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

[bigdamnprincipal]

The weather held out nicely during the day, and while that meant some of the tables were right out in the warm sun, others had been carefully placed under some shade, and the gentle breeze had cleared at least a little of the glitter up.

It wasn't totally gone, of course. That wouldn't be any fun!

[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!]

Comments

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

Jyn sat down at the table, though she was too excited now to think of eating. "I didn't want to come here but if Saw had told me you were here I wouldn't have complained," she said.

"He always told me he didn't know where you were. After they took you away I wanted to find you, but he said it was too dangerous to look."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

Hannibal put a sandwich in front of her and poured her a glass of his beer. She was probably going to need it.

"I'm afraid, my dear, that I am either from another world or another time." He put a hand on hers to get her attention and hopefully calm her for a moment. "I have never met anybody named Saw."

That seemed safer than starting by asking for her name.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

Go ahead, Hannibal, break her heart.

"What do you mean?" Jyn said. "Saw Gerrera...he took us from Coruscant to Lah'mu. He came for me after the Empire killed mother and took you away."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

Ah, well. That answered a few questions, anyway.

Hannibal shook his head. "While I have heard of your galaxy, I have lived all my life here on Earth. It would seem that your father is some other version of me, or perhaps merely resembles me."

He offered her a soft look that wasn't quite a smile. "Although if you care so deeply for him, I am certain that he does the same."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

"I don't understand," Jyn said, her face falling. "You look just like my father. You sound just like him!" The last time she'd seen him his hair had been longer and he'd been unshaven, but how could he not be her father?

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

"So, he is undoubtedly a handsome man," Hannibal teased. He nudged the sandwich and beer toward her. "My name is Hannibal Lecter. What is your father's? And yours?"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

"Galen Erso," Jyn said, her heart growing numb. "And I'm Jyn."

She poked at the sandwich, though she had no appetite. But years of never knowing when her next meal might be made her hands lift it to take a bite.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

"I'm pleased to meet you, even if I must disappoint you, Jyn," Hannibal said. "I'd enjoy hearing more about you and your father, though, if you'd like to talk about him."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

"I'm not supposed to talk about him," Jyn said. She shouldn't even had said her father's name. One day in this place and she'd already failed in that. But Saw had assured her she'd be safe her.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

"Are you permitted to say why?" Hannibal asked. "I assure you, I have no interest in causing either of you any difficulty. I'm merely curious to what extent your father and I may share other interests or traits."

He smiled. "And although you aren't my daughter, I would very much like to know someone raised by any version of me."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

Jyn felt a stab of longing in her heart at that smile, so much like her father's. "He's...very smart," she said hesitantly. "And Saw was afraid if someone found out I was his daughter, they'd use me against him and make him do things he didn't want to do."

Which the Empire may have been doing already for all she knew.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

"A rational fear." Hannibal nodded. "I hope it never comes to pass, for both your sakes." Although depending upon how like Hannibal this Galen might be, perhaps the people around him should worry more.

"I myself went to medical school at a much younger age than is common, and have several degrees. Does your father study anything in particular?" He nodded to the beer she hadn't yet touched. "And would you prefer coffee? It's rather like your caf, from what I've been told."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

"Crystallography," Jyn said, her hand going to the crystal she wore around her neck. "He wanted to find an energy source that would be able to power any world."

She reached for the beer -- shame on you for corrupting a minor, Hannibal -- and took a sip. "This is fine," she said, deciding she liked it well enough. It wasn't entirely unlike beer she'd had before.

The mention of caf, though, brought a question of her own to mind. "There are people from my galaxy here?"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

"A few, I think," Hannibal answered, "although I'm not acquainted with them all." He looked around, but didn't spot Kanan or Hera who had run off to dupe the bus key. "I don't see them at the moment." And even if he'd seen him, which he didn't, he wasn't about to introduce the poor girl to Skywalker.

And beer was hardly corruption.

"I've never worked much with energy or crystals myself, but that sounds like a laudable goal. Although I can imagine many ways in which it could be misused."

Galen Erso was definitely more naive than Hannibal Lecter.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

Galen Erso was also a pacifist. He was pretty much an anti-Hannibal.

Jyn nodded. "That's what Saw was worried about," she said. She didn't understand a lot of what her father's work was about, but she knew enough that that kind of power in the wrong hands would be very bad.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

Now now - Hannibal detested war himself. It was so wasteful and unskilled.

"This Saw sounds like a smart man," Hannibal observed. "And he's the one who sent you here?"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

"Yes," Jyn said bitterly. Stupid Saw. Stupid rebellion. "I don't want to be here. I was doing fine where I was."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

"I'm sure that you were," Hannibal said. "But perhaps you can do well here, too. This place isn't so bad - we have people from many different times and universes, and there's much to learn from them, even outside of classes."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

"I've already learned everything I need to know." Which was basically shooting things, blowing things up, and evading arrest.

"What am I supposed to learn here?" Jyn waved her hand at the picnic. "How to be a good citizen? Fashion and etiquette?"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

"Fashion and etiquette can both be remarkably deceptive," Hannibal pointed out, "and useful tools in a number of ways. What is it you think you need to know?"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

"How to fight," Jyn said. "How to survive. I've spent the past eight years doing just that."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

Hannibal nodded. "Since you are still alive, you do seem to know that. But what would you want to do, if you had a choice?"

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

Sure, Hannibal, ask the hard questions.

"I don't know," Jyn said after a moment's consideration. "I've never thought about it."

Maybe a scientist like her father, or perhaps study archaeology, as her mother had done.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[sharp_man]

"Here, for the most part," Hannibal said, "you won't have to worry about surviving or fighting. And when you do, I have no doubt you'll be ready for it. While you're here, you can begin to think about what you might want to do. Explore new ideas. Learn things because they delight you, instead of because you need to."

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2017]

[stardust_rogue]

That made sense in a way. Jyn's childhood had been ripped away eight years ago, and she'd never had the luxury of dreaming about the future. But still, she was stubborn.

"What about the rebellion?" she said. "They need me. We were making a difference! That's more important." Clearly all was lost without her.