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

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!event: welcome picnic

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

So, the heat meant that many of the tables and chairs had been set up in the shade, and someone had found outdoor table umbrellas in blue and gold, god help us all. But hey, a little heat never hurt anyone who wasn't a vampire, right?

Ahem. The picnic was open for warm, sunny business.

[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!]

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"Is it so obvious?" Margaery asked, blushing at being caught staring but smiling easily all the same. He hadn't included a title or House - usually even smallfolk would claim some sort of allegiance to their lords when she had to talk to them. "Lady Margaery of House Tyrell," she said, hoping for any sign of recognition. Anything at all. Please, whichever of the Seven was in charge of answering prayers for this sort of predicament, please. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Anders - I was just admiring your...."

She trailed off, gesturing behind her own back with a raised eyebrow.

"My staff?" Anders asked, looking over his shoulder as though to check whether it was still there. "Now, there's something I don't hear from every Lady I meet."

He seemed pleasant, but didn't show any familiarity with her name.

"I don't know Tyrell," he said, half-apologetic because she seemed to expect he would. "Are you from Tevinter?"

He'd never met anyone from the Imperium, but it would make as much sense as anything.

Margaery's smile faltered, temporarily, before she heaved a little sigh. "Westeros," she said, a little sheepish. "The Reach? Highgarden?"

She realized how silly she sounded, even as she listed the places most familiar to her that no one here had ever heard of. "I don't know Tevinter. Is that near here? And - er, sorry, but you've got a bit of -" She gestured at her chin discreetly.

Anders, going pink, rubbed a paper napkin across his chin before dropping it and the sticky remains of his ice cream into a nearby trash can and giving his full attention to Margaery.

"Thanks," he said briefly. "And I'm sorry, but I don't know those places. Tevinter's a country at home. Nowhere near here."

"Seven hells," Margaery sighed in disappointment, then went pink, herself. "Sorry - pretend you didn't hear that." She smiled prettily at him, hoping it would ease the curse, and added, "You look more like home than anyone else has, so far. Apologies. I'm afraid I'm much further from home than I'd anticipated I'd be."

Her smile turned a little mischievous. "Though nobody in Westeros has a staff like that - that's what you called it, right? What's your staff do?" Her smile and the way she tilted her head might have indicated that despite being highborn, she knew exactly how that could be taken, and had understood his joke a moment earlier.

What? He was quite handsome.

"I had the same thing happen," Anders told her sympathetically. "Did you fall through a glowing door and end up in an airport too? Wasn't one of the better experiences of my life. The island's a good place, though."

He reached back, delicately running a finger over the grain of the wood, and grinned merrily at her. "My staff is magic," he said, and let the innuendo hang in the air a moment before clarifying. "... Seriously. I'm a mage. It helps with my spells."

"I walked through the glowing door," Margaery clarified, but she was clearly a little more at ease to hear that his experience had been similar to hers. Her attention was captured by what he'd continued to say, though, and her eyes widened.

"Magic?" she asked, a little awed. "You - what's a mage? How do you do magic? What does your magic do?" She smiled a little sheepishly, adding, "Sorry. Today's my first brush with magic, I'm afraid."

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it," Anders said wryly. "It's just a gift some people at home are born with. MOstly it's good for healing and fighting -- the type I use, anyhow. Nobody has powers where you're from?"

"There are...stories," Margaery offered, shrugging one shoulder. "Red Priests who can see the future in flames and raise the dead, and of monsters who live in the North, but everyone knows that magic died out with the dragons." Obviously. "Is there much cause for healing and fighting at these sorts of events?"

She was going to have to learn where to hide and run, if that was the case. And part of Margaery couldn't believe she was thinking like that, but it wasn't as though she was going to skip all the parties if he said yes.

"Not at the picnics -- not yet, at least -- but there's some kind of trouble at least once a season," Anders told her,which probably didn't reassure Margaery at all. "We always seem to make it through all right, but it can be frightening until it passes."

He frowned, distracted by something else she'd said. "Wait, dragons are meant to be extinct in your world too?" he asked. "Ours were gone for hundreds of years. Only spotted them again around the time I was born."

"Oh, yes, for ages," Margaery said, waving a hand. "Supposedly the bones of the last dragons rest under the Red Keep in King's Landing, but I've yet to see them myself." It was on her list for when she finally made it to the capital, though. "What do you mean, spotted? Not bred, or hatched? Do dragons roam wild in your world?"

That was almost as terrifying as the idea of them being ridden by a Targaryen conqueror. Margaery wasn't sure which she'd like to encounter less.

"Where else would they be?" Anders asked, looking confused. "People in your world tame them? Without getting eaten?"

"Just the one family," Margaery said, nodding. "The Targaryens. According to legend, the blood of dragons runs through their veins, so they're the only ones that dragons will obey, anyway."

She winced, and added, "That's not to say no one's ever gotten eaten, but the Targaryens seemed to have a gift for avoiding that fate." Until they were wiped out, that is. "I take it dragons are more of a...force to be reckoned with, in your world? Something to guard against if you go to the wrong places?"

"Right, and they're rare enough that you probably aren't going to just trip over them," Anders nodded. "They like mountains and old ruins -- I've never seen one in real life. And I'll be just as happy not to."

"Even with magic?" Margaery wondered. "What is that fighting magic for, if not to battle dragons and the like? Not that I know anything."

"Sure, if you have five or ten mages you could make a go of it that way," Anders speculated. "But it's like knights. One knight probably isn't going to do much good against a dragon. Some people might be strong enough, but it's rare."

It took a moment, but Margaery slowly nodded in understanding. "It's another weapon?" she ventured. "Some prefer a sword, some a warhammer...some a staff, if you've the gift?"

She waved a hand, gracefully. "And please tell me if I'm asking too many questions. I promise to take no offense."

"Believe me, I'd tell you if it bothered me," Anders promised. "And -- yes, that's about it. Magic's a bit more complicated than a sword, but I still can't take down a dragon with a few bolts of lightning."

He wasn't going to bring up demons or abominations, who probably could slay a dragon with magic. It wasn't necessary, and it didn't seem like it would serve their friendship at this point.

"Then consider yourself the lead candidate for the position of who I shall hide behind when the quarterly attack should happen," Margaery declared with a smile."So far I haven't met anyone else who can deal in lightning strikes, in all my six-and-ten years, so you seem a sensible choice."

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Anders told her. "But if it does, I'll be ready."

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

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