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

Over on this part of the school lawn... yeah, it was still chilly. Stupid winter, doing its winter thing. But there were plenty of chairs and tables for people watching, feasting on warm foods and drinks, and generally attempting to meet the new folks!

[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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Yeah, that weekend was probably going to be more of a novelty for Norman than a heart-rending trauma fest.

"The dogs are usually pretty great," Norman said, slightly more at ease. "I mean... they're dogs."

Norman was totally a dog person. And occasionally a raccoon person.

"I'm sorry about your friend," he added, gently. "I'm sure he appreciates that you're thinking of him, though."

The ones who stuck around sometimes found themselves utterly forgotten, in time. It was heartbreaking, and part of the reason Norman was so comfortable with talking to them. They were lonely.

"He does," Tip said. "And thanks. He was really old. But he still got to live long enough to meet the aliens who crashed a ufo into his junkyard in the 40s."

Because of course Tip had met the guy who knew the truth about Roswell.

"We adopted his dog, actually. But Lincoln's still alive. He's still real cool, though."

"All dogs are cool," Norman replied, nodding his agreement. "And it sounds like your friend lived a pretty interesting life. Did meeting the aliens go well, at least? It wasn't a disappointment or anything?"

It was hard to say, since Tip had told him that aliens had taken over, and all.

"He really only met one. My friend J.Lo. Well, he met some Gorg, too, but the Gorg weren't the ones who crashed the ship." Tip's life was weird, yes. "But yeah, he and J.Lo got along okay. Not as well as we did, but they both liked me, so they were nice to each other."

"Well, then... that's good." Norman was smiling a bit more, now. Okay, he'd talked about seeing ghosts and the conversation hadn't gone weird. That was refreshing, and... unexpected. Though after the day he'd had, he wasn't as surprised as he'd figured he'd be, either. "Uh, J.Lo?"

He hadn't really taken her for an alien. The world was full of surprises.

"That's his Earth name," Tip said. She pulled out her phone and called up a photo she'd taken over the holiday. "Here he is."

Norman leaned in to look at the photo, and then made a little 'o' shape with his mouth.

"Squid people," he noted, "like you said."

He paused, and then added, "He looks friendly."

If awkward.

Tip nodded. "He's the best. You might meet him if you're around for Parents' Weekend next year."

"I think I'd like that," Norman decided. And then kind of grimaced a little. "Parents' Weekend is a thing, huh? Not just parents come to visit?"

Maybe he could swing Neil coming by instead of his parents or Courtney.

"Pretty much anyone can come visit, I think. Bet you can even invite some ghosts."

Norman smiled a little at the thought.

"Grandma would like that," he admitted. "As much as she wanted me to come here, I don't think she was happy that she couldn't come along."

After all, her entire reason for staying around as a ghost was because she'd sworn to always look after him.

"Your grandma's one of the ghosts," Tip mused. "That must be kind of cool. I mean -- not that she's dead. Just -- I never knew any of my grandparents."

"It's been nice having her around," Norman admitted. "My family hated it for the longest time, though. Dad tried to tell me to stop talking to her, once."

Grandma had called him a jackass, and they'd carried on talking all the same.

"What? Why?!"

"Because she was dead," Norman replied, shrugging his shoulders. "And I think it kind of bothered him that I kept giving him messages from his mom."

Most of which were along the lines of, 'stop being a jackass, Perry.'

"So he couldn't see her, himself," Tip concluded. "And so he got mad that you could." She sighed. "People really are terrible, aren't they."

"I mean..." Norman shrugged a little. "He's my Dad. And he thought I was making it up for the attention."

Which, given the expressive eyeroll he did there, really wasn't the sort of thing he was prone to doing anyway.

"But that doesn't change that there are a lot of terrible people out there, either."

"Okay, but like, even if you were making it up for attention, that probably means he should actually pay attention to you. Not just tell you to stop doing things."

Tip had been raised by a single mother who didn't figure out how to be an actual mother until after the aliens invaded. When Tip was 11. She had Opinions.

Eleven years old was one heck of a year for stuff like that to happen, wasn't it? That was how old Norman was when his own parents had realized that he wasn't completely full of shit.

"He stopped eventually," he offered. "Mom said it was because he was just scared. And I guess she wasn't entirely wrong. I just thought she meant he was scared of me."

"Okay, but so what if he was scared?" Tip said. "He's a grown up, you were a kid. You're not responsible for his emotional well-being."

Apparently this had touched a nerve.

"I'm not," Norman agreed, biting his lip and looking at Tip thoughtfully. "I never... I mean..."

He sighed and spread his hands.

"It was kind of just how it was. It bothered me, but I didn't really think about what he should be doing. Just about what he was."

It wasn't like he'd had any basis for comparison, besides his Grandma, for supportive adult role models.

"Of course not," Tip said. "You were a kid." She shrugged. "Sorry. My mom was kind of . . . anyway. It's a bit of a sore spot. We should talk about something else."

"We can talk about anything else," Norman replied, nodding, kind of thankful to get away from the topic, himself. "Are you going to the New Year's party tomorrow? That one the Summer girl was going around inviting all the new kids to?"

He was sort of undecided about that one.

"Yeah, probably. Summer throws good parties." Tip had even helped out with one of them. "You thinking about going, too?"

"I'm considering it," Norman replied, shrugging his shoulders a little. "I wasn't, really, but if someone I already know is going to be, I might change my mind."

Summer hadn't really sold him on the idea that he was actually wanted there, was the thing.

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

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