlying issue. In the case of wild animals, how to relocate them if possible, or put them down if they're too dangerous. When you're dealing with people, it gets complicated. What's your ideal outcome? Does your threat exist because of a stressor a person is under? Are these people being bandits because they're assholes, or because they've lost everything and don't see another option? Are they willing participants, or is there a captive situation? Is this something that can be fixed with community involvement, or even an individual intervention?"

Sorry, did you think Yang was a one-size-fits-all punch-it girl to fix problems? Well, yes, it was her favored path forward, but she'd also learned a lot at Beacon, before everything fell apart. And the only thing bigger than her punches was her heart.

"Now, in the cases where the assessment reveals a true threat, that's where 'heroes' come in. Or law enforcement, if that's a thing in your world, but let's be real, cops aren't a great option most of the time because they see everything in terms of going straight at a problem, usually with violence, instead of looking to find a path around."

"So now you have to do 'Assessment.' Yes, again. You did your initial assessment, and maybe attempted some management, but you need to take a second look. Have you done everything you could? What are your other options? Do you need to put in place a safety plan for the locals?"

"When do you need a safety plan? When the R-S-I-F indicators are all red flags. That is, the RECENCY-SEVERITY-INTENSITY-FREQUENCY aspects of the threat."

"And then you start all over again. Threat assessment is a circle, not a linear event. And a lot of times? You have to do all those steps at once, in the middle of combat. So let's go!"

Practical Philosophy, Friday

[endsthegame]

"It's been a calm week," said Ender, sitting as he was underneath a tree on the lawn. The usual spread of sandwiches and drinks was set out before everyone on the blanket.

"I've always found that this place inspires dread when it's quiet," he said, taking a thoughtful sip of his water. "That sense of 'something will happen, sometime, and we don't know when'."

He set his bottle down.

"But I'm told I'm a paranoid person," he said. "I'm curious about your experiences. Does Fandom have you sitting on the edge of your seat, alert and aware anything can happen? Or do you take a more easygoing approach - whatever will be, will be? Or has the island simply not given you anything to be fearful of, because you're used to worse?"