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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"You sound so certain," Thorin replied, almost teasing.

Well, if he was almost teasing, Elsa was almost blushing.

"They're not the sort of lessons I was expecting to be taking when I enrolled in this school," she admitted, reaching a hand up to awkwardly touch her hair. "Classes on navigating rough terrain and so on aren't really what I had in mind, anyway."

Thorin frowned at that, but the race of men were very different in how their females were taught, he supposed.

"It's a valuable skill. A ruler should learn all they can for the benefit of their people."

"And that's why I took the class," Elsa said mildly, though she was smiling a bit to herself all the same. It would be practically scandalous back home, but this place has given me an opportunity to learn things I never would have in Arendelle."

Like how to wear trousers. And that she had some very fabulous hips.

If they were clad in a well crafted armor, Thorin might notice them. But alas.

"Truly?" He'd never really understand that strange separation among the genders of men.

"Truly," Elsa agreed, giving a little shake of her head. "Not that most people back home would know me to see me, I suppose."

She paused, and then gave him a wry smile.

"Is that really so strange, where you're from?"

"While our females are rarer than those of men." Because Tolkien was effin' weird. "We would not keep them from their chosen craft. It is the purpose of our race to honor our maker with the skills granted to us."

And his sister hit far harder than his brother could.

You go, sis!

"I like that," Elsa decided, after a pause. "Strengthen your people by letting your people play to their strengths. More societies should embrace that."

Her life would have gone way differently if she had, for example.

But they weren't elves, so. Sucks to be them.

"We are a steadfast people," Thorin agreed with a nod. "Men tend to be more... transient? Your lives are shorter than ours."

The fleeting quality is what drew elves to them, after all.

Elsa was beginning to get an inkling that she was talking to a member of a completely different species, not just a very short human.

What? They were royalty. Weird things happened.

"How... how much shorter? Tell me more about your people, please, I'm curious."

She could sell that request with a smile, right? Elsa smiled good.

Got it in one, Elsa! Got it in one.

"I believe the oldest of my time was near three hundred. And my line is longer lived than others."

"That... is actually fascinating," Elsa replied, blinking. "That long? I can't imagine what I would do with that much time."

It would be a very long time to sit inside alone and be afraid. Which would suck. A lot.

"Elves live for thousands of years, I hear," he added. Now that sounded horrible. "We devote ourselves to our crafts. And if we are lucky, we may find a mate to share our lives with."

And then Tolkien made the gender ratio 3 to 1. Oh, Tolkien. You didn't know what the fangirls would do with that. You didn't know.

Well, 'mate' was a word that Elsa was never going to use, ever. With a ratio like that, people from Middle Earth might have stood to be scandalized by a queen-to-be who didn't have any plans of having children, ever, perhaps.

"It sounds like a goal worth reaching for," she decided, smiling a little. "To make the best of what you have, however long you're given. And what is your craft? Or am I asking too many questions? Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

... Elsa still didn't do 'people' often.

"I have begun training in smithing and battle," Thorin replied, brighter than before. "I have a few decades more before I will be a master of either."

And, you know, almost an adult.

"Beyond that, I am learning to lead my people when my grandfather and father pass into the halls of our maker."

His diplomacy skills? Not too bad when elves weren't involved. Unfortunately, elves. Always elves.

"I've been trained more in mathematics and diplomacy than smithing and battle," Elsa replied, pleased to see him opening up this way. "But learning to lead... I think that's something we've both got in common. I'll be taking my place as queen back home almost as soon as I leave here."

And if that wasn't a daunting thought, nothing was.

"Battle is intriguing, though," she admitted. "You might even get a chance to put that to use around here if you end up sticking around."

Fandom, she was looking at you.

"You could learn that as well, you know," Thorin pointed out. "A king where I am from must be ready to fight along side the men he sends into battle."

Royals who actually do stuff. What what.

It was actually an intriguing idea. Elsa nodded a little as she mulled it over. It sounded like Thorin's kingdom to be was a sort that was far more likely to see battle than her own. Arendelle... was not big on war. Which didn't mean there was no threat of it, of course. She couldn't account for the actions of the rest of the world.

"I've been picking up a bit, here and there," she noted. "Reading about strategy, mostly. There haven't been many opportunities for me to safely practice the more hands-on approach."

Safely for other people, more than herself. Funny, that.

"A blunted training sword wouldn't do more than a few bruises," Thorin replied, totally not getting what the problem was.

Well, at least that was through no fault of his own. It wasn't as though Elsa was announcing to the picnic at large that she was an ice princess.

"That's true enough. And I have a friend who was going to show me my way around a knife, as well," she allowed. She was maybe going to sit on that 'ice princess' thing a little longer. "I don't know many people who could teach me how to properly hold a sword, though. There's a wider variety of weapons in this place than I ever thought possible."

What, that wasn't something that came up in the first conversation? Weird!

"Oh?"

Right? Elsa was admittedly still getting the hang of this 'conversations with strangers' thing, of course.

"Swords made entirely of light, and projectile weapons a hundred times more destructive than an arrow or a crossbow bolt," she offered, frowning a little. "To name a few."

Thorin frowned a little at that. "Interesting."

Damn it, Elsa. This could only end in trying to fight Smaug with a bazooka.

... That would probably work out better for them! So long as they didn't miss.

Oh god, don't miss.

"It's... different." Elsa's tone made it fairly clear that she wasn't certain if it was a good different or a bad different, and she was erring on the side of 'bad, probably.' "I think that actually took more getting used to for me than the strangeness of the island itself. Just... how far everything has come. How different people themselves are."

How many more ways they had to make other people stop moving.

"I'm starting to see that," Thorin replied, looking at the crowd. He skipped over Pinkie out of sheer self defense of his sanity.

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

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