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

[bigdamndean]

There were tables and chairs set up all around the lawn. Some were in the sun, where folks could work on their tan while they ate, and some were in the shade where folks could stay cool and non-crispy

Comments

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[cracksmostly]

There were so many people, all of them that she'd seen human, and while no one had tossed any slurs at her yet this still didn't do much to make Merrill feel more comfortable; she honestly expected that to happen any second now.

Because so many people. (This might be an ongoing mantra in her head for a while.)

She had a muffin in her hands and was nibbling anxiously at it from as close to the edge of the lawn as she could possibly get.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"You're an elf," Anders said,and frowned at himself. "Which you probably already knew, but I suppose I just wanted it in the record that I noticed. Hi. I'm Anders. Where are you from?"

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[cracksmostly]

"Of course I knew that," Merrill said with a frown of her own, not quite sure whether that was a joke. "I'm Merrill. My clan's spent most of the last few years in Ferelden, and I only just got here today, and I'm not even sure where here is."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[not_every_mage]

It was ... sort of a joke. Not a very good one.

"A long way from home, is where here is," Anders told her, and he couldn't help but smile. "It's called Maryland, and it's part of a country called the United States. Don't worry that you haven't heard of them -- when I came here, I was the only one from Thedas at all, never mind Ferelden."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[cracksmostly]

Good jokes were overrated anyway.

"So you're the Fereldan here that I heard about?" This was the least worried Merrill had looked all morning. "How long have you been here?"

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"That'd be me," Anders nodded. "I've been here more than a year. Cassandra's Nevarran, and she's over there in the armor. She got here back in Wintermarch." (Not that people here called it that, but Merrill looked overwhelmed enough without bringing linguistic confusion into the mix.)

He gave her a curious look. "Who mentioned me?"

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[cracksmostly]

"The Rivaini girl?" offered Merrill being vague since names haven't actually been exchanged yet la la. "Oh, she didn't say you specifically, just that there was someone here from Ferelden, but it's still nice to know."

She glanced around to find this Cassandra he'd mentioned. "Ooooh. She's a stern-looking one, isn't she?"

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"Tiny bit, yes," Anders said darkly. "Not just looks, either. She's with the Chantry. Has Opinions about mages and such."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[cracksmostly]

That had Merrill frowning, too, and glancing back over her shoulder to her staff. "Not very friendly Opinions --" yes, she managed to capitalize it in her intonation too -- "about mages, I assume."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"Perfectly friendly if you're the Templar lapdog sort and willing to spend your life locked up," Anders said, looking from Merrill's staff to his own. "Not so friendly to people like us, I'm afraid."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[cracksmostly]

"The Templars don't usually bother us as long as we keep our distance, but I don't think I can get away with that here," Merrill said with a grimace that said volumes about how much she didn't care for the idea of being cooped up in some mage tower. She nodded toward Anders's staff. "But you've been here for a while, haven't you? And no one's dragged you off to the Circle yet."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[not_every_mage]

"I don't think she's figured out how to," Anders said, looking back to Cassandra. "We both sort of fell through portals to get here. But she left and came back, so it may not be far off."

And there was a cheery thought!

"Anyhow" -- he said, brightening -- "most people here don't care whether you have magic. It's fantastic not to have people afraid of you. I recommend it."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[cracksmostly]

"Not at all?" And if Merrill sounded completely dumbfounded by this concept it was because she was. "You mean they don't have anything like Templars here, or the Circle? Though I think the Keeper would have mentioned it, if I had to keep a watch for that."

Someone had not yet had any lessons in how Keepers occasionally withheld information from their clans for dubious reasons.

"Is that why you came here, then?"

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[not_every_mage]

It was okay; Anders was still fairly dumbfounded by it himself.

"They honestly don't," he said. "I suppose the Troopers would come in if one of us started lighting people on fire for fun, but if we don't bother anyone they'll leave us alone. Amazing, isn't it? I didn't know about it when I came, but it's a nice benefit."

By way of explanation -- and because he liked to talk -- he added, "I escaped the Circle. To be honest, I didn't know where the portal would take me, but anyplace that wasn't Kinloch Hold sounded good. Your Keeper sent you? Do you think she knew it was mostly humans?"

He was surprised by that. From what he knew, Dalish kept their distance.

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was trying not to stare and be horribly, horribly rude. But for all of the mages and aliens and talking non-human-shaped people she'd met so far, she'd never met a cinnamon roll given person-form an elf before. A real, live, straight-out-of-fantasy elf!

Be cool, Kathy, be cool. Especially since--aww. The poor girl looked as shy and overwhelmed as Kathy had, her first picnic.

"Hi," she said softly, giving Merrill a smile and offering her a bottle of juice. "I'm Kathy. Welcome to Fandom."

Re: General Mingling [Fall 2015]

[cracksmostly]

"Thank you?" Merrill said hesitantly, though she did reach for the juice and manage a small smile. "Almost everyone's been so nice so far, I don't know what to do with that, but . . . thank you."

She fumbled with the juice bottle for a second or two before she succeeded in getting it open, and blurted out, "Oh! I'm Merrill."