From the Causeway to 16 Unicorn Street | Friday Afternoon

[playsforkepesh]

Sometime in the late afternoon, Alliance Specialist Samantha Traynor emerged from a portal about halfway down the causeway with her compact, neatly-packed rolling suitcase in hand, managed not to lose her footing on the landing, and took a moment to survey her surroundings before continuing in the direction of the castle.

Well. The town wasn't overly American. In fact, it looked downright European. That was comforting -- it was what Sam was used to, in the limited time she'd spent on Earth thus far. And during this particular stay on the homeworld, she wouldn't even have to bartend to pay her rent. That certainly did wonders for the planet's approval rating, as far as she was concerned.

As she reached the building that had been arranged to be her new home, Sam took a step back to size it up and gave an approving nod. "Nice," she commented to herself. "Certainly looks roomy."

Now, you couldn't tell from looking at her, but the way Sam was standing and surveying the building was really just her catching her breath from that walk and psyching herself up for making her way up the stairs with her suitcase. To the naked eye, though, she just looked very appreciative of this fine specimen of architecture. She was sneaky that way.

[[open! catch her on the causeway, catch her on unicorn, whatever.]]

Comments

[not_a_whiner]

Not an actual physical appearance to startle her right now - just an incoming email sent to her omni-tool.

FROM: Kaidan Alenko, Lieutenant Commander
Subj: Welcome
Message: Specialist Traynor:

Hey. Just heard from the Alliance about your posting. Can't be there right now because of some island festivities, but drop me a line about where you're staying tomorrow and I'll help you settle in.

-Lt. Cmdr. Alenko.

[playsforkepesh]

It was really for the best that no one was around to see how wide Sam's eyes got when she received Kaidan's message. She counted out an appropriate length of time before responding -- what was the etiquette for replying to an email sent by one of the heroes of the galaxy? -- and hoped her enthusiasm wasn't too obvious in her reply.

Yeaaah, it was definitely pretty obvious.

FROM: Specialist Samantha Traynor
Subj: Re: Welcome
Message: It's an honor to hear from you, Lieutanant Commander. I very much appreciate the offer; there's no pressure to help if you're busy, but if you'd like to lend a hand, I'll be unpacking at 16 Unicorn Street all weekend and can use all the help I can get.

Specialist Traynor

[not_a_whiner]

Honor? Hear from him?

.. Kaidan was never going to get used to this stuff. One of many reasons he tended to avoid hanging around current-day Earth or the Citadel.

FROM: Kaidan Alenko, Lieutenant Commander
Subj: Re: Welcome
Message: Specialist Traynor:

Okay. It's a date.

Don't be startled if things seem a little-- off-- today or tomorrow. I'll explain later.

-Lt. Cmdr. Alenko.

[lovemykilt]

Priestly had presumably, it's on the way caught sight of Sam as she passed Luke's, and this week being what it was, decided that clearly the best plan was to follow her head outside and greet her in a friendly manner.

"Hey," he said, offering her a friendly smile. "New in town?"

[playsforkepesh]

"Was it the suitcase that gave it away?" Sam asked, a little wryly. She held out a hand for Priestly to shake. "Hi. Samantha Traynor."

It was a shame that Priestly wasn't going to be making much headway here, sex-pollen-wise. He... wasn't exactly her type. On account of his masculinity and all.

[lovemykilt]

Alas, terribly sad! He was always down for making a new friend anyway, though.

"Priestly," he said, shaking the offered hand. "And that and the fact that this is a really small town."

[playsforkepesh]

"Ah, right," Sam agreed, nodding. "I did notice that. Population about a hundred, isn't it?"

[lovemykilt]

"Somewhere around that? I've never actually counted. And a lot of them are teenagers going to the school."

[playsforkepesh]

That got Sam's attention. The briefing she'd gotten on this town hadn't been terribly detailed - it had had more to do with the business she was going to be working at than the island itself. "There's a school here, too?" Huh. "What I've seen of this place so far doesn't call to mind images of some sort of sweeping American high school with sports fields and auditoriums."

Her English accent might give an impression as to why that was a bit of a novelty to her.

[lovemykilt]

Priestly snorted. "Yeeeah, we might be home to the least 'American' high school in America." What with the large percentage of students that came from worlds that didn't even have an America, for instance. "It's actually the castle up there." He nodded in the direction of the school. "The kids are pretty active in town, too. Hope you don't mind teenagers."

[playsforkepesh]

"I can't say that I know any," Sam admitted. "But if they're anything like what I was when I was that age, they should be relatively harmless and deeply embarrassing to themselves, so they can't be too terrible."

[lovemykilt]

"Definitely with the embarrassing." Possibly less with the harmless, but she'd figure that out soon enough. "What brings you to Fandom?"

[playsforkepesh]

"A business called Portalocity," Sam shared. "I'm, well, the new branch manager, I suppose." That felt really weird to say. She figured it would take time to call herself anything else but a lab technician. "Have you heard of it?"

[lovemykilt]

Damn. Well, maybe she'd be able to whip it into shape?

"Yeah. That's actually pretty much the way to travel around here, unless you've got a friend with multidimensional teleportation capabilities."

Or didn't mind being entirely subject to the whims of the island when you crossed the causeway.

[furnaceface]

Jono had time to kill and a bit of excess energy to burn between his class and the prom tonight. And, while he could have just as easily attempted to kill that excess energy in the comfort and privacy of his own bedroom, he wasn't really the sort to kill much time taking part in that particular activity. Not these days, anyhow.

And that's why he was out jogging down Unicorn that afternoon, in time to spot the lady with the suitcase.

He slowed to a stop and offered her a small nod of his head, his smile hidden behind the upturned collar of his coat.

"Afternoon. A new arrival to the island?"

There had been a few of those lately, apparently.

[playsforkepesh]

Sam was disappointing all the boys today, apparently. But at least Jono had a chance to prove that he was a gentleman? Or... something?

For her part, Sam -- alien-savvy space girl that she was -- didn't blink twice at Jono's... unusual appearance, just like she hadn't been deterred by Priestly's strange hair.

"Apparently I'm not blending in all that well," Sam noted. "Sam Traynor. It's my first day."

[furnaceface]

"Good to meet you, Samantha. Jonothon Starsmore. Jono, if you'd rather. Everyone else calls me that anyhow."

He preferred Jon. It made him feel more grown-up. Nobody ever called him Jon.

"Can I offer you a hand with your bag, luv? Little bit of island hospitality on your first day, and all?"

He had her name, sure. But who actually bothered using those?

[playsforkepesh]

"I think I've got it, thanks," Sam replied. The brief conversation with Priestly had broken up the walk enough that she wasn't tired, and anyway, the bag was pretty light, relatively speaking. "But I wouldn't mind some conversation."

[furnaceface]

"I'm fairly sure I can handle a conversation," and, even if the wry grin wasn't visible under his coat collar, it could certainly be heard in his voice. "We could start with the island's little eccentricities, I suppose. That's standard 'welcome to Fandom Island' fare. Or what brings you here?"

Jono was all for conversation, today. It kept his mind off of other things.

Boo, other things.

[playsforkepesh]

"I am taking over a local business, actually," Sam replied. "The local branch, rather. It's called Portalocity. I've been assigned to manage this office."

As for the 'assignment' part, Sam's clothing right now looked somewhat military, so maybe Jono could figure that bit out.

"And have you been here long?"

[furnaceface]

"Years," Jono replied, his wry grin turning into a bit of a smirk. "This place grows on a person, I've found. But you've got my sympathies if you've been assigned to a Portalocity post, luv. I'm fairly certain half the population of the island has bones to pick with you already over it."

Nothing like inheriting one of the biggest headaches of a business on the island, right?

[playsforkepesh]

"Excuse me?" Sam was sincerely surprised now. "But -- I was told it was popular."

'The way to travel,' Priestly had said. Not to mention what she'd been told when she'd been given her assignment.

[furnaceface]

"Oh, it's popular," Jono confirmed, "because it's the easiest way to leap from one reality or point in time to another. But it has a funny way of leaving you stranded in the worst stopovers imaginable. London during th'Blitz, but with zombies... that'd be the worst I've heard of thus far."

So, enjoy that new position, Sam.

[playsforkepesh]

Oh. Dear. "Well, that's something I'll have to work on, then," Sam said, sounding mostly undaunted. She was, in actuality, MORE THAN A LITTLE BIT DAUNTED. "As that is unacceptable."

See Sam's resolve face? It was kind of like the famous Willow resolve face, except a little more resolved.

[furnaceface]

That right there was an impressive amount of resolve, yes.

"I know I'd certainly appreciate that," Jono confided. "I do a fair bit of Portalocity travel, myself. And portals are often the only way to get anywhere fast in an emergency. It'd be nice to see them become a little more reliable, if at all possible."