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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"Now that makes two people suggesting I get tattoos," Ada laughed, letting Roscoe's fingers linger. If they slid a bit farther back on her neck he'd run into a very mermaid reason why she wouldn't be getting any tattoos in that particular spot, but since he'd made the remark about being open minded at the bonfire...

Well, if he asked, he'd find out, and Ada would deal with it from there.

"First Dante, sayin' I should get a big red sun on m' side, now you advocatin' somethin' tiny. How's a girl t' choose?"

"Come on, that's too easy," Roscoe said with a big grin. "You gotta get both."

Then his fingers skated over that mermaid surprise. "Wait, hang on--", he began, startled.

"S'okay," she promised quickly, holding up her hands in placation. "I ain't got plague or nothin'."

She reached up to pull her hair over her other shoulder, revealing a cascade of glittering copper scales than ran from her hairline down to just between her shoulder blades, the largest no bigger than her pinky nail, the smallest blending perfectly with her glitter.

"Just... Mermaids don't tattoo so easy."

That was so not what he expected, but--

"It's gorgeous," Roscoe said, stunned. If Ada was okay with it, he was going to gently touch one of the scales, just out of a reflexive need to see if they were as smooth as they looked. "I had no idea."

"Generally don't tell folks right off, since people ain't always th' best at acceptin' 'different,' let alone this type of different," she said, letting him explore as much as he liked. "'M good at hidin' in plain sight t' avoid 'freak show' comments."

"Totally," Roscoe said with an empathetic nod of understanding. "You're so not a freak show, though, Ada."

His eyes were wide and earnest. This was the first time he'd come face-to-face with someone who looked physically non-human since the incident with the ponies; given the circumstances, the fact that his reaction was one of awe rather than shock was pretty good.

Still, he realized it was impolite to just touch her scales like that and he dropped his hand to his side. "Is that why you're here? Did people at home not, like, accept the mermaid thing--?"

"'M a carnie, Roscoe," Ada said, amused. "My family ain't got no problems with it. Marti -- my mama -- performs as the Alabama Mermaid three times a day when we're set-up near a town. 'M a biological impossibility, an' a Miller too, an' that's all there is too it."

"I just... there was an incident an' I got hurt." True. "I lost my memory an' I wasn't gonna pass th' homeschool tests th' government mandates. My world don't realize mermaids are real, but if Child Services took me? It'd only be a week in foster care or juvie b'fore I probably ended up a science experiment somewhere. So my family decided t' send me here. Don't gotta take no tests if'n I'm at a 'real school.'"

"Wow, what the fuck," Roscoe said. "That seriously sucks. So this is like the only place you're safe."

It really put his whole why-he-came-to-Fandom story into perspective, to be honest.

"Well, I'm glad you're here now," he said decisively. "And thanks for telling me all that. I won't, you know, tell anyone or whatever."

"'M eighteen now, so I could drop out an' go home if'n I wanted an' Child Services can't say boo," Ada said with a shrug. "But 'm gonna be at th' carnival th' rest of m' life, it's m' entire future. Why not spend a year with m' friends instead?"

"My ex-roommate knew, kinda hard t' hide th' fact I shed scales when I sleep, though I managed for about six months," she continued, making a face. "Though she was cool with it. Dante, 'Bela, an' Hya know, too. If'n anyone else suspects, they ain't said nothing t' me."

She grinned and spread her fingers wide to expose the webs between them, showing it to Rosoce. "Glitter hides a lot of things, rest I just rely on slight-of-hand an' people not payin' th' best attention."

Wow. The webbing looked obvious now that he saw it up close. Roscoe couldn't believe he'd never noticed before.

"It doesn't have to be your future, though, right?" he said hopefully. "I mean, if you wanted to live somewhere else, there's Portalocity and everything. There has to be a place where you wouldn't be... like, weird or whatever."

"Mermaid, Roscoe," she said gently, the word sad. "There's only so long we can manage t' stay out of th' water, no matter what I want. Better a tank with m' family than an ocean alone."

"Oh." Well, that was... actually really sad. He didn't like the thought of Ada having to choose between life in a tiny tank with people jeering at her or an open ocean with no one for company. "And your family wouldn't go with you? If you went somewhere else?"

His eyes were bright with empathy and, yes, sadness. Ada deserved a better life than that.

"I can't ask hundreds of people t' leave behind decades of work an' their home just so I can maybe find a world with people like me," Ada said, shaking her head. "Millers ain't a small family, an' we've been part of the tour circuit for almost a hundred years."

"If'n I decide I don't wanna tour, I'll stay at th' ranch with th' year-rounders. But there ain't nowhere else t' go in th' end, and 'm okay with that. Really." She smiled softly, shaking her head. "I love the carnival. 'S probably th' only thing I know how t' love. I don't want t' go anywhere else."

"Oh." Now Roscoe kind of felt like a jerk. "Yeah, that makes sense. Even though I totally can't relate to having a family that you actually want to be around," he joked. If Ada was good with the whole situation, he figured there was no point acting like it was the end of the world. He adopted a much lighter tone and even cracked a smile. "Just promise you'll invite us all over to hang out with you at the carnival and party with the carnies."

There were other reasons it was, actually, the end of her world, but Ada wasn't going to get into it at the welcome picnic of all places.

"Pretty sure m' cousins will let you come as often as you like, if only sos they don't have t' entertain me constantly," Ada laughed. "An' they'll probably try t' seduce you t' stay. They like new faces."

"Well, so do I," Roscoe said, grinning a little. It wasn't a huge smile or anything, but he was feeling better now that he'd made Ada laugh. "I've never even been to a carnival, so I bet it'd be fun. Especially if they're anything like you."

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

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