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

Entry tags:

!event: welcome picnic

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

The lawn was arranged with tables and chairs - some near the food, some not - and there was plenty of food to go around. The school had even wised up and put to-go boxes by the plates, so people didn't have to put food in their pockets to take it with them for later. No one was gonna judge you for making some pocket bacon, but at least now it wasn't a necessity.

[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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The person to make that introduction was, unfortunately, not going to be Keyleth, especially considering she'd maybe been in Fandom for five hours at most by this point.

"Well, there we go! A little is better than nothing, right? And I'm going to guess where you're from is definitely not where I'm from," she said, chewing thoughtfully on her thumbnail.

"Id's bedder dan nodding," Fenris agreed, "Id's bedder dan it was yesderday."

Fenris brushed his hair out of his eyes and shook his head. He was almost apologetic when he answered the rest, "I doubt id. Nod if you hadn'd heard de language." He raised brows at her, "Ferelden? Tevinter Imperium?"

“I haven’t heard of any of those places,” Keyleth said, looking genuinely apologetic herself, as if she felt bad for disappointing him. “My village is up in the Alabaster Sierras of Tal’Dorei. My father . . . told me to expect people from all kinds of different worlds, and to not be surprised if no one had heard of it.”

He wasn't disappointed. Unlike pretty much every other Dalish, Fenris didn't seek out the company of his own. He'd lost the memories of what it had meant to be part of the clan when the lyrium had been burned into him. When he was with them, he felt apart and alone. A stranger among his own kind.

Another small shake of his head. "Dey're nod places in de world I'b frob," he said, "I didden know dere were odder worlds undil I gabe here."

No, but Keyleth was always concerned (a little too concerned, sometimes) about other people's feelings that way.

"I knew about other planes --" hard not to when your tribe's entire existence revolved around guarding the portals to them -- "but other worlds is a whole new thing to me too," she agreed. "I guess it makes sense, really, but it's still hard to wrap my head around.

She was maybe staring a little bit. The lyrium was so pretty, okay?

"We hab two planes bud de odder one has many realms," Fenris said. The Fade, man. "Worlds is new. I dod thing aboud id much. My roobate is frob anodder world. He's okay."

He was reserving judgment on every other world out there.

Fenris didn't mind the staring. He was possibly misinterpreting it as staring at another elf. He was trying not to stare back. In recent years, he'd only seen one other half-elf and that.. well. It could have turned out better.

He gestured at her staff. "Whad dype of mage are you?"

Please don't ruin his day and say blood mage. Pleeeease.

Considering she was kind of like Merrill without the blood magic and the terribly poor judgment, it was a valid concern.

“What kind of — oh! No, I’m not —“ Keyleth flailed a little bit, visibly. “I mean, I am a magic user, but druidic magic isn’t that closely related to the arcane schools. It’s a lot closer to divine magic, which doesn’t honestly sit too well with me, but it’s kind of . . . tapping into the raw power of nature itself, if that makes any sense.”

She murmured something under her breath, and a single bright yellow flower materialized and unfurled in her hand; she held it out to him. “See?”

Indeed. Merrill was who he was thinking about when he asked.

"Id mags sense," Fenris assured her. It did. He was sensitized to the Fade through the lyrium in his skin. It allowed him to do things that called upon the other realm without actually using arcane magic.

The flower startled a smile out of him. It took him a moment to realize she was holding it out to him and not just, you know, holding it. He reached for it, the leather and metal clad gauntlets making contrast with the cheerful yellow flower. "Id's very preddy."

For once, something nice said without even a trace of anything but honest admiration.

Edited 2019-01-04 19:17 (UTC)

"It matches your hat," said Keyleth, inordinately pleased that the flower was deemed pretty. "My people are really invested in maintaining the balance of nature. It's sort of what we do, along with guarding the portals to the elemental planes. So there's magic in your world too, right?"

Fenris reached up and worked the stem into the weave of the hat, striking a little 'ta-da' pose for her.

That last part made him wince a little. "Yeah," he admitted, "Dere's a problem wid id. Source is tainted. Mages go bad eventually. When dey start doing blood magic. Most..go bad real soon." Blood magic was seductive. Instant power gratification. Which unfortunately lead to possession, abomination, and eventually death.

That 'eventually' happened a whole lot faster when Fenris was around.

He was trying not to upset the adorable little druid.

And that was . . . really hard for Keyleth to wrap her brain around, to tell the truth, as much as she could grasp the concept on an academic level. — not the idea behind blood magic so much as there being something corrupt at the root of all magic.

“Oh. Wow,” she said after a moment, wide-eyed and a little bit horrified. “I can see how that would be — yeah, it’s a quick and easy route to power, channeling life energy that directly, but . . .”

Her face hardened into a stern but youthful resolve that still had a touch of naiveté to it.

“To use and twist life that way, to — to desecrate it for the sake of power, goes against everything I believe in.”

Fenris nodded slowly because she wasn't wrong about any of it. "Dere are no mages who hab nod become twisted abominations. Only some who habe nod become so yet. In my world. It.."

He looked across the sea of people, seeking one green face in particular. It was easy to find. Fjord was taller than most people here. "..has been a difficult adjustment for me here. Dese mages..are nod lige mages where I am from. Bud de more of dem I meet here, id geds easier to accept nod everywhere is Blighted lige my world."

“I’m very sorry that magic is tainted in your world,” Keyleth told him earnestly; she still looked a bit stunned by that idea, and might be for a bit yet. “I can hardly imagine what that’s like. Is there really no way to fix it? Wait, I’m asking that like I’m assuming you’re an expert. I mean, are you? I don’t want to assume that you’re not, either.”

"I'b nod an egzpert," Fenris shook his head, "Dere are people trying do fix id bud so far everytime somebody tries dey wind up corrupted too. Possessed. Ride now de only way do stop id is do kill de mages who go bad."

With a somewhat self-conscious shrug, he thumbed at the hilt of his sword. "Abobinations cad mag de corruption stronger around dem. Easier do corrupt anodder mage." He shook his head a little, "No cure."

He was not explaining the Grey Wardens right now.

Probably a good idea. It was her first day here; her head might explode from all the new information to process as it was, without having to learn about darkspawn and people drinking darkspawn blood and the emphasis-on-Grey Wardens.

“That’s genuinely awful.” Was it possible to muster up sympathy for every mage who’d ended up an abomination despite their best efforts, everyone who’d had to kill a corrupted friend, and everyone who’d ever suffered at the hands of a corrupted mage all at the same time? Keyleth certainly looked like she was trying. “Is that why you came here? To get away from all of that?”

It was just gross, ok? Drinking blighted blood on purpose because that had to taste foul.

Fenris shook his head, "Aggzident. Chasing.." Nope, not saying those words, she'd wince, "..bad guys. Tunnel. Came out here. Dey weren'd here." Desperately digging for something to say that wasn't horrible.. "Nice, though. To be away. Id's quiet here."

Too quiet, he was bored. He was not telling the wee baby half-elf that there weren't enough things to kill. "You gabe here for school?"

"It is quiet," Keyleth agreed, "and it's also . . . not, at the same time? My village is bigger than this, but it's also isolated at the top of a mountain peak, far from any civilization, where the mainland here is just a short walk away."

She glanced up behind her at the school.

"Also there's a castle. An actual castle! I've never been in one before! But you were asking me if I came here for school, weren't you? I did. My father thought it would be a useful addition to my --" there was a quick flash of a frown -- "training. I don't know how he knew about it."

"You might wand do avoid de mainland for now," Fenris said after a moment, "Dey don'd have elves here, only stories and people are rude." He grimaced, "You will ged asged about your ears and if you are a 'real elf' or ruder questions."

He looked up at the school. "Id is a preddy building," he admitted, "And good your fadder is ledding you ged more cultural eggsposure if your village is remote."

“If I’d figured out wings by now I could at least take the aerial tour,” Keyleth said, frowning, though she was back to her cheerful self a moment later. “I’m going to guess you found that out the hard way. Yikes.”

She fidgeted a little bit, self-conscious, at the mention of her father. “I was going to have to go out and see the world in a couple of years anyway, but he thought this would help make that easier for me when the time comes. I hope he’s right, or I’m going to just spend my entire Aramenté being really, really confused.”

Well, that was going to happen anyway.

Fenris grimaced and nodded. "No magic as such," he noted. "You'll probably lige id here," he offered after a moment, "Most people on the island are nice."

""Well, no one's tried to kill me on sight, so that's a good start!" Keyleth's smile was a little shaky at first, but bright and cheerful all the same. "Maybe I can go as a horse. Do people ride horses on the mainland? A bear's probably a bad idea.".

Unless, say, she wanted to be some kind of fifteen minute internet celebrity while everyone thought she was an escapee from the zoo.

Fenris' eyes sharpened and his lips thinned. "Nobody'd bedder. If you want to go to de mainland, find me. I'll go wid you. Nobody will say anyding to you den."

They'd better not.

They'd just better not.

“If I’m going to lead my tribe someday, I’m probably going to have to get used to people being less than pleasant.” Keyleth sounded a bit like she was echoing something she’d been told once and trying to convince herself that it wasn’t so bad. “But maybe I should get used to this place first before I try to see what it’s like over there, and I’m getting the feeling that might take a little bit of work.”

She immediately blinked and looked sheepish. “But thank you, though! It’s a really nice offer and I’ll probably take you up on it eventually.”

"Dere's a difference between 'unpleasant' and 'dangerous'," said a man who was both usually all the time, "You don'd need dangerous ride now. And please do tag me up on id, I am happy to play escort so you don'd hab to deal wid 'dangerous' just yet."

He glanced around and pointed out Fjord, "Dat's Fjord. He's a teager. Also is my roommate. If you need help and I'm nod dere, find him. He'll help you too."

Fjord would. Without question Fjord would.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]