Life Skills; Monday, First Period [01/23].

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Alright," said Summer, feelings all too comfortable leaning forward on a Danger Shop version of the check-out counter at Turtle & Canary (complete with Fake Squishy Machine and AI Apu!), "so. Continuing with our practical approach to this class in a variety of useful, but not exactly thematically cohesive, ways, today, we're going to move onto something that could be a little tricky in a place where so many people are from so many different places, but we're going to talk about money. In particular, we're going to focus a lot on budgeting. Sounds super fun, right?

"Now, obviously," she continued, "we're all from different places, so there's a good chance you have a different form of currency or maybe you don't even have a monetary system, but some sort of barter and trade deal instead. But since you're here now, we're going to focus on American currency and capitalism for the purposes of this particular lesson."

Which meant it was time for a quick overview of the US currency, which included a nice laminated handout of some conversion rates that surely wouldn't make anyone's eyes gloss over from trying to decipher it. She explained a little bit that, if you haven't already, the bank in Fandom was actually great at converting all sorts of interdimensional currency into currency to be used here, and, obviously, the sheet was only covering some other countries on this planet only.

"So now we're going to move onto a little thing called budgeting, which is basically just managing your money so you don't run out of it. Some people have an astonishingly difficult time doing this. Other people are far too good at it and end up not spending their money on anything. Most people are probably going to be somewhere in between. We're going to talk a little bit about different ways to budget, as well as tips to make it a little easier, and then we're going to practice, and then I'm going to give you some homework."

Hey, they were the ones who mostly voted for all this practical real life life skills stuff! Don't get mad at her for sticking to it!

"But, today, we're practicing with grocery shopping; you're going to get a random amount of money, and you get to spend the class trying to figure out the best way to spend it here in this fake T&C, and still have enough left over for, like, rent and other expenses. And then, for the homework, I have a worksheet for you to work on through a weekly budget that includes things like making time for leisure and eating out and things like that. Don't stress about it too much if there's a writing or language barrier there, we'll try to figure something out. The main goal is just to help you be smarter about money. Which, I mean, I'm definitely not the best person to be teaching that, but at least I know my spending habits are dumb.

"And with that? Let's get started."

Sensory Deprivation Combat Training; Monday, Third Period [01/23].

[chef_chocobro]

At this point, the students shouldn't be too terribly surprised to find themselves, yet again, in a large darkened room, with only a few red lowlights to give them an idea of where walls were, and a light on Ignis' lapel to help them locate him beyond just the sound of his voice to start out with.

"Once again," he said, "we're working further with our blackout course, but we will be adding a new element. Quite a bit of this training will be very repetitive; when you are accustomed to relying on certain things, getting used to being without them take practice, it takes time, it takes that repetition, with slight variations to increase the challenge each time. So far, we've worked on our spatial relations and approaching enemies in the dark. But what about avoiding things coming at you?"

As if on cue, then a short pinging sound sliced through the air, in the same way a small dart, illuminated for the purposes of display, did, from behind Ignis, right past his shoulder, which it barely missed because he managed to lean to the side, out of the way, just in time, and the bolt continued until it hit the wall and clattered to the floor. He gave a soft smile.

"We'll be avoiding projectiles today," he said. "Don't worry; they'll probably only sting a little from impact thanks to the danger shop, but don't let that dissuade you from learning how to avoid them as best you can. It may seem difficult, to expect to be able to learn how to dodge a quite literal shot in the dark, but there are ways of determining where a shot might be coming from, and how to determine where it is going. Your most valuable asset in this with be sound. Listen for the signs: a shot has to be coming from somewhere, after all, does it not? Listen for the discharge. Even the most stealthy of arrows will still make a sound when moving through the air. Listen for that, as well. And learn from each one. You can determine all sorts of things, such as speed, direction, perhaps even size, if you know how to listen for it.

"So," he said. "The good news is that the floor is indeed solid and you need not worry about pitfalls today. We will also be doing this in two parts; the first part will involve the low lighting and the darts will also be illuminated as you get used to it and try to learn what to listen for; then we'll have a break, before we dive into full immersion and see how you do there. Any questions before we begin?"

Practical Wilderness Survival- Second Period- Monday

[alwaysonguard]

"So we are going to look at another aspect of wilderness survival that is a must," Dwight said as he stood and made his way to the front of the class once everyone had gathered in the Danger Shop. "Aside from water, one of the most critical things necessary to survive any length of time in the wilderness is a heat source. Even in warmer seasons, the nights can get very cold. And if you get wet, the chill can be even greater. And naturally, in the winter, hypothermia is a real concern if you are without a good fire for any length of time."

"There are many ways to build a fire, and several tricks that can help you start and maintain a fire effectively. For now, we are going to focus on several types of fires you can construct and we will assume you have matches or a lighter handy. Once we finish with the video, I will answer any questions you may have, and then we will try to build some of these fires ourselves and see how we do."

With that, Dwight started up the video and sat on the desk at the front of the class as it played.

Interpretive Dance- Monday- 3rd period

[throughaphase]

Back to the dance studio today, where Kitty greeted them with, "Welcome back. Last time we learned some basic ballet moves. Today we're going to learn a few jazz steps, since that's the other thing you'll be pulling from. Don't think you have to stick to them. Interpretive dance is just that- interpretive. But these steps can be tools in putting a routine together rather than just flailing around. Unless flailing around is a goal. I don't judge.

"We're going to go over some basic steps, and then we're going to put them together with some of the ballet, and next week we'll start putting together a routine."