Atton Rand & miscellaneous names (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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fandomhigh2015-09-17 09:34 am
suitably_heroic) wrote in fandomhigh2015-09-17 09:34 am
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How To Get By In A Hostile World, Thursday
"All right, so last year, this class tended to focus on the smaller things," Atton began. "But based on your introductions, I'm going to shake it up a little. So welcome to 'how to deal with things - or yourself - being set on fire'."
There was a long beat.
"If you're ever tempted to set anything on fire, no matter how upset, bedraggled, screwed-over or otherwise horrible you feel, do not set anything on fire. I cannot say this enough. Okay? Do not set anything on fire."
Okay? Okay.
"So obviously there's a whole lot of different kinds of fire," Atton continued, clearing his throat. "For example, grease fires are a problem in the kitchen a lot of the time. You're cooking, and suddenly the oil catches fire. Now oil is water-repellant, so tossing water on the oil is just gonna make the problem worse. It's just going to splash around and possibly distribute the grease particles even further. And those particles would be the things that are on fire. No, what you wanna do is turn off the fire underneath the pan, slam a lid down on the pan, and let oxygen deprivation do the work." He tilted his head. "...Or you could just attack it with a fire extinguisher."
He cleared his throat. "But that's only in the case of cooking," he said. "Now, when you get set on fire, that's a whole other thing..."
At which point he went into a very detailed explanation of what happened to the human body when it got set on fire. Just in case anyone had wondered about that.
"Anyway," he finished, "That's why you want to avoid getting set on fire." Yes, thank you, Atton. That certainly disabused them of some ideas. "In the case of a fire, you'll want to stay low to the ground if you can. Smoke kills a lot faster than burns do. You can keep flames from getting into the room you're in for a time by blocking off any cracks in doors and walls. If there's a window, open it and breathe from there. Otherwise, get a t-shirt or something and hold it in front of your mouth, so you can breathe without inhaling too much smoke."
He brought his hands together. "You've probably all heard of stop, drop and roll," he said, "Which is the proper procedure when you're on fire. See, movement feeds the fire with oxygen, so you don't want to be doing that. When you drop to the floor, you can block the flames from reaching your face, which is another good thing-- use your arms for that. And rolling around will hopefully douse the fire. Now, if it's been going for a while, you'll want to not remove any of your clothes. They might've melted to your skin. Find some way to cool off first, then deal with it later."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "But the best way to deal with this crap is to know what your exit route is," he said. "As soon as I'm done talking, I want you guys to spread out across the school and figure out the easiest way out from your dorm room or a classroom, in case the place gets set on fire. Which, let's face it, on this island that's just a matter of time."
And with that, Atton stopped talking. Studied the class. Pursed his lips.
Then added, "And just to emphasize this one last time, because it's important, never set anything on fire, ever, ever, ever." Beat. "Unless you're planning to eat it. But even then I wouldn't risk it."
There was a long beat.
"If you're ever tempted to set anything on fire, no matter how upset, bedraggled, screwed-over or otherwise horrible you feel, do not set anything on fire. I cannot say this enough. Okay? Do not set anything on fire."
Okay? Okay.
"So obviously there's a whole lot of different kinds of fire," Atton continued, clearing his throat. "For example, grease fires are a problem in the kitchen a lot of the time. You're cooking, and suddenly the oil catches fire. Now oil is water-repellant, so tossing water on the oil is just gonna make the problem worse. It's just going to splash around and possibly distribute the grease particles even further. And those particles would be the things that are on fire. No, what you wanna do is turn off the fire underneath the pan, slam a lid down on the pan, and let oxygen deprivation do the work." He tilted his head. "...Or you could just attack it with a fire extinguisher."
He cleared his throat. "But that's only in the case of cooking," he said. "Now, when you get set on fire, that's a whole other thing..."
At which point he went into a very detailed explanation of what happened to the human body when it got set on fire. Just in case anyone had wondered about that.
"Anyway," he finished, "That's why you want to avoid getting set on fire." Yes, thank you, Atton. That certainly disabused them of some ideas. "In the case of a fire, you'll want to stay low to the ground if you can. Smoke kills a lot faster than burns do. You can keep flames from getting into the room you're in for a time by blocking off any cracks in doors and walls. If there's a window, open it and breathe from there. Otherwise, get a t-shirt or something and hold it in front of your mouth, so you can breathe without inhaling too much smoke."
He brought his hands together. "You've probably all heard of stop, drop and roll," he said, "Which is the proper procedure when you're on fire. See, movement feeds the fire with oxygen, so you don't want to be doing that. When you drop to the floor, you can block the flames from reaching your face, which is another good thing-- use your arms for that. And rolling around will hopefully douse the fire. Now, if it's been going for a while, you'll want to not remove any of your clothes. They might've melted to your skin. Find some way to cool off first, then deal with it later."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "But the best way to deal with this crap is to know what your exit route is," he said. "As soon as I'm done talking, I want you guys to spread out across the school and figure out the easiest way out from your dorm room or a classroom, in case the place gets set on fire. Which, let's face it, on this island that's just a matter of time."
And with that, Atton stopped talking. Studied the class. Pursed his lips.
Then added, "And just to emphasize this one last time, because it's important, never set anything on fire, ever, ever, ever." Beat. "Unless you're planning to eat it. But even then I wouldn't risk it."
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