#type 2 fun

Okay my prompt idea is “type 2 fun”

“Type 2 fun occurs when a task is difficult at the time, but feels rewarding afterward, often because it challenges the practitioner to test their limits and grow.”

Thank you so much!!

This prompt was such a fun challenge, and I actually thought of several “type 2 fun” scenarios, but I decided to go with the sweet one ;-;

I hope you enjoy it!

Worth It

Read here on Ao3!

Rated: G | Words: 333

“I don’t understand the point of this,” Tech says. “We were not required to leave our campsite location until daybreak.” 

Hunter turns to look back at his brothers trudging behind him, eerily green in the lens of his training helmet’s night vision setting. “It’ll be worth it.” 

“It better be,” Crosshair grumbles from the back of the line. 

Armor is heavy, and even when it’s light armor, it takes very little time to begin feeling its extra weight distributed throughout every cell of your physical being. It just saps the energy right out of you.

For several years pre-pandemic, I trained in a couple semi-professional stage combat systems and learned how to use a variety of weapons and armor. Our group performed at Ren Faires and other events. We fought in the blazing sun between jousting rounds, we practiced on freezing cold winter evenings, and we fought in the cold rain, which only weighed our tabards and cloaks down further.

I used to fight in shows and with folks who routinely wore 75 lbs of gear. Several rode and jousted with their full plate on and then dismounted their horses and challenged each other on foot. Support crew like myself would run out, hand them a sword, take the reigns, and lead the horses away to the sidelines, where we watched and cheered.

One of the key parts of squire duty was helping people suit up. Plate armor has various buckles and leather straps that the wearer couldn’t possibly fiddle with and latch themselves. Everything goes on in a particular order, because many of the bits are anchored to the breastplate. It took 1-2 people to get a person in and out of all their gear.

If you wear chainmail and you have long hair, you’d better put a bandanna on while donning it, or your hair will get caught in the rings. It’s always a bit of a goofy wriggle to get into—and then later out of—the heavy steel shirt.

While wearing armor of any kind—even more so with really heavy armor—you have to be mindful of your center of gravity so that you don’t fall backward nor pitch forward; it forces you to keep your spine stacked in a solid line and have excellent posture. You also have to allow your legs to take the extra weight, and you will quickly find you need to do a slight duck walk to protect your knees. Maneuverability is partly impacted because your hamstrings and quads are being worked with every step. You also could wear a padded shirt under the plate to cushion the weight on your shoulders and protect your torso from chafe, and that extra layer also restricts your upper body movement.

You absolutely cook in the sun. You are a person-shaped tank, and in the sunlight, that steel becomes a mobile oven. On hot days, you have to be constantly drinking water or you will pass out. Even far more forgiving chainmail heats up and drains your energy. Conversely, when it’s cold outside, unless you opted to wear that thick padded shirt, your armor will leech the heat right out of you. It’s kind miserable no matter what weather you’re in. 😂 You also have to oil or buff the steel to keep it from rusting after you’re caught in the rain.

Armor is a lot of work.

A cape—even made from lighter fabric—is also surprisingly heavy. It pulls you down and back with its weight, and you are constantly using your core to fight against it without slouching. If it’s a long cape, have to be mindful not to catch it under your boots when you step backward.

But before you know it, you’ve grown stronger and built up muscle in various strange places you don’t normally use, and you suddenly realize that you’re used to wearing all this gear and it feels good to put it on. Just like the swords and shields we used, the capes and cloaks and layers of armor became extensions of ourselves. Gearing up became a ritual in which some part of us also got into character. I weirdly felt more like another version of me, as I often do when I pull on specialized equipment for a task.