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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"Is this some kind of prank you play on newcomers?" Lucille replied coldly. She did not want to be made a fool of, and this sounded... crazy.

Crazy. Did Jalian know where she had been before?

Jalian sighed and rolled her eyes. "Why should I lie?" she asked sensibly. "Only use your own eyes."

She smiled and pointed at her own eyes. "Do I look like anybody you know of? Or," she looked around, then pointed at one of the new boys, who was very large and green, "him? Or her?" She pointed at Pinkie. Pinkie was hard to miss. "Different worlds have different people."

Lucille's gaze followed where Jalian was pointing. Large green man. Pink pony. And then she looked back at Jalian. "Where are you from?"

She felt a little dizzy. In the asylum she had frequently feared going mad, being surrounded by madness, and right now she truly did doubt her sanity.

"California," Jalian answered. "But many years...when are you from?" She realized she didn't really know.

"England. Cumberland." She looked around again, unable to hide her fear. "What year is this?"

"Two thousand and fifteen," Jalian answered. "No, sixteen - the new year was yesterday," she amended. She bit her lip, her immediate instinct to tell the girl to hide her fear, but not knowing if that was a thing in her timeline. Eventually she settled for, "The people here are mostly safe and will not trouble you. If they do, tell me. I am a blooded warrior of ken Selvren, and you are my sister now."

And she was going to take that seriously until she knew she didn't have to or shouldn't. Lucille looked like she needed it.

She closed her eyes for a moment, cursing herself for being so weak and struggled to regain her composure. When she did, she looked at Jalian and nodded. "Thank you."

For once it was honestly meant. Rejecting that offer seemed pointless when Jalian had just seen her reaction, and Lucille sensed that for once she had been given a promise that would be honored,

"I left my home country in 1885. This is very... unexpected."

Jalian nodded, pleased to see how fast Lucille was getting her fear under control. "I am from centuries in the future, but my timeline was very different. When I came, I barely spoke the language here, and reading was difficult. And nobody else knew of my world or people. But we have others here from your time, I think! Or from nearby times."

"So you understand," she said with composure.

There was another thing Jalian had mentioned, which had caught Lucille's attention. "You said you are a 'blooded warrior'."

Jalian nodded. "Ken Selvren lands can be very dangerous, especially when I was younger. I killed my first when I was younger than most of the students here - that is the 'blooded' part. And I was declared a woman and full Huntress by my tribe, so a warrior."

"I see. So you've.. killed?"

There was a sort of nervous curiosity in that question, and it was asked almost reluctantly.

Jalian looked back at Lucille with equal curiosity and frankness. "Yes. I know it isn't common here, but most of ken Selvren have, even many of the men." Silly men.

"How did you do it?" Lucille asked, before she realized that might perhaps give the wrong impression. She blushed a little, adding: "Even the men?"

Jalian shrugged and answered the second question first. "Males are...ken Selvren males are for farming and caring for animals, not for defending the tribe. They learn only enough about weapons to avoid stabbing themselves."

She paused to remember that first time she'd killed. "I was thirteen, and the Real Indians - they are not," she felt she needed to add, "but we called them that - attacked. Kendr's brother Davad had come out to help, but he was killed. I took his spear - I had only my knives - and I picked a horseman. I threw the spear at him, and it was a good throw, but it bounced from his chestplate. Arrows came and struck me, and I fell, but my knife flew true into his eye, and brought him down."

Jalian's description of the men in her tribe made Lucille chuckle. "They need protection, then?" In a way that was a little familiar. But at the story of killing her first enemy she turned serious again. "Your tribe must have been proud of you."

And, you know, not put her in a mental institution.

Jalian shrugged. "I was wounded and in bed for a very long time. I remember little. I was made a woman less than a year later, though."

She snickered. "Males always need protection. They are not very good at it themselves. The ones here are better, mostly. On the island, I mean. What are they like where you're from?"

"They take themselves very seriously," Lucille replied. "Except my brother, but he does need protection. He is younger." It felt so strange that she hadn't seen him in over a year, and she hoped he was at least surviving where he was. She would write as soon as possible, now that she could.

Jalian nodded. "You protect him?"

"Yes, I do," Lucille replied firmly. "Although unfortunately he can't be here with me now, so I do worry."

"You can contact him?" Jalian suggested. "I don't remember what technology you have," she confessed.

"I will write," she said. "I hope the letters can be delivered."

"We have a post office," Jalian offered. "In the town." She paused to orient herself and pointed. "That way. They can deliver things all over, I think." She had no reason to use it herself.

Lucille felt relieved, hoping it was also true. "I will ask there," she said. "How do you contact your family?"

"I don't." Jalian's answer was flat and a bit cold. She grimaced. "I have no family I wish to contact," she said a bit more casualy; she wasn't mad at Lucille, after all.

"Oh, I see." Lucille took no offense at Jalian's tone, and she understood the sentiment well. "Then you don't have so consider that." She offered a smile that she hoped conveyed understanding.

[And soon I'm going to bed]

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

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