fandomhighdorms | Behind The Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

Arthur had made sure to set up behind the dorms with a reasonable level of visibility. It was, after all, the first meeting since the welcome picnic, and they had to make themselves obvious to the newbies should one or two be drawn to the gathering.

"Good afternoon, people. I am Arthur Pendragon, and these are Zack Fair and Leto Atreides."

He had even let Zack supply the cookies this time. He figured it wouldn't hurt to charm a few, either.

"For those of you who have only just arrived on Fandom, welcome to the Fighting Reserves. Here is where we practice and plan for any invasions with the help of sinew, steel, and other materials from worlds beyond our ken. If you're looking for another way to contribute, Magic Reserves meets on Monday in the Preserve, and Support Services meets on Friday in the park."

That, apparently, were the administrative messages.

"Now, this is the week of the introduction, as most of you know. So if you're new, or you'd like to give the newcomers an update on your abilities, please, let us know who you are and what you can do. Everyone else," and he rubbed his hands as he considered the area severely, "please share your experiences with Fandom invasions, how we handled them, and maybe one or two ideas about how to better handle them next time round."

"Newbies," he continued, "Please keep in mind that the island likes to keep us on our toes, so whatever has invaded in the past will likely not be what invades next. That doesn't mean we can't prepare. Now, get to it."

[[ oooopen ]]

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"That's where Ino's from," Zack agreed, nodding a little. "I don't think I've met Hinata yet, but it kind of sounds like a Konoha-ish name, now that I've been there."

Or a Japanese one. Or Wutaian.

"I, uh... I haven't see him, no. Not since before the break." He frowned faintly, and decided that right here, hugging, was probably a good place to stay for a while. "Is something the matter?"

"Cool. Yeah, they're from the same world, but different villages, I guess... I need to catch up with Hinata, it's been a while. Did it look anything like Japanese?" Dinah blinked, then rolled her eyes at herself. "Not that you'd know what that is, hunh?"

Yeah. More hugs, good. Although she was past the desperately depressed part and into just gloomy. "Well, he's back. But it's been about two or more years for him, instead of two weeks. He's talking, too. He's been fighting. He's... different." Yeah. That pretty much covered it all. Huuuuug!

... That kind of meant that extra squeezies were mandatory, here. Big, snuggly, puppy hugs. Which were kind of like bear hugs, but Zackier.

"Talking is kind of new," Zack noted, chewing his lip for a moment. "Two years can make a lot of difference, huh?"

Oh, yay and yay for puppies like Zack. Puppies make everything better!

"Yeah. I think it's more the mileage than the years, even, but -- that's his stuff to tell, if he feels like it." Dinah sighed. "I ended up dreaming it most nights of the break. Not. Fun. And I only had to watch."

Zack tried a wry sort of smile on for size, even if she wouldn't be able to see it while mushed into that hug like that.

"I know what that's like." A pause. "He came back, though. I mean... At least there's that, right? It could always be a lot worse than anything you can come back from."

But mushing was good! It was warm and safe! Although she had to breathe eventually. Dinah pulled back a little to give Zack a lop-sided smile, still holding onto him. "Yeah. I know. And I'm glad." She swallowed. "It's how bad he wants to go back that's got me rattled." She sighed. "You, you decompress while you're here, you know? I do have that right, don't I?"

Zack nodded a little.

"That's kind of it, yeah. I mean, originally, Angeal sent me here because he figured that I had something to learn." But then, he was starting to wonder if that was why Angeal had sent him away at all. The mass-desertion hadn't happened long after Zack had left, if he had his story straight. "But now, Fandom just seems more like home than Midgar does."

A pause. And then he shrugged.

"When there are things to do, though, there's not really much that can stop me from throwing myself back into it."

Zack had always liked the fighting, and being a soldier, and she hadn't really questioned that much. Just worried for him in Midgar, same way she worried for Reno. Maybe it was the change from Jak-she'd-known to New Jak that was throwing her, as much as anything. "Maybe you'll get what's going on with him better than I do," she said, a little sadly. Leeean-hug. "I worry about you, but somehow, you get back-up, I know that. Jak..." Maybe not so much.

Plenty of hugging. Zack was good at those. Still. Possibly forever. Hugs for life!

"I probably can't say much about Jak until I talk to him myself," Zack noted, frowning thoughtfully. "But you know... People have the potential to be pretty strong. Something happened and it rattled him pretty good? If he wants to badly enough, he'll find his feet again, I'm sure of it."

Puppy optimism strikes again!

"Yeah, I know. It's all pretty complicated. Don't feel like you gotta speculate. Or tell me about it! No. I just--" Hope you can still be friends. "Think you're maybe going to handle it better." Dinah loved hugs forever. They should be patented. But only given to collectors. She grinned up at him, some of the usual brightness coming back. "And, you're right. We just got back. Plenty of time, right?"

"Right." Zack smiled some more. Lots of smiling. He could totally patent that, too, as an accessory to go with the hugs! "This place as a funny way of picking people back up whether they think they need to be or not, you know?"

A wider, realer smile this time, because Zack had definitely done that for her. She squeezed him tighter. "Yeah. Totally." She tipped her head up to give him a closer look. "So nothing new or crazy out of Midgar, so far?"

"Nothing new or crazy out of Midgar so far," Zack replied, grinning back down at her. "Unless you count some of the wacky monsters we ran into over the vacation as new and crazy."

Seriously. One of them had been a house.

"How wacky are we talking here?" Dinah asked. "Pink chocobo wacky, or what-the-heck-was-that wacky?"

"Pink chocobos are normal enough," Zack laughed. "I think the Gold Saucer has a few, but I've never been there to check that out." He gave his head a shake. "Nah, more like, 'was that thing really a house with four arms and a head? Really?"

Hint: It had been, yes.

"Buh?" was Dinah's response. "...Seriously?"

"And there were some other, smaller things, too," Zack replied. "But... house!"

It had body-slammed him. That had hurt. He wasn't going to share that part, lest she worry.

"House. House." Robots, sure. Cyborgs, okay. Animals that are sometimes magic, sure. "How does something like that even happen?" she wondered. "And how do you, I dunno, slay it? It's a house!"

"Thunder! Blizzard spells! Lots and lots of hacking at it with a sword!" See? Totally easy!

It helped that he was actually technically stronger than the house was. Don't ask how that worked.

"The Planet is kind of a weird place, you know? I want to say that the house is the weirdest monster out there, but it probably doesn't even come close."

"Criminy. Who needs drugs when they have Gaia?" Dinah asked, highly amused. "Next time, I want pictures!"

"Next time? I will totally get pictures."

How he was going to get the pictures between the point where he found the monster and the point where the monster inevitably tried to kill him was a different matter completely.

Behind The Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

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