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

Entry tags:

!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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"Oh, I'm not scared," Rapunzel said quickly, shaking her head and letting go of her hair. "Don't worry. I know -- there's someone I know at home who does magic, and she's not scary."

That wasn't true -- Mother could be very scary. But that was beside the point at the moment.

"But...I've never thought of people's magic powers being explained with biology," she added, her nervousness turning back into interest. "You mean, there's people who can...do things, and it's part of who they are, biologically?"

That sounded like her. Mother had always said she was born with her gift.

"That's it exactly." Raven glanced around, more from habit than to actually see if anyone else was watching. "You wanna see?"

Eyes wide, Rapunzel nodded eagerly. "Yeah -- I mean, if you wanna show me."

There were other people with powers, like her, and she'd met one.

This, alone, was worth getting out of her tower.

It was a hell of a thing, wasn't it?

"Okay," Raven said. She thought for a moment, then went for a simple hair and dress change, blonde for brown, yellow gingham for deep charcoal. "Tada!"

"How -- whoa, how did you do that?" Rapunzel asked, verging on a squeal of excitement. "Are you like, part chameleon?"

At that, Pascal peeked out from under her hair, dropping his own camouflage and eyeing Raven with interest.

"That's amazing! You can just change what you look like that easily?"

"I don't know," Raven said, giving Pascal a little wave. "Maybe?" She did have scales, after all. "I've just always been able to do it. I can actually look like anything I want, but I think that spooks people a little. Not around here, but back home, definitely."

To understate it just a little.

Rapunzel nodded, growing a bit more serious. "Is it not common where you're from?" she asked, playing a little with her hair again. "I mean, I think that's amazing, but...people get scared when they don't know what they're looking at."

Or greedy, when they did.

"My brother can read minds," Raven said, relaxing back into her more habitual form. "But I've never met anyone else exactly like me. He thinks we're brand new, like the start of a new species. Do you know anyone back home like that?"

"Kind of," Rapunzel hedged. "I, um, I know someone who has an ability to heal people, since they were a baby. But...there's magic with it, too. I don't think that person is the start of a whole new species of people."

She hoped not, anyway. It sounded like a lot of responsibility that she wasn't ready for.

"But only the one person with powers like that. I've never met anyone like you -- well, except Pascal, but he is a chameleon -- or a mind-reader or...anything like that. That's incredible."

"Oh wow," Raven said. "Being able to heal people would be an amazing gift." And rather more useful around here than maybe at most schools. "So magic and abilities aren't that common where you're from, either, huh?"

"I don't think so," Rapunzel said carefully. "I mean, I've always been told that...people with gifts like that are very valuable, so there aren't many, and they aren't open about it or someone might try to take them to use their powers for their own gain. Magic, I think, is a little more common. The witch I know isn't very secretive about it."

She guessed, anyway. Mother liked to brag about when she'd go to taverns and bewitch men for her own gain, but Rapunzel wasn't sure if that counted.

"I never really thought about it like that," Raven said. Red Raven hadn't been taken, after all, she'd been blackmailed into using her gifts for someone else. Totally different. "You know a witch? A real one, who can do all kinds of magic tricks, not just one? That must be amazing."

Rapunzel sort of shrugged, looking a bit self-conscious. "Kinda? My...mother's a witch, actually. She doesn't use magic very often, but I know she can. But she's the only witch I know, so far. There are magic-users here, though?"

"There's a little bit of everything here, really," Raven said. "As far as I can tell. I've been here about a year, now, but there are others who've been around much longer."

"Do you like it here?" Rapunzel asked plainly. She was beginning to, but...if Raven had been here a year, she must not hate it.

"Definitely," Raven said. "I'm not going to pretend that it's always wonderful and perfect, but the people are wonderful, and I get chances to do things here I'd never get back home. In my time, young women like me are expected to just focus on meeting boys and getting married."

Rapunzel frowned. "...and that's all?" she asked, her nose wrinkling.

Of course, if she hadn't been raised in a tower, that would probably be her focus, as well. but Rapunzel had so many hobbies at this point that that sounded incredibly dull.

"I mean, that sounds great! As long as it's not all you're doing."

Edited 2014-05-03 21:12 (UTC)

"It really kind of is," Raven said, rolling her eyes. "Though that's what I get for getting adopted by a classy 'old money' family. Poorer people, they get to work for a living."

'Have to', Raven. The phrase you want there is 'have to work for a living'.

"Getting married might be nice enough someday, but I'd much rather get out and see the world instead of just staying home and yelling at the maid all day."

"Exactly," Rapunzel sighed, her smile widening again. "It's terrible to be stuck at home all the time -- I mean, it's nice enough if you know how to entertain yourself, but...I wouldn't want to just be expected to be home all day yelling at a maid, either. Although, at least you'd have the maid for company, if you wanted it?"

That was something. At least, Rapunzel would've taken a maid, in her more bored moments. Not that she minded doing her own chores, but it would've been nice to have someone to talk to other than her mother and Pascal.

"I think, if I ever get married and have a maid, I will take her with me on my worldly adventures," Raven decided. "Then I get to have company and get out of the house."

Her husband didn't really enter into it. That was still a pretty abstract comment to Raven, even at 17.

"There you go!" Rapunzel said happily. "You get to see everything and have a buddy. I mean, I think the interview for your maid might be different than what people usually look for, though. Less floor-scrubbing talent, more willingness to travel."

"A ladies' companion," Raven said. "Like in old novels."

"And you'd be able to see and do everything without any pressure or having to cater to your husband's whims!" Rapunzel added. "Not that he necessarily has bad whims, but in this example I'm assuming he's very busy and important and can't go traveling with you."

Husbands were also very abstract to Rapunzel. Particularly since she'd only seen her first boy in person earlier today.

"I think this is starting to sound like a plan," Raven said. "That is, if my current plans to be a hip single bohemian fall through."

"What's a bohemian?" Rapunzel asked with interest. That sounded fun, too, as long as bohemian didn't mean something terrible.

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

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