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

[bigdamnprincipal]

Picnic-ing in January - still not the best idea ever! But there were tables and chairs set up in the sun, and a nice bonfire going, and plenty of warm food for everyone to encourage socializing for as long as possible.

[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 [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

The food was good, Lucille had to admit, and certainly a lot better than he had been used to lately, although anything would be an improvement to that. She had filled her plate and found a table all to herself, where she watched the people around her while trying out the assortment of dishes she had picked. She was hungrier than she had thought, and the food soon got most of her attention.

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[soniaroadsqueen]

The thing about finding tables to yourself at welcome picnics was that they often drew other people. Like Ringo Noyamano. Glasses, hair in pigtails, and a huge welcoming smile on her face.

"Hi!" Her voice betrayed her good cheer and excitement. "Are you one of the newcomers?"

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

The cheerfulness was almost frightening, but Lucille answered with a polite smile.

"I am," she confirmed. "My name is Lucille Sharpe. And you, miss?"

Another foreign girl, by the looks of it.

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[soniaroadsqueen]

Ringo was wearing a nametag, but didn't mind answering, anyway. "I'm Ringo Noyamano." She added a bow, substantially less formal than the one she would have offered at the last picnic. "It's nice to meet you!"

She offered Lucille her hand.

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

Lucille inclined her head slightly, assuming this was a foreign greeting, and accepted her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, miss Noyamano," she said formally. "I assume you are not a newcomer, then?"

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Only relatively speaking. I haven't been here quite a year myself, after all."

She shrugged. "But it's been a lot of fun so far!"

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

"Fun?" Lucille raised an eyebrow. "I had assumed school required hard work." Perhaps she had a naturally cheerful disposition.

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[soniaroadsqueen]

"Well, it is that sometimes, but this school is pretty unusual, and a lot of the classes are, well, not what you expect them to be."

"So if you want, it's not that hard to have fun here."

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

"And what would you do to have fun?" Lucille felt tempted enough to ask. "It's a matter of personal taste, after all."

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[nuclear_snide]

Bob wandered past, took a look at Lucille's clothes and demeanor, and smiled. "England, a few decades shy of the twentieth century?" he asked.

When you'd lived through it all (and were very bored a lot of the time), you got an eye for this sort of thing.

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

Lucille, who was by now aware of the necessity to specify your home both in time and place, wasn't startled by the question in itself but by its directness. She quickly regained her composure, however, and gave a small nod in response.

"Correct, sir. And yourself?"

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[nuclear_snide]

Bob executed a very proper bow to her. "Hrothbert of Bainbridge, Miss. Most here call me Bob. I come here from Chicago only a few years prior to the current, but I'm familiar with your place and time." The accent probably gave one of those away, at least. "How are you finding Fandom so far?"

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

"Lucille Sharpe." She gave him a slight smile, just for the sake of recognizable manners. "It's a pleasure to meet you... Bob. And as I am sure you can expect I find this place quite unusual.

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[nuclear_snide]

"If it's any consolation, just about everybody does," Bob confided. "I'm fairly sure there's no place like it anywhere else. Were you expecting to be here, at least?"

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

"I expected to go to school," Lucille replied. His presentation had raised a question though. "How are you familiar with my place and time?"

Truthfully, he seemed more at home in her time, than what she had come to expect from this place.

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[nuclear_snide]

"I lived through it," Bob said. "Well, not exactly lived."

He generally liked to surprise people with his...existence, but anyone from over a century ago was probably already dealing with enough, and Bob wasn't cruel. "I'm not really a devastatingly handsome middle-aged man," he confided with a smile, hoping the teasing would lighten it, "I'm actually a devastatingly handsome very old ghost."

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

"Oh."

By now Lucille knew better than to question this, but it did bother her that she was unable to tell if someone was actually making fun of her.

"Well, Bob, whatever... being you are, I am sure that confidence in appearance lighten things up." Surprisingly, even for Lucille herself, this wasn't said with any kind of sarcasm. To meet someone who at least understood her own time, and had manners when he made the effort, was comforting.

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy had been watching Raven and Lucille talk, doing her best not to radiate hostility while Lucille decided how to treat her best friend and roommate. But since she had erred on the side of politeness, Kathy was willing to give her a chance and wandered over to say hello.

"Welcome to Fandom," she said, offering Lucille a small smile. "The adjustment period can be a little sharp at the beginning, but I promise, you will adjust."

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

By now Lucille was beginning to tire of being exposed to surprises and then told that she would adjust. In fact, it was increasingly irritating.

"So I keep hearing," she replied. "I will report back in a few days and let you know how adjusted I feel." The accompanying smile wasn't exactly friendly.

[And sadly I need sleep now. And I apologize for Lucille being rude.]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[spin_kick_snap]

If that was all it took to get under Lucille's skin, then she was in for a series of rude awakenings.

The Kathy of three years ago probably would have stammered out an apology and fled. This Kathy simply blinked a few times in surprise and then returned that smile. "That's excellent to hear," she said. "I'm thinking essay form, perhaps a minimum of three hundred words. Shall I ask for it in Italian or are you limited to English?"

[Not a problem, darling, for either! Kathy doesn't get to use her claws much, it'll be fun!]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

"My Italian is a bit rusty, but what about French?" Her French was a bit rusty too, but it wasn't as if she would actually write the essay.

"What else would you like to reassure me of?" she continued. "That I will soon adopt the local fashion?" Lucille made a point of taking in the girl's clothing, which was as indecent as could be expected here.

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[spin_kick_snap]

Stupid French. That was the romance language Kathy didn't know. Well, that and Portuguese, but between Italian and Spanish, she could at least fake that.

"You can keep your clothes. They're very..." Her eyes traveled along Lucille's costume, lingering on a few details for an instant or two longer than the rest. "...Quaint."

No, she had no idea what she was looking at other than in the most broad sense, but she knew psychology. It wasn't what she was looking at that was important, but what Lucille thought she was looking at.

"Personally, I'm hoping you choose to adopt the barest minimum of politeness and manners instead, but I don't know if soon is the time frame I'd go with." She raised an eyebrow at Lucille. "That seems to be something you don't have a facility for at all."

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

"At least we have something in common, then," Lucille replied with mock cheerfulness. "Unless perhaps suggesting to strangers that they haven't adjusted counts as manners where you are from."

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[spin_kick_snap]

"You haven't adjusted," Kathy pointed out flatly. No reason to be coy when she was pointing out facts. "You're over a hundred years out of time, you're in a world where magic and mutations are real, and our very methods of communication are worlds away from what you know. What I said was that you will adjust--that everything that seems to foreign and incomprehensible today will be old hat to you soon enough." She gave her another once-over and rolled her eyes. "You'll adjust, yeah. Probably even sooner than you expect. But I'm pretty sure you'll be a bitch for a lot longer."

And then came the smile and false sweetness. "And, yes, I do have manners. You just disinclined me to use them."

[You saw nothing!]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2016]

[crimson_sister]

Perhaps Lucille felt no inclination to adjust to anything? That was at least what she told herself.

"Well, then," she said, her eyes narrowing. "I'm glad you find it in your heart to be so honest with me. I won't keep you from using your manners anymore."

She spun around and walked off, leaving the rude and annoying girl where she was.