fandomhigh | Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part II

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!event: welcome picnic

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

There were tables and chairs set up all around the lawn. Some were in the sun, where folks could soak up that precious vitamin D, and some were in the shade where folks could stay cool.

All of the tables had at least a little glitter on them though. It was a welcoming gesture to get glitter someplace you didn't know glitter could go!

[OCD is up! This is the picnic post for general mingling. Roommates, fake siblings and teachers are all here. Since it's outside, the picnic is open to all students, teachers, and townies!]

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"Elsa's a pretty name," she said, smiling. "I bet she's pretty too."

A beat.

"You are too!" So that Hanna didn't get the wrong idea! "Anders is my sibling. He's nice. He showed me magic!"

That last question got a big of a shrug from Alluka. "Maybe," she hedged.

Hanna nodded slowly, letting that go. Because there were a lot of reasons that could be the case, and some she probably couldn't imagine.

"Anders is very nice, yes. I'm glad he'll be looking out for you. Had you seen magic before? Do they have it, where you're from?... I was very startled the first time I saw it, since I hadn't expected it."

"Magic brought me here, Jono said," Alluka replied, bouncing a little. "That was the only magic I saw before Anders did it, but I read about it in stories. Are you okay with magic now?"

"Ah, you already met Professor Starsmore. He drove the bus my first day here." Hanna considered the question, then slowly said, "For the most part, yes. When it's used to harm people, no. But I think that's true of anything, not just magic."

Alluka drooped a little.

"There's bad magic?"

"Not from anyone who is here right now," Hanna hedged. "Someone was here a couple months ago, and he was... not a good person. But some of the people here made him leave, and take his magic with him." She squirmed a little, and admitted, "I got sick because of one of the magic items he had."

"You should have another cookie," Alluka said hopefully. "And maybe get a band-aid, if you're still feeling sick. Are you okay?"

She was trying to be helpful. Key word, of course, being 'trying'.

"I am okay now," Hanna promised her, and took another cookie anyway. "You take one too. Anders was actually very helpful, after I was sick, and helped make me feel better." She smiled a little and added, "So yes. Magic can be lovely. You just have to be... very careful." More careful than she'd been, anyway. Though to be fair, she'd had no idea magic was involved.

Alluka took a cookie because it was a cookie and how could she say no to that.

"Thank you," she said, all big eyes and a smile since Hanna was okay. "Can people learn to be careful with it?"

"I think so. I don't have any magic myself. But there are classes here, for how to use it to defend yourself, and how to approach it," Hanna offered, nibbling the cookie. "Anders would be a better person to ask, though."

"Anders gave me a snowball," she shared. "It melted and was cold."

It had been great!

The question 'had you ever seen snow before?' hovered on the tip of Hanna's tongue, but seemed... rude, somehow. Because she'd be asking it because of Alluka saying she'd never been out of her room.

"I love snow," Hanna shared instead. "Where I lived before here, there was snow around most of the year. It's strange to be somewhere it snows for only a few months of the year."

"You had snow most of the year?!" That seemed so strange and exciting to her. "That means your place was really cold, right?"

"Very cold, except for a couple months in summer," Hanna confirmed. She smiled. "I liked it, though. My father and I... hunted and fished, and survived off the forest above the Arctic Circle. In Finland." She tilted her head and asked, "What was the name of your home?" There, that was vague enough. It could be a country, a city, or anything else, really.

Erm.

Alluka went back to studying her bunny as she thought about Hanna's question.

"My room," she said, after a long few moments.

That was... probably not going to alleviate Hanna's concerns at all, but it was all Alluka had to work with. Her parents had never told her where they were and her grasp on geography was terrible.

Well. That answered that, really. Steering away from that part of the conversation, Hanna said equably, "Did Professor Starsmore or anyone else tell you about where Fandom is, compared to other places?"

Really, Alluka's family. You were the worst, to quote Kathy.

She brightened.

"No!" Alluka said, and fixed a hopeful stare on Hanna. "But you could tell me?"

"I am happy to." Hanna handed her another cookie. You were going to get fed a lot, Alluka. "Fandom is a small island. Just the town you see, and the castle and school. We are connected to Maryland by a causeway, though-- it's only a few miles to a much, much larger city called Baltimore, in the state of Maryland. In the United States of America, which is ridiculously large." Being European, Hanna occasionally wondered why they needed four time zones. Really, America. "We are in the Chesapeake Bay, which connects to the Atlantic Ocean, which is marvelous. Did you follow all that?"

As Alluka obediently nibbled on her cookie, she listened to Hanna, her expression slowly getting more and more overwhelmed.

"...No," she admitted. She'd gotten lost a whole bunch of names ago. "But I can try to remember!"

Hanna laughed, but it was a nice laugh. "I'm sorry, I forget to go slower sometimes... Just remember, Fandom. Baltimore is the big city. Atlantic is the ocean. Most of the rest of it doesn't matter for the most part." She cocked her head. "There might be field trips to other places, though. We had a trip on a cruise ship a few months ago. And some of the teachers take their students to other places."

"We get to go other places?!"

Alluka was so happy being here that just that thought was super unreal to her.

"Lots of other places," Hanna promised her. "All kinds. And so many things to do. I think you'll really love it here."

"Do we need permission for all of the places?" Alluka asked.

It would be extremely hard to get permission from her parents and Alluka didn't even want to try.

"I don't think so. At least, not as long as you're with a group or teacher," Hanna amended. "You might want to ask the principal or one of the staff, though. I haven't tried to go anywhere without them." She smiled a little. "Any other questions?... and what is your bunny's name?"

"I'll ask the principal," she said happily, since she had to ask the principal something else already anyway. Alluka hugged her bunny a little tighter. "It's name is a secret."

Re: Mingling and Such [Summer 2015]

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