Jono Starsmore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
furnaceface) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2013-01-18 09:26 am
furnaceface) wrote in fandomhigh2013-01-18 09:26 am
Entry tags:
Fandom Invasions: A Survival Guide- Friday, Period One
"Good morning, class," Jono said, launching into his lecture the moment it was time for class to begin. Class was being held in the Danger Shop today, though the layout really wasn't anything impressive. Unless, of course, people were terribly impressed by the view from the roof of the dorms. "Last week, I gave a very brief overview of some of the invasions that have hit the island. This week, we aren't doing anything terribly hands-on, either, but at least I'm giving you visual aides while I go a little more thoroughly in-depth with some of the messes that residents of the island have had to deal with over the years. I realize that some of these invasions might be a little raw for some of you. If any of you need to leave the simulation for whatever reason, the dorm roof leads out into the hallway. You have full permission to go."
Didn't that make it sound like this was going to be fun? He walked to the edge of the roof, gesturing for his class to join him there, and looked out toward the water.
"I'm going to start with one that I'm certain some of you might have been here for," he said, as the view out past the Causeway shifted, the horizon sneaking closer by the moment as the mainland steadily vanished. "The Nothing. It was very much what it sounded like- A wall of absolute emptiness that began elsewhere, devouring entire realities until it finally made its way to Fandom. Our Mayor, Cable, managed to hold it off for a while," the Nothing hesitated at the island's borders, held back on all sides by a shield sustained by psionic power and force of will, mostly, though every now and again the shield faltered, and large parts of the island dropped away in chunks. "The Nothing came hand-in-hand with Auditors, shifty people who didn't look quite right, whose very touch would strike you from reality, as well. And, for all of the fighting that we attempted to do," the shield faltered again, and now the Nothing rushed toward them like a wave, steadily devouring everything in its path, "in the end, what held it off and brought back reality was the most simple of solutions. Everything that was taken away... we remembered."
If people cared to continue to watch, bits and pieces of the island were reappearing now, some the same as they had been before the Nothing. Others, markedly different, such as the configuration of Selkie Cove. Er. Peak. Er...
"Of course, some of our invasions in the past have involved slightly less... obvious outside sources," he said, looking directly down, now, toward the grounds of the dorms. "There have, on more than one occasion, been things that have twisted our own residents, have stripped them of who they were and turned them into the enemy. Many of you will remember Umbridge's mind-controlling spells. Fewer of you might recall the alien plague that transformed many of our island's residents into monsters. I doubt you'll see much to remind you of that these days, but you might be surprised to learn that our island used to have cabins, rather than those tents that the school has students hunker down in for a few weeks in the summertime."
Around them on the roof, holographic images of Fandom students past appeared, all in varying stages from 'patchy grey rashes' to 'twisted alien freak,' though the more obviously transformed were down below, mostly to allow the best view when, almost all as one, they turned on their peers, and the students on the roof were treated to front-row seats to watch Fandom's best locked in a desperate fight against one another.
"Most of the damage was undone when our island's brightest minds found a way to destroy the source of the infestation. The infected residents changed back to normal - mostly - and everyone became a little more wary of how they deal with the sick." He smiled faintly, though not warmly. "I missed that one, as well as the zombie infestation that had much of the island's population wandering around as cursed undead. That one was undone as well, though it was magical in origin, rather than biological."
Wasn't it great to know that your peers losing their minds and trying to kill you was totally a possibility, around here?
"Other invasions that have nearly done us in would include the hallucinogenic mist," a fog rolled over the island, too thick to see more than a few feet beyond the edge of the roof, save for the occasional monstrous-looking shapes moving around below, "which came courtesy of a mad scientist looking to woo Umbridge, who was locked in Special Collections at the time. There was also the... odd... turtle-ox-dinosaur who kidnapped the children of the island, and left us all to deal with his minions," and if the island looked suspiciously like a level of Swarthy Italian Plumber as little mushrooms and flying turtles wandered around the now clear-of-mist dorm grounds, that was entirely intentional, "and the invasion of Goblins, which also involved the kidnapping of some potential princes and princesses, as well as a labyrinth," which much of the island now resembled, "and the most rank-smelling bog you've ever seen, bubbling up around the school."
Fortunately, the Danger Shop didn't re-create the stench.
"There have been many others," Jono continued, "and we'll be expanding on specific scenarios as the semester presses on, but for today I'll just leave my lecture there, and give you all the option to venture out and explore the island in any one of the scenarios that I've covered, today. Enjoy, class."
The entire lay of the island shimmered for a moment, and then, after depositing everyone on the lawn of the dorms, it all broke off into segments, like someone had taken a pizza cutter to the entire thing and divided it into separate slices out of time, one emergency situation after another, all radiating out toward the shoreline.
[Open!]
Didn't that make it sound like this was going to be fun? He walked to the edge of the roof, gesturing for his class to join him there, and looked out toward the water.
"I'm going to start with one that I'm certain some of you might have been here for," he said, as the view out past the Causeway shifted, the horizon sneaking closer by the moment as the mainland steadily vanished. "The Nothing. It was very much what it sounded like- A wall of absolute emptiness that began elsewhere, devouring entire realities until it finally made its way to Fandom. Our Mayor, Cable, managed to hold it off for a while," the Nothing hesitated at the island's borders, held back on all sides by a shield sustained by psionic power and force of will, mostly, though every now and again the shield faltered, and large parts of the island dropped away in chunks. "The Nothing came hand-in-hand with Auditors, shifty people who didn't look quite right, whose very touch would strike you from reality, as well. And, for all of the fighting that we attempted to do," the shield faltered again, and now the Nothing rushed toward them like a wave, steadily devouring everything in its path, "in the end, what held it off and brought back reality was the most simple of solutions. Everything that was taken away... we remembered."
If people cared to continue to watch, bits and pieces of the island were reappearing now, some the same as they had been before the Nothing. Others, markedly different, such as the configuration of Selkie Cove. Er. Peak. Er...
"Of course, some of our invasions in the past have involved slightly less... obvious outside sources," he said, looking directly down, now, toward the grounds of the dorms. "There have, on more than one occasion, been things that have twisted our own residents, have stripped them of who they were and turned them into the enemy. Many of you will remember Umbridge's mind-controlling spells. Fewer of you might recall the alien plague that transformed many of our island's residents into monsters. I doubt you'll see much to remind you of that these days, but you might be surprised to learn that our island used to have cabins, rather than those tents that the school has students hunker down in for a few weeks in the summertime."
Around them on the roof, holographic images of Fandom students past appeared, all in varying stages from 'patchy grey rashes' to 'twisted alien freak,' though the more obviously transformed were down below, mostly to allow the best view when, almost all as one, they turned on their peers, and the students on the roof were treated to front-row seats to watch Fandom's best locked in a desperate fight against one another.
"Most of the damage was undone when our island's brightest minds found a way to destroy the source of the infestation. The infected residents changed back to normal - mostly - and everyone became a little more wary of how they deal with the sick." He smiled faintly, though not warmly. "I missed that one, as well as the zombie infestation that had much of the island's population wandering around as cursed undead. That one was undone as well, though it was magical in origin, rather than biological."
Wasn't it great to know that your peers losing their minds and trying to kill you was totally a possibility, around here?
"Other invasions that have nearly done us in would include the hallucinogenic mist," a fog rolled over the island, too thick to see more than a few feet beyond the edge of the roof, save for the occasional monstrous-looking shapes moving around below, "which came courtesy of a mad scientist looking to woo Umbridge, who was locked in Special Collections at the time. There was also the... odd... turtle-ox-dinosaur who kidnapped the children of the island, and left us all to deal with his minions," and if the island looked suspiciously like a level of Swarthy Italian Plumber as little mushrooms and flying turtles wandered around the now clear-of-mist dorm grounds, that was entirely intentional, "and the invasion of Goblins, which also involved the kidnapping of some potential princes and princesses, as well as a labyrinth," which much of the island now resembled, "and the most rank-smelling bog you've ever seen, bubbling up around the school."
Fortunately, the Danger Shop didn't re-create the stench.
"There have been many others," Jono continued, "and we'll be expanding on specific scenarios as the semester presses on, but for today I'll just leave my lecture there, and give you all the option to venture out and explore the island in any one of the scenarios that I've covered, today. Enjoy, class."
The entire lay of the island shimmered for a moment, and then, after depositing everyone on the lawn of the dorms, it all broke off into segments, like someone had taken a pizza cutter to the entire thing and divided it into separate slices out of time, one emergency situation after another, all radiating out toward the shoreline.
[Open!]
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