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The Boardwalk : Monday Afternoon

It was probably too hot to be doing this but Theo didn't care. He was pretty used to hot by this point and he'd just spend a day in the shower afterward to help himself cool down. And this time, unlike last time, he wasn't going to let Dev talk him into doing any stupid tricks. He wasn't going to break his face just to try and be impressive.

The sun was already beating down on him and there was perspiration sliding towards his eyes and making his hair damp but skateboarding felt good. Dev was loudly complaining about the heat and trying to urge Theo to find some air conditioning.

"Shut up," Theo grumbled, talking to the entity in his head. He knew he looked like he was just talking to thin air but he didn't think there was anyone else around. "You're in my head, it's not like the sun is getting to you that much."

Dev grumbled again and started to pout. Theo came to a skidding halt on his skateboard and swiped an arm across his brow. It was nice when Dev listened to him. It happened so rarely.

[Open place in town so open post]

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"Theo?" Kathy had come into town for a green tea smoothie and had spotted one of the few people she recognized. Fortunately for him, she'd missed him talking to himself the minute before. "Hi!"

She thought she should probably say something else, but the only things she could think to say were stupid, like asking if he were skateboarding (duh!) or if it was hot enough for him (double-duh!) So she settled for waving and taking another sip of her smoothie.

When Theo spotted her, he kicked off lightly on the board to roll towards her, hand up to wave at her.

"Hi, Kathy!" he said as he got closer. "How's it going?"

Besides hot.

"I'm about five times more confused about this island than I was last Monday," Kathy replied, shaking her head. "Tuesday, we went to Paraguay by stepping into a store in town and then Friday, I spent the day singing because that sort of thing just happens around here."

She wrinkled her nose. "I might just be out of my depth."

'Fine', Kathy. The traditional answer to Theo's question is 'Fine.'

"Errr, and you?" she asked, realizing she'd sort of slipping into a rant.

"I heard about the singing," Theo said, wincing sympathetically. "I didn't do too much of it myself but when I did, I was just glad to be alone."

Ange and Dev excluded and they had mostly just chuckled and let him go because they were getting used to island interference in everyday life.

"What was Paraguay like? I don't even know if I know where that is."

"South America," Kathy said helpfully. "Between Brazil, Argentina, and I thiiiiink...Bolivia? I'm pretty sure it's Bolivia."

Sorry, Theo. Kathy had a tendency to over-answer questions.

"It's hard to say what it was like, though. I was there for a class where I had to stack watermelons and balance bottles. But I did spend most of my time boggling at being somewhere--anywhere not in Fandom." Because traveling by portal did not make any sense, okay? It just didn't. "It was cooler there. And everyone spoke Spanish and wore bright clothes and it was a rural market. I would have loved to been able to explore."

"You ever thought about going back?" Theo asked, stepping off his board so he wouldn't fall off in front of Kathy. He didn't need that embarrassment.

"From what I've learned, portal travel is pretty easy after the first couple of tries," he added. "And a lot quicker and cheaper than going on a plane."

He hadn't had any mishaps with portals yet.

"You can just go?!" Kathy asked, shocked and amazed. "It's not some kind of...of...of special thing where you need clearance and permission and stuff?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Theo said, furrowing his brow in thought. "I mean, I've never personally used one because I haven't gone back home yet but from what I know of it?"

He shook his head. "You can just go to whatever destination you choose. Kind of like taking a train or a plane."

"We have access to go anywhere in the world instantly, and we can use it as easily as we call a cab?"

Times like this, Kathy just wanted to sit down on the ground and either laugh or cry until she was sick.

"Is this some kind of military and science testing facility? Like that show, Ah-ha!"

"I...don't think so," Theo said, scratching his head thoughtfully. "No one's tried to experiment on me and I've been here for a few months now. Takes some getting used to, huh?"

"No, no, I mean one where all this stuff was invented by a bunch of scientists and stuff working for the government, and..." Kathy stopped, realizing that now she was just sounding crazy. "Never mind. I just don't understand how this island can have that kind of tech without guys in black suits being all over this place."

That was actually kind of a good point but, of course, Theo didn't have any answers for her. He was thinking about it now, though.

"Maybe they're behind the scenes?" Theo didn't even know why he was trying to think about this. Ange was contemplating the same thing as Theo but she had access to a lot more material which meant she was chattering incessantly in his head about technology and the advancement of science and...things Theo didn't understand.

Dev was pretending to sleep.

Kathy would apologize for making you paranoid, Theo, but THIS PLACE. THIS PLACE.

"Maybe? But that still doesn't explain why'd they'd have a school open up on top of it that's open to normal kids, you know? Like, why would you and I be allowed to visit a school that's actually some kind of...paramilitary scientific front?"

"I...have no idea," Theo admitted, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing around suspiciously now. "Think we should be worried?"

"Hell yes, I think we should be worried!" Kathy exclaimed. "Because this being some kind of pet government project is the best case scenario. It's explicable. Otherwise we have random enforced singing and people turning into soap and lions and who know what else and it's all...random. There's no one in control. Anything can happen."

"Now Theo, we shouldn't rush to conclusions on this," Ange said, though she sounded a little troubled. "You've been to other realms, remember!"

"Are you kidding, Ange? He damn well should be worried! He might get experimented on! They might find out about us! How will that be?"

"Dev..."

Theo winced at the conversation because he could see Dev's side of the coin even if he didn't want to see it.

"So..." He trailed off and frowned. "What do we about that?"

"I have no idea," Kathy said. "I mean, no one else even seems to notice or care. Maybe there's nothing and I'm freaking out about whatever's normal for a sentient island at a dimensional nexus." She shrugged, unsure. "But I heard today that there's underground mechanisms or something controlling the island. Maybe if we started there, we could have a better idea."

"Underground mechanisms?"

That was definitely some new information for Theo and his eyes bugged out a little. That did sound a little sinister. Even Ange was slowly growing more and more concerned about the island and she was the most open minded person Theo knew.

"But...that's not right," he said, frowning. "Land masses don't have underground mechanisms so why would this place have those? How would we even get there? Wouldn't we have to mine?"

"I don't know," Kathy said. "But my teacher today, Mr. Wiggin, he said that there's machinery beneath the island. Said it might be what controls everything."

"That's really kind of strange to think about," Theo said, brow crinkling again. "It makes me wonder if this is...even an island and not something else entirely."

This called for a long sip of her smoothie. Poor, poor new (and newish) kids who didn't have half a clue of what this island could do. "So far, I've been here two weeks and I've already seen like ten things that blow my mind. Finding out that this isn't actually an island would probably be a relief."

Theo scratched his cheek, looking thoughtful. He knew he wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination but now he was wondering just how abnormal this place was.

"And what if it is just an island?" Albeit one that was seemingly alive and part robot.

"I have no idea," Kathy said. "I don't know what we'd do even if it isn't just an island."

She'd been here two weeks. Barely enough for her to get her feet under her at a normal school.

"It doesn't seem like anyone else cares about what's going on here anyway. We'll just have to play it all by ear. Assuming we find anything anyway."

"I care."

True, he hadn't given it a lot of thought previously but he was thinking about it now. And he had two (okay, one) other people thinking about it as well.

"And maybe they don't care because they don't know and never tried to find out? I've done that before. Just ignored things until they went away."

Kathy couldn't understand that. Ignoring something until it went away. What if it never did?

But saying that was probably rude. Maybe she could kind of dance around it?

"You never wondered why random stuff happened all the time? This whole thing is so different than, like, real life."

"I..guess I just had other things on my mind," Theo admitted, sounding a little embarrassed. He probably should have said he had other people in his head influencing him but that would have made him sound crazy.

"And I haven't always seen the really weird stuff," he added, rolling his skateboard back and forth under one foot. "But I probably shouldn't have taken the standard 'it's the island, that's what it does' answer and left it at that. There's gotta be some reason."

"Especially for the freaky stuff that makes no sense at all," Kathy agreed. "Like, the portals kinda makes sense. It's just really, really, really high tech. I'm not sure how they worked, but I've read A Crease in Space. I've heard of tesseracts."

Couldn't explain how they worked, but at least they were something she could point to with at least a pseudo-scientific background.

"So does the idea of a multidimensional nexus, I guess. But all the crazy stuff that happens and no one knows why. Like the singing. What's causing that?"

Theo rubbed a hand across his brow again, still thoughtful. "Something in the air, maybe? Like a pollen?"

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The Boardwalk : Monday Afternoon

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