Dorm Log

[raw_angel_power]

Who: All of Smash.
What: Dorm log! Summertime special.
Where: Student and Teacher dorms, and quite possibly beyond campus.
When: Approximately the latter half of July to the earliest of Augusts (25th - 15th)
Warnings: YOU KNOW YOURSELVES

We all know our characters experience downtime after classes and their busy schedules, and this is a good venue for those kinds of miscellaneous dorm-shenanigans to take place. Not only does it give your characters the easy chance to meet new people in a laid-back environment, but it's a good mechanism for strengthening CR. It's easy!

Feel free to begin in any way you please! Plan with (a) fellow player(s) if you'd like! Or, set up a thread and wait for characters to bite! Just add a thread with the room number (and date/time, if it matters) and the characters that reside there (just for reference!). You do not have to use one character's thread as a dual-purpose for both characters if you do not want to. Doesn't have to be a dorm room, either, if you have something else in mind.

And don't forget: things are getting pretty freaky! Shadow bugs are still rife around the school and city, causing all kinds of trouble, but most significantly capable of cloning people and even objects. For the remainder of July, the dimensional lines are a little blurred and causing alternate universe versions of characters to show up. But something ever curiouser has started to show up on campus... Bubbles?

Subspace bubbles? They look kinda like the ones dotting the sky... Dare ye enter?

If you do, you'll find that it... just ends up being a portal to another part of the school. Sometimes they may lead you into some part of town. Weird! Hopefully it doesn't lead you anywhere embarrassing, like in the middle of a stage play or in the bathroom of the opposite sex. That's mortifying.


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7/27: Shadow bugs go wild and clone a bunch of office supplies. Do shadow bugs get bored or something? Beware of that stapler you're about to pick up... It might be a shadow bug clone! They're animate office supplies all around the school. At least it's easy to tell the difference between the real things and the animate ones, because the clones are purple. Unless, of course, your supplies are all purple. Then you're in a bind...er.

Also, they cloned the Kraken fountain and now it's come to life. Hope you brought some slippers.

8/1: You know those hazy purple-black pockets of subspace that keep showing up across the sky? Today, a humongous one swallowed up the sun completely. For almost all of the daylight hours, there will be a full-on solar eclipse. Aww, were you working on that golden tan? Too bad, buddy. You're gonna have to wait until tomorrow.

8/5: A herd of Towtow show up at the school overnight and stop to rest. They'll be there, napping all day with that peaceful look adorned on their faces. How cute! But you wouldn't want to see them angry... Maybe that's why you should be careful not to wake them up.

For reference, here are the rooming arrangements.

Comments

[jonny_talbain]

"Yeah. A few of the faculty have come to me for some training after I offered it on the network." he replied, continuing to move backwards. "We've academic sorts here who need a refresher, despite having at one time been accomplished fighters."

The next lap, he intended to push her a little, so his own footwork sped up and he was moving backwards a little more quickly.

"Even in times of peace, it pays to know this stuff. It sounds cliché, of course, but the best reason to learn any martial art is so that you never have to use it."

[for_truth]

That was great! She would have suggested it if he wasn't doing it already, but he was (and many others were) thankfully way ahead of her. "That's goo-OOD...!" Hilda half-shouted as Jon unexpectedly picked up the pace. She was trying her best to keep up, but the surprise gave her a stumble or three.

"Uh, it's..." Wow, yeah, okay, it was getting difficult to do this and talk at the same time. "Like a 'just in case' thing?"

[jonny_talbain]

"You can move your feet a little more quickly, I'm sure!" he taunted, just lightly. "One more lap at this speed, then we'll take a water break."

Jon seemed to have no problem chatting and working at the same time. But that was years worth of discipline at work. He certainly didn't begrudge her stumbling or remaining quiet. They'd only been doing this for a few minutes, after all.

"With the martial arts comes confidence and an ability to assess opponents before engaging them. Once you're done learning some basic attacks, we'll focus on defense and deflection, which are arguably more important than outright offensive moves."

[for_truth]

"Yikes..." Hilda made a determined frown as she tried her best to speed up, but success was far away. She thought it would be easier to move and talk at the same time, but the longer she did laps around the stadium the more difficult it got.

Wasn't the best defense a good offense? Or was that the other way around... Either way, the 'defense' part of 'self-defense' was what she was working towards and if she tried to confuse herself any more she'd fall behind. "'Kay."

[jonny_talbain]

....aaaaaand that was the end of the lap.

"Alright. Take a breather and I'll fetch us a bottle of water each, alright?" Jon offered, giving her a rare smile. "You're doing fine. We'll work on some kicks next, being as your legs are all limbered up from the walking."

[for_truth]

"Sure thing, man," She replied, a little winded. That was way more difficult than she thought it was going to be, but, uh, maybe kicking would be easier?

She bent over and put her hands on her knees, "Shoot, that's hard. Do I have to do this sorta stuff, like, every day?"

[jonny_talbain]

Jon handed her a cold bottle of water and smirked.

"Not this sort of stuff, no. Sometimes, you'll be without a partner. I do encourage you to make use of the sandbags in the Gym, and to spar wherever you can with folk who are your rough ability level."

He unscrewed his bottle and took a long drink.

"It gets easier over time. You'll probably be sore tomorrow morning. That just means your muscles are protesting and getting stronger in the process."

[for_truth]

"Thanks," Hilda replied before she took the bottle and opened it. While Jon was talking, she took a few big gulps from it and nodded to show she was still listening, even if it was sort of tempting to ignore him in favor of chugging an entire bottle of water.

She replaced the cap, "All right, cool, so practice every day..." After she trailed off she paused for a second -- yeah. Yeah, she would definitely not feel great tomorrow. "Hey, 'no pain, no gain,' right?"

[jonny_talbain]

"Exactly." he replied, bolstered by the fact that she Got It. No pain no gain was exactly right.

"Let me know when you're ready to start kicking." he said before draining his bottle in a few long gulps. "Or if you need more water. Hydration is important."

No good training if you were just going to faint from dehydration, Hilda.

[for_truth]

"You got it," She said with a smile, "I think I'mma be good to go in a minute or two."

Hilda took her sweet time finishing her water bottle (well, in comparison to how quickly she was drinking before) and tossed it into a garbage can. After a short pause to tie her shoes to make sure they weren't going to fly off, she did a couple of stretches and said, "All right, I'm ready."

[jonny_talbain]

Jon started with some stretches - no need to have her pull a ham string or something.

"Right, try and kick me in the thigh. Ah, outer thigh, just so we're clear."

He didn't THINK she was the kind of person to go for a cheap shot, but heck, misunderstandings were a possibility. He showed her the technique she was to use - a very simple side kick.

"Begin."

[for_truth]

She watched Jon's demonstration intently, but implementing it was a different story. Hilda's first kick was nice and slow, just so she could get the motions down. Her foot landed where it was supposed to, but instead of actually kicking him she just tapped his leg.

She straightened out, "Uh... Are you sure you want me to kick you? Like, for real?" The whole 'one wrong move and that man will never have children' thing was maybe making her a little bit nervous.

[jonny_talbain]

"Good form. Try and get your foot a little higher, but your balance is good and you've got the positioning of your arms down, too. When you speed up, you may find that balance harder to maintain, so be mindful of that. Your core muscles are going to be doing a lot of work."

As for her comment, he smirked. "Well, there's the catch. You're going to try and kick me in the outer thigh, but that doesn't mean I'll stay still for you to do so. Again, most of the folk or monsters you're ever going to fight are not going to stand still for you."

[for_truth]

"R-right," Hilda replied and tried to rationalize this course of action. If she accidentally kicked him in the privates he'd understand, right? Just, you know, try to keep that from happening... He was crazy fast he could probably get out of the way. Right...?

She tried again at the right speed, working hard to stay balanced.

[jonny_talbain]

Jon's hands met behind his back, but his feet were entirely fluid. He dodged her kick using a series of pivots on the balls of his feet. Her kick didn't connect, but swung close enough to tap the loose fabric of his pants.

"Much better. Let's try sets of ten. Switch feet between kicks and try to follow me. Go!"

[for_truth]

Hilda said "Whoa" when she felt her kick just miss his leg. Jon's experience was still showing and it was very impressive to her. Just keep at it, Hilda, someday you will be half as cool.

She made sure she wasn't too far away when she started, and she tried to keep up with all the advice he was giving her while she counted the sets in her head. FYI, this was way harder than it looked in the movies.

[jonny_talbain]

"....and that was ten." Jon said. He stopped moving and watched to see how tired she was.

"Don't worry that you're unable to hit me - I've been doing this for years. I can also teach you those steps later, if you'd like. They allow you to dodge attacks with a minimum of effort and with a lot more precision than simply jumping out of the way."

[for_truth]

"That'd be a radical trick to learn sometime," She replied with a winded huff. She wasn't doubled over wheezing yet, but all this was one heck of a workout.

"How long'd it take you to get so good at this stuff?" Hilda asked, "I've just been wondering. Like, were you always doin' martial arts or did you pick it up later?"

[jonny_talbain]

"I started in my early teens." Jon replied. "I was taught by a Kung Fu Master who wanted to help me focus my energy. He believed it would help me deal with my curse. And he was right."

Oh. Oh, actually...

"Ah. Lycanthropy is my curse. I'm a Werewolf. I forget if you were aware of that."

[for_truth]

"Oh," Hilda began, like she hadn't exactly paid attention to what Jon just said. Yeah, all right, early teens and late teens weren't too far apart! So maybe she could... Wait, hold on, what was that about werewolves?

"Seriously? Like, the kind that turn into wolves in the movies? Or, uh, something different..." She trailed off and paused. "Cool or not, I guess it's a kinda rough deal. Uh, a curse, and all."

[jonny_talbain]

"Aye. I change into a wolf at the full moon. I can also change any time I like, really, but during the full moon I've no choice in the matter."

He shrugged and stretched his shoulders a little.

"It was Kung Fu that taught me to control that transformation. Keep my temper under wraps and it helped me find some measure of inner peace. Gave me something to fight the enemy within, if that makes any sense. It's less a hobby for me than it is something I owe my quality of life to. Without it, like as not, I'd probably be dead or worse."