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

The weather was warm, the food smelled good, and there was a good chance the new folks were a little extra glittery. What else could go into a perfect day for the picnic?

[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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"I imagine it has," Breq said, smiling again.

She hesitated for a moment. A long moment.

"If you can't reach your Fleet Captain, there is another Radchaai on the island. She won't be of any help, but if you miss civilized company."

A pause.

"Perhaps not the best civilized company, but still."

Any civilized company would be welcome, really, though Breq's hesitation made Tisarwat feel cautiously wary. Especially since, if anyone so far could begin to truly understand how uncomfortable Tisarwat really was underneath her smooth, polished faced, it would be her.

"Another Radchaai? What's her name? Where can I find her?"

And it would be true sign of Tisarwat's strength if she was able to not go rushing out to find her immediately.

She could really use some good fucking tea right now.

"She works in the flower shop on Saturday," Breq said. "And goes to the bar sometimes. I haven't talked to her, but she's mentioned on radio regularly. Seivarden Vendaai. I'm sure you can ask for her in town."

And, just to make sure Tisarwat was aware, she added: "Most things that happen here gets broadcasted on radio. Squirrels instead of an AI though, and you can bribe them."

"Bribe them?" Tisarwat asked, because dealing with that was, for the moment, much easier than dealing with the fact that she was pretty sure this Breq has said Seivarden Vendaai.

There was no such thing as coincidence.

But Tisarwat was starting to believe pretty firmly in eternal bad luck.

"With rum. It's a kind of local arrak."

Breq felt sorry for her, knowing this was a lot to take in.

Forget the tea; maybe what Tisarwat really needed was some of this rum.

The whole fact that Seivarden was apparently here on this island (a different one? An alternate version, just like this Breq? Was she going to be younger, too? She could hardly be any older...) had her a little lost on the rest of what had been said, and she took a moment to try to go over it.

"So there are squirrels...that can be bribed with rum....for their broadcasts? Why would they need to be bribed?"

"Do you really want every detail of your life broadcast on radio?" Breq asked. "Well, maybe not every detail, but everything they find interesting."

"They really do that?" Tisarwat was trying to imagine it, but it seemed so contrary to her experiences so far, and she looked around a little, trying to spot these squirrels. "How do you even hear the broadcast? I couldn't even communicate with the Station before I took the...shuttle," it still felt wrong to call it that, "and I haven't seen much technology since then besides maybe what looks like personal communication devices..."

Speaking of which...

"...where can I get one of those?"

"There's a store," Breq said. "I can show you, or maybe your big sibling wants to help. You have to have some kind of device, including this one, to listen to the broadcast. And the squirrels recruit people to report, so make it understandable."

At least Tisarwat seemed smart and willing to get an idea how things worked here.

"There's no point in trying to find an AI here," she said. "You'll have to do a lot of work yourself."

A lot more than a young Radchaai lieutenant was used to anyway.

"Do you know which classes you're taking yet?"

Tisarwat's first instinct was to fight off the feeling of helplessness just then, to push it aside, ignore it, fight past it, to prove herself capable, but at the same time, what would be the point? She was lost and adrift, she was overwhelmed, and even though this was not her Fleet Captain, she still looked like her and sounded like her and acted like her, too, except for those odd smiles. She understood in a way that no one else here would, except maybe Seivarden. And there was comfort in that.

So her shoulders slumped as she let out the tension of trying to be so poised and unflappable and polite.

"I don't know much of anything at all!" she admitted, somewhat miserably. "I was told everything would just be taken care of."

"That's not entirely wrong though, in a way. Getting used to things is the hardest part."

And quite hard.

"If you feel like you need something practical to do once a week I am looking for employees. It's not the kind of work that you're used to, but sometimes keeping busy helps."

Tisarwat didn't look like she would take an offer of a job in a shop as an insult just now, which Breq would expect from a Radchaai Lieutenant.

Before any of this, Tisarwat hadn't even really wanted to be assigned to a ship, anyway. Too bad someone else had different plans for her.

And it didn't seem quite so bad, framed the way Breq had put it.

"In your music shop?" she asked, with a tone of amusement in her faint grin, after a long moment to consider it, looking at her.

"In my music shop. It's an unpredictable place, but usually pleasant, and I'm looking for employees. The former owner just recently left it to me, and I've been working on turning the basement into a living space."

Best not mention the Silence just yet.

"You can think about it if you like, and let me know if there's a day that suits you if you decide you want to."

Breq knew how to deal with young lieutenants, and she was sure she could teach Tisarwat how to deal with both the shop and the customers.

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

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