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

[bigdamnprincipal]

Gosh, the summer picnic was so much nicer--and warmer--than the spring one. There were tables and chairs set up in the sun and the shade, and more than enough food for everyone. Hopefully, everyone was up for socializing for a while!

[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 [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

Right, so there'd been that locker, and the next thing Tali knew she'd been riding around in a pewter top hat, going around on a giant game board trying to pass go and collect $200 over and over again. The gist of the game had been fairly easy to grasp but there had been some weird house rules in effect and actually playing all the way through it had. Taken. Forever.

. . . and now here she was, wondering when exactly the island had moved, feeling mildly exasperated that she'd been gone long enough that it was welcome picnic time again, and really, really regretting buying Park Place.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[omgnochecksyet]

"Tali!" new faces were all well and good, but there was something to be said for familiar ones too.

... Or familiar enviro-suits, anyway. Especially if one hadn't seen said enviro-suit in a while.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

"Eric!" Tali wouldn't argue; it was good to see familiar faces again.

Which seemed kind of unfair since . . . well. Enviro-suit. Anyway.

". . . why is the island not where I remember it being?"

RE: Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[omgnochecksyet]

"Oh, goodness, did you miss that whole thing?" Eric said, wide-eyed. "There were these rather creepy aliens attacking from space, and then some people actually piloted the island itself to fend them off..." he trailed off with a bit of a sheepish expression. "I'm sure it was all very exciting if you're in to that sort of thing, but I kind of hid in my room for most of it," he admitted.

RE: Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

"Creepy aliens?" Well, the island was still intact, so it was a fairly safe bet the Reapers weren't ahead of schedule (it was Fandom, so she couldn't trust it to adhere to timelines) but that still didn't sound good.

Despite being an alien herself. You know. Still, it couldn't hurt to check.

"You wouldn't happen to know what they were called, do you? And hang on, piloted the island?"

RE: Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[omgnochecksyet]

"The Brood, I believe?" Eric said. "Apparently they reproduce by stabbing you, and then, ah," he made a vague explodey gesture out from his stomach. "And yes, for a while there we were actually just flying around in space. It was... pretty, but a bit unsettling."

RE: Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

"I'm sorry I missed that," Tali said with a sigh. "Or maybe not. It might've made me homesick."

She paused.

"The flying around in space bit. Not the alien stabbings." She could just imagine the jokes Garrus and Joker would have made about that. "Though . . . Well, it's good to know they're not from my world."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[omgnochecksyet]

"We might be in for some more," Eric mused. "I mean, this definitely isn't Earth. Which I suppose I should be more concerned about, but there's still a portal that leads directly to where we used to be, so," he shrugged. "Maybe the island was just bored, because there's clearly safeguards to make sure we're not stranded somewhere unfamiliar."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

See, now Tali was wondering if she could go check out the . . . island's systems sometime.

"I don't even know if it's sad or impressive that I can just take that at face value."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[intotheout]

"Um, 'scuse me," Tip said, approaching cautiously. Not because she was afraid, but because some people didn't like strangers coming up and talking to them. "Do you mind if I take your picture?"

She'd decided to send as many pictures of alien or armored people to J.Lo as she could. To see if he recognized them, and just because she knew he'd like it. She felt bad leaving him behind when it turned out there were so many aliens here.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

Honestly, strangers coming up and talking to her was still enough of a (welcome) novelty that Tali didn't mind at all.

". . . sure," she said, just a touch dubiously. "I mean, I don't mind. Can I ask why, though?"

She had to check, on the off chance that she was going to end up in some anti-alien PSA or something. Though hey, there seemed to be more non-humans around this term!

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[intotheout]

"My best friend back home is the only alien currently living on Earth," Tip said. "Or, well, that we know of. I thought he'd like to see that there's a lot more of you guys here. Also . . . I like taking pictures." She carried around a photo album of actual printed photos, even. She offered her hand for a shake. "I'm Gratuity, by the way. New. Probably obviously."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

"Oh, well, that's not a problem at all then. If I'd been the only non-human on the Normandy, I'd probably have gone out of my mind, so I get it. I'm Tali," she replied, and reached out to shake her hand. "Not so new. It looks like there's a few more people who aren't human here this semester, though. That's kind of a relief, really. What brings you here, if you haven't answered that fifty times by now?"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[intotheout]

"Actually, no one's asked me that at all, yet," Tip said, smiling. "My mom and I are having trouble finding a, uh. Balance, I guess. Between me wanting to go out and do things and her wanting to keep me safe. Boarding school seemed like a good balance. I had no idea I'd find a place full of people from other planets and dimensions."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

Tali laughed. "Everyone here has such different reasons for being here, maybe we just all take it for granted. What kinds of things were you wanting to go out to do? Because I'm pretty sure you'll get plenty of them here."

She glanced off toward the horizon.

"Especially since we're apparently on a summer tour."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[intotheout]

Tip followed her look. "Yeah, the bubble shape in the water really threw me at first. The Boov -- they're the first alien race I ever saw -- use bubbles for basically everything, but no one around here has even heard of them before." Her big sib had had a fun time explaining how that worked. "I lived on my own for almost a year when I was still a little kid. So having Mom try to tell me I can't do -- well, pretty much anything -- was really weird. Especially when we have a flying car that can go into space that I can drive better than she can."

Not that she entirely blamed her mom for being bad at driving Slushious. Steering using the radio dial had been weird for Tip to adapt to, and she'd only been driving for a few months at that point. Mom had been driving the normal way for years.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

"I can't say I've heard of them either, sorry," Tali said, managing to sound like she was frowning. (She was.) "In my universe's timeline, humans aren't even going to discover other races in the galaxy for 140 years."

And that had been a disaster, but that was irrelevant.

"Flying car that can go into space, huh? I could probably rig one of those up for you, but it probably wouldn't be quite the same thing."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[intotheout]

"Thanks, but it looks like I'll have plenty to explore around here, anyway. And J.Lo would be really irritated if I got myself a whole new flying car without him."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

"Another space person?!" Steven said, all excited and jumping to conclusions. He nearly squeezed all the juice out of his juicebox in excitement.

"Hi! I'm Steven!"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

Tali hoped she hadn't been obvious about reflexively edging back just a touch to avoid any possible flying juice.

"Hi, Steven," she said, with as friendly a wave as possible to make up for the flinch. "I'm Tali. You must be one of the new kids, I'm betting."

People from Earth tended to be so adorably excited about meeting aliens, sometimes she wondered how the First Contact War had ever happened.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

"I am!" Steven said, still smiling ear to ear. "I hope it's not too obvious, because I'm hoping to fit in pretty quick. This is actually the first school I've ever gone to!"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

"It's a little obvious, but it's okay," Tali assured him. "Most of the kids here are pretty great about helping you get settled in."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

"Well how about you?" Steven asked, trying to look innocent. "Are you great about helping people get settled in?"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[goforthe_optics]

Tali burst out laughing. "I don't know if I'd say I'm great at it, but I'm willing to try, does that work?"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2016]

[imisscookiecat.livejournal.com]

"Willing to try is great," Steven said with a grin. "You never know what you're good at until you try, right?"

He waved a hand. "I'm Steven. Steven Universe."