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

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Ah," Arden said, like this made any sense at all. "I'm pleased you met up with him then."

Just you know. Making completely normal conversation. About absolutely bonkers things. And bonkers on a scale of the Triangle, which made it even worse.

"What is it that you teach, sir?"

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Oh, um. Largely literature. Or, um, tea, if the moose is feeling vindictive. This term it'll be...well, folklore, but a sort of what to be careful of when dealing with the supernatural. As much as such things can be predicted. I don't know what you might be studying here or if that's of interest."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"...The moose?" Arden asked, because it was that or begin immediately grilling him about what he knew of the supernatural.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Did Arden like infodumps? Because that was the way to get an infodump.

"Oh, yes. Administration is run by a moose. He's sentient, not just random wildlife," Jon assured her. "I did say the island can be odd," he said apologetically.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I think we need to have an intense discussion of your definition of odd," Arden said mildly. "We've added a sentient wild animal into a mix that's already included two unrec-- two non-human species. I think we left odd behind roughly three stops back on the Crazy Train."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Well, um." Jon thought about where to even start. "Not all supernatural things or...or magic, or other beings...are awful." Look, that was odd to him. "And there are quite a few non-humans around here, and humans from other worlds than Earth."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Are there other kinds of non-humans around than the ones I've seen?" Arden asked, very casually, for absolutely no reason at all.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Er...well. It, um. I suppose it partly depends on your definition of non-human," Jon said awkwardly. For absolutely no reason at all. "Fosse, the...well, I think he's in charge of the grounds. He's a troll. There's a student who's an alien. One of the teachers is a sort of an eagle, I think, but blue. And, um, there's..." how to describe him? "...there's Beaker."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden nodded at 'troll,' and filed the rest of that away for later, though with a blink at the 'alien.' "But not of your standard, like, urban fantasy races or whatever, right? Elves, or vampires, or werewolves or whatever?"

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Oh, right. Um. The owner at The Devil's Nest, one of the bars in town, is a vampire. Well, um, one of them is. The other is apparently the actual devil. The other bar, Caritas, has a house band made of zombies." He frowned. "I don't recall any elves or werewolves. Not at the moment, anyway." There was one cannibal, but he was entirely human, near as anyone could tell.

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Oh, cool. I mean. That there's all that stuff around," Arden said with a little laugh. "I feel like I'm in some kind of portal fantasy, you know? Regular girl hops on a bus, ends up in some kind of storybook mashup."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"The people here are generally safe to be around," Jon assured her, "though of course it never hurts to be cautious. And occasionally there are...well, sort of invasions? But they're usually spaced out somewhat, and we had one only recently, so you shouldn't have to worry about that for a while."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Invasions."

Glad to see she'd picked the world's most awful place to run away from home to.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"They, um. They usually end up...well, not always fine, but with a, um...a lack of casualties?" Jon shrugged. "I've never known anyone to die during one. Not for good, anyway."

That was reassuring, right?

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Oddly it was not!

"Not for good?" Arden repeated. By this point, she'd just given up and accepted her new life as an echo. "You mean like...coming back as a vampire or something?"

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Oh, no, no!" Jon hurried to say. "The vampire was already one when he got here. "It's just...well, we had a time where the same day repeated over and over, and people died once, but they were back to being alive the next time."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

The lack of sweet tea right now was quite possibly a warcrime.

"Ooookaaay," she said, deciding to just...not touch that one. It seemed much better that way. "Juuuuuuust to be clear, this isn't some kind of very intense hazing thing? Just like, for the record."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"I would never!" Jon protested. "I promise you, I'm not hazing you or anything. This is all true. But, um. I'm possibly making it sound worse than it is. Generally the island is a very good place to be."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Well, I was hoping for something different and I seem to have found it," Arden said, shrugging. "Point for Team Arden, I guess."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"Ha. It is definitely different," Jon agreed. "No matter where you're coming from, there's something different here. It is usually a good different, though."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I can tell I'm going to need to start believing in six impossible things before breakfast," she drawled.

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

"On a good day," Jon agreed with a smile. "Fortunately, most of us have been where you are before, so if you need any help, you'll have plenty of it. Or at least of commiseration. And you'll be getting your own faculty advisor, too. All of this," he waved vaguely at everything, "is one of the reasons we have them."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Oddly enough, Jane would not end up helping Arden's whole...everything. She start with astrophysics and then everything would somehow make less sense?

Amazing.

"I'll be on the lookout for them," she said, still yet clinging to the hope that there would yet be someone who could make all of this make sense.

Bless her heart.

"Thank you very much for you number, Mr. Simms," she added. "And the conversation--" which, coincidentally, she was not thanking him for "--was enlightening."

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

That was fine; it was the sort of thing he didn't expect thanks for.

He gave her a rueful smile. "Don't worry; it does get easier after the first week or so. There's just a bit of an accommodation curve."

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I might need the whole week to acclimate to just what I heard today," she said ruefully. "If you don't see me in class on Monday, sir, it's because I'm still attempting to wrap my mind around the everything."