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 were chairs and tables set up all across the lawn; some were by the bonfire, for the people who wanted to be warm and central to everything else at the picnic, and some were set farther away from the action, for the people who wanted more peace and quiet.

There was no escaping the glitter though. Sorry, but not really.

[OCD is 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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"Sludge probably doesn't travel well anyway," Sparkle declared. "But hey, yeah, we can pick whatever weekend. Maybe not right now, because, you know, there's sweet fuck-all to do in Toronto this time of year. But, I mean, I can look and see if there is something that'll make the trip worth our while. Could be fun."

"Yeah, wait until it's not one giant ice cube and then we'll go," Alana nodded. "... unless that's going to take until way after you graduated. Don't wait thatlong."

"Ha! Yeah, no, I graduate in the summer. Toronto's gonna be thawed out by then. The seasons there are pretty much the same as the seasons here. I think time is going a little slower or something? But whatever, all that means is I'll need to keep my fake ID longer when I go back home."

And... probably keep going to high school for a while more. Details.

"Bummer," Alana commiserated. "Not that it will have thawed -- that part is good -- but that you aren't going to get credit for how old you actually are."

Sparkle shrugged a little and shook his head. Whatever, right? No big deal.

"It's not all bad, I guess. I mean, I'd rather it be going slower than faster. I'm not in a big rush to be thrown out on my ass or something because I aged out of the system while I was away."

Oh god, he'd be behind bars within a week.

"Kind of works in my favour that way. Means I get more time to get my shit together than most kids do."

"I didn't know it worked like that," Alana frowned. "Seriously? The day you turn 18 it's just bam, go figure your own shit out, have fun?"

"It's a little older than eighteen back home," Sparkle sighed, "but yeah... you age out of the system, that's kind of it, unless you've got a good case for it, like, you're going to more school, you might get another year or something. You see a lot of kids try to make a go of it on their own for a while, and it's from the group home into the shelter or the gutter or jail. Fucking sucks. I'm not going to be that kid."

He crossed his arms over his chest, stubbornly.

"Whatever, I mean, really. It isn't like I wasn't getting by on my own before I was picked up."

"Oh, no, I know you'll be fine," Alana said quickly, trying to sound more confident about Sparkle's prospects than she actually felt. "It's just -- that's rough, right? Having to figure everything out on your own? At home the foster kids who don't get into college have the army to take care of them for a couple years."

This was the one good thing about a near-universal draft.

She ran a hand through her hair. "Is there anything we should do to, like, help you prepare?"

"Hell if I know," Sparkle replied with a shrug. "That was supposed to be Lewis' job, and he sent me here. Says it's good for me."

Because he hadn't spent a single night in jail since arriving on the island. Which was a big deal, for Sparks.

"Like, theoretically, I guess I should be looking at schools or something."

"Like, school for what?" Alana mused. "Not that I know the answer to that one for myself, but I get another year."

"Fuck, I don't know. I went to acting camp last summer. That was fun. Not sure if I want to make a living out of it, but it beats some of the alternatives. Doctor Lecter's cooking classes have been fun too. Those come with, like, job stability, I guess. Everyone's got to eat..."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"It's stupid, isn't it? How the hell am I supposed to know what I want to do for the rest of my life any better than anyone else my age?"

People who had been encouraged to get to know themselves and to pursue their passions their entire lives. Not the ones who really had no say in the matter.

"You got me," Alana said, frowning at the ground as if an answer might be there. "Maybe you need to just ... pick something and figure that if you hate it you can do something else later? And cooking's probably safer money-wise than acting."

"Cooking's safer, and I'm better at acting," Sparkle sighed. "Catch-freaking-twenty-two, right?"

He also enjoyed acting more, but he knew better than to think that having fun doing something was enough to ensure that you'd be able to make a living at it.

"Whatever happens, I mean, I still have a little bit of time to think. I need to figure out just how much of a difference there is between here and home, so I know how much time I have left. But this isn't like the panic zone yet or anything like that."

"There's always one of those," Alana sighed. "I used to want to act, back when I was a kid. Don't know if I'm really good enough to make a living at it, but if I could pick any job..."

She laughed at herself a bit as she trailed off. "Probably I'll end up taking a computers course or something, 'cause it's safe."

"Safe is smart and those are the options, right?" Sparkle smirked a little. "Miserable or poor, that's how it usually is. Fuck, maybe one of us'll luck out, in the end. Who knows? I think we deserve some friggin' happiness, like, it isn't like after this place we haven't earned it, right?"

"Hell, make it some happiness for both of us and I'd drink to that," Alana agreed. "... if I had a drink. Okay, so I'll eat an orange to that."

She held up a slice of orange like a cup for toasting.

And Sparkle... he held up a finger, and gave a grin, and then reached into his bag and pulled out a flask.

"Come on, you really think you have to settle for oranges when you're in my company." He held it out to her. "Vodka. Because your student council president is a horrible fucking influence, and what are they going to do? Fire me?"

"I knew I voted for you for a reason," Alana said. (And no, that reason wasn't just that Sparkle had been the only candidate.)

She knocked back a healthy swig of the vodka, then coughed discreetly into her fist -- it had been a while since she had straight liquor,and the burn of it surprised her -- before passing the flask back. "Do you always bring one of those to these shindigs?"

"Usually," Sparkle replied, shrugging and knocking back a mouthful, too. "I mean, I'd spike the punch with it, but alcohol isn't cheap enough for me to share with everyone. I limit myself to people I actually like, these days, and special occasions."

"And this probably counts as both," Alana noted. "I feel awesome now."

"And you should," Sparkle decreed, taking another swig and holding up the flask again in case she wanted more. "I mean, I don't like a hell of a lot of people."

Most people sucked!

"Most people are pretty awful," Alana decided, taking a second, smaller sip. "But not you. Or me. We should celebrate that."

"Drinking to being kickass, then. Sounds good to me." Sparkle cackled, even gave his hands a little clap. "Shit, that is, like, miles better than some of the shit I've decided to drink to. I have to drink to that one more often."

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

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