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

[bigdamnprincipal]

The last picnic for new arrivals had involved a bonfire, but there was no need for artificial warmth today. The weather outside was sunny, and just breezy enough that no one would roast, hopefully. There were tables and chairs arranged around the lawn, along with a long table of food, drinks, and desserts for anyone who stopped by.

There were stacks of nametags for people to label themselves with, and lists to help folks find their siblings and roommates. With everything in order, it was time to welcome some new people!

[OCD is 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!]

Comments

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

Jono had made sure she'd gotten her nametag, and Alluka had promptly stuck it on her sleeve, and then he'd gently pointed her in the direction of a bunch of people and told her to go find her sibling, some person called Anders.

Alluka didn't really get it, since she already had four brothers and had no idea what was she going to do with another sibling, but she went and looked anyway. Her stuffed bunny was safely clutched in her arms.

She came to a stop in front of Anders, saw his nametag, and beamed up at him. "You're my sibling!"

Jono had said so!

[Jono modded with permission!]

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"I am?" Anders was startled by how excited she sounded -- and a bit by the bunny, too -- but when somebody smiled at him that way, it wasn't really in him not to smile back. "Er, I suppose I am, aren't I? They didn't tell me your name ahead of time ..."

There was a long pause as he looked her over for the nametag. "Alluka. Am I saying that right?"

He was, more or less.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

"You got mine right! Jono told me your name," Alluka shared, like it was a secret. "And he told me to find you, so I did."

She was going on so many adventures today.

"Have you been in the castle? There's a castle!"

He... probably knew that already, but she was still excited by it.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"It's where the classes and dorms are," Anders agreed, still smiling at her enthusiasm. She seemed younger than most of the students, but that might be down to how excited she was -- and besides, he knew he was old for his age. "Honestly, I still have days where I can't believe I live in a castle."

Not that it was as impressive on the inside as it looked on the outside, but still. Castle.

"You already met Professor Starsmore? Did he drive the shuttle?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka shook her head.

"I was having a tea party in my room and then a swirly thing was there and I dropped my bunny in it and came after it!" Which wasn't precisely how it had gone, but it was mostly correct. "And then I was here! The grass is really soft."

Did he know grass was soft? That was pretty exciting to her.

"And it's outside and Jono was there and he said that I don't have to be a princess to go to the castle. And... and he's right, right?"

She really, really wanted to go to the castle.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"He is," Anders said, just barely pausing at the mention of the tea party. "Almost nobody here's noble."

Which was a good thing,as far as Anders was concerned. He brightened when he realized she'd mentioned a swirly blue thing.

"Oh, you got a portal here too! Did it make you feel sick? Mine made me feel sick."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

"Nooo," she said, thinking about it. "I just fell."

Her bunny had a hard nose to land on, but it hadn't really hurt her or anything.

"Jono said it took me out of my room," Alluka added helpfully. "But we're still in my room, since I didn't use a door."

Her logic was totally sound, Anders.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"So all these people and the castle are still in your room?" Anders asked skeptically. "How would that work?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

She grinned at him and flung her arms wide, the bunny dangling from one hand as she gestured. "It means my room is a really big room!"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

Anders couldn't actually argue with her logic there. Not without being mean, anyhow, and being mean to Alluka would be like kicking a kitten.

"All right," he agreed. "Well, this part of your room is Fandom Island, and we're in a place called Maryland, and they call the year 2015, and ... what else would you like to know?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

Her room was now the biggest.

In the back of her mind, Alluka really hoped her parents believed that when they found her. She really, really did.

She was a good girl!

"Am, am I really going to school here?" she wondered. "I've never been to school before."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"If you're registered for classes and have a sibling assigned, you probably are," Anders nodded. "Don't worry. It confused me too, when I got here. But the classes aren't hard and the people are nice."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

"There's so many people here," she agreed, though it was hard to tell exactly what she was agreeing to. Alluka was like that sometimes. "I think I have classes, Jono said something about that."

But Jono had also been bleeding and mumbling about first aid, so Alluka hadn't really gotten everything he'd said.

"Is it hard to get used to school?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"I'm not sure," Anders said honestly. "For me the bigger change was the technology. We don't have anything like it at home. I'd been in classes before."

He mulled it over, offered, "The first time I was ... away from home, I was so homesick and angry I didn't talk for weeks. You're already doing better than I was."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

Oh. Oh, that sounded sad.

"Did you want to hug my bunny?"

Maybe that would make him feel better, even though he was clearly talking now.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"... yes." Anders hadn't expected the offer, but he'd accept it. He reached for the stuffed animal. "This was ages ago, though. I'd just gone 12. Missed my mum more than anything."

Out of curiosity, he asked Alluka, "How old are you?" The way she looked and the way she acted didn't quite match up.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka tried to imagine missing her mother and didn't really know how to feel about that. Mother was complicated. So she ignored that thought and gave Anders her bunny instead, so he wouldn't be sad anymore.

She bounced on her toes. "I'm fourteen!"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"Oh, I thought you might be younger," Anders admitted. "Fourteen is an excellent age to be."

Not that he could map his kind of fourteen -- which had mainly been about yearning for this or that thing that he couldn't have -- onto anything with stuffed animals and tea parties. But people were different, and if Alluka was a young fourteen, it just meant she'd need a big sibling more.

"I'll be seventeen next month."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

"You're old," she said happily. "So I have another big brother now!"

She had a collection, you see. Though so far he was much nicer than either Milluki or Illumi was.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"Positively ancient," Anders said, eyes crinkling as he smiled. "You have brothers at home, too? How many?"

He squeezed the stuffed bunny as he spoke, a little awkwardly, and found it did make him feel better. He offered it back to Alluka once he was done.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

She took her bunny back and squished it up in a hug tightly before answering his question.

"I have four!" Alluka said, and rattled their names off. "Illumi, Milluki, Killua, and Kalluto."

Her parents had really, really liked the double 'L'.

"Only Kalluto's littler than me," she added. "The rest are older."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"Big family," Anders said, raising his eyebrows. "I'm an only child, so I can't really imagine it. Unless it's the same as having roommates."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

She looked down at her bunny, before smiling up at him.

"I've never had a roommate," she admitted. "So I don't know! I don't see them very often either."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"Oh, I thought siblings were always up in each other's business," Anders said,waving a hand vaguely. "It doesn't matter. So -- not to completely change the subject, but does your world have magic or people with powers or ...anything along those lines?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2015]

[that_oldsaying]

She didn't really want to talk about her siblings anyway! Except Killua. She did love Killua lots.

"Yes!" she cheered, okay with the subject change. "Lots of people do! They do all sorts of exciting sounding things! It's not magic though. Magic's only in books."

A beat.

"And here! Jono said magic was here too."