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 good weather seemed to last throughout the day, but the bonfire was there to help with all your s'more needs all the same, much like all the other offerings of the food and drink tables.

Or maybe you just wanted to sit under a tree and judge people from afar. That was cool, too.

[OCD 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

"That's all anybody can ask for, isn't it?" Bob said.

"More than, at times."

"I'm Stark," he added after a moment. He probably should have introduced himself already.

"Bob," Bob answered, smoothing down his nametag again. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I don't suppose..." He stuck out his hand, less trolling this time and more wondering if Stark could touch him.

Stark reached out to shake the offered hand without hesitating. He'd touched other ghosts before, why wouldn't he be able to touch this one?

"Hello, Bob."

Because almost nobody had truly touched Bob in a thousand years?

He was going to grip that hand tight and try not to jump up and down like a giddy teenager. He was going to manage that, but not quite manage to hide the huge smile. "Hello. It really is such a pleasure to meet you."

Well, Stark didn't know that. He just knew the ghost he just met seemed oddly happy for the moment.

"You as well," he said, smiling back. Look, it was nice to be appreciated.

See if he still thought that after a few weeks of Bob popping in to poke him every opportunity he got.

"Are you a teacher as well?" Bob asked, still grinning and holding Stark's hand. "Or do you just live here?"

He was a lonely alien. He would probably enjoy the company at first.

"I teach occasionally," Stark told him, then glanced down at his still-held hand. "Cupcakes, for now. 'Career development' last term, though that was a group effort."

Effort was not the correct word at all there.

Yeah, Bob still wasn't letting go of that hand. He could feel it! He could (lightly) squeeze it! It was a thing!

"That sounds fascinating." It did not, but that was okay.

Stark would need that hand back, eventually. For now he would leave it be.

"It wasn't, really." He shook his head. "But it was something to do and they let us go to Japan."

"What was it like?" Bob asked. "I've never been to Japan." Or a lot of places.

"Very different from here," Stark said. "I liked it, once I stopped worrying as much. I haven't traveled much here. I tend to stand out."

Bob frowned for a second. "Oh, the mask? Can you not take it off?"

"I'm more noticeable with it off," Stark assured him. "Much more. I...glow."

"Mm." Bob nodded. "I can see where that would be a problem. You know, I could probably do some sort of illusion," he gestured over Stark's face, "basing that side off the other half of your face... Though I've no idea if or how long it would last without me there, to be honest." He'd be willing to try, though; you were his new favorite person, Stark.

Yep, still holding that hand.

"I don't even know what I'd look like," Stark said thoughtfully, trapped hand momentarily forgotten.

He was used to the mask. It was, essentially, just part of his face.

"But I can't leave it off long. I, ah, leak. Energy. The mask holds it in."

Bob nodded. "Is that part of what you are?"

"There's me," Stark said, gesturing at himself with his free hand. "And then the rest of me." He tapped his mask once. "I'm not entirely corporeal. You would understand that more than most, I think."

"Unfortunately, yes." A thought occurred to him. "But the mask holds in that part of you?" He reached up to tap at the mask and see if he could feel that, too.

People reaching for his mask without warning rarely ended well, in Stark's experience. It usually led to the mask being ripped off. He tensed, flinching just a little. He didn't think Bob was planning anything unpleasant but he'd been wrong before.

"It's just metal," he said. "Fabric can work. Not as well, not for as long."

Bob reached out a tentative finger, and carefully poked...the mask! And grinned and poked it again. And again, giddily, before clearing his throat and straightening up. "It works! I have to know what kind of metal that is. Was it enchanted in some way? Or are there some sort of runes or circuitry in it that make it work?"

Bob was excited now.

"No magic." Stark shook his head, reaching his hand up to touch the buckle at his neck. "No circuits. Just metal. I don't know what kind, I didn't make it. Wouldn't know how. I don't know why it works it just works. Much better than fabric does, or leather."

"Oo, could we..." Bob grimaced. "Well, you can't take it off. Is there some way of testing it, finding out more about it? If I could have a glove of that, I could move things about! Or even a stick, just to poke things."

He was wistful now, and still thinking.

Also still holding that hand.

"I need it," Stark said quickly, just in case Bob was thinking of doing something rash like trying to have it melted down. "There's the blacksmith. She might be able to tell? Or...I don't know who."

He paused, glancing down. "I'll need the hand, too. Eventually."

"Oh, I wouldn't deprive you of it," Bob assured him. Even if he really wanted to. "But we could try the blacksmith, then?" he asked hopefully.

He clutched Stark's hand for another moment, then sighed and reluctantly gave it up. He couldn't exactly drag him around everywhere, he supposed.

Re: General Mingling [Summer 2021]

stykera - 2021-05-14 01:55 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only