fandomhighdorms | Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

"Okay, guys," Zack said, stepping to the forefront of the Reserves meeting and grinning, his hands on his hips. "Today we're going to follow the lead of the Magic Reserves, and start focusing on sharing the more specific talents of the people in this group. But with a twist! While plenty of the stuff that they have over in the Magic corps is specific to just the person giving the demonstrations, the benefit to working physically is that plenty of the skills that each of us have can be taught to one another! Maybe you've got proficiency in a weapon that nobody else here seems to know, or else you've got awesome tracking skills and think that we could stand to learn how to use them, too! Or you might have something as simple as a training exercise that you've seen put to use back home that you think we could benefit from, here. If you have something to share with the group, I'm sure we'd all be thankful that you offered up the time to teach us!"

Zack, for example, would teach the group the fine art of smuggling cookies into serious meetings of an almost militaristic nature. The trick, of course, was to leave them in his pockets and give them to people who asked nicely.

And Arthur would be onto him eventually. He was just keeping an eye out. "So if you are prepared to share, step up to us this week. You may bring your own tale to the front this week, give us a demonstration, and please come up to have a word with us if you would like to demonstrate some time in the coming weeks, or would be willing to offer your services in training, or leading the reserves through a training exercise. We are here to learn from each other as best we can, and so each other is the best resource we've got."

He gave a nod to those gathered, then took a step back. Only to take a step back later to give his own round-up.

[[ ~~wait for the~~ ocd up! ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Of course he'd winked at her. She was a pretty girl and it was how Mat was built.

"But in extremely tight quarters, when there's no room to swing the staff," like, say, the captain's quarters on a ship, "your options can be limited," Mat replied.

"That's true." Gabrielle looked like she was a bit cornered, but not about to back down. Don't talk to her about ships; she'd likely get horribly seasick just at the thought. And then there might have to be pressure point usage and eating of disgusting things because her tastebuds weren't working. "That's usually when I try to run."

Or get taken hostage. Shh. What? She'd probably break her hand trying to punch someone.

"Generally by the time I'm using the staff, it's too late to run," Mat said a little bitterly.

"Half the time it's too late to run whether I'm using it or not." She'd said she'd try to run, after all, not necessarily that she succeeded at it. "Not your first choice?" Gabrielle asked, curious.

"To have people trying to kill me?" Mat replied. "No."

Gabrielle narrowed her eyes and looked at him in don't-get-smart-alecky-with-me exasperation. (It didn't take much to get her to that point some days.) "The staff. As a weapon."

"I'd bloody prefer not to have to use one at all," Mat said, "but the staff--or my knives--is what I choose."

Gabrielle made a face at the mention of knives, but she had to nod emphatically. "I'd rather not either, if I can avoid it. And I won't kill." She had Xena to do that, for all the good it would do in Fandom.

"You do know that the other man probably doesn't have that same problem, right?"

"Very much so, thanks," Gabrielle told him. "The swords and the yelling are usually a good sign of that."

"And the trying to kill you again after the bruises heal?" Mat added.

"Oh, we're usually long gone by then," Gabrielle said blithely. "Or they've run off, what's left of them. Xena has that effect on people."

"And who's Xena?" Mat asked.

"She's my best friend." Best friends don't usually get that super-schmoopy look on people's faces, Gabrielle, if they're only best friends. "The Warrior Princess, atoning for a past of terrible misdeeds by championing the cause of good among the less fortunate."

Yes, she really did get this flowery on the subject. See above re: super-schmoopy look. "Six feet of leather and dark hair and blue eyes as sharp as the edge of her sword . . ."

Mat's eyebrows quirked up as his mind went down paths best not trod in polite company. "Will she visit?"

No, Mat. That is a very terrible idea.

Very terrible idea. If you went by some of the rumors, Xena had guys for lunch.

"She might, sometime." Gabrielle was giving him a squinty-eyed Look of Suspicion now. "If you met her, you'd see why it's not really a problem."

Mat's last steady partner (in that she'd slept with him regularly before she'd tried to kill him (not his fault (really))) had been an Aiel Maiden of the Spear with a fondness for knives, so Xena, he believed, was probably about his speed.

Mat was occasionally very, very stupid.

"I'll have to make her acquaintance some day, then," he decided.

Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!

Re: Step Up and Talk!