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

The forecasts had been calling for rain all week, so when it was time to get everything set up for the picnic and it was sunny and warm outside instead, well, that was hopefully a good sign of things to come.

There were tables set up all around the lawn of the school with blue and gold tableclothes and chairs, and the usual buffet of food (and ice cream!) was waiting for hungry folks to dig in. There was also a second table with nametags and lists to help the new people locate their siblings and roommates.

Once the food was ready and the tables were glittered, everything was set for a very pleasant picnic indeed.

[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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Hannibal chuckled over Sparkle's shoulder. "You do realize you don't need to do that anymore."

Sparkle didn't yelp and shove his bag shut, that was just the imagination of anybody who might have witnessed him doing exactly that.

"Shit!"

DON'T DO THAT, HANNIBAL.

Hannibal laughed and patted Sparkle on the shoulder. "I have some better sandwiches," he offered, "unless your intent was to gather junk food."

Sparkle paused, not completely certain if Hannibal meant 'junk food,' or 'food that he considered junk,' which were two things that were not necessarily one in the same.

"I mean, I won't turn down sandwiches," he said, after a pause. "Probably. What kind?"

Mostly he had cookies in his bag anyway.

Hannibal saw little difference between the two, particularly when cookies and potato chips were involved.

"Watercress, prosciutto, and fontina," Hannibal answered, waving toward his bag on the table, "and asparagus and smoked salmon. Also coffee and beer, but those you'll have to drink here." He leaned forward as if sharing a secret. "I doubt they would travel well in your pockets."

Sparkle considered the ingredients listed off, and then nodded a little. It would be an interesting challenge to hide certain ingredients in with the smoked salmon, at least, though he wasn't entirely certain about the prosciutto.

"I haven't had asparagus in a while," he said, and even managed to keep from getting any slight hint of discomfort from showing when Hannibal leaned forward. It was getting... easier. Probably in no small part because of the Carla thing, he supposed. "And I bet I could find a way to carry beer in my pockets if I really tried."

"You'd have to waterproof them first," Hannibal pointed out. Unless Sparkle wanted to suck the beer out of his jeans later, but he wasn't going to entertain that idea.

He led the way back to his table and pulled out a couple of the asparagus sandwiches for Sparkle. And one of the others in case he changed his mind. "You're teaching again this term, then?"

Sparkle followed along, nodding his thanks over the sandwiches and his agreement to the question both at once.

"I mean, sort of. It's mostly just an excuse to not have to move my shit out of my office."

Not that there was anything in his office in the first place.

"It's literally, just, like, show and tell. Bring something in, talk about it, answer questions or whatever. I guess it's like some kind of stealth public speaking, sharing and caring... bullshit class, but mostly I just needed something that was easier than what I did last semester, and tried to remember what I liked best about school when I was a kid."

On the rare occasion that he actually had something to show off that he was proud of, anyway.

"You can learn quite a lot from what people think is interesting enough to bring in, and what they say about it," Hannibal said. "And what other people think of it. How did your previous class work out in the end?"

"It worked out... I don't know. Good, I think?" Sparkle shrugged a little. "I mean, I didn't get the impression that anybody left not having learned something, anyway."

That seemed like the important part.

That was indeed the important part.

"I'm pleased to hear it," Hannibal said. "If you've imparted a bit of knowledge, that's all you can truly hope for."

"Yeah," Sparkle agreed, smiling faintly as he picked up his sandwich. Mm, sandwich. "I mean... It's good to be able to make myself useful. It'll be even better if it actually helps any of them."

"Only time will tell, I suppose," Hannibal said. "Unless the island should give us a glimpse of it."

"Yeah, and it isn't like those count."

Sparkle paused in talking in order to take a bite of his sandwich.

... "Okay, this is way better than anything on the picnic tables."

Obviously.

"Would you expect any less?" Hannibal asked, grinning. Then, because that question had been entirely rhetorical, "Would you like coffee or beer?"

Sparkle paused for a moment in consideration, and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Maybe the coffee, today," he decided. "Beer if we keep talking a while? I can use the caffeine."

"Caffeine it is." Hannibal poured Sparkle a cup and set out the little container of sugar.

"How have you been doing?"

"I..." Sparkle reached for the little container and started to spoon the sugar in. "I mean, I've been doing, I guess. Well enough I'm still here and haven't, like, burned anything else down lately?"

That was something, right?

"Nor have I caught you climbing in through my windows," Hannibal pointed out, smiling.

"I should teach you a flambé or two. Perhaps teppanyaki cooking. I think you'd enjoy it, and it would be a productive application of flame."

"That's... like... that one with all the fancy frying on the hot plate table, right?"

Sparkle didn't have lots of experience with teppanyaki, really.

"Among other things," Hannibal agreed. "Do you think you'd like to learn it?"

Sparkle hesitated for a moment or three before relenting, and nodding a little.

"It sounds like fun," he admitted. "And what I've seen of it was pretty cool."

"We can plan for that, then," Hannibal said. "I've missed teaching you cooking," he admitted.

He was well aware of the reasons for that, and wasn't judging Sparkle for needing the distance, but he did miss it.

There was a brief pause, and then Sparkle sighed and nodded his head a little.

"Yeah," he replied, looking quietly down at what was left of his sandwich. "I've missed that, too."

He was terrified of it. But he'd missed it.

The only way to get over that terror was clearly to confront it.

"Whenever you like," Hannibal said. "You know my door is always open. Would you prefer to make concrete plans?"

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

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