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

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!event: welcome picnic

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

So, it wasn't Fall yet by a long shot. The temperatures were still high, the leaves were still green, and the calendar still said August. But the calendar of consumerism didn't care about reality and thus, the welcome picnic was decorated for fall. The tables were covered in reds, oranges, and yellows, there was apple cider in the punch bowls and, of course, if the food on the table could come in pumpkin spice form, it was here in pumpkin spice form.

Enjoy your basic seasonal welcome picnic, everyone!

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Billie was from California. She almost never got traditional fall weather when the fall aesthetic was around. So this picnic seemed most thematic and not at all a source of cognitive dissonance to her.

Well. Except one thing:

“What kind of party doesn’t even have a DJ?!”

"A DJ? Like on the radio?"

Eleanor had promised Luma that she would stop pestering her about being more social if she agreed to say hello to at least one person who looked new, so congratulations, Billie, you and that question she could bounce off of were the lucky winner, and Luma just hoped that it wasn't a stupid question that would get things started on the wrong foot.

And then she remembered that she hadn't technically said hello, and so Eleanor didn't catch her on a technicality, she added, "Hi. I'm Luma."

There. Try arguing with it now, Eleanor, ha.

Edited 2025-08-30 16:04 (UTC)

“Like at a party,” Billie said with a scoff. So many of these people had been sorely deprived in their musical education! “Hi, Luma, I’m Billie! I am absolutely brand new here.”

There. Now Luma could even confirm for Eleanor that Billie was a new person!

Luma squinted a little, trying to think of the parties here that she'd been to, to make the connection between what Billie meant and what her context for a DJ was, and tilted her head slightly.

"I think," she said, "some parties here have had one. But usually in the evening. Where there might be some dancing. And I thought you might be. I'm a little new here myself, but not as much now with the new semester.

"So where are you from?"

Engaging in further conversation, too? Eleanor wouldn't be able to pestering her for at least a week now.

“San Dimas! That’s in California. How about you?”

Billie would so far give Luka excellent marks in socializing.

She had taken a class in it! Clearly, she had learned a thing or two!

Even if she hadn't even brought up the weather yet. Whoops.

"Winterport, Maine," she offered, the tug in the corner of her mouth a little rueful. "Originally. We've moved a little bit more north now. Oh. And the year 1976. Has anyone told you about the time travel yet?"

And here poor Luma didn't even know how hilarious she was!

Well, there was the part where Billie laughed in delight. So she’d find out immediately.

“I was just in the mid-twentieth century! We went to pick up Jimi Hendrix so he could play in my dad’s band.”

Only Luma hadn't meant to be hilarious, so the laugh just made her blink a little in surprise. But it didn't seem like a bad laugh, so she cautiously decided to chalk it up as a success regardless.

"Really?" she asked, wondering if she should ask who that was or just wait and look it up later. She wasn't sure, though, so she just trudged on ahead. "So then you know already. Good. That's kind of a shock to some people. What about all the magic and monsters," she waved her hand dismissively, "things like that?"

“I met a necromancer on the bus!” Sorry for outing you, Erasmus. “It took us a really long time to figure out that we were from different realities. I think I’ll get better at that, though.”

Luma nodded approvingly, that Billie seemed pretty up to speed on everything. Which was good for Billie. Bad for the limitations of Luma's conversational prowess.

"Some people have an easier time of it than others," she offered. "I was sort of lucky in that regard. I came here because it's so different...

"So..." Now to really drive the small talk home! "What's the weather like in San Dimas, California?"

“It has a most Mediterranean climate,” Billie said enthusiastically. “I imagine it’s very different from the weather in Maine.”

"I know, right?" Charlie said cheerfully. "That's why I always bring my guitar. Or my mandolin, but I'm not as good on that. Yet. One day I will be." Probably soon if she had anything to say about it. "Hi! I'm Charlie!"

“Right on!” Billie said, turning to meet this clearly musically minded person.

Finally!

“I have no doubt you will soon be most proficient with that attitude!”

"Oh, absolutely," Charlie said. "When I put my mind to something I find a way. And I mean, music, right?"

She grinned at her. "But I mean, a good DJ rocks, but nothing compares to live music."

“A good DJ. . . .” Billie said, “. . . working with live musicians.” She made fists by her head and then opened them wide with an explosion noise. “I mean I won’t say it’s objectively the best shut, but it can save the world.”

"Woah..." Charlie drew out the word with slowly growing amazement, picturing it in her head. "Holy crap, a DJ and live musicians together? Oh my gods, that would be incredible! That could just..bring down the world. Or save it, yeah!"

“I have a video of it! My uncle Deacon sent it to me.” Billie patted down her pockets until she found her phone, then pulled up a video, holding it up to show Charlie. “That’s me and my cousin Thea, working the equipment. And Hendrix, Armstrong, Mozart, Ling Lun, and Grom.” She pointed to the historic musicians in turn. “And that’s Kid Cudi, and that’s Death on bass. . . . And that’s my dad and uncle Bill playing the riffs that seal the rift!”

"Hendrix? You met Hendrix? And Armstrong? Holy..." Charlie watched the video intently. "And that's Mozart? The actual Mozart? And Ling Lun? Man."

For a moment she just closed her eyes and listened. "That is beyond awesome. I don't even have words for how beyond amazing that is. One day I want to be a part of something like that. Maybe not saving the world big, though that would be unbelieveable, but something!"

She shook her head. "I mean, I can do magic with my music, but that... that there is not only next level, it's like next a million levels!"

“You can do magic with it? Like, literal magic or like ‘this song is magic’? Because both are good, but the first one would be most righteous!”

"Magic magic," Charlie said. "Or at least that's what they call it here. Back home we just say ist using charms."

She slung her guitar to the front and looked around for a good target. Probably not the squirrel watching them since she didn't want to get on their bad side, but there was a bird in the tree there. It didn't take her a moment to settle on the chorus from a Celtic lullaby and less than a stanza in the bird was asleep.

"Simple, but effective. Bigger things take a lot more oomph, obviously. Ooohhh, together we could do totally cool things!"

“Woah!” Billie stared at the bird. “You just sang that bird to sleep!”

"I'm still learning ways to make things happen with music," Charlie said. 'The straight up charms that I've been doing forever are easier, obviously, but music... that's at the core of me."

“Me too! I’m from a very musical family. Have you heard of Wyld Stallyns?”

She had a feeling it was a long shot. But she had to try.

"I haven't," Charlie said regretfully, "But we might not be from the same Earth - assuming you're from an Earth and not somewhere else."

“Right! I keep forgetting. This is my first time encountering actual alternate realities.”

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

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