I know my topic seems scary. But you really should be prepared for what can happen to you once you venture into the world of irc. Don't get me wrong, it is my favorite place to be. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 12 months out of the year. If you go on right now, odds are you will see some variant of my Ardeliah nick in the corner watching you as you enter and leave.

First off, most of the violence that I speak of is of the friendly variety. Molly Grabau is a wonderful Gryffindor. She has lots of energy and is of the friendly sort that you want to meet and get to know. But be forewarned. Once you do get to know her be prepared for very enthusiastic greetings.

When she sees you and rushes over to greet you, be sure you have both feet planted on the floor. Before entering the room ensure that all sharp objects are capped or put away safely. Don't carry anything breakable. Why you ask? Because she will greet you with a "*pouncestacklehugglesliekwhoa*" It is a very friendly greeting. But I once made the mistake of having a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows in my hand and I made quite a mess of myself when it went flying in the air.

Now the next thing I need to warn you about isn't really violent as it is gross. Late at night, at least by my time which works out to be about roughly 4am HOL time, there are certain activities I have noticed in the Gryffindor irc room and the main HOL room that could turn your stomach. Nothing adult I assure you. It is just that the more affectionate HOLers come out then, the ones who seem to be working on becoming animagi.

I say that because I am positive they are turning into puppies. You could be sitting there during a lull in the chat just waiting about to see who pops into the room, when all of a sudden you find you have been licked! Germy! Disgusting! After the first few times I made sure I kept a supply of wet wipes with me at all times. It won't stop the licking but at least you can clean up the germs the best way you can. It is the only way to prevent the spread of germs.

Lastly, the one thing you can't really prepare for are the random epic battles. That is when you wander into the room and wonder "What the heck happened here!?" I had one of those moments today when I wandered in and saw Godzirra, Mothra and King Kong. As far as I could tell there were no casualties, but you just know that they weren't playing nice with each other. I heard they just had a flaming flatulence battle. I'm glad I missed that.

So follow your common sense when walking into chats. Keep your head down but be aware of your surroundings. But most of all, HAVE FUN!