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

It may have just been a coincidence that the weather was sunny now that Fandom was back home in Maryland, but no one was going to complain.

Okay, maybe they were going to complain a little since the sun meant it was in the high 90s ~~32C~~ outside, but that just meant there was a good excuse for all the ice cream on the buffet table of picnic food.

There was the usual second table set up as well, stacked with nametags and lists to help folks locate their siblings and roommates. Once the chairs were set up and the tables were glittered, it was time to welcome the new folks and start a new semester!

[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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"Questions I can handle." Ringo grinned. She'd done this a couple of times before, after all.

"You're on an island called Fandom, which is in a country called the United States of America. At the edge of the Atlantic Ocean." She was watching Margaery as she explained, looking for any sign of recognition of any of those places.

Nope. No recognition. If anything, Margaery was even more confused. "Is - all right, then, can you please explain how I've ended up somewhere I've never heard of, with oceans I've never heard of? I did study a few maps before I came, and there is no Atlantic Ocean."

Ringo's expression became sympathetic. "Right. I don't know if this will be an especially helpful explanation, but you can basically think of it as, um, that magic door you went through connecting to an entirely different world than the one you're from?"

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully. "There are a couple of other people I know here who are from other worlds. Maybe one of them is from yours?"

"Another world." Margaery had suspected it since the bus ride, but it had seemed too fantastical to consider. "Another world."

She took a deep breath, then reached out to clutch Ringo's arm. "Will I be able to return home?" she asked, looking more sad than frightened for the moment. "Is that - allowed? Can it go both ways?"

She might never see her family again.

Ringo winced at the worry in Margaery's voice, placing her own hand on the other girl's, trying to offer some comfort. "That's a good question," she said softly. "Unfortunately, the answer is that it depends. For most people, travel goes both ways, and you can get home to visit almost whenever you want. But, um, that's not true for everyone."

She didn't want to worry Margaery more, but she didn't want to lie to her, either.

"That is more comfort than you know," Margaery said honestly, smiling faintly. "At least there is hope."

"Now," she said briskly, withdrawing her hand and smiling at Ringo, "I may as well make the best of it, oughtn't I?" She would certainly try. "What's your very favorite thing about living here?"

A little smile of relief swept across Ringo's face in answer to Margaery's own expression. And there was a little bit of admiration mixed into the expression, too. After all, it took a pretty tough person to take a "you might be able to get home, but maybe not" and smile like that.

"Well, probably the people?" Ringo shrugged, then waved to take in the picnic. "I mean, there are people here from all over. From worlds like mine, and worlds totally different. It's just super fun to meet them and learn about them."

She grinned. "And most of them are also just really nice."

"What is your world like?" Margaery asked, suddenly curious. She could be homesick and despair another time - just now, she needed to form relationships to carry her through the rest of the year.

Plus, she really did want to know.

"Is it very much like this one? Mine isn't, based on what I've seen thus far." No kidding.

"Mine's pretty close to this world," Ringo said with a nod. "Though the part that I'm from is, um, a much bigger city. So it feels a bit, I don't know, small here sometimes? But most of the technology is the same. Phones, the internet, that sort of thing."

She cocked her head slightly. "What about yours?" If nothing else, the fashion made Ringo think of something farther back in time.

"What's a phone? Or a - what did you say? Innernad?" Margaery asked, absolutely mangling the word. She blushed, looking a touch embarrassed. "I suppose that must answer your question - my world is very different from this one."

She thought back to what Eliot had said aboard the bus, and added, "We use horses for travel, for one thing."

"Oh, a phone is, well," Ringo reached into the pocket of her shorts and pulled out a smart phone, "like this."

She tried a friendly smile. "And maybe you're from a world like Lucille's? Or, um, maybe Anders'? Um, not that you've probably met them yet."

She waved her phone. "You want me to go into a bit more detail about phones? You'll probably want to get one of your own while you're here. They're super-useful."

"What do you do with it?" Margaery asked, peering in at the phone. "I saw people at the airpore - " that's another mangled modern word, but she was trying! "- looking at them. Is it like a book?"

She was going to end up with one before the end of the week, probably. Margaery had never wanted much for very long.

"Well, it can be?" She unlocked her phone and angled it so that Margaery could see the screen. "It can also show videos and play music. But the thing that makes it a phone is that it can connect to other phones." She pulled up her address book and began flicking through it. "So, like, if I wanted to talk to, um," she glanced at the screen, "Ada, I could just touch her name here and then her phone would ring and we could talk to each other."

Not the most clear explanation there, Ringo.

"Like a raven!" Margaery declared in comprehension, only belatedly realizing that that would probably make absolutely no sense to Ringo, either. "I mean - instead of sending a letter, you could speak to someone at a distance and use this? We have to rely on the speed of animals at home - do you mean to say this is instantaneous?"

It was a miracle, to Margaery.

Ringo nodded excitedly. "Exactly! I mean, assuming that Ada, or you know, whoever you're calling, picks up. Like, if they're busy, you can record a message for them to listen to later."

"Oh, and if you just want to send a quick note, you can do that with a phone, too. Just something quick that whoever you're sending it to can read when they get a chance. But that's instant, too."

"Amazing," Margaery breathed, meaning it. "Though - there's something about hearing someone's voice after only receiving their letters for months. I suppose with every advancement comes some nostalgic regret. What's the other thing you mentioned? Intranit?"

Still wrong, Margaery.

"Oh, um, internet?" Ringo pursed her lips thoughtfully. "That's a bit, um, more complicated? It's, like, a place that has all sorts of information? Books, movies, music, letters, everything? And you can connect to it with your phone, so you have access to all those things wherever you go."

That was a terrible explanation, Ringo.

"Like a library?" Margaery tried, clearly trying to wrap her mind around such a thing.

"Hmm, I guess that's kinda close, actually? Just, like, every library in the world all combined at once, and you can access it from anywhere?"

"So you can have the answer to any question, ever, at a moment's notice?" Margaery shook her head. "Incredible. How do you find the time to do anything? I think I would need five lifetimes to properly enjoy what you're describing."

"I don't know," Ringo answered with a shrug and a helpless little laugh. "I grew up with it, so I guess I'm used to being able to just, you know, look anything up whenever I want?"

"Of course. It's normal to you, but it sounds like magic to me," Margaery said with a laugh. She had to laugh, or she was going to have a breakdown of some kind.

Maybe this was all some strange dream. Perhaps she had drunk more wine than she'd thought before she'd left her company this morning.

"I will have to get one of those," she said, nodding to the phone. "And then it sounds likely that no one shall ever see me again as I explore this internet."

Or she'd figure out it was mostly cat pictures and guys hitting on her pretty fast. One of those.

Ringo laughed. "If you want someone to go with you to shop for a phone, let me know. I mean, I'm not an expert, but I did grow up with them."

"And, don't worry, I'll try to make sure that I check in on you and at least make sure you're feeding yourself."

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

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