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[wasafreak]

If pressed, Teddy Altman would have readily admitted to living through some pretty bizarre stuff. There was only so much slipping through the time stream, getting caught up in fights between major super hero teams and finding yourself in the middle of religious galactic warfare you could experience before things started to shock you less- but they

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[recanting]

Ten days. He'd been counting them off one by one, and with each sunrise Alex began to lose hope that he'd ever see London, or Jack again. When faced with that notion, there's a sick sense of fear that begins to settle inside, fought off as fiercely as anything else. Alex could adapt, he was sure of it. He had no other choice.

The beach was a good place to be, on most days. Alex ended up swimming every afternoon, but at the moment he was sitting in what was left of the dwindling sun, almost close to being dry. Feeling a little lazy - certainly, he was more active at home than the island afforded him. But the laziness was nice, for once.

There are other people on the beach, but one catches his eye - possibly because of the panic in his expression. It's an emotion Alex understands well.

"Everything alright?" he asks, casually enough. "...You're new, right?"

It's a gut instinct that tells him - Alex certainly hasn't been on the island long enough to see scores of people come and go. But he trusts his instincts, regardless.

[wasafreak]

"It's written all over me, right?" Teddy asks wearily, offering the guy a thin smile.

"I'm fine. I'm weirded out," he adds, for honesty's sake, "but I'm fine 'm just... trying to find someone I was told is here."

[recanting]

"...Yeah, it is," it's not the greatest thing to be told and he winces, but Alex won't lie. "But I wasn't much better ten days ago," then again, he'd also been strapped down to a table and waterboarded back then, but there were some things that were just better buried.

"Who? I know...maybe seven people on the island, but maybe they're one of them," he can't blame the other boy for looking. Alex would admit to searching (albeit half-heartedly) for a familiar face upon arrival. He just hoped that this person really was here, and that it wasn't one of the many clones that seemed to populate this place in general - a fact that still weirded him out.

[wasafreak]

"Billy Kaplan," Teddy replies with no hesitation.

"Like an inch shorter than me, dark hair, brown eyes?"

[recanting]

It wasn't really that great of a description, all things considered, was Alex's first thought. There were likely a lot of people on the island with dark hair and brown eyes. Either way, regardless if he had seen this person around, he didn't know anyone by that name. "Sorry, no," he replies apologetically, thankful at least that somebody seemed to have given this boy the rundown of everything. Alex didn't know if he was at all qualified to do it himself.

"Is he a friend of yours?"

[wasafreak]

Infinitely more than, ad though he doesn't say as much, it probably shows in his face as he batons down the disappointment and offers the other guy a slight, grateful smile.

"Yeah. It's funny, I just saw him. I was with a few hours ago, but that was, you know. Back home. So you're pretty new, then?" he asks.

[recanting]

It does show on his face - that brief flash of disappointment that Alex recognizes as the one that surely must have colored his own expression when he'd realized that there were hardly any boats on the island and no way of calling home. He still hadn't quite given up yet, but it was getting harder to keep struggling with every day.

"I think that's just how it works here. I was in Cairo before the island took me," Alex sighs, gaze tempered towards the rapidly setting sun. "But you're right. I'm new here, too. But I've been here long enough to know that Billy might be at the compound. That seems to be where most people live. Have you checked there yet?"

[wasafreak]

Teddy nods, absently shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah. I actually landed in the under water city? Down in Rapture. So after I got out of there, I got taken to the compound to just, swing by the clinic, make sure I wasn't concussed, I guess. I looked around, but that was about a half an hour ago, maybe..." He stifles a sigh, but it's hard. He's exhausted. He has no idea where he's staying tonight, but it's looking more and more like it'll be the 'crash room' he passed. The idea doesn't appeal much.

"Maybe he's there, now."

[recanting]

Rapture was yet another place that he hadn't yet explored, but it was only a matter of time given his past track record and curiosity that seemed to fly in the face of all sense. A curiosity that would probably be the death of him one day, all things considered.

"Maybe. It gets harder to look for people in the dark. But I'm going to head back up there anyways, so if you want to come with, you can." Alex shoves his feet haphazardly into a pair of discarded sandals (much preferring bare feet any day) and picks up the soccer ball he had borrowed from the games closet.

[wasafreak]

"Sure," Teddy says, "thanks." His own boots, up to the middle of his calf, black, designed for fighting on concrete against people with superpowers, are kind of overkill for the beach.

"...Man, I need to find some new clothes, huh," he murmurs.

[recanting]

They were weird clothes, Alex had to admit. Like something you'd see out of an action movie or a comic book. He's new enough that he hadn't yet been acquainted with some of the island's more...famous residents, and therefore doesn't quite know that superheroes indeed do walk among them.

"There's a box. Don't ask me how it works, because the best answer anybody's managed to give me so far is 'magic', and that's just mad, but it has clothes. Like, an unlimited supply. It's in the Compound, too."

Without further ado, he sees this as a good cue for him to start walking - looking back once to make sure that Teddy's coming along. "I'm Alex, by the way."

[wasafreak]

"Oh," Teddy says, holding out his hand as they start down the boardwalk, "sorry. Teddy Altman. Thanks, for the help."

Magic, of course, sounds just about as plausible as his favorite video game's setting being underfoot, or half of the Avengers being here but being from different worlds, or as... well, as magic. It had become a part of his every day experience.

Every thought just brings him back around to Billy. He tells himself to calm down, it's not that big an island. They'll find each other.

[recanting]

"That's alright," he shrugs, because it's hardly a big deal. The island might not be very large, but Alex figures that it'd be hard to navigate in the dark, especially for someone as new as Teddy was. He keeps a brisk pace, obviously glad to be moving again because although being lazy was nice, he can't really sit still for that long.

"Are you-- you're not a superhero, are you?" wincing at the way that must sound, Alex shakes his head. Bart talking about his world had obviously gotten to him, except that it seemed like half the island had some sort of special ability back home. "Nevermind. That sounds mad."

[wasafreak]

"No, it's okay," Teddy says, holding up a hand to wave away the latter half of the sentence.

"I, uh, I am, actually. I'm a Young Avenger." He can't see a reason to hide the fact. Teddy Altman has three identities, but none of them mean much in a place like Tabula Rasa.

It wasn't as though he had family to protect.

"They call me Hulkling. I'm normally a lot bigger. And green. And can fly. So which one of us sounds crazier?" he asks with a small smile.

[recanting]

A Young Avenger. The words mean nothing to Alex, who only read comic books up to the point of...Batman and Spider-man, and barely anything past that. But the word Hulking garners some recognition, at least. Well, at least, the Hulk did, and the reference to being green allowed him to connect the dots.

This really was insane.

"You, definitely," he answers, but it's only harmless. "But don't worry. Lots of people had powers here. You'll fit right in."

[wasafreak]

"So I've heard. I know Captain America's here, and some of the X-Men. A lot of A-listers," Teddy says, not sounding intimidated but puzzled, at least.

"I'm grateful, though, that there are people I know here from home. It's weird enough, I mean, I'm still kinda of freaking out about it?" he says, although he doesn't look like he is.

"But I can imagine it's got to be even harder if you're totally on your own."