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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"The chickens? Oh the trolls didn't do anything with those. They were in a town along the way. A... a stopover?"

She'd needed to switch from Portrollocity's service to Portalocity. There had been a transfer in a place called Kokiri Village. Besides the chickens, there had also been a lot of broken pottery. She thought it was best to not question.

"That sounds even worse than Portalocity," Victor commiserated. "But you got here in one piece, so that's a win."

At least, it was if Elsa didn't run screaming. This was another thing he decided not to share.

She wasn't running yet! She was thinking about it, but she wasn't actually doing so!

She was making her way over to the brownies, though, carefully picking one up with a napkin so as to not get icing on her gloves.

"I'm going to consider it a win," she decided. "At least, once I get my bearings again. Is this place always so confusing?"

"The first day is really weird for most people," Victor said, thinking it through. "That's when everybody starts talking about alternate realities and aliens and turning into a puppy dog. But once you get past that, most days it's a lot like high school. Really easy high school."

That helped Elsa... not at all.

"I've had private tutors all my life," Elsa replied, sounding just a bit more out of her depth than she had been a moment before. "Excuse me, sorry, did you say turning into a dog?"

THIS WAS NOT GETTING LESS WEIRD.

"Yeah, it's a thing that happens," Victor said slowly. "I mean, it's not always a dog. Sometimes it's a ferret. Or a turtle. Most people turn back after a couple days."

He chewed on a thumbnail. "Nobody really knows why it happens," he added, as an afterthought. "Pretty much, the island's just a weird place."

He probably hadn't helped.

Elsa was quickly learning that the best way to not completely lose her mind around here was simply to not ask.

"I'm starting to get that feeling, yes." And this from the girl who got here using a subsidiary of Portalocity as run by trolls. "Strange, and not always safe? My big sibling mentioned something about occasional danger."

And then he'd promised to protect her with his werewolf powers, which had been sweet, and somehow less alarming than learning that just anyone might turn into something they weren't supposed to be.

Edited 2014-01-05 00:57 (UTC)

"Every so often some bad guy decides the island looks like a perfect place to take over," Victor answered, rolling his eyes slightly. "I don't know why they keep trying. They always lose. If you aren't a fighter, you can usually just hang out in the dorms for a week or so until it blows over."

"That's good to know," Elsa replied gratefully. "I'm definitely not a fighter. I'm more a studier. But I can keep away from trouble like an old professional at it."

Funny, that.

"Then you should be as safe here as anywhere," Victor told her. "I think the people who get in real trouble here are the ones who don't know their limits, you know?"

He reached for another brownie of his own as he spoke.

That choice of phrasing had Elsa's hand stuttering a little as she lifted her arm for a bite of the brownie.

She lowered it again, untouched, and took a moment to breathe.

"And do many people here have that problem?"

"There are going to be a couple in any group," Victor told her. "You know, they think they can win a fight so they go off, don't bring back-up, and get their as-, um, their bottoms handed to them."

(Awkward, but Elsa had a strong don't say ass in front of me vibe that he was respecting.)

More slowly, he added, "Practically everybody here wants to be a hero, nobody thinks it through. To tell the truth, I can't say I'm totally innocent myself. But you don't sound like that's your problem."

"No, I'm really not the sort to go running headfirst into anything," Elsa confirmed, a small smile at the corner of her mouth betraying her amusement at his near-slip. "I'm more the sort who would find all of this a bit overwhelming even if people weren't talking casually about potential mortal danger."

Just by virtue of there being people here at all.

"Sorry," Victor said sheepishly. "We could talk about something else. Like ... cafeteria food. Or which common room has the best TV. Or ... anything that isn't going to make you feel like you might get killed tomorrow. "

"Either of those things would be good," Elsa offered with a little tilt of her head and a shrug of her shoulders to go with it. "I'm not familiar with the food here yet, and I've never even heard of a TV before. I have a feeling that this island is going to be different on a few levels, people turning into animals aside."

"Probably, yeah," Victor agreed dryly. "Okay, so a TV is" -- and here he launched into a rather long, technical explanation, the gist of which was that it was a box that showed moving pictures -- "and there's one in every common room, which are like student lounges on all the floors of the dorms. Usually if you turn it on, at least a couple people will come on in to get food and make fun of whatever you're watching. Because most TV is amazingly bad."

Would Victor forgive Elsa for staring a little wide-eyed during the technical explanation? She managed to catch the 'box with moving pictures' part, but the rest...

She was a little too 'pre-electricity' to really be able to properly appreciate Victor's working knowledge of visual broadcasting technology.

"But... why would people watch it if it's all so bad?"

Yeah, Victor would need to take his awesome knowledge of electronic engineering elsewhere for proper appreciation.

"I don't know," he said. "Brainwashing? Socialization? Even if it's the worst soap opera ever, it can be kinda funny if you watch with the right friends."

"Oh. I..." Elsa bit her tongue, cutting herself off before she could say something that would sound utterly ridiculous, like, 'I don't have any friends.' She suspected nobody here needed to hear it. "... I might have to try that sometime. Back in Arendelle, there wasn't much to do but study."

Or, if she had been her sister, hang around outside doorways attempting to solicit company.

"You'll probably get roped into the TV thing whether you want to or not," Victor predicted. "Arendelle sounds ... a lot quieter than here. Did you study anything special?"

"Mostly just the usual," Elsa replied, deciding then and there that she wasn't going to let herself get addicted to this 'TV' thing.

It wasn't going to work. But she'd try.

"Arithmetic, history, a handful of other languages. Ethics, etiquette, law, foreign relations..."

And then a whole smattering of other things that were generally very future-queen specific.

"Then the classes here are going to seem easy for you," Victor noted. "They're not exactly the most challenging for anybody."

"They're not?" Well. That was baffling. Why did people go off to boarding school if they weren't getting an above-average education out of it? Or even an average one? "I have to admit, I was hoping to be challenged..."

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

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