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

There was the bonfire for everyone who thought Maryland in January was a little too cool for their taste, as well as the ~~moddable~~ warm food and drinks, and chairs and tables in the school colors of blue and gold. Some tables were also set a little further away from the crowds.

Because there were always people who preferred the fringes.

[OCD up! This is the picnic post for general mingling. Roommates, fake siblings and teachers are all here. Since it's outside, the picnic is open to all students, teachers, and townies!]

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This wasn't Topher's last picnic, but it was his last one as a student, and that was pretty weird. Sooner or later, he was going to have to come to terms with not having free food whenever he wanted it.

He was sucking down hot chocolate and making his way through a heaping plate of fries, looking around in search of interesting new people.

"Dude, you found fries," Victor said, stealing one. "Hi. Happy new year."

"You too," Topher said, munching on a fry of his own. "You do anything over break?"

"Went back to L.A.," Victor shared. "It was surprisingly boring for us."

This was not entirely a bad thing, from his point of view.

"You?"

"Online shopped for Stanford swag, got accepted, posted braggy Facebook statuses," Topher rattled off. "In that order. I'm kind of relieved school's starting again, though. You psyched to graduate?"

"Absolutely," Victor said firmly. "I love this place, but my life is in L.A. I kind of feel a little done with this, you know? Not in a bad way, just -- ready to move on."

Move on to what, he wasn't sure. But not anything on the island.

"Also, congratulations. Not that I'm surprised."

"Thanks," Topher beamed. "And yeah, I think at a normal high school I probably would have graduated way early, so this whole experience has been way too long. I'm ready to get out of here."

"You think you'll be one of those alums who comes back all the time?" he wondered. "Apparently Kenzi still lives on the island. That's kind of weird."

"I so don't get that," Victor noted. "Island's tiny and you might turn into a lemur at any time. I mean, I'll do Homecoming, but I'm not going to be here so much people are sick of me or anything. You?"

"Same," Topher agreed. "If I wind up coming back here more often than that, I'd take it as a sign that my career isn't going awesomely, which would be totally unacceptable. So, no thanks."

There was some mixed-up cause-and-effect there, but the idea was clear.

"Hey dude. Try the pretzels." Chocolate covered! Kenzi made a try for those fries.

Topher was feeling oddly generous and let her take some, swiping a pretzel for himself. "Nah, I like the fries better," he judged after munching on it for a minute. "Wait, why are you here? Are they making you repeat a year?" He was... mostly joking.

Kenzi snickered. "Like they could. Like they would." She was no Jamie Maddox, may his name live in infamy. But still. "Naaah, I'm here for the free eats. And see people who hide in their rooms all day."

"...So, wait, where do you live?" It probably wasn't news to Kenzi that Topher was pretty oblivious. "Did they let you keep your room?"

Oh, Topher. Bless. Kenzi was tempted to tell him she'd moved onto the Sixth Floor...

...would he go looking for her there? Ahem. Annnyway.

"In town, your brilliance. With Bo the Security Chick. Down the street from Luke's, where I work on Wednesdays." She nudged the fries. "You should come in before you graduate, and get some more fries."

"Nah, I don't like that place," Topher complained. "The girl with the purple hair who works there told me to leave when I sent food back."

For the fifth or sixth time, it needed to be noted.

"What happened to your bar job? I liked that place."

"Still got it, just working Mondays," Kenzi said placidly, munching on a pretzel. "And I've been hanging at the theater, doing stuff there... Thank gawd rent on the island is so cheap. Otherwise I might have to actually 'work' for a living." Instead of working pretty much two days a week and goofing around the rest of the time, as well as picking pockets off-island since Bo started hanging with the P.D. more often.

"You still dating Billy? Or Billy dating you?" Subtle difference there, with how much work either of them put into it.

"Yeah, duh," Topher said. It was kind of a weird way to answer that question, all things considered. "Why wouldn't we be? Billy's awesome."

He shrugged. "I think you're weird for sticking around, dude. I'm gonna bail as soon as I can get out of this place."

"Enh. Toby's still here. So's Bo. And other people who are cool." Kenzi stuck out her tongue. Then smirked. "What'm I gonna do, go to college? Pfftt."

"But college is awesome, Kenzi!" Topher informed her. "There's free alcohol and free food and lab space and okay, maybe that last one isn't an incentive for you. There's even more unlocked doors where you can sneak in and steal stuff!"

"You make a compelling case," Kenzi said thoughtfully, considering now. "...and I am Canadian. That means either I can get the government to pay for it there, or get some kinda scholarship here."

HMMMMMMMMMMM. Look what you did, Topher.

"What would I major in, though?" She frowned, actually considering. "Russian? That would be easy."

"Nah, you'd have to read Russian books for that, I think," Topher said, as if he knew anything about Russian literature. (He did not.) "Aren't the most famous Russian novels, like, nine hundred pages?"

"Oh holy crap. And depressing. People kill themselves after reading those novels. No no no, you're right." Kenzi was now seriously nibbling on some potato chips, thinking hard. "Art history, maybe. You don't actually have to make art for that. Just know what's valuable!"

"You'll learn how to recognize authentic stuff, too," Topher noted, shooting Kenzi a thumbs-up. "Definitely a solid plan, Kenz."

Kenzi grinned. "I'll send you post-cards from university. When I get there. Otherwise it'll be postcards from here, which will have the squid waving to you in the background, when you finally get to college next year."

"Eight and a half months from now," Topher corrected her automatically. "But cool, anyway. I'd make an exception and send some back even though snail mail is kind of dumb."

Edited 2014-01-05 23:17 (UTC)

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

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