fandomhigh | BWI Airport | Portalocity Lounge

Entry tags:

!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Airport | Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning

Madison was not pleased when she pushed open the door to the lounge with the Fandom High sign on the door. Like it wasn't bad enough that she had to deal with being dead, now Ron decided to send her to some lame summer camp so Kairos and Nakita couldn't find her.

She slumped in one of the chairs near the door. There was a black suitcase decorated with stickers sitting next to her and a dirty yellow and black backpack at her feet. Her eyes were glued to the door in search of any danger that might be incoming - in the form of dark reapers or new classmates.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"England," Wesley answered, looking up. Oh. Maybe she didn't think he was a moron after all. He hoped she wouldn't be too curious about his family or his old school, though. "And yourself?" he asked warmly.

"I lived in the Florida Keys for a long time, but I was born in Southwestern Pennsylvania and moved back there a few months ago," Madison explained. "So, both of those places, I guess."

Which sounded kind of lame compared to England. "How come you're going to an American summer camp?"

Wes wondered how to put it diplomatically. He could be upfront - "I buggered my destiny down the toilet and destroyed my family's reputation." Or he could be blunt and self-pitying - "My father hates me and wanted me away from home." Or he could be the diplomatic Brit he'd been raised to be - "My family and I are having cultural differences, and we thought it'd be best if I took some time away."

Finally he settled on a lie. "I just always wanted to see America," he said sheepishly.

"Really? Why?" Madison asked. "It can't be nearly as interesting as Europe."

"Well - yes, but I'm used to it," Wesley pointed out. Well, that was true enough. He was used to it. Used to the idiotic social hierarchy he'd never be able to make work to his advantage, and to the pretentious snots so commonly found there. "America's quite a change from that."

"Too bad we couldn't do some kind of exchange program."

It's not like the dark reapers would find her if she went across the ocean, right?

Madison gave him a crooked smile. "Have you been to America before?"

Wesley chuckled. "Yes, quite," he replied to her point about the exchange program. Get out of England forever? Wonderful. Unfortunately that would mean condemning this innocent girl to a life of misery at the bloody Watcher's Academy.

"Yes, I was in California early this spring," he answered. "It was - well - marginally unpleasant. I'm hoping to enjoy myself more on the East Coast."

Hoping to steer the conversation away from himself, he inquired, "So you have an interest in traveling, then?"

"Yeah, sure, it would be fun to go and see new places," Madison said. "I haven't been to any other countries or anything."

Wesley couldn't imagine a life spent entirely in the same place. He immediately felt for this girl. "Good lord, really?" he asked, then immediately bit his lip, hoping that didn't come across as too spoiled or pretentious. "I just mean - my family travels quite often. I've been... well, everywhere. Although trust me, if you're looking to travel, England is not the place you'd want to start."

"Where would I want to start?" Madison asked, figuring that if he had been so many places, she would pick his brain about them.

He tried to size her up. The pink in her hair and the modern, punk-looking clothes called a few places to mind. "Tokyo. Brisbane. Edinburgh, maybe, if you stay downtown. Vancouver. Stockholm." Ironically, most of these were places he hadn't enjoyed when he'd visited, but that was mostly because he'd spent his time there being dragged from event to event, while his father sneered at the local teenagers sporting dyed hair and unconventional clothes. Suddenly realizing that his list of cities he'd been to might come across as bragging, while this girl might or might not even have the means to travel to all these places, so he decided to do some damage control. "But I hear that Gainesville and New Orleans and San Francisco have some interesting subcultures as well," he added.

"Wow, you really have traveled a lot," Madison said. "What was your favorite place?"

[alas, my bed is calling my name! sp?]

"Probably St. Petersburg," Wesley answered after a moment's pause. "The architecture was wonderful, and there were these incredible museums..."

<[Sorry, I'm new - what does "sp" stand for? Haha, sorry. But you're welcome to go to sleep and we can finish up tomorrow! :)]

"What kind of museums?" Madison asked. "I like going to art museums."

[sorry! welcome to the game :D SP = slow play]

"Mostly standard art museums," Wesley said. "But the collections there are quite different from typical European art. Or even American art, for that matter. What kind of art are you interested in?"

Oh, no problem. Thanks!

"I'm really into photography," Madison admitted. "But I like paintings too."

"Do you take photographs yourself?" Wes asked, weirdly fascinated. It was just that of the hundreds of people he'd been forced to mingle with in his life, most were extremely boring, and very few had actual interests like art and photography.

Madison nodded. "My dad got me a really cool camera for my birthday. This place should be fun to photograph."

"Oh, well, if you ever need a subject - " Wesley cut himself off, realizing that what he was saying sounded very much like a pick-up line. "I mean - not to say that I would - I didn't mean to - " Helplessly, he looked up at Madison and trailed off, hoping she knew what he was - and wasn't saying.

Madison couldn't help but chuckle. "I actually do enjoy taking photographs of people. So I may take you up on that sometime."

"Oh. Well, I'd be happy to oblige!" Wesley finally said.

Still blushing a little from his most recent faux pas, he decided to change the subject. "So what classes are you taking at Fandom?"

"That's a good question," Madison said. "I haven't seen my schedule yet."

When she did, she would be bitching up a storm to a certain light reaper who thought he was funny and picked her workshops.

"Do you know what you're taking?"

"I believe my father signed me up for classes focusing on weaponry and self-defense," Wes replied. "He seemed to think I could use some... toughening up."

Well, that was more than he'd wanted to share. Oh well.

Oh, sorry, were we not supposed to know what classes we were in? Fail.

"Hmm, those would be cool classes," Madison agreed. "Maybe my... guardian... signed me up for them."

[oh, it's cool! they can know - I just didn't want her to have her schedule before arriving.]

Wesley tried to clamp down on his instinctive curiosity about her hesitancy surrounding the word "guardian." He wanted to know, but small talk was one thing - prying into matters that were none of his business was entirely another. He continued the train of thought they were already on: "Yes, sparring with you would be quite interesting."

Oh, bollocks. That was worse. He squeezed his eyes shut in mortification.

Oh, okay, great.

BWI Airport | Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting

Re: Waiting