Day After Doomsday, Thursday, Per 2

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Hardison was in a much better mood this week, clapping his hands together once to get the class's attention and smiling at them when they looked over. "So, welcome to Week Two of your Doomsday Scenario. Last week's class went over really well--so well that you managed to knock off two of the potential problems I was gonna throw at you. The first is food; worst case scenario, if no one had bothered worryin' about food at all, you'd'a walked in next week and been told your supplies were gone an' you had a week to fix it before y'all starved. Better case scenario, assumin' that someone was at least keepin' an eye on your food, you'd'a been told your food supplies were critically low, givin' you some extra time to figure somethin' else out. But y'all have gone above an' beyond that, workin' together to bring food in through huntin' an' scoutin' missions, so food shortage ain't somethin' y'all have to worry about right now. Rations are thin an' everyone spends their time kinda hungry, but no one's about to starve, good job. I heard plans for rooftop gardens and convertin' some of the old rooms to greenhouses, so you're thinkin' ahead, focusin' on just more than the immediate future. That's great! Also, this week, y'all were gonna lose power, includin' the fridges an' stoves, but that is also not a problem anymore. The cold room is bein' maintained an' keepin' the fresh food fresh, which meant that the fridges could be harvested for scrap parts. From them scrap bits an' some other things here an' there, you were able to tune up the generator, makin' in more efficient as well as removin' a major power draw, an' so you've got at least another week or so of power available to you." His grin grew even bigger as he looked at the class. "Y'all went from havin' a very low life-expectancy rate at the end of the first class to solvin' problems I'd planned to spring on you at the end of the second. That's really awesome an' I'm proud of y'all. As a reward..."

He pressed a button and several piles of items appeared at his feet. "As a reward, your scouts have brought back some useful supply caches. In there we got some better weapons, including a few slings, machetes, and some bow an' arrows." Still no guns, in case anyone had gotten their hopes up. "We got some canned food here, including a nice batch of dextro-aminos, so y'all are gonna have to decide--increase your rations so y'all stop bein' so hungry an' tired all the time, or use them to supplement how long your rations'll last. If you ration this an' continue to trap an' hunt, you can probably get to the 5th class before you run out. You start eatin' better, you'll feel better, but you'll only get to class four. That's somethin' y'all might wanna discuss." You know. As a suggestion. "An' while most of the school--includin' the library--is still in shambles or otherwise impassable, y'all were able to find a vocational classroom an' grab a buncha books. There's a coupla basic manuals here for electrical work, plumbin', automotive repair, an' some kinda survivalist handbook. Might come in handy, I dunno."

"You also got a radio with a broadcasting setup, though it runs on wires and bits of machinery, not entrails, so, I, uhh, hope that works for you," Hardison added, really unsure why the entrails had been necessary in the first place. "Self-defense classes have been offered, but I don't know how many of you are takin' 'em. If that's somethin' you're into, you should remember to tell me that when you give me your instructions for next week. Remember, that kinda thing will burn through your calories faster, but it might make you live a little longer if you get face to face with one of those--whatever is out there. Additionally, scouts have additional information, but that's for them to know about an' they'll decide what it is they share."

That took care of pretty much everything he had on his agenda to report, so he nodded at them. "Doesn't look like anything too terrible is happenin'. You might wanna start thinkin' about your livin' space an' what it means, what you should do with it, but that's all on y'all. As always, I'mma be over with my laptop, waitin' for you to come over an' tell me your plans for next week. Let's keep it up, y'all! Keep beatin' me at my own game!"

Comments

Sign In

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Glad to be alive and doing...well!

Re: Sign In

[sciclone]

Cosima Niehaus

Re: Sign In

[ihuntkillers.livejournal.com]

Jasper Dent

Listen to the Lecture

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Well, it's more like a list of accomplishments. Feel free to pat yourselves on the back! Nobody died!

For the Scouts

[geniuswithasmartphone]

...A status update on some of what you have found. Feel free to ask questions for additional clarification, Hardison will answer as best he can or tell you that you don't know the answer to that yet.

"A'ight," he told them. "First an' foremost, you got more information about what's taken over the island, above an' beyond what Raven found out the first week. So, bad news, these guys are smart, as well as fast an' strong. They got some measure of understandin' strategy an' tactics an' they use formations, at least as well as larger pack predators, possibly better. Any of you study how wolves or lions hunt? They also seem to have some method of communication, but you don't know how sophisticated. They vocalize, but you can't tell if that's communicatin' like a conversation or like, say, the noises big cats make. You also don't know if that's their only mode of communication. They can operate independently, or in small squads, more than six or seven an' they start jockeyin' for alpha status, unless they're huntin'. Two groups of five converged to take down a few alots an' they all stayed on task. They also carried the meat home with them, rather than just eating it where it fell. They do not seem overly concerned about their wounded, making no effort to tend any of them that fall an' if they lose a squad leader, a fight usually breaks out to find the next. Raven, your trip into town showed you that they understand doors an' how to open them an' also how to look through windows an' use them as points of ingress. Also, they have fire. They don't cook over it, but you have seen fires in the town and they seem contained."

So, like Hardison said, smart.

"They're patrollin', but they don't seem to be regular or scheduled. They're more active at night than by day, though they're perfectly capable of bein' up an' about by day. But they're rowdier at night, there's more fights an' violence at night. Days seem to be for restin', huntin', patrollin', nights are for...maybe it's socializin'? Wouldn't go so far as to call 'em nocturnal, but they seem to generally fall asleep around dawn and sleep till the afternoon. Raven, for shapes, you do best with non-mammalian lifeforms, but that might just be a size issue. The more trouble you make for them compared to how much of a meal you'd make tends to make them less interested. Cat-sized an' smaller, they tend to not to pursue seriously, otherwise it's fair game. They do hunt for sport an' not just food, so again, I say pursue seriously. You ain't spent much time in town, preferrin' to get more of an idea of how the ones closest to the Preserve behave, though you've been close enough to town to see the behaviors I already described."

"Hanna, you got your fire on the roof started an' so far you've been burnin' old, dried wood to keep the smoke from bein' too obvious. Let me know if you want that to change. Also, you ain't been lightin' it at night, to keep from drawin' their notice. You got a zipline over to the school, but it took you four arrows an' didn't make it long after your return trip. You an' Jasper got the wires around the door an' some basic traps set up in the Preserves around the dorms. Mostly you're catchin' rabbits, badgers, an' things of that size."

"Anythin' else you wanna know?"

Re: For the Scouts

[tigerundercover]

"You said they drag their food 'home'," Raven said. "Have we seen where that is? Are they all in one together, or do they have separate . . . dens or whatever? Do we have an idea how sensitive their hearing or sense of smell are?"

RE: Re: For the Scouts

[geniuswithasmartphone]

"Most of their activity is in the Community Center, probably because of size. Most of 'em seem to quarter there, though some to do wander off to sleep in their own buildings. There don't seem to be much in the way of rhyme or reason for who goes where, though."

"You don't have much of an idea of sense of smell, though their hearing is very good. Also they don't seem to have any weapons besides their natural ones an' the same goes for armor, though their hides seem pretty tough."

Re: For the Scouts

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Hanna frowned, biting her lip. "I think we might want to move that indoors. Or find a way to cook the food without an open flame." She paused and asked, "Did we get the maps to the underground tunnels like we were looking for?"

Plan Ahead

[geniuswithasmartphone]

There are decisions to be made about the new food, as well as the rest of the supplies. How do you want to divvy things up. Is anyone going to start hoarding food? Water? What happens if one person lays claim to the books? Are there other tasks to attend to? What else can you focus on?

Communication is beautiful people, let's keep it up!

Re: Plan Ahead

[sciclone]

Cosima claimed the survival manual early in class and thumbed through it until, miraculously, she found a chapter on mini greehouses.

"Hey, has anybody seen anything like PVC pipe?" she asked, pushing her glasses up on her nose as she glanced away from her reading. "This says you could build a greenhouse with that. Or I could use picture frames."

Re: Plan Ahead

[goforthe_optics]

"I haven't found any pipe, but the picture frames might be a better idea," Tali offered. "Assuming we can find pipe, there are several things we could use it for. I can't really think of much else we could do with the frames, though."

Re: Plan Ahead

[tigerundercover]

"I can look for it on scouting missions," Raven offered. "What other things do you need for that? Glue? Twine?"

Re: Plan Ahead

[tigerundercover]

"We definitely need to figure out the food rations," Raven said. "How much do we want to gamble with those? If we have more energy, we can devote more of it to finding more food to replace what we're losing, but that's not a guarantee."

What's That Noise?

[geniuswithasmartphone]

About halfway through class, a terrible groaning noise is heard echoing through the dorms. It seems to be coming primarily from the bathrooms and the laundry room, but you can hear it echoing up the sinks, too. That's probably not good. What do you do?

Re: What's That Noise?

[sciclone]

Cosima didn't even need to think about how to react to that one. She grabbed the nearest blunt object -- it happened to be a hockey stick -- and went to stand in a corner.

Re: What's That Noise?

[goforthe_optics]

"Keelah," Tali muttered, abandoning her attempt to estimate how much they could stretch out the food rations without getting dangerously malnourished. She grabbed one of the machetes (she really missed her shotgun right now) and approached the nearest doorway cautiously. "That sounds like it's in the plumbing, doesn't it?"

Make Your Choices

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Remember, the more information you give Hardison, the better the odds you'll be able to accomplish what you're looking to do! Also, Hardison will not program anything that involves other people, unless those other people are present and agree! Nobody can 'send scouts or volunteers' to do something; if you want a scout to take care of something for you--ask one. You can't tell Hardison you'll be sparring with another student unless that student also comes up and says so. Basically, if your plans involve other people at all, Hardison will refuse to add it to the program until he knows everyone is onboard.

This is, of course, not true for things that involve other people that no one else knows about. That will be resolved on a case by case basis, depending on the amount of detail in the plan and any steps other people are taking to thwart such behavior.

Not to make anyone paranoid or anything!

Re: Make Your Choices

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"We've lost our running water," Elsa noted, frowning a little. "I suppose that means I'm on call, at least until we figure out a safe way to... collect rainwater or something. I'll spend this week finding more empty containers from inside the building and filling them with ice. When it melts... at least we won't have to worry about dehydrating. I don't necessarily trust myself to make enough to compensate for regular bathing. But maybe I can work up to it?"

Re: Make Your Choices

[tigerundercover]

"I'm not the most mechanically minded," Raven said. "So I'm not a great candidate to work out the plumbing stuff -- but I could turn my hands into wrenches, maybe? And I'm good at reading and following directions, so if no one else goes for it, I'll spend at least a couple days trying to fix the water. Otherwise, I'm going to keep going out scouting. Cosima has some supplies she needs for the greenhouses, so I'll be looking for those," she held up her notebook, "And keep looking for food to see if we can extend our supplies past week four or five. I'll also look around for cleaning supplies -- that bathroom's not going to get less gross by itself. And if I have time left -- I want to check out the community center. Probably as a small snake, since the creatures aren't as interested in little things or reptiles. I'm looking for as much information as I can get: how they live, what they're setting the fires for, how many of them there are. And I'm definitely going to see if I can find any guns and ammo. That means going into town, and going a little bit larger, but it'd be worth the risk to get a more powerful weapon against these things. Oh, and I'll go see if I can retrieve any arrows people have used already. We don't want to lose ammunition if we don't have to."

She took a deep breath. "And I'm going to spend any time I'm not out scouting in my natural shape." She shifted and shrugged a little sheepishly. "It's not a lot, but I do use extra energy holding a form. So this way I'll need a little less of the food."

Re: Make Your Choices

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

"I have no idea how pipes work," Hanna admitted, a little shame-faced. "But I'll be happy to look for a secondary source of water, so we don't tax Elsa too much... Or maybe we could somehow treat the water in the pool?" Something to ask Tali *next* week, since she didn't think of it this week.

She paused and added, "Since we have the maps of the underground tunnels now I am assuming, I'm going to go out with either Jasper or Raven, whichever is free, to explore a bit, and see if we can get into town." She paused, and said, "Since the attackers are not very organized, taking out any one won't help. We need to come up with a plan to take them all out at once, I think-- or to leave the island." She swallowed hard. "We need to know what they're using the fire for if they're not cooking over it, so that's something to find out in the scouting missions this week."

"And yes, we should keep the fire on the roof-- although now I think we need to dry and salt some of the food too, in order for it to keep longer. I know how to do that, and I can do it most evenings after we're back from hunting."

Talk to the TA

[geniuswithasmartphone]

If she is present!

Re: Talk to the TA

[tigerundercover]

Raven was most certainly present, and after yesterday's class barfight adventure, sort of spoiling to get to do something active. Fidgety on a shapeshifter sometimes involved rapid shifts in hair color and body shape. Who knew?

Talk to Hardison

[geniuswithasmartphone]

He most assuredly is present!

Re: Talk to Hardison

[hexentotchen.livejournal.com]

Before class really got started, Hanna made sure to approach Mr. Hardison. Not too closely, though.

"I wanted to apologize," she said, body stiff and voice very quiet. "For last weekend. Mr. Spencer said I should still come to class, but if you wish me to leave, I can do so now."

OOC

[geniuswithasmartphone]

The books can give basic knowledge roughly equivalent to a decent Google search. If you were to search 'How to change a lightbulb' and found a website that explains this arcane feat, you can say lightbulb changing was covered in the book. Articles covered on wikihow, lifehacks, and other sites like that are a-ok. As always, if you have questions, please feel free to hit me up down here. Remember, knowing how to do something doesn't always mean you have the equipment or the ability to do so, so keep that in mind before you start building a large hadron collider out of spit and twine.