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

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!event: welcome picnic

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

Whoever worked the weather magic around here had done an excellent job to make sure things were nice outside for all the new (and old) residents of Fandom. It was warm and sunny, but not so humid that people would melt. There was plenty of ~~moddable~~ food and drinks, places to sit in the shade, and more than enough nametags to go around. It was time to celebrate the start of the summer!

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There were people gathering here, and while Lucy was still trying to take a little bit of a slower approach to investigating the town -- well, it wasn't like she thought the Ghoul was going to go to what looked kind of like a party. And gauging by the decorations, they had arrived in town just a little ahead of some other, scheduled new arrivals, and the castle, it seemed, was a school.

Huh.

In any case, Lucy spent way, way too long watching other people go over and help themselves to the food before she also snagged a plate and added a little bit of everything to it, and made her way over to sit politely at a picnic table.

To, maybe a little less politely but she was trying, people-watch a bit.

"Settling in alright?" Tony checked in once he caught sight of that blue jumpsuit in the crowd.

"Oh, hey Tony!" Lucy was more pleased than she'd like to admit at how much it lifted her spirits to recognize someone -- and, okay, she was really starting to see what everyone meant about the small town thing. "Yeah, I'm doing okay."

She made a little face. "Heck of a culture shock, though." And now that she kind of knew and moreover, kind of understood the interdimensional nexus-ness of it all, it made sense to her that a lot of people probably had a confusing first few days.

To put it mildly.

"If you end up needing anything, feel free to ask myself or JARVIS at the shop. He's the... he's an AI built into the place."

Who, sadly, did not sound like Matt Berry. As great as that would be.

Honestly, that was great for Lucy, who was tragically going to be forever suspicious of things that sounded like Matt Berry. What a curse.

"Oh, wow, that's impressive," Lucy admitted, eyebrows lifting. "He's built right in? Does he work all over the building?"

"He does," Tony replied with a grin at that kind of response. "I started him when I was in college and he's grown and learned since then. Basically keeps the lights on in case something slips my mind."

Which was pretty likely.

"Does he have any kind of a chassis?" Lucy asked, curiously. "Or do you just interface with him through a terminal or...?"

The idea of it -- him, she supposed -- growing and adapting was fascinating, and while she'd been looking forward to tinkering at work, now she was also looking forward to what she could learn.

Nerd.

Edited 2024-05-11 20:21 (UTC)

"Mostly digital with the hardware built into the building as a whole to be available for anyone who needs it," Tony replied. "Also for his weird thing about Beaker. You'll understand once you actually meet Beaker. I haven't seen him at the picnic so far, though."

"Beaker," Lucy repeated, just to commit the name to memory. "Got it. Do you do stuff up here at the school, then, too?"

She was kind of getting that impression, that there was a lot of crossover here, and it was doing nothing for her inclination towards community-based warm fuzzies.

"I teach with my husband," Tony said, brightening up as he pointed Steve out in the crowd. The triangle shaped hunk of man there, Lucy. "Usually something with science for me, or art for him. But in the summer we do fun things like paintball."

Oh, wow. And she'd thought Chet was muscular.

Nice work, Tony.

"Is that like...a game?" It sounded like a game! (Context clues like the word 'ball' to the rescue, everyone.)

"It is! It's, well, it's going to sound less like a game when I say it's shooting each other, but it's with guns that only shoot harmless little paint bullets."

Still cause bruises, but shhhh. Shhhh.

"People get really competitive about it."

Tony said like he wasn't one of them.

"Oh!" Lucy perked up, because this, weirdly enough, sounded almost like something she'd do back home! Sure, it sounded messy, and maybe a little less structured than what she was used to, but, "We did drills like that back in my vault! And there's nothing wrong with competition. Losing just means you should be motivated to try harder next time!"

Spoken like someone who liked to win, but liked it even more when everyone won together!

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"Lucy, hello." Jon nodded to her only a little awkwardly. "I hope you're doing well."

"Hi Jon!" Lucy waved eagerly, happy to see someone she knew already. "You know what, I am doing well. How are you?" She gestured around. "Are you involved with the -- school?"

Her voice lilted up on that last word, injecting a question into it. Was it a school? Was this a summer camp, or something? Did they just do free food on Saturdays?

"School, yes." Jon smiled a little. "I teach here. Though this term I'm only teaching about cats. Nothing terribly useful, unless you're planning on adopting one."

It was mostly an excuse to play with cats, but it had kept the moose from throwing something else at him.

"...you're teaching a whole class on cats?" Lucy asked, puzzled. "There's enough material there?"

She caught herself, feeling kind of rude for her skepticism, and added, "I'm a teacher, actually. Or I was, back home. History."

Or, as some other people might call it, Probably Two Hundred Years of Lies 101.

"I don't expect there's much, but it's a good opportunity to spend time with cats," Jon confessed. "Most of the classes here are much less intellectual," he said apologetically. "Although I have taught literature in the past."

"Well, that's kind of fun," Lucy noted with a little shrug, though she was still frowning. "But do you mean no one's teaching...math, or anything?"

That was a little alarming. How did you ensure you had the right number of people with the right skills if you just hung out with cats all day?

Though maybe it mattered less when people could come and go from this island as they chose?

"Not that I'm aware, no," Jon said apologetically. "We have had science classes before." Though some of those had been taught by Beaker. "And some language and philosophy courses."

Lucy still seemed puzzled, probably because the Montessori approach had never caught on in the vaults, and while she definitely saw the appeal of art and philosophy, she also had to wonder, "But who maintains and builds everything if you don't teach the younger people how to do it?"

Though, admittedly, a lot of these buildings seemed pretty old. Maybe they hadn't needed to do that for a long time.

"Well, if I need something fixed, I generally call Dwight...that's him," Jon pointed him out. "Or call someone from the mainland. They probably teach younger people how. There are schools for that, and apprenticeships."

"Where I'm from," Lucy explained, still looking a little confused -- though the idea that people might come over from the mainland to help made sense, and also reassured her (but what if the causeway flooded or something?), "everyone pitches in, and pretty much everything we learn and teach our kids is to make sure we keep things going, no matter what. Art has its place, of course! And cats! But it's -- it's just different."

Another adjustment.

"That...that sounds really nice, actually." Jon shrugged. "Although I must admit, Fandom has been very welcoming. And everybody comes together if something awful happens. Oh, um. Sometimes...sometimes things just happen. But...but as I said, everybody pulls together, and it's gone well so far."

A flicker of fear darted across Lucy's face, before she steeled herself a little. "What kind of something awful do you mean?"

She could deal with anything. She'd already learned that. But she'd had her safe haven invaded once already, and it had kind of been...you know, the biggest deal.

Re: General Mingling

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