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@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.]

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Creepy, Fairly Lived In Mansion, Slightly Past Dawn, Wednesday Morning

Lili woke up not in her own bed, nor in her own bedchamber. Either of them; for all that it felt familiar, she knew very well that this wasn't her room in the manor where she was staying with Lady Ana, nor at the Fortress, where the rest of her family was staying. She was somewhere else entirely.

But again, somewhere familiar. It felt like a word dancing on the tip of her tongue; she could almost grasp it, but then it wriggled back out of her grip again.

...She did rather wish it were her room; it was far more luxurious than anything she'd ever seen in Vess.

It was right about then that she realized that she wasn't alone in the bed. "Serra's holy name!" she sputtered--which hadn't been the words she'd been thinking, but they were the ones that had come out anyway. "Hey! Who are--"

Wait. She knew this boy. Memories of trips to a weird island when she'd been a girl..."Ignis? Urzas's left eye, it's you!"

[For the young man so named, of course, but also very open!

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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.

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?”

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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!]

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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.

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@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.

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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!

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Atlas Gym; Tuesday [09/02].

As much as Gladio actually did kind of appreciate how nicely that flower crown complimented his long, flowing locks, he really was going to miss constantly tasting the delicious magical flavors of Cup Noodle^TM just by merely existing like he had yesterday. At least now he had a new goal in life: find some science-minded person to figure out how to make everything taste like Cup Noodle^TM at all times.

(Over on the other side of the park at Luke's Diner, Ignis Scientia felt a sudden chill down his spine and could not quite explain why).

For now, though, he at least had plenty of Cup Noodle^TM to keep him satisfied in between taking care of a few things around the gym and maybe squeezing in a little workout here and there, too. And looking fabulous while doing it.

Atlas is open!

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Luke's Diner; Tuesday [09/02].

Ahhh, well. Nothing quite solidified a definitive return to Fandom quite like being stuck with a hat that one could not remove from one's head. And it apparently switched, because when Ignis had tried to remove the hat, it was replaced with a flower crown, and when he tried to remove that, it reverted back to the hat, and...well, he certainly wasn't going to waste more time exploring if there should be an inevitable cessation of the series. After all, it wasn't as if he had to look at it...

But then there was an additional reminder that Fandom was very much being Fandom this week as he came into the diner with some news from the kitchen as he set to getting his coffee before settling in on deciding the days specials: everything was coming up pancakes.

Just pancakes.

Well, except for the coffee, thank goodness, but anything food related was just coming up pancakes, but as far as a restriction on what he could intentionally make went, he supposed that one wasn't too bad. He did, however, have a sneaking suspicion that this was somehow due to Summer's influence, though precisely how, he could not explain.

(Generally, though, it felt like a realistic assumption to make).

Today's Specials
Cheddar Bacon Pancakes
Loaded Blueberry Oat Pancakes
Chocolate Corruption

Luke's is open!

Entry tags:

@around the island

All Around the Island, Early Tuesday Morning

Had you enjoyed your new flavors? Well, they were gone now, as the island's attention flitted to something else. A kind of a... festive feeling? Something nice. Pretty - and/or ostentatious.

All across the island, people were going to wake up to a new day with equally new headwear. For some, it would be a flower crown in the style of a popular image-based social media platform in 2013. For others, it was going to be an incredibly fierce hat as worn by a legend to an inauguration in 2009.

Some, of course, were going to wake up with just the regular hair on their heads. But they were still going to be seeing other people in Aretha hats and flower crowns, so everyone was still going to get a bit of the fun.

And to keep it fun - in a very PG sense - the island was also putting a restriction on certain things coming out of people's mouths. Everyone brace yourselves for saying 'fudge' and 'fudging' or 'smurf' or 'whatchawoo' or literally any other word substitution someone might think of to replace a curse word with. And yes, it went for you too, the folks used to saying stuff like 'poodoo'. The island knew what the bad words were.

In the meantime, memories continued to play out all over town.

They probably got to keep their cursewords.

[ooc: No cursing for the rest of the week!]

Stark Tower, But Make It Smaller [Monday night]

Steve had given up trying not to taste apple pie and so he was just having other things that went with apple pie!

Or at least that was the excuse he was giving himself for why he was in the kitchen devouring a half-gallon of ice cream.

[OOC: for the husband!]

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flight and flying

Flight and Flying- Monday,

It was first period and everyone was directed to the Danger Shop this morning, which had been done up to look like the inside of a commercial airplane. Jaina was standing in the aisle, letting the students pick their seats in first class.

(Not the back and to the left in first class, because those were filled by Jaina's sons, because she felt like she had to keep an eye on them in case they kept daring each other to lick things just in case they had a taste too. Kids- especially boys- were weird.)

"Welcome to Flight and Flying," she greeted them. "My name is Jaina Solo Fel, you can stick with the first name. To give you some background, I come from where the spaceships live, I've been flying practically forever, spent half my life as a pilot in the military, and now I either fly my own starfighter or get carted around in big fancy ships by other people. In this class you're going to get to learn about different kinds of crafts and get to learn how to fly them, or at least as much as you can in one class period.

"We're going to do the standard introductions, and I just want your name, how much experience you have, and if there's anything you really want to study. And then once we're done with that, you can play around on the airplane, whether you want to watch part of a movie that'll get interrupted anytime someone gets on the PA system, or you can get in the cockpit since next week you're going to be flying one of these yourselves."

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Trooper Station, Monday, Sept 1, 2025

The phones were lighting up today, but the Troopers were far too distracted experimenting with finding out if they all tasted the same because they were clones to actually do any work.

Steve was rapidly losing patience with the complaints he was getting. "Stop licking other people," he finally snapped at the last phone call. "Of course she smacked you for it!"

He listened to the final question. "I'm not telling you what I taste like!"

It was going to be suuuuch a long day.

The Trooper Station was open!

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The Perk, Monday afternoon

After class, Jon had decided on a cup of tea, and had headed to the Perk for that and a bit of time sat at a table going over notes from class and deciding on what to cover.

So now he was sitting at a table and wondering if he ought to be covering more actually-existing creatures. Except that did run the risk of actual trauma, which he was trying to avoid...

But what if Bigfoot triggered some trauma in one of his students? You never knew!

In between gnawing on his pen and jotting down notes, Jon was also people-watching. A surprising number of people seemed to be licking their lips today. Odd.

Open post!

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@3rd floor common room

3rd Floor Common Room, Monday Afternoon

Well, Riri was still waiting on stuff from MIT. And hoping it wasn't getting shipped back to her mom's place in Chicago, but not wanting to actually check after everything. So, instead of that, she threw herself into the weirdness of this place.

Or just documenting it to confirm or deny things.

This was accomplished after she found a whiteboard stashed away in one of the storage closets. She'd dragged it into one of the common rooms to start writing on, but had banged her finger on a doorway along with way. This was the reason there was a very confused 'TASTES LIKE WHITE CASTLE?' on there next to 'JOURNALIST SQUIRRELS' after sucking on her mashed finger.

Precious newbie. And it hadn't even moved past whimsy yet!

[open!]

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cryptozoology

Cryptozoology, Monday period 2

Jon was doing his best to be extremely pressed and proper for the first day of classes, to match his extremely Oxford accent. Look, there were people he didn't recognize here, and he wanted to make a professional impression.

"Welcome," he said when everyone had arrived. "I am Jonathan Sims, your professor for Cryptozoology. Over my time living here in Fandom, I've come to realize that things which are pure fantasy in one world are likely to exist in another, and furthermore that the rules for things that do exist in different worlds - such as vampires, for example - may be vastly different from world to world. Therefore, this class is going to attempt to focus on things that have never been proven to exist in any world I'm aware of. If you do have proof of them, congratulations, you can present it to the class. Otherwise, we'll be hypothesizing about what might cause their stories, what is known about them, and if we think they do exist and why."

He shrugged. "This first class is easier, though, as we'll be focusing on things that - outside of philosophy class - definitely exist. Namely, ourselves. Introduce yourself. Name, where and or when you're from, and why you're in this class, please. I, as I said, am Jonathan Sims. I am from early twenty-first century Earth, specifically England and more specifically Bournemouth by way of London. I thought a class about imaginary things would be interesting and relatively safe." He nodded at the nearest student. "Next."

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Pizza Planet, Monday

When Raiden arrived at Pizza Planet on Monday morning, the only person there before him was mixing up the dough and he went straight back to his office, so he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary at first. He didn't even notice that he smelled like pizza, because everything smelled like pizza.

It was only when he emerged from his paperwork haze, and his office, to discuss the specials with the rest of the staff that he noticed.

"Huh," he said after a moment, and then sniffed his arm. Yep. He sure did smell like pizza. "I...have to go. Away. I have to go away." Before he took a bite out of somebody. Possibly himself. Maybe if he got off the island?

"But what about the specials?" Tito called after him as he headed for the door.

"Do whatever you want!" Raiden called over his shoulder as he texted Gray and Arden to please let him know when it was safe to come back. Hopefully before tomorrow. He had a party to throw.

Special
Pumpkin Spice Dessert Pizza

Pizza Planet is open! The Nephilim is not in.

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The Magpie Emporium, Monday [01/09]

Vi had meant to get the month off to a start by swapping over a bunch of the summer themed games for some of the fall themed ones, but she'd gotten distracted almost immediately when she'd absently chewed on her thumb while going over her choices.

That absent chewing had turned to a confused licking. First of her lips, then the thumb in question, then several bits of random skin.

"Why do I taste like pink?"