Starting on the 1st, school is officially IN SESSION! Similar to a typical high school schedule from before the outbreak, GED classes are held every weekday and cover all subjects. Higher Ed classes, on the other hand, are split into a variety of individual subjects, and only meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. (We know this is kind of weird, since we only have ten days in a month, but just headcanon that GED students are suddenly much busier than they used to be while higher education students have some time off in between.) Students are welcome to use the quiet rooms available at the Lending Library for studying, but groups of more than two are asked to please reserve a space ahead of time.
As a reminder, we're okay with handwaving what classes your character's taking or their availability; we're not really interested in micromanaging that as mods. Just keep in mind that education, especially at the undergraduate or graduate level, is likely piecemeal and will involve more practical, hands-on learning rather than books.
Played Teachers: Yvonne Devkopa, chemistry; Torrie Reed, music Played Tutors: Dani Diaz, GED-level sciences; Marina Scherbatskaya, GED & higher level Spanish
Plot idea: Form a study group! Argue with someone in class! Get some tutoring! Revel in the sheer normalcy of this plot!
Get Bitten By Love!
As per Demi Rafferty's Network entry and the mods' OOC post, speed dating will be held at The Bar on September 1 -- a nice way to blow off steam from the first day of school. Whether or not your character signed up for speed dating, this is a game-wide threading opportunity. Your character can watch the chaos unfold or work on puzzles on the second floor; it's up to you!
If you signed up for speed dating logs, Justine and Liz will contact you ASAP with your matches. Of course, you may also do a speed dating log with anyone else -- just keep it at 2 pages maximum in Google Docs! -- or a regular log, too.
Plot idea: Anyone who hits it off with a speed dating partner is welcome to return to The Bar any time from September 2 to closing time on September 5 for discounted food and drinks.
Co-op For The Co-Op
As per Savannah Posey's Network entry, a community center will be opening soon in a former co-op building. While the community center will not be opening for at least a month, characters still in need of work will be able to get a temporary job working construction on the building as well as apply to staff the community center once it opens in October.
In addition to being the future home of Austin's first gym and training center, the community center will be a central space for Austinites to gather for events, since the outdoors isn't exactly safe, so if you can think of a community event you'd like to see here, let us know!
Air Mail Special
If your character wants to order something for October 2019 delivery, let us know here so we can make an NPC post at the beginning of October. The mods trust that the players can use their best judgment regarding what items -- as far as type of item and price -- could be obtained via mail-order by your character. We don't want to micro-manage your plots; just keep in mind that it is still a post-apocalyptic society. We'll let you know privately if something is too crazy.
Doom Is Coming
As you know from our OOC post, in which we requested information from you, doom is swiftly coming to Austin, Texas. This plot will kick off on September 6 in-game (September 16 IRL), and we will be posting more information a little earlier than usual in order to give you time to prepare yourselves emotionally and physically.
This plot will involve lots and lots of zombies and their gnashing teeth. We have taken your injury/bite preferences per character and rolled some dice accordingly. With this in mind, we will be contacting you via email on an individual basis to let you know your results. If your character rolled a serious injury or zombie bite (whether their immunity status is known or not), you will have the opportunity to drop their injury status down to the lower tier and may decide as much prior to September 7 IRL so we can finish plotting.
Calendar Cheat Sheet
September 1: School begins! In the evening, speed dating is held at The Bar (open game thread opportunity). Walker's is restocked and shipments are delivered to citizens.
September 2-3: It rains -- water, not blobs. New Austinites are puzzled by how old Austinites seem to be reveling in this fact.
September 4: The rain stops, but the scent of s'mores is now in the air over at the UMCB district. It's just an extra-large batch of s'mores doughnuts over at the Doughnut Hole, but there's a fair bit of panic from everyone who lived through the blister gas period of Austin.
September 5: Walker's runs out of most items and zombie crowds -- larger than usual -- begin to form. They start at Walker's, on the border of the Capitol district and the UMCB district, then begin to meander through downtown.
Please feel free to use the above as fodder for Freenet posts & scenes. If you have questions or ideas -- or want suggestions on how to get your characters involved in the above -- comment and let us know!