fandomhighdorms | Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

Huh. No Arthur to be seen, which meant that Zack was going to step up to the Reserves-Leader-Plate again, grinning a little. He kinda loved taking charge! So what?

"So, since we're hopefully starting to get into the swing of things again, this week we're going to talk about our weapons. Again!"

Why not?

"Every weapon has strengths and weaknesses. My sword, for example, has excellent reach because of its size, but it sacrifices manoeuvrability as a result. An arrow is better for ranged attacks, but weather conditions like rain or wind might affect your aim. Some weapons might rust in certain weather. And being on an island, well, we're prone to that kind of weather, yes. So what we're going to do today is try to come up with one example of a shortcoming of our weapon of choice, and how we're going to account for it!"

Zack then motioned to a cardboard box over by the wall.

"And please, please take a bag of Oreo cookies with you when you go. For you, for a friend, whatever. I might have bought a few too many."

A few cases too many.

[The Reserves are, as always, open to one and all!]

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Tahiri sent a quick wave of apology and encouragement his way, but bad as she felt about causing it the lapse made her feel a little bit better. "I lost three of my pilots this last mission. I'd never been in charge of anything before." All that being mature and responsible and confident had held up pretty well until now, but without a constant press of activity to keep her preoccupied any more she couldn't keep holding the thoughts at bay, and the words came out in a rush. "I know it happens, and it could have been worse, but it's . . ."

She faltered. "It's all new to me."

"It's pretty new to me, too," Zack offered. Middle ground, maybe? Accepting that it sometimes happened and being used to it were two very different creatures, after all. "I mean, I only left home to join SOLDIER a couple of years ago. And I haven't been a 2nd Class for very long, either. I know it happens out there, but it's still not easy. I don't think it's ever meant to be."

Middle ground was good. Middle ground was familiar. "I hope it never gets easy," Tahiri agreed, and smiled self-consciously. "It's hard to tell, sometimes, looking at people who've been doing this for a long time. I guess it helps to know I'm not the only one."

"It helps a bit, yeah." Zack was working on that smile again. It was doing significantly better so far as smiles went than the one he'd been trying to keep up a moment before. "And we'll get better at getting people out in one piece as we go along, right? So maybe it's easier for the people who have been doing this longer because they have the experience they need to do it..."

'Right' didn't seem like the proper word, here.

"... More smoothly."

"More smoothly. Yeah. That's the other thing I wanted to say," Tahiri replied, wanting to steer the conversation back toward less depressing subjects. "This whole Reserves thing really helped when I was home. So I wanted to thank you for that."

"Well, I'm just glad it helped," Zack replied, and his smile was far more genuine at that particular bit of news. "If there's anything you can think of that we haven't really covered here that you might have been able to use back home, please let me know. I think it's pretty safe to say that Leto, Arthur and I all want to make this thing as useful as possible, and not just here on Fandom."

"I've already been thinking about that," Tahiri admitted. "I should have some more concrete ideas for you by next week, when I'm less time-lagged."

Wow, she was actually thinking strategically on her own now. When had that started happening?

"That would be awesome. Let me know whenever, okay?" He rocked on his heels for a moment, and then offered her another bright grin. "In the meantime, get yourself rested up, okay?"

A beat.

"And take some more cookies."

"I will," Tahiri promised, laughing, and after the unrelenting grimness of a warzone it was really, really good to be around people from Fandom again. "On both counts."

Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

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