fandomhigh | Try Not to Die!!! [Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 3rd period]

The class had been instructed to meet by the Portalocity office where they were met by a tall blond man in traditional Jedi robes and a shorter redhead about five years younger in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Hi," the younger one said. "I'm Ben Skywalker and this is my grandfather Anakin: long story if you're wondering about the age thing and you're new to Fandom. Welcome to Try Not to Die!!!"

The extra exclamation points had been his idea.

Anakin looked more serious. "It's summer time, so our classes aren't quite so...fraught with peril," he began, "but it's still not a time to let our wits and our instincts atrophy. This class will place you into unfamiliar situation and make you complete tasks in a certain amount of time, then return to a final location. It tests your ability to adapt, follow directions, and navigate through places where you might not know the languages or customs of where you are."

"But today we're starting out fairly easy," Ben assured them. "Through that portal is modern-day England, though your tasks are more medievally focused. Your job is to race as quickly and as safely through your obstacles, then make your way to the checkpoint where Granddad and I will be waiting for you."

Anakin, who watched far too much Amazing Race, intoned, "Your time starts...now!" and stepped out of their way.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Take one of the horses located by the knight in shining armor and ride it to the tournament area. Use a giant slingslot to launch watermelons at a suit of armor 50 feet away until you knock one completely over (this is not easy), and please don't end up looking like this:

.

When you've completely the task, a jester will tell you where to find Anakin and Ben!

Edited 2013-05-14 10:43 (UTC)

Well, on the plus side, Maddie didn't smack herself in the face with a watermelon, which meant that overall today was going to be a good day. It did take an annoyingly long time to knock down the armor, and since that was something she couldn't have used her powers to cheat with, it was even more irritating.

Theo was soaking wet and panting heavily when he got to the next task. He took a few seconds to kind of figure out what the heck this thing was before starting to shoot watermelons across the field towards the armor.

The first few shots went waaaaaay wide and he could feel Dev starting to get frustrated in his head.

"Just get up and throw the watermelon at the armor!" he roared impatiently.

"That's the against the rules, Dev. You know that. Theo's doing fine."

He wasn't but he was getting lucky because after about ten shots, the armor hit the ground and he was done.

Gert could not possibly have any less of an idea how to successfully ride a horse. She had not been one of those preteens. So that was a problem, and then by the time she got to the watermelon slingshot station, she just cursed loudly. After an ungodly amount of trials with the slingshot, she pretty much just started trying to throw the damn watermelon with her hands instead.

The riding hadn't been a problem, but the aim on Korra's slingshot must have been off, because it took forever to hit the armor.

Victor's horse did not want to go anywhere. It would have been funny -- the knight seemed to be laughing -- if it hadn't been so infuriating. Finally, he managed to nudge the horse toward the tournament ground at about the pace of a ground sloth, watching his classmates pass him all the while.

At least the slingshot bit played to his strengths. He got it on the second try and dashed off.

Edited 2013-05-14 14:20 (UTC)

Alex didn't have much trouble with the horse. She'd been taught to ride growing up in Russia. The slingslot was a totally different thing. She was irritated by the amount of time it took her to finally knock over the armor.

Anna had never ridden a horse in her life--or after it, either--so that slowed her down somewhat. She didn't have much trouble pulling the giant slingshot, though she tried to look like she was at least making an effort. Aim was another story, but she got lucky before her patience ran out.

This was good for everyone.

Anakin, it turned out, didn't get along with horses at all; the creature kept balking, threw him several times, and left him in the awkward position of wishing he had Jacen's ability with animals, just once.

It took him far, far too long to make the ride to the tournament area, so the fact that actually knocking over the suit of armor with the watermelon slingshot took him all of one single try felt like massive insult to injury.

Chaz did not like the horse. The horse did not like Chaz.

After that, the slingshot was just fun, even if he did have problems getting enough strength to get the angle and velocity he knew he needed to hit the suit of armor.

Raven got frustrated enough with the watermelon slingshot that she would even be completely willing to shift into another form in front of all her classmates to get it done -- but she had absolutely no idea what form would be better at aiming a watermelon at a suit of armor.

So instead she just kept firing, and firing, and firing until she finally managed to knock one over.

She only just managed not to smack the jester in the face when he came over to tell her where to go to check in. Charles was so getting an earful for signing her up for this class.

Ten watermelons later, she finally managed to hit the armor. She was pretty clean, fortunately, but her arms were already hurting. Okay, so maybe no in great shape.

Horses were not particularly fond of Mercy. The smell of predator was too strong. After a great deal of struggle, Mercy ended up leading the horse - or running alongside the panicked thing - instead.

After that the giant slingshot didn't seem too hard. She was a good shot with a regular slingshot, so with some adjustment she managed this.

Try Not to Die!!! [Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 3rd period]

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