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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"How do you feel about turning into a boy?" Kathy asked. "Only for a weekend, though. Usually."

She'd heard horror stories about it lasting longer than that, but she'd never personally experienced that so she was hoping it was just something older students said to freak out the newbies.

Lottie didn't much like the sound of that. "Would it make me as dumb as a boy, too?"

"No, no, you're still you," Kathy said, hiding a smile. "Just, you know, in the body of a boy. So as hairy as one. And possibly as smelly."

Most of the guys here had much better hygiene than the ones from back home. But still, there was the faintest traces of eau des hommes lingering in the dorms regardless.

Lottie shuddered dramatically. "A fate worse'n DEATH."

Okay, maybe MELOdramatically

Yup, she'd fit right in with the island.

"You did say to give it my best shot," Kathy said, deciding the conversation about people actually dying (briefly, at least) could be held another time. "Did you want to hear about your future kids now?"

"Oh, wait, I know this one. Are they just like me so's I know what I put my mum through?"

"One of the kids that showed up this year for me took more after his dad than he did me," Kathy said dryly. "That's the joy of alternate future possibile offspring. You'll never know what they're like."

"So are there big time holes all over or somethin?" Lottie asked. "My friends and I went through one to the sixties, once. We bought ice lollies and got chased for our new-fangled moneys."

"More like portals show up randomly and people come out of them." Sometimes little kids. Sometimes the dead. Details. "It's not straight time-travel, because these kids are possibilities, not certainties. At least for most people."

Thank goodness. Because Kathy was quite happy to have a future that didn't involve her being some kind of mobwife or living in Thedas on the run with her apostate mage husband and their apostate mage daughter.

"And there are people from plenty of different times here. One of my friends is from the 50s, another is from the far future, and a third is from a few centuries ago. And there are plenty of people here from different worlds, either aliens or alternate versions of this world. It can kinda get confusing if you're not used to thinking about it this way."

Lottie nodded thoughtfully. "I've met fishmen and trolls and aliens and onion boys and selkies and Russian curse sprites and ghosts and things. But lots of folks even back home still get all excited when something spooky happens. I can see where it'd be a lot for someone to handle."

"Here you'll get aliens and mutants and superheroes," Kathy said. "And squirrels who spy on everything you do and report it on the radio. I think the janitor is a troll, but that might just be a rumor. We do gets ghosts sometimes, too. And sometimes things invade and need to be fought off, but if that's not your thing, that's okay, too."

"I don't know. Mystery used to be my thing, but I haven't found my new thing yet. Maybe fighting invasions could be it!"

It likely wasn't. She was reasonably scrappy for a scrawny 14 year old, but she was still a scrawny 14 year old.

Hey, there were plenty of classes for her if she decided that really was going to be her thing! At fourteen, Kathy never would have guessed that her thing would be running around city rooftops fighting guys.

"What happened to mystery?" Kathy asked. "Why isn't that your thing anymore?"

"Someone burned down our mystery shack on the allotment. It was a SIGN."

Or revenge arson from a crazy French girl. One of those.

"A sign that someone thinks arson is an okay way to express themselves," Kathy said, dubious. "Maybe you'd have a point if it had been struck by lightning or something, but taking the actions of a person as a sign from the universe? That sounds like a much dicier proposition."

"It wasn't just that," Lottie said. It was mostly that. "Mystery is for babies."

Edited 2015-05-03 01:22 (UTC)

"Says who?" Kathy asked, looking confused. "I don't know many kids who go around solving mysteries."

"Really? Kids are pretty much the only ones who do it back home. Well, and Erin Winters, but we hate her."

"What do your cops do, then?" Kathy asked. "And why do we hate Erin Winters?"

She was just going to keep wearing this expression for a bit, yes.

"Well, Linton's dad tries, but there's a lot to keep up with." People in Tackleford were deeply stupid. "Erin Winters is a tabloid reporter. And mean. She's a beast from Hell."

All three of those things were true. Well, mostly. Erin wasn't originally from Hell. She was just its queen.

"Literally or figuratively?" On Fandom, it was good to check. And with some of the things Lottie had said thus far, Kathy felt it was still a good idea.

"Um. The second? But there are rumors."

"...I'm starting to think that maybe Tackleford is Fandom's sister-city or something," Kathy said. "I felt special that my LA had superheroes."

"Oh! My sister's boyfriend tried to be one of those, once. She dumped him for lyin to her." As you do. "And he wasn't very good at it. The Night Stalker still turned into a giant walnut and tried to suck out everybody's hope at once."

Yup. Definitely a sister-city.

"...How do you stop a giant walnut?" Kathy asked. "Cover an oversized nutcracker in positively-charged Psychomagnotheric Slime and hope for the best?"

Kathy was something of a scifi nerd. Just FYI.

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