Fandom High Dormitories

Karla and Warren had celebrated their return to their proper forms in the way that many teenagers would find appropriate: they'd headed back to the modern mainland, found a toy store, and bought a gaming system (or three). Along with the games they bought to go along with said system, they also picked up a few guitars, a keyboard, a drum set, and two microphones.

Once back in the rec room, the rest of the afternoon had been spent setting up the systems and buying every single song available for the game. Waiting for them to finish downloading actually took longer than the initial setting up, even taking in Karla's attempts to 'help'.

But now the system was set up, the songs were ready, and the instruments prepared.

Fandom High? Get ready to rock.

[Open for anyone who wants to play. not_a_parakeet modded to an ungodly degree with permission! Just a warning about SP and Karla's threads--I will be AFK all day, but if you're willing to wait until Thursday that's fine by me.]

"Thanks for coming," Karla said, once everyone had assembled and had a chance to grab something to eat and drink if they were so inclined. "So, those of us who were on the island a few weeks ago remember that great chunks of the island went missing before we were able to set everything aright--including most of the town and all of the restaurants. We were lucky that it didn't last long enough for there to be a food shortage--" in part because the cafeteria had remained, even if people would argue whether the cafeteria had anything that counted as edible in it "--but the point is there could have been. Considering most of us can be described as two-legged locusts, that would have been a serious problem."

"There are any number of reasons why we might get cut off from our usual supplies: an invasion, a trip that doesn't goes as planned, a bout of Fandom weird, whatever. But there are ways we can prepare without wringing our hands and bemoaning our fates: specifically, we can learn some basic skills to let us live off the land if such a thing ever happens. Hunting, gathering, knowledge of edible, medicinal and magical plants are all useful bits of knowledge to have and might serve to keep you and your friends alive should something unexpected happen."

It took Dolf a few seconds to realise the attention was now on him. It hadn't been more than a few weeks since the last time he'd had to speak before a large audience like this, and while they were vastly different people... he scraped his throat. "Hi, I'm Dolf," he started, "I'm here to lead Support Services from now on. Uh," and now that that was out of the way, he did feel a hint of nerves. Not so much because he didn't know where to go with this, but because he hadn't been here for all of these invasions, and he wasn't sure yet what to prepare for.

"...Like Karla said, it can be very important to know what you can eat," he segued, at last. "Some might already know what is good and what is not. Some might not. Meat is also important, so is hunting. If you are under attack, or have to come up with food yourself every day--" he struggled against the English language a little. "--it is important to know these things." He leaned down and picked some leaves off the ground. "This, you can eat, if you smash it enough," he said. "Other things can make tea. There is lots in the forest to be found if you're really hungry. Not just meat, but the plants. It takes work to recognize sometimes, but it's there."

He closed his mouth, exhausted with the language, but then opened it again to point at a few random plants around them. "Edible. Poison. Uh--" He blushed. "...don't try that."

Only then did he send a questioning look in someone else's direction. He'd completely forgotten about his nerves, and now he wondered if he'd said too much.

Tara didn't think he'd said too much, but it felt like time to step in. "And, um -- people who do magic can find supplies here, too." She knelt to pick a flower. "This one is in most protection spells. The bark of that tree helps find lost objects. And the red berries on that bush over there make a good base for love spells. Not that I think people should do love spells."

Karla shook her head at Tara's last comment and stepped forward again. "Yeah. Definitely avoid the love spells. But, no matter why you might find yourself out in a place like this, it's filled with things you can use to keep yourself fed, healthy, and stocked up on spells. So, today, we're going on a scavenger hunt in the Preserve. We've got some lists of common plants, herbs, and fungi that can be found in most similar areas. See what you can gather and harvest and bring it back to compare."

[Hold on for OCD up! Co-written with the wonderful life_inshadow, swordsandsoccer, and trigons_child.]

Unlike last week, there were no Twister boards in evidence, much to Karla's disappointment, at least. Instead, there were several dummies lying about, including on a table directly in front of them. Don't worry, there were still snacks. They were just on another table, off to one side.

"Sometimes," Karla said, when it looked like everyone had assembled, "people get hurt. It's a regrettable fact of life, but injuries and illnesses can happen, no matter how much care we take. During an invasion or something, that likelihood only increases. And, since this something that we have to keep in mind, it only makes sense that, in case of an emergency, we all know a little bit about taking care of our friends and allies."

"But you should also make certain if the person who is injured is not just being stubborn and really does require magical healing," Raven said. She wasn't grumbling. Much.

"Whether we have powers specifically geared towards magically Healing someone or not, there are a few very useful, non-magical methods we can all learn that might save someone's life. Even people with powers ought to know at least a few of these methods--the may come a time when the answer to 'should I use magic to Heal this?' is no. If that happens, you want to make sure you have other skills to rely on."

"Sometimes the school teaches them," Tara offered. "Dr. Pierce has been teaching first aid all summer -- I took it from him last term and, even though it made me nervous sometimes? It was a really good class."

Karla nodded her agreement, she was enjoying Dr. Pierce's class, too. "Today, we've asked Dana Scully to provide us with a demonstration for a few of these skills. When she's done, feel free to practice, ask questions, or offer other tips and tricks you know, so we can all be as prepared as possible."

[Written with the usual suspects, the lovely trigons_child and life_inshadow. Please hold on for OCD is up]