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

Well.

It was raining popsicles and suntan lotion today. Because Fandom liked to make the newbies cry sometimes. Yes, the island had a sense of humor about these things.

We've all learned to accept that and move on with our lives. Well, all of us except for Britta. But she's the worst.

[~~Please wait for~~ OCD is up! This is part one of the picnic, specifically for 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.]

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Mercy wasn't really quite sure why he'd be wearing a sweater in this kind of weather, but at least she seemed to have found her little sibling. "Alec?" she said with a smile. "Hi, I'm Mercy."

"The big sibling," Alec said, nodding. He wasn't quite smiling -- truth be told, barring conversations with Jace, he smiled about once a year -- but this was friendly, for him. "I've never had one of those before. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Mercy said. "I see the island has decided to welcome you with some of its craziness. You'll get used to it soon enough."

"Well," she said thoughtfully after a moment, "I'm not sure you ever really get used to it here, but you learn to deal."

"Right," said Alec. "I'll acclimatize."

Because Jace had, so naturally he would as well. It was how that worked.

"Have you been here long?"

"Just over a year, actually," Mercy admitted. "I came in at the beginning of the first summer session last year. It took me a while to get used to the place, but now I love it."

"Most days at least," she added as she ducked out of the way of falling sunscreen.

A year to get used to one small island? Alec didn't know whether to be wary or dismissive.

Since it was Alec, he was going with wary.

"I've already heard some things about the island from my adopted brother," he said carefully. "But he can... omit details, sometimes. Is there anything particularly important I should know?"

"You have an adopted brother here?" Mercy asked curiously. "Well, he's probably filled you in, then. But, well... there are weekends when people turn into, well, other people or animals. There are days like today when strange things fall from the sky."

She shrugged. "And there's always the gremlins. Plus, you know, people from all different times and places and even universes. With all sorts of strange abilities."

Mercy normally would have tried to sugarcoat things a little, but since he'd already heard about it...

"Right," said Alec with a nod of confirmation. "I've heard all of that." So maybe Jace had presented him with all of the facts, for once. Might be a first. "Is that it?"

"Universe devouring Nothing?" she suggested. "Possible children showing up at inconvenient times? Strange invasions? The details change, so you never quite know what might be next - could be the washing machines staging a revolt or something, but yeah. That's the basics."

"Right, Jace mentioned the invasions," Alec said with a serious nod. "And the students -- everyone seems to... do okay with them? Nothing permanently damaging?" He glanced around, as if looking for signs of damage around the park as residue from the last invasion. Because someone was a paranoid weirdo.

"People generally seem to get through it all okay," Mercy said quietly. "Probably more psychological scars than physical, though there are some of those too."

She looked up at him curiously. "You're taking this all pretty much in stride. More so than, 'yeah, Jace told me about this' would account for. Are things... not standard normal where you're from?"

It was a more complicated question than Mercy had probably intended for it to be. No, things weren't 'standard normal' in his home world -- as the mundanes would put it, anyway -- but Clave Law kept him from saying as much to any non-Shadowhunter. Not that he felt any particular need to do so anyway. He tugged at one sleeve, drawing it over his wrist to further conceal the Marks underneath.

"Things are sometimes peculiar," he granted carefully. "Are they different for you?"

Mercy noticed the tug at his sleeve and wondered if he had some of the same marks that Jace did. She should have been careful what questions she asked because the werewolves were very serious about their death penalty for pack members who talked about them to non-pack members. Of course she wasn't a pack member - as had been pointed out to her ad nauseum - and Bran had given her some discretion in being able to share some of who and what she was. But still...

"Well," she said equally carefully. "The Fae are out where I'm from, so everyone is aware of them. And... if the Fae are real..."

She shrugged. "Who can say?"

Total truth without actually giving away the secret she still kept here.

"You know the fae?" Alec asked sharply. "And so does everyone else where you come from?" That was... different.

Reluctantly, he rubbed his forehead and clarified, "There are fae where I'm from as well. It's not exactly common knowledge, though."

"They came out publicly when I was younger. Well, some of them at least. my guardian says the Fae keep some of them hidden still - the uglier or more powerful - so the humans won't be too panicked." Mercy shrugged again. "It went well for a while, but humans always seem to be scared of things that are different and there's an awful lot of anti-fae sentiment now."

She wondered if there were other supernatural beings he was aware of, but wasn't about to ask in a public place - not when asking would probably mean she'd have to reveal what she was, something only two people on the island were aware of currently. "Maybe we can talk more about this later, when there aren't so many people around."

"That might be better," Alec agreed with a serious nod. "It has to be a little difficult keeping things private around so many people, anyway. I'm not used to this much crowding. But we should talk about this some more."

"I'd like that," Mercy said seriously, and then deliberately made her voice lighter and more teasing. "Besides, I am your Big Sister now, so I should be showing you the ropes anyway."

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

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