Fandom High Dormitories

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!]

When people began arriving at the meeting today, they would see that things were a bit different than usual today. For one thing, the snack table has it's usual assortment of warm beverages, but was missing the normal variety of snacks and there were a handwavey number of wooden chests piled off to the side, each one sporting a heavy iron padlock on the front.

"Greetings," Karla said, looking a bit more composed than she had at the last meeting. "We've got a fair bit to do today, so we should probably get started quickly. First, we have a talk from Tara, who was kind enough to volunteer this week," she paused to give Tara a grateful smile, "and then, we have an activity."

Merlin nodded and stepped forward. "Inside these chests is... pie." Oh, it was so spooky and magical sounding. "But, as you see, they're rather firmly locked up. So, the exercise today will be to get the contents of the box--unharmed--using whatever skills you have at your
disposal."

Mmm, pie. "Fresh-baked," Tony added. "And if you get one out, it's all yours."

Karla was really regretting that the three of them hadn't had enough time to bake the pies themselves, but hopefully J,GoB pies would be an acceptable substitute. "So, let's give Tara our attention--and a pie of her own for volunteering--and then we'll see how well your pie-retrieving skills are."

There was no unusual food this time around if people worried about being attacked by pudding.

...even if pudding is delicious.

Merlin did have a few random saucers of milk spread out in case more scary little blue men arrived to steal undergarments. Or insult people in a completely un-understandable accent.

"Hello everyone! Today we'll be discussing something a bit more pertinent to the reason why this group was formed," Merlin said. "Experience in battle. Who has it and who--er--doesn't."

Very concise, right?

Karla was a little more somber today, as befitting their choice of topic, but she still had to shoot Merlin an amused look at that. "Not everyone here is a fighter. Some people's powers aren't particularly suited for combat and some people's temperaments aren't, either. Neither of those are bad things, and there will be plenty of non-fighting things to do invasion. We'll talk about those another week. But, for today, combat. How can your powers be used in a combat situation? Have you ever had to do so?"

"Even if you don't think you have any fighting powers, think if there's anything you can do that would work as a distraction long enough for someone else to attack or for you to get away," Tony said. "I mean, soap bubbles kinda suck as a weapon, but if you throw them down on a slick surface, you could make the enemy lose their footing."

Merlin nodded at that. "So please share--if you want to--any sort of experience or abilities you are willing to help others learn in case we're attacked."

[Written with bigdamndestiny and wantstodirect who are both quite wonderful. Please wait for OCD is up!]

There were things one might consider to be cookies at the reserve today. Might, if one had an iron stomach or an entire bottle of Tums handy to deal with them after managing to choke one down.

Merlin was faaar too chipper about them, though. Because he baked something. With Karla, but they managed it somehow!

"Good morning! Today we will be talking about how to communicate with each other in case of emergency and any ways you all have to do so magically." A beat. " And I suppose the cell phones are also a bit like magic."

Nevermind that now, Merlin.

"So please, share if you have any particular way that we all might learn!"

He looked to Karla to see what she had to say on the matter.

"Among my people, we can speak on what we call psychic threads," Karla said, also beaming proudly at the lump of black and gray 'cookies' on the table. She had baked!

And it had only been a small fire, anyhow. Ish.

"The good thing about psychic threads is that you aren't limited to a single person. I could send a thought to Merlin on a a thread specifically meant for him, or to a group, or all males, or, back home, all people of a specific Jewel rank, or to anyone at all who can hear me."

"But there are other forms of communication, too. If you're in an emergency and you don't or can't worry about enemies, something as simple as a flare of magic can pinpoint people to your location. There are messages that can be triggered by a specific use of magic so that anyone else who sees the message will be confronted by a blank sheet until the spell is cast."

"What are some other ways you can communicate magically? I'm wary to trust my cellphone. It stopped working in Kaeleer without warning, so it could happen anytime."

It didn't help that Kaeleer has neither satellites or cellphone towers, but that was far beyond Karla's understanding.

"After we've discussed our options, we're going to play a small game. There are a pile of handwavy messages on that table over there," she said, pointing to the pile of foled note cards next to the totally delicious looking cookies she and Merlin had brought. There were also blank notecards and pencils nearby. "Grab a partner and a message and try to communicate magically."

She grinned at them again. "And don't forget to eat the cookies!" she chirped.

Do it. Don't let the kitchen's sacrifice be in vain.

[Written with bigdamndestiny. Eat the cookies. Doooo it. You know you want to. You can eat them while you're waiting for the OCD is up!]

Karla stood in front of the Reserves, grinning widely at them. She was doing her best to keep her smile friendly and welcoming, but every so often, her gaze would stray over to the large, covered mound at her feet, and her grin would shade oh-so-slightly towards 'wicked.' "Kiss kiss," she greeted everyone as they noshed on treats and coffee courtesy of J,GOB and the Perk. "Thanks for coming to the Magic Reserves today. If it's your first time here, welcome, and if you've been here before, welcome back."

"So, while our group has the potential to do so much more, the main reason we were organized was to lend magical support during an invasion. Every so often, then, we feel as if we should focus on using powers in combat situations, in order to give you the feel of such things without any of the danger. This way, if--okay, with this island, when we're called upon to defend ourselves and the other people on Fandom, you already have a bit of practice under your belt. So, as I'm sure you've already guessed--today is one of those days." With a flourish worthy of a stage magician, Karla pulled the cloth off of the mound, revealing a pile of paintball guns. Next to them were several stacks of clean, well-worn clothing.

"Today we're going to deal with incoming projectiles," Karla announced. "Feel free to stop the paint any way you like. Burn it, freeze it, use TK to push it aside, shield against it, make the other person feel bad for shooting at you, whatever. Or simply dodge out of the way, hide behind someone else, however you feel most comfortable, with powers or without. The important part is not getting hit. It is paintball, however, so don't worry about hurting anyone. So come on up, grab a paintball gun and something to go over your clothes, and let's begin!"

Karla grinned at everyone as they arrived, doing her best to look excited about them being there and not at all nervous. She was used to appearing in public and whatnot, wasn't she? Of course she was--ignoring the fact that the last time she'd done so, she'd been nine. Details. And it wasn't like she had anything to prove to anyone. Really.

"Kiss kiss," she said when enough people had assembled. "I'm Karla and thanks for coming to the Magic Reserves today. Whether you're here because you have powers or just because you're curious, we're glad you showed up today. This is Merlin," she continued, gesturing at her co-leader, who gave a smile and wave, "and we're the leaders of the Reserves."

"Like the Fighting Reserve which met yesterday and the Support Reserves which meets on Friday, we're here because sometimes things happen on the island. And not everyone is equipped to deal with those things. We're here to train so that we are capable of handling emergencies as well as helping out those who are not as capable. I won't lie, the most common scenario is some kind of invasion that we will help repulse, but that isn't the only reason we train. After all, this is Fandom," she said wryly, "and it lives to surprise us. The difference between us and the other two Reserves is that we are equipped with special gifts or abilities that we can use in such emergencies."

"We're not just here to organize ourselves in case of emergencies, we're also here to train so that we all have a better handle on our powers. The more comfortable you are with your powers, the better you'll be able to help out in an emergency. Also, I want to stress that having powers is nothing to hide or be ashamed of. I know that we all come from different places, and at home, such a thing might not be true. But here at Fandom, you can display your powers openly and freely without fear of reprisal." She drew her legs up so that she was perched on air. "You don't have to be afraid here. You don't have to hide who you are."

"But for today, we're just going to continue the first week trend of introductions. Name, grade, your powers if you feel comfortable sharing that, and why you decided to stop by today. Also, help yourself to refreshments. Also also, saying 'I came for refreshments' is a perfectly valid answer." She snuck a glance at Merlin to see if he had anything else to add. He seemed okay so Karla concluded with a grin. "Thanks for coming. Have at."

[Please wait for OCD. OCD is up! Since we're right out in the open, anyone can feel free to stop by.]