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

So this week had been... less than great overall, but everyone in town was okay again (as okay as they ever were, at least) and now there were new people to welcome to the island! Thankfully, the weather was warm and sunny, perfect for anyone who wanted to take part in some shirtless shenanigans, and the front lawn of the school was all set up for yet another tasty picnic. There were tables of blank name tags, lists of information, and enough food to probably feed two Fandoms. Time to be welcoming!

[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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Del hesitated and then asked, "Are they dry and dead zombies or are they the squooshy rotty droppy kind because those ones are usually sad with all their pieces falling all over the everywhere and it's really bad when all their arms fall off so they can't pick their pieces up and nobody speaks zombie so nobody can hear them ask for help but people just run away thinking they're saying something bad when all they're really saying is 'could you help me put my arms back I'm itchy and I can't scratch' and those are very sad zombies and not just the plain old dead kind; those are ok. But which, please?"

Beat.

"Sad zombies make my big sister really mad."

Norman hesitated for a few moments before venturing, "They're a little of both, but they're pretend zombies, movie zombies, from stories. There are some real ones on the island too, at the bar, and I do go and talk to them sometimes. They're nice."

He figured if anyone here wasn't going to sweat it so much about his weird talents, it might actually be Delirium, here.

"... Who's your sister?"

Her eyebrows raised doubtfully, "Pretend... sad zombies? Are they from sad movies? The kind where people sniffle and talk about onions only really they're crying?"

She was distracted by a moth for a moment, watching it flitter around. "I have two and a half sisters," she said, "Death and Despair are always my sisters but Desire's only my sister sometimes and mostly they're just my sibling and we don't talk much. Zombies make Death really really angry when they're sad but Despair doesn't get angry ever and sad zombies just mean that now she has some zombies so I don't think she's upset about it even because who wouldn't want their very own zombies? I never get zombies. If the zombies in the bar are nice and not sad zombies then maybe Death isn't mad about them but she didn't tell me about them before I came here and now I wonder why and maybe she didn't know but of course she would know but maybe since they're not sad they're exactly where they're supposed to be and she wanted me to meet them on my own."

"Um," said Norman, who predicted that he'd be saying 'um' a lot around this new roommate of his. But he found that he didn't exactly mind, either. "I think the zombies in the bar are mostly just happy to be there playing music. They've got good rhythm?"

Was that important to note? Norman felt that maybe that would be important to note.

"If they're happy I don't think she'd be too angry," Del said, chewing her lip. "As long as they're not sad or angry. Those are what make her most mad, when they're made to be somewhere they don't belong. I would like to meet them. Then I can ask and make sure. Maybe we can go and see them soon?"

"I'd like that," Norman replied, smiling faintly. "I haven't visited them in a while, but they are pretty busy on nights when the bar is busy. I just don't like being in their way."

"I can make the bar be not busy," Delirium offered.

"No, Delirium," Barnabas said immediately.

"But..!"

"No."

She sighed and slumped a little. "Are there some nights when it isn't so busy with peoples and I wouldn't have to make them leave so it wasn't busy? I would like to see the zombies and talk to them to make sure they're ok."

"Well..." Norman looked thoughtful. "I mean, I've only ever been there on Wednesdays. But I don't think the person who worked there on Wednesdays is even still around."

He was pretty sure. She'd stopped teaching them somewhere before the semester ended, too.

"Is it open some other days than Wednesday?" Delirium asked, uncertain how such things worked. "I've been to bars lots of times and they're usually open so many days and the people in them are sometimes even mine but sometimes they're not and that's ok, they don't gotta be."

"Most days other than Wednesday," Norman offered. "I'm... not entirely sure what days those days are. But most of them. I'll look into finding out, if you want."

He glanced between Del and Barnabas. "If you don't mind me asking... what do you mean by people being yours?"

Look, her name was Delirium and one of her sisters was Death who didn't like sad zombies, but he still didn't want to presume.

Del curled her arms around Barnabas neck. "I don't mind you asking. Most people don't, you know. Ask. It's hard, I know." She pet Barnabas to keep herself focused. "My realm is very neat," she offered, "It's full of all sorts of things and it changes all the time but things are always neat. Sometimes a little scary? But those. I make stay in one area. Past the sundial. Um. Sometimes people come to visit. Mostly they don't stay. Sometimes they stay but mostly they don't? I take care of them while they're with me. I'm very good at taking care of people. I remember them. The visitors. All of them. The ones who are and the ones who could be and the ones who never ever meant to be but are anyway. They all need someone to take care of them. Not everyone does, you know. Takes care of them. Sometimes not even themselves. Um. It's a little bit like having friends, you know? I like to think that it's a little like having friends. I remember everything all at once so I remember how I took care of them and when they arrive then I know how to take care of them because I remember it, so I do. I remember them, too. Even when they leave. Um. Sometimes it takes a little while for me to remember them but I always, always do. They're my people and I took care of them and you don't forget something like that. Um. Not for more than a tiny bit of a while."

She looked out over the crowd. More people had shown up. "Some of these people were mine. Some of them mightwillcould be mine someday. I see them all. I'm here now. They won't remember me. They almost never do, you know. That's ok. Then I get to meet them all over again and that's nice too, don't you think?"

Delirium looked at Norman, focused on him for a second and said quietly, "You aren't, you know. One of mine. Even when it's craziest, it's never cuz of me." She hesitated and then, since he'd asked a question felt that she could. "You're visiting my sister right now and while I'm really glad she's got company it's almost always because people are sad. Despair looks after her people too but her realm. It's damp and squooshy and smells a little bit like feet and she likes it just like that but most people don't. Why are you so sad, Norman?"

And that... that was what she meant, then. For an answer that seemed to twist around itself so many times, it was almost startlingly straightforward, and Norman found himself the slightest bit in awe for a few moments, right up until she'd mentioned Despair.

And that was when he bowed his head and stared toward the ground.

"I made a mistake and people got hurt," he said, softly. "A stupid, horrible, selfish mistake. And just because people got better doesn't mean I didn't make it."

"Oh," Delirium said with a sad little nod. One of those things. "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, Norman," she offered, "Even us and our mistakes can be really really really super bad. People can. Um. Explode? Or.. just.. not .. be people anymore? Or.. Well, it can be really bad. Your mistakes are human mistakes so while it feels bad to you it's really just a very small mistake in the universe. She's very forgiving of mistakes, the universe. People could be more like her if they try. Usually they try. Sometimes they get it wrong. Sometimes they don't try and that's wrong. Mistakes are forgivable. You didn't know, you know? Nobody tries to make a mistake. That's why it's a mistake. It's when people are horrible and they mean to be nasty and horrible and hurtful and hateful and, um, humbugful and.. hindsitelessfull and .. " She trailed off, looking for other words that started with 'h' but.. no, this was important, the thing she was saying, "Those people aren't very nice. When it's on purpose. Then it isn't important to forgive so much. Otherwise it is. Even if people got hurt. Sometimes all you can do is say how sorry you are and make what rights you can make, even if the only rights you can make is to not make that mistake you made no more."

She reached to pat him. "It will be ok, Norman. It almost always is, eventually."

"It almost always is," Norman agreed, after a few moments of quiet, mostly spent swallowing at a sudden lump in his throat and blinking back tears. "I just wish I knew what else I could do to make it more okay now."

Oh no. Oh nonononono that wouldn't do! Delirium leaned and tried to put her arm around his shoulders.

"Um.. um um um.. Do you know them? The people you want to make things more okay now for? Do they like frogs? I'm really good at making pretty rainbow frogs. Or.. or food? Or flowers? Those.. I'm not so good at making but you can buy all of those and they're things people give when other people get hurt, aren't they? I see them in hospitals all the time? Maybe? Or.. or.."

Barnabas whuffed and licked her face. "I don't think face licks are really what I'm looking for right now but thank you, Barnabas," Delirium said. She was a small personification of crazy on a mission here.

Norman gave a small exhale, almost a laugh, as he reached up a hand to wipe at his eyes.

"It's okay," he replied, turning a little smile her way. "It's my mistake to fix. I mean. Someone else already fixed the mistake itself. I wasn't any good for that. But it's mine to make up for. But that's all very kind."

She chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment. "Okay. But I can help if you need help with it. I'm really good at helping. And I'm your roommate."

In case he'd forgotten.

"Being kind is easy. Being mean is hard. It should be hard. Some people find it easier to be mean than to be kind. I don't like those people so much. I would rather be kind. I can't always be kind but when I can, I am. It makes the world nicer, don't you think?"

"It does," Norman agreed quietly. "More people should try to be kind, maybe. If they knew how much easier it was, maybe things would be better for everyone."

"Yes," Delirium agreed, tilting her head at him. "You're a very nice person, aren't you? That takes work too, even when it's easier than being mean that doesn't mean it's easy to be all the time."

Norman's shoulders hiked up a little bit, and he looked down awkwardly.

"I mean... sometimes it feels like it would be easier to be mean," he admitted. "Sometimes I get mad enough, when people are hurtful, that I want to hurt them back. But it never does any good. They'd just hit back harder."

He'd said similar once before, to a little girl that had been about his age when she'd been hanged.

Don't think just because there are bad people out there that there aren't any good ones. Don't think you have to go through everything alone. I thought the same thing, for a while.

He scuffed his toe against the grass.

There's always someone out there for you. Somewhere.

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

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