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

Whatever aspect of the island made sure the weather was nice on picnic day didn't seem to be able to control the temperature. It wasn't freezing, but it would definitely more comfortable out on the lawn with a coat on. Thankfully, the conditions were just right for a bonfire in the center of the lawn, so people could gather and stay warm once they'd made their introductions.

Once the tables and chairs were set up and everything was properly glittered, all that was needed were people!

[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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Nick missed his flight, which meant he missed the shuttle, which meant he was slightly late in getting to the picnic. But it was okay! He was here!

Kind of wishing the drink options included beer so he could pretend he wasn't questioning this whole thing, but here.

[SP warning!]

Summer was, of course, keeping an eye out to hone in on any unfamiliar faces; it was literally part of her job right now, after all! So once he did arrive, it definitely wasn't long before she found her way over with a bright, eager grin.

"Hi! You wouldn't happen to be Nick, would you? Nick Miller?"

"Why?" Nick asked, immediately suspicious that anyone would know
His name here, as he was smart.

Oooh, and that always was a fun response. Summer's smile managed to get just a little bit brighter.

"I'm Summer Smith," she offered. "Your official designated Fandom High Teaching Buddy, which means it's my job to hunt you down at this thing and potentially make you think I'm absoultey crazy or possibly even to inform you that you're supposed to be teaching here in the first place. It's really kind of a mixed bag of reactions, but that's always a good place to start. How up to speed are you on your current situation on this fair island?"

"...The school assigned me friends?"

He was that up to speed.

He didn't seem thrown off by word 'teaching' being thrown around, so that seemed like a pretty good start to Summer!

"Just the one," she informed him brightly, and clearly not in the least bit aversed to carrying literally every side of this conversation, "but you got a reaaally good one. Experienced as both a teacher and a student, and it takes a lot to phase me, so, seriously, any questions at all, throw them at me, I am ready. Plus, I can totally hook you up with drinks at one of the bars and supplies at the general store, but we can get into that later, there's a lot of ground to cover. Sooooo, let's start with this: where are you from, Nick?"

"Chicago. Recently LA," he said, but he made a face that said that we all know which one was the real answer. "Did you say general store?"

Oh Nick you were in for it.

"I did!" Ohmygod, he was keeping up so well! "It's called Turtle & Canary, named after people actually called Turtle & Canary, not the actual animals, although we do have those, too. They're not for sale, though. I mean, I guess they could be, we sell almost anything, except duct tape, and we definitely do special orders, we have a ton of multidimensional connections and I make it a point of pride to be able to get what people are looking for. But most people just get the essentials, you know. Groceries, school supplies, alcohol...."

Nick was pretty sure he just heard the world 'multidimensional.'

But what he asked was, "Then where am I supposed to get duct tape?"

This was honestly an important question for him.

"Kwik Stop, maybe?" Summer offered, although, wow, that was actually a question she wasn't completely prepared for, so she was kind of impressed. "It's not a far distance to the mainland, either. And you know...Amazon."

But it did beg a question of her own:

"Do you find you need to use duct tape often?"

Why did she have the feeling like the answer to this question would probably tell her more about Nick than probably half the ensuing combination entirely?

"Well yeah. How else are you gonna fix something when it breaks?"

You gotta think.

Yup. That just about cracked it open pretty well for Summer, there.

"Believe me," she said with a small, amused laugh. "There are more than enough people around here who can fix things when they break way better than duct tape ever could. But I can definitely see what I can do about maybe trying to break through that particular glitch in the system for you in the meantime."

"Who needs other people? You just fix it," Nick said with a shrug. "You just... fix it."

Nick was not going to get his security deposit back.

"Nice to have an in on getting it though."

Do you really fix it, though, Nick? Really?

Summer's face was pretty much saying as much without any words for a moment, before she let the grin take over again. "We'll see what we can do," she assured him. "But, okay, so. From Chicago. Recently of L.A. And now you're here. What brought you here?"

It was fixed enough till the next time he had to jam a broom down the garbage disposal.

"Long story. Let's say I needed a change," Nick said. "I did an assembly here a few months ago, went great."

Nick was a damn liar.

As great as, say, a duct tape quick fix?

Definitely a liar, but at least it was kind of cute.

"Obviously," Summer allowed, "if you decided to come back and stay. Are you all set up on hoising and stuff like that? A place to live? Some people get that taken care of before hand, other people get kind of blindsided by this whole thing and are left piling into the hotel until they figure something out, but there's definitely options! I don't recommend sleeping on the park benches."

Because her last Teaching Buddy had done that, and, honey, no.

Miraculously, though, Summer actually thought Nick was doing much better than Booker, and actually wasn't...as worried about that?

The duct tape worked fine! He didn't need to pay somebody to come in and do it wrong!

"I've probably got a few years till I reach the park bench portion of my life." Or unless he got really drunk. "I'm working on it. I just came from a roommate situation. Might be nice to get some time to myself for once."

No. Absolutely not. This had to be remedied.

Why would you do that to a poor, unsuspecting new roommate?

"Some space to yourself can be nice," Summer agreed, easily enough. "If you do need help, though, hit me up, that's literally what I'm here for. What are you teaching?"

"Creative Writing," Nick said, and added, "I wrote a book about zombies."

It had a word search with no words in it.

"Ooooh," said Summer. "From personal experience?"

Look, a lot of these questions had been super normal, and that seemed a good opportunity for a seamless segue into, you know, the important batshit stuff.

Nick blinked.

"I guess one or two characters have some aspects of my personality," he said. Not Mike's dad, though. Mike's dad sucked. "You have to be able to relate to your characters and all."

Nick did not. Again, word search. Do not forget the word search.

If Summer cared anything about reading books, she might have the honor of never forgetting the word search, but alas...

Curiosity might inspire her to at least look it up, but...

"So no actual zombie experience, though?"

Nick was starting to look a little suspicious, but thinking this was still a normal place meant that he just wasn't making that leap.

"There's a haunted house I'm trying to forget..."

That start of a suspicious look was definitely a sign that Summer needed to kick it up a notch, lest she be guilty of truly failing Nick as his school-assigned friend.

"The band where I work is made of zombies," she offered helpfully. "Maybe you can chat them up to get some ideas for a sequel!"

Edited 2021-01-03 18:52 (UTC)

Nick frowned, deeply.

And waited for an explanation, because no.

Re: Meet Your Teachers [Spring 2021]

somethingwithturquoise - 2021-01-03 19:43 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Meet Your Teachers [Spring 2021]

gotyoucookie - 2021-01-03 20:09 (UTC) - Expand

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