letting kids fire artillery and calling it work

[ohgoodgrief]

Who: Yang, OTA!
What: An artillery exercise -- with a looooot of supervision, sorry kids -- for the student body!
Where: A big field outside of the Academy and the town.
When: Shortly before finals!
Warnings: Big cannons.

[Wen-li Yang was "convinced" (some might say manipulated) into a practical operation for the students: letting them fire huge cannons.

Originally, he was going to let them build their own. Then he did the research and realized one cannot simply construct artillery pieces with no experience. So he instead made a few phone calls back to the Navy, and got a set of lighter artillery pieces sent out. They're still bigger than most civilians have ever seen, which Yang thinks will pass muster.

Besides, they don't need to destroy fortifications at Verdun, they're blowing up wooden Potemkin village houses today.

Students are divided into teams of three. Each is given an artillery piece -- fixed on a turret, which can only cover the area away from the school and the town -- and has to hit targets that pop up. The wooden targets include wooden cut-outs of huge daemons, of demonic castles, and other scary, Nightfall-themed things. They also include buildings made to look like normal village houses and shops, which should not be fired on.

Yang, for his part, is standing back and watching. He's easy to approach in the command tent, where he has binoculars -- and a radio. And, of course, staff are on hand to help show people how to load the cannons, aim them, and fire them... but they have to do it themselves.]

Comments

ota; can take multiples, he'll ask this several times

[ohgoodgrief]

[Yang is wearing Army-loaned camouflage today to try to look... well.. a little more like a professional soldier who knows what he's doing.

He's also sipping tea.]

Ever wonder if something you've done isn't a great idea after all? Asking for a friend.

[transfusionem]

[Yang, you are aware you're asking your students this, right? They might not be the best judges.]

Are you saying that having a bunch of kids fire cannons is a bad idea?

[Because, you know, it might be.]

[ohgoodgrief]

[He is a little aware of this. He is a terrible adult and he knows it, Adelaide. He gives her the most apologetic glance for being...

...well, for being himself.]

I may be implying this, yes.

[transfusionem]

[He's not that bad! Just a little...irresponsible, perhaps.]

Weeeeeell, I don't think it's the best idea, but, you know.

Blowing stuff up is pretty fun?

[She hasn't fired a single cannon yet.]

[thedevilwearsgucci]

Personally, I try to keep my mistakes either so small that no one notices, or so catastrophically large that everyone thinks I'm playing the long game.

[ It's hard to ignore the sounds of artillery fire, and she had sashayed out to figure out what was going on. ]

I'm not entirely sure where giving students large-caliber weaponry falls on this spectrum, but at least they're aiming for uninhabited forest.

[ohgoodgrief]

Hmm.

[He looks back at Cereza, and he waves a hand at her in greeting, and then he nods.]

That's right! And we've installed things so they can't... you know. Fire on the school. Just on the targets we set-up!

[thedevilwearsgucci]

Still, I wonder just how often they'll have use for big guns like these when Night falls.

[ Speaking of which, she leans harmlessly on the console and watches along with him, bent over and seemingly oblivious to anyone staring at her... big guns. ]

You wouldn't happen to have anything up your sleeve in regards to that?

[yokeye]

All the time~! But that's not the important question here, Professor~! I came to ask if participation in this exercise can take the place of the final exam~! If that's not possible, will it count for some semblance of extra credit!?

[ohgoodgrief]

Er--extra credit? No?

[He shakes his head 'no.'] Why? It doesn't have anything to do with history! This is a different skillset, you see.

[yokeye]

So it doesn't matter if we hit the fake civilian buildings then, because nothing's riding on a good job!? No incentives makes for chaos~! This is a really bad set-up here! What's to stop students from meddling with things to make it more fun!? There's a rumor about a beehive in the greenhouse and jars of bees and you don't want to some student replacing the cannonballs with bees, do you!?

[This is a logical track, and a good reason for making the exercise worth something academically.]

[bejustorbedead]

There are probably worse ideas.

[The man watches the results of destruction, flinching slightly at the first few shots before he seems to ease himself into recognizing them]

But what the worst ideas are, I can't tell you right off the top of my head.

[ohgoodgrief]

I made sure we didn't have the really flammable shells, at least?

[At one point, this seemed like a great idea.

Teach the kids about artillery, in case they ever had to fire one! Help them learn friend-and-foe recognition in the field!

Somehow, though, it feels like... a lot.]

[bejustorbedead]

And that Greek Fire has been lost to history.

[He sits down, eyes half-lidded, seeming to be in thought]

They really are like kids.

[heartofasamurai]

[Seiji has been standing slightly back to avoid the sound.]

I am certain that people ask this question of themselves many times in their lives.

[ohgoodgrief]

At least once a day?

[heartofasamurai]

Possibly. [Seiji is amused by the teacher being the one asking this considering what other things the school has allowed so far.]

This is in a reasonably secure location for an outdoor activity.

[marmoron]

[For his part, Keith glances away from the canon he's been loading to look up at Yang when asked the question. He raises an eyebrow, looking a little dubious.]

No.

[...Well that was blunt.]

[ohgoodgrief]

[James's roommate... yeah, Yang knows him. He looks sideways at Keith, blinking. He asks, sincerely:]

Really? Not even a little?

Re: ota; can take multiples, he'll ask this several times

[thebreakfastbug]

Giving barely trained teenagers access to heavy weapons? No, that was a great plan. Also, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn that I'd like to sell you.

[True, Bumblebee was a teenager who also had access to heavy weapons, but he had been trained to use them.]

[ohgoodgrief]

I'm sure it'll be fine! There's highly professional, well-trained crews down there to help.

[He frowns.]

I mean. Probably fine.

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano looks absolutely ecstatic; the only thing that could make this day better is if he'd been allowed to bring his jar of bees, but Toki is over there policing what can and cannot be blasted out of the canons, so he'll just have to settle with what he can hide from the other boy.

To Yang, though, Kano's answer is immediate: ]

Never.

[ All the fucking time. But this? This idea is absolutely a great idea and he won't let Yang think otherwise. ]

[ohgoodgrief]

I was afraid you would say that.

[Still, he smiles in a good-natured way. Actually, a part of this is nice; getting to see the kids interact with the guns, loosen up, and have fun.

A part of this is even necessary. It'll teach them about them before, maybe, it saves their lives.]

Have you fired any yet?

Cannons - OTA;

[yokeye]

[After earlier confirmation of the worth of this endeavor, Toki has returned to the field, for once actually wearing his school uniform, and for the first time ever, the beret. Yang has one after all, and it can't hurt if he should notice its presence. Toki is prepared for nothing to go wrong here. As long as he has two decent people in his group, there will be no disasters. Of course, he didn't pay attention to the instructions whatsoever; that was someone else's job. He's here to watch things get destroyed by cannonballs and maybe light the fuse or something. No heavy lifting, no awkward aiming. Minimal participation for maximum rewards.]

Okay~! I really need this extra credit, so absolutely no firing at the civilian buildings! Also, empty your pockets of any hazardous or flammable materials, as well as any items small enough to be launched from the cannon! That's not happening here!

[marmoron]

[Meanwhile Keith is definitely not wearing his school uniform and it's anyone's guess if he even has the beret anymore as he may or may not have set the thing on fire weeks ago. He's here largely for the same reason, which is to say to blow shit up with a cannon, but as Toki starts talking, he abruptly stops what he was doing to scowl.]

Who made you boss?

[yokeye]

[Toki hasn't seen Keith before; he must be a new student. Which may work in his favor here.]

Professor Yang did! You see, I'm sort of an apprentice of his and while you're in my group, you should show me the same respect you'd show him~! However! I must also warn you, and this is kind of secret because I'm not supposed to tell you, but if you screw this up even just a little, you run the risk of being expelled! The school is overcrowded and Professor Yang drew the short straw, so he's responsible for choosing the student who's taking up too much space, but he couldn't, so he devised this activity to determine who goes! It's so sad, isn't it?