The plastic-covered snacks were once again under umbrellas today as the Magic Reserves met outside. Next to the table was a very large tub, covered with a bright blue plastic tarp from T&C's.

"Kiss kiss!" Karla greeted everyone as they assembled around the table. "Today, we're going back to different ways magic can be used to dodge or shield against attacks. Hopefully most of us will never need to know ways to avoid missiles flying at our heads and other various body parts, but as long as the island keeps getting attacked, we need to devote time and energy to keeping our skills sharp." She grinned. "Though no one said we can't have fun doing it."

"And what better time to break out a bit of fun than now?" Merlin asked, blinding people with his Irish-ness smiling far too much for someone only wearing a pair of swim-trunks. "Tony? Would you do the honors of starting us off?"

"Absolutely," Tony said. He flipped the tarp off the tub and called a balloon to his hand. Which he promptly threw at Merlin.

"Hey!" Merlin, so very kindly, responded the same way. Though his balloon was aimed at Karla.

Karla squealed. "I thought we'd agreed to gang up on Tony!" she protested, snagging the balloon with Craft and tossing it back at Merlin. Another flew out of the tub and raced towards Tony. "Have at!" she called to the rest of them. "Try to keep as many balloons as possible from hitting you!"

[OOC on its way! up!]

Third time was hopefully a charm as the Magic Reserves met at the Danger Shop again. And, to be clear, they were meeting here because it was a convenience and a help, and not out of any desire to show the stupid room who was boss.

So there.

"Uh, hi everyone," Karla said, trying to sound utterly confident in their Danger Shop prowess. "We're going to try something different this week. Like the Fighting Reserves mentioned yesterday, sometimes we're taken by surprise by an attack. And even though we have powers, that doesn't always mean that we're in any position to use them--or, at least, use them effectively. Knowing how to use the environment to our advantage in a fight is just as important for us as it is for anyone else."

"We especially need to learn this in case there are other people around so we don't accidentally hit any allies." Because that was a problem when flinging things about, okay?

Not that Merlin had any experience with it. Really.

"You simply need to take in your surroundings and figure out what will work best to defend yourself."

Like a chandelier!

"We're sorta going for subtle here, today," Tony said. "Like maybe you don't want to advertise you've got magic. Maybe you don't want the enemy to know what they're up against yet."

Merlin nodded enthusiastically at that, fiddling with a button or two in order to make a run-of-the-mill-evil medieval henchman appear.

"There are small things you can do in order to throw them off in a fight. Alter their weapon, pull the rug from beneath their feet, trip them with whatever happens to be near... just to name a few. The limits really only come in the form of your imagination!"

Karla glanced at her co-leaders, took a deep breath, and pressed the buttons to make the simulations start. She preemptively winced as the images appeared--and then relaxed when there was no signs of dinosaurs, porn stars or carnivorous bunnies. "Have at!" she said, cheering.

[Wait for the OCD or the Canadians will lose! You don't want to be responsible for that, do you? OCD up! The Canadians are safe.]