Outdoorsmanship 101, Wednesday, period 1
The Eliot that met the class at the edge of the preserve today was a griffon. Which -- honestly? He was pretty okay with. He still had his human brain, and what he lacked in human-shaped limbs he was making up for in claws and wings. If he ever got his tail to stop broadcasting every damn emotion he had in some sort of secret big-cat-speak, he'd be dandy.
Plus, it made a fine distraction from mooning over how much more relaxed he'd been on the weekend with all his complete lack of personal memory.
"Hey kids. Sooooo. I'm guessing for some of you today's class is going to be more theoretical than functional. For those of ya who ended up with hooves instead of thumbs." He shrugged, which made his wings fluff up, accidentally lifting him a couple inches off the ground. He flailed for a moment, then managed to dig his front claws back into the grass and pull himself back down. "Anyway, Pinkie always seemed to do okay with holdin' stuff even without opposable thumbs, so I'd say it's worth givin' it a try, even if you end up not being able to do much. So. Let's get going."
He led the way -- carefully, occasionally bashing a wing against a tree when he misjudged his current girth -- into the woods.
"Easiest way to have shelter in the great outdoors is to pack yourself a tent. Most of 'em these days are pretty user-friendly in the set up and all, and at least come with instructions, but if you've got some rope and a tarp, and there are a number of ways to make yourself a rudimentary shelter with those, too. But what do you do if you weren't plannin' on landin' where you are over night? You get your ass lost in the woods, it can be real easy to get stuck after the sun goes down. We'll cover navigation in a coupla weeks. For now, let's talk about makin' yourself a covered place to sleep out of sticks and leaves."
He stopped at the same clearing from last week, and after some rather interesting contortrions, finally managed to pull his pack off from where it was awkwardly strapped between his wings. From this he pulled a stack of stapled pamphlets. "These cover a number of different survival shelter options for different climates, includin' more'n a few that you make out of tarps and rope. We're gonna be working on number 14 on the list today: the leaf hut. This method was taught to me with a hole long parable about some boy scouts trying to learn how to make a shelter by looking at squirrel nests, but I'm gonna skip that bit if it's alright with you. You want some nice sturdy sticks to build your frame with, then a good layer of leaf cover for insulation, and thin branches with lots of twiggy bits to hold your leaf cover on." He demonstrated, pulling out some supplies he'd gathered before class and tucked away under a tarp by the side of the clearing. "You get your covering thick enough, this sucker'll even be pretty water proof." He looked up suspiciously at the sky -- it had rained chocolate milk on him earlier, but it seemed pretty clear of cotton candy clouds just now. "Or milk-proof, hopefully."
He finished his construction and tilted his head at it. "'Course, you'll wanna build it big enough to fit your actual self into, which --" He'd fit if he were still human, but these damned wings were really goddamn big, okay? "-- Right. Anyway. Give it a shot, best you can with what you got, and next time you've got hands again, you'll have the theory down and just need to practice."
Plus, it made a fine distraction from mooning over how much more relaxed he'd been on the weekend with all his complete lack of personal memory.
"Hey kids. Sooooo. I'm guessing for some of you today's class is going to be more theoretical than functional. For those of ya who ended up with hooves instead of thumbs." He shrugged, which made his wings fluff up, accidentally lifting him a couple inches off the ground. He flailed for a moment, then managed to dig his front claws back into the grass and pull himself back down. "Anyway, Pinkie always seemed to do okay with holdin' stuff even without opposable thumbs, so I'd say it's worth givin' it a try, even if you end up not being able to do much. So. Let's get going."
He led the way -- carefully, occasionally bashing a wing against a tree when he misjudged his current girth -- into the woods.
"Easiest way to have shelter in the great outdoors is to pack yourself a tent. Most of 'em these days are pretty user-friendly in the set up and all, and at least come with instructions, but if you've got some rope and a tarp, and there are a number of ways to make yourself a rudimentary shelter with those, too. But what do you do if you weren't plannin' on landin' where you are over night? You get your ass lost in the woods, it can be real easy to get stuck after the sun goes down. We'll cover navigation in a coupla weeks. For now, let's talk about makin' yourself a covered place to sleep out of sticks and leaves."
He stopped at the same clearing from last week, and after some rather interesting contortrions, finally managed to pull his pack off from where it was awkwardly strapped between his wings. From this he pulled a stack of stapled pamphlets. "These cover a number of different survival shelter options for different climates, includin' more'n a few that you make out of tarps and rope. We're gonna be working on number 14 on the list today: the leaf hut. This method was taught to me with a hole long parable about some boy scouts trying to learn how to make a shelter by looking at squirrel nests, but I'm gonna skip that bit if it's alright with you. You want some nice sturdy sticks to build your frame with, then a good layer of leaf cover for insulation, and thin branches with lots of twiggy bits to hold your leaf cover on." He demonstrated, pulling out some supplies he'd gathered before class and tucked away under a tarp by the side of the clearing. "You get your covering thick enough, this sucker'll even be pretty water proof." He looked up suspiciously at the sky -- it had rained chocolate milk on him earlier, but it seemed pretty clear of cotton candy clouds just now. "Or milk-proof, hopefully."
He finished his construction and tilted his head at it. "'Course, you'll wanna build it big enough to fit your actual self into, which --" He'd fit if he were still human, but these damned wings were really goddamn big, okay? "-- Right. Anyway. Give it a shot, best you can with what you got, and next time you've got hands again, you'll have the theory down and just need to practice."