fandomhigh | Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

"Last week we talked about the nature of humanity." Because when Cindy taught a class, it tended to get pretty thought-provoking. "Today we're going to be dealing with adrenaline, challenge, and victory." Much simpler topics, really.

"When looking at a story about hunting other people, it's pretty easy to judge things without sufficient context." Max shrugged slightly. "What I mean by that is that, for many people, there's no real way to really understand the allure of hunting people. Because many cultures don't have 'game' hunting traditions where you hunt not for food, or for safety, but because it is difficult and it challenges you. But within some cultures, hunting can be a lot like climbing a mountain: you do it because you want a challenge." Seemed like a waste of time to Max, but he had been accused of laziness before. Once or twice.

"Now I'm sure there's all sorts of theory about why people like challenges, and why they go out of their way to do difficult things, but rather than discuss any of that," which would require some sort of research, "I figured the best thing to do would be to let you experience it."

Which might have explained the wooded setting that the Danger Shop was set to. And the pile of paintball guns and protective gear that Max was standing next to.

"Today's activity is simple. You're going to gear up and hunt the most dangerous game." Max grinned. "Me."

"If you can hit me before I manage to touch you, you win." Otherwise, you lost. Simple as that.

Max's grin broadened slightly. "And, come on, how many of your teachers give you an opportunity to shoot them?"

He turned and trotted toward the trees. "You've got five minutes to gear up!" he called over his shoulder as he disappeared.

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But then there was a rustling sound behind her!

Not that Max was there, of course, but watching her spin around earlier had been fun.

As far as Sam knew, this guy couldn't teleport. So she was betting that noise was proooooobably a woodland creature.

She'd get it later.

Awww. That was no fun.

But while he couldn't teleport, Max had plenty of other ways to cheat. And one of those was the ability to quickly, and very quietly, climb trees. So he moved up the one that was between them, aiming to get into the branches before she could spot him.

Sam had lost track of where he was, and as such, decided to get on the move herself. She, too, was pretty good at the sneaky, though not as accomplished as Max himself. She started down her tree, looking for a good spot where she could switch to one of the others without actually touching the ground.

Well, if it was any comfort, there were no more rustling bushes for the moment, so she was probably safe!

Or something.

Sam was the sort not to believe anything was safe until the game was over.

She got very, very into these kinds of games.

Well, that was good! It might provide more chances for Max to tweak that sense of paranoia just to see what happened. But he didn't feel like doing that at the moment. Just watching promised to be interesting enough.

Sam made it to the next tree and started up again, climbing carefully to keep the noise down. Once she found a good spot to balance and hole up, she started scanning her surroundings again.

Man, she'd kill at this if she were in an apartment building. Why'd he have to go and program a forest?

Probably explicitly to foil Sam. Because Max planned ahead like that. Just ask anyone!

That was Sam's working theory, anyway.

She hunkered down close to the tree trunk, balancing in a little split in the trunk, and poised her paintball gun like it was a sniper rifle.

A sniper rifle with no obvious targets. Max was perched in his tree, peeking out from behind the trunk, but mostly obscured by all the leaves. It wasn't that he was impossible to see, but it helped to know what you were looking for in the woods...

This was very true. But someone had to show up eventually, right?

She'd settle for shooting a classmate, by now. Or a squirrel.

Actually, that'd be pretty amusing. Max could totally kick back and relax and see what Sam would do.

She wasn't really hunting, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be interesting.

She was totally hunting. It was just . . . hunting for lazy people.

Something moved on the forest floor, and she fired, nailing a bunny right between the eyes.

Wow. Nice shot! Max was impressed.

He hadn't realized that Sam had so much shooting-at-bunnies experience!

Honestly, if it moved, Sam had probably shot something at it at some point.

She sat in the tree and sighed. She was getting bored. She totally should have gone for setting up some giant snares.

That also would have been an interesting thing to watch. There was a reason Max appreciated having students like Sam: they were very creative!

Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

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