Reading

Library, Thursday 10/2

Had the library gremlins gone to the Spirit Halloween? Quite possibly. Or maybe Constantine had. Or someone else entirely.

Whatever the case, the library was starting to looking spooky. There were horror books and supernatural books on display, naturally. But there were also skeletons (not real ones, Belle was pretty sure). There were fake spiderwebs. There were pumpkins. There were little toy ghosts.

There was even a cardboard standee of the zombie band from Caritas. Who even knew such a thing existed?

Entry tags:

baking

Great British Bake Off (But American), Thursday, September October 2 [2nd period]

The 'tent' was once again ready for the bakers to come back around for more ridiculous baking challenges! But the theme this week was honestly perplexing both teachers.

"Welcome back everyone. Today, we're apparently making school treats?" Tony said with a confused little frown. "I'm not sure what that means."

"Didn't you ever eat school lunch?" Steve asked.

"Well, boarding school, but I've been told it's not the same as normal school," Tony replied with a shrug.

"School lunch was sometimes my biggest meal of the day back in the '30s," Steve said. "We ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches."

"I don't think I've had one of those," Tony admitted. "But instead we have granola bars to start out! Whatever flavor you want to make."

"We don't care if they are crunchy or chewy, but tell us which one they were supposed to be before we chew on it," Steve said. "And first, let's judge your cheesecakes."

Your stacked cheesecakes. Which was a terrible idea.

"And then for your technical... square pizza? Is that a school lunch thing?" Tony was so out if his depth.

"The internet said so," Steve said, nodding. "So helpful."

Entry tags:

Luke's, Thursday

Duke's staff didn't say anything when he came in. They didn't say anything as he surveyed the kitchen, nodded in approval, and then headed back to his office and the mountain of paperwork that had built up in his absence.

Nothing. No jokes, no well-wishes.

There was a bit of staring, though.

By around nnon, Duke had had enough. "Yes," he said. "I'm back. I was away for months, unceremoniously, again. It's okay. You all can talk about it."

"We thought you were dead," Ali said, shrugging.

"We built you a memorial shrine!" Benji added, pointing to a back corner of the kitchen. A strip of smoked salmon sat on a plate next to a glass of bourbon, in front of the old prom photo of Duke and Octavia wearing onesies.

". . . That's touching," Duke said. "But I'm not dead."

"Are you sure?" Benji asked earnestly. "Only. Since we put the shrine up, things have been going really well."

Duke turned and went back into his office.

Today's specials
Smoked salmon with eggs

Luke's was open.

[OH HEY look who remembered the game exists outside of like. Mondays through Wednesdays!]

Entry tags:

Taste of Thai, Thursday Evening

Lydia had selected Taste of Thai for this week's Supper Club based on a vague sense of 'We haven't been there in a while, have we?' but as she arrived for the evening she was wondering if perhaps she should have just taken everyone to one of the bars instead.

No, no. Surely they were all recovered enough from their guests to not need to drink about it. That was silly. Right? Probably.

Welcome to Supper Club, everyone! Taste of Thai is open!

The Devil's Nest, Thursday Evening

"Remind me to make you one of these at the end of my shift," Thor muttered to Don under his breath. "I think you will like it."

Why? Don joked. Has it got coffee in it?

"Hardly." Tiny was giving him a weird look, but that was fine. Most of Tiny's looks were weird.

Special
Cinnamon Apple Bourbon Smash

The Devil's Nest is open!

Entry tags:

foodie

Food Adventures, Thursday, First Period

"All right, folks!" Raiden said once his group had gathered at Portalocity, "We've got a busy afternoon ahead of us, so listen up. We're headed to beautiful Vermont, because, uh...it's fall, and if you can go to Vermont in the fall you should definitely do that. For the unfamiliar, Vermont is a state, part of the United States of America we're currently in, but up north of here, and they are in peak fall color right now, so be sure to bring your camera. Or...your phones," since that was what everyone used now.

"We've got a few stops planned. First, we'll be going to Bragg Farm to learn about how maple syrup is made and try some maple-based treats, before we head to the Cabot Cheese store to try some locally produced cheeses. After that, we'll be going to the Yates Family Orchard, where you can pick and sample twenty-eight different varieties of apple, so you're bound to find your favorite, plus try all sorts of goodies made with them, like fresh cider and fresh cider donuts." A pause as Raiden thought about those donuts. "And then, if we have time and you guys feel up for it, we'll swing by the King Arthur Baking Company bakery, cafe, and store." They might be tired out after the apple picking, but like...Raiden needed some specialty flour. "These locations are too far apart to walk to, and portaling would just be a waste of the views, so I've hired a van to take us around. So let's go meet our driver and get started!"

Entry tags:

cara

WTFH - Fandom Radio [Thurs, October 2nd]

*chittering*

You're a herbivore, you look ridiculous. Are you going to be in costume all month? Why am I even asking, of course you are.

Up at the School, Space Pirates, Pirate In Space had a movie day, while Health Education extolled the virtues of exercise.

The Dorms were back to being quiet, while in Town, Gray was on his phone at Over Easy, while Sabine was reading and silently judging at Wellsrping Arms. Henry rode his horse in the Park much to the amazement of Quinn.

Finally in the Woods, the Spirit Halloween in the burnt out Wal-Mart was back...are we going to have to fight capitalism again?

*chittering*

No, it's not about the relentless struggle of the proletariat, and since when do you care about that? It's about the fact you can't punch a concept in the face. It's not satisfying.

Entry tags:

The Photo Hut - Thursday

It had been nice catching up with Professor Broom and Hellboy over the weekend, even though Noctra had been somewhat disappointed that none of Hellboy's cats had made it over for visit as well.

Since it was near the start of a new month, Liz thought she'd spend a couple of hours downstairs during the morning, getting the spreadsheets set up and reports ready while she was working downstairs. She didn't think it would be too long before she started working from the apartment since it was getting a bit harder with walking a lot these days.

[The Photo Hut is open!]

Entry tags:

survive the zombie apocalypse

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, Thursday, Per 3

Class met at the Danger Shop, but rather than the standard classroom sim, they were standing on Loon Drive, right outside of the school walls, next to the junkyard. Waiting patiently were several rickshaws, bicycles, and other non-vehicular means of conveyance. Look, Liliana didn't want to walk around the island, she wouldn't blame her students for not wanting to, either.

"Congratulations, class," she said. "Most of you survived last week's onslaught, and several of you came up with creative means to do so, or used skills you were not used to. Today's assignment is a bit different. It's time for you to find a place to hole up. In most circumstances, you would be limited to whichever building you were either in or could get to when the zombies began attacking. Perhaps, by being very quiet or clever or lucky, you would be able to sneak somewhere else and better fortified. Today, however, you will have the chance to explore the entire island uninterrupted by zombies. Your task, then, is to find the best place to build a base in, the worst place to build a camp in, why you have decided on both of those options, and at least two safety concerns your potential base comes with and how you plan to mitigate them. You are free to explore on your own, or buddy up. There are, however, some caveats."

None of you had thought it was going to be that easy, right?

"There are a few changes to the usual places on the island. There are no sanctuary spells anywhere. Neither the dorms nor Caritas are magically protected, and neither is anywhere else, which includes the school, the school library, and the boarding house." Also anywhere else that there had been magic that she hadn't known about, because when she'd been putting things into the sim, she hadn't included magic for any of it. "Furthermore, special technologies have been disabled. Luke's no longer has a freezer large enough to require a tram service. The junkyard no longer has spaceships. The Danger Shop in the school, the Holoscene, and any other similar rooms no longer work. And, of course, neither my home or my shop exist on this version of the island. 'Go to the necromancer's house' is an excellent idea, assuming that said necromancer is not behind the invasion in the first place, but I am not in the mood for guests."

The Causeway was also disabled, but Liliana didn't mention that.

"Several important notes. The first is that there are zombies in the preserve and on the school grounds, so simply shutting the school gates and waiting for them to go away will not work. You're still welcome to potentially set up camp in any of the school locations, I just wanted to be clear that it wouldn't be so simple as that. Second is to pay attention to numbers. Some of you may find places suitable for just one person to hide. Some of you may want to take over the largest area you can find. Both extremes carry their own benefits and dangers, including the possibility that you might end up gaining or losing people, and that could seriously affect the safety and integrity of your chosen spots. Keep flexibility in mind, as well as your own basic needs, and, of course, safety from a threat that does not tire or give up."

She pointed to the park, where there was already a charming little picnic set up. "You all have forty-five minutes to explore. Please return to the park when you're ready to discuss what you've found."

And with that, she was heading towards the picnic to settle down and see what her class discovered.

Entry tags:

The Park, Wednesday Afternoon

If Henry had been restless after the weekend, then he assumed Pebbles would be doubly so. She'd been in the stables most days, after all, not getting much exercise.

(And perhaps Henry himself had been in need of a familiar face, or at least something familiar, after having one ripped from him so quickly.)

So on Wednesday he took her out of the stables, and rode her across the dorm lawn, down the pathway. Now, they were clopping about along the park. There was a little field of grass over there-- he was steering Pebbles there, so he could get off of her and she could enjoy the change of scenery for a bit.

"There we are, girl. Nice and steady..."

[[ open ]]

Entry tags:

$over easy,
gray

Over Easy, Wednesday

Gray might be rewatching the video of Galen pretending he wasn't excited by the porgs for at least the fiftieth time since Saturday. You couldn't prove it.

Okay, you could if you looked at his phone screen. But it might also be anime on there! You never knew.

Will It Waffle? Wednesday Special
Croffles

Over Easy is open!

Entry tags:

health

Health Education, Wednesday, Second Period

"This week I thought we'd talk about the importance of staying active and exercising," Don told his students. "Living a very sedentary lifestyle, where you don't move around or really do much, physically, is very bad for you. I encourage everyone to at least get out and take a walk every day, especially since with all the stairs on this island you get some bonus exercise built in." So many stairs. "But if you want, adding some extra exercise in might be a good idea. I have some information here on some basic exercises, and there are all sorts of demos and routines you can learn about online on places like Youtube. I won't be doing any demonstrations today because I have a bad leg and my form wouldn't be 'correct,' but that's also an important consideration. You can always modify exercises if they don't work for you because of physical limitations.

"Now, why is it important to exercise? Lots of reasons. In the short term, if the island is invaded by, I don't know, Doombots, you'll want to be strong enough to fight or have enough stamina to run away. In the long term, it improves your overall health and will help to prevent problems later in life. So again, I would recommend at least a walk every day, and maybe some squats or something if you feel like it. You can try out some of the exercises now, if you'd like, but I've never done a burpee, so I can't help with your form or whatever." Thor could, probably. But Thor wasn't here.

Entry tags:

@woods

The Spirit Halloween in a Burned Out Walmart in the Woods, Wednesday

It's the first of October, and you know what that means! That's right, it's spooky season! Which meant that in the middle of the night, one minute there was an undisturbed patch of woods. The next: a burned out Walmart with a Spirit Halloween banner hanging haphazardly across the front of the building.

So not that different from how normal Spirit Halloweens appeared, actually, except for how it also manifested the building.

Come one, come all, for all your spooky season needs! The Spirit Halloween inside the burned out Walmart is here for a one month limited engagement! On November first it'll be gone again, so get your reasonably priced mass-produced Halloween decorations and costumes while they last!

(The Spirit Halloween in the burned out Walmart will once again be visiting the island for the month of October, and is open to and moddable by all. It does not appear to have any staff and all the registers are self-checkout. Or shoplift! Who's gonna stop you? Down with capitalism! Maybe you conveniently find stuff you wouldn't normally find in a Spirit Halloween shoved to the back of a rack there! Who can say?)

Entry tags:

$gulch,
sabine wren

Wellspring Arms- Wednesday

The problem with having a quiet job was also the benefit of having a quiet job, meaning Sabine could just sit behind the counter and read since she had the place to herself. She'd gotten a list of the most banned books here and was making her way down the list, silently judging people who got mad over it. Because she was alone and it was harder to judge out loud without the squirrels looking at you funny.

[Open!]

Entry tags:

pirating

Space Pirates! (Pirates in Space!) [Wednesday, 1st Period]

The ship was not in evidence today, and neither was one of your teachers. The other one was also halfway out the door.

"Listen, I have to go talk to Isabela about some of her life choices," Aphra said in a tone that implied that she couldn't believe that either. She was not supposed to be the responsible one. "You got a movie!"

So now you had no pirate ship and no teachers.

Fandom Radio, Wednesday 10/1

Good morning, it’s Wednesday an-

*chittering*

All right. Wednesday and Officially Spooky Season, according to the squirrels. That explains the pumpkins with faces. And it might explain the skulls those don’t look real…

So, at the school. Reclaiming Your Childhood made jack-o-lanterns. Diplomacy watched something Anakin claimed was educational but was really just a television program. Educational in the same sort of way as his nonsense in the summer is team-building? Maybe. And my class on Dealing With Other People’s Trauma discussed the importance of patience.

Nothing from the porg about the dorms but I think he’s still pleased he had notes yesterday from Monday because he doesn’t look too sad.

In town, Harley was texting and getting what the squirrels have written as “EXTREME PUMPKIN SPICE” with several exclamation points and underlined. Maybe I should see if I can get that? Does it come with extra whipped cream?

And at Caritas Kitty and Tino were trying to make new drinks for the season. With maple. The squirrels apparently recommend the maple bourbon lemonade even though it doesn’t have any rum in it.

That’s all I have for today from yesterday. Enjoy your Wednesday. And spooky season. And pumpkin spice. And all the other things, I suppose.

~~[now in the right comm!]~~

Dealing With Other People's Trauma, Tuesday 9/30, 3rd period

“One of the most important things you can do, we can do, to help other people deal with traumas and old hurts…is simply being patient,” Stark said once everyone was there.

“But before we talk more of that I hope everyone is all right after the weekend? Sometimes these weekends are hard. Sometimes wonderful. I hope none of you had anything awful happen and no unwelcome visitors. If you did, and you need someone to talk to…I am here. I can be very good at listening.” He’d also provide snacks if that would be helpful. He liked feeding people.

“I had a friend visit. I don’t have family, not family by blood, but I do have friends and one of them has come this weekend for a few years now. It’s always good to see her.” No he would not be getting into any further details thank you very much.

“She’s been patient with me for a long time. Not always. And I need it more than many people do. Sometimes, at least. For a number of reasons.” Like his many many traumas and issues. Those reasons.

“There was a time when I…had to do something very difficult and I was forced into it and I retreated into myself for what felt like forever. I think it was only a few days. Maybe even less. But my friend, Chiana, was there at the time. She made sure I was still eating. Still getting water. Still alive in spite of my own utter lack of interest in making sure I stayed alive. And later, much later, years later when I wasn’t doing well here I went home and she was the one who listened and got me to talk and was patient with me until I did finally talk about what was bothering me. Sometimes people just need time before anything else can be done. She understands that. I try to make sure I understand that.” Stark’s smile was a little sad now. “Because I know how much it helps, having someone be patient with you.”

“So,” he continued after a brief pause, “let’s talk about patience. It can be difficult and sometimes you need to know when not to be patient but that’s much more complicated. Does anyone have examples of patience with others? Or someone being patient with you? Or being patient with yourself? ANy reasons why might need to be patient or you might need not to be? Any other thoughts on patience?”

Entry tags:

$perk,
harley quinn

The Perk; Tuesday Afternoon

Harley was pretty focused on her phone as she breezed into the Perk. Luckily, however, the baristas saw her coming and started dumping way too much pumpkin spice syrup into a cup before she even made it to the counter. Which was great! Because it didn't interfere with her texting Cass which in turn saved the staff from her attention!

The kid had ended up leaving the island on Saturday night, citing 'quirky quaint small town poisoning'. She had seemed kind of downcast, or something, before she'd gone so now Harley was checking in to make sure she hadn't actually contracted some kind of nasty small town bug her street tough insides weren't handling well.

Which Cass was assuring her wasn't the case, and also something about how Harley needed to not be so graphic about taking stabs at guessing her possible poisoning symptoms? Pfft.

Anyway, by the time Harley made it to a table by the window with her terrifying personalized version of a PSL, she had already moved on to splitting her attention between the texting and trying to figure out if she could get the calendar app to start giving her notifs about certain sets of holidays in the future. In a moment, she might also introduce people watching into the attention mix? And actually drinking her coffee?

Eventually!

(open!)

Reclaiming Your Childhood, Tuesday, Period 1 [9/30]

Today, class had been ~~handwavily~~ informed to meet in the school cafeteria, where they would find that Ghanima had sectioned off an area of tables, and piles and piles of pumpkins -- and other gourds -- which Ghanima had had delivered from Lyman Orchards just that morning. Carving supplies, candles, electronic tea lights, and paints were also piled upon the tables.

"We stand on the eve of October, when people start looking forward to Halloween," Ghanima said cheerfully, as Trebor ran around trying to sit on the largest pumpkins. "A jack-o'-lantern is a carved lantern, most commonly made from a pumpkin; or even a root vegetable such as a mangelwurzel, rutabaga or turnip.

( Jack o' the lantern! Joan the wad! Who tickled the maid and made her mad. Light me home, the weather's bad. )

Entry tags:

diplomacy

Diplomacy, Tuesday, September 30, 2025 [2nd period]

"Today we're watching another instructional video," Anakin said, "about diplomacy. Allegedly. It's even called ~~The Diplomat~~ The Pinstriped Cookie Pusher."

"We're even informed it's watched by people in the diplomatic services." Look, between the everything that made up Ahsoka's life, she'd managed to miss the concept of hatewatching.

Anakin nodded. "So we'll watch the first episode and then discuss the portions you think are probably not realistic for an actual diplomat," he said.

Hint: all of them.