fandomhigh | Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Portalocity Port, Saturday Morning

Tony's first airplane ride wasn't as interesting than he'd hoped. It was rather like riding the bus, only with less space and more pretzels. Although "boring" was probably the way to go when it came to air travel.

He'd spent a bad half hour in Customs after his flight had landed. They'd pulled him from line and fingerprinted him and for a bit he was afraid he'd be barred from entering the US. But they apparently realized he was neither a drug dealer nor a terrorist and let him through.

He retrieved his oversized duffle from the baggage claim and followed the instructions on the crumpled printout of an email from the school. He took a quick detour to buy a horribly overpriced breakfast sandwich with his shiny new American money. (Dollar bills? What was wrong with coins?) He made a wrong turn on the way back, but he managed to orient himself and find his way to the Portalocity terminal.

A piece of paper tacked on the wall in one corner of the room said "Fandom High." Looked like he was in the right place. He sat down on a bench under the sign, duffle near his feet, and clutched his laptop case as if it might walk away. (It wouldn't, would it? Arra would've warned him if that was a possibility.) It seemed he was the first to arrive. Not surprising, since he'd taken the red eye out of Vancouver. Late-night flights made it easier to say goodbyes to vampire ex-boyfriends.

[Newbie airport shuttle! Open to all new students and teachers, no matter which world they're from. Posted early for great slowplay. ~~OCD coming.~~ We can has OCD!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Myn Donos." Everyone here was new to him, regardless of if they were actually new or not. "Nice to meet you."

"Same," Claire agreed. "What grade are you in? This is my last year."

"Senior," Myn replied, confident about that one now. "The same, then?" He wasn't a terribly wordy person, most times.

"The same," Claire nodded. "It's weird, we had already started classes back home? So I get to start senior year twice. I'm so lucky." She was being sarcastic, yes.

"It could be worse." It was a good, noncommittal response. Myn didn't want to start a 'my life sucks more' contest. "Did you want to come here?"

"It could be way worse," Claire agreed.

And shrugged. "Kind of. I mean, it wasn't my idea or anything, but it's not like L.A. was so spectacular. You?"

"Not really." Understatement of the year.

"My squadron is in the middle of a...difficult situation, back home." And another massive understatement. Donos facepalmed inwardly.

Claire was confused. "Squadron? So are you, like, in the army?"

"I'm a lieutenant in the New Republic Starfighter Command." No sense in hiding it, even if Myn was pretty sure he was only a lieutenant for a short while longer. Only until Commander Antilles got around to officially scrubbing him from Wraith Squadron's roster.

Yeah, Claire wasn't following that one at all. "What is that, some kind of Galaxy Quest fan thing?" she asked suspiciously.

"Galaxy Quest?" Myn repeated, confused.

"That old TV show with the aliens?" Claire tried. "It's funny when you're stoned. The Starfighter thing sounds like something from it."

"I've never heard of it," Donos said, still lost. "Tee Vee?" The only "TV" that came to mind for him was a type of Terrain Vehicle.

"Television?" Claire tried, very slowly. "Where are you even from?"

Maybe he'd grown up in some cult.

"Corellia." He paused, then added, "And yourself?"

"Los Angeles," Claire answered. "Is Corellia in Oregon somewhere?" They kept a lot of crazy cults up north.

"No, it's...farther away," Myn finished lamely, since he didn't know what Oregon was either.

"Like how far?" Claire asked, narrowing her eyes a little. "Which coast?"

"Um. Far?" Myn shifted uncomfortably. "It's in the Core Worlds, which I'm beginning to understand this world is farther from than I originally thought."

This entire experience was bringing on a whoooole lot of awkward and discomfort.

Claire was kind of staring, probably not making things less awkward. "I haven't even heard of that," she said. "At all."

She wasn't sure if he was pulling her leg, or if Maryland was weirder than she expected.

"So I'm beginning to realise," Myn said quietly. Suddenly he was wishing he had worn some of the civilian clothes he had brought, instead of his uniform.

And now Claire noticed the uniform and the gun, and, yeah, she was going to deal with this later or possibly never, thanks. "I have to go to the bathroom," she babbled. "I'll talk to you later, Myn."

Twice, now.

Beautiful track record he was setting.

"All right. Goodbye, Claire."

Again, Myn buried his face in his hands. Time to stop trying before another attempt at socializing blew up in his face.

Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Portalocity Port, Saturday Morning

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