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

[bigdamnprincipal]

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!

Comments

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"Bantha Skywalker, if you use the Force to boost one more cookie," Ben threatened the completely unrepentant-looking small boy, "you won't get ice cream for a month." He hefted the baby onto his hip and glanced around. "Where'd Val run off to?"

Three kids were a lot to keep track of.

Re: General Mingling

[endsthegame]

Over at one of the picnic tables, Ender gave a little wry wave his way.

Val was sitting next to him, studiously examining all the people.

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave him a relieved grin in reply. "Hi," he said. "This is Bantha's fifth cookie."

Re: General Mingling

[endsthegame]

"Did you try having the talk with him again about how the caloric value of cookies works out?" Ender asked. "That seemed to touch a nerve last time."

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"He tried to spin it as a training exercise," Ben said with a bemused grin.

Re: General Mingling

[endsthegame]

"Well, we already know he has fine motor control over the Force," Ender sighed, shooting the boy in question a little look. "There's a limit to what you can learn from cookies."

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"Next time, you lift broccoli," Ben said. "Or peas. Tiny little peas."

Re: General Mingling

[endsthegame]

"Lifting a couple of tiny peas at once and in opposition to one another is a much greater challenge," Ender agreed.

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"Grandfather could lift glitter and turn it into galaxies," Ben said, nodding at Anakin. "That can be your goal for the end of the summer."

Re: General Mingling

[endsthegame]

"I don't know why you're so obsessed with moving things around anyway," Val added. "It's about the most boring thing you can do with the Force."

Ender let out a fond sigh. "It's a skill like any other," he said. "Mastering it is worth our respect."

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"And it's fun to do it in a crowd and know it's not going to get you in trouble," Ben agreed. "But it's just for today."

Re: General Mingling

[unusual_sith]

There were so many things in just those first two words that Lana had a question about! For now she'd go with the innocuous one.

"Have you actually named a child Bantha?"

She tried to be non-judgmental, but...bantha.

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

Ben laughed. "No, he's really named Nat. We call him Bantha because he had a stuffed one he dragged absolutely everywhere when he was smaller."

Re: General Mingling

[unusual_sith]

Lana laughed in turn. "Oh, good. I was trying to be charitable, or thought perhaps it meant something different where you were from, but that would be a very odd name in my part of the galaxy."

She held out her hand. "Lana Beniko, from someplace where bantha are very useful but pungent animals."

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"Ben Skywalker, from the same but now a transplant to a galaxy where they've never heard of one," Ben replied. "I'm Anakin's grandson."

Because in Fandom, he'd learned to just lead with that.

Re: General Mingling

[unusual_sith]

"Oh! From much further along than I am, then," Lana said, dearly hoping that at least this Skywalker was a bit more open-minded than the one she knew.

"It's roughly thirty years after the Treaty of Coruscant for me, which I think is around three thousand years before Anakin's time."

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"My galactic history is very rusty," Ben said, "in large part to the Jedi Temple being destroyed and then a few decades of almost constant warfare. You know how it goes." He grinned. "My upbringing was heavy on self-defense and light on history."

Re: General Mingling

[unusual_sith]

Lana nodded. "The Jedi Temple was destroyed just before the treaty was signed in my time, so I'm familiar. I was brought up during the war, although on the other side." Might as well get that out of the way. "So yes, definitely a heavy focus on battle training."

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"Good to know burning the Temple down is a tactic that goes back thousands of years," Ben said dryly.

Re: General Mingling

[unusual_sith]

"Honestly, I could wish the galaxy came up with something new," Lana said, equally dry. "Like not attempting to kill off massive amounts of beings every few decades. But I'm an optimist at heart."

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

Ben shift his baby son from one hip to the other. "It's part of why I moved. I'd like my children to grow up with both parents, which would be something of a novelty in my family."

Re: General Mingling

[unusual_sith]

"I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad you've broken that cycle," Lana said. "So what brings you to Fandom, then?"

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"It helps when you move to a galaxy without people intent on murdering you," Ben agreed. "My husband's teaching philosophy this summer. We used to be students here."

Re: General Mingling

[unusual_sith]

“Oh, I’m taking that class!” Lana said. “I hadn’t realized there were other Skywalkers here when I signed up.”

She’d mostly thought she’d be challenging Anakin. This sounded better.

Re: General Mingling

[momslilassassin]

"'A' for Andrew," Ben said with a grin. "He's over there with our daughter Val."