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

[amitragic]

As was usually the case with these things, good weather was once more blessing the gathering of Fandom folk new and old. There was a bonfire, but it was mostly for decoration. And for s'mores, the makings of which were available at one of the nearby tables.

There was plenty of food, and there were tables and chairs set up all across the lawn (with light dustings of glitter where you least suspected it, naturally), and everything was ready for another welcome picnic!

[OCD 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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Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[amitragic]

Be gentle or scar them for life, your choice!

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[kawaii_complex]

All in the last twenty-four hours, Sakaki had been in an airplane for the first time, left her home country for the first time, been mauled by cats and subsequently bandaged up as a result (not for the first time, nor the last!), hung out with an owl for the first time, and rode in a bus that looked like a bunny for the first time!

That was a lot! And now there was some sort of picnic, but Sakaki was honestly ready to figure out her room situation and snuggle up with some of her softest plushies and have a nice nap.

But she dutifully found her name tag, smoothed it over her chest, and looked around, especially toward the food tables as her bandaged hand went over the rumble of her stomach.

Maybe some food first...

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[unusual_sith]

Lana was glad for that name tag. She was a bit done with looking at people's chests to see who they were, so finding the right person was good.

She smiled at the girl. "Hello, Sakaki? I'm Lana Beniko, your big sibling."

Hopefully her red-and-yellow eyes weren't a put-off. She was at least wearing Earth clothing?

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[kawaii_complex]

They...did throw Sakaki off, a little, but she already seemed a little caught by surprise at someone talking to her to begin with, so it was really hard to tell if it was just general social anxiety or anything about Lana specifically.

But at least she seemed to settle a little with that initial surprise, though she looked a little confused.

Or overwhelmed.

Or both.

It was definitely both.

"B-big...sibling?" she asked.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[unusual_sith]

Lana nodded, still smiling. "The school assigns new students to those who have been here a while, so we can help you learn the ropes and answer any questions you might have."

She lifted the care package she was holding - it had a maps of the island and the school, take-out menus for the restaurants, her own phone number, a list of useful tips for later (things like "don't bother gremlins" and "buy winter clothes"), and a few packs of kolto with instructions on them. "I brought you a few things to help. Where are you from?" That seemed a good place to start.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[kawaii_complex]

Those packs of kolto were going to be used up within a week after Sakaki started her job at the animal shelter, guaranteed.

Quite possibly well before that, depending on how social the island's cats were feeling.

"Oh." Sakaki took the package, looking down at it in her hands for a moment before looking back at Lana. "Thank you. I'm from Japan..."

She had to remind herself that conversations worked best when they went two ways, and she knew this was a boarding school where people came from all over the place, so it was a good place to start.

"Where are you from?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[unusual_sith]

Hey, Lana knew where that was! "Oh! We went there for our school trip last term. I'm from Dromund Kaas, but I don't think anybody on Earth has heard of it before." She shrugged.

"That's probably a good place to start - did you know the people here are from all sorts of different worlds?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[sparkinyou]

Miles was not here to scar anyone. Nope. In fact he had a gift basket with a few gift cards to the Perk, J’GoB and Pizza Planet in there as well as a sweatshirt with the gremlin mascot logo on it.

On top of that he was holding up a sign that said “Malia Tate” on it like he was a limo driver at the airport.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[desertwolfcub]

Malia frowned at the sign. She'd already come from the airport. Why was this guy holding a sign?

Which was how Miles got a slightly annoyed, slightly confused "What?" from his new little sib.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[sparkinyou]

Okay. Was this...? Well. Okay. Miles and as just going for it.

“Are you Malia Tate? I’m Miles, your assigned big sibling. I’m here to help you out with the school and everything,” he said putting on a nervous smile and holding out the gift basket. “I put together a few things for you from some nice places to eat on the island.”

Okay this was a world of difference than Lydia.

“How was your trip in?”

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[desertwolfcub]

"Oh." Malia looked over the gift basket, sniffing a little. (Did this guy smell weird?) "That seems . . . helpful."

She looked back up at him and made a conscious effort to smile. "Thanks. It was. Long. And smelled funny. But okay."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[sparkinyou]

“Smelled funny?” Miles asked. “Yeah, okay. I was more freaked out by the different people from different worlds so I may have missed any weird smells.”

What did Miles smell like? Who knows what a kid who was bitten by radioactive spider smells like. It does smell like he overdid it on the deodorant though.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[desertwolfcub]

Half the people she'd met smelled like too much deodorant. It was probably the spider thing.

"Was your bus a giant bunny, too?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[craic_killer]

Clare was clutching her backpack a bit like a security blanket and vibrated from excitement, nerves, and all the sugar she'd stress eaten on the bus ride in.

That really was a large, large castle. Oh Lord.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[white_oleander]

Although she had spent almost all of yesterday making big signs, Astrid's style for finding siblings didn't exactly fall along the 'make a big sign for attention' side of things. It probably didn't help that the sibling she was assigned just so happened to share a name (minus an I) with her deceased foster mother whose death she had definitely not yet gotten over in the slightest, so painting it out was an experience that she was not willing to put herself through.

So it was the good old 'look for the new faces and use the process of elimination' method for Astrid today, which was fine, because there weren't very many students coming in this summer, it seemed, and she figured she could at least rule out the boy with the glasses.

If anything, even if this girl wasn't Clare, she looked like she could use a friendly face anyway, and, if anything, maybe Astrid could help her find her actual big sibling, even if she sort of wondered if that was what she looked like when she first got here.

"Hey," she offered a small smile and a little wave of her hand as she drifted over. "You wouldn't happen to be Clare, would you? Or would you know which one of the new students she is?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[craic_killer]

"Oh, I'm Clare," Clare said, nerves causing her words to tumble over each other, and Derry accent strong. "Clare Devlin, in case there are more Clares here. I was Clare D for most of primary on account of there being five other Clares in the school, which was really just an excessive amount of Clares, but nowhere near as bad as my friend Erin because every other girl in Ireland is named Erin?"

There was an answer in there somewhere, Astrid. Sorry.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[white_oleander]

There was an answer in there, and thankfully, the part Astrid cared about the most was right there at the beginning of it, which meant she hopefully didn't have to feel too bad about losing the thread of it along the way. But she was no stranger to dealing with accents, even if she'd never dealt with an Irish one this strong before, but she knew now to pay extra attention.

And she couldn't help being a little relieved, because so far? This Clare was absolutely nothing like her Claire, which...would help quite a bit, actually. She smiled a little.

"No other Clares that I know of," she offered, because she'd picked up at least that much. "Not here, anyway, although..."

Mmm. No need to go into that. She shook her head.

"Anyway," she trained her focus on the task at hand, "my name's Astrid. I'm actually your Big Sibling. The school does this program where they pair up a new student with an old hat like myself to kind of show you the ropes, answer some of your questions, and hopefully try to navigate you through some of the weirder things about this place. Which, one thing at a time, but they get pretty weird around here."

And she never really knew if it was best to dive right into these things or ease them into it. She'd tried it both ways with wildly mixed results in the past.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[craic_killer]

"Well, we drove here in a chocolate bunny driven by a man in a bathrobe," Clare, "so I think I know from strange."

She had no idea.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[white_oleander]

Oh, sweetie...

Astrid's heart went out the poor girl, although, really, at least she had that much. Astrid remembered a time before there even were bus shenanigans to get the new kids started!

Of course, now Astrid was faced with the delimma of not knowing the best course of action now. Dive right in? Or skirt around the issue? She bit her lip as she considered Clare for a moment before venturing, "Well...at least you guys actually made it here this time."

That seemed like a good place to start.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[imawizard]

This was another new thing! Harry had slapped a nametag to his chest, barely paying attention while he was looking around. All right, second school in a castle, he could deal with that.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"Harry Potter?" Illyana yelled, standing on top of a picnic table. There weren't too many new kids, but Harry could be short for Harriet, so she wasn't assuming it was the sole boy.

She gestured with her hands, sending up some arcane fireworks to call attention to herself. "Harry Potter, your very tired school-assigned sibling wants her coffee, so where are you?"

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[imawizard]

...that was also new.

"Right here," Harry said, sounding a little unsure and sort of half raising his hand.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[gospel_of_oblivion]

Illyana zeroed in on him and hopped down, walking over.

"Illyana Rasputin," she said by way of introduction. "Your new 'big sister' until you either acclimate to the madhouse, or run away screaming."

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[imawizard]

"How many people actually run away screaming?" Harry checked.

Re: Meet Your Big/Little Sibling [Summer 2021]

[gospel_of_oblivion]

"Not as many during the summer, it's less overwhelming than the regular school year," Illyana admitted. "But we lose one or two a year when they can't cope with the idea of magic, or multidimensional nexuses, or future children from other timelines."