Cooking for Camp and Field; Friday, First Period [05/28].

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis figured a day like this one would come eventually, where the weather didn't really suit his class at all. True, dealing with rain would be a normal part of any camping experience, but this was Cooking for Camp and Field, not merely Camp and Field by itself, although perhaps it wouldn't hurt to explore that as a more broad topic.

But he had a lesson plan and intended to stick with it, and he had been a little uncertain about the quality of the fishing around the island anyway, so when they class made it out to their meeting spot, there was a portal waiting for them.

They absolutely loved him at Portalocity this week...

"Today," he informed them, "we're taking our camp and field class on a bit of a field trip, as we will be exploring the inner angler in us all. That's right. Today, we will be fishing, and not only that, but we will be learning what to do with our fish once we catch them and plan to prepare them for consumption. If you already have some experience in fishing, excellent, I look forward to seeing what you catch. If not, not to worry, I will break down the basics and the equipment once we're settled in our new location. We're going to a spot I know of that is excelling angling for both beginners and experts, and is quite in the wilderness, as well, so that we can get the full camp and field experience. So, without further ado..."

He gestured toward the portal in case anyone in particular would like to take the lead, but not before adding, "Oh. And once we arrive, do try to stay close to the fishing spot and avoid getting lost, if you can."

You know who you were!

Cupcake Skirmishes, Period 3, Friday 5/28

[stykera]

Like the previous 2 weeks, Stark was waiting in the Home Ec room. Today he had a large coffee from the Perk with him, one of his usual extremely sugary drinks.

“Coffee,” Stark said brightly, holding up the cup, “goes well with baked goods. Or in baked goods!” He’d maybe already had coffee today. He might need the extra caffeine to get through paintball later. It certainly wouldn’t hurt. “It goes very well with chocolate, especially. But chocolate goes well with a lot of things.”

“I have instant coffee,” he said, pulling a jar out of the box on the counter, “chocolate-covered espresso beans, and there’s regular coffee, brewed coffee, as well. And cold brew. Different recipes call for different things. The beans are mostly for decoration. Or just eating. And of course plenty of chocolate. There’s almost always chocolate.”

“I’ve brought several recipes to choose from.” He pointed to a stack of printed recipes on the counter. "Try one, or more than one if you're feeling ambitious."

Coffee cupcakes with coffee buttercream and raspberry filling
Coffee cupcakes with salted caramel frosting
Mocha cupcakes with espresso buttercream
Cold brew cupcakes with mocha buttercream
Chocolate cupcakes with coffee cream filling

"I can help if you need. Or want. Oh. And there's coffee for drinking, if anyone wants that."

It was just going to be a caffeinated sort of day.

Blacksmithing Basics; Friday, Third Period [05/28].

[special_rabbit]

"Morning, class!" Amaya greeted her bold little blacksmithing bunch with the usual good cheer you'd expect from a woman who had actual paying projects in her life once again and now was taking a break to spread a little bit of her knowledge before getting right back into it.

"Now that we've got our basic knife shapes hammered out, today's class is going to focus on refining that shape and sharpening it up nicely with the use of files. Now, more often than not, a blacksmith is likely to use something like the grindstone over there," she hitched her thumb toward it, "but since we're focusing on the basics, it's good to know how to really get in there and do it more manually. When you're doing the filing itself, you're more likely to learn how the metal responds to different movements and pressure, even different sharpness and grain in the file itself, and you're just not going to get that kind of precision with a grindstone. It'll take more time, but, well, most good things do, don't they?"

She took a moment then to introduce the students to a few different kinds of files and made her recommendations for which one they consider using, as well as a little bit about proper storage and maintenance, because taking care of your tools was just as, if not more important, than taking care of your blades. Then, it was on to showing them how best set a clamp on their worktable, which would help them immensely in keeping the knife still and in place so they can do the best job they could. "Sure," she said, "you can try holding it with one hand and file with the other, but you're not going to have a very good time of it. Keeping the piece steady and solid while you work is essential to getting those nice smooth and sharp lines on your blade that you're going to want.

"So, wouldn't you know it?" she couldn't help a faint grin. "You might have been onto something with your tongs there, last week, Beaker."

Amaya, please don't actually encourage him...

:But now! Onto the filing! Come on in a little closer and have a look at how I'm doing it before you start on your own. It's essentially pretty simple, and just requires a lot of attention to detail." And as she went into detail about how and where to start and why, how to clean it up as you move along, showing how different files would yeild different results, and just pointing out how the metal changed as she worked.

"Now, it looks simple," she told them, after she figured she'd gone through most of what she could; you could only tell so much before doing became the better teacher, "but I'm sure you'll find, once you get started, that's a bit of a deception. But the only way to know for sure is to get at it, so I'm going to stop talking and let you guys give it a go on your pieces. Don't hesitate to ask any questions as you're working through it, either," and she nodded in acknowledgement and appreciation for the fact that there'd been no shortage of that in this class thus far, which was honestly amazing, "especially if you feel you may have messed up somewhere along the line; thing with filing is, it's easy to make a mistake, but it's not difficult to set it right again if you know how.

"So let's get to it. We'll want these all nicely filed up and shaped out for the next step for the next class."

Paintball!, Friday, May 28, 2021

[heroic_jawline]

The set up had once more been altered so as to not give anyone an advantage at the game, but the rest was very much the same as the previous weeks.

"So, you made it through another week of classes," Tony said, maybe riffing on someone's PSA's a little bit.

Steve had the weirdest impulse to find a chair to sit on and look at him from! "Dean Skywalker sends his regrets," he said, grinning at Stark and Lana, "so him not being here will probably make things slightly...um."

Less cheaty? Or not because Five was still there.

"Less competitive?" Tony ventured. Because the Hargreeves mostly went after each other.

Steve nodded in agreement. "Today we have some modified Nerf guns for you--better for distance than the balloons but still not going to hurt anyone. Have fun!"

Practical Philosophy, Friday

[endsthegame]

"In the modern Western view, influenced as it is by Christian theology, each person consists of a body and a soul," Ender said. "Sometimes we add on the mind, as well, with our soul being some carrier of an innate emotional self, and the mind holding our capacity for thought. The general idea behind this is that our bodies are simply lumps of flesh, possessed by a soul that is eternal. You inhabit your body, but you are your soul."

He reached for his bottle of water.

"There are cases where our body doesn't map so well onto the soul," he said. "People with phantom limbs, or transgender people who don't see the body they should have in the mirror, for instance. A quirk of the body misaligns with the soul and wrecks the self? Whatever it means, that lump of flesh is apparently more than just a vessel. It means something. And for it to not be what it's supposed to can have grave consequences for the soul."

He unscrewed the cap and took a sip.

"Fandom likes to play with our bodies," he said. "Sometimes, Dean Skywalker likes to do so, too. Has that ever happened to you? Did it tell you anything about yourself? How did you feel?"

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

[misshapen_spark]

"Self defense!" Yang said cheerfully, slapping an inhibitor bracelet of her own on her biological arm as the students arrived. "AKA, 'How to Punch Someone Without Breaking Your Hand!'"

"Unpowered hand-to-hand is tougher than people realize," she continued, rolling her shoulders and started to stretch herself out in preparation. "How do you land a hit without someone just grabbing your arm? How do you know what to do? Or where the best places are on a humanoid body to hit?"

"Are you fast, or strong? Do you even know? How much pain are you willing to cause another person? Even one who wants to hurt you? Sometimes our hearts balk at the idea of causing pain, even during self-defense."

"So today, we're going to start with a very basic workout to get you limbered-up. If you need a spotter because you're not used to a physical work-out, either pair up with a friend or waive me down."

"After that, we're going to go over the very basics: how to throw a punch without hurting yourself. Usual weakpoints for humanoid opponents. Basic self-defense moves."

"For those of you with more experience, you can activate a training dummy to work on a more advanced setting, or ask me to tag in for a spar. Now, let's get ready to rumble!"