Behind the Dorms, Tuesday Afternoon

[puppy_fair]

When the Reserves group assembled behind the dorms today, it was Zack who stepped up to address them first.

There... weren't any cookies today. He sincerely hoped that the cookie-seeking regulars could overlook that. And that they didn't mind celery sticks too much. Today was such a celery day.

"Mortifying memories of the weekend aside," he said, his tone carrying significantly less omph than usual, "the fact that a lot of us simply weren't ourselves does bring up an important problem that the residents of the island have had to deal with on more than one occasion. Every week, we've been talking about being able to trust one another, about being able to rely on the other members of this group and of the other two, to carry us through invasions and other disasters that might hit the island... But what if the enemy is, because of Fandom weirdness or something else, actually one of us?"

Zack inhaled, held that breath for a moment as though he was savoring just doing so, and then he looked around.

"Who do you call when the enemy is a friend, or family? If they're completely out of their right mind, or if the actions they're taking are completely deliberate? What if, like on the weekend, there's a good chance that there isn't anybody to call who hasn't been affected, too? What if that person poses a serious danger to more than just you? More than your friends? More than just the island itself? And how do you act, knowing that if it's Fandom weirdness, it'll probably wear off on its own in a couple of days, knowing how severe the consequences could be?"

Arthur scraped his throat, and exercised his hard-earned abilities in the field of not looking uncomfortable. "Sometimes, you will have to exercise brawn. Sometimes, your brain. You may have to withhold information, and work in the shadows." Ahem. Not that he knew anything about that. "Understand that we are not trying to talk you into some sense of paranoia, but there are times alternate strategies must be taken, when we're not sure we can trust our closest to make the right call. I would suggest you try to make friends, or at least allies, among those you haven't spoken to yet today. They might save your life if one of your friends turns the other way."

[OCD on the way up, and open Reserves post is open!]

Comments

Arrive! Mingle!

[puppy_fair]

... Eat celery?

And make friends. That part is important, too.

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[intraspective]

Oh Zack.

Listening to him made her heart ache as Ino leaned against her tree rather than perching up in it.

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

Dru was there, just not really listening. Instead she was worrying about the fact that she'd called her father several times and he still wasn't answering the phone.

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Celery?

Okay, she'd eat the celery. And mingle like it was going out of style. But there would be cookies later, yesss.

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

Jennifer was standing towards the bac today.

She also wasn't sure what to make of Zack's speech.

She also wasn't about to go anywhere near him.

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[intraspective]

So, really, Ino was all for that avoidance thing at the moment? But while that seemed to be working splendidly with her and Zack, Jen was a different story altogether.

(Well. Same story, different part.)

"Hey," she said, slipping over to stand--not too close but close enough.

... Well, it was a start.

If she was lucky, then Jen hadn't figured out who Jenova had been. She, at least, hadn't been wearing her own face.

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[not-jaded-yet.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Jennifer said. She had no idea, couldn't have had one, really. Which was part of the reason she wasn't shying away. She gave a weak smile. "Sounds like Zack had a bad weekend, huh?"

She was still in a bit of denial.

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[intraspective]

"Yeah," she said, glancing over at Zack automatically. Ino wouldn't go and hug him--right now, that was a stupid idea, when she'd been Mother. "He did, rather."

Worse in retrospect.

"How're you?"

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy's weekend had been entirely untouched by that weirdness, which only accounted for part of her good mood. Celery sticks were... not optimal, but something to munch on, so she leaned up against the wall, nibbling on the veggies and listening. And wishing they'd do something more active than just discuss, because outside of Fandom how often was this sort of thing ever going to be a problem for her?

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[momslilassassin]

Ben was watching Zack carefully, looking worried.

Worrying about other people stopped him from dealing with his own stuff, so Ben was a big fan.

Re: Arrive! Mingle!

[bitchy_smurf]

Illyria had been a boat all weekend. Also, she didn't have what you could call friends. At most there were... people she'd promised not to kill even if they annoyed her, and people who didn't annoy her enough to kill. For her, the discussion was academic at best.

But the celery was oddly tasty.

Discuss!

[puppy_fair]

Your friends aren't themselves, for whatever reason, be they zombies, vampires, or simply making horrible decisions.

What do you do? How do you do it, knowing that whatever has happened might only last a weekend? How do you not do it, knowing the scope of the damage that can be done in such a short period of time?

Re: Discuss!

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

"Well, I've tried to talk friends down from horrible decisions," like shooting Dean Winchester and getting more tattoos, "when they weren't themselves. Getting promises to wait 'til Monday is a start. A lot of people I know have said they're okay with me locking them in closets if they go nuts again too. So, knowing it can happen, and they'll let you off the hook for restraining them later, that's a start."

Re: Discuss!

[momslilassassin]

"The shack in the woods is pretty good for tying people up when they aren't being themselves," Ben offered. "Maybe the room up on the sixth floor, too. Be sure to incapacitate, rather than kill, just in case it'll wear off."

Pause.

"Unless they're zombies. Then they just throw their ears at you and it is gross."

Talk to the Guys!

[puppy_fair]

When they ping in, naturally.

Re: Talk to the Guys!

[puppy_fair]

Zack was... quiet, today.

And possibly very pointedly avoiding making eye contact with just about everyone, ever. But he was out in the open, at least.

Because he kind of needed the feel of sunshine on his arms right now. A lot.

Re: Talk to the Guys!

[bitchprince]

Arthur's eyebrows were up, as was his curiosity. "Zack," he prompted, "You look a bit off today." Idle curiosity, but still.

Re: Talk to the Guys!

[puppy_fair]

Zack glanced up at Arthur. Or, rather, at Arthur's chin. Because eye contact was so not happening, today.

"Bad weekend," he replied. It was kind of almost more coherent than a mumble, if you were straining to hear what he was saying, even.

Re: Talk to the Guys!

[bitchprince]

Arthur winced sympathetically. "Bad change," he guessed.

Re: Talk to the Guys!

[blondecanary.livejournal.com]

Okay, a de-bounced Zack was a crime against nature. So Dinah was heading over there, celery in hand, to check on him. "Hey, you. Not having a great week?" She was going to reach for a hug, then reconsidered, because some weekends could leave people so not up for touching.

Re: Talk to the Guys!

[puppy_fair]

Zack maybe needed a moment to contemplate the positives and the negatives of hugging, here.

... Yeah. Maybe a few more moments.

"I'm never eating anything that used to be able to breathe again," he sighed. Because that seemed less direct than the, 'So, I was a vampire again' route. And direct and Zack were not the best of friends at the moment.

Re: Talk to the Guys!

[bitchprince]

Arthur was present. His room was no longer covered in flags, tea cups, or embroidery, which was an improvement. He was, however, still not entirely back up to snuff moodwise.

Re: Talk to the Guys!

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

This would work well then, considering Jacob's mood didn't exactly involve sunshine and rainbows either. Which mostly didn't show when he approached Arthur, except possibly for how he forewent the food. (Then again, it was celery. Ugh.)

Since talking to Didi had made him curious, Jacob had actually bothered to catch up with the podcasts from the weekend. Which led him to Friday's broadcast. Which led to Jacob showing up way too early for the reserves and moving over to talk to Arthur. Or you know, as Arthur had put it, to have words.

"You know, if you need to talk to someone it's easier to just tell them and not the entire island?"

Re: Talk to the Guys!

[bitchprince]

"Actually, it's not, considering I'm there for radio no matter what," Arthur said, idly, and mainly just to get a point across he wasn't going to bother defining otherwise. "Besides, if you had the common decency to speak to me before you started this pointless pursuit of my step-sister, there wouldn't have been a need for me to request your presence to begin with."

OOC

[puppy_fair]

I'm awake before six.

Ungh.