Fandom Invasions Class 2 (Thursday period 3)

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

This week the class met in the Danger Shop as had been discussed last week. However, when the students filed in, the room looked like a normal classrom.

"Good morning," John greeted them. "Today we're going to be looking at a few things, that while technically not invasions are definitely things to watch out for.



"Let's start with portals. The way Fandom works is that most if not all of you arrived here via a portal, whether you were aware of it or not. Those are the good kind, the kind that are generally under control. But there's another kind, that seems to be entirely chaotic and random and that will send you unprepared and with no warning, somewhere else.

"Now while portals can and do open anywhere, there is a particular spot that seems to attact them more than any other." John hit a button on the Danger Shop remote and the room shifted to showing a school hallway lined with lockers. "Locker 327 has been reported as a portal opening many many times." He hit another button and a student appeared, walking down the hallway. When he got even with the locker in question, the door swung open and the student in question was pulled into the locker, much like a dustbunny's pulled into a vaccuum cleaner. As soon as the student cleared the opening, the locker door closed, leaving behind the normal looking and deserted hallway. "Your best bet to avoid this particular fate is to avoid that particular bit of hallway. If you have to use it, move through that spot quickly and for god's sake don't open that locke unless you're looking for a trip to somewhere --and somewhen -- else.

"That is generally a fixed danger; there are others that are more mobile. The most dangerous would probably be the gremlins." Another button was pushed and the hallway faded and a short green creature with a large number of teeth appeared. "Generally gremlins aren't a danger to your life and limb so much as your dignity. Their saliva seems to have hallucinatory properties. When they bite -- and they are aggressive enough that if you encounter one, the chances are good they will bite you or at least try -- their victim experiences hallucinations and delusions that last until the effects wear off, which is generally a few hours. The type of delusion a person experiences seems to vary depending on the person's own thoughts and memories at the time of infection. But it will almost always be embarrassing and the kind of thing you would want no one else to know about on pain of death.

"The best thing to do if you encounter a gremlin is to try not to antagonise them. Unless you fancy an afternoon of thinking yourself a fairy princess in the lobby or singing showtunes in the preserve, leave them alone and back away slowly. And if you do get bit, try to remember afterwards that you're not responsible for anything you do while under the bite's effects. Embarrassment fades, even if the whole school knows about it.

"Which brings us to our last subject for today. No matter how embarrassing or secretive something is on this Island, the chances are good that you will hear about it when you turn into the nightly radio broadcast. This would be because of the squirrels." This time John didn't press any buttons on the remote, just nodded towards the door where a squirrel in a fedora came scampering in and down the aisles to the front of the room. It was also carrying a notepad and pencil.

"The squirrels in Fandom are not quite like the ones you find pretty much anywhere else. Most squirrels elsewhere gather nuts. Fandom squirrels -- at least the ones we're concerning ourselves with -- gather information. They work for the radio station, eavesdropping and making notes on everything that happens daily in Fandom and are paid, as far as I can tell, in rum and nuts." He smiled slightly. "Hence the title drunken squirrels.

"The drunken squirrels are harmless in the sense that they won't attack you. But if there's a secret you're trying to keep, or something embarrassing happens -- like getting bit by a gremlin -- they will make sure all of Fandom knows about it before a full day has gone by." John nodded towards the squirrel. "This isn't a holo projection like the earlier examples, but an actual squirrel who has agreed to come and answer any questions you might have. Hopefully an understanding of squirrel won't be necessary."

He looked around the room with a wider smile. "So any questions for our furry guest?"

[ooc: wait for ocd is up, have at it!]

Comments

Sign in

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

collapsy format

Re: Sign in

[savedfornow.livejournal.com]

Claire Bennet

Re: Sign in

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

Ami Mizuno

During John's lecture

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

Listen, take notes, talk, etc.

Re: During John's lecture

[savedfornow.livejournal.com]

Claire made notes, that consisted in their entirety of:

- don't open 327
- don't provoke Gremlins
- (hallucinogens prob. have an effect. Test?)
- squirrels hear everything.

Then she set about doodling in the margins.

Re: During John's lecture

[slr-mercury.livejournal.com]

Ami took copious notes in Japanese

Re: During John's lecture

[inthereflexes.livejournal.com]

Jack was wavering between "are you serious?" and actually paying attention. His notes were sporadic. He looked around, trying to verify this with anyone in class.

Re: During John's lecture

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine had been tricked by a cupcake, so he most certainly didn't doubt that the gremlins were dangerous. But if anyone had ever been acting extremely out of the ordinary due to a gremlin bite, he hadn't really noticed. People were just naturally that strange where he had come from.

Still and all, he was taking notes.

-Avoid man-eating locker (327, possibly best to avoid all lockers in school, to be safe.)
-Perhaps cupcake was made out of gremlins. Not so bad. Did win an award at film fest, after all.
-Squirrels also look good in hats.

Re: During John's lecture

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal had his head propped on his hand while he took notes, in Karsite. It was automatic, he barely had to pay attention to make them, but he'd occasionally stop, read what he'd written, then look up at John in disbelief.

The squirrel in the hat got an outright stare.

Re: During John's lecture

[notawitch.livejournal.com]

Will knew all about gremlins, from having seen the effects of their bites (and what she suspected were cupcakes made from their bile) way too many times. While sometimes it was fun to see people under the effects of that, it often meant being dragged off to write a movie for some loony with crazy ideas. She took some basic notes, but not very detailed ones.

Re: During John's lecture

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Okay that locker was scary.

Re: During John's lecture

[surferboy-09er.livejournal.com]

Dick loved this school so, so much.

Re: During John's lecture

[im-afrog.livejournal.com]

Adam was paying close attention and jotted down lots of notes.

Re: During John's lecture

[tiger-bouncer.livejournal.com]

Kou wasn't terribly surprised by the things John was explaining, but he definitely took notes on what to avoid. He did not want to be encountering any gremlins. Not after seeing the 'Sigfried and Roy' performance in the park that summer.

Re: During John's lecture

[big-head-boy.livejournal.com]

Dib took notes of his own.

Open locker 327
Look for Goblins
Bribe Squirrel Network for information

Take a closer look at the simluations

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

They're not so much open for interaction as to let you examine them without getting bit or swept off to somewhere else.

Re: Take a closer look at the simluations

[fh_extras]

You can look down the hall or even open the locker in question. Just don't do the latter to the real locker.

Re: Take a closer look at the simluations

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal approached the locker warily, examined it, reached out a hand to grasp the handle, then stopped.

Simulation or not, he didn't want to risk it. And he'd be avoiding the real ones from now on.

Re: Take a closer look at the simluations

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

The gremlin is slightly interactive in that it will react to you, but it won't move from the spot and it won't bite.

Ask a drunken squirrel

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

once said drunken squirrel has pinged in.

Re: Ask a drunken squirrel

[likeguidelines.livejournal.com]

The squirrel was there, peering around self-importantly and waving to his buddy hanging outside the window.

Talk to the TA

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

once said drunken squirrel TA has pinged in.

Re: Talk to the TA

[repeterpetrelli.livejournal.com]

Peter was not a drunken squirrel, but he was around in a TA-like capacity.

Talk to John

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

He's there to answer your questions.

OOC

[demons-death.livejournal.com]

Many thanks to likeguidelines for the guest squirrel. :)