fandomhigh | Keeping Your Advantage: Terrain and You [Weds, 3rd Period]

Each of Ghanima's students had ~~handwavily~~ received a hand-written letter telling them to meet at the main campfire today - with a map, for the new students - and as people arrived, they'd find their teacher tranquilly sitting on a log, playing with a praying mantis that was climbing all over her fingers.

"Well now," she said, her voice carrying effortlessly as she set down her little friend. "Many new faces! How very exciting! And for those of you that I've seen before... welcome back."

Ghanima was not sure if it was a mark of approval in her choice in subject matter, or if her students were simply masochists. She was not ruling out either option.

"For those of you that are new, I am Lady Ghanima Atreides, and this is Keeping Your Advantage. If you have not had one of my classes before, you may call me Lady Ghanima, Miss Ghanima, or Miss Atreides, whichever you are more comfortable with. The first person to call me Lady Atreides gets detention," Ghanima announced, smiling. "Lady Atreides is my grandmother, and I will not answer to it."

"This is a class intended to give you a basic grounding in the varying types of terrain you may encounter, and how to survive it. The simple fact that you are at this school is testimony to the fact that you never know where you may find yourself."

"From cityscapes to icebergs, each week we will look at a different type of terrain, and one thing you can do to make your life easier. Please be aware that there is no syllabus to this class, because I don't want you to have time to prepare for each scenario. Many times you will have to work with only the things you have on you during an emergency, and learning to keep your wits about you is important."

"Today, we are going to start with the most basic skill you can have: making a fire, and some basic cooking skills. I'd like you to work as a group to get this fire started, and then we'll make some hot dogs, s'mores, baked potatoes, and grilled cheese."

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"What are those?" Jalian asked curiously. She could start a fire with kindling given enough time, but if there were some technology to make it simpler, that was all to the good.

"Matches," Four said. "You don't have those?"

Jalian shook her head. "How do they work?"

Four handed it over. "You take one of the little sticks from inside and strike the red part against the texture on the outside of the box."

Jalian examined the red part and the texture curiously, then struck one with the other; on the second try, she managed to light it and nodded approvingly. "Friction and chemistry?" she guessed. "We have similar things, but not like this."

She handed the box back, eyeing the match as it burned down. "So many of these so alike - you have machines to make things, don't you?" she asked, grinning. "I've heard about that! It sounds very strange, but useful."

"Not as many as there used to be, but some, yes. Mostly in the food preservation and weapons manufacturing sectors," Four said.

Jalian nodded approvingly. "Where they do the most good. Ken Selvren have some smaller machines, but no factories. I've read about them, but we don't have the resources or people for them. Or the need," she conceded. They still sounded nifty.

"Your home sounds closer to mine than many," Four said, looking a little relieved. "Everyone else here seems to have flying cars and unlimited resources."

Jalian rolled her eyes. "So many things!" she agreed. "The Fires took out most everything in my timeline; we had to rebuild what we needed." She grinned. "I do like cars, though. But I've never seen a flying one!"

Good lord, never let her near a flying one.

"Me either," Four said. "Our trains don't even stop--you have to jump on and off and hope for the best."

"Trains?" It took her a moment to remember. "Ah. We don't have those. We have horses and cows, wagons and carts. And the Corvichi have their ship, but I only got to ride in it once." She'd had to beg ghess'Rith to stay when they took off for the short flight, but it had been worth it!

"We don't have anything that flies," Four said, "unless you count Dauntless faction members ziplining from buildings."

Idiots.

"Ziplining?" Jalian asked.

This would end well.

Four nodded. "A long cable that goes from the top of a skyscraper down to the ground. People ride down it for fun."

Other people. Not Four, unless he's dared to.

"That sounds like it could be fun," Jalian agreed, thinking about it. She snorted. "Also very foolish if you can't stop well."

"We tend to use a human shield of live bodies to stop everything," Four said.

Jalian blinked. "That sounds very...bruising? What do the live bodies think of it?"

"Oh, they don't mind," Four said. "They're Dauntless--adrenaline junkies, all."

Jalian hadn't heard that term before, but it was easy enough to parse. She laughed. "They sound strange and fun. It would still make more sense to stop yourself before you hit, though."

She might be a bit of an adrenaline junkie herself, but she did have some common sense.

"Well, they jump off a 99 story building. It's a little hard to stop yourself," Four said.

"If you had something to supply enough friction..." Jalian was thinking about it now. "Although that might generate too much heat."

"Dauntless is bad enough without adding potentially catching fire to their tricks," Four laughed. "They'll all be standing in line for that chance."

"They have more bravery than sense?" Jalian asked, grinning. She'd known huntresses like that.

"They're Dauntless. They're unafraid, even when they should be," Four said, looking ruefully amused.

"Is that a clan designation, or a descriptor?" Jalian asked.

Re: Start the Fire!

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