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 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!]

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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.

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."

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.

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!

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.

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.

"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.

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."

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?"

"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.

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."

"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."

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.

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."

"'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?"

Yeah, just a little bit. Not that Kathy could judge. No one who dressed up in a costume and patrolled the nearby city had any place to judge.

"Not exactly," she said. "More like this place provides opportunities to learn to those who want it. Most of our teachers are armed to the teeth--that is, the ones who prefer to use weapons to kill something. If you don't leave this place at least a little more lethal than when you arrived, it's because you're actively trying not to."

He could've said that was a good thing. That he was totally on board with that. That he wished more people did.

What came out was, "Weird."

It'd been a long nine years.

"Honestly, when it comes to this place?" Kathy shook her head. "That's not even in the top ten."

Pinkie rated higher on the weirdness scale. Also, please don't kill her, Dante, she was not actually a demon.

"You okay?" she asked. "You look like you could use a soda or something."

"Nah, me?" Dante made a clicking sound with his tongue. "I'm perfect. Thanks for the talk."

He mimed a salute at her, even if his voice failed to sound quite as committed to its snarky tone as it previously had.

Kathy wasn't buying it--and the look she shot him said as much. She was going to back off, because she wasn't the type to push without good reason, but she it had nothing to do with her believing what he was selling.

"Glad to oblige," she said, going to stand back up again. "Should you ever need someone to appreciate a pun or two, I'm up on the fifth floor. Aren't many of us up there, so I'll be easy enough to find." She held out a hand. "Nice to meet you, Dante."

Dante took her hand and gave it a firm shake, flashing her something close to his regular smirk. He was getting there again. Just had to sit and think. "Nice to meet you, hot stuff," he said, "Keep at it with the fashion."

Then he turned to go.

Point to Dante.

"Thanks," she drawled. She was tempted to make a comment about the way he filled out his own jeans in retaliation, but there was no way he just wouldn't take the compliment as given.

Guys. They were the worst.

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

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