"Today is your final," Yang intoned seriously, though she didn't manage to keep her smile from peeking out. "The most important part of keeping your advantage?"

She pressed a button on her phone. "Expect the unexpected. Let's go, boys."

Was it awkward to have a child with her ex-girlfriend partner following her around? YEP. Yang was gonna go with a big YES on that one.

At least Bells seemed cool, and rather unruffled by everything so far. And the option of ice cream had been a big hit.

Which was why Yang and Bells were currently engaged in a contest as to who could eat a Skywalker Special the fastest, without getting an ice cream headache.

"On your mark, get set..." Yang said, reaching slowly for her spoon...."GO!"

They might both regret this later, but Yang was pretty sure this was quality mom-daughter bonding.




[OOC: open ice cream is open! The Yang/Bells/Lucy/Prompto/Cid thread preplayed with the ever-amazing hashtag_chocobro]

"Let's get explosive!" Yang cheered, after her team had assembled. "As in, one of my favorite terrains, the volcano!"

Yes, she was absolutely poking fun at her own explosive temper.

"In a bit, we're gonna head over to the place that most English speakers call Mount St. Helens -- known as Lawetlat'la to the Indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat --which is an active stratovolcano, most famous for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980, at 8:32 am PDT which was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States," she stated. "Fifty-seven people and uncounted amounts of wildlife were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche caused an eruption, reducing the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 feet to 8,365 feet, and replacing it with a one-mile wide horseshoe-shaped crater."

"This little planet may look like a single solid mass with some water on top, but it’s really made up of several massive plates of earth and rock. These crustal plates are constantly moving and colliding with one another, creating earthquakes and the pressure zones that lead to volcanic eruptions. Underneath those sliding and colliding plates is hot, melted rock known as magma; it sometimes collects in areas of high pressure called, naturally enough, magma chambers. When this pressure builds up and becomes too great, the magma sometimes explodes upward in a great cataclysmic event. This is a volcano."

"Unfortunately, there is not much a single person can do to prepare for a volcanic eruption, but it is always good to have a good knowledge of them. Be aware of the hazards that can come with an eruption: the flying debris, hot gases, lava flows, potential for explosion, mudslides, avalanches, and geothermal areas. Prepare provisions, water, food, blankets, and medical supplies if you live around a volcano before anything happens. Also be ready to get up and outrun flowing lava . . . and yeah, I'm totally serious. Lava is fast. Above all, use caution when near an active volcanoes. Even if you've got a superpower, do not venture toward any activity, and consult local experts on the area. Follow all recommendations, regulations, or requests of officials."

"If you do become trapped near an active volcano, there are things you can watch out for. Stay away from lava flows. Not all of them will be red-hot and obvious; some move very slowly and appear as dark and solid, but are liquid beneath the surface. Also, do not try to cross an active flow; you might get trapped by multiple lava streams. Keep an eye on the Colcanic domes - Volcanic domes and plugs in craters may seem harmless, but they can explode without warning. Footing and glassy rocks can also be very dangerous. Some cooled lava of this sort can resemble jagged pieces of glass. Wear good, solid hiking boots on the mountain - never go barefoot. Be sure of your step."

"Be careful when crossing lahar - debris - flows, for they can gush in large and small floods. And above all, avoid areas where volcanic gas is released. Carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide can kill quickly and silently. You may not be able to hold your breath long enough. If you see a location around an active volcano with dead vegetation, carcasses, or bones, do not enter it."

"How can you prepare? If you live in an active volcanic zone, always assume that you may have to deal with the effects of an eruption. If you are in an area that could experience a lava flow during a volcanic eruption, know a quick route to safe ground. Once the eruption begins, if you're in a safe place, save water in your bath, basin, containers or cylinders at an early stage - supplies may become polluted. Stay indoors with as much as possible and wear mask and goggles if you go outside, to keep volcanic ash out of your eyes and lungs, and keep below ridge lines in hilly terrain - the hills will offer some protection from flying volcanic debris."

"So we're gonna start at the Johnson Ridge Observatory, named after one of the people that died that day. Then, we're gonna hike to the crater rim. I already got us our permits, and set-up the portal so that we're arriving first thing in the morning, and no matter how long we're there, the gnomes will get us back here with only one hour having passed. We can't go down into the crater itself, but that's for the best. First off, it's a fragile ecosystem. Second..." Yang had the good graces to look mildly abashed. "...I originally wanted to take us to Kīlauea in Hawaiʻi, but, um, there you can feel the heat under your feet, and I'm kinda magma-and-lava-reactive apparently? So, while Lawetlat'la is still active, it's WAY safer for us with the magma farther under the crust."

At that, the portal flickered to life, and Yang gestured for the group to go on through. "So let's go play on a death mountain!"

"The weather suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks," Yang said, shifting from one foot to the other today, looking slightly gleeful. "So fuck it, we're leaving, and going to some place called Heron Island in Australia. Sounds fake, but whatever."

She opened one of the trunks sitting at her feet, and tossed some bottles of sun screen at the boys. "Hold on to that. You'll want it later."

"So, you may be wondering what sort of terrain you need to learn about with a beach. Sadly, we aren't going to master the art of the sand castle, or tanning, but we ARE about to go scuba diving. Water covers most of this planet, so being able to move through it is important."

"People go scuba diving for a lot of reasons, both personal and professional. Most people begin with recreational diving, which is performed purely for enjoyment and has a number of distinct technical disciplines to increase interest underwater, such as cave diving, wreck diving, ice diving and deep diving. No, we are not doing any of the extreme ones today." Gladio.

"Then there's the people who do it as a job, and not just teaching the recreational divers how not to die.
Most of these commercial divers are employed to perform tasks related to the running of a business involving deep water, including civil engineering tasks such as in oil exploration, underwater welding or offshore construction. Commercial divers may also be employed to perform tasks specifically related to marine activities, such as naval diving, including the repair and inspection of boats and ships, salvage of wrecks or underwater fishing, like spear fishing."

"Other specialist areas of diving include military diving, with a long history of military frogmen -- NOT as neat as that sounds -- in various roles. They can perform jobs including direct combat, infiltration behind enemy lines, placing mines or using a manned torpedo, bomb disposal or engineering operations. In civilian operations, many police forces operate police diving teams to perform search and recovery or search and rescue operations and to assist with the detection of crime which may involve bodies of water. In some cases diver rescue teams may also be part of a fire department or lifeguard unit."

She went on to explain how to suit up properly, as well as the basic mechanics of scuba diving. "But you don't have to take my word for it," she said, as the portal flickered to life inside the community center. "Let's go join the experts. And if you can't swim, well, I bet they have lessons for that too."

Was Yang basically bouncing in excitement when people showed-up today?

You bet your boots she was.

"What's up?" she asked, grinning, once people had arrived. "That's not a rhetorical question, 'cause today we are studying mountains, and rock climbing!"

Thanks, Gladio, for moving this up her list of things to do.

"The important thing to remember about mountains is that each one is different, depending on the size and location," she said. "High mountains, and mountains located close to the Earth's poles, reach into the colder layers of the atmosphere. They are consequently subject to glaciation, and erosion through frost action. Such processes produce the peak shape. Some of these mountains have glacial lakes, created by melting glaciers. Mountains can be eroded and weathered, altering their characteristics over time, so even if you've been to an area once, it may not be the same as before."

"Tall mountains have different climatic conditions at the top than at the base, and will thus have different life zones -- with different survival hazards -- at different altitudes. The flora and fauna found in these zones tend to become isolated since the conditions above and below a particular zone will be inhospitable to those organisms. These isolated ecological systems are known as sky islands and/or microclimates." 

Yang grinned at them brightly.  "I REALLY want to take us to a sky island or glacial lake at some point, so if you have suggestions, I'm all ears."

"Mountains are also generally less preferable for human habitation than lowlands; the weather is often harsher, and there is little level ground suitable for agriculture. At very high altitudes, there is less oxygen in the air and less protection against solar radiation, and acute mountain sickness, caused by hypoxia - a lack of oxygen in the blood, affects over half of lowlanders who spend more than a few hours above 3,500 meters, or 11,483 feet."  

"So today, we're starting small with rock climbing at a gym!  We should be having a portal show up right about...."  almost on queue, the portal she ordered popped up at the other end of the classroom.  "Now!  Gotta say, when the gnomes are on time, they are ON TIME!" 

"Now, this is the one I go to regularly, so behave.  I've already covered your passes and gear for today, so let's go have some fun!"

It was Arms Day for Yang, so after a quick (five mile) run around the island, here she was at Atlas, getting set-up for her workout.

It was easier to do all her weight training here, rather than worry about annoying her neighbors with her loud music while she worked out, and they already had all the equipment she needed.

Tunes on, Gatorade on standby, and Yang Xiao Long lost herself in the familiar routine.

If someone else came in, she'd turn down the music and gladly share the equipment, but for now, she was in her happy zone.

[[OOC: Absolutely open!]]

"Last class for the year!" Yang hollered cheerfully. "As the handwavey email said, if you're allergic to animals, I hope you took some OTC drugs, because we're off to an animal shelter!"

Not the one HERE. That was Prompto's territory, and Yang hadn't felt comfortable asking him for that favor. Especially after what she'd heard through the radio about him going on dates.

She'd loved visiting him there when they were both stupid kids students, and getting covered in puppies. She didn't want to tarnish those memories with a new, awkward one.

Instead, Yang grinned brightly at her gathered party, blonde hair whipping in the winter wind. "So let's get through the portal," she cheered. "On the other side is a branch of the Animal Humane Society."

"As one of the nation's leading animal welfare organizations, the Animal Humane Society is changing the way shelters care for animals, and directly engaging their communities. From innovative medical and behavior programs. to investments in outreach and advocacy, they're advancing animal welfare and creating a more humane world for animals everywhere."

"From offering low-cost vet services like microchipping and neutering, doing trap-neuter-release with feral populations that won't adjust to being pets, to building sliding-scale vet centers in areas that don't have any animal care, they've gone above and beyond 'just' rehoming stray animals. Though they do a lot of that too."

"Today, you've got a bunch of options. Take dogs for walks. Play with cats. Help the groomers bathe these babies to help them find good homes. Interact with the more exotic animals, like birds and lizards and ferrets. Help potential adopters fill out paperwork. Or sort the donations that people drop off."

"But let's go change some lives!"

Today, everyone had been warned to show up wearing sturdy shoes for walking in, and clothes they didn't mind getting dirty, to meet at the portal.

"Today we're helping the environment, and heading over to Swallow Falls State Park," Yang enthused, once people arrived. "We're going to help them prep for winter by doing some trash pick-up and trail maintenance!"

"The United States has both a National Parks system, and a State Parks system. Basically, at one point, people decided 'hey, nature is important,' and took some serious steps to make sure it was preserved for everyone, and that not everything got paved over into cities."

"Today, we're at a park run by the state. With winter coming, it's especially important to get trash picked-up and thrown away, the seasonal bike rentals cleaned, maintained, and put away, and the landscaping get all raked and trimmed and prepped for the season."

"I have both disposable and gardening gloves available for everyone, as well as trash bags. The park rangers have gardening tools, tools for bike-fixing, and big bags of mulch to start doing trail repair if you really want a work-out. So let's go!"

"Wheels up, people!" Yang hollered cheerfully as she ushered them through the portal this week. "This time, literally!"

"Meals on Wheels is a program that brings pre-made meals to senior citizens who are for one reason or another in need of help with meals. They provide nutritious meals, a quick safety check and much-needed human connection to homebound seniors. In some communities, additional services that keep seniors healthy and safe are also offered, like pet food delivery, senior center meal programs, home repair services and transportation. Each local program works with its own community’s needs and resources to provide a community-specific solution."

"Yes, this is a volunteer gig, not a standard social service provided by the government." Yang shook her head in dismay. "Sometimes, Earth really sucks, which we're isolated from in Fandom. We might have large apocalypses, but for people outside Fandom, sometimes every day is a crisis."

"The reality is that over nine million seniors in America struggle with hunger, fifteen million live in isolation, and eighteen million live in or near poverty. So today, we're going to try and do our best to help out a little bit."

"Right, same Earth as last time, let's go," Yang said, hustling everyone through the portal.

"So, if you've been on Earth in this hemisphere before, you know it's about to get very, very cold and wet. If you didn't know... now you do."

"Today, we're helping out at a 'winter gear drive,'" You could basically hear the airquotes. "People from all over have donated new or used-but-still-good condition coats, gloves, hats, boots, snowpants...everything people are going to need for winter."

"And if YOU are not equipped for a Fandom winter, let me know. We'll get you set-up too."

Class was told to gear up in clothes they could move in, sunscreen, a water bottle, and solid shoes, and to meet at the Causeway portal.

"We're headed to a near-Earth dimension, where those who are not human-standard won't get a second look," Yang promised. "And we're gonna build some houses. I'm providing all of you with work gloves, and dinner."

"Habitat for Humanity is a global nonprofit housing organization working in local communities across all 50 states in the U.S. and in approximately 70 countries. The goal is getting families into new, safe, quality homes of their own, with affordable mortgages."

"Why is that important? Well, lots of houses are getting snapped up by corporations to be rentals, and for families, it's often more expensive to rent than own, especially the bigger the family. Not to mention the instability of your rent always going up. It's also hard to find housing if you have an eviction on your record, or even just if your credit isn't spotless. So today, we're gonna use our brains and our brawn to work on four houses. Habitat managed to buy the entire block, so we've got plenty of chances to work!"

When everyone arrived, they'd find that Yang had booked for class a space with a lot of bean bag chairs that she'd kinda shoved into a circle. Each chair had a moddable notebook and pen on it, and by the door was a big box labeled 'SUGGESTIONS.' Yang herself had already grabbed a seat -- and a notebook with a dog on it -- and wasn't wearing her mechanical arm. Instead her t-shirt sleeve ended just above the metal cap that sealed off her scar tissue.

"Hey," she said, once it seemed like everyone that was going to show up was there. "Grab a seat. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Yang Xiao-Long. You can just call me Yang. "

"So. You all saw the course description when you signed-up. Or read it on your schedule when the Moose decided to mess with you. But to recap -- sometimes, we all get wrapped up in the chaos that is Fandom Island, and think the only way to help is to fight. Together, the might of Fandom makes right. And that's wrong. I'm aware that might sound like bullshit, coming from someone with super-powers, but it's true."

"Some ways to help without fighting seem small, some are bigger. Some are temporary but no less-needed, some make a lasting impact, and others are volunteer-tourism that hurt more than it helps."

"So, I'd like to hear from you -- why did you sign up for this class? What do you think your greatest talent is that you bring to a group? What's one thing you'd like to accomplish this semester?"

Yes, Yang had high-tailed (pun intended) it over to Furnado the moment she heard the radio and realized WHY Prompto hadn't been answering her texts.

Which was why now she was at the park, with Prompto, yes, but also two of the other puppies from the store. She'd been going back-and-forth all day, bringing them out to play in different shifts because there was no way she could manage ALL the puppies at once.

"Ready guys? Goooooooooooo..... GET IT!" She flung the tennis ball with a nice, high arc, and Prompto and his new BFFs took off.

"NO! Don't chase the flamingo-- great. Just great." Well, that was ONE wet puppy so far who'd need a bath when she took them back to the store. At least it wasn't Prompto?

[OOC: Mostly establishy, but open! BECAUSE I HAD TO.]