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

Entry tags:

!event: welcome picnic

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

Despite the not-so-great weather earlier in the week, the weather today looked nice and... well, decent for the end of December, and while the rest of town might still have signs of last week's snow, there were no traces left outside the school. (It just meant one less uncomfortable question for the big siblings to deal with, you're welcome.)

The buffet table was ready, set as far as possible from the glittered-out blue and gold tables and chairs. The winter bonfire was crackling for warmth and food-toasting opportunities. The lists of siblings and roommates had been double-checked. It looked like everything was ready for a picnic!

[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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"Not really," Jack answered, "It's more an exercise. My other boss is under the impression I can change."

"Okay. And they think not cursing is a way to do that?"

Miguel was a little mystified.

The jacket hiked over her shoulders in a shrug. "Gets me to pay attention to what I'm saying. Means I'm less likely to let something fall out of my mouth that'll make someone cry."

Usually. Not always.

"Huh. Okay, I guess that works."

Miguel lived to make people miserable with words, but usually only people in authority. It was a thing.

"So you just throw things at them instead?"

She made wide and innocent eyes at him. "I would never throw things at people!"

A beat.

"Usually I just throw the people."

"Things are easier," Miguel said. "People squirm."

"So?" she asked, "That's a problem for you?"

"Static things are more aerodynamic. Go farther, do more damage," Miguel pointed out.

"Yeah but they don't scream the whole time and there's no fun splorch noise when they land," she complained.

"'Splorch'?" Miguel wrinkled his nose. Thanks for that, Jack. Usually he threw them far enough away not to hear anything when they landed. Plus, "Usually mine crunch. Yours don't wear armor?"

Jack smirked at the wrinkled nose. Oh, Miguel.

"Sometimes," she admitted, "Depends who it is. A lot of what I'd been throwing around most recently wasn't human. Some of it was. Some of it was even alive humans. Those ones tended to wear armor."

"I've...never found a reason to throw a dead human," Miguel admitted. "I maintain there are more aerodynamic options."

"They were trying to kill me at the time," Jack drawled, "I consider that plenty of reason enough."

Husks were annoying.

"So not dead-dead, just not-really-alive dead? Okay, yeah, I'd throw them, too. If they were trying to kill me. Otherwise heck, the band at one of the bars is zombies. I'd only throw them if they tried to play something really objectionable."

Jack beamed, "I know! I heard about them! I love zombie movies, this is gonna be great!"

She then made a face, hawked and spat to the side. "Husks," she clarified, "Really truly absolutely very very dead people reanimated by a bunch of glowing blue goo and some freaky-ass nanotechnology. I hate them. They're extinct now, though, thank fuck."

Damnit!

She dug out a single credit chit and moved it from one pocket to the other with an annoyed grimace.

Miguel laughed at her routine. "Yeah, those don't sound like fun. Still, an EMP should take out a ton at once?"

"That's one of the things I do, yeah," Jack drawled, "Biotics don't play nice with machinery and they're mostly machine by then."

Shockwave: Bowling for Husks.

"Biotics?" Miguel asked. "That's what you do?"

She bobbed her head, "Yup. 'Swhat it's called, what we're called. People like me and Kaidan."

"Huh, okay. I haven't seen much of what he can do, I don't think," Miguel said. "I'm just...me. When there were others in my world that ended up different, they called them 'mutates', but that always sounded kind of awkward to me."

Jack snorted loudly. "Yeah, well, you wouldn't unless you saw him fighting something he couldn't just pound to paste with his fists. He has a thing about it."

Pulled a face at the 'mutates'. "We get called that too. Mutants. That's technically true because our DNA is all sorts of fucked up but the word ain't meant in a science sort of way."

"There's mutants in my world, too," Miguel said. "Or there were, and statistically speaking there probably still are somewhere. That means something more specific, though. Born genetic mutations. Mutates are people that started plain human and changed. Anyway, yeah, they both sound pretty rotten. I'll take 'freak' instead."

"That's what we got. Born mutated. Guess our mothers would be the mutates. Once they're exposed, it fucks up their DNA forever," Jack said. Her shoulders hitched in a shrug. "I prefer 'bad-ass bitch' myself. Why are you a freak? You look average enough." She was curious and making conversation mostly. She was shit at small talk.

"I pass well."

Miguel moved so the sun wasn't in his eyes, then took off his sunglasses and stopped mumbling. "I've learned ways to make it less obvious."

The red eyes and fangs, anyway. The rest wasn't immediately obvious.

She saw the red and didn't understand for a moment what he was showing her. Jack was used to red eyes. Wrex had red eyes and so did most of his kids.

That was what finally sent the clue. Miguel wasn't a 9' Krogan. He was, as he said, human or close enough to pass for.

"Huh. They're light sensitive?" Jack asked. She noticed how he moved out of direct sun for the reveal. Gave them a critical look and said, "Pretty. Kind of like rubies when light hits 'em from behind."

Thought a moment and said, "Kaidan and me, we're some of the lucky few who weren't born deformed with the kind of birth damage means the kid doesn't last too long. Unless there's a DNA scan or we start blowing shit apart with our brains we pass well, too. You were born average, you said?"

Curious but willing to accept a none-your-business answer.

Re: Meet Your Teachers! [Spring 2019]

what_the_shock - 2019-01-04 00:37 (UTC) - Expand

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