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

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!]

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And Cecil was similarly wandering about with Foucault in tow, looking for a - oo, there she was!

"Cosima?" he asked, just to be sure. "Hi! I'm Cecil!" Like his sparkly nametag said!

"That's me," Cosima agreed, with a slightly puzzled smile. "Nice to meet you. Is that ... is it your bird?"

She hadn't seen a pet flamingo before.

And Foucault was an osmingo, so extra-special!

"He is! His name's Foucault. Don't worry; he's really friendly." Which was probably a good thing, as he was craning his neck to blink at Cosima up close. "Did you have a nice trip? Oh! And where are you coming from? That's important." He had to know his baselines; ♥Carlos♥ would be so proud!

"He's looking at me," Cosima said, raising a finger to see if the bird wanted to ... sniff it? Bite it? Whatever. "And I'm from San Francisco. Flight wasn't bad except I seem to already have jet lag." A pause. "A lot of jet lag."

Because that could make it seem like people were saying things that made no sense, right?

Foucault would absolutely search that finger to see if it had food! And if not, well, scritches were always nice!

"I'll try and make things quick, then," Cecil promised. "And if you get tired or anything, I can run interference so you can escape to your room!"

"No, I'm not that tired," Cosima clarified, scratching at the bird's head. "Just ... I think I'm confused? Like, I was talking to this girl in the airport, and I swear to God it sounded like she was talking about aliens like everybody met them all the time."

"But I can totally have a conversation," she added, absently swishing her dreads back over her shoulder.

"Oh, not all the time." Cecil shrugged. "I don't think we had any in Fall's class? And I haven't met this one yet mostly. Definitely sometimes, though. Okay, so you're from some place that doesn't have aliens often? We do get some of them here. So that's one thing. Um." He tried to think about anything weird here...

"What are your librarians like back home?"

"They're nice," Cosima said slowly, still trying to wrap her head around the sudden topic change as well as the way Cecil seemed to think aliens were pretty normal too. "Like, they tell you to shush but they're pretty awesome at helping you find things. And if by 'aliens' we mean 'people from outer space,' we ... don't actually have those where I'm from. At least not on Earth."

"Okay." Cecil nodded. "That's mostly what they're like here, too. I'm used to more deadly ones. What about magic? Do you have that? Some people here seem surprised about it."

"We have card tricks," Cosima said. "And, like, Penn and Teller. There's magic magic here?"

That definitely hadn't been in the brochure.

"I think so," Cecil answered. "Oh, and changing into things. If you're not used to that, you probably want to get clothes for a kid-sized you and a boy you. If you grow new limbs or anything, the shop in town has clothes for just about every body type, but it's not like you can plan for everything, right?"

"... okay, now you're just messing with me."

She didn't really think he was, but Cosima couldn't think of anything else to say. This had gone from "weird but interesting" to "fairly terrifying."

"Um...no?" Cecil shrugged. "As a big sibling it's my job to tell you all about all the weird things here you might not have back home. I'm...not sure what counts as weird, but those are all things other folks have said they had a hard time with. Oh, and Pinkie Pie!" he pointed her out.

Hey, it was a time-honored tradition.

"That's the pink pony," Cosima said, still looking a little green. She swallowed, told herself to be brave. For Science. "So ... it really doesn't make a difference here whether things are scientifically possible or not, is what I'm getting. Everything's totally crazy."

She thought about it.

"I guess I can call it a research opportunity?"

For the summer, anyhow. She wasn't a big enough wuss to turn around and go right home.

Cecil got, if it was possible, even bouncier. "Oo! Are you a scientist? I'm really into science!" Or a specific scientist. One of those.

"I am," Cosima confirmed. "Especially biology, and, like, evolution and medicine, but basically give me a lab to play in and I'm happy."

"That's so neat!" Cecil enthused. "My boyfriend, ♥Carlos♥, is a scientist. He's always poking about with test tubes and dials and things. You'll have to meet him if he comes to visit!"

"Absolutely," Cosima enthused. "What's his field? And, so ... people here are cool with you having a boyfriend?"

Not that Cosima was within a light year of having a girlfriend, but it was worth knowing what attitudes were like.

"Oh, you know - science!" It was possible Cecil wasn't really clear on the idea of fields.

It was possible Carlos wasn't, either.

"The squirrels get a little tired of me talking about him sometimes and hurry me up," he confessed. "But to be fair, Station Management back home did that, too. Oh! I do radio once a week. You should always listen to the radio - it's got all the important news for the island every day."

So it was such a non-issue Cecil hadn't even understood the question?

Cool.

"Yeah?" Cosima asked, interested. "There's that much important stuff that happens every day?"

She had the city kid opinion that small town life was dull.

"Well, sometimes it's just important because you should get to know the people around you." Cecil shrugged. "But sometimes there's live-saving stuff."

Cosima tilted her head to the side. "Life-saving? Keep talking."

She hadn't expected her life to be in danger at high school. (Well, unless an earthquake randomly hit, but that was more an SF kind of worry.)

"Oh, like when there's an invasion of things - I think the last one was flying eels? - they can tell you where not to go. Well, if it's longer than a day, anyway. Or they can say there's a meeting at the town hall to get to, or something like that. It's definitely good to stay up on the news." Cecil nodded firmly.

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

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