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

[bigdamnprincipal]

In spite of the icon Wintertime had officially reached Fandom, and the chill in the air meant it was time for a combination picnic and bonfire! There might not be shirtless greetings today (or maybe there would be, such a diverse population was bound to have different freezing points), but there was plenty of warm food and drinks for everyone to indulge in as they welcomed the newest residents and celebrated the start of a new semester!

[Flying OCD-free since it's been working well. Have at it!]

Comments

[mylandmyrules]

Nell was here, of course, happy to be outside for a bit and see people. She also didn't mind the opportunity to indulge in foods she normally wouldn't eat, or at least wouldn't make for herself.

[pocketpretzels]

Like Watts would pass up an opportunity to stuff his pockets with free food?

… And also socialize, sure.

[stykera]

Some of that food was going to get very messy. Maybe Watts ought to get Boc to make him special foodsafe pockets one of these days.

"How was your trip?" Stark asked.

[pocketpretzels]

He had ziploc bags! It was fine.

“Oh, wonderful!” Watts said enthusiastically. “Cold, of course, colder even than today, but we managed to stay warm enough.”

By doing things like skating and spending time by the firepit, naturally.

[stykera]

Naturally.

"Good, good. And you saw your lights that you were hoping for?"

In between other warming activities, obviously.

[pocketpretzels]

“We did,” Watts said. “We got several nice photographs, actually. Not- on New Year’s Eve. Before that. With these rather impressive telescopes.”

[stykera]

"I thought telescopes were just for looking through. You used them for photographs? How did that work?"

[pocketpretzels]

“You are asking the wrong fellow,” Watts said. “They did something with Four Ks, that I recall?”

[stykera]

"Maybe I'll look it up," Stark said.

And maybe he would discover the JWST and stare happily at beautiful space pictures for a very long time.

"And maybe I should see your lights, sometime."

[hasaknightjob]

Like Steven would pass up an opportunity to socialize?

...and keep his coat pockets free if his beau needed an extra place to stash food? Sure.

[no_missing_piece]

This was Beta's last one of these, she was pretty sure, so she might as well actually, you know, attend it. Try and do that learning-to-be-a-person thing she was here to do in the first place.

She was bundled up in a coat she'd gotten off the tree on the school grounds that apparently grew clothing -- there was something almost Nora about the design that reminded her of Varl -- and sitting at a table with a cup of hot chocolate in her hands.
Just watching people and soaking it all in, this version of the world that Elisabet had fought so hard to save.

[snipsnspecks]

It had been years, but it hadn't been so long since Ahsoka had visited the island that she'd forgotten the way to the school.

Or what a welcome picnic looked like.

Well, this was unexpected.

[sith_happened]

Well, Ahsoka certainly looked different than when she'd been back for Homecoming, but Anakin was used to rolling with things. "Hello, Snips!" he said like a dumbass.

[snipsnspecks]

"Anakin?" And for one glorious moment, Anakin being here, himself, was enough to push everything else to the background.

Enjoy it while it lasted, guys.

[sith_happened]

"I saw your name on the class paperwork but I thought it was the moose being funny," Anakin said, leaning in for a hug. "Hello!"

[snipsnspecks]

It wasn't like Ahsoka couldn't not return the hug. Or hope for a moment that her Anakin was the heartbreaking outlier.

She did wince noticeably, thanks to that whole buffeted by Sith flames thing.

[sith_happened]

"Are you all right?" Anakin asked, pulling back and giving her a quick once-over with his eyes.

[snipsnspecks]

"I did just have a whole Sith temple collapse on me," Ahsoka said, watching for his reaction. "On Malachor."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Once Summer saw Ahsoka, it clicked in her brain about why the name was familiar but but really, in a 'it's a small island and I've been here long enough to recognize this person even if I don't really know this person' kind of way.

Buuuuut, just to make suuuuure....

"Hi!" Summer came up with a smile and a wave. "Ahsoka, right?"

[snipsnspecks]

Ahsoka was having A Day, but if Jedi teaching were good for anything, it was fronting.

"Yes, Ahsoka Tano," she said with a polite nod. "It's been a while, but Summer wasn't it?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"That's right," said Summer, looking incredibly pleased to also be recognized as she gave a nod back. "How's it going? Welcome back, I guess. I've been assigned to sort of be your fellow teacher liaison for the upcoming semester, so if you needed any help or have questions or need anything, I'm your gal. Although it's always a pretty easy job with the people coming back, you already know all the big stuff, so it's just a matter of adjustment if there's any weird time disparities or whatever, so I guess, if it's helpful, we just hit 2024 here, not sure how that lines up to how long you've been away compared to when you've left, but I know that's a big thing around here, especially with people from your neck of the woods."

[snipsnspecks]

Despite, well, everything, there was a ghost of a wry smile on Ahsoka's face. "I was actually here for last Homecoming," she said. "It's been considerably longer for me."

[somethingwithturquoise]

Summer shook her head a little, returning a bit of that wry smile. "Because god forbid," she said, "everything about all the different little pockets of your galaxy and everyone moving in and out of it weren't complicated enough already. I swear, that timeline just keeps getting messier and messier...Like, I feel like I should ask where that's putting you now, but I don't know if either of us really need that headache right now."

She tilted her head at Ahsoka somewhat thoughtfully, then, before then venturing, "So how about this one: did you know you were coming back? That also seems pretty important in establishing a base of where people are when they do come back."

[snipsnspecks]

"I know that Sabine had lapped me last time I visited, if not by how much" Like none at all. "I doubt I'm caught up to her yet."

"Let's call it a fortuitous accident," Ahsoka replied with a definite sense of euphemism and a sideways glance at the treetops where a green and white bird that looked something like (and was nothing like) an owl perched, mostly blending in the foliage. "Apparently here is where I'm meant to be right now."

[doesdoctorstuff]

Sometimes a tendency to explode in the sun was useful. It meant that Navaan - no relation to any weird lurkers who might have been lurking in town recently - was already bundled up against the light, which was serving double duty against being bundled up against the cold, too.

She was just adding meals and treats to her doctor's bag since she couldn't eat them now, sadly.