Fandom High Dormitories

Karla had been surprised how easy it was to catch the little naked baby-things. Apparently, you only needed to stand outside with someone for a little while before attracting a horde to come and shoot arrows at you. After several near-misses, the leaders of the Magic Reserve had a number of them and a few ideas for today's meeting.

"Kiss kiss," Karla said, jerking her thumb back at her shield, where the naked baby-things were milling about and pointing at the members of the reserves. They seemed quite good-natured about their captivity. "Today's activity is two-fold. The first thing we're going to do today is practice shielding. People are going to pair up and run from one side of the field to the other, trying to keep themselves and their partner from getting hit by an arrow, either by magic, ingenuity, or both. If you do get hit, the arrow won't hurt; instead, you'll find yourself madly in love for a few minutes, but it wears off quickly and we won't let you do anything stupid. That's a promise." Karla's mouth twisted a little. She really didn't like love potions, but at least with these little guys flying around, they'd all know what was wrong and why. "Which brings us to the second half of our meeting: dealing with friends when Fandom's whimsy affects their minds."

"It is probably best to make sure they are somewhere safe," Dolf tried. He was mostly lurking near Karla in hopes that that would help him stay out of the arrows' range. He was not fond of arrows. "Though sometimes that isn't possible. In that case you should probably keep them busy before they do something bad. This might sometimes be hard, so it is probably a good idea to talk about it, and to keep it in our heads at all times."

It wasn't strictly cowering what he was doing.

Tara wasn't cowering either, but the cupids got an askance look.

"And don't tease them about it, if they're sensitive," she suggested. "I get that it's tempting, but sometimes people just don't want to be reminded. Ever. I know it's tempting to film things, but I seriously think that's probably bad karma."

Even if it wasn't bad karma, it was still rude. Hilarious, but rude.

"Most of the time, people who are affected by Fandom don't try to do anything really crazy," Karla continued, "but people's feelings can be hurt or strain can be put on relationships and whatnot. An important thing to keep in mind is that those affected really aren't themselves and can't help it. Talking about things--either before or after an incident--may be very helpful, too. Open and honest communication usually is."

Glancing up at the shielded creatures, Karla nodded at the assembled members. "All right! Pair up and get ready to run!"

[Co-written with life_inshadow and swordsandsoccer. OCD coming up]

The blizzard may have stopped, but there was still a lot of snow on the ground and considering today's activity, Magic Reserves was being held inside today. The usual tables were set up however, and they positively groaned under the weight of all the handwavey food. More than just snacks and drinks, there appeared to be several whole meals there, including a few all-vegetarian options.

"Hey everyone," Karla said, looking more subdued than usual. "Thanks so much for coming today. We have kind of an unusual activity planned today, but it involved eating and talking, so hopefully no one will mind much. In any situation, whether it's invading creatures or something terrible happening to the island, one of your most valuable resources for getting through it whole is your allies--your friends. Knowing who has your back and who you can trust frees you up to focus on other things--potentially life-saving things. So today, we're going to share food and talk to and about one another. Get to know folks we might not already, and reaffirm the bonds we share with others. Because this way, when we're facing trouble, we can remember that we don't do so alone."

Dolf, hands in his pockets, nodded. "There is not really much else to say," he said. "Sometimes we just need to know people will pick us up if things are bad, and that there will be food and drink when we need it, too. That we're warm and with each other, we can be safe." His words weren't as smooth as Karla's, obviously, but at least the lad continued to be earnest. Boy scout.

Tara appreciated the Boy Scout thing, today more than ever. "We're safe here," she echoed softly, sounding sad but composed. "Today is for enjoying that, and enjoying being family for each other. Even if the families we came from weren't up to the job. And if anyone wants to talk to any of us, we're here."

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

"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.]

By now, Karla was used to throwing parties at school. The set-up was easy enough: lots of food, lots of drinks, lots of games and activities, lots of space. There were some streamers and balloons up, mostly because Karla was trying to remind everyone (or, at least, herself) that this was supposed to be a happy occasion.

Really. It was. At least, that's what everyone kept telling her.

The important thing to keep in mind was that there would (probably) be no repeat of her last sixth floor party sadly. She had gone the safe an glitter-free route this time. Clad in her new pajamas, Karla waited for her guests to arrive.

[Yay for slumber parties. For girls only (and our honorary girl for the evening), up early for great SP justice. Please hold for OCD up!]