The Deck, Friday evening

[firebringerborn]

Jan was exploring the deck area, picking his way delicately between the chairs and the tables to sniff at the gas barbecues. He flattened his ears, because they smelled wrong, shook his head, and headed out onto the grassy area

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[flashesforinfo]

It was a Friday night, and somehow staying in her room just felt wrong, so Angela took her mug of coffee and her sketchpad down to the deck to enjoy the last of the light.

Even a few weeks here, and the knowledge that there was in fact, a unicorn at the school, didn't really mean she was expecting to see him. She stopped, and kind of stared for a minute there.

... Or watched. Yeah, watched sounds more polite.

[firebringerborn]

Jan tossed another horseshoe at the stick, snorted when it missed (it was hard to aim when you couldn't see anything in front of your nose!), then turned to look at Angela, ears pricked. "Hello," he said politely. "My name is Jan."

[flashesforinfo]

"Hi!" Angela shot him a slightly bemused smile. "Angela," she told Jan in return. She decided 'Oh my God, you talk?' was potentially a little rude.

"I, uh, think I noticed you at the Welcome Picnic," she added with a quick nod. "Nice to finally, talk to you."

[firebringerborn]

He arched his neck, looking pleased that she'd noticed him, and trotted over to stand with his front hooves on the deck. "And to you," he replied, eyeing her sketchpad with interest. "Are you new to this island as well?"

[flashesforinfo]

"Not as new as you," Angela replied, shifting her sketchbook from under her arm to put in down. "I arrived a few weeks ago, and decided to stay on for the school year."

She cocked her head, looking at Jan. "You did just arrive, and I wasn't being extremely unobservant before, right?"

[firebringerborn]

Jan whickered a laugh. "I am very new, so you weren't being unobservant. I arrived only on the morning of the picnic," he explained. "It was a shock, but I am finding I like it here a great deal. I can understand why you decided to stay."

[flashesforinfo]

"Its quirky," Angela said with a grin. "Which actually suits me pretty well."

"How, well, does a unicorn get sent to a high school?" she asked curiously.

[firebringerborn]

He pawed delicately at the deck. "I do not know. My memory of before I came here is not clear." Even unicorns could engage in understatement, it seemed. "But I was expected. The marks that are my name were on the papers, so this must be where I am supposed to be."

[flashesforinfo]

"Huh." Angela nodded slightly, even though it really made very little sense. "Strange," she remarked. "Good, I guess that you're here, but-- Strange."

[firebringerborn]

"Yes," he agreed wholeheartedly. "I try not think on it too much. There is nothing I can do to change any of it, so I will simply accept the strangeness and trust that all will make sense in time." Or he'd try to, anyway.

[flashesforinfo]

"Very zen of you," Angela told him. "Which is healthy, I've heard."

[firebringerborn]

"Zen?" He tilted his head, ears curving sideways. "What is zen?"

[flashesforinfo]

"You're calm?" Angela tried instead. "You're just, taking it all in your stride. I don't know if I would."

[firebringerborn]

"Zen," he said again, chewing contemplatively. "I like that. I am zen. To be otherwise is to waste energy and to be distracted from what is important." His ears snapped forward. "Like oats, and getting ready for winter, and learning about humans."

[flashesforinfo]

Angela grinned. His priorities were certainly a little different from hers.

"How are you intending to prepare for winter around here?" she asked. For someone used to modern living, it just seemed a little strange.

[firebringerborn]

"I have been thinking on that," he said thoughtfully. "Being able to go into the dorms, out of the cold, will make winter far easier. The warmth will keep anyone from dying. As it gets colder, I'll start gathering food. Branches and grasses and anything else I can find. Maybe even some oats. I'll ask Ino for help, because she'll be able to gather more easily than I could, and I will start eating as much as I can find, to put on fat to help see me through winter." He tilted one ear. "How do humans prepare for winter?"