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@around the island

Around the Island; Thursday [06/19].

That Thursday, barring any issues, invitations would be arriving in mailboxes, on doorsteps, slipped under doors, or by whatever preferred means of mail delivery had been established. Envelopes in deep, rich purple, of a hefty, durable stock, and trimmed with gold filigree, a promise of the quality of the card inside. Pale but not quite white, a faint lilac, to help make the crisp words meticulously printed on it stand out all the more, the texture of it having an almost velvety feel. Adding to the tactile considerations for the invitation were the raised embossed gold trim and details, and, of course, below the lettering, raised bumps underneath, a Braille companion to the written words:

You are cordially invited to the celebration of the engagement of
Liliana Vess
&
Ignis Scientia

which will entail an afternoon garden luncheon
followed by an evening of music and ballroom dancing
here at their esteemed estate on Fandom Island

2 pm for Garden Reception
7 pm for Dancing and Beyond

Please contact either of the recently betrothed should you have any questions.

May the invitations find you well, and may your schedules be open for such festivities.

[[ mostly establishly, but responses or reactions always welcome ]]

Atlas Gym, Thursday Afternoon

You know, the amount of perks Fandom held were limited, but 'enough facilities to exercise like a Jedi' was definitely one of them. After spending about half an hour flinging himself around and up against the walls of the gym and doing stupid acrobatics like some Force sensitive moron with creaky knees, Jack finally broke out the lightsabers for the final part of his routine.

"Really should've called Lana about a spar," he muttered, retreating into the empty sparring space. Both of his yellow lightsabers snap-hissed to life in his hands. He fell into an opening stance - Soresu, just to work his way back up into his usual Juyo - imagined a particularly annoying adversary, and began to move.

Sure, he was never going to be as sharp as he'd been when he was out in the field. And sure, in New York, none of this was particularly useful. But he was a paranoid guy, and this was an easy way to keep the worst at bay.

[[ open ]]

Entry tags:

ethics

Ethical Dilemmas, Thursday, (Per 1)

Once again, breakfast was laid out amongst tables and people were free to find their own seats and make themselves comfortable for what would be another casual, relaxing day in Ethics class.

( Tigger warning for guns and violence, details in the OOC note )

"So," Liliana asked, as she did every week. "What will you do? What is the most ethical way forward? Do you lend your assistance to create a weapon that can and will make death even easier, even faster, even cheaper? Or do you refuse, and prolong their suffering under corruption and tyranny?"

[This post describes abuses of people at the hands of a privileged elite, as well as guns and the potential repercussions of introducing them to your standard, pre-industrial fantasy population. The post does mention the possibility of giving guns to children, but not in any way that evokes modern gun violence (especially in schools), but to highlight the drawbacks of both sides of the ethical decision. The underlying premise of this post taken from Vox Machina S03E07, showing Anna Ripley's tragic backstory and her subsequent offer to Percy is what gave me the idea for Liliana teaching this class in the first place.]

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The Photo Hut - Thursdaysday

Liz was feeling a lot better this week, so she was hoping to get a bit more done when she got downstairs for the day.

It turned out that there were a few new boxes of stock that needed to be put away, so Liz was focusing on that and changing out some of the displays before she settled down to do some more admin and get as much work done for the end of month reports as she could.

[the Photo Hut is open!]

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Fandom Island Museum, Thursday Daytime

Steven once again had his rainbow flag pin on. The Museum's Pride exhibits had been taken care of, so he was now at the Welcome Desk working on a new idea he'd had: Coloring pages of things found in the Museum for little ones to use when they visited.

Of course he couldn't draw so currently he was researching how one got coloring pages when one was not an artist. Which in and of itself was an interesting deep dive.

In the meanwhile he was available for anyone who had any questions or wanted a tour or a chat.

[open]

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Pick Your Poison, Wednesday

Adrian cautiously glanced into the window of Pick Your Poison today, but saw no sign of Christmas trappings. Or the trappings for any other holiday, either.

Which didn't technically mean he was in the clear for any island-based shenanigans today, but it did hopefully mean that whatever it was would be small and subtle.

Things stayed normal even as he went inside, did his rounds of the stock, and set up behind the cash register. Slowly but surely, he felt himself relaxing.

Which was, of course, when anything that had even an approximation of a face began singing "It's A Small World."

On repeat.

Sigh.

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Infinite Consortium, Wednesday

Quinn was turning out to . . . not be the most reliable employee ever. She wasn't sure anyone on the island would care, though.

And honestly, she mostly remembered to show up today because she wanted to see if that dog toy she'd managed to grab at the Shenanigans was cursed or not.

It sounded cursed. It squeaked! And blurbled! And . . . made other noises that she kind of associated with clown-adjacent behaviors!

(It wasn't cursed. Not magically anyway. Quinn was still probably going to try to burn it.)

[open! We got one of those things for my sister's dog and he barked at it and ran away.]

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library

Fandom Library, Wednesday, June 18th

There was a small, personalized rainstorm over Arden's head. It had appeared the minute she'd stepped into the library and she'd be freaking out about her powers if several of the gremlins hadn't also had miniature weather patterns over their heads. One, who was grinning, seemed to be in a perpetual sunbeam. Another two had rain like she did. A fourth was glaring and dark clouds roiled ominously above its head, with occasional flashes of heat lightning.

She was just going to sit here and pretend like she had no idea what weather went with what moods, and definitely like she didn't notice that it rained harder whenever she thought of her depressing showing in class yesterday.

At least the rain disappeared before it hit anything that wasn't her. Like the books.

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Caritas; Wednesday [0618].

Tomorrow was Summer's birthday, but did you see Caritas all obnoxiously decked out with birthday paraphernalia and decorations? No. No you didn't. Because she was almost twenty-five, and clearly much more mature than that to make everything about her own birthday, Tino.

But she did make her Featured Cocktail about her birthday, thank you very much. Because that was a true marker of her growth and development as a well-rounded individual and adult: embracing the art of subtlety.

(Sometimes).

Featured Cocktail
Birthday Cake Martini

Featured Jello
Strawberry Champagne
Irish Breakfast
Pink Lemonade
Fried Pickle

Caritas is open!

Summer Shenanigans [Wednesday mid-morning]

When the poor schmucks Fandom arrived in the park on Wednesday, they would see four wooden rafts, big enough to each hold four people (or Muppets), bobbing on the pond. In the center of each raft was a metal bucket full of objects. Some were balloon-shaped, some were ball-shaped, others were clearly shoes. One looked suspiciously like Intern Porg.

(Do not throw Intern Porg.)

"We're doing a balloon-ish toss!" Anakin announced. "Pick an object, toss it to your teammate on the next raft over. Do not miss or break the object! Fastest team to get all the way around the circuit wins."

He grinned. "Powers may be used today, and there are plenty of objects in the buckets. No one says you have to only toss things at your own teammates."

Sometimes Anakin just liked to watch the world burn.

"Listen for your names!"

TEAM COWBOY RACCOONS
Gray
Steve R
Eleanor
Vi

TEAM FROGS
Thor
Beaker
Flint
Belle

TEAM COW-TOPUS
Henry
Stark
Steve M
Luma

TEAM SAXY CROCS
Stewart
Mariner
Quinn
Steph

Fandom Radio, Wednesday 6/18

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, again and I’m here, again.

We’ll start with the school, again. We went looking for birds during Finding New Hobbies. Thor took his Norse Life class…boar hunting. All right. The Wonderful World of Art made jewelry. Hmm. That could be a hobby, couldn’t it? And Summer won at Paintball!

I have nothing from the dorms but a few notes from the town. Ignis was at Luke’s with his own specials this week, not generic ‘fancy’ ones. Liliana visited, as always, and complained of being cold after hunting boar with Thor.

Gladio had a new flavor of Cup Noodle™ in his machine at the gym. I didn’t know it came in pickle flavor. Probably better than the pickle tiramisu from Raiden…but the pickle pizza is good. Right. Nell stopped in, as she usually does.

And at Pixie Dust, Boc was enjoying all of the parasols. Those are…
*chittering*
Oh, the pretty fancy umbrellas.

That seems to be all for today from yesterday. Good luck avoiding Anakin.

Fandom Radio, Tuesday, June 17th

Hey there island! It's me, ya girl, Arden Finch, wishing you all a bright and cheerful Tuesday morning. It's June, it's Pride, we're more than halfway through the first summer semester, and Juneteenth is in two more days, let's go!

Starting at the School because I'm not sure what will happen if I deviate from the chosen template, possibly a squirrel riot, Creative Problem Solving had to...shove a banana in a bottle, according to this note, and from the way the squirrels are snickering, I have no idea how accurate that summary is. The Art of Conversation acknowledged that nobody liked small talk, and wanted to know what people did like to talk about instead. At least, the people in the class, anyway. And National Park Adventure Team got to visit Ras Muhammad National Park in Egypt, where snorkeling and scuba diving were on the agenda. It was dope, actually.

The expected number of notes in Dorms, so onto Town. Professor Vess was looking at some word that is heavily scribbled out here at the Infinite Consortium, and Professor Smith brought her cat into Turtle & Canary, much to the canary's dismay. Wait, is there an actual canary in there? And a turtle? Damn. The more you know, I guess. At the Photo Hut, Professor Argentum did some tidying and reshelving before settling in to work on photos, which, y'know, tracks with where he is. Magpie Emporium had Vi digging through the inventory for her homework, and Professor James Stark was in the Clinic being taunted by the crab. Um. I'm sorry? And, finally, over at the Trooper Station, Officer McGarrett was looking around the office "very sus." That is, of course, a direct quotation from my notes.

But that's also it for my notes, so this is ya girl, Arden Finch, signing off. Gotta go kick Cal's butt in Paintball today. It's my day, I can feel it! Have a good day yourselves, folks, and enjoy Honey by Kehlani. Bye, island!

Finding New Hobbies, Tuesday 6/17, Period 1

Class was meeting in the preserve. Hopefully everyone had gotten the handwavey notification of this change of locale.

Stark was standing with a bag at his feet. “I wanted to be outside today,” he said by way of explanation. “So we’re going to try something new. Well, we always do. That’s the point of all of this, trying new things. But today something new to me and maybe to all of you.”

Maybe. He didn’t know what all of you did in your free time. He pointed to the bag at his feet.

“I have binoculars for everyone. Not for me. I don’t need them.” They’d be half useless, after all. He had a small spyglass instead. “And notebooks, and some little books on birds. We’re going to try birdwatching. Or birding. Which is really what it sounds like, just watching for birds. There are plenty of them on the island.” Probably some yet to be discovered species even.

“If you see an Alot of Birds that doesn’t really count as a bird but it’s still notable. But we do have ducks, of course, and the porgs, and flamingos, and all sorts of other birds. So…go out and look for birds. Try not to disturb them, or any other wildlife.”

“So, come get your supplies. And at the end you can report back about what you’ve seen. We all can.”

Norse Life, Tuesday, Period 2

Upon entering the Danger Shop today the students would find themselves in a pine forest in the middle of winter. Had Thor told them to dress accordingly? He was sure that he had! (Blake was...less sure.) At any rate, they should enjoy the chill before returning to the heat of summer.

Thor sipped his vanilla latte and told the students, "Today we shall be hunting boar! Hunting is good fun, a grand time out in nature with one's friends, plus a necessary task to put meat on the table, especially in winter when stores run low. And the boar is a noble adversary: strong, wily, dangerous...and delicious." He did so love a bit of roast boar. "I have divided you into two teams, and provided everything you will need to hunt the beast, spears and shields and such." He gestured toward the racks with said provisions. Don might have prevailed upon him to include a few fur-lined cloaks and hats, just in case. "The first group to dispatch the beast wins!" He sighed wistfully. "If only it were real and we could feast upon it after, but apparently that's 'too dangerous.'" The sight of Thor doing air quotes might stick with some of the students. "Ah, well. To arms!"

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The Wonderful World of Art [Tuesday, 3rd Period]

Various crafting stations wear set up around the classroom today, filled with various kinds of beads, cords, wires, and various other bits and bobs.

"Today we're looking at a kind of art very close to my heart," Isabela said. "Literally. It's jewellery. Which is very important to Rivaini in general and Rivaini pirates in particular. We like to wear our wealth." That Isabela's taste in jewellery happened to draw the eye to her other assets was an extremely welcome side-benefit.

"Of course, our budget doesn't really go towards actual precious metals," Aphra added, mostly because they had spent it on...other things. "But we've got a heap of tutorials and we're sure you'll find something that speaks to you, maybe you'll find you have a gift."

Paintball, Tuesday (6/17)

"Hello and welcome back," Steve said with a bright smile. "Since the traps and the paint buckets were fun to put up, we're using those again, but today we aren't allowing any powers. And we're not giving you guns, either. They've been hidden around the course."

"It's a Rambo sort of day," Tony added. "I'm sure everyone will do great."

Or maybe just Cal again.

Stop bribing the RNG, Cal.

"And remember, this is just for fun. There's not need to go full zombie apocalypse about this." McGarrett.

Entry tags:

$demon marcus,
boc

Pixie Dust; Tuesday [06/17].

When it came to the stuff in the store, Boc mostly concerned himself with the clothing itself, as that was what he was familiar with and most comfortable around, but sometimes, he couldn't help being a little intrigued by some of the accessories they got in as well. Today, specifically, he was feeling particularly delighted and amused by a wide variety of parasols they'd gotten in, clearly meant to not only shade one from the harsh summer sun but also match their outfits.

So he was having a good time thinking of clever ways to display these pretty new accessories, while also setting aside a few to sort of play around with, to see how he could think of ways to add ribbons or bows or other little details to make them even more unique, and he was half-wondering if he should claim one for himself.

If he got one big enough, perhaps he could even use it to hide under in case of sudden unfortunate social interactions.

Pixie Dust is open!

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Atlas Gym; Tuesday [06/17].

Gladiolus Amicitia was a simple man. If there was a new Cup Noodle^TM flavor to try out, then he was definitely going to be having a pretty good day. That was also one of the great things about Cup Noodle^TM, really! Not only did they consistently provide flavorful and classic staples with their usual line, but they were always thinking of new and interesting things to try and please every palate out there! Cup Noodle^TM truly was for everyone!

That said, it put him in a pretty good mood to come in that day to find new Cup Noodle^TM to put into the lobby claw machine and then try to snag a few for himself. And he was pretty curious about this one, too, already wondering what Iggy might do to it to elevated it to the next level.

"Like a little hamburger slider on a stick garnish," he realized, thinking aloud in a murmur to himself, with his eyes lighting up at the prospect and focusing his efforts even more to get some.

Sure, sure, as always, he could just grab them without playing the claw machine game, but he liked the challenge of it, always. Cup Noodle^TM was delicious all on its own, but when you add the thrill of victory and accomplishment? You couldn't ask for a better Ultimate Flavor Experience!

Atlas is open!

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Luke's Diner; Tuesday [06/17].

Despite last week's realization about the predictability of his specials board, Ignis decided that there was really no point in reinventing the wheel, as it were, especially when it was functioning perfectly well and was clearly the best route. Besides, his attention was elsewhere that day, using his downtime to follow through with a few calls and messages related to the party next week, with a high priority in working on getting invitations made and finding a good supplier that could do them with Braille included.

Sure, the one person who would be relying on it was the one person who didn't need to read the invitations, so to speak, but it was a very important element to his...well, for lack of a better term, vision...for how the invitations would be.

Today's Specials
Turkey Tzatziki Burgers
Crispy Tofu Salad with Sweet Mustard Dressing
Lemon Raspberry Scones

Luke's is open!

Entry tags:

summer shenanigans

Shenanigans Sign Ups!

For Wednesday!

Liliana Vess&Ignis Scientia

Liliana Vess
&
Ignis Scientia