Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Portalocity Port, Saturday Morning

[wantstodirect]

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!]

Comments

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri actually had no idea what had happened to the ejector seat by the time she emerged from the other side of the portal, and how she'd managed to hold onto the flimsiplast with her orders on it was anyone's guess.

A quick check told her that her bag was intact and her lightsaber still secured to her equipment harness, so she rid herself of the constricting boots and headed, barefoot, over to the bench with the sign above it.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[wantstodirect]

"Hey," Tony said to the oddly dressed new arrival.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

Tahiri cast a quick look around the terminal; everyone so far appeared to be human, and that was weird.

"Hi," she answered slowly. "Is this --" No, extraction point wasn't the right phrase, probably. Most of the people here didn't have the wary edginess to them that the war seemed to have drilled into everyone back home.

"This is for Fandom High, isn't it?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[wantstodirect]

"That's what we're all assuming," Tony said. "With the sign and all." He kept his voice low and calm. The girl looked like she might bolt at any moment.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

His voice didn't sound frayed, either, and her Force sense wasn't picking up any telltale ripples of violence in the general area; Tahiri let herself relax a little bit.

"Where exactly are we?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[wantstodirect]

"The Portalocity terminal," Tony said.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

"That's no help," Tahiri said with a slight huff. "There's terminals everywhere. This is Earth, isn't it?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[wantstodirect]

"Last time I checked," Tony said. She was kidding, right?

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

"You're sure?" Tahiri glanced around the terminal again. "I never even heard of Earth before."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[talon-wraith.livejournal.com]

Donos waved slightly, wondering for a moment why she wasn't wearing any footgear. "Another student?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

If Tahiri had paid much attention to fairly recent history, she might have recognized him. But HoloNet archives weren't exactly a standard commodity in Tusken tribes, and at the Praxeum she'd been a little too otherwise occupied.

Besides -- Intelligence squadron.

So she just gave him a brief nod. "Looks like."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[talon-wraith.livejournal.com]

The uniform was a little distinctive, but the unit patch was effectively hidden by the way he was sitting. "Are you looking forward to it?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

"Not really," Tahiri answered.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[talon-wraith.livejournal.com]

"I can't blame you." Myn shrugged.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

"What did they send you here for?" she asked, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her chest.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[talon-wraith.livejournal.com]

"My piloting career is in the incinerator and I need to learn to adjust to civilian life," Donos said flatly.

Maybe it wasn't official that he had been scrubbed, but it certainly felt that way.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

"Yeah," Tahiri said in an equally flat tone. "I might as well've been kicked out of the Order myself."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[momslilassassin]

Ben glanced over, then did a double-take. "Tahiri?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

There was something vaguely familiar about his Force presence, but she was pretty sure she'd never seen him before. And wow, who did the Padawan braid these days?

"That's me," she allowed cautiously. "Do I know you?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[momslilassassin]

Ben was still trying to figure out why she looked so much younger. "I'm Ben. Luke's son?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

"When Jawas bathe, maybe," Tahiri blurted out. "Ben's just a baby!"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[momslilassassin]

"I'm fourteen!"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

"Did the Maw age you or something?" demanded Tahiri.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[momslilassassin]

"Only one day at a time," Ben said, looking confused.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[weetuskenraider]

"But that's insane," objected Tahiri, even though the British Coruscanti accent made her a little less convinced of said insanity. "You were only born last year!"