The Preserve, Wednesday Afternoon

[glacial_queen]

There was an army waiting to greet the members of the Magic Reserves today: an army of practice dummies from the salle, standing at perfect attention behind the refreshment table. Crepe paper had been tied around each dummy's waist, with a long streamer left hanging down their sides. More rolls of crepe paper were resting on the refreshment table.

"Hey," Tony said. "We've got a cool activity today, but before we do that, Dinah's going to tell us about her abilities." He smiled at Dinah. "And if anyone wants to volunteer for next week, let us know."

He turned to Karla. "Wanna explain the activity?"

She nodded, before turning towards thr group. "Today, we're going to focus on the possibility that one day, we'll have to rescue prisoners and hostages from an invading enemy force," Karla said, giving everyone a cheerful smile. "While every step of an operation like that is difficult and fraught with danger, one of the most common mistakes people make is that assuming once they've freed their comrades, the hard part is over. Not only is that wrong, but it's the kind of thinking that can get people recaptured or even killed."

It was hard thinking like this in the face of enemies like carnivorous vegetables, but they had to be prepared.

Merlin shot her a slightly nervous smile as he stepped forward to add, "To keep that sort of thing from happening, we'll be running a practice at escaping with the dummies." The lovely, lovely dummies. "Whomever you are rescuing may be able to move on their own should this actually happen, but for this case we will assume the worst and they will be unable to walk for whatever reason. Which should make it--um--interesting to accomplish without being caught again."

"This is how it's going to work," Karla said, picking up the thread again. "Your dummy is your friend. Get him from one side of the Preserve to the other without him 'dying.'" She tugged on one of the crepe streamers attached to a dummy. "This is his 'life.' If this gets ripped off, your dummy is dead. Everyone who participates will also tie a streamer around their waist and the same rules apply. If your streamer is torn, you die and are 'out' for the rest of the round."

"Either singly or in pairs, people are going to try to rescue the dummies. Everyone who is not rescuing the dummy is a bad guy and will do their level best to stop the rescuers from getting back to their base. Rescuers can use whatever magic in their arsenal to keep their ward safe and to fight off attackers. Bad guys, you can't use magic--you've got numbers on your side. Feel free to use physical attacks all you want--but let's all be careful, okay? No clinic visits if we can avoid them."

"If you want to be a rescuer, but aren't comfortable using your power on other people, just let us know. We'll be happy to animate a few of these extra dummies to act as your antagonists. However, in that case, we'd be able to use magic on the bad guys' behalf, since there's no way they'd actually be able to actually fight you."

"If you have any questions before we begin, don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

[OCD up!]

Comments

Arrive and Mingle

[glacial_queen]

Eat, chat, eye the dummies warily.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[trigons_child]

Raven, of course, was there, and perhaps feeling a bit too cocky that this would be easy for her.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[thatsamilkshake]

Francine eyed the dummies less warily than skeptically. She didn't think she could even lift one, let alone carry it across a field.

Maybe she should be a bad guy this time?

...A bad guy with cookies.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Cookies! Also, yay rescue games! Dinah was so going to rock this.

Although the dummy might be a little traumatized.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[puppy_fair]

Okay, this assignment was cool. And while Zack wasn't certain that he'd ever have any reason to haul a comatose friend out of danger- SOLDIER missions were typically solo, after all- you never knew when this kind of practise might come in handy!

Right?

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

Despite her lack of magical ability Kennedy was here yet again, a decision reinforced by her Watcher's less than favorable reaction when she'd dropped a mention of her occasional attendance at these meetings into their last conversation. (Constance tended toward the more conservative side of the Watcher spectrum in that regard.)

Hey, rescuing people? She could totally get behind that. Of course, in her case she'd have to resort to her wits and whatever she had approximating brute strength, but it was what she had to work with.

Oooh, or maybe she could help attack someone.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[bitchprince]

Arthur... wasn't there to stare at the dummies.

He was just, as per usual, lurking like a lurking thing with a penchant for being in rooms like he owned them despite the fact that he was outside and he was, as we pointed out, lurking.

Re: Arrive and Mingle

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana eyed the food and chatted with it. Or something close to that.

Dinah's Talk/Questions for Dinah

[glacial_queen]

When she pings in.

Re: Dinah's Talk/Questions for Dinah

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah wasn't exactly nervous about talking in front of people, or being open about her powers, but she was a little self-conscious. Which came out in talking faster than usual. Buzzzz.

"Okay! Hi, so, I'm Dinah. I'm what's known back in my home dimension as a meta, short for metahuman. I think it's a lot like other worlds, where people with inborn powers are called mutants. Anyway, what I do isn't magic, but it can look like it. Metahumans have inborn genetic abilities, usually just one or two, and they can vary all over the place-- I know one guy who has a perfect eidetic memory all the way back to the womb, and I won't explain more of that 'cause it's gross." Thanks, Gibson. "I've known people with super-strength, super-speed, super-senses, mind-abilities like hypnosis or suggestion, ability to transform themselves into water or vapor, freeze things with a touch, throw fireballs, spit acid, electro-shock hands, walk through walls, and one with a sonic scream that could knock out crowds at a hundred paces, melt concrete and bend sheet metal." Dinah hoped her Mom would appreciate that mention there. "We don't know why they have what they have, if it's a virus or radiation or meteorites or just evolution, but there's only a few of us, and most of us keep a pretty low profile."

"I've got three different powers, and I don't need to do any rituals or get any materials or anything before hand, but meditation and concentration helps me not mess up." Dinah picked up Tony with her telekinesis, and grinned as he hovered three feet above the ground, looking nervous. "Telekinesis, moving things with my brain. If I can see it, I can at least try to pick it up. My upper limit seems to be about five hundred pounds, but that's only for a few seconds." She carefully put Tony back down. "Tony, I could hold up there for a lot longer." She grinned at him. "Karla's helped me use this so now I can walk on air, with some concentration, and Azula's training me to manipulate water as a weapon too. TK is really, really versatile. Tiny things, big things, heavy things, complicated things."

"Um, I tend to burn off a lot of energy anyway, kind of hyper, but I don't know if that's a factor here. I'm also a touch-telepath." Dinah held up her fingers to wiggle them. "I can read surface thoughts really easily if I'm touching someone else's skin. I can go deeper to find other information without hurting someone or letting them know I'm there, or bring them into my head, so they can see a memory of mine. It can seem very real. I wear a shield bracelet Karla made for me when I don't want to do either accidentally. But sometimes you have to, say if you're meeting someone and it turns out they're about to pull a gun and take you hostage and all..." She cleared her throat. "The last thing I can do is clairvoyant dreaming, and kind of keep an eye on friends who are far away and go into haunted houses and don't take enough back-up. Tony."

"Any questions?"

Re: Dinah's Talk/Questions for Dinah

[wantstodirect]

"I didn't plan to get trapped in a haunted house!"

Re: Dinah's Talk/Questions for Dinah

[glacial_queen]

Karla snickered at a few parts in Dinah's and then gave her a thumb's up when she was done.

Questions!

[glacial_queen]

Want more details about the activity? Ask questions here!

The Activity!

[glacial_queen]

There is a lone dummy waiting on one side of the Preserve, it's 'life' fluttering in the breeze. Across the length of the Preserve are two posts, gaily decorated with more streamers and ribbons. That's 'home.' Get your dummy past those posts with it's 'life' still attached and you win!

Bad guys? Feel free to range about the middle space, waiting for the rescuer(s) to come by. Remember! Only rescuers get to use magic!

Turns end when either the rescuers have successfully gotten their dummies 'home' or the dummy and/or the rescuers have been 'killed.'

Re: The Activity!

[trigons_child]

Raven teleported from one side of the Preserve to the other, reappearing beside her dummy. Her Soul-Self emerged and wrapped around them both, and she teleported again, this time to safety.

She wasn't smug at all when she said, "That was not difficult."

OK, maybe a little smug.

[If somebody could've interrupted that, let me know and I will re-ping. :D ]

Re: The Activity!

[wantstodirect]

"Try that again," Tony said, standing by another dummy. "See if you can 'rescue' this guy."

Re: The Activity!

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Dinah grabbed a dummy, put it in a fireman's carry, and started her run. Run like the wiiiind!

Re: The Activity!

[glacial_queen]

Karla darted in front of her, hand outstretched to snag the life streamer.

Re: The Activity!

[puppy_fair]

Okay, Zack could totally do this! The trick was... maybe it was to take it little by little, to go as far as he possibly could before he found himself swamped, and then to fend off an attack. After all, he couldn't swing his sword or cast spells if he was carrying a limp body around, right?

And so he was going to kick this off with a grin and a flat-out run. Getting to the dummy would be the easy part, he figured. After all, he was quick, strong, and he had agility that no normal human could dream of.

The Activity (Dummies Only)

[glacial_queen]

Want to play but don't want to use your powers around your friends? Tag in here and the dummies will animate to be your antagonists.

Talk to the Leaders

[glacial_queen]

Yup. Still queer.

Re: Talk to the Leaders

[wantstodirect]

Tony munched on snacks and was available for questions and volunteers.

Re: Talk to the Leaders

[glacial_queen]

Karla was busy weaving different strands of crepe paper through one another, but was entirely interruptable.

Re: Talk to the Leaders

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin was there and queer as a three dollar bill.

Oh, if only he got that joke.

OOC

[glacial_queen]

*collapses*

Don't forget! Everyone is wearing a crepe-paper life strand. Also, feel free to tag into other people's pings as antagonists. The more, the merrier!