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

[bigdamnprincipal]

There were tables and chairs set up all around the lawn. Some were in the sun, where folks could work on their tan while they ate, and some were in the shade where folks could stay cool and non-crispy.

All of the tables had some blue and gold glitter scattered across them, because there was always enough to go around. This school certainly was blesesed in all the right ways.

[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!]

Comments

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

She was getting a shit-eating grin either way, since conversations didn't reset that easily.

But you know what, he was going to be... borderline civilized. "I'm Dante," he said. "Thanks. I'm trying to make myself right at home."

As was obvious.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

She could try very hard to make them, though!

"And how's that working out for you?" she asked dryly. "I'm guessing well."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

"I've got free food, a place to crash, and a hot girl talking to me."

Or failing at snarking at him, whichever. "What do you think?"

... Dante still didn't actually trust anything about this set-up, which was kind of ruining it. He was trying not to let it.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

She was succeeding at snarking! She just wasn't...winning! That was all! But she was definitely in second place!

"I--umm--oh. Thank you." Well, okay, now she was failing at snark. Because he'd flustered her again. Raven needed to hurry up and help her get better at compliments. "Uhh...Sounds like you've got your basic Maslow's hierarchy of needs covered then?"

Kathy you dork.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

"My basic what?"

Congratulations. You'd finally officially lost him.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

Probably because Dante's entire life had been a struggle to get even to the base of the pyramid.

"Stupid joke," Kathy said, waving it away. "Just a theory that ranks what you need in life from your basics for survival all the way up to self-actualization and oh my god, I think I was doing better at conversation back when we were just snarking back and forth."

That last part of that should probably not have been verbalized.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante looked distinctly amused, at least, so there was that. (Better to focus on that than on where his own life ranked on the pyramid.)

"Don't worry about it," he said, lounging back again. "You've got a pyramid, you can bury it in there."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

"How pharoah you to say," Kathy said because sometimes she literally couldn't help her mouth.

She did clap a hand over it when she was done though, in a futile attempt to stop herself from talking.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

Awww, Kathy, but you just got a snicker out of Dante! "Hey, don't sphinx it."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

And his joke got a real, delighted smile out of her. Not many people properly appreciated puns!

"Isis-pect you dynasty these jokes coming," she said, dimpling at him.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante formed a gun with the fingers of one hand, and mimed the 'you hit that target right on' salute. "Nice one. Walked it off like an Egyptian."

He only knew that much about Egypt.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

Of course Dante went with the 80s song lyric reference. Of course he did.

"I can't de-Nile I have a flair for puns," Kathy said, still laughing quietly. "I wouldn't have guessed you did, though. Most cool guys aren't into dad humor."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

Look, you worked with what you had. Nobody had exactly given Dante any history lessons.

"Most cool guys aren't this cool," he said, shrugging. "Their loss."

She was very lucky he hadn't thrown in an ice, ice baby reference, though he was tempted.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

It's okay, Dante. Your secret love for terrible 80s pop was safe with Kathy.

"Poor them," Kathy said, nodding. "Somehow I get the feeling you take the time to let them know how badly they're lacking. Purely out of the goodness of your heart, of course."

Well, what was cooler than being cool? Ice cold!

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

Considering what his guns were named for, he'd say it wasn't all that secret.

"Hey, if they try to start shit and don't have the chops to back it up, someone's got to let them know they can't hack it."

He could do this all week.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

That's true. Jungle and Fever did make a very strong statement all by themselves.

"Well, you've certainly made you point," Kathy mused. "I think you might have an edge on most of the competition. It also helps you seem to be enjoying yourself to the hilt."

There needed to be alcohol right now. Specifically for the bystanders.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

"Are you telling me I should've whipped my sword out?"

He didn't even mean the dirty sword, this time! Though he was not above leaving the innuendo in there.

"Pretty sure the security guy who took my guns would have something to say about that."

Yeah, he was going to have a talk with that guy. At some point.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy wrinkled her nose at the 'guns.' Sorry, Dante, but she was from LA. She hadn't had the best experiences with guns even before Eliot had started training her and passing along his general distaste. "You mean like a real sword?" she asked, feeling stupid for asking and half-expecting it to be just innuendo. "There's a salle out back behind the dorms, you know? I go there to practice knifework."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

Yeah, well, save the gun talk for someone who didn't need them on a regular basis.

"Yeah, a real sword," Dante said, but he sounded distracted. "Seriously, though? What kind of school is this?"

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

"Okay, didn't get the spiel or just didn't believe it?" Kathy asked, before shaking her head. "I guess it doesn't matter either way--you wither won't believe me for a few weeks, or you'll believe me immediately because you're life is even weirder than the island."

Kathy had been in the former category when she'd first arrived, so she was prepared for disbelief.

"This is the kind of school where the classes are laughable if you want to go to college when you graduate, but odds are you'll at least learn the basics of defending yourself, you'll probably face at least one crazy invasion that leaves you afraid for your friends' survival, and you'll have classes with aliens, mages, people from other worlds, and people with weird powers that are hard to otherwise classify."

Welcome to the multi-dimensional nexus, Dante.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante was arguably in the second category. He just wasn't used to the rest of the world acknowledging how screwed up his life was, so the whole salle thing sounded... kinda fucked, honestly.

He rolled his eyes up to the sky and brought his hands up. He'd heard more or less something similar from Anders earlier, but still.

"Yeah, I've been told about the strings. Just didn't know it'd be this blatant."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

"Strings?" Kathy asked, not following. "Blatant?"

Bouncing to her feet--literally--Kathy closed the distance between them, sitting nearby without trespassing in his personal space. This seemed less like a topic to call back and forth about.

"You've lost me. Which is weird, because usually this is the point in the talk where I ask if I've lost you."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante rolled his eyes, and said, "No, things sometimes show up and attack us. Got that part. Not hard to follow."

Just that most days, when that happened, he had no idea if he was imagining it or not.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy still wasn't sure how he'd gotten from invasions to strings, but she wasn't going to push. "Yeah. Sometimes it's stupid little things like flying eels. Other times they're a lot bigger. Last month some of us were kidnapped by aliens. This past winter, there was an elder god who tried to make off with the souls of half the island."

Her eyes dropped when she said that. Months later, she still had nightmares about Gaunt's mirror. Most of them were terrifying. It was the ones that weren't that bothered her the most.

"Most of us get up and fight when that sort of thing happens. I'd say you don't have to, but I'm guessing that anyone who travels with a sword and guns isn't one to sit out."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[rebelseekspizza]

"'Course I'd rather fight than sit there and take it."

Did he sound a little vehement there? Just a touch? ... More than a touch?

"Just-- what, this place trains you for this shit?"