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!]

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"Hello," Ben replied, relaxing just a bit. He glanced at Jess's bag. "You pack like I do."

"It's a lot easier to get around with only one bag," Jess pointed out.

"Plus it's easier to escape if you're not burdened with a lot of extra stuff," Ben added.

Weird kid...

"Did you run away?" Jess asked. It was possible his experiences gave "escape" a different meaning.

"My parents kind of thought so," Ben said, "but I was on a mission that required comm silence."

"A mission? Like you're some kind of soldier?" Jess asked, surprised.

Ben nodded. "I'm a lieutenant in the Galactic Alliance Guard. And a Jedi."

He paused. "Oh, and I'm Ben, too."

"I'm Jess," he said, close to staring at him. "Just Jess. How old are you?"

"Fourteen," Ben replied. "I'm going to be a freshman, whatever that is."

"That means you're in your first year of high school," Jess explained, still boggling at a fourteen year old being a lieutenant anything. "I don't think I'd be worried though, if I were you."

"Was I supposed to be worried?" Ben gave him a small smile. "I've never really done traditional school."

"Uh, no, you shouldn't worry," Jess said casually. "I don't know if this counts as traditional school anyway."

"Better chance that I won't completely stand out, then," Ben said. "Most of my lessons were one-on-one with my cousin, or with one of my other relatives teaching."

"You should get a wider range of teachers now," Jess said. "You know, if you're really into learning."

"Should I not be into learning?" Ben asked.

"Some people are, some people aren't," Jess said with a shrug.

"What's the point of being ignorant?" Ben asked.

"I'm not talking about being ignorant in general," Jess said. "But sometimes in traditional school, you have to take classes in subjects you don't like."

"Like what?" Ben asked, shifting forward. There wasn't a lot he didn't like.

"Like math or science," Jess said. "Or, if you like math and science, then English or history."

"Ohhhh," Ben said, nodding. "I get it. I bet it's supposed to make you well-rounded or something, and not just bored and annoyed."

"Exactly. And I tend to lean towards the bored and annoyed end," Jess said. "But I think this school is supposed to be different. So, not traditional."

"Do you have to go to the boring things if you end up in one?" Ben didn't really know how this worked.

"You might," Jess said, not knowing exactly how it worked either, and he wasn't enough of a jerk to teach someone how to skip class before they'd even started to go. "But I think the classes only go for half the year instead of a whole year, so you won't be bored for ages."

"That's good to know," Ben said. "I'm not good with boredom."

Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Portalocity Port, Saturday Morning

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