fandomhigh | Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part I

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!event: welcome picnic

Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part I

The weather was thankfully behaving, so it was fairly warm outside as everything was set up for the picnic. Tables and chairs had been set up, and there was plenty of food and drinks, along with nametags, and two signs: one listing the Big Sibling/Little Sibling pairings, and another listing rooms and roommates for the new students.

[~~WAIT FOR THE OCD PLEASE.~~ OCD IS UP, HAVE AT IT. This is part one of the picnic, for specifically meeting siblings, roommates, and teachers. The rest of the picnic is happening here and here, in an effort to keep browsers from breaking for as long as possible. *g*]

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There was a startle, mostly at hearing his own name (she'd said it often, screamed it, for more cream or tea or toast whenever she wanted it and Dorothy had said it like that, soft) and green green eyes watched Karal approach almost as if they belonged to a cornered animal.

A quick dart of a look shot at Altra before focusing on Karal again, and he didn't run.

"I read."

Said in the tone of one who was pointing out that he could read, after all.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," he followed quickly.

Though perhaps that was unfair. If it was his job, well, he should let him perform it. Then again--

Well, he needed someone to tell him the rules. He'd gotten things figured out in the Emerald City by himself, but everything went topsy turvy when he'd stumbled in here. Student Handbook or no, there's always rules (usually the most important ones) that they don't put in print.

And he wouldn't foul up a chance at an education, no matter how odd.

Karal was nonplussed, but he didn't let it show. "I believe you," he said soothingly. "And I want to help, if I may. This place can be very strange at times. It's easier to adjust to if you have a friend to help."

"Though not as easy if you've never had a friend," he pointed out quickly, his mind sharper than his sense as per usual. Anything but a cry for pity, it was mostly just a point to make. "Then you have to adjust to two things."

A pause.

"Why do you want to help?"

Then again, he might as well question why this place wanted to educate him. No one ever had before, after all. Not even--

No, he didn't know if she was flesh and blood. Neither of them did. Even if he did taste copper and feel that strange weight in his chest when he thought of her. Which he didn't.

"I've told all of them I don't have anything, let alone money."

"But the burden of adjsting is shared between two, so it balances out," he countered, wondering how he kept finding people who'd never had a friend. "And I want to help because--"

Karal glanced down at Altra, who curled his tail and looked back, clearly leaving this in Karal's hands. "I want to help because I'm a priest, and helping is part of what I do. I enjoy helping people, and more, it's my duty to do so," he explained. "And I am sure I can help you with having nothing, as well. Clothes at least, and," he frowned, "are you cold?"

"Of course. No one likes wearing rags," he pointed out with a sniff.

"Then again, most priests don't really care. Or rather they do, but they find it much easier to get you off their steps then to get you new clothes."

A priest, but a young one. The young ones would occasionally give you food. Or, depending on the young man in question, shoo you off more violently. Even he could tell this one wouldn't be coming after him. After all, he was supposed to be here.

He hadn't come here on purpose, anyway, and everything had been set up.

"Some priests don't care," he agreed quietly, unlacing his cloak and shrugging out of it. It was dark and heavy, lined with fur. "And some fail in their duty. But they serve only themselves, and not their god."

Karal held out the cloak. "Take it, please. My robes are warm enough for this weather, and Karse, where I come from, is far colder than here."

He looked at the cloak and blinked, unmoving otherwise. As Elphaba had often (mockingly) noted, he didn't do well with surprise.

"No."

He stepped back.

Lined with fur like the rich and thick and warm, like the ladies in the Emerald City. Something like that on him would only be ridiculous.

His fingers itched towards his bag (a lucky find in the trash outside of Glinda's home and he'd even managed to grab it before he was chased off), towards the great black cloak that still smelled of her. It would be warm. It... it would look right on him, covered in rags as he was.

"I'm fine. I'm used to it."

Sunlord. Karal bit back a sigh. "You're certain?" he asked, still holding it out. "You could return it once you have warm things of your own."

"I won't," he said somewhat finally. "I'm too old to beg and too young to work. I'm used to being cold and I'm used to rags. You're probably used to your cloak."

"Just because you're used to something, doesn't mean you must continue to live that way and no other. But very well." Karal donned it again, lacing it quickly, considering Liir thoughtfully while he did so.

"Here, at least, you're not too young to work. That may be something I could help with, as well as explaining this place to you." He paused, giving Liir a questioning look. "That is, if you will permit me to help?"

That perked his interest. Free things always had a hidden cost but something you worked for was hard but as fair as things ever got. And a job meant a skill. A skill meant more work. Work meant food and perhaps even a home, much like an education. Both at the same time was practically a miracle.

"There're jobs here? I know I'm thin but that's just from not getting much to eat and I can still work. I'm all right with the elderly and the insane" he'd dealt with both in turn after all and finally just Nanny who was both "and I can do serving without spilling. Plenty of cleaning, though I'm not a cook, but I'd learn."

He glanced at his schedule.

"Well, I'll have to learn anyway."

"There are jobs here, down in the town, though I don't believe any of them involve working with the ederly." The insane he wasn't prepared to commit himself to, since it could apply to most of the island at one time or another.

"You'll be able to fit it in with your schedule, wherever you end up working, I'm sure." He took a deep breath and smiled. "So, I'll be your big brother while you're here, and help however I can. You have your schedule, which is a good start. Do you have any questions you want answered, or shall I simply try and explain how things work? And may I ask where you're from?"

Edited 2008-01-04 17:20 (UTC)

"Kiamo Ko in the Vinkus," he answered, the last first. "In the land of Oz."

Though he still couldn't really understand being out of Oz. Oz wasn't really made for leaving unless you were a saint or a wizard.

"And I'll have questions once I know enough to know what to ask. Not now, though."

And I won't mention that if I ever had an older brother, he tried numerous times to kill me.

But--

"Is there food anywhere?"

"That's an excellent question to start with." Karal gestured towards a nearby picnic table. "And there is, as much as you like. You can eat and I can talk, and thus two things are accomplished at once."

If he had any pride (he didn't, really, not when it came down to the important things), he might have waited.

But he didn't. As stated.

As such, it was an example of just how quickly he could move that he was at the table in two heartbeats and had something (who cared what it was?) in his mouth by the third.

Karal blinked in surprise, but hurried after him. "You can get something to eat in the cafeteria during the week, if you're hungry. I'll show you where it is, and there's a common room on each floor - the fridges almost always have food in them." He winced slightly. "Just stay away from any frozen baked goods."

Blink?

Headtilt.

Why would you eat something that was frozen? And how did you bake something frozen on top of that?

"You probably don't need to worry about that," he said hurriedly. "Not yet, in any event. Though if you see green creatures," he sketched a shape in the air, "about this large and with sharp teeth, those you need to avoid. They're called Gremlins, and if they bite you, they'll cause you to behave very strangely."

The headtilt did not go away.

In fact, the head tilted farther.

Karal laughed a little. "This is a place like no other in all the worlds," he said, trying to sound gentle and comforting. "It can be very strange, and sometimes it can be scary, but it's a good place, one where you can simply be yourself."

"I'd have to know who that is first," he admitted, not really meaning to but there was just something about Karal that prompted it from him. It seemed as if, well, to put it crudely...

He actually gave half a damn whether Liir lived or died. This, to him, was entirely novel and while not off-putting, somewhat disturbing.

"This is a good place to find that out," he replied, lifting one hand as if he'd touch Liir on the shoulder.

He thought better of it, though, not wanting to startle him, and settled for smiling again. "And I'll help you in any way I can, you have my word."

He looked at the hand that had almost touched him and shrugged, as if to say that was normal.

Then he nodded.

"Your god has a name, doesn't he?" he asked after a moment.

"Vkandis Sunlord," he said, unconsciously touching the golden sun medal hanging around his neck. "But he's not known on this world."

"It makes Him easier to call to, I suppose. Ask for help?"

Idle curiosity. Almost.

The Unnamed God. Oz had the Unnamed God.

As if he was ashamed of the place.

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