The Causeway, Saturday Morning-ish

[not_of_the_nora]

Another semester, another pointless trip. Aloy would've rather stayed back in her room, but her research on the portals had been largely exhausted.

Maybe a change of scenery would give her some ideas.

(Or at least something interesting to poke at.)

So she was out nice and early, bringing with her nothing but a small bag and her spear. If anyone asked, it was a walking stick. "Okay, let's get this portal here already."

Patience wasn't always her strong suit.

[[ tripees, assemble! ]]

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[always_someone]

Norman might have felt a little weird coming to stand around at the Causeway, waiting for a portal. For a start, he'd never really caught a portal before. For another... well... he'd never left America before, either. But it would be nice to get away from the island for a little bit. Not that he didn't like the island, but even now he was kind of looking askance at the ghost of some kind of half-pony, half-monkey monster that appeared to be made of... well... too many monkeys.

Even if the ghosts in China were bound to be different than what he was used to, at least they'd be comparatively normal.

[giveherahand]

"So, roomie," Mara said with a little smile. "Excited about the trip?"

[always_someone]

Norman gave Mara a smile back.

"I am," he replied, nodding. "I've never really done much travel, you know? So this is something big and new."

He smiled sheepishly.

"I hope I packed enough clothes."

He almost certainly had not.

[giveherahand]

"How much did you pack?" Mara asked. "We're not even gone a week."

[always_someone]

"A couple of changes of shirts. Some shorts? I don't know what the weather is going to be like," Norman admitted. "I have enough underwear, that seemed like the important part."

Well. That and packing a few of his favorite zombie comics.

[giveherahand]

Wearing those towards the end of the week would be...a look?

"The underwear's definitely the most important part," Mara agreed. "And we're going to mostly large cities, so I'm sure there's places to buy jeans and things if you absolutely need to. Isn't China where all the clothing in the world comes from anyway?"

[always_someone]

"There and Taiwan, I guess," Norman replied, looking thoughtful. "I didn't really take shopping into consideration, though. I'm really going to have to get a job when we come back, I guess."

[era_two_triangle]

Probably unsurprisingly, Peridot hadn't really packed for this trip.

She did have one bag with her, though. A backpack, in fact. The contents were most likely unsurprisingly spherical, but were otherwise behaving themselves, probably having a nap in there. Maybe animals weren't allowed on this trip, but she just dared somebody to tell her that she couldn't bring her produce along.

[not_of_the_nora]

"Do you know anything about where we're going?" Aloy asked.

Greetings were for other people.

[era_two_triangle]

"It's on Earth," Peridot offered. "Beyond that, it's really all the same to me."

Confusing in equal measures all over.

[not_of_the_nora]

Aloy let out a huff.

"I got a book," she said, "But it relies on a lot of references I haven't quite caught on to yet."

[era_two_triangle]

"Oh?" Peridot looked curiously at Aloy with a little tilt of her head. "Like what? Maybe I've seen some of them on the TV."

She did watch a lot of it.

[not_of_the_nora]

"I think I've figured out what countries and provinces are," Aloy said. "But I'm not sure about 'autonomous regions'? And I'm unclear on what a communist is, or why their parties are relevant."

[era_two_triangle]

"Well... It's a vacation, right?" Peridot, no. "Maybe the party is an important factor of this vacation thing?"

Well, she tried.

[giveherahand]

Mara had packed lightly (all-black wardrobe, about a dozen weapons...) and was looking forward to exploring another part of this weird, weird planet.

[revengenotebook]

Paris had been studying Mandarin since the Spring Break destination was announced, and could now say, "Hello," "Goodbye," "Thank you," and "Your tattoo says 'kung pao chicken', you idiot."

She used the last one the most.

[justice_undone]

Breq had packed a small bag with a few essential things. She had read a book on the country they were visiting and had made sure she knew some basic phrases.

Unlike Paris she hadn't thought about the one about tattoos.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Sidon was quite thrilled to be on the verge of a new adventure in a strange land on this delightful large planet, so much so that he could barely stand just standing on the causeway to wait for the portal.

So he didn't. It wasn't like he had any luggage. So after a little backflip (which may have been partially to show off) he plunged into the water to wait from there, feeling much more content and relax, especially since he could hop back up just as easily as he had splashed in when it was time to go.

[justice_undone]

Not paying much attention to the backflip or that Sidon was now in the water, Breq walked to the edge of it.

"Good morning," she greeted. "Are you looking forward to the trip?"

She was guessing he was.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

And she would have guessed correctly!

"Oh, indeed!" Sidon gushed eagerly from the water, splashing around just a little. "From what I have researched into this land of China, it sounds like it will be very interesting, informative, positively beautiful and entirely unique! When I came here, I knew I would get to know this land, but I never dreamed I would be afforded the ability to discover more! I can hardly contain myself for my excitement! How about yourself, Breq? Do you find yourself quite eager for our brief but hopefully thrilling little holiday as well?"

[justice_undone]

"I do," she said. "I'm sure it will give us a better idea of what Earth is like. Planets this size, with several continents, usually vary a lot."

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"I cannot even fathom the enormity of this place sometimes!" Sidon said with an appreciative laugh, shaking his head, tilting it back just a little so the end of his headtail swept through the water. "My mind has expanded so much from thinking Hyrule was quite vast and large, and, though I have scarcely traversed all of it, it seems so small and quaint compared to Earth."

[justice_undone]

"Is Hyrule the planet?" Breq asked. "Or just your home country?"

[onefootoutthedoor]

Ugh, did they have to wait before they could get going? Did they have to all go as a group? That was annoying, and you could tell from the way Peebee -- who didn't have more than a small satchel containing toiletries, clean underwear, and a couple of spare items of clothing -- kept alternating between pacing back and forth and bouncing up and down on her toes with a somewhat piqued frown on her face.

(In that bag she did also have giant sunglasses, a ridiculous hat, and a tactical cloak she'd stolen managed to acquire for just such pre-first-contact Earth situations. She could be practical, okay? If she had to be. Sigh.)

"Come on, come on, let's get a move on already," she muttered every now and then.

[somethingwithturquoise]

And there was Summer, laden with her large suitcase, her duffel bag, her back pack, her largest of her purses, and a half-finished strawberry milkshake.

She really wished she'd timed the milkshake better so she could free up a hand and not be holding it, but, then again...she had a milkshake, so...she was just going to drop all her crap on the ground for a moment, and that was much better.