Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, Saturday, All Day

[bigdamnprincipal]

If anyone in Fandom could control the weather, they weren't doing a particularly good job with it today. It was quite hot and sticky outside, so the lawn was filled with as many pop-up tents as could be acquired to provide some well-needed shade. There were plenty of cool drinks and moddable food that would hopefully survive the heat--it might not have felt like summer would be ending any time soon, but it was time to celebrate the coming fall nonetheless!

[Flying OCD-free! Have at it and stay cool!]

Comments

[sword_chocobro]

"Well, that's not a very hard list," Gladio chuckled a little. "We could probably just put on there 'everything.' But, yeah, I'd love to join you; I think I might just grab a little something more for myself, and I'll be right back?"

[mylandmyrules]

Nell nodded. "I'll be right there at the table by the tree."

She smiled at him. "Trying to think of the top three things he'll hate most."

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio grinned back, with a nod, and went over to the food tables to sort of sort through something for himself, which took a little longer than he had expected because he was now looking it over with the perspective of what Ignis might have to complain about, but he returned in due time with two bottled drinks cradled in the crook of his elbow, and a plate in each hand, each piled with a good amount of food, and one of them underneath a plastic cup with even more to drink.

Hey, staying hydrated was important! He had a lot to keep cool on a day like today.

He set down his drinks and food and slid easily into the seat next to Nell. "Alright," he said, "top one, easily, is about beverages. No Ebony."

[mylandmyrules]

"What's Ebony?" Nell asked. "And I'd also add that the drinks are all from concentrate."

[sword_chocobro]

"It's a drink," Gladio explained,"from our world. It's basically his Cup Noodle^TM, but, for whatever reason, it's not something they have in this world, too. It's basically an iced coffee in a can, which they got in droves, but no Ebony, and he says none of the others come even close to being as good. Which, I mean, I get that. There are plenty of inferior instant noodles that wish they could even come close to Cup Noodle^TM."

Just thinking about Maruchan now made a shiver race up his spine.

[mylandmyrules]

"I understand that as well," Nell said. "Not that I drink soda a lot, but none of the colas taste as good to me as Coke. A lot of people say they can't tqste the difference, but it's very clear to me."

She smiled at him. "I promise not to ever try to pawn off an inferior instant noodle on you."

[sword_chocobro]

"Coke, huh?" asked Gladio, squinting at Nell a little bit in an exaggerated expression of consideration, complete with a stroking of his chin. "I'll have to remember that one. And good. I'd hope not. Or else we," he popped a piece of fruit into his mouth pointedly, "might have a problem."

[mylandmyrules]

"I wouldn't dare!" she said in pretend wide-eyed horror. "That could be the end of everything!"

She daringly reached out and snagged a piece of fruit from his plate. "I didn't see that," she said.

[sword_chocobro]

On the list of unforgivable offenses, it would definitely be on the top of it.

Stealing fruit from his plate, however, didn't even come close to making it on that list, and Gladio had to grin a little at that daring hand and gave his plate a subtle nudge closer toward Nell. "Maybe they just put it out," he said. "But there's plenty. And I still can't get over the taste of how fresh food like this is here, even after all this time..."

He trailed off a little, into a sort of hesitant moment, as he looked at Nell now with a more genuinely thoughtful and considering expression.

"You know," he hedged, "it's actually been a year now, since I got back here. Annie and I were talking about it at the bar the other day, since it was right around her wedding that I showed up again."

Another piece of fruit popped into his mouth.

"Been kind of a mind trip," he said around it.

[mylandmyrules]

Nell listened to him with a quiet intensity. "A year," she said softly. "That's a hard anniversary. You lost so much."

Her heart went out to him. She'd chosen to return, but he'd been forced here, leaving behind people he loved, like his sister - his whole way of life - everything important to him except his two friends from there. It made her feel a little guilty, knowing how grateful she was to have him here and how devastatingly hard it would be to lose him. But this wasn't about her.

"I'm here if you want to talk about it? Now or... whenever. I'll always listen."

[sword_chocobro]

"I have lost a lot," Gladio agreed, especially since, this last week, with the perspective of a year behind him, it was easy to remember what it felt like, ending up back here and just how angry he was (and rightfully so, really!) about it at the time, and how much of a different person he was now compared to then, especially when it came to his being stuck here.

But then he looked over at Nell quietly for a moment, a faint smile surfacing, and he leaned in a little, to nudge his shoulder against hers. "But I've gained a lot, too. And we accomplished what we set out to do, we all had to make sacrifices..."

There was another piece of fruit, popped into his mouth, and his eyes drifted a moment around the picnic, as if just sort of taking it all in.

"Lot of perspective," he said, "in a year."

[mylandmyrules]

She nudged him back and reached out to touch his hand lightly. "You all did an amazing thing back home and it's not fair that you didn't get to stay and get to appreciate all you accomplished. If I could - " she looked down for a moment to collect herself. "If I could, I'd send you home in a second. It would break my heart to lose you, but I'd do it if I could."

[sword_chocobro]

When Nell reached out for his hand, Gladio turned it, so that her palm could settle in his, and he could entwine his fingers with hers and hold it and give it a soft, gentle squeeze. And he was quiet for a moment, as he tried to think of what to say.

Because there was a lot he could say, but none of it seemed...quite exactly the right thing.

So he decided to just kept it simple. "Thanks, Nell," he said, softly, as he glanced over with a faint, grateful smile. "Don't think we'll ever need to worry about that, but I appreciate that."

[mylandmyrules]

She squeezed back gently, still a bit at a loss as to what, if anything she could say that would help. Finally she leaned in to cup his face with her free hand and lean her forehead against his. "I'm here. Always. Whenever you might need..."

Words failed her, so she shifted to give him a gentle, but heartfelt kiss.

[sword_chocobro]

And wasn't that a nice, elegant solution to not quite knowing what to say? Gladio had closed his eyes a d breathed out with a sort of sigh of relief, of comfort, just from Nell's hand on his cheek, from his forehead leaning against hers. So when she kissed him...of course he was going to lean into that, too, kiss her back, lifting his free hand to mirror hers against her cheek.

"I'm glad I'm here now, though," he said, eventually, pulling back but staying close, forehead, hands, all of it right where they were before, voice barely more than a low rumble from somewhere in his throat. "I wouldn't want you to do that for me. Not if it was just a one-way ticket."

[mylandmyrules]

Nell just held onto him, hands on cheeks,foreheads touching, hands clasped, eyes closed. "I'm glad you're here too," she said. "So very glad you're here with me that it almost makes me feel guilty because I really don't want you to leave."

She'd never imagined it was possible to feel this happy in her life and she was pretty sure this was a one in a lifetime chance for her.

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio let out one of his soft, wryly amused huffs. "Imagine how I feel," he said, "now that there's a part of me who definitely doesn't want to, either."

What a difference a year could make, indeed.

[mylandmyrules]

Oh, how she hoped it was because of her, at least in part.

She kept her eyes tightly closed, but it was possible that a tear or two slipped out anyway. "Then we're just going to have to make your time here as wonderful as we can in honor of those you left behind. Because I know they'd want you to be happy."