“Today we shall be going to Montana, students!” Sam announced. “To Glacier National Park which is not to be confused with Glacier Bay National Park which is in Alaska! We shall not be visiting Alaska today!”

“The park in Alaska contains far more glaciers though the one in Montana though that one is over one million acres in area! Huge! Enormous! Awe-inspiring. And, I might add, home to impressive wildlife including bald eagles!” Always important, after all.

“While we are there do not get lost in the wilderness! I will not be sending out a search party and the rangers have other things to do with their time!”

You could try keeping the group together and supervising them, Sam…

“I recommend the hiking trails for some of you. The visitor centers for others. Or you can simply enjoy the majesty of the American Wilderness!”

And with that extremely useful introduction to an impressive park, Sam was standing at the waiting portal, gesturing with a wing, and impatiently tapping a giant felt foot.

Hey there Fandom! What up, it's ya girl Arden Finch here, remindin' you to get your last summer kicks in, with fall barreling down the road at us.


School did its thing yesterday, with Teamwork working as partners to build things while ziptied together. 2 Problem 2 Creative did things to fruit and I'm asking for exactly zero details. And then How To Waste Time On The Internet delved into Reddit and that...sure what a choice. Eeesh.

Dorms was quiet, as per usual, but Town had a bit of activity. Infinite Consortium saw Professor Vess getting judgy about a sword, at least until Doc Harley came in and got some kind of...invisibility cloak? Magpie Emporium was opened late but in a great mood, which couldn't be said for the Clinic because they were having unexpected roof repairs. Pizza Planet featured a lot of summer produce, which sounds delicious, and Devil's Nest featured a lot of air conditioning, which Ms. Solo-Fel thought was a little excessive, but she was mostly happy to not be a cat anymore.

And that's it for me this week! This is ya girl, Arden Finch, signing off for the day. Have fun, hit the beach, and mostly enjoy OUTLAW by Neoni! Bye, island!

Out of all of their brothers, Raiden and Gray were the most reluctant warriors, so one might have thought that they would have slacked off on their training when left unsupervised on the opposite coast from the others. One would have been wrong. Gray and Raiden might not like their job, but they took it, and the deal with the archangels that necessitated it, very seriously. Their brothers' lives were on the line as well as their own, after all, to say nothing of the humans who needed protection from demons up to no good.

So, on this particular afternoon, one could follow the clang of steel on steel down to the beach and find a couple of Nephilim engaged in sword practice--shirtless, so they could have their wings out (you were welcome) for greater maneuverability.

"That was good," Raiden said as he hauled Gray out of the sand. "One more time."

Gray and Sloth both wanted desperately to suggest they just take a break now, but Gray shoved Sloth down, shook the sand out of his wings and hair, and agreed, "One more time." And then probably a few more after that.

(Open beach is open!)

Kitty was here with a raging headache and the aspirin hasn't kicked in yet. And unfortunately any hope of an easy night was thwarted by Tino working as loudly as possible while apparently trying to work quietly, and the zombies seemed to be experimenting in a hair metal phase.

Maybe she'd go home early. Before the zombies started head banging because she couldn't deal with anything that came from that.

[Method! Open!]

There were...there were a lot of trees in the paintball area today. Where did they come from? Where would they go? Shhhh, these were not important questions. There even a few little towers scattered around the area where someone might get a good view around them! Because the teachers (Tony) was so very extra in making things happen.

"So, today we'll be working on a longer range engagement for you all," Tony said, setting out the modified paintball guns that soooorta looked like sniper rifles.

Steve was going to overlook any squeals of excitement. McGarrett. "Think of it as a giant 'floor is lava' game," Steve said. "You have to pick each other off from the high ground."

"No flying, anyone." That was just harsh, Tony.

Steve clapped his hands together. "Okay, let's go!"

Class was back on the actual beach again, where Isabela was looking particularly cheerful.

"The thing about the beach is that you can do almost anything there," she started, only for a hillock of sand to appear and some kind of...was it a ground hog? Or maybe a wombat? Some kind of large burrowing animal to emerge and hand her a sealed pamphlet before vanishing back under the earth.

Aphra leaned over to read the title of the pamphlet. "'Things you cannot not do while having fun on Fandom's beaches'," she read. "According to who?"

Isabela shrugged and broke the seal, the pamphlet immediately unfolding into many more pages than should even have fitted in there in the first place. After several long minutes of perusing the list and exchanging pointed commentary with each other, they finally paid attention tot he class again.

"Apparently the only thing you can do to have fun at the beach is to stand ten foot away and look respectfully at it from a distance," Isabela said finally.

Aphra pointed to a spot on one of the pages. "After you've gotten the beach's informed consent, in writing to look at it."

Isabela nodded very seriously, then shoved the pamphlet down the front of her shirt. "Good thing pirates aren't overly fond of rules. So just have fun on the beach your way."

And another week of Harley flitting in and out of her life, answering precious little in the way of questions...

To make things more irritating, the sting under her ribs was being a lot louder after the incident with Undine's building. At a guess, Pam figured it was probably leftover toxins taking little stabs at her whenever they got an opportunity.

So she did the sensible thing: she ignored it, and went back to work. Though before retreating to the lab upstairs, she'd be down for a while, watering all the plants, checking over the inventory, and flipping the sign to 'Open'.

[[ open ]]

The Danger Shop? Made up to look like a warehouse stocked with materials. Jaina? Still a cat. (It's okay, she'd be changing back immediately after class ended and it would be very awkward until Jay brought her clothes.) Jag? Holding zip ties.

"Today you're going to be given some freedom, and losing some," he began. "You and a partner have free rein of this warehouse. It has all sorts of parts and mechanical equipment with which you will build something. It can be anything, as easy or complicated as you want, as long as there are at least three parts attached to each other. You'll have to locate the equipment you choose to use and put it together as a team. You will also choose as a team whether you'd rather complete the task with either one leg or one arm tied to each other. Choose your partner wisely."

Eric had been around for a thousand years and chose to live in Louisiana on purpose. It didn't mean he loved the grossest, swampiest days of August.

Anyway, that was his excuse for why it was frigid in the Devil's Nest tonight. (Of all the modern marvels, Eric loved air conditioning the most.)

The Devil's Nest was open and Tiny wouldn't blame you if you ordered a warm drink tonight.

Jon waited for everyone to show up, then held up his phone. "Reddit," he said, a little reluctantly. "It's a site that's a collection of sites, really. Each subreddit concerns a specific topic. A hobby, or show, or question." He looked pained. "Honestly, some of them are fine, but some are...not. It pays to be careful. When you find one, check out the rules and the recent posts and read a bit before you join it.

"That said, let's go there, do a bit of searching, find a place that looks like fun, and share a post."

The emphasis on summer produce would continue until summer ended.

Yes, Raiden knew broccoli wasn't a summer crop. He had lived most of his life before broccoli became available year round in the grocery store. But it was in the walk-in, so it was getting used.

Specials
Grilled White Pizza with Ricotta, Corn, & Broccoli
Pesto, Peach, & Prosciutto Pizza
Pizza with Zucchini, Feta, Lemon, & Garlic

You know what else wasn't a summer crop? Lemons. You modern folk had no idea how good you had it.

Pizza Planet is open!

I am living in a Meme State of Mind this month, so you get another one this week that we haven't done since last year. Woo!

Tag your character into a comment. Other characters will then ICly respond with things they admire about your character. Yes, even if the pair of characters are generally antagonistic towards each other, here is the chance to reveal whether there's something positive hidden in there somewhere! (For an example, Jackson might tell Jim he admires his tenacity.) So, character-to-character basis, and positive things. Kind of like an IC anon love meme, yes. Except without the anon part. Now get to it!

The clinic was noisy today. Very noisy.

"Good thing we haven't got any patients. This is hardly restful," Stark muttered as he set down the usual coffees when he arrived.

"Roofers," a nurse said.

"I saw people on the roof," Stark said. "But why?"

"Who knows? Maybe Stabby called them."

It was possible. Stabby was a shifty sort of crab. He might be trying to cause chaos just for the fun of it. He, somehow, had oversized noise-canceling headphones on his carapace.

The clinic was open, the crab had arranged for the day to be full of loud noises for no reason, and the alien was in (and wincing often at the thumps and thuds and thunks).

Anakin had not been a cat again. He'd never been a cat. It was an island-wide hallucination. At least that's what his expression said as he stood fully human in front of the class.

Never mind that Ahsoka still had several Anakitty plushies scattered about the big gold chairs.

Anakin was especially ignoring those. "Today we will immediately begin with our task," he said.

"Which means you'll have another week to complete your homework of taking a holo of your plushie from last week in the most interesting place you can find on the island." Ahsoka added immediately. The homework that, needless to say, Ahsoka had definitely not given them last week.

The muscles in Anakin's jaw clenched. "Wonderful," he gritted out.

"I thought so," Ahsoka replied cheerfully. "Anyway, today's task is to do things to fruit."

Anakin had been married to Rory long enough that he had to swallow back his immediate "not dirty" follow-up comment. "You're using them to solve tasks. The fastest to solve them wins."

"You'll have five tasks and five different fruit," Ahsoka explained. "Once you've used a fruit for one task, you cannot use it for another. Your time starts when you read the first task."

Vi, who was in a very good mood, was (for reasons directly related to said good mood) also pretty late for her shift today, only actually opening after her class. So it was a good thing that she knew her boss was going to be pretty forgiving about that.

Not so forgiving was Saffron who had immediately flopped at Vi's feet because she'd been abandoned and was going die from lack of snuggles if Vi didn't fix that immediately.

So Vi was doing most of her work today with a very dramatic cat tucked into the front of her jacket.

There would always be a part of Ignis that couldn't help but feeling that retaining his lease on the MHA apartment was a waste of money and resources, though that part of him was swiftly quieted by the irrefutable evidence of just how convenient and useful still having it and having access to it had been. Not only as a conveniently closer location for quick bursts of romantic rendezvous, but also as an excellent place to work on things or to keep things that might run the risk of early exposure, thus ruining some surprise, were it to occur or be held at the mansion. Which did seem to make it quite the glorified storage unit, really, but a useful one at that.

Well, not just a glorified storage unit, but even if it was just that, regular maintenance on it was especially crucial because it was not being used. Letting something sit and forgetting about all the finer details was an excellent way to ensure its slow decay. But those romantic rendezvous were fairly regular...but what of the time in between them? Dust still collected, a staleness settled in the air, a dormant, vacant space was just an invitation to all sorts of settling uncleanliness and other things.

So Ignis had made it a habit, usually after his visit to the Consortium, of swinging by the apartment to clean. To check appliances and fixtures, let in some fresh air, change the linens, keep tabs on general wear-and-tear through the march of time...All those little things that kept a place habitable that flew under most people's radars.

Perhaps it was just old habits, too. He found a certain comfort and familiarity in being the steady, silent, unseen force that made the lives of those he cared about seamlessly better in ways they'd never even realize. Liliana might spend, at best, an hour or two a week in the MHA apartment, but that was no reason why it shouldn't be perfect and immaculate every time she did.

So, needless to day, when he came by that Monday to tidy up and discover it to be anything but the usual quiet stillness he was accustomed to, he was a little thrown. Even more so by the fact that he was greeted not only with an inordinate amount of activity coming from the kitchen (leading one to, for a brief moment, dread a potential raccoon- or gremlin-related break-in), but also the scent of cooking (or at least the attempts at it) and the occasional worrisome thump or clatter followed by rather unique and colorful cursing. Concern creased his brow for a moment (in part just because his mind was already thinking of the additional cleaning time required this week now), but then his head tilted with the curiosity that was overriding it as he ventured that way.

"....Liliana?"

[[ and for the unexpected kitchen invader, obvi~ and doubly NFB, se vois plait ]]

Liliana was very grateful that her command over her zombies made it possible for her to communicate with them over distance and without needing to speak aloud. She had a number of instructions that were not only vital for her to pass along, but also vital to keep completely quiet.

For no reason, of course. Don't even worry about it. Never you mind.

She was also quite capable of carrying on a silent conversation while her attention was split elsewhere--like setting up a display in the window: a box full of beautiful feathers that appeared to be flickering with fires. She didn't know what they were for, but they certainly looked pretty enough.

Unlike the sword they'd come with. Ugly, unwieldy, and altogether pointless, she hadn't even bothered putting it on the shelf with the rest of the swords.

She didn't know what plane that was from, but honestly now. Do better, weaponsmiths.

I know, I know. I'm running late. And it's two notes. You guys could have done this in an email and you all know it.

*surly squirrel noses*

Give. I have dogs to deal with, thank you. Okay, so Liliana spent some time on introspection in the bath. Which the squirrels really didn't have to report on, but here we are. At Over Easy, Raiden was considering working with the bakery to keep brunch pastry-filled.

And that's all there is. Everyone have a good one. I need to get back before the dogs run all over Steve.

For Wednesday! There's only a few weeks left, don't let your characters miss out on trauma and heinous polyblends!

If he was completely honest with himself, Jack was still kind of tired after last night. So many people, actually responding to what they were doing, in an unfamiliar place full of unfamiliar people. It was insane to remember that they'd started--

Well, right here, in this bar, with about ten people shuffling up to the front eventually while they made their way through a smattering of metal greats, pop-punk hits and snarky pop covers played at double speed.

Tonight, there were more people - the bar was close to packed - and most of the music on the set list was their own. The clink of glasses, the smell of illicit cigarette smoke and sweat, the wild hair in the audience. It all felt familiar, in a way that hadn't always been safe but had definitely made it there now.

( You'll never guess where we were yesterday. )

[[ nfb, can be open to phone calls or unannounced bar appearances ]]

Steve had two puppies in cones of shame skittering over wooden floors and an ice pack over one of his eyes as he flopped onto the sofa in Tony's massive mansion living room.

"Who sells the information about puppies getting spayed to Hydra?!" he demanded, his outrage still high despite this being at least the fifth time he'd asked the question.

[OOC: For the husband!]

Even so, your good nature and opinion matters to me.

It was odd, Liliana thought, lounging in her ridiculous bathtub, surrounded by lightly perfumed water and bubbles nearly up to her chin, how the most random sentences could affect you.

I would listen to your advice about breakfast.

Steven's words had been...well, not haunting her since the afternoon before. More like occasionally lurking underfoot, causing her to stumble over them when she least expected it.

( A simple thing. )

Ugh, self-reflection was terrible. No wonder she rarely bothered. She downed her glass of wine and quickly poured herself another. And considered, hardly for the first time and certainly not the last, whether it might not just be better to cut her losses and run.

The division of labour in their relationship- their marriage- meant that Steven typically handled the details regarding parties and get-togethers, while Watts handled those for holidays and getaways. Like this camping trip at Honeymoon Lake in Alberta.

They'd slept in that morning, catching the portal to the campground in the afternoon. After setting up the tent, they'd taken a walk to explore the grounds and then dipped into the lake for a swim.

With the sun setting, it was time for dinner: Just a simple dish of pasta with marinara sauce, prepared over the fire.

"I thought we could try something a little more involved tomorrow on one of the camp stoves," Watts said. "But for tonight, I figured this would do."

Another day, another show, this time upstate. Dane and Trent had gone on ahead earlier that morning to get to their rental. But a bunch of Jill's gear was still locked up at practice, never mind some of Dane's amps, and so it fell to the drummer and the singer to roll all of their stuff out onto the street while they waited for their ride to show up.

"I swear if short range portals weren't so expensive, I would never drive anywhere again a day in my life," Jack groused, as he attempted to peer over the edge of the kick drum, just to make sure he wasn't about to bowl someone over.

"Oh please," Jill said, as hauled two of her toms over her shoulder. "You're too much of a control freak. You're going to grab the wheel in that car as soon as it gets here and we'll have to wrench it back out of your hands when we get there."

"I could give that up for short range portals." Jack squatted down to set the kick drum down by the side of the road. He stretched up, tilting his head sideways in a desperate attempt to dispell the crick in his neck. "Maybe with some kind of speeder that actually goes up the stairs, so we don't keep having to do this."

( And then we'll get a unicorn... )

[[ nfb, nfi. ]]