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]

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'll pick the highlights," Kathy said. "But yes. We do. As your big sister, it's my duty to try to make you more culturally aware even as it's your job as my little sister to drag your feet and protest the whole way."

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

[bestatmystery]

Lottie heaved a sigh. "Fine. But then you have to listen to some black metal with me."

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

[spin_kick_snap]

"That's cool," Kathy said. "I don't really know many bands because I'm wary of listening to any who are part of the NSBM movement. I mean, I've got Jenava and Averse Sefira and the old stuff by, like, Darkthrone and Mayhem, but that's pretty much it."

Kathy had very eclectic tastes in music.

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

[bestatmystery]

"I like the ones that make my mum's teeth do this," Lottie said, and gritted her teeth demonstratively. "I've got my own band called SEPTIC CRISIS. Well. It's mainly in my head. My best friend Shauna is better at singin it than me."

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

[spin_kick_snap]

"I listen to most of my music through earbuds," Kathy admitted with a shrug. "I accidentally let my dad overhear the lyrics to Gangsta Gangsta once and he broke the CD. I switched to mp3s after that."

Look, when you lived less than twenty miles away from the place that revolutionized a musical genre, you pretty much owed it to yourself to become a fan, you know?

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

[bestatmystery]

"Mum's old boyfriend once tried to get me into his old man music, but he'd never've dared break my records." That's right, records! Lottie was well old school. Mostly because it took forever to get Mum to get her a proper music player. "Mum woulda tossed him RIGHT OUT."

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

[spin_kick_snap]

You were so lucky that Kathy refused to judge people on principle, Lottie, or she'd be yelling 'hipster' right now. Hipsteeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrr.

"Well, I'm sure it's different when it's your dad versus some guy you're mom's seeing," Kathy said, a little awkwardly. "What kind of old man music?"

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

[bestatmystery]

Was it really still being a hipster when all you had access to was an old turntable?

"Prob'ly," Lottie agreed easily. "The usual. McEnroe Cash's Gas Bag, that lot." Kathy probably wouldn't have recognized the band name even if Lottie had gotten it right. "The only thing he got right was all those old Beetles albums."

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

[spin_kick_snap]

No, that was fair, but all Kathy knew was that Lottie had records and liked black metal because it made her mom grimace.

"The Beatles were okay," Kathy said. "Foundational, sure, but their lyrics really aren't much to write home about. Especially their earlier stuff."

Oh Kathy, you had no idea how awesome Lottie's Beetles were.

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

[bestatmystery]

She had no idea yet.

"The Beetles are the only thing from the sixties that's worthwhile," Lottie insisted. "Who needs lyrics when you're reinventin lady-music the world over?"

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

[spin_kick_snap]

"...Lady-music?"

Attention: snagged.

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

[bestatmystery]

Lottie nodded. "They're still inspirin girl rockers all over Britania." Maybe America had forgotten about the Fabulous Foursome. Americans were strange like that.

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

[spin_kick_snap]

Oh no. They hadn't forgotten about the Beatles. But Kathy's version was just a little different.

"...Wait. Are you saying the Beatles in your world were girls?"

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

[bestatmystery]

"Judy, Paula, Georgina, and Ringo, yeah." Lottie tilted her head. "What, America has a different set of Beetles?"

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

[spin_kick_snap]

"Well, no, I mean, yes, I mean--not America."

Right. That cleared things up quite handily.

"Okay, so I think we might need to back up a little bit. What do you know about the concept of the multiverse?"

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

[bestatmystery]

"Is that what you call the songs that are in the vicinity of 18 minutes long?"

What? They'd just been talking about music.

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

[spin_kick_snap]

"No, but now that you mention it..." Wait, no, no getting sidetracked. "Okay, so we have the universe, right? And you know how everyone talks about parallel dimensions, where everything's the same except for one tiny detail or whatever? That's what the multiverse is. A collection of all the parallel dimensions in reality. In my version of the world, the Beatles are a band of five guys. In yours, it sounds like they were actually kinda cool."

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

[bestatmystery]

"My mates and I love them," Lottie said. "Though they did get right weird towards the end." She pondered the multiverse theory as Kathy had explained it. "Cor, we musta created BUNCHES of universes when we had to keep goin back to stop the train derailment!"

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

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy took a moment to wonder how popular opinion regarded Lottie's version of Yoko Ono, especially if she'd been gender-swapped as well. Huh.

"Probably," Kathy said, realizing she'd probably gotten the easiest little sibling on the planet, at least as far as Fandom explanations went. "Most of the hows and wherefores are pretty theoretical, as far as I know, but going back in time sounds like it would spiral off into thousands of new universes. My friend Barry might know more about the science of it, but he's hermiting in his lab."

As usual.

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

[bestatmystery]

"Oooo, is he a mad scientist? We got a few of those back home. Always accidentally makin zombies when they're tryin to create renewable energy."

That wasn't quite how Tim had managed it, but then Lottie hadn't really been paying attention at the time. Being tiny and all.

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

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not a mad scientist and definitely not the zombie-creating sort," Kathy said firmly. "But brilliant beyond all reason, yeah."

Brilliant enough to be aware of how easily he could become that sort, which was why he'd created his Ethics Committee.

"Definitely the kind of guy who'd get temporal mechanics."

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

[bestatmystery]

"My mate Mildred's dad is like that," Lottie said. "The nice kind of crazy smart, I mean. He's a Quantum Physics professor at the college and talks about things like comic strings and weevil-holes."

Those were not quite the things he'd talked about, no. But in Lottie's defense, she'd gotten this second hand from Mildred.

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

[spin_kick_snap]

"String theory and wormholes?" Kathy guessed.

She didn't know much about quantum mechanics, but she had a baseline, at least.

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

[bestatmystery]

"Sure," Lottie agreed easily. "Mildred was doin a lot of gloating when she told me, she could've gotten it wrong."

Mildred really likely hadn't gotten it wrong.

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

[spin_kick_snap]

For all Kathy knew, in the universe where the members of the Beatles had all been women (and spelled their name properly), the proper terms really could have been comic strings and wormholes.

"If you're curious, the library has a great science section," Kathy offered. "You can explain stuff to Mildred next time."