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

[bigdamnprincipal]

Good weather had fallen over Fandom this morning, so the picnic conditions were looking fantastic. The bonfire was there for good measure, along with the makings of s'mores, because it was almost truly summer, right?

There was plenty of food, and there were tables and chairs set up all across the lawn with varying degrees of glitter stuck to them. Everything was ready for another welcome picnic!

[OCD-free! Welcome the new folks gently! Or not!]

Comments

[thatsmysword]

Poor Henry looked-- entirely poleaxed.

"Well, I'm not bleeding, if that's what you're asking," he managed. "Or having a hangover. Can't say anything about anything else."

[mustbeawitch]

Those were both good things to not be!

"If I may introduce myself, sir, I am Miss Lydia Bennet." She curtsied, then ventured to ask, "Were you aware that you were coming to Fandom today, sir?"

[thatsmysword]

"God be with you, miss Lydia Bennet," Henry replied - out of habit, more than anything, and with the full title, naturally. "I can't say that I was." He once again looked out at the picnic, and once again established that he had a hard time wrapping his mind about it. "...Ah, I'm Henry, by the way. Henry of Skalitz."

[mustbeawitch]

"Pleased to meet you, Mr. ...of Skalitz..." Wait. No. That was probably wrong.

Lydia took in his general appearance, added it to the fact that he didn't seem to have a surname, and asked, "If I may, sir, could you humor me by telling me what year it is?" And then braced herself for the answer.

[thatsmysword]

"Just Henry is fine," Henry said, because no, he didn't have a surname (that he knew of). Her question made him frown, though, and rack his mind. What year was it? It wasn't the sort of thing he usually kept an eye on, but he had been going through all those books with the scribe in Uzhitz and there'd been a bit about-- "Ah, it's the year of our Lord 1403, I believe?"

[mustbeawitch]

"F---," Lydia said.

After a moment, she recovered and said, "I do hope you will pardon me, sir, it is only that...well, no, it isn't. It is the year of our Lord 2025. I understand that this may be a shock," she added quickly. "I come from the year 1811 myself."

[thatsmysword]

It was a shock.

Most things today had been a shock, however, and a part of Henry - a very stubborn part - had finally decided to just muddle through with the bits of it that made sense and deal with everything else some other time. Or preferably never.

"Oh," he hence said. "What's that like?"

[mustbeawitch]

"It's very nice in most regards," Lydia assured him. "You're going to like electricity and indoor plumbing, I can tell you already. And TikTok, so informative." Lydia. No. "Oh, and the food! You'd be amazed at how much food has changed from my time, sir, so I can only imagine it has come even further since yours. Do be warned, anything with the chile pepper in it will make it feel as if your mouth is aflame. Which some people apparently like, but there is no accounting for taste. Quite literally, ha! And the goods in the shops...you can buy clothing and shoes ready-made and quite cheaply, but the quality I've found to be...shall we say extremely variable?"

Just hit him with a whole stream of information, Lydia, why not?

[thatsmysword]

"Arden already told me about the digetry and the lurgees, so I'm aware of the food," said Henry. "Though I'm deeply sorry, none of all those other things ring a bell."

[mustbeawitch]

"The--I shall have to ask Arden about those later, as I must confess I am not familiar with them myself," Lydia said. "I've been here a year and a half now and so much still seems new! But no, I don't expect you should know about any of those things, aside from the clothes and the shoes. Electricity is--it's not magic, but I don't have the first clue how it works, so it's like a sort of magic that powers all sorts of things, like lights you can turn on with a switch on the wall, or a box that keeps food cold so it doesn't spoil. It has to do with lightning somehow, I believe. And plumbing is a system of pipes that brings water into buildings, so you don't have to carry it from a well or a pump." They did have wells and pumps in the middle ages, right? Lydia was unclear on such things. "It can even be hot! Right from the wall!"

[thatsmysword]

They did. One day, not too long from now, Henry would be standing in a city square gaping at the existance of a bloody fountain that far from the river, so he wasn't an expert, but he knew vaguely that such things existed. "Hot water from the wall?" he echoed. "Through pipes? That's-- that sounds like someone really clever did something-- like, hide little fires in the walls or something?"

It was the most outlandish thing he'd heard today that still felt within his grasp if he only stretched a touch.

[mustbeawitch]

"I don't think it's little fires in the walls," Lydia said. "I think it's another thing to do with the electricity?" She was more or less guessing, though. "But it's splendid. There are so many things it makes so much easier, you'll see!"

She thought about telling him about the dishwashers and washing machines, but decided perhaps it was best to ease him into the concept of machines. And she knew she really should tell him about flush toilets, but heavens, how awkward.

[thatsmysword]

"The elect-tri-city," Henry echoed, this time, just to get it down right. "You said it was something about thunder, then?"

Look, he wasn't the kind of person to yell 'witchcraft', but it was hard to wrap his mind around something like that.

[mustbeawitch]

Not that there was anything wrong with witchcraft, but Lydia was almost certain the electricity wasn't that. She understood how witchcraft worked, for one thing.

"Lightning," she corrected. "They--capture it, somehow, or something." Very helpful, Lydia. "Wires are involved."

[thatsmysword]

"They capture lightning on wires," Henry said. So far, all of this made him feel-- very lost. "Suppose that explains the fires."

[mustbeawitch]

That was valid. Lydia very much remembered that feeling. "I--think? But they've figured out how to do all sorts of marvelous things with it. You'll be very impressed. And very overwhelmed, or at least I was at first. My first morning here, Lord, you should have seen me trying to make a cup of tea. I nearly cried," she admitted.

[thatsmysword]

Should he ask? She seemed very emotional about-- well, she said she'd cried. "Ah, I can see that," Henry offered, with perhaps slightly more of a question mark in his voice than he meant to have.

He hadn't the faintest what tea was.

[mustbeawitch]

If Lydia could read narrative, she might have swooned. Imagine not knowing what tea was! Oh, wait, he didn't have to imagine. Horrors.

"It's a lot," Lydia told him, "the future, especially here, I think, but much of it is wonderful. You'll see."