meet-and-greet | January 2016

[governors]

The Governors do this, sometimes; they hold a meet-and-greet for the new arrivals to help them get acclimated, and also to distract them from destroying their rooms. A message goes out to all the new arrivals informing them of a party with free food. Everyone likes free food, right?

In one of the recreation areas - sadly, not one of the ones accessible by slide - there are some chips, dip, some sodas and Solo cups, several large pizzas, and a surprising amount of Oreos.

Party.

Comments

[cisskabob]

And here's the awkward part, where she gets to say it out loud instead of imply things, because not everyone reads the tabloids, Cissie. Or in this particular case, not everyone is even from your world, let alone your school.

She's found that it's easier to just state the facts and be quick about it. So that's what she does, shrugging a shoulder with a very practiced carelessness. "It's more that they got my mother. She had her parental rights terminated, so the state decided to send me to boarding school. How about you?"

That's another thing she's learned; turn the conversation back around to the other person so they don't have too much time to start pitying her and getting awkward.

[highprofilerichkid]

"Yikes." Yeah, this is definitely awkward. Tony's not normally great at picking up on social cues, but he recognizes that 'pretending not to care but actually caring a lot' shrug - it's a gesture that he's perfected.

And for similar reasons, it sounds like. Broken families seems to be another thing they have in common. That's cheery.

"...Me and my dad were in a plane crash and he vanished, so I had to go to school because I didn't have any parents to homeschool me anymore?" Or a home in which to be schooled, technically. Not that he'd been out on the streets, but living with Rhodey wasn't the same as living with his dad.

[cisskabob]

Cissie blinks, taking in what Tony's telling her, and letting it sink in for a moment before reacting. She grimaces and shakes her head, laughing a little.

"Wow, okay. That--that sucks, and I'm sorry about your dad. But seriously, what makes people think that throwing homeschooled kids into boarding schools as teenagers is a good idea after a trauma? Isn't it kind of like throwing us to the wolves?"

[highprofilerichkid]

"He, uh, he was fine, actually. But he didn't turn up again until a year and a half later." It's complicated.

"And it was my dad's idea, actually. It was in his will." Tony sighs. "He wanted me to have a 'normal life,'" heavy sarcasm quotes, "if he wasn't around. But I had my best friend Rhodey - and it wasn't a boarding school. It still sucked, though." He had to do HOMEWORK. And take THEATER CLASS. Talk about trauma. "Boarding school sounds like it would suck even worse."