Unconventional Tactics, Tuesday, Period 2

[raspberryturk]

"Yo, rookies!" Reno leaned back against his desk today, arms crossed over his chest as he surveyed the students heading into the classroom. No Danger Shop again, but knowing Reno, he was probably saving all of the good stuff for later in the semester.

Or else too lazy to muck about with programming this early in the morning. One of those.

"Today, we're gonna cover one of them things that all of the reserves groups have probably drilled into you good by now if you're a member, but we're gonna expand on it a bit, yo." He smirked faintly. "I know they got their little phone number exchange goin' on, and I'm gonna even agree, it's a damn good idea." Which had nothing to do with the fact that he was one of the founding members of the original group. Really.

"But, really, it's just scratchin' the surface. How many telepaths do we got on this island? And I'm willin' to bet that when all Hell's breakin' loose, they ain't afraid to put that ability to use to keep themselves alive. The island's also got the radio station, which has been used on more'n one occasion to get the word out to folks in town that whatever's hit us, it's bigger than the harpies-and-piranhas crap that most of us are still tryin' to get used to. If you don't got a radio yet? Get one. If you don't got a cell phone yet? Get one. If you need help gettin' your paws on either? Talk to me, yo. Communication is a big damn deal in my old line of work. I'm good with that kinda thing."

Hell, if anybody were to keep a careful eye on the Turks out on the field, they'd probably notice that they reached for their phone systems about as often as they reached for their weapons.

"But communication around here don't just start and stop with whoever's on the island when the shit hits the fan," Reno continued. "I got a postcard from Paris marked nearly a hundred years ago because of the things that go down, here. Romeo sendin' me the postcard was the easy part. I'm thinkin' the post office just held onto the damn thing for a century, yo. But you try sendin' messages back in time. Or to alternate realities. Or to other broken worlds when you don't know what'll happen if you let that next rip swallow you up, too... You followin' me, here?"

Sometimes, Reno found himself wondering if students took his class so that they could nap while he lectured. And then he convinced himself that there were worse times for them to nap, so hey, if they needed the sleep, then good on him for being the one whose dulcet friggin' tones lulled them to it. Or something.

"In the past, the most reliable way we had to get messages to people off-island during a crisis just to send a messenger. And I don't like it. Too damn risky, even if we got some faint idea where or when they're gonna end up. This last big throw-down, they managed to get one phone call in to the people who were stuck in different realities, yo. I don't pretend to know how they managed to rig that up. I was too busy tradin' whatever crap was in my pockets for food and water to shove at people. But one call, in that case, was enough. Next time it might not be."

Reno's optimistic attitude, ladies and gentlemen.

"It's another discussion class today, ladies and chumps. I know we got enough bright little minds in this room to be able to toss together suggestions on how to get in touch with people when they go missing in the future, or, if you're lucky, to get in touch with the island if you're one of the unlucky schmucks that's gone missing. Get creative. Throw out whatever idea first comes to mind, magic, tech, what-the-shit-ever. And if there's somethin' you have to offer to help keep people in touch even when we're all on the island, bring it to the table, yo. Never know when your suggestion'll be the one that lets a person in mortal danger call for help."

[Open!]

Comments

Sign In

[raspberryturk]

Communicating!

Re: Sign In

[intraspective]

Yamanaka Ino

Lecture

[raspberryturk]

Hooooboy, it's another rambly one today. Reno won't blame you if you nap through this, but he reserves the right to laugh his ass off at you later if you're caught in an invasion and you don't know how to work a cell.

Re: Lecture

[intraspective]

Ino was... pretty sure she was set on ways to communicate, really, what with two phones and her telepathy.

Nonetheless, she was listening because that was easier than dealing Reno today. Sigh.

And she probably--should thank him, for the phone, sigh.

Re: Lecture

[trigons_child]

Raven knew how to use a phone! Even to text! And she could even use a laptop now, thanks to Hoshi. Though most of the time with that she was using it to read message boards, not communicate. She hadn't graduated to posting yet.

Re: Lecture

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Kennedy loved her phone, yes. Was it obvious, given how often she had it out and was fiddling with it? Like right now?

Re: Lecture

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe loved having her cell phone... and she knew that Tori would probably have been annoyed if she ever found out that Chloe would not call her first in an emergency...

Re: Lecture

[vanillajello]

Kate had enough of her own stress to deal with, so she was just totally refusing to think about the perils of Fandom today.

Which meant she was here, but slumped over her desk, and only barely listening.

Re: Lecture

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

Zatanna could totally send magic messages, because that was one of the first things she had learned. The easiest way to survive was probably knowing how to ask for help in case you couldn't defend yourself.

She had a cell, of course, because it was still easier to send texts if the situation called for it.

Re: Lecture

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

Dolf knew how to work a cell.

Which was probably a good thing, because he was doing his utmost best not to look a little out of it by the end of Reno's lecture.

Re: Lecture

[imcalledandros.livejournal.com]

Andros vaguely knew how to use a cell, it wasn't something he used often but if needed to he could use one.

Discuss

[raspberryturk]

Are there any methods of communication that Reno hasn't listed off? Anything that has been or could potentially be used to get in touch with people on-island or off?

It doesn't matter if your suggestion involves futuristic technology that nobody else has heard of yet, or carrier pigeon. If you have something to bring to the table, please do. You never know when it might help somebody who has been backed into a corner, someday.

Re: Discuss

[intraspective]

"We use birds a lot back home," Ino said, figuring she might as well contribute something today.

Re: Discuss

[trigons_child]

"Visiting another in a dream can be used as a way to communicate," Raven offered shyly. It was something she sort of knew how to do, but she'd never really tried.

Re: Discuss

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe couldn't believe she was going to say this out loud in a group. However, she knew that at least four people in this classroom wouldn't let anything happen to her if it bothered anyone.

"G-ghosts," she said, carefully not looking at anyone. "S-some p-people c-can use ghosts to send messages to people."

Hell, she knew that if she was in trouble, Liz would do her best to make someone see or hear her.

Re: Discuss

[momslilassassin]

"It's not big on the details, but I sent my cousin Jaina kind of a..." Ben searched for a way to describe it, "bad feeling between star systems. I knew that she was going to be attacked, but she didn't know it yet. So it was kind of an intergalactic wake up call? Not quite as useful as a telepathic message, but it could go a lot further."

Re: Discuss

[life_inshadow]

"Telepathy?" Tara said, with a glance to Ben since he'd said the same kind of thing. "It would be harder between dimensions, but ... I think some people here could do it. Y-you'd just have to find a way to amplify the message."

A grimace. "Not like that's easy."

Re: Discuss

[talks-backwards.livejournal.com]

"Mental links can be done magically." Soul links, empathic bonds, the names were several, but the context was very similar -unless you came from a world when it was something completely different, then Zatanna had no idea-. "That's specially useful if two or more people without innate telepatic abilities need to be communicated." They didn't even need to have magic powers, in most cases.

"And, well, I can contact people I know, you know, with magic." It worked the best if she knew who she was contacting on a more personal basis, but she could probably contact every person she had talked to in Fandom, unless they had some sort of magical protection, of course.

Re: Discuss

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Kennedy didn't have anything to contribute to this conversation, it felt like, but for reasons she wasn't going to explain a contrite look crossed her face for just the slightest moment.

The truth was, there were things she could have come up with, but-- having grown up used to the idea of just asking for or getting anything she wanted if she thought she needed it-- her sense of resourcefulness had a lot of room left to develop, and it just wasn't there yet.

Re: Discuss

[notmyownage]

"If I could figure out how the pan-dimensional phones on the island work, I could probably rig something up to be portable."

Except for the fact that she had yet to work out just how the pan-dimensionality of the phones on the island worked. And not for lack of dismantling them to poke at their insides.

Re: Discuss

[dontvotemeout]

"If it's nighttime, a signal in the sky can be useful," Jason said, trying to vague things up a bit. "A floodlight with a symbol on top of it shot into the sky can be seen by a lot of people."

Talk to the TAs

[raspberryturk]

Talking face-to-face is also a method of communication!

Fascinating, I know.

Re: Talk to the TAs

[awakestheghosts]

Chloe was here and wondered how much trouble she would get into if she suggested zombie messengers.

It was probably a good indication of how much Ino and Reno were rubbing off on her that she was actually able to consider saying it.

Talk to Reno

[raspberryturk]

Who will stick around for a bit after class, in case there's anybody in the room who doesn't have a phone, or a radio, or any idea how to work either.

He promises not to laugh, if that's the case.

Re: Talk to Reno

[intraspective]

"So," Ino said, a bit dryly. "I'm pretty sure I got you to thank for the new phone."

Hello? What hello?

OOC

[raspberryturk]

As a person who officially loathes and has perhaps a bit of a phobia of the telephone, I can honestly say that all cell phone worshipping that Reno does here is totally not endorsed by the management.

*shudder*

Re: OOC

[trigons_child]

You are not alone, bb. I hate making phone calls. D: