The Causeway and Fandom parking lot, Thursday morning

[axe2grind]

Right. Attempt #5 at crossing the Causeway and getting home: begun!

Partly Jack was walking across the Causeway (again) just to get used to his new balance from his dented-and-repaired legs, and trying to think of what kind of jobs he'd be qualified for here in Fandom. This was supposed to go home (whether that be Oz or Ev, at least it would be familiar). But the last few times he'd walked across the Causeway all he'd seen was a city even larger than Ev, with smoke-puffing vehicles that had him boggling. Go there by himself? No, thank you. This was no place like home.

Another part of him just needed to prove to himself he wasn't a prisoner. Again.

[ooc: open! I am around off and on today. Happy to pick up pings later, too.]

Comments

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae only had classes two days a week at this school. That left her five whole days in which to get into trouble. This seemed like a major oversight on the part of the adults in charge of her life, but Mae wasn't going to complain.

She was going to explore.

Hence her darting past the wobbly guy making his way down the causeway, only to jump up onto the guardrail by the side of the road and balance-beam her way back over to him.

"Hi. I'm a new student. Apparently that's vital trivia around here."

[axe2grind]

Jack stopped to watch her balance with a certain amount of sheer envy. And a little worry. "Hullo. I think you're in-- two of my classes?" There'd been a lot of new people, but this one was was kind of memorable. Mostly for, well, the cat-face; and the sassiness. "Mae, yes?"

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae definitely had a surplus of attitude, yes. Also, daydreams and doodles, hence Jack having faded into the background of her attention in class.

"That's me. You heading into the city?"

[axe2grind]

"Maybe?" Jack squinted down the Causeway, and paused to get his breath. Even without legs that got tired, he still had to propel the damn things. And breathe with an enormous amount of plating on him. "I was hoping it would take me home. Someone told me it just does that, sometimes. Deposits you back where you came from." He tilted his head to look up at her. "Were you going there?"

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae shrugged. "Probably not. I like small towns better than big cities."

She had very little experience with big cities.

"I just like to run around. I feel better when I'm moving." Less like the world was an existential nightmare from which there was no escape. "You look like you could use, like, a scooter or something."

[axe2grind]

"What's a scooter?" Jack asked, starting up his limping stride again. He suspected one leg was very slightly shorter than the other, but he wasn't going to ask anyone to try to fix it until he had some money together. "And how are you doing that, that balancing thing, so easily?"

Jack might have had a thing about heights. Even little ones.

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae looked down at the guardrail she was balanced on and shrugged. "I dunno. I've just always been able to." She looked back up at Jack. "A scooter's like a dinky little motorcycle. You sit on it and can go putputputing around."

Mae was terrible at explaining things.

[axe2grind]

That stopped Jack in place to look up at her, mouth quirking a little. "Is it like the rickshaws? Or more like a wagon?" He paused and added, "Or like that bus thing that took us on that field trip yesterday? Because I don't know what a motorcycle is, either." He huffed. "Not that many paved roads in Oz."

[thishouseishaunted]

"And I thought I was from the sticks." Mae shook her head. "Kind of like . . . a wagon sized bus? It's what some people use when they're not that good at walking."

Nice, Mae. Way to rub that in.

[axe2grind]

Right, that was stopping Jack in his tracks, to try to stand as tall as possible (not all that tall, but still a good bit taller than the tiny Mae) and glare for all he was worth. "I'm walking just fine. I don't need help. You try walking on pistons and metal pins and see how fast you are." You show-off, his tone implied. With your superior balance and energy.

[thishouseishaunted]

Mae did not seem terribly phased. (She was mind you, she just didn't show it.)

"Pistons and metal pins?"

Was he a robot?

"Are you a robot?"

[axe2grind]

"No!" Well. "At least, I don't think so." He slumped a little bit against the railing. "Bits of me are metal. Legs. Left arm. But the other bits are still alive." So what was the word for that, anyway? Jack rubbed his head with his flesh hand, and looked up at Mae. "What are you, then?" You know, with the cat head. And human body. (Except for the terrific balance.)

[thishouseishaunted]

"You're partially made of metal? That is . . ." The pause here was just long enough to be slightly disconcerting. ". . . AWESOME! You're literally the most metal person I've ever met!"

She was just going to skip right past that "what are you" question, since, obviously she was just a person.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Adjusting to the semester's new schedule, especially coming off of a vacation, was really throwing Prompto off. He was actually done with his classes for the week, so his intention was to just sleep in for most of the day and spend the rest of it playing video games, but guess whose brain decided to be up suuuuper early and active as hell instead? Ugh! But, instead of getting frustrated about it, Prompto decided to just try to work off that energy with a jog around the island, which, honestly, was never a bad idea and after the picnic, he needed to squeeze a few more of those in there, anyway.

As he swung by the causeway on his usual route around the town, it was hard not to notice someone on the causeway, so, curious and thinking the causeway was usually a good stretch of distance to jog anyway, he rerouted a little to go see who it was. He recognized him pretty quickly as one the new kids. Right? Yeah! He was in the field trips class with him! John...or Jack...something like that, he thought. So he figured he'd better wave and offer a smile as he passed by, slowing up enough for conversation if the new guy was in a chatting mood.

Prompto definitely wouldn't mind a break, not that you could tell by the way he still kept moving a little, mostly in place, as he said, "Hey, man, how's it going? Not trying to leave already, are you?"

[axe2grind]

"Yes," Jack said, giving the other young man a sideways look. He was certain he'd seen him on the Field Trip yesterday. (Which, why was it a field trip, if they didn't take them to any fields? That hadn't occurred to him until well after class.) "I'm worried about people at home. I didn't even mean to come here. I actually didn't, I just sort of-- arrived."

[hashtag_chocobro]

Oh, wow, hey, Prompto, pretty impressive, how you managed to shove your foot right in your mouth while also jogging, huh? A little of the red in his face from exertion paled at that answer.

"Oh," he said, at first, because he honestly didn't know what else to say, since he'd mostly been kind of joking, but...oops? So he bit his lip a little and tried to think of something else. "Well, hey, you might have better luck over at Portalocity or something, then, but not always. Not...everyone has luck with that. I"m...sorry to hear that, man."

[axe2grind]

"Thank you," Jack said, a little surprised at the sympathy. While several people had seemed understanding about his situation, they all seemed to think it was hopeless. It was warming, to have someone's concern. "Um, what is Portalocity? ... I'm Jack, by the way. I know I saw you yesterday, but I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name."

It's been a very busy Week, guy.

[hashtag_chocobro]

Jack! Hey, he had sort of remembered! Prompto grinned a little, then waved his hand. "Don't worry about it," he said. "This place is a lot when you're new." Hell, it was still a lot for him, and he was officially no longer even a New Kid anymore! He even had a little sibling! It was weeeird. "I'm Prompto. And Portalocity's, like, the way people get around between different worlds and stuff around here. Sometimes. It doesn't work for everyone, though, and I think it's kind of wonky sometimes, but it's worth a try, there's an office in town where you can try to set it up. A bunch of us actually just got back from a friend's homeworld, and I'm pretty sure that's how he did it, but I have another friend who, like, can't get anywhere near her home, which sucks."

And he...hadn't even thought to ever try it for himself and his home. Which was kind of weird, wasn't it? Maybe a part of him thought, if he didn't try, then it wouldn't fail, because if it failed, that's be...some consequences to have to deal with, right there.

[axe2grind]

"Prompto," Jack repeated with a firm nod. He really, really didn't want to have a conversation about money again, so instead he asked, "How does it work? Is it one of those buses, again? Or," remembering how he'd arrived, "a magic storm?"

Leaning against the railing, he asked, "Where's home for you?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"I don't...honestly know," Prompto admitted. "When I got here, I, like, didn't even notice it. I hadn't even realized I'd left Eos...that's my world, Eos...until I got here and my big sibling explained it to me. But when we went to Hyrule...that's my friend's world...we went through, like, a magical portal thing. So I think it works different ways, depending on the situation."

He tilted his head thoughtfully at Jack. "What about you? Where's home? You think people might be worried about you, too?"

[axe2grind]

So, Prompto's world at least looked like Fandom-- which looked a bit like the Emerald City parts of Oz. But it wasn't, so. "Portal," Jack said aloud, images of windows and mirrors flashing through his mind. "That doesn't sound too terrible." Much, much better than the windstorm that deposited him on the beach, anyway.

"I hope not. But maybe." Tip wouldn't know he'd been in danger, to be worried about him. And she probably didn't want to see him anyway. Langwidere-- no. No he was not thinking of that, he was not. Jane. Yes. "My friend, Jane. Dr. Andrews. We were in the same place, there was a battle-- I don't know what happened to her." He swallowed, looked away. "I'm hoping she's safe, but everything happened so fast." Gunshots and smoke, hundred of young witches calling down a cloud of insects, the soldiers kicking and hitting him. He took a deep breath. "Someone said I could mail a message, too?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"A battle, huh?" Prompto frowned deeply at that, his brow wrinkled in thought, then he shook his head. "I'm sure she's fine," he offered, wishing he could have more to base that on than just feckless optimism, but, hey, that's just how he rolled! "I mean, you're fine, right? Soooo...why not the same for her?"

Man, he hoped she was fine. And he didn't even know her!

"But, yeah, there's a post office that I'm sure can at least try to get a message anywhere out there, I can show you, I know my way around here pretty well by now." Almost too well, literally jogging around in circles. " Or, hey, I don't know what sort of tech you're used to, but I can contact my home pretty easily on my phone, but, at the same time, the tech here is almost exactly the same as what I've got back home, so I'm probably lucky there."

[axe2grind]

"I hope so. It was a mess." He rubbed his head, then nodded. "Please, yes. I'll write several. Hopefully someone will get them." Jack smiled then, shaking his head. "No telephones. Or comms? My Big Sibling explained them a couple days ago. But we don't have anything like that, there."

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Yeah, man," said Prompto, grinning back lightly. "Just write a ton of letters, keep sending 'em out, eventually, one of 'em's gonna get in the right hands. Or your friends'll get a million of the same letter, but, hey, at least they'll know you're okay, right? I'll even help, if you want."

Probably by teaching him how to use a copy machine.

Work smarter, not harder, my dudes.

"And, hey, who'd you get as a big sibling? Anyone good?"

Not that he could think of anyone who could even fit into the category of 'not good' in that respect.

[axe2grind]

"Vette?" Jack made a gesture that might have been her ... head-things. He hadn't felt comfortable asking. "She's been very helpful. And kind. Her and my roommate Bobby." Otherwise, he probably would've been bunking down in the Preserve on the assumption that that was his only option.