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

[sword_chocobro]

There might not be shirtless greetings today? Narrative, don't tempt him! It would take far less than even the power of narrative suggestion to get Gladio out of a shirt, the cold be damned, but, today, at least for the time being, he was properly bundled up, thank you.

And so was the baby in yellow he would have with him at various points during the picnic, as he and Ignis were going to split duties there, to the point where Gladio kind of wanted to make a bet to see how many new people were just going to end up assuming they were a couple or something, but he had a feeling that Noctra might get a little overtired or overstimulated or just over-missing-Mom-and-Dad before too long and one of them would have to head back to the apartment with her.

But for now, he would be pointing out things and trying to engage her to look at interesting things and maybe let her try to toddle around around a little when he had her, and maybe poke at the food tables and chat people up when he didn't.

[defenderofdesmoines]

While the weather had determined that Annie's initial outfit plans for the twins had to be scrapped -- there had been a whole subversive Maggie in blue thing she'd been considering! -- Annie had indeed brought the kids out today, and given Diego at least a few hours of peace at home.

She brought their stroller over to a picnic table, where Ben (who also had a little hat) was brought out to cuddle, since he'd started making some sounds on the way over. Observational, just-being-awake sounds, sure, but still. Seemed like a good excuse to hold a baby so he could get a real good look, you know?

Maggie, for her part (and don't think she didn't also have a little hat) was staying tucked cozily in the stroller for now, but she was very much awake, and very much looking at things and offering out occasional cooing commentary from where she was lying.

The biggest difference for these babies since the last time most people had seen them was their new ability to focus their eyes on things, and -- maybe more importantly -- to smile. And Ben sure was doing a lot of that at his mom, as Annie sipped a coffee she'd snagged and looked around for herself at who was here, and who was new, and who was probably not that new but she'd been cooped up in a house with two newborns for a couple months so she was a bit behind.

[id_kill_him]

New people? New place? New country?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that was all great, but Yukari had been looking forward to the food part of this picnic, and so once she finally arrived off the bus (which was a terribly boring ride, by the way, that would have been far more interesting if Anakin had just let her drive it!) and made her way to the school, she was making a beeline for the food, her cackles and glee letting it be known to all that she greatly approved of the selection, and, as she started piling up a plate, she was a little less approving of the strength of these plates, but hopefully, they would hold up!

[regulationslacker]

Well, it turned out getting beaned in the face with a temporal-spatial anomaly was kind of disorientating. If Mariner didn't know better, she'd say she was at some kind of picnic.

But clearly, she was just hallucinating or something.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Well, obviously, Summer was going to be at the picnic. The welcome picnic was a goddamn institution! And, besides that, she had advisor duties again, so that meant she was sort of squinting around for faces that were not that familiar, but were maybe a little, because she definitely recognized the name Ahsoka, which meant that it was someone that had been here that she may have even met before but couldn't remember, or it was just a weird coincidence.

Either way, she was hoping spotting her would jog some memories, but, if not, there was always just bringing her coffee after her first class or something like that.

[deathsmajesty]

Liliana had had a leisurely morning, she and Ignis arriving to the picnic well after Gladio and Noctra had already made their appearance. But, they'd still arrived while the picnic was going in full swing, thus proving that Liliana was a tactical genius.

She was there in grand display, her mantle warm over her shoulders (but not interfering with her impressive display of cleavage), a purple lace parasol to keep the sun off her face, her headdress catching the light and limning her in gold, even as the Chain Veil on her hip chimed softly with every step.

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis would probably get stuck with a little bit of extra time with Noctra duty once he did arrive, to make up for Gladio having already done more of his fair share that morning. It was a duty he was more than happy to accept, though, really, and he could hardly complain about it after getting to appreciate first hand the benefits of Liliana's excellent execution of strategy last night.

In fact, he was having a bit of difficulty, keeping a faint, distantly pleased smile off his face that day, when he wasn't quite paying attention enough to keep it at bay.

[stykera]

Stark was a little unhappy about the temperature. He had worn layers (but he wasn't yet ready for his heavy muppet fur coat and was he holding a hot (and very sugary coffee) in one hand as he found a spot by the fire.

He had a nametag on, in case of new people (or old people who might not know him) and was looking around, as he always did at these things, to see if there was anyone he recognized returning to the island or arriving for the first time.

[beautiful_boc]

Was it just coincidence, that the days when Boc actually did choose to leave his shop, that there was something else going on in town for him to wander into? Or was there something more at play here? Either way, he, by now, knew what to expect when he heard the commotion and could smell some of the food from the picnic, and he spent a good ten, fifteen minutes bolstering himself to go loping over to some of the tables to help himself to a bit of food, tucking it close to his chest and tried to be quick so he could scamper off again without attracting too much attention or, hopefully, without even being noticed at all.

[deathsmajesty]

You know, darling, you could just... choose to smile. Not fight it off at all.

Noctra's neat and fashionable appearance got an approving nod from Liliana, but did not otherwise induce her to coo over the little girl any more than she had already been inclined, which was not at all. She was, however, moved to take a picture of Ignis holding Noctra to send to Liz and Prompto, though - mostly to get a picture of that smile and the baby made a convenient excuse.

That task done, she asked, "So how much Cup Noodle^TM did Gladio slip her in your absence?"

[mustbeawitch]

Lydia had a brand new pelisse, which she was glad of as Maryland was a considerably cooler climate than Sainte Josephine (although nowhere near as cold as Newcastle in winter had been!), and the "van" hadn't dirtied it at all!

Although the fashions seemed to be considerably different here...was she going to need a new wardrobe? Did she need to change her hair? No one seemed to be wearing bonnets, and good heavens, was she going to have to wear trousers? Maybe she would have to think about that for a bit. In the meantime, she was going to find herself a nice cup of tea. Surely they had tea at a picnic.

[noonedecidesmyfate]

Belle was quite snugly wrapped in her cloak as she walked around the picnic. The bonfire was delightfully warm and cheering and there were so many food options to try.

[deathsmajesty]

"Hello, darling," Liliana said, wandering over to greet Annie. "And children," she added, giving Ben and Maggie - and their ensembles - a coolly approving nod. Well-dressed was well-dressed, even for babies.

Perhaps moreso for babies, considering.

"Good to see you out and about again, darling," she said, focusing back on the most interesting of the three. No offense to your offspring, Annie, but they were still fairly larval.

[chef_chocobro]

Nonsense. Whoever heard of such a thing? Absolutely absurd.

And it was a good thing you got that shot of that smile while you did, Liliana, because it was absolutely vanquished by those needling words, with a faint sigh and another effort to adjust his glasses back into place after Noctra had successfully managed to get a hold of them and try to pull them off yet again with another triumphant giggle.

Ten years of hunting daemons, only to them be foisted by a sticky-handed child not even a year old yet!

"I think," he said, "we'd be better off not knowing, although I do wonder if he'd been smart enough to also be entirely rid of the evidence. I'm going to just hope that it was little more than offering her bites of his own, and that she was smart enough to know better."

You know. At not even one year old yet.

[pun_king]

Have no fear, Graham was here! And Triumph, because of course he would have to ride his trusty steed into the picnic, preening proudly on top of the giant capybara and waving to everyone as they moseyed on in and started eying those food tables.

It was good practice for the Parade of Hopeful Knights! Triumph also squeaked and snorted his greetings, as well, but was also pretty focused on a little hopefulness of his own with the food, but he was being a very good trusty mount and not just immediately loping that way.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hey, Liliana!" Annie shifted Ben a little in her arms, so that his big, dark eyes could focus vaguely on Liliana (or, really, on her headdress, which was likely providing the most infant-stimulating visual interest.) "Can you say hi to Liliana, Ben?"

Ben, in fact, could not, but Maggie offered up a soft coo from the stroller. It was probably a greeting. Annie was pretty sure, anyway.

(They were extremely larval, still, Liliana, how dare you say something so accurate.)

"How's it going? Other than, like, way colder than I'd prefer for a picnic?"

[deathsmajesty]

Of course! Picture first and then tease.

Besides. It would be back.

Liliana's own smile grew at his aggrieved reply, because she was a terrible person. "Honestly, darling, if that's the worst she ends up eating today, she'll be be doing perfectly well. There are many worse things for her to put in her mouth here." Speaking of, she slid off one of her bracelets, a simple golden bangle, and offered it to Noctra to convince her to leave his glasses alone. Though she supported the impulse, baby girl, good job.

"Dirt, rocks, sticks, hot dogs...at least Cup Noodle^TM is edible, if only barely so."

[sith_happened]

After safely bringing his passengers to the island (no Krampus this time either! Not that he was worried!), Anakin wandered around looking for coffee and people looking lost.

[meepmeepmeep]

Beaker was carefully putting every kind of food available onto a stick and sticking it into the bonfire to see what happened.

You know, for science!

Hopefully someone will stop him before he got to the cans of soda.

[deathsmajesty]

Yes, but sometimes parents got very tetchy about having certain, unpleasant facts pointed out to them about their offspring. Like how they were currently colorful, yet often smelly grubs. Even though they were.

She'd no idea, when claiming it from the corpse of an archangel, that her headdress would be so popular with the 'under a year' set. But that was roughly the mental capacity of most angels, so she supposed it made sense.

"You would think, with an entire castle at their disposal, they could have moved this picnic inside, where the civilized temperatures live," Liliana noted.

[special_rabbit]

After having acquired a nice hot drink and a good, impressive assortment of meats-on-sticks that could really make a gal feel appreciated around here, Amaya was sticking close to the fire for her people watching, less she just be tempted to slink back into the warmth of the forge all day instead.

[suitably_heroic]

It was a deeply exhausted Atton who limped into the welcome picnic sometime just before lunch. He'd been doing his best to fight off Mical, but after a few days of rest in New York, he'd been dragged right back into the search for Asida.

He was intensely grateful for the excuse to leave and go to Fandom instead. He was also desperately rooting around for the coffee.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It snows a lot more where I'm from originally," Annie shared, giving Ben a little bounce to keep him content. "But I've gotten, like, so spoiled and used to Maryland's refusal to really engage with winter. Pretty rude to start the day there's literally a picnic. And you're right, there's totally room in that castle for a picnic. There's a whole freakin' hologram room, they could have had us picnicking in Hawaii if they wanted."

Hey, Annie, this picnic was actually optional for you, so....

[mess_and_i_are_friends]

Humphrey wasn't teaching or anything, but he was interested in meeting new people. So despite a bruised ankle and shin, he was there, balancing a plate of food on his knees as he sat and ate, taking in the sights as they were. It was chilly but a decent enough day, it was a nice day compared to what he would have expected back home in London so, a nice day overall.

[chef_chocobro]

Ignis' mouth had opened to complain about the word 'edible' being applied to Cup Noodle^TM, but it promptoly shut again when Liliana followed it up with about as much herself.

And that smile was back already.

(No doubt greatly influenced by the fact that Noctra had something much shinier than even his glasses to goggle at and drool on, while she made light babbling noises as if she, herself, was trying to participate in this conversation).

"At least sticks," he offered drolly, "would potentially be a good source of fiber. But she's coming into an age where developing good food habits will be crucial. The last thing we need is for her to be as picky and particular toward the wrong things as her namesake..."