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

"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.

She was cheating and regulating her own body temperature, which was why she seemed unbothered by the sudden change of scenery. Normally she wouldn't use her Bene Gesserit talents in such a flagrant way, but it was only for an hour, and was hardly going to lead to Abomination. "I hope you brought your mittens! For those of you that didn't..." she knelt to open the first chest, which was filled with coats, hats, mittens, and snow shoes. "Suit up."

"Long before brick or wood houses with indoor heat became commonplace, people had to be creative when building homes to protect them from nature's elements," Ghanima lectured as people got dressed. "Wealthy Europeans embraced the concept of a nearly indestructible castle built from stone. Native Americans in warmer climates favored the tepee, or tipi, made entirely of animal hides or bark."

"Unfortunately, for the inhabitants of Earth's more frigid regions, such as the Canadian tundra, neither of these were good options. Building materials were pretty much nonexistent, making it difficult to craft even the most rudimentary home. These people used the only abundant material to form a modest roof over their heads: snow. Thus, the igloo was born. The Inuit, better known to some of you as Eskimos, invented the igloo centuries ago. The igloo was a means for hunters to survive brutal winters in a vast area spanning more than 3,500 miles, including eastern Siberia, Greenland, Alaska and parts of Canada."

"Today, we will learn how to build the most basic of snow shelters," she continued. "Knowing how to make a snow trench shelter, a snow cave, or igloo can save your life in a winter survival situation. The great insulative qualities of snow can be used to help keep you warm enough to survive in even the coldest weather; but only if you know how to use the snow to your advantage."

"Only experts should try to make an igloo to spend the night in, least it collapse on you. A snow trench or cave, however, almost anyone can do," Ghanima said, quickly explaining the techniques behind making a trench. "I've provided shovels and knives for today's work, but you won't always have such equipment in the field. Snowshoes also make good digging tools, and if you're carrying a field kit, a cup or pot will also work."

"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!]

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And for as much as Jaina had been in these environments, she'd never had a hand in the construction. And the whole while she was digging, she couldn't help but think this would be easier with a dead tauntaun. Was that wrong?

Ben grinned over at her as he dug, thinking the same thing. "At least the wind's not blowing that hard?" he offered.

"Which I'm glad for," said Jaina. "Nothing like getting freezing windburn from a simulated room." She didn't actually know if that was possible, no.

"Can it even do that?" Ben asked, suddenly interested.

"Not sure," she admitted. "But I'm glad we won't be finding out."

"It'd certainly change how fast I'd be digging," Ben replied.

"What, the cold isn't enough for you?" she wondered.

"Oh, it's plenty cold. The wind would affect where the shelter faced," Ben said, digging faster.

"Good point," Jaina conceded, still keeping her own pace. She was in good enough shape that she really wouldn't end up sweating doing this, but still, when it was this cold, she was being careful.

Ben crouched in the hole he'd dug to consult the directions again. "I think I like it better when this stuff is already set up for us."

Wee little entitled Jedi.

"Well, yeah," she agreed. "Though I end up in setting up of bases and stuff too often. I think my days of having this stuff set up is pretty numbered."

"Oh?" Ben asked. "What's going on?"

"Nothing bad," Jaina assured him. "Except the usual. I've just had a hand in making a couple bases work now. I'm figuring an ice cave is going to happen eventually."

Re: Activity: Make Your Shelter!

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"You're probably thinking it too, aren't you."

It wasn't a question, but Tahiri was still amused, in a way too bundled up way.

She didn't even need to ask. "Well, it would just make things easier," she said.

Tahiri snickered and hacked at a chunk of icy snow with her knife. "And a lot more memorable. I vote the rest of the class has to do it, though."

"Only if we can watch the looks on their faces," Jaina decided, still hard at work. "I think it'd be a special kind of priceless."

"I was going to suggest holos, yeah. It'd be wrong if there weren't any," Tahiri assured her. "I mean, talk about an educational experience."

"And you know they'd be wondering how we all came up with it." Because really. "They'd probably think it was a cultural thing."

"It sort of is. Is it our fault your dad likes to tell the story a lot in any version of reality, apparently?" Tahiri kind of wondered if that was a universal constant or something.

"No. Because that's just Dad. And we have to know about all the times he stepped in to save Uncle Luke because otherwise we might not ever find out," she replied ~~while her mun wants MTV to show ESB early now~~.

Tahiri grinned. "It's kind of comforting to know that."

"Not that I can tell him that. Because I'll just hear it again." Not that she minded.

Tahiri didn't think she would mind. "And that makes how many millions of times now?"

"Eight," she said, just throwing a number out there. Though that could be accurate.

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