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

Entry tags:

!event: welcome picnic

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

Thankfully, the weather on the island today was fairly nice for the tail end of December, but there was still a medium-sized bonfire going in the middle of the lawn, partly due to tradition and partly due to the potential for shirtlessness (which, Zoe supposed, was also tradition.)

The usual tables were set up with warm foods, nametags, and lists for the new and old folks to find each other. Once everything was set up, it was time to celebrate a new year and the start of a new semester!

[OCD is up! I'm consolidating this down to one post, so bring all your new and old folks over here! Since it's outside, the picnic is open to all students, teachers, and townies!]

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"What, a girl can't check in on her friends at a picnic?"

Sorry, Rufus. You'd talked to her a couple of times, so now you were friends.

He'd been having a bad day, Ringo.

You were making this worse.

"... Friends," he said flatly. "What."

Ringo rolled her eyes. "Uh, yeah. Friends. You know, people you hang out with on occasion? Talk to?" She nodded at the handkerchief. "Borrow stuff from?"

Rufus looked vaguely appalled as he glanced at the handkerchief. He was deeply tempted to thrust it back at her and storm off only, no, Dark Nation was falling asleep and handing her a used handkerchief was disgusting.

"I would call that mere acquaintances," Rufus said, after a moment.

He was terrible at friends.

"Oh, yeah? Lots of your acquaintances give you brownies?" That brownie had been an (unintentional) trap, Rufus! Haha!

And don't worry, plenty of Ringo's friends were terrible at friends. Just ask Lucille!

He would probably get along reasonable well with Lucille, that was the thing.

They could both ignore the other and it would be quite pleasant.

"Laced with poison, perhaps," Rufus said. "Or they want something from me."

"Want something from you?" Ringo looked at him doubtfully. "Like what? To pet your dog?"

Well, Dark Nation was cute.

"Dark Nation invites that--as if I could stop them," Rufus said, a bit ruefully. Fine. Fine. He didn't have to like it but he didn't have the energy to figure out how to get away from Ringo without doing something that would cause people to pay attention to this corner of the picnic.

"No. My father is... very important and has many enemies." Rufus' lip curled up very slightly. "I'm his heir."

It wasn't paranoia if people really were out to get you.

"Oh." Ringo hadn't known that, and she stood there for a moment considering it.

"That sounds, um, complicated?"

She chewed her lip for a moment. "Being an heir is pretty stressful, huh?" Funny how she sort of sounded like she was speaking from experience.

"It's a fact of life," he said, though the glance he gave her was considering.

Ringo nodded. "Yeah. No one really asks if you want to be an heir, huh?"

And it wasn't like you could, you know, not be one once you were.

"Do you not care for being an heir?" he asked, wondering.

Besides, it was vaguely more tactful than telling her he only hated being the heir because it meant he wasn't in charge yet.

"Hmm. Sometimes?" Ringo admitted. "But it was easier, I think, than after." Being queen was harder than merely getting ready to be queen.

See, now that was interesting.

"Oh?" he asked. "You're a ruler in your own right?"

"I suppose? Technically?" Ringo reached up and tugged idly at one of her pigtails. "I left most of that behind when I came to Fandom."

It had been a very welcome reprieve.

"...Doesn't that make you a poor leader to have done so?"

Like. Seriously. Rufus was judging you, Ringo.

"Maybe," Ringo admitted a little sadly. "Though there wasn't much need for me by the end. There was peace, so there wasn't much need for a Thorn Queen."

"So remake yourself," Rufus said, a bit impatiently. "Why define yourself in such a way that leaves you useless once circumstances change?"

"Isn't it better that people don't need me anymore?" Ringo asked, frowning slightly. "I'd rather see people be free to make their own choices."

And it let her feel better about going to Fandom.

But people make stupid choices.

Rufus reined in that first, snappish response with an effort.

"Did you try and see if they needed you in some other capacity?" Rufus asked, instead. "A ruler does not have to be a tyrant. They can be a guide, instead."

Not that I'm opposed to ruling out of fear...

Ringo snorted. "People don't need anyone to rule over them," she said, shaking her head.

Well, actually. "Well, most people don't," she amended. "Some people do need to be stopped, kept under control, but most people? They'll be fine on their own."

"There are many studies even just on this world that would show you that that thinking is incorrect," Rufus said, leaning more solidly against the tree. "A power vacuum is no one's friend and will always be filled."

"Lack of a ruler doesn't mean you've got a power vacuum." Not that Ringo was particularly well-versed in political theory.

"I mean, people can pretty much figure things out for themselves if you'll let them."

"Even committees have people who speak as their leaders," Rufus pointed out. "Gather any group of people for any task and someone will wind up in charge, whether they are appointed or not. If you've vacated your rule then someone is picking up the pieces and ruling in your stead, no matter if they claim your title or not. Someone is in charge."

"It doesn't have to be the same person in charge for everything," Ringo pointed out. "Like, groups have tons of different things they care about, and it's fine for different people to sort of, you know, help out with each one."

Right? That made sense in her head, at least.

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

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