Zombie Campfire; Late Wednesday Morning [ 06/09 ].

[shes-got-legs.livejournal.com]

So, despite yesterday being...a little disappointing with the lack of traffic at the store, being conked on the head with a magazine rack instead of being kissed, and then that whole thing where she couldn't stop jumping in fright whenever anyone said anything after the boat trip in class, Ariel had a new toy. And with a new toy, not even being paranoid that your father found out where you were and came to rein holy hell and retribution on humankind could stick around for too long. She'd had plenty of those since coming to land last month; it was virtually impossible to turn around and not find some new and fascinating item (or boy, for that matter) to enrapture her attentions. But this toy was different; this beat all those others right out of the water. This one was a cell phone.

She certainly hadn't made enough money at the clothing shop to have afforded it quite yet, but, through some heavy-hearted bargaining and a whole lot of pouting and looking cute, she'd managed to sell some of her treasures, reasoning to herself all the while that texting made it worth it. Texting, which could be the solution to all her vocal problems. Texting, which Ursula the sea witch probably never would have imagined possible when she took Ariel's voice.

Texting. She was starting to love the word. Especially since the phone company had paired it with the word unlimited.

Of course, the problem with a new phone was that she needed new numbers to put into it so that she could text. But, intrepid treasure hunter and shameless klepto that she was, it wasn't difficult at all for her to track down a sort of school directory with just some of that information available to her. No, she didn't know who most of these people were, but that just meant she'd have to get to know them, right?

After a while, sitting outside to enjoy the fresh air and hoping it didn't rain (got that, forecast?), she was getting really good at entering this stuff in. She could probably be texting in her sleep in no time! It was turning out to be a very, very good day.

[[ open campfire is open! ]]

Magic/Support Reserves, The Preserve, Wednesday After Workshops

[glacial_queen]

There were two tables at the front of the meeting today. The first held the requisite snacks and drinks that people expected from their meetings, but the second was covered in skeins of silk, hollow wooden frames, a few small baskets of dried plants, some salt, candles, incense, and a few books.

"Kiss kiss and thanks for coming," Karla greeted when it looked like everyone had assembled. "In the past, we've talked about the different kinds of magic there are. My Craft differs from Tara's magic which differs from Raven's powers. But even a single witch or magic user may need many tools to cast the spells they know. Some spells can be accomplished with a thought or by will alone, others may need somatic and verbal components to be spoken aloud or specific hand gestures. And others still need materials. Again, because there are so many different kinds of magic, what materials are needed for a spell or ritual will vary from person to person and spell to spell--" she gestured to the second table "--but oftentimes, there is a bit of overlap."

"At home," Tara added, "you need ingredients for just about any spell, unless you, um, kind of go overboard with power. But that'll just drain you. And besides" -- she shrugged -- "most burning herbs smell kind of pretty. Helps you focus while you're chanting."

"Incense and candles also are sometimes a helpful aid for meditation," Raven said, "which can aid in focusing your powers, as can something like my chakra." She touched her fingertips to the red jewel on her forehead, then continued. "My healing gifts do not require any sort of spell components, but other spells I know do need some sort of object to focus them on, an item for the magics to be contained within." She swept her hair back so that the glow of her earrings could be seen. "These were originally simple gold earrings, but I have attached a spell of light to them. For the spell to be most effective, they had to be of pure gold and finely crafted. The better the quality of the item, the more powerful the spell."

"It's important to learn and understand some basic spell components," Karla continued. "On the one hand, if we're under attack and need to cast a spell, knowing what items are at hand will give you a better idea of what spells can be cast. Knowing the difference between rosemary and rue might be vital, especially if the magic user casting the spell can't be with you when you're collecting the materials for the spell. And, should you ever be in a position to observe an enemy spellcaster, it's good to know a little bit about what they're doing, too. Will knocking the candle over interrupt the spell or just alert the caster to your presence? If you scuff the summoning circle, will you send the evil demon back to its hell dimension or just let it loose on Fandom?"

These were some pretty important questions, okay? No one wanted to deal with ravening demons on the loose.

"So today, we're going to spend some time talking about some of the material components to our spells. Then, we're going to talk about where to find those components and the best ways to interfere with spells that rely on them."

"They kept telling me I'm not allowed to say that you'd find the stuff I use to make magic at 'Dite's," Emmett added with a grin. "So this is me not saying that, and just shutting up and listening this week."

[Co-written with the amazing life_inshadow, trigons_child and hazlehurstmiss. Please wait for the OCD is up and has been for awhile. *facepalms* Many thanks to ancientbschamp for pointing that out to me.]

Main Campfire | Wednesday Night | 6.9.2010

[onlysmokesnics.livejournal.com]

Hayley had started a fire.

Thankfully, it was in the actual place for the main campfire, and she was happily roasting marshmallows and eating them right off the stick. This was the good life, she thought.

There was an impending cloud of adulthood and responsibility. She was ignoring that with all her might.

Because mmmm, marshmallows.

[ooc: Open like an open campfire]
[Warning: Hayley and Hinata's has ventured into dark subject matter. Hayley's views are in no way intended to be humorous or played for laughs.]

Harpy Campfire [evening]

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

By the time evening rolled around, Sookie figured she either was safe from Kennedy's wrath, or she could ply her with marshmallows.

Besides, she was hungry. So she wandered outside with marshmallows and hot dogs, building a little fire, and hoping to attract company that wouldn't kill her or anything.

She also brought her pie out from her baking class, because there was no way she could eat an entire strawberry pie herself.

...no matter how much she wanted to.

[yes, I've played the hell out of her today. Shh, I only get so many more happy Sookie days. OPEN LIKE A CAMPFIRE YAY.]