Keeping Your Advantage: Terrain & You, Monday, Period 1

[atreideslioness]

 

"Welcome back," Ghanima said as the students entered the Danger Shop.  She was standing beside two large trunks, and the room was blank, not yet assigned an environment.  "Today, we're going a bit farther north than many of you, myself included, are accustomed to."   

She pressed a button on the remote, and suddenly the students would find themselves surrounded by snow.  "Welcome to the Arctic!" Ghanima said cheerfully, apparently unbothered by the sudden drop in climate. 

She was cheating and regulating her own body temperature, which was why she seemed so perky.  Normally she wouldn't use her Bene Gesserit talents in such a flagrant way, but it was only for an hour, and was hardly going to lead to Abomination.  "I hope you brought your mittens!  For those of you that didn't..." she knelt to open the first chest, which was filled with coats, hats, mittens, and snow shoes.  "Suit up." 

"Long before brick or wood houses with indoor heat became commonplace, people had to be creative when building homes to protect them from nature's elements," Ghanima lectured as people got dressed.  "Wealthy Europeans embraced the concept of a nearly indestructible castle built from stone. Native Americans in warmer climates favored the tepee, or tipi, made entirely of animal hides or bark.  Unfortunately, for the inhabitants of Earth's more frigid regions, such as the Canadian tundra, neither of these were good options. Building materials were pretty much nonexistent, making it difficult to craft even the most rudimentary home. These people used the only abundant material to form a modest roof over their heads: snow. Thus, the igloo was born. The Inuit, better known to some of you as Eskimos, invented the igloo centuries ago. The igloo was a means for hunters to survive brutal winters in a vast area spanning more than 3,500 miles, including eastern Siberia, Greenland, Alaska and parts of Canada." 

"Today, we will learn how to build the most basic of snow shelters," she continued.  "Knowing how to make a snow trench shelter, a snow cave, or igloo can save your life in a winter survival situation. The great insulative qualities of snow can be used to help keep you warm enough to survive in even the coldest weather; but only if you know how to use the snow to your advantage." 

"Only experts should try to make an igloo to spend the night in, least it collapse on you.  A snow trench or cave, however, almost anyone can do," Ghanima said, quickly explaining the techniques behind making a trench. "I've provided shovels and knives for today's work, but you won't always have such equipment in the field.  Snowshoes also make good digging tools, and if you're carrying a field kit, a cup or pot will also work." 

"Now get to work," she said, opening the second chest to distribute tools to the class before taking a knife for herself.  She wasn't going to ask the students to do something that she was unwilling to attempt herself.  "Feel free to work solo or in groups.  I programmed the room so that we've got one hour to dark, and you don't want to be caught out without a place to sleep." 

Comments

Sign-In

[atreideslioness]

Like you're Sam McGee!

Re: Sign-In

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto Argentum

Re: Sign-In

[grandpoobah]

Grog Strongjaw

Re: Sign-In

[backstageteleporter]

Kuroko Shirai

Re: Sign-In

[goldfishontherocks]

Keyleth

During the Lecture

[atreideslioness]

Talk, suit up, plot revenge against the teacher! Honestly, she deserves it.

Re: During the Lecture

[backstageteleporter]

Kuroko was certainly not dressed for this. And while she was carrying a pair of gloves in her pocket, they weren't really for cold weather.

Which was why she started shivering quite quickly, and why as soon as Ghani opened that chest of cold weather gear, Kuroko literally disappeared from where she was standing and reappeared with her in front of all that insulated goodness.

She didn't bother struggling to get any of it on, either. As she touched any piece of gear, it disappeared and reappeared on her. Which meant she did gloves last.

Re: During the Lecture

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto, who was definitely struggling a little with finer things likes clasps and buckles with his frozen little fingers right now, couldn't help watching the new girl's literal touch-and-go approach to gearing up with some mild fascination.

"Well, I bet that makes getting ready in the morning a breeze," he noted, with the envy of a person who clearly spent way too much time doing just that.

Re: During the Lecture

[backstageteleporter]

"With some things, certainly!" It was always nice when someone admired what you could do!

"Sadly I have to do my hair and nails and makeup the old fashioned way." Which, a close inspection would reveal, was something that she also spent quite a bit of time on in the mornings.

"Need a hand?"

Re: During the Lecture

[hashtag_chocobro]

"...do you mean, like, regular help?" Prompto asked, after a moment of considering it. "Or can you do that neat little fwoop, fwoop," yes, that noise and the accompanying gesture was meant to signify whatever that whole disappear-reappear thing she did was, "on other people, too?"

Re: During the Lecture

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto didn't immediately go diving for the chest once it was open to reveal the cold-weather gear, but it was a pretty near thing. Because, in this weather, his fingerless gloves and dedication to his right to bare arms just wasn't going to cut it, and not even he was fidgety or bouncy enough to keep the blood warm in this cold.

Was he bundling up as much as humanly possible? You're godsdamn right he was! Especially since he had the icons for it!

Re: During the Lecture

[grandpoobah]

"Are you all comfortable now?" Grog asked, watching him bundle up. He had put on some gloves that were super fuzzy and felt nice, but that was about it.

Re: During the Lecture

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Suuuuuuper comfy," said Prompto, with pleased, warm-and-fuzzy sort of smile as he flexed his no-longer frozen fingers and snuggled into the cowl of his coat a little more. He chuckled a little before scoping out what Grog had equipped himself with, and nodded. "What about you, though, big buddy? Looks like you might be missing a few pieces there."

Re: During the Lecture

[unusual_sith]

Lana had heard about using the Force to regulate her body temperature, but she'd never really had to try it before. Looking at Lady Ghanima, she suspected something of the sort was going on there, and was a bit jealous, to be honest, but for now she'd take some clothing and dress quickly, and ask later.

Re: During the Lecture

[goldfishontherocks]

Keyleth maybe shivered just a little bit? She'd grown up in a village at the very top of the Summit Peaks, and she wasn't a stranger to high-altitude cold, but Zephrah was also a bit more temperate than this as far as any source material seems to indicate.

She thought she'd be fine with just a cloak, though. Well, and maybe a hat that had those furry earflaps on it, even if it looked ridiculous with her antlers.

Activity: Make Your Shelter!

[atreideslioness]

Work alone or in groups to dig shelters into the snow, using these instructions as references.

There are tarps and skis and ski poles in one of the trunks, to use to brace the top if you wish, or you can try carving large blocks of snow with your tools. There are also trees around, if you want to try collecting sticks.

Re: Activity: Make Your Shelter!

[backstageteleporter]

Once Kuroko managed to get bundled up in appropriate clothing and stop shivering, she started looking around. Sure, she could probably do an okay job by herself, but she figured that partnering up with someone would turn out to be a lot more efficient.

Re: Activity: Make Your Shelter!

[unusual_sith]

"Hello." Lana waved at Kuroko. "Want to partner up?"

Re: Activity: Make Your Shelter!

[backstageteleporter]

"That sounds to me like an awesome plan."

Kuroko grinned.

"You ever done anything like this before?"

Re: Activity: Make Your Shelter!

[hashtag_chocobro]

Oh, hey, remember that one time, when Prompto betrayed one of his best friends and got her sent away to a horrible torture prison for toys because he'd decided that she wasn't quite 'good enough', and so he vowed to exile himself in his shame once he went back to normal to be a hermit in the frigid Hebra Mountains of Hyrule?

Something like this would be super helpful for the next time he screwed up royally and had to go back to that particular plan.

And, though he didn't know it yet, it would also be super helpful for his future, when he went and exiled himself in the frigid Niflheim outfields in a couple of years, too!

So he was definitely trying to soak in all the information on the instructions first before he set to trying to accomplish some of them, this could be super important one day! Hebra hermitage, here he came!

Talk to the TA

[atreideslioness]

Go ahead, ask if the teacher's gone nuts once she pings in.

Re: Talk to the TA

[unusual_sith]

Lana was here! Honestly, her guess was as good as anybody's.

She was fairly sure it was fine, though; insane people tended not to be so cheerful. At least not the ones she'd met.

Talk to Ghanima

[atreideslioness]

Whine about the snow, we dare you.

ooc

[atreideslioness]

A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.
-- Carl Reiner

In this, Ghani, Carl, and I all agree. ICK.

Re: ooc

[bookbeltof_love]

MORE SNOW FOR ME, THEN! \o/