Reading

Entry tags:

@around the island

All Around the Island, Early Thursday Morning

The snow monsters had come and gone. Now how about something more historical, one one hand, and whimsical on the other?

All across Fandom, various kinds of dinosaurs faded into existence. The carnivores thought humans looked like a nice snack. The herbivores thought humans... looked annoying, probably. Point was, all the dinosaurs seemed pissed at all humans they came across.

Oh, did we say humans? We meant humans and ponies. Yes, because while the island was dealing with a little jurassic get-together, some residents found themselves with four hooves and cutie marks. That should... mix well.

And you still couldn't swear without the words getting switched out for something nonsensical and inoffensive. But you could still end up seeing some old memory of perhaps whoever had happened to live in your apartment before you. Maybe they had had to deal with this no-thumbs thing in the past, too!

[ooc: And here's some pony generators for you! The last two have sound, don't get jump scared like I did.]

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, Thursday, Per 3

There was not a beautiful necromancer clad in the finest silks standing in front of the class today. There wasn't even a much younger version of said beautiful necromancer, back when she was a simple healing cleric, clad in soft linens. Nope. Instead there was a pony.

A very grumpy and disgruntled pony.

"Welcome to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse," Liliana said, one of her hooves tapping impatiently against the floor. "Normally, this is where we'd do introductions, but those will do a fat lot of absolutely no good considering our current state." Which the island had chosen specifically to interfere with Liliana's class, she was certain of it. "So, we're pushing introductions off until next week and settling down to the meat of the matter." Oh, did you think you were getting out of a lecture simply because you were all ponies? Hardly. That was the opposite of Liliana's style.

( Zombies, like cats, are the gods' perfect creatures )

"Over the rest of the semester, many of your classes will be assuming the scenario where your location has been overrun by zombies and you are trying to survive. This class isn't even specifically about how you can fight the zombies and live, but how to navigate a world where zombies and humanity clashed and humanity lost. And before anyone says that's impossible, I invite you to spend a few minutes on Grixis, which, funnily enough, would also be your general life expectancy if you did. That being said, zombies will be a major environmental hazard, and so learning more about them - especially if there is no sign of a controlling necromancer that you could try to take out - is one of the best ways to improve your odds of survival." How was a pony smiling? Who could say, don't even ask. "So today is an excellent day to ask question about how zombies work or to dispel certain erroneous myths and beliefs you may be carrying. Who knows? The answer you get today may be what saves your life next week."

Surely she was speaking figuratively. Surely.

Entry tags:

3 minute dates

3MD time!!

We interrupt your anniversary festivities to bring you some fun for next weekend! That's right, fall's Three Minute Dates will take place Saturday, September 13!

( You know the rules but let's pretend you don't )

At this stage in the game the number of rounds will depend entirely on the number of people who sign up. The more players sign up, the more variety in your dates! If you want to make sure you're not fake dating the same player a lot, convince your friends to sign up to widen the pool. This is open to anyone who's on island that weekend. Do you conveniently have an alumni who might show up for the weekend and get roped in? GOOD. Would your character absolutely not do this and be nowhere near Caritas on purpose? I guess it's time to get kidnapped by some Fandom wildlife to hang out at a bar for up to fifteen or so minutes, or something! Does your character not want a date but just wants to talk to people? Perfect! Are you in a committed, loving relationship? DON'T CARE! In fact you probably should meet friends outside of it to keep it healthy!

SO. If you'd like to participate, drop a screened comment below with your character's name (how you want them listed in the post), type (student/townie/teacher/alum) and date preference (if any) by Wednesday the 11th at midnight CST because my dumb ass made plans for the day I usually spend having fun/sobbing/having fun/sobbing over sign ups so I have to do it early!

Entry tags:

Trooper Station, Wednesday - 9/3

The weirdness of the first couple of days seemed way more manageable now that Danny was dealing with phone calls about sentient, snow monsters attacking people at random. On the plus side, he wasn't a teenage. On the downside, the troopers all were.

This meant Danny was fielding all the calls as they were busy playing paper football or whatever the weird, space equivalent to that was.

"--Just stay indoors, okay?" Danny said, pinching the bridge of his nose to keep from shouting at people for going out and then complaining about how the snow was out to get them.

Entry tags:

Near the Perk, Wednesday Afternoon

Erasmus had just been trying to explore the town! Maybe find out if the coffee shop sold sweet tea, like the goddess intended! But nooooo, he had to be attacked by snow monsters, and look, he knew he was in the North now, but it was September. It was (what he considered) a cool and crisp eighty degrees! This was downright unseasonable, in addition to being inconsiderate!

Luckily, he had one single, solitary shield charm in his pockets. Unluckily, it only lasted for an hour...and he was stuck where he'd been standing when he deployed said shield charm until it came down. So here he was, backed up against a wall, watching a snow...shark? Snow shark, sure, why not? Watching a snow shark batter itself against his shield and hoping that help came before his hour was up...or that he turned out to be way better at running than he thought he was.

"Probably should've worn sneakers instead of flip-flops today," he muttered to himself, checking his phone to see how many minutes he had left on that charm.

(Open post is open!)

Entry tags:

Streets of Fandom near Needful Things; Wednesday Afternoon

Harleen was just trying to get to the gym. Sure she was feeling a little bit disoriented, having woken up in a strange place with the weirdest dog she'd ever seen, but if she wanted to get that scholarship to GSU - which she desperately did - then she had no excuse for not trying to get in any and all training and exercise she possibly could.

Even in a town she didn't recognize.

Even if she saw --

"What the frick is that?"

And had she seriously just said 'frick'? This long after finally getting away from the nuns? (Okay, it had been like a year, but that was a long time in cursing years.) The thing that was clearly eyeing her from down the street had tentacles, and looked like it was made of snow, and surely that deserved something stronger out of her mouth than 'frick'.

"What the fudge."

The thing threw a snowball at her. Hard. Harleen yelped. Okay nevermind about the swearing! Time to try and duck for cover!

(open! major sp warning until later in the afternoon but I have to get Harleen the Teen out here)

Entry tags:

$over easy,
gray

Over Easy, Wednesday

Gray didn't know anything was going on when he arrived for, apparently, his first day of work at Over Easy. Would've been nice if someone had consulted him before hiring him and setting up his schedule, but apparently Raiden had decided to skip that step.

"Aw, man, not you, too," one of the servers protested when she saw him.

"Huh?"

"...never mind."

He was physically twenty-five, he swore! He just had a baby face! No, really, you guys! Stop laughing!

Will It Waffle? Wednesday Special
Banana Waffles

Over Easy is open! The Nephilim is sulking.

Entry tags:

health

Health Education, Wednesday, Second Period

Don understood why he hadn't been impacted by the island's latest round of weirdness: he had never been a teenager in the first place. It would have been interesting to see what teenaged him would have been like, but, well. Apparently he was immune.

What he didn't understand was why Thor was affected despite not technically existing at present. It was a serious problem, considering that as a teenager, Thor had been a lot more hotheaded than he was as an adult, and he had absolutely no context for why he was trapped in the void, his only lifeline a mental connection to a total stranger. Naturally, he had concluded that Don was an evil sorcerer who had somehow captured him, and he wasn't happy about it. Don had been enduring threats to his person, both from Thor himself and 'when my father finds you,' all morning, and while Thor would have been more use against the snow monsters than Don was personally, he still wasn't about to do that. He had a class to teach, after all.

He took a fortifying sip of his very large coffee (which was secretly just straight cold brew concentrate today, because he deserved it) before addressing his class. "Good morning. I'm Dr. Donald Blake."

You are a foul sorcerer and I demand that you release me--

Don tuned him back out and continued, "And this is Health Education." If he sounded completely exhausted that was because he was. He'd spent fourteen hours in surgery yesterday and then been woken up early by Thor, who was going to owe him severely once he remembered himself. "I had a speech prepared about how I understand that introductions are gonna be of limited utility, because it's impossible for you to guide me toward what you need to learn, because you don't know what you don't know. But I don't remember it now, so let's just go with that. You don't know what you don't know, and that's okay. Some of you may not even know why you're in this class, and to that I say...don't worry about it. All will become clear in a few days to a week at most. Probably." Another sip of his coffee as Thor switched to trying to curse him out, followed by accusing him of hexing his speech as well as imprisoning him in the void. Maybe he'd just let him out after this. The void would be less stress.

"So. Introductions. I'd like to know who you are," even if some of you might be different next week. "Name, where and when you're from, and something about healthcare in your world of origin. We'll start with you," he said, gesturing with his travel mug toward a student at random.

Entry tags:

The park- Wednesday late morning

The snow monsters were not the weirdest part of Jaina's day so far. The weirdest part was waking up in a house she didn't recognize but on the right island, with a couple of kids who said she was their mom and were freaked out that she was seventeen but not as freaked out as they could have been?

It was weird. But snow monsters, those she could handle.

So there she was, in the park, lopping off one head off a two-headed snowman with a lightsaber, which was a pretty satisfying effect, actually. There were definitely more coming, but one thing at a time.

[Open!]

Entry tags:

pirating

Space Pirates! (Pirates in Space!) [Wednesday, 1st Period]

Class was being held in the Danger Shop today, and for once Aphra and Isabela had been organised enough to actually set up the simulation in advance, because as it was, you were lucky that Chelli and Isabela even knew they had class, let alone that they were supposed to be the ones teaching it.

"So, space piracy," Chelli said after a long, awkward silence, and the slow, terrible realisation her name was on the wrong spot on the roster. "It's a thing."

"Luckily, as a pirate captain, I know all about piracy, " Isabela added confidently, despite the fact she'd been a pirate and a captain for roughly a week, and her crew had just abandoned her.

"And I know about space," Chelli said. "Because I'm from it." She wished she was there right now, actually.

"So between us, you'll learn all there is to know about space piracy," Isabela said, then dramatically pressed the button that she was relatively sure was the on switch for the magic room.

It was an a magnificent pirate ship and a majestic space backdrop faded into viewed. Unfortunately for reasons that had completely made sense (hilarious sense, even) at the time, it was not a starship.

Chelli looked at the ship for another long, awkward moment, and considered her options. Including arson.

"So...introductions?"

Fandom Radio, Wednesday 9/3

Good morning everyone, it’s Wednesday and there are snow monsters even though it is not winter and it’s not cold enough for snow but there is snow anyway. The island is certainly being…interesting this week.

Let’s start with the school. New classes this week. Reclaiming Your Childhood met at the campgrounds and got journals and wrote down things that would be fun before introductions and s’mores. Anakin had a hat just like mine in Diplomacy class and had his and Ahsoka’sstudents, many of them also with hats, practice meeting each other. And then my class, on Dealing with Other People’s Trauma mostly did introductions. With hats, again, for some of us.

Nothing from the dorms today. Sorry, porg. Now, the town.

There were pancakes at the diner for Ignis and his temporary headwear and then there was Liliana and we really needn’t go further into it than that. Gladio had a flower crown on his luxurious hai- did you need to write that? I suppose you did. Prompto had a flower crown at The Photo Hut. Remy, who did not seem to have any unusual hats of any kind, was at Needful Things, which wasn’t actually open, with his cats.

And then there was Raiden’s Beach Party. Raiden had a seafood boil and a fish fry and was wearing a flower crown. I wish I’d seen that. The day…got away from me.

*chittering*

No I don’t want to talk about it. Hush.

So. People that did make it to the beach included Luma looking for food that wasn’t fish, Eleanor who may have been inspecting hats while eating, Prompto and Noctra, of course. Rey and Raiden seemed to have trouble saying words they meant to say and saying different things instead. Steve was in a Hawaiian shirt but he’s from Hawaii so I don’t see why that’s interesting and a flower crown and he told Raiden how he’s teaching swimming now. Gladio had no shirt and learned that Gray will be working at Raiden’s new restaurant. was also there, he had a hat, and seemed very amused with something on his phone.

Danny had a flower crown. I wonder if it matched Steve’s? And asked Raiden about things that were not pineapple. Pineapples aren’t seafood, Danny. And Steve was disappointed that Danny’s shirt didn’t match his like the flower crowns may have. Lydia thanked Raiden for the party. Always a good idea. Ignis appreciated Raiden warning him of heat hazards and providing provisions. Erasmus did not think anyone was a murderer and was asked about his shrimp-peeling prowess. Hannibal also had a flower crown and was ready to eat.I would hope so. Raiden does well at keeping people full.

And Henry, with his flower crown, headed straight for the tables of food and then learned about shrimp and why they should be peeled.

That seems to be all for today. Look out for creatures made of snow. Oh fudge, there’s one right outside. I didn’t say fudge I said fudge. Oh. Oh, that makes the note about Rey and Raiden make more sense.

Entry tags:

@around the island

All Around the Island, Early Wednesday Morning

Now, a little bit of fun with weird sensations and interesting headwear was all well and good. But what was more iconically Fandom than an invasion?

And so, in Wednesday's very early morning hours, perhaps in part inspired by the previous day's end-of-summer party... It snowed. Not for longer than a few minutes, but for the time that it lasted, the snowfall was heavy. And once no more of it came down from the sky, the snow on the ground began to shift, to move, to pack together.

It formed shapes.

Regular snowmen. Two-headed snowmen. Regular snowmen that would become two-headed snowmen if you cut their original head off.

... Kung-fu fighting snowmen? Snow creatures with tentacles? Snow sharks?

And whatever else.

In short: snow monsters.

And they began to hunt, ready to attack whoever happened to cross their path. They were going to continue to do so until the evening, when they would all melt away again. None of which would have been all that bad, had it not also coincided with some of the adults on the island - and there were a lot of adults on the island, these days - waking up younger than they were used to. But hey, maybe your teenaged self was already skilled in fighting random monsters!

And the ones that weren't?

Well, hope they were a quick study. Or cool with staying inside all day!

[ooc: Random memories and lack of swearing also persist! And for a proper blast from the past, I present to you: the original snow monster attack post.]

Entry tags:

library

Fandom Library, Wednesday, September 3rd

It was still technically summer, so Arden was really confused by the creepy snow monster that had tried to attack her on the way to school today. She'd been alone, so she'd grabbed as many chords of magic as she could and shoved them at the monster - which had poofed into bitty snowflakes.

Which, in retrospect, might have been overkill. Especially since she was immediately hit by the exhaustion that came from using up most of her energy at once. She managed to drag herself the rest of the way to the library, but now was doing her best not to pass out at the counter.

She also wasn't moving from this chair, because if she did, she was pretty sure she'd end up falling over flat.

Fandom Radio, Tuesday, September 2nd

What up, island! It's me, ya girl Arden Finch, bringing you all the news of yesterday, which was both the first day of classes and Labor Day, so let's hear it for everybody to worked yesterday, whether in class or in town.

In School, we started our new classes, included Flight and Flying that had us doing introductions in an airplane, Cryptozoology, which also had introductions, and Professor Sims explained they'd be talking about animals that definitely don't exist. And then Dean Skywalker and Officer McGarrett were teaching How Not To Drown in the pool in the dorms, where everyone had to introduce themselves while getting into a pool.

Nothing for Dorms--

*the sound of running feet and a squawking porg*

--Wait! I guess I was wrong, there are Dorm notes! New student Riri - hi! - was in a common room with a whiteboard, documenting all the weirdness. Oh, you're going to need a lot more than a whiteboard. Erasmus - hi, again! - came by to share notes on weirdness, including that Riri tastes like a white castle...what?...and Erasmus like shrimp. They were thinking about taking a survey to see if other people tasted like things - can confirm, I'm told I tasted like chicken. I'm just not going to think about that too hard.

but Town was buzzing with people. For starters, there were a number of weird...things...showing up all over town. Weird images, like, literal flashes from the past, if the fashion and cell phone tech are to be believed. Pick Your Poison was dealing with a boob-obsessed ghost, which is a sentence I'm being forced to read, sure. Doc Harley came by to tell Dr. Isley that she tastes like fizzy lemon candy, while Dr. Isley discovered she tasted like roses, and then they talked a bit about the Doc Harley that lives in Gotham. Mr. Barnes arrived in time for his shift at Mystery Sign Theater 3000. Mayor Faden told him that he came back on a weird week, what with the mayor tasting like beets and Mr. Barnes like gun oil, and the--oh! She is referring to them as 'temporal events' and that sounds so much less dumb. Vi was swapping games for more fall-suited ones at Magpie Emporium and today I learned that board games can be seasonal. Raiden left Pizza Planet in a hurry after realizing that he tasted like...something.

After class, Professor Sims dropped off at The Perk for tea and to take notes. And Officer McGarrett was answering phones at the Trooper Station, telling people not to lick each other. Which I guess they needed to be told. Officer Williams came by with lunch and blaming Officer McGarrett because he tasted like pineapple, while McGarrett tasted like salt water taffy, and telling him to keep the Troopers from licking each other, either. The nurses at the Clinic were also licking each other and Professor James Stark was having none of that. In the evening, Professor Tony Stark and Professor Rogers were at home in the Stark Towerlet, eating ice cream and being very cute - sorry, sirs - about their complementary flavors.

And that's it for notes! So this is ya girl, Arden Finch, signing off. I'll be heading to class and then to Ray's picnic, which I hope to see y'all at! Until then, enjoy Dance in the Dark by Au/Ra.

[Aaaaaaaaaaand guess who did NOT hit post before I left my house for almost the entire goddamn day. And then also posted to the wrong journal! TODAY IS WINNING!]

Reclaiming Your Childhood, Monday, Period 1 [9/2]

Students had ~~handwavily~~ been informed to meet at the old campground today, where they would find Ghanima and Trebor waiting, and a fire already in process.

"Good morning!" Ghanima started off cheerfully, once it seemed everyone had arrived who was going to arrive. "I am Ghanima Atreides, and this is 'Reclaiming Your Childhood.'"

"The goal of this class is simple: I, like most likely many of you, lacked what could be termed a 'normal' childhood," she said bluntly. "You may have noticed by now, but Fandom Island seems to attract the unconventional resident."

"And as a still relatively new parent, attempting to navigate the world with Trebor, I decided... why not? Why not give myself, and everyone else who was interested, a chance to do the things you always wanted to do, but never got the chance?" Ghanima continued. "So, to start off today, we're starting simple with s'mores!"

She gestured to the supplies laid out around the campfire. "We're going to do this in a few different steps. First, everyone pick out a journal and pen from the box over there. Do not worry, we are not doing therapy journaling -- unless you want to -- it is mostly so that you always have a pen and paper for my Suggestion Box. Trebor?"

Trebor, just happy to be helping, beamed, and held up a wooden box with a hinged lid and a slit in the top.

"Very good, beloved," Ghanima praised him. "The Suggestion Box is for things you want to do. It is one-hundred percent anonymous, so that you do not have to feel self-conscious about your requests. Just jot down a on your papers things you think would be fun, and put them in the box, or hand them off to Trebor and he can put them in the box. He cannot read yet, so do not fret on that front."

"Once you have had a chance to pick out your journal, let's get started on making some s'mores and doing some introductions." Ghanima smiled brightly. "Paper first, as it were, and sticky fingers second."

Dealing With Other People's Trauma, Tuesday 9/2, 3rd period

Stark was standing at the front of the room looking serious. Serious except for the rather absurd hat that he’d woken up wearing and had been unable to rid himself of thus far.

“Welcome,” he said once everyone had arrived. “I know some of you. Not all. I’m Stark. Just Stark, though some people decided to call me James.” It was easier just to go along with that, honestly.

“I don’t usually wear this hat. It just…appeared this morning. The island does things like this, sometimes. You’ll get used to this eventually if you haven’t already done so.” Probably, anyway.

“So. We’ll do introductions in a moment. Always good to start with those especially when there are new people on the island.” He nodded to the new faces.

“But first, a small introduction to what we'll be doing here. Or what I hope we'll be doing here, in this class. The idea of it,” he said, looking around, “is to recognize that we've all had different experiences. Not all of them positive. And that can cause problems.”

Oh, the understatement of it all.

“So we're going to try to not make things worse for other people. We'll try to be kind, when we can. We'll try to learn how to be gentle with others when they need it in certain situations and at certain times.”

Stark paused then and looked around. “I don't know anyone who hasn't been hurt, hasn't been traumatized in some way. It's good to remember that. Now, having said that…i suppose the rest of you ought to introduce yourselves?”

Entry tags:

Needful Things, Tuesday

You know, there was something about sitting in the midst of a cache of goods that you helped, uh, acquire. Remy had known this for years, of course, but it had been a long time since he last experienced it.

He hadn't gone on quite the level of crime spree as he ~~was still playing out~~ had with Harley in ages. And none of this seemed that likely to lead him to an adventure where he nearly died several times!

He was somewhat sprawled at the sales desk today, his colony of cats (back down to three, where had the other three gone? He would never know), excitedly exploring everything and placing their own cat-like claims on various objects.

"Hey," he said, snapping his fingers at Lucifer. "No scratching. Be good."

And because telling a cat anything was an exercise in futility, he dropped his hand to his side to scritch the air, summoning the little orange cat to come get scritches of his own.

Welcome to the Needful Things. It wasn't . . . actually officially reopened yet. Remy made no effort to take down the sign Harley had put up. The door wasn't, like, locked though. So you didn't have to break in if you wanted to wander around.

[open!]

Entry tags:

diplomacy

Diplomacy, Tuesday, September 2, 2025 [2nd period]

Anakin was wearing a fabulous gray hat while trying his best to pretend that he wasn't. "Hello, everyone."

Ahsoka was not wearing a hat, instead she had a garland of flowers draped around one montral. "Welcome to diplomacy, a subject we are both highly familiar with." Because that was something people needed to worry about when the moose was involved.

"We are also very good at it," Anakin added, which was a more debatable statement. "And because it's the first part of the semester, we're going to go with the more obvious first class assignment: small talk. Meet everyone in this class-it's not difficult--and come away with their name and something they think is interesting about them." He shrugged. "You don't have to agree that it's interesting, but you can't show that on your face or in your mannerisms. While you're learning this about others, you must also impart your name and something incredibly uninteresting to the other people. Faking being enthusiastic is also an important part of diplomacy."

"You will be quizzed on this next class," Ahsoka added, because it was the start of the semester and they got one warning. "Because another part of diplomacy is that you don't have to care about those little details, but you do need to remember them."

Anakin nodded. "Ahsoka and I will also be participating," he said. And no one could even curse about that today!

And it could have been worse, they could have had class tomorrow led by two Padawans.

Entry tags:

@beach,
raiden

The Beach, Tuesday Afternoon through Evening

When Raiden had decided to throw a Labor Day cookout at the beach, he'd had a couple of stumbling blocks. First, he'd envisioned it happening on Labor Day, which hadn't ended up working out, which had been, uh, probably for the best, it turned out. Second, he hadn't been able to spend the day before the party doing prep because of the reason the delay had turned out being a good idea, but he'd managed to get it all together in a flurry of activity today.

Third, he hadn't been able to decide between a fish fry or a seafood boil. So, in true Gluttony fashion, he'd decided to do both! Which meant he was manning both the fryer and the boil pot, a flower crown perched at a jaunty angle over his backwards baseball cap, plus there was plenty of other food for people who weren't feeling the fruits of the sea, and a whole table of dessert. You fancying coconut cake? Chocolate cake? Key lime pie? Banana pudding? Raiden's got you covered.

There was also a bonfire going, and downwind of the rest of the setup there was a fire pit, with a table with s'mores fixings and a handmade sign reading 'Marshmallow Containment Zone.' And, of course, there was plenty of beachy fun to be had, but mostly food. A lot of food.

Come on down to the beach, everyone! Stretch summer out one more day, and maybe eat a whole lot of shrimp in the bargain.

Entry tags:

The Photo Hut; Tuesday [09/02].

And so there'd been a successful trip to Eos and they didn't get trapped, and what was more, even more than the new extra insight that Liliana had given him about her theories regarding the Starscourge, Noctra had finally gotten to meet real, live, actual chocobos for the first time, and she had absolutely adored them. It felt like such an elated relief to Prompto that he wondered how much of his anxiety had actually been tied to his trauma around portals and wasn't just some deep dread that she would hate his favorite animal in the whole entire multiverse (yes, even more than puppies, although, let's be honest, it was a pretty close race!).

Okay, okay, he knew it was definitely about the portals, but everything had actually turned out fine, and so now, maybe, he could focus on the more positive.

And that included combing through all the photos he'd taken over the weekend, and realizing that a part of him was already starting to wonder if maybe planning more trips back home was in the future. Probably not anytime soon, with the new baby's due date creeping up closer and closer, but it was...a little surreal, really, to think that it was even possible now...

So, with an adjustment to the flower crown that kept jauntily tilting on his head around his hair, Prompto leaned in to get to work culling through the weekend's photos to pick out some of the best and just think back as to how nice the whole weekend had been (when he wasn't, you know, being anxious about it).

The Photo Hut is open!