Fandom High School

Unlike most teachers, Angua didn't exactly use email often. She had her Gooseberry, which meant she had an imp, but, considering the circumstances, she didn't think sending around a little imp to tell her students something they probably already knew was that good of an idea. So she bucked up, went into the computer lab, and was glad she'd gone in early because she needed a lot of time to figure out exactly how the bloody thing works.

So the email got sent out, and then she sung by the classroom to add a sign on the door:

Why are you here reading this? You should have known class was canceled. Being a good tracker is about being aware of your surroundings, so if you're here, you better brush up and study a lot for finals coming up.

--Sgt. Angua

There. That'll do. Securing her safety pin again, Angua nodded at the sign and then headed back to the library.

"I'd like to apologize for the canceled class last week," Angua said, with a faint, slightly on edge smile, because, of course, these things couldn't conveniently coincide with the phases of the moon for her. "But I'm sure if my suspicions about last week were correct, you didn't mind too much. But it's back to work today and we've talked a lot about tracking, but now it's time to consider ways of trapping what you track. I'm sure many of us in this class might already have some effective methods that we already use, but today, we'll go over some classic wilderness snares and traps, and then work on adapting them to an urban environment."

( Snares in the City )

"So you guys probably know the drill by now. We'll spend the first part of class here in the woods working on the different snares and traps, and then we'll head into the city and see how we might be able to make some adaptations. Any questions?"

[[ wait for the ocd is up! ]]

[[ Previous Classes ]]

To the Danger Shop, into the wilderness, for the class today. Angua would be waiting for the students in a clearing in a forest thick with brush. "How did the tracking go?" she asked with a faint smile. "Did you figure out who had you? Did anyone figure out you had them? We'll take some time to swap stories if you have them, but we'll focus on today's class first. The next few weeks, we're going to go over some basic wilderness tracking and survival techniques and working together to adapt them to urban environments. I've emphasized that staying hidden is important, so we're going to start with shelters, namely debris huts."

( Gimme Shelter... )

"All right," Angua smiled. "Let's get started. You can tell me about your tracking during the week while we work, and then halfway through the class, we'll head into the 'city' and see what we can come up with there."

[[ wait for the ocd is hidden but ready! ]]

[[ Previous Classes ]]

So far, so good. Angua was feeling a bit irritable, but not enough that class was going to be problematic. She hoped. The fact that the gender thing had resolved itself and that some of the students might be distracted with Homecoming anyway would help.

"So today," she started, having a seat on the desk in the front of the classroom, "we're going to just have a bit of a discussion class, since having the week yesterday probably got most of our minds off of tracking. Two parts. The first is in reference to what happened earlier this week. I know that not everyone found themselves a different gender on Sunday and Monday, but I'm curious. What did you happen to learn from being different in that way? And, more importantly, how can you use the experience to give you a perspective on better tracking, if anything?"

"And, secondly, the topic I had planned for the class, are signs we can look for when searching for someone or something in an urban environment. In the wilderness, you have better access to the classical trappings of tracking: food prints, subtle changes in the environment like snapped twigs or crushed grass. You consider commonly used animal trails and natural spots for water and shelter. Where are spots where one might burrow to hide or reach higher ground to keep a lookout for danger? These are the things I wants us to talk about today, and how can those translate to tracking something in an urban landscape, where you don't exactly have as many twigs to break, and hard paved streets may prevent the easy use of footprints? We'll just open it up, see where it goes."

"And then, for next week, I'd like you to spend some time observing behaviours and others things of the people around you that can be further used as tracking signs. Perhaps a friend of yours always has Cheetos for lunch, and so you could look for signs of cheesy powder left on doors he or she might have used. Or maybe you yourself always reads the newspaper in the morning; where are you putting it afterwards that someone might notice, and therefor be able to discern where you have been? Is there someone who always brushes their hair in the bathroom and leaves a few traces of it in the sink? Keep an eye open for tracking signs in every day life, and next week we'll see how they match up to the ones we thought of this week."

"And, yes, those were all good examples of what we're discussing today, to help get the ideas going. And we're talking about things, physical evidence left behind, so those of us with particularly honed senses should set those aside for this particular lesson and focus on things more tangible. Any questions? Let's get started."

[[ OCD on the way has left behind a clue! JAAAAAAM! ]]

Previous Classes ]]

In a much better mood than last week and blissfully free of unicorns here in the Danger Shop where they were meeting (don't even get her started), Angua gave a faint grin to her class in the simulation of their usual classroom, flanked by a large handful of borrowed Troopers.

"Hope you all had a chance to think about those shortcut routes for chasing people down that we brought up last week," she said, "because this week, we're going to put them to use. We'll take a few moments to go over what you came up with, to see if anyone has any suggestions for improvements, and then we're going to give them a try. To save the citizens of the town from worrying about students chasing Troopers, we're using a replica of the village and the preserve through the Danger Shop, as you can see. The Troopers are our bad guys who are trying to escape; you get to try to catch them, either using one of your routes or, if that's not working, through the power of improvisation. Start in whichever environment you'd like, but, after you've caught a Trooper, please switch to the other so you get practise in both."

"Who knows, they might come in handy escaping unexpected relatives this weekend. If there aren't any questions, let's get to briefing and then into action."

[[ OCD is on the way ready to run! ]]

[[ Previous Classes ]]

The class would be meeting in the Danger Shop today, where Angua stood waiting for them to gather at the divide between two different settings: to one side, a lush rocky forest. On the other, an old sprawling city, not too dissimilar from Anhk-Morpork.

"Welcome back," she started. "Sorry about last week. Yes, I'm fine. No, I don't want to talk about it. Today, we're going to start by talking about last week. Clearly, none of you had any problems finding the trail mix, which is a good sign. Those of you with more honed senses could tell it was under there, while those of you without had the good sense to observe your surroundings, learn from them, and act accordingly. That sort of attention to detail is invaluable; in fact, it puts you at an advantage over those who may depend on their senses for tracking. Sometimes, they get so caught up in what they sense that they can't notice what else might be going on, which could lead to missing obvious things or could even be deadly.

"So, to prove this point..."

( Olly Olly Oxen Free! )

"Any questions? And, before you ask, yes, the peppermint oil will wash off without a problem. Most peppermint oil won't, but that's why we love this Danger Shop, right?"


[[ slow OCD is on the way ready for you to find it! ]]

[[ Previous Classes ]]

Well. This was it, she supposed. Time to teach her...class.

The thought was still weird, okay? But Angua was there, at the front of the classroom, ready to address her...students. She was dressed no differently than if this had been a regular station shift or street beat, in her thankfully modified Watch armour with the badge at her collar, looking over them and trying to exude an air of confidence. But gods, there were a lot of them. And she couldn't even really smell them all yet because the stench of vampire overrode almost everything else.

"Welcome to Tracking, Urban versus Wilderness Environments," seemed a good place to start. "As the title of the class indicated, we will be exploring a variety of different methods of tracking and learning how to apply them to an urban setting as well as the more traditional uses in the wild. I am Sergeant Angua, of the Fandom Troopers, so, as you can guess, this class will be taking on a certain crime-fighting bent, although I promise. No capes or funny outfits."

See? See that? It was a smile. Sort of. A bit toothy, but that couldn't be helped. At least she made the attempt.

"Now, today we're in the classroom, but we won't always be, don't worry. Once I get you all copies of the syllabus, it will indicate where we will meet. Until then, just assume its the classroom. Today's actually going to be easy; I'm fairly certain I don't know most of you, which, in my line of work, is probably a good thing. So, as sick of them as you may be getting, I'd appreciate going through the introduction drills. I'd like to know your name, age where applicable, your interest in the class, and what experience you have in tracking and in what sort of environments, so I know where we'll all stand in future classes."

"And once Introductions are finished, I'll have a little activity to get us started that should hopefully be fun." And not at all translate into something she'd whipped up out of no where in a panic about not having any clue how to stretch introductions to fit into one hour.

"Also," excuse her while she paused a moment before actually saying the name, "Maladicta? Jacob? It looks like you two are my assistants for the class, so I'd like a moment afterwards."

Actually, it was just Maladicta, but Angua was going to be damned if she was going to have a vampire for an assistant without backup.

"And I suppose if anyone needs anything and I'm busy, they're the ones to go to. Any other questions before we begin?"

[[ Wait for the OCD or get bitten, my friend has had its distemper shots, so it's good to go! ]]