(Untitled)
Stepping out of a body’s usual modus operandi is a strange, and, in many ways, unsettling proposition. Though it can often be a rewarding proposition, it leads to strange feelings in the pit of one’s stomach often accompied by the feeling that one’s gotten in way over their head.
( In which our heroes discover that modern conveniences are anything but )
( In which our heroes discover that modern conveniences are anything but )
Comments 122
It should be noted that his plain white t-shirt fits well, but he's apparently some compunction about standing around in public in what, in his world, amounts to underthings -- thus the crossed arms. Luckily, khaki shorts and sandals aren't completely alien sort of fashion, as strangely ill-designed as these examples are.
"If not purgatory," he says, then takes an experimental sniff of the air; disinfectant. "no color or smell, only... noise."
It's a few moments before the people at the front of the line finish arguing with the poor attendant about window or aisle or some sort of related rubbish, and the queue proceeds.
Reply
Tilly had been kind enough to write to an old friend of hers in the fae courts, getting Basch some form of sponsorship and papers. And really, being able to explain away various mannerisms with the excuse of 'been away in Faerie for hundreds of years' could very well come in handy. It's a slick looking thing, vellum and bound in decent leather of unfamiliar origin.
Miki passes it over, thumbing through her own papers, and the tickets. Seems everything's in order, and with luck, they'll be at the head of the queue in mere moments. A small cheer for business travelers eager to be on their way making up the rest of the queue ahead of them.
Reply
They move up a few places in the rapidly dissolving line, and he leans down a bit.
"I've never seen so many people so afraid of riding an airship, before..."
He peers over a shoulder, almost conspiratorially.
Reply
She bumps back, grinning, eyes on the last person left ahead of them. Seems as though someone’s trying to weasel their way into first class, that it does.
Casting a responding glance over, her grin widens a touch. “They certainly do seem to be a bit edgy, to be sure.” She pauses, expression turning wry, “Though that does seem to be something of a common state of mind.”
Reply
Stepping out of the way of a pack of tourists, she leans against a room divider, shivering against the cold of the glass. "Not Termina, but it's a term from the merfolk who live 'round and about the islands." And living in a large port town, the languages intermingle all the more quickly.
Going over the particulars again, it does bear noting, "And it's a native term here as well, it seems." Which says something to the make-up on the English language and its habit of roughing up other language and taking their lunch money and syntax.
Canting her head to the side, she looks over, passing curious. It might well be time for an explanation of the interest.
Reply
"It's a Landian word, as well," he rubs his beard. He's gone from surprise to squinty contemplation in less than ten seconds, good show! "Das Gifting dieser Person mit farrots ist verboten." Good Christ, the combination of his baritone and the guttural language is awfully imposing/threatening in an offhanded, odd way. "I've not heard the language in years."
There are two tourists happening by at this very moment sporting cameras that peer over, look at each other, then giggle. Germans, perhaps!
"I'd no idea it was multiversal." Though now it occurs to him that, yeah, the language he knew as "Mittelander" was what she spoke, as well, so... hrm.
Reply
Casting a glance over at the gigglers she grins and turns her attention back to him, shrugging. "It's strange business, the various commonalities." The implied inverse as well; she's run into more than a little trouble, falling into familiar patterns of behavior and finding they only hold for so long.
With a roll of her shoulder, she's off the glass, looking about for one of the vaunted and talked of screens that tell of flight arrivals, and perchance the current time. Her hand seeks one of his in preparation for what may be something of a mad dash, should her suspicions prove true.
"If you've a yen for the tongue, Nikki's somewhat close to fluent," at his aunt's insistence and one can only imagine the slang he slips in, but it serves well enough.
Reply
And lo, this once again commences the day's quota of Basch-dragging. He has to sling his bag further over his shoulder lest it drop off, and take an extra step to avoid turning his ankle, but he's getting better at it.
This last gets something between an interested 'huh' and a contemplative 'hm'; he certainly would have to remember it. How strange, how small the universe of all things, ended up being.
Reply
Reply
"The bit about the flight taking fifteen and a half hours."
Reply
"I'd no idea it was going to take this long," the implied underscore being, 'had I known this, I would've figured out how to gate it, or something.' As damn, she's getting a bit fidgety just thinking about it. Though the fidgeting may in part be attributed to an infant, who has taken up wailing in the section behind them.
Reply
"It must be a fair click from the mainland," he supplies.
Reply
...how large was this world?
Basch leans up a bit, interested, and asks what's going! He has no idea what a fucking "orange" is (besides a color), and he thinks he knew a girl once named Apple, but that's about it. (Interestingly enough, coffee seems a universal presence as well. Strange times.) Water will do, thank you.
Any other conversation Miki makes will receive slightly staggered and short, but pleasant replies; in about ten minutes, hands folded over his stomach and chin repeatedly drifting down to his collarbones, someone's begun employing his acute skill of packing in the sleep anywhere that's comfortable enough to lay your head. Something of a tradition before a long trek, and he's certainly traversed more raucousness than this to achieve these sleepy ends.
Reply
Somewhere in the realm of the third hour of the trip, the laptop is set aside and the headphones are put to use. Seems it's time for some heavy duty thinking and staring out the window. This may or may not also involve the occasional futzing with stray bits of Basch's hair.
Reply
Around the four-hour mark, Basch starts to fidget a bit in his sleep. His new comfortable position apparently entails leaning his head on Miki's shoulder, and a stewardess bustles by in time to put a light powder-blue blanket over him. To his favor, his snoring when sitting upright is barely a peaceful drone.
Reply
A couple hours later, Miki is woken from a light doze by the featured movie for this portion of the flight, curious, she perks up enough to catch the title. Highlander 2: Renegade Edition you say? Fair enough.
Reply
Fumbling about, Miki is rather surprised to find that there is no available bottle for her to throw at the source of the tumult. This realisation leads to her cracking open her eyes, making something rather akin to a "B|" face.
"Oi, drongo, can it." The benefit of performing, is that even when at a reasonable volume, one's words carry. Unfortunately, they fall on deaf ears, and Miki shrugs, turns over, and falls back asleep. Another benefit, is seemingly to be able to sleep through non-threatening noise.
Reply
He rewards this behaviour by tucking the blanket up around her shoulders and giving her an affectionate pat on the shoulder. Good show, girly. You'll go places.
With that done, he leans back and look at the couple who are still trying to parse what those words mean, not familiar with the dialect.
"It means buckle your head." he says, plainly, without anger -- he might as well be telling them water is wet, or something akin. (The fact they may not know what THAT means apparently doesn't register.) "There are people trying to sleep."
There's a moment of sputtering offense, on behalf of both shut-upped parties, just long enough to make any comeback awkward and impotent. Grumbling, they settle back in their seats, content to keep their squabbling to a dull roar, for now.
Basch, himself, is content to nudge a little closer to Miki's back and read his book in relative peace.
Reply
Reply
...so much water. No land to be seen, just water. It actually gives him vertigo for a few moments; following this is the acute need to see a map of this world, if to satisfy sudden hunger of curiosity. He settles for leaning back, kind of a "whoa" expression on his face ( ... )
Reply
Leave a comment