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

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!event: welcome picnic

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

In order to give people a place to get away from the traffic jam of the buffet and information tables, most of the chairs and tables had been set up further out on the lawn, away from the school building. The bonfires were going strong, and there was plenty of room for everyone to sit down and enjoy themselves. Assuming they weren't too busy still trying to figure this place out.

[OCD is up! This is the FIRST post for general mingling. Please use this post first, if your browser can handle the comment load. Roommates, fake siblings and teachers are all here and there's more room for mingling here. Since it's outside, the picnic is open to all students, teachers, and townies!]

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"I've been...okay. Not great, actually," she said, trying for honesty here without giving too much away. It was the welcome picnic, after all, and talk about what had happened at home could wait. "You came back."

Observant!

"Thank you," she added after a moment. "For the gifts. And the letters. It was, um, good knowing you still remembered me."

Wesley nodded, smiling. "Of course," he said. "You're, ah, you're quite welcome. It was no trouble at all." He really couldn't keep himself from smiling around Katniss; it was weird, but his mouth muscles seemed to favor a distinctly upward direction when she was around.

"So how have you been?" he asked pleasantly. There. A complete sentence without stammering. Well done, Wes.

And Katniss, in turn, couldn't stop smiling. Which was weird for her, considering she wasn't all that smiley in general. "I've been all right. Not very good -- I, um, just got back from doing the Tour. It's why I don't look like me," she added, gesturing to herself. "And how were the last few months for you? Los Angeles, right?"

Wesley nodded knowingly, considering it. The Tour, huh. Well, that would merit further discussion later, but he guessed she wouldn't want to talk about it right now. Well. That had to have sucked.

"Yes, it was... quite a new experience," he admitted, though it wasn't much of an admission given that it didn't actually convey any new information. "Not very exciting, really. Nothing at all like Fandom." He gave a little smile at that.

"So...calm?" she said, smiling softly. "Quiet? Peaceful?"

"Surprisingly, it was, at least some of the time," he replied, smiling. "I was kept busy with obligations, of course - you'd be surprised how many vampires and demons there are in Los Angeles. But there were no talking onions or labyrinths or unicorns or any of that nature, so it was calm by comparison."
Also no girls on fire insisting that he learn to climb a tree, proving that calm wasn't always better.

"I'm still not used to vampires and demons being normal," Katniss said, shaking her head ruefully. "And you did miss out on the labyrinth, if you've heard. Otherwise, here, it's been fairly quiet. I've been gone the last few weeks, though, so maybe something amazing happened during that."

Was it incredibly sappy that his first thought was that nothing amazing could've happened on the island in her absence? Probably yes, so he kept it to himself, though a little smile crept across his face as he thought it. He cleared his throat, trying to hide any evidence of his crushy thoughts.

"So, er," he said, lowering his voice just slightly, "how was the Tour?"

Apart from difficult, because that was obvious.

Her smile faded, and she shook her head. "I -- not good. I got to see where the other tributes came from, and...well, the fact that I'm back here pretty much says it all. I'm exiled again, basically." She chewed at her lip for a moment, and added, "And I need to talk to you. About the Tour, and what happened, and what...well, the good and bad that came out of it. Because the good is wonderful, but the bad is really bad."

Well, that was... sobering. Wes nodded, taking it in. "I'm so sorry," he said gently, trying to be comforting. "We'll, ah, we'll talk when you have a chance." Then, anxiously, because Wesley didn't have a patient bone in his body: "Is everything all right? Is it Peeta?"

"Peeta and Prim and my mother are all fine," she assured him quickly. "As far as I know. My punishment, for what happened at home, is that I don't get to know. No communication home for me, until they call me home for the reaping in spring."

She shook her head, and added, "But the good news is that I don't have to worry anymore, about pretending things." She gave him a little look, hoping he caught that. "Everything sort of...came to a head, a few days ago."

"Oh!" Wesley said, startled. "About -- about Peeta? You and he are no longer --?"

He was kind of slow on the uptake, so it wasn't immediately clear to him why this was good news.

"Oh," he said, processing it and coming to exactly the wrong conclusion. He nodded in (what he believed to be) understanding. "Yes, I imagine that should be a lot less stressful," he agreed. "With the exception of the communication part; that's quite unfortunate -- maybe we can work out some kind of Fandom mystical-type way of getting in touch with your family?"

No, he wasn't really following.

She shook her head. "Not that easy. The president would figure it out, and they'd get punished, and so would I. It -- I'm here because they're figuring out what to do with me because I essentially started a revolution, and haven't been able to stop it. My objective, during the Tour, was to undo what I did in the arena, and I failed." She shrugged, and added, "But it's sort of a relief, all the same."

She looked back up at him, and added, "So that was the Tour. Did you get the experience your father wanted you to have, while you were gone? You'll be staying with us this time?"

Oh. Then she was really stuck. Wesley felt a sharp jolt of regret for her, followed by an irrational chivalrous desire to go to her family himself and check on them. Well, that was just... foolish.
But at least she wouldn't have to worry anymore. That was good, anyway. It would probably make her life a lot easier.

"It was satisfying enough, I suppose," he said offhandedly. "My father says he may be sending me back at sporadic intervals, weekends and vacations and such, just to keep me in practice. But I won't be taking anymore extended trips, no."

"Good," Katniss said, shoving her worries about Panem behind her and offering him a tiny, but genuine smile. "We missed you here."

And by 'we,' she meant herself, of course.

"I missed you as well," Wesley replied, smiling.

And by 'missed you,' he meant 'missed you a lot.'
Hmmm. Time for a new topic. Immediately, he thought of that night at Vail -- but that was definitely not conversation material. He blushed at the thought, then teetered awkwardly, trying to think of something to say.

And of course, Katniss hadn't gotten less observant, so she caught the blush, and could guess at why.

But she also hadn't gotten less repressed, so she moved on with a shy smile of her own. "Did you pick up any more archery while you were gone?"

Ooh, yay, he got to show off!

"Actually, yes," he said smugly. "I took down at least three or four vampires using a crossbow."

Each time had taken about a dozen tries, but shh.

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

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