Thursday evening, Blake Suite, Dolphin Hall, Oxford

[mparkerceo]

Even while keeping in contact the last couple weeks through tiny Isabel and teeny Bridge and their keepers, e-mail with Zero, and text messages from a transformed BoyIsabel, having people actually staying with her was going to be a treat

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[izzyalienqueen]

"Remind me?" Isabel said as she stumbled out of the portal. "Why I didn't ask Wyatt to orb us over here?"

[mparkerceo]

"Something about inconvenience? And not using your boyfriend as a personal flotation device?" Parker offered, getting up to grab Isabel's luggage. She frowned at the purple swirling vortex, then demanded, "C'mon, stupid thing, spit Daisy out!"

[izzyalienqueen]

"Yeah, it made sense at the time," she replied. "Forget it. Next time? He brings me and I'll make it up to him with lots of sex."

"He was with me when we went in."

[mparkerceo]

"For the love of--"

*POP!* And there was no more Portal.

Two seconds later, a tiny *blue* Portal appeared, and a robotic voice stated: "Your expected passenger has been unexpectedly delayed. Portalocity apologizes for the inconvenience. Your passenger will arrive safely within the next 14 hours. We will update you on any further developments, should developments develop." *POP!*

"Well, *fine*. Next time, *definitely* shanghai'ing your boyfriend into being a pack animal," Parker said crankily. "And Daisy *better* be okay by the time he gets here."

[cantgetnorelief]

Anders stumbled out of the portal an hour or so later, with white chalk streaks all over his face and what looked like a large fleur-de-lis pattern singed into the right shoulder of his shirt.

"Oh, frak me, that was worse than the random thunderstorm in the Yukon Terri -- hey, where'd everybody go?"

He didn't even think about going over to check on the note on the door, though; instead, he dropped down onto the couch and looked pitiful.

[izzyalienqueen]

Fortunately he didn't have to look pitiful for long. It had been a long few days and Isabel was sort of tired, so they passed on making time with the Rugby players (It was post match and despite showering, they were still sort of smelly) and headed back to Parker's with food for Anders.

"Anders!" Isabel smiled. "You're here! We were worried!"

[cantgetnorelief]

Anders picked regretfully at his singed sleeve. "Yeah . . . so was I for a while there," he said with a sigh. "But random detours through, like, revolutionary France and some archaeologist's dig site in I don't even know where the frak aside, I'm here. And in one piece."

He eyed his duffel bag ruefully -- the half of it by his feet, and the half of it that had fallen over by where the portal had dumped him out.

"Which is more than I can say for my luggage."

[izzyalienqueen]

"Oh that is rough," Isabel replied, studying the bag and glad it wasn't Anders. "I'll fix your stuff later if you'd like. I've got mad skillz."