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

Entry tags:

!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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"Looks like we're settled for new residents?" Steven said. "I'm still not here long just in case any others show. We did have one surprise. And no, Llewellyn's not completely better yet so he's staying home to rest."

"Please pass my well wishes onto him," Arden said. "But more resident? Already? Can I ask who?"

Steven looked around, then pointed. "That's Kamala. We knew she was coming. And then over there is Henry. She was a happy surprise."

Well, maybe Henry wasn't happy, but as far as Steven was concerned any new member of their ~~family~~ home was a happy surprise.

"I like Kamala!" Arden said. "She and I chatted for a bit earlier. That's wonderful."

Arden hadn't had a chance to talk to Henry yet, but surely she'd fit right in with their little found family of weirdos.

"She seems very cheerful, doesn't she?" Steven said. Meaning Kamala, of course. Then, softer so only Arden could hear, "Henry's a bit skittish, I think. Might need time to realize she's somewhere... welcoming."

It was probably clear from the way Steven said that he was using welcoming in lieu of a more personal word like safe.

"Charlie's her big sister and I think she used the term 'guarded'," Arden said, just as softly. "Hopefully she's realize soon that folks around here are decent."

It was a long, slow process. Just look how long Arden was taking for it!

"Guarded's a good word for it," Steven said. "And hopefully, yeah. It's only her first day. Not even 24 hours yet. Plenty of time for her to see she has friends here. She's up on the second floor, with Remy. Have you had a chance to meet him yet?"

"I have!" Arden said brightly. "He made gumbo! I couldn't eat it, because of chicken, but he let me have some of the sausage and shrimp that didn't make it in and they were delicious."

And had agreed that eating it created no debt between them!

"He knows a bunch of people on the island already, too."

"That's handy," Steven said. "About the knowing people, I mean. Good to have friends. I haven't had a chance to meet him myself yet. Marc has, of course. But I've mainly been busy with Llewellyn. Bit funny, Marc meeting more people than me so far."

Funny in a way Steven was thrilled about, frankly.

"Huh," Arden said thoughtfully. "Well, good on him. Mostly just folks coming in looking for rooms to rent? Or is he out and about meeting people, too?"

"Out and about," Steven said, again thrilled. Granted Steven only knew of one person for certain but he was holding out hope this meant there were others Marc had also neglected to mention.

Steven then looked around them. "Not, er, now. Obviously."

"Right, but more than he was," Arden said. "That's progress!"

And even if only one, that was still infinitely more than zero!

"And there's everyone in Midnight who he enjoys spending time with," Steven said, using a description of events Marc never would in his entire life. "That's been wonderful as well. Rather pleased about it all, actually."

Arden wasn't sure who that included, but she was happy it was someone. Presumably.

"I'm glad Midnight's been as good to him as he has been to us," Arden said.

Steven gave Arden a grateful smile. "He's a good man. A good man sort of wrapped up in acting like a bit of a tw - er - twit. But good deep down all the same."

Arden was going to pretend like she didn't know what word you had nearly said, Steven.

"I was talking to Cal about maybe doing something like a low-key get together for the folks at the house to have a chance to meet everybody and hang out," she said. "Not that I know what we'd do. But maybe we could figure out something?"

Not that she thought for a second that Marc's newfound sociability was going to stretch that far.

"I think that's brilliant," Steven said. "Llewellyn and I were also thinking of inviting everyone over to our side for dinner or the like. Been a bit silly we haven't gotten around to doing that yet. Which could be in addition to what you've in mind, not instead, of course."

"Oh, yes, I didn't think you meant anything other than 'and' with those," Arden assured him. "Besides, I haven't even thought up what we might even do yet, so it's not like I have any toes to be stepped on anyway."

"Once we had the idea it made sense to wait until after, well, today," Steven said, gesturing to the welcome picnic. "Give it the best shot of getting any new arrivals in. He and I will still have to figure out the details once he's ~~home~~ better. But we was very excited about the idea, I can tell you that."

Marc had no comment. In that moment or about get togethers in general.

Arden nodded. "After today and maybe a few more days to let everybody get settled. Maybe something to celebrate the end of the first week of classes?"

"I'll chat with Llewellyn, see what he thinks," Steven said. "Then perhaps check with everyone else if there's a day that works. Hopefully we can have as many as possible. I know it's hard finding something that works for everyone but we can do our best to avoid pitfalls, any other events that might be going on."

But what were the odds that another party and subsequent island event would be happening so soon after the last event? Had to be pretty small, right?

Basically nil! How even could that happen?

"And even if it doesn't line up perfectly with any specific event or thing, it'll still be nice."

"And the start of a new tradition, perhaps?" Steven suggested. "It's rather silly we haven't had you all over yet. Really just with one thing and another we didn't get around to it. So we do it, get the first gathering out of the way, then there can be more to come. Hopefully make it less of an impact if someone's schedule doesn't work."

"If it becomes a kind of regular thing, then nobody has to worry that they can't make this one, because there's always next month's or whatnot," Arden agreed. "That sounds like a great idea, Steven."

And, right! She hadn't seen him so she hadn't been able to say. "Also, looks like I'm gonna be your favorite new broadcaster," she said, smile a little wistful. "Graham won the tournament, which is awesome for him, but that means he's staying in Daventry for training."

"Oh," Steven said. He was disappointed, he couldn't lie. But it was good news for Arden's rankings to be certain. "Well our loss is Daventry's gain, isn't it? Good for him. And lucky for us that you'll still be doing radio. Do you know the schedule yet? Will you still be doing Monday's news?"

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