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

With all the rain that had blown through earlier in the week, the school administration had been worried that welcome picnic day would be wet and gloomy. Thankfully, it was sunny, warm, and beautiful outside, and everything had been set up just in time for the shuttle of new folks to arrive. There was a buffet table of food and drinks waiting, along with the list of Big and Little Siblings, the list of roommates, and more name tags than they'd probably need for three picnics.

Also, there wasn't a single flower out on the lawn after last weekend. Just saying.

With everything in place, it looked like it was time for the first summer term to begin!

[OCD up! This is part one of the picnic, specifically for meeting siblings, roommates, and teachers. The rest of the picnic is happening here. Since it's outside, the picnic is open to all students, teachers, and townies!]

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"No," Vider admitted. "It was a guess. So you are Jalian, then? If you are, I'm Vider Bearskin, and the school's assigned me to be your big sibling." She considered what she'd said, and amended it: "If you aren't, I'm still Vider Bearskin."

"Jalian d'Arsennette y ken Selvren," Jalian introduced herself properly. "School? Big sibling?" What was this?

Yeah, Vider was still not tackling that. "I'm guessing you weren't intending to show up here today?" she asked. "It happens. You're on Fandom Island, off the coast of Maryland, and this is Fandom High. It's a school."

"I was intending to show up where I left." Jalian couldn't remember if she knew where Maryland or Fandom High were, but she had definitely left the Big Road. She cursed the Corvichi spatial stabilizers.

"How do you know my name?"

"Your name was on the list of new students," Vider said, gesturing toward the tables. "Putting you with it was just a lucky guess. Most people have nametags already, and you didn't, so." She shrugged. "We should get you yours, so your roommate can find you."

Yes. You also had a roommate.

"I should explain a few things. This island is located on...they call it a dimensional nexus. Where a lot of different worlds come together. Sometimes people end up here without meaning to, because of the nexus."

Jalian blinked at her for a moment, then cursed out loud. "It must have pulled the Doorway off course!" Still, looking around, she was clearly pre-Armageddon. The exact place didn't matter so much. She still wasn't clear on how she was expected, but perhaps she'd skipped a bit further back before landing here?

No matter. Jalian nodded. It was a place to start, in any case. "I don't recognize your markings," she confessed, nodding at Vider's cheek. "Is that your clan?" Did they have clans now?

"My tattoo signifies that I'm one of Odin's berserkers," Vider explained, "but we're not exactly a clan. It's as much a warning to others as anything. Berserkers can be very dangerous, in the frenzy." Understatement. "But don't worry about that. I'm supposed to tell you about the island, and the school."

"Anyone can be dangerous, given enough provocation," Jalian noted. She was relieved to have someone tell her about things, though. Not that she wouldn't make her own determinations, but any information was good, even if it ended up being flawed. "Please, tell me about this place."

"Right," Vider began, "so, this is a boarding school, and because of the nexus, we get people from different time periods and even different universes. In my world, for example, the people of Old Scandia settled North America along with our gods; for most people that's not true. What's your world like?"

"Ken Selvren occupies the forests by the Big...by the ocean," she corrected herself, "of the North Coast," Jalian answered. "By the calendar in current use, it was approximately the year 2731 when I left. I do not know where Old Scandia is, or North America." She studied science, not ancient geography.

"And I have never met any gods," she added as an afterthought. She had long since stopped thinking of the Corvichi as gods.

"So we're from very different worlds," Vider concluded. "Here, the year is 2014--I don't know what they're counting from--and it's the third day of the month of May. It's a Saturday." She still pronounced that word like it was foreign and she wasn't quite sure of it. "I'll get you a calendar."

"What year is it?" Jalian looked truly shocked at that. 2014? It couldn't be! Armageddon had clearly not happened. Maybe the years were wrong; had she somehow misread the old texts or miscalculated the times?

"2014," Vider repeated patiently. "Again, I don't know the numbering system. I should ask someone about that."

"It was an archaic system based on the presumed life of a hypothetical savior and adopted into use in many populated areas," Jalian answered dismissively. "But it can't be right, or I have ended up in the wrong timeline entirely!"

What would she do if that were the case? It could take years to build another Doorway, even if she had the proper tools and technology.

"I really can't help you with that," Vider admitted. "Maybe you could talk to someone at Portalocity? But between you and me, they don't seem that reliable. For now it might be best to stick with the school, strange as it can be."

Jalian made a note of the strange name and the fact that Vider thought them unreliable and filed it away for later. Information. She needed information, and a school was where you got that. She nodded. "I will learn what I can."

"There are some things you do need to know about the school, though," Vider warned her. "There are trolls in the dorms. They call them gremlins, but I still think they're trolls. They don't seem to be the most dangerous sort, I haven't heard of any fatalities, but their bite can make people hallucinate. I've made offerings, and they've left me alone so far. And sometimes strange things just happen here--strange objects fall from the sky, or people change shapes for a weekend or so."

Trolls or gremlins; they sounded like dangerous vermin. "I will watch for them." As to the rest - other aliens? Strange sicknesses? Jalian was realizing with a sinking feeling that there were all sorts of things she hadn't planned for. "I'll be careful. Is there a defense?"

"There are people from other worlds," Vider confirmed, "but they're mostly students or teachers like the rest of us. I don't know of any sicknesses. When we need to defend ourselves--well, there are a lot of adventuresome types here; usually it's not very well organized." Vider sounded disapproving. "Somehow it always works out in the end, though."

Jalian nodded. Organization was good, but so was being flexible. She supposed it depended on who was running things. "Who is in charge here?"

"The principal of the school is Zoe Winchester," Vider said, indicating her to Jalian. "Someone else is in charge of the town, but I've never met him and I don't know anything about him, I'm afraid."

"Him." You could probably hear and see the scorn there. Jalian was aware that males had had positions of authority before the fire; it didn't mean she had to think they deserved it. At least there was a proper female person in charge of teaching.

Vider wasn't drawing any conclusions. She had been Lokiskin; they had their own set of issues regarding males in charge. "Like I said, I don't know anything about him."

Jalian just nodded. She wouldn't worry much about him. If you could live here and not know anything about him, he couldn't be looking things over very well.

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

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