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

Okay, admittedly, having a picnic at the beginning of January wasn't the best idea the school had ever come up with. Thankfully, the weather was sort of agreeable today - it wasn't too chilly, the sun was out, and there were still pretty pockets of unmelted snow on the lawn.

In the middle of the lawn, a bonfire had been set up for warmth and light--mostly the warmth--and the tables and chairs had been set out to mostly be in the sun. There was a long table with a variety of ~~moddable~~ warm foods, and there was the usual table of nametags and lists to help folks find their siblings and roommates. With everything set up, it was time to welcome the new folks!

[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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"You're Velma?" Skaar checked. He spotted the nametag, so he walked over. It was possible she might change her opinion of whether or not anyone looked like a Skaar, Son of Hulk when she actually saw him.

"And you are definitely Skaar, Son of Hulk," Velma said upon seeing him. No, she hadn't bothered to look at his nametag. The name matched the face (and the everything else), and they both could have stepped off of one of the Super Patriot's front lines mere minutes before. "...Say, dumb question, but you're not with the East Coast Division, are you?"

Look, she just had to ask!

"No idea what that is. I did some work with the Dark Avengers as their babysitter," Skaar said. "But mostly I've been solo or with the other Hulks."

"Wait, you've been working with non-incorporated teams?" Velma asked, astonished. She couldn't think of a single team that operated outside of The Super Patriots, Inc. that hadn't been some kind of cabal of supervillains. And the name Dark Avengers (or the Hulks for that matter) didn't exactly scream 'we're with the good guys!'

What had Santa done? Had he deliberately sent her to a school for villains in an attempt to make her put her ears back on? Surely not! This was Santa! He wouldn't manipulate her like that!

"You don't have any plans for the world or anything that you'd like to tell me about or anything, do you?" she asked, reaching for her lessons in Unmasking the Miscreants.

She really hoped he'd say no. Not just because this was her roommate, but because she really didn't want to have to call someone to come and take care of him. Maybe she could get away with calling the Princess?

"Not in particular. Mostly I just want to get back to the Savage Land sooner than later," Skaar said. The fact that she didn't seem to recognize words like 'Avengers' or 'Hulk' was a little worrisome. He had just spent enough time in a pocket AU where everything was a crazed version of the Earth he called home. He really didn't want to deal with more of that.

"To the where?" Velma asked. "Is that your, uhh, base of operations?"

It was everything she could do not to call it a lair. But it was a fact that virtually all team-ups consisting of three or more heroes not sanctioned by The Super Patriots, Inc either failed or were branded as supervillains in the eyes of the media and public within seventy-two hours of their formation.

People calling themselves 'the Dark Avengers' who laired in 'the Savage Lands' didn't really sound like the type to somehow buck the trend.

Speaking of bucking trends... "Hey," she said, sounding more confused than ever. "I'm not feeling the onset of Team-Up Rage. Are you?"

"I have no idea what that means," Skaar said. "Just guessing, you don't know what any of the stuff I've mentioned is either, do you?"

"Not a clue," Velma said, relaxing a little. "So my guess is that one of us, at least, is from a parallel dimension, alternate continuity, or externally manipulated reality."

Dealing with alternate realities was always a tricky proposition, but Velma had gotten high marks in both her Alternate Reality Survival and Recognizing a Dreamscape in Ten Easy Steps units during Heroing 101.

"Just to be clear--you have no knowledge of The Super Patriots, Inc., The Junior Super Patriots, or any of their franchises, subsidiaries, or merchandising?"

"I know of a couple bad guys who used the name Super-Patriot who were before my time. That doesn't sound like what you're talking about," Skaar said.

"No, no. The Super Patriots was the team name of the first three superheroes in my dimension," Velma explained. "They eventually incorporated and now it's this huge conglomeration for the training and oversight of superheroes." Her mouth twisted into something bitter for a moment. "If you were from my world--or a parallel dimension of it--you'd have heard of them."

"And of you were from mine, you'd know what a Hulk is," Skaar said. "Different universes completely. Got it."

"Uhhh, since I'm not and I don't--did you want to explain?" Velma asked.

It seemed like it might be an important part of her roommate's identity.

"You know how I huge and green? That's a thing with some people where I'm from," Skaar said. "My father is the original Hulk. He has some rage issues. A lot of people think he's a monster. I'm like him, but calmer. And with a sword."

"I did notice the huge and green thing, yeah," Velma said easily. That part hadn't worried her. After all, one of her teammates had been more lobster than boy, thanks to his dad's gene-splicing therapy that had kept David alive. "Nice to meet you, by the way. The sword is cool and the calm is appreciated."

She wondered if she should bring up the things that made her other than normal, too. It wasn't like she was going to be putting her costume back on any time soon. But he was her roommate and it wasn't like Velma had suddenly started liking to put her clothes away just because she'd left The Junior Super Patriots, West Coast Division.

"I'm hoping all that calm means you won't be weirded out if you see a stuffed animal or two walking around our room, picking up or whatever?"

"I might've smashed it if you didn't give me that warning," Skaar admitted. "But since you did, no smashing."

"No smashing, good," Velma said. "I mean, plush stands up pretty well to a smashing and losing button eyes doesn't really impede my control, but that might have led to other things getting smashed that I'm glad to avoid."

Like her bed. A desk. The walls. That kind of stuff.

"I'm an animus, so making stuff move is what I do. Did. Whatever."

"So you don't do that anymore?" Skaar asked, slightly confused. "Or just a little bit?"

"I don't do it, umm, professionally anymore," Velma said haltingly. "I walked away from all that. But I still have the powers. And a bed that doesn't make itself, no matter how hard I try."

Having a teddy bear that did it for her made so much more sense.

"Understood," Skaar said. "Don't worry about using that stuff around me. I've dealt with weirder than that. I am weirder than that."

"I dunno," Velma said, relaxing enough to tease. "So far, I'm just seeing big and green and you said that's genetic. Not the weirdest I've met, either."

"I've only told you a little bit so far. Trust me. It gets weirder," Skaar said. "I'll probably explain it more later on."

There was still the alien thing and the warlord thing and the teaming with his unpowered father to train to murder the fully powered version of his father, and his ability to control the planet through an ancient force within the Earth itself.... But that was Advanced Skaar Studies.

It was okay. You had to be a certain level to unlock parts of Velma's backstory, too.

"Gives us something to look forward to," she said. "Roommate goals."

Of course, Velma's only real roommate goal was to make sure that this ended better than things did with her last roommate. She'd been pretty busted up when Yele--when Sparkle Bright had flung her into the locker room wall. She didn't think she'd survive if Skaar decided to do the same.

Skaar probably also wasn't going to hook up with her boyfriend at Marketing's behest, either, so this really was looking better than her last situation.

"Have you ever had a roommate before? I did, a few years back."

It depending on how exactly Marketing pitched it, in theory, but it was pretty unlikely.

"None close to my age," which was poorly defined due to being an alien hybrid gamma monster, and trying to find the corresponding Earth age to his stage of development. "I've been in tight quarters with my family and with other groups back home, but nothing like this."

"I probably snore when I do sleep."

It would be all the harder since Velma didn't see dating looming large in her future in roughly...ever. She was still hung up on Aaron and knew it.

"Invest in earplugs, got it," Velma said. "Uhh, do you want us to rig up some kind of modesty curtain or anything?"

Much of Velma's modesty had been eroded by years of locker room changes and injuries that sometimes made getting the costume off in a hurry a higher imperative than protecting her dignity. So long as Skaar didn't actively watch her get changed, she was fine. But whether the same went for him was another story.

Hey, he could be really modest under than loincloth!

Skaar had literally never been in a situation where his modesty required consideration. "I don't think there will be a problem, but we can put one up in case it feels weird."

And maybe liberal use of a modesty curtain could allow him to transform to his smaller form from time to time without presenting himself as a potential target. He didn't particularly need to transform, but real deep rest now and then was a good thing.

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