fandomhigh | Entries tagged with fandom invasions

"So," Jono said, sitting on top of his desk and casually looking at the students in his classroom while he clutched a mug of coffee, "you've all survived the semester. Even if you didn't make it through that mess in the maze unscathed, you're still here, and haven't run screaming back home, never to be seen or heard from again. So far as I'm concerned, you've all passed the class, not that I'd actually hand out grades based on your performance in a bloody dungeon, mind."

That would just be tacky.

"Still, I have to confess I'd like to know, since everybody's experiences were different down there, if any of you came out of that mess a little more savvy to what it takes in a crisis situation to get out alive. So, while I won't make any of you just out and talk about what went on down there in front of the class, I'd definitely appreciate it if you'd write down one thing you learned in that pit. If you weren't one of the people grabbed, feel free to talk about something you learned in some other life-threatening experience you've had since coming to the island. I won't be teaching over the course of the summer - I'll be off risking my life like an absolute idiot for the greater good and all - but perhaps if I choose to teach this class again someday, I'll be able to put what you tell me to good use for future groups of students."

A beat.

"And if you absolutely don't want to discuss your traumas, that's perfectly fine, too. Just tell me something you wish I'd covered here in class, and I'll be certain to keep that in mind in the future."

[Open!]

furnaceface

"I suppose it goes without saying that last week was most likely difficult on us all," Jono said, standing at the front of the room with a whole bloody pot of coffee on his desk and enough cups to go around. "We all made it through in one piece, as these things often go, but our experiences in the maze almost certainly left a stain on our psyches. That's normal, too."

He waved at the coffee and the cups, inviting people in the class to help themselves while he spoke.

"That's one of the biggest difficulties of being on this island," he continued. "We can literally go to Hell and back," that had apparently happened on the island at some point before Jono's time, "and come out without a mark on us, physically. But there will be nightmares, there will be those moments that something goes bump behind you and you flinch. And not all of us know how to cope with things like this. Hell, I barely know how to deal with things like this. At least not in a healthy manner. So, I've asked a friend of mine, one of your peers, to talk to you about this for me. This is one of those topics that I can't give advice on. At least, not with a clear conscience. Karla?"

( Coping Class- Cut for Brief Mention of Alcohol as a Coping Tool. )

Jono had stepped out of the room for a moment at the beep on Karla's phone. Now, from out in the hallway, he was opening the door again, and into the room bounded a small herd of puppies and kittens, on loan courtesy of Everything But The Monkey.

"Be gentle with them," Jono cautioned, "but hug them or play with them or just curl up and nap with a couple of them in your lap if you're feeling so inclined. Being a cat owner myself, I can attest to the fact that this one works. They'll be here for playtime for the rest of the class period, and then we'll be sending them back to the pet shop, where you can visit them any time you wish. They're always in need of playmates, probably about as much as many of us are in need of the occasional bit of puppy therapy."

[Open, many thanks to

glacial_witch for participating!]

furnaceface

It was entirely possible that Jono was looking a little more grumpy than usual as students filed into the Danger Shop for today's class. It was also entirely possible that he was wearing his long, heavy coat, and that there was a pile of similarly heavy coats and other winter gear waiting for the students at the door. The reason for that, of course, was because a certain blue-faced teacher had gone a step beyond turning up the air conditioning, and everything in the Danger Shop simulation of Fandom Island was simply made of ice.

"This week, I'm supposed to be covering those scenarios where we get grabbed from the island and thrown into places and timelines that are completely out of our element," Jono shared, sitting on a bench in the ice version of Fandom's park, near the duck pond. "I know a few of you will remember the alternate timeline created by Umbridge, for example. I can't imagine as many of you were around when people on the island were thrown into the trio of nightmare realities, between Silent Hill, Rapture, and the Capital Wasteland... Unfortunately, there's nothing I can say or do that'll prepare anyone here for another branch in the timeline. Those who were there are well aware that we had no memories of the here and now, it was all swept away and re-written to suit Umbridge's needs. Similarly, even those three realities I mentioned aren't exactly the sort anyone can prepare you for in a lecture. In situations like that, it's important to be observant, to find weapons, food, and shelter as quickly as possible, and to not be caught out alone. Your best bet in a hostile situation is so very often the company you keep. The cooler head, or the person trained to fight. Remember that."

He took a deep breath. Shifted his weight a little on the icy bench.

"While I'm certain we could all use a mood-killer today, I was feeling too kind to subject you all to Silent Hill, here. You're welcome. Instead... cope with an alternate version of Fandom Island, where all the residents are penguins. Don't get eaten by a killer whale or something."

He would probably regret this decision someday, but for right now, it just seemed like the thing to do.

[Open!]

furnaceface

This week, Jono had left a note on the classroom door directing his students to the library, where he was waiting for them with a small grin on his lips. It felt good to be in here today. He'd spent most of his Sundays in this very room throughout high school, after all.

"We're in the middle of a hypothetical invasion," Jonothon informed his class once it looked like they had all arrived. "We don't know what it is or where it came from, all that we really know is that the island is covered with monsters. Some of them spend a great deal of time near the water, and they look suspiciously like turtles, except that they're always carrying a saucer of water on the top of their head. They've already tried to pull people under the water, and at one point they chased a person halfway across the park in order to steal their picnic basket just so they could pick the fillings out of the cucumber sandwiches that were inside."

He smirked a little.

"Some of the other monsters are something that look almost as much man they do bird, with faces that are human except for those ridiculously long noses they've got. They spend most of their time guarding the outskirts of the preserve, and aren't afraid to use the feather fans they carry to blow trespassers away with gusts of wind... or to grow or shrink a person's nose if they're feeling more playful than antagonistic." He gave a small wave of his hand out toward the stacks. "Your mission today is to figure out what these creatures are, and, if possible, how th'hell to get them to leave. Or, at least, to get them to stop attacking the locals. And you have one class period and all th'resources in the library outside of Special Collections in order to do it. We'll take the last ten minutes to clean up any books you've left around. Let's figure out how to save our island, hm?"

[Open class! Library accosted with permission from

talentforlying!]

furnaceface

"It occurred to me," Jono mused as he stepped into the classroom for today's lecture, "that while it's easy enough to get you to put together emergency kits for my class covering the defunct support reserves, and to tell you to swing blunt objects around for the martial reserves, it's not half as easy to teach you all how to make use of powers in the event of an invasion. Most of our students don't have any, after all. And my own knowledge of how powers actually work in a fight scenario is limited to a few very specific skill sets. I can't even really start listing off specific powers, because every world that has them differs in how they manifest, from magic to mutations to realities with everything in between."

He pursed his lips momentarily, wondering how the hell those in charge of the magic reserves actually managed to come up with all-inclusive exercises. The answer, of course, was that everyone attending them had powers.

Sigh.

"Today, we're going to just have a discussion class," he shared. "Share your experiences with powers, be they magical or biological, with the group. It can be a simple explanation of what abilities people have in your world that go above and beyond what a baseline human might possess. You can reminisce about what your feelings were, the first time you witnessed somebody using powers here on the island. If you have powers of your own and you're willing to discuss them, you can do that, too. I want to keep today's class fairly open-ended, and exceptionally open-minded. Detention goes to the first person who says anything vitriolic about other people, powered or not. I'll not tolerate any sort of prejudice in my classroom."

He wished he didn't have precedent to set a rule like that. He really did. But, well... mutant.

[Open!]

furnaceface

"Last week, we covered the job of the support reserves, from way back when we had such a creature," Jono shared, leaning against the Danger Shop wall, drinking coffee, and trying to ignore that what had to be the most adorable squirrel in the world was attempting to take notes while perched on his shoulder like some sort of cute cartoon sidekick. He'd heard that other classrooms had deer in them, he'd suffer the tiny grey ball of fluff if need be. "A few of you listed some things you'd like to see in an emergency kit. I went ahead and embellished that list slightly, and you can all feel free to take such a kit on the way out."

On the floor beside him was a small army of backpacks, stuffed with maps and basic first-aid kits, a list of safehouses and emergency phone numbers with a calling card taped to it in case people's phones ran out of minutes, a barbeque lighter, a compass, a few energy bars and a water bottle, a wind-up flashlight, and, against Jono's better judgment, a couple of emergency flares, wrapped up tight, with a note attached that said that he'd give detention for a month to anyone who set them off indoors, or without reading the instructions first.

He cared.

"This week, we're going to sort of brush on the purpose of the old fighting reserves. In that we're going to swing random objects at Danger Shop monsters in order to get a feel for what you might want to reach for if it comes down to fighting and you happen to be unarmed at the time. Simple premise, simple class, get to it."

[Open!]

furnaceface

"Once upon a time, the students of the island realized that when the worst happens, they were all just as likely to be the ones stepping up to fight as the teachers charged with their safety. I'm none too thrilled about the trend myself, but when I was a student here, good luck to anybody thinking they'd stand a chance at keeping me out of the thick of the worst of it, when the island was falling apart around us. And, with that in mind, a group of students got together and created the three reserves groups, a sort of casual militia that met once a week to discuss strategies in case all hell broke loose. There was one for those students who tended toward physical fighting, toward battling off threats using weapons and strategy. There was one for people with powers, the ones who could fly or teleport or throw fire from their faces." Guess which one Jono had joined, kids! "And there was one for the students who weren't fighters in either regard, for the ones who wanted to volunteer their time as support for the island's student soldiers," his nose wrinkled a little at that term, "providing food, first-aid, or any other assistance they could provide."

It was a subject near and dear to Jono's heart, but speaking as someone whose job it was, now, to doing his damnedest to keep his students safe, it was probably no surprise which of the three groups he chose to elaborate on first, today.

"We'll be doing a bit of work reminiscent of the support reserves today," he shared. "Putting together lists of things that will come in handy during invasions for fighters and non-fighters alike, from first-aid kids to non-perishable foods to bottles of water and maps and some way to re-charge a phone should the power go out and we find ourselves in need of making emergency calls. I'll get you to all discuss it as a group, and then next week, I'll give you each a kit containing whatever it was you came up with. The challenge is to come up with things that are easy to carry around, easy to get your hands on, and that will last long enough to see an invasion in the first place. Around here, that could be tomorrow, or it could be months from now."

He contemplated stressing 'cheap,' too, as these things were coming out of his pocket. He refrained all the same. You're welcome, class.

[Open!]

furnaceface

"This week, I'm rearranging my syllabus slightly in order to give you something hands-on to do before break," Jono announced as he kicked off the start of class. The Danger Shop today was set up to look like the outside of the dorms in the summertime. And, for effect (or else because the Danger Shop thought it was being cute), it was raining. "And because the next three topics I've written on it seem to go hand-in-hand, we'll be covering aspects of certain former reserve groups on the island when we all get back from our respective wanderings."

Some of you would probably be having a more enjoyable time than others. Breaks tended to go like that.

( Barricades! )

[Open!]

furnaceface

This week, the classroom setup was pretty straightforward. It was the day after a frustrating Hallmark holiday, there was a dance coming up and Jono was still sore from the beating he'd taken from Jubes on Tuesday. He reserved the right to go as low-effort as he could manage, this week.

"Our topic for the day is supposed to be teamwork," he said, launching into his lecture. "On teamwork, and strength in numbers, and how we can't be expected to carry the weight of the entire world on our shoulders, particularly if there are people there with you who are willing to help you lift it. For a lot of you, 'accepting help' and 'swallowing your pride' are more or less synonymous with one another, and I sympathize with you. It's difficult for many to accept help when what needs to be done is something that they feel they ought to be able to handle on their own."

Jono, for one, was terrible at it. He wouldn't deny so if somebody called him out on it, either.

"Sometimes, it's easier to think of it less as accepting that you can't do something alone, and more as... thinking about how much better something might turn out if you add the skills and knowledge that other people have to offer into the situation, as well. Granted, all of this banks on your ability to play nice with others, but that seems to be something that most of you have figured out. Good job."

Little victories. Jonothon would take 'em where he could find 'em.

"This week, the assignment is fairly straightforward. Sit down and write down two lists. The first should be a list of strengths that you possess, things that you could bring to a group in a crisis situation here on the island. The second, of... not even necessarily weaknesses, but of things that you might want to seek out assistance with, all the same. Each list should have at least something on it. And if you want to work in pairs or teams in order to write these lists, then all power to you."

[Open!]

furnaceface

"Communication," Jono announced as he walked into the classroom today. "I'm doing it right now. Lord knows some of you do it during my lectures when you roll your eyes while I'm speaking. It's that little touchstone that lets us all get across everything from 'I'm hungry,' to 'there's a giant scorpion around that corner, you might not want to go that way.' And, during a crisis situation, it doesn't become any less pivotal. The trouble is... for all that people are excellent communicators, sometimes our messages get a little mixed up in the giving, particularly if they need to travel between several people before finally making their way to their final destination."

He gave a little grin, picking up his cup of coffee.

"Have any of you played the game 'telephone?' One person starts with a message, and they whisper it into the ear of the person beside them. The message travels this way all the way around a circle until the last person shares what message they actually received. It is very rarely the same message that the game started with. Today, we're going to do a take on that. I'm going to get people to stand out into the hallway, and then I'm going to give one person who stays in here a message. That person will relay that message to the next person to come into the room, but they have to find some way to do it that isn't just blatantly speaking it to them. They can pick up a phone and give this person a phone call. They can write it on a piece of paper. They can attempt to pass it on in a single attempt at charades. If they have certain powers, they can just telepathically share what they think the message is. The sky is really the limit, here, just so long as you're not looking that person in the eye and saying, 'The message is...'"

He gestured with the coffee to the door.

"Once the message is passed along, the person who shared it will leave the room, send someone else in, and it'll be up to the person who entered the room before them to pass on the message, next. Let's see by the end of the class just how garbled your messages can get. And then if any of you did last week's 'get across the island' homework, feel free to tell me what you chose to do."

[Open!]

furnaceface

This week when students filed into the classroom, they'd see Jono practically propped up against his desk, clutching for all he was worth to a mug of coffee as a second man sat in his chair, casually sipping at a cup of tea.

Because tea, that's why.

"This week," Jonothon said, not bothering to pause to introduce his guest, "I won't keep any of you any longer than necessary, as a few of you might have limited-time-only company, and it'd be cruel of me to expect you to sit here for long while our guests are on a timer." He glanced over his shoulder at his great-grandfather, who didn't look a day over thirty. Which was weird, yes.

This island.

"This week we're set to cover transportation across the island in case of a crisis situation. That is, if something attacks and simply walking from one side of Fandom to the other is out of the question. Back when I was a student, at least, there were usually a few classmates who were capable of flying, or of teleporting with a few people along for the ride. Obviously, hitching a ride with them would be your safest method of transportation if you absolutely need to get from one place to another, but you can't always rely on the powers of the people around you to get you through."

He nodded at the group. "If walking is absolutely necessary, don't travel alone. Don't travel after dark, and if you must, try to stay to well-lit roads. If the island is being attacked, ambush is not only entirely possible, but around here, terribly likely." Jono took another moment to take a sip of coffee. "For some of you, there might be alternate means of getting around. If they keep you out of the line of fire, bloody well use them."

He cleared his throat, and then waved toward the door.

"No assignment today in-class, because I want to get going and I'm sure some of you do, but your homework for the week is to attempt to cross the island sometime between now and next class without walking through the streets alone. That's it. Fly, teleport, go for a walk with a friend - you might even be able to do that today. If you're good at parkour, do that. If you're comfortable navigating the sewer system under the streets... all power to you, please shower before you come back to class next week. Class dismissed. If you have a loved one here that you thought you'd never see again, go and spend some time with them today. Second chances are so few and far between."

Well. Not where he was from, but...

[Open!]

furnaceface

"This week," Jono announced, stepping into the classroom with a coffee in hand and something like a smile on his face, "we're going to talk about one of my favourite things to observe not only in a crisis situation, but any day of the week. This week, we're going to talk about a little thing called common sense."

He was, after all, of the opinion that most of the residents of the island were decidedly lacking in it. Particularly when a failure to observe it could wind up with somebody getting hurt.

"Common sense is what smart people use to not get their bloody arses killed day by day. It's that little voice that cautions you to wait the extra two seconds for the bus to pass, instead of running out in front of it to see if it can stop on a dime. The same voice might tell you not to throw rocks at a angry bear, or to drink water when you're thirsty, because dehydration isn't particularly good for you."

"In more Fandom-specific scenarios, common sense might be to, say, stay indoors when it's raining mousetraps, or to not wander off alone when people have started to vanish in the streets. It won't always save you - I was once plucked right out of my bloody bed by a tear in reality and thrown in a nightmare town called Silent Hill, for example - but it'll give you at least a bit of an advantage in the event of the island trying to kill us all. Again."

The 'again' was important.

"This week, we're going to pair you off and have you go over a list of hypothetical situations that you could all get out of in one piece if you just exercise that 'common sense' thing I've been discussing." He really liked the sound of that phrase, yes. "Pick a few items from the list, and discuss between yourselves what the smart thing to do would be. You can do it, students. I have faith in you all."

It was a strained sort of faith. He'd been living on the island for a while, after all. But it was there.

[Open!]

furnaceface

"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."

( Fun! )

[Open!]

furnaceface

How were they all up at such an ungodly hour? That looked more or less to be the expression that Jono was wearing as he dragged himself, sans crutches, into the classroom. There were, sometimes, benefits to having pushy healers as friends, yes. Added benefits were the ability to hold things in both hands, because he was carrying a coffee in one, and his lesson plan in the other, like any healthy two-thumbed primate should.

( Good Morning, Class. )

[Open!]

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