fandomhigh | BWI Airport | Portalocity Lounge

Entry tags:

!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Airport | Portalocity Lounge | Saturday Morning

Petra was so relieved to find the Portalocity lounge and a banner proclaiming 'Fandom High.' She was pretty sure that meant she was in the right place, even if she did seem to be the first one here, and it meant she could sit down and stop dragging her luggage (two large, new-looking suitcases and an extremely battered green leather overnight case with an Audrey Hepburn decal on top) all over the airport.

She picked out a chair with a good view of the door so she could see new arrivals and sat down with Holly Go-Overnightly in her lap, then pulled her phone out. All her friends were still asleep, no doubt, so texting was out, but surfing the web seemed like a good way to kill some time while she waited for other people to show up. She hoped she wasn't the only new student. That would be awkward.

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"None taken," Rosella assured Petra with a smile. "Being a princess for more than a night is pretty fun, too, although sometimes it can be terribly boring and tedious, as well. I doubt that, in a mere night, you wouldn't have to listen to nearly as much nagging about marriage and princes and having to settle down. Luckily, all the talk of one day being ruler makes up for all that a bit."

"I always wanted to be a princess when I was little," Petra admitted. "But they never tell you about the nagging about marriage and duty in the fairy tales for some reason."

"And wouldn't you know," Rosella said with a wry grin, "that's most of what it is after a while. Father wasn't married when he rose to power and ruled the kingdom; why should I be?"

"Double standards. Such a pain in the ass," Petra agreed.

Rosella's head quirked a bit curiously.

"What have donkeys got to do with anything?" she asked.

Oh, great, she was already corrupting the royal. "It's a colloquialism? For, uh. The posterior?"

Rosella considered this new information carefully; eventually, she laughed, showing her approval. "A pain in the ass!" she repeated, delighted. "And, in this case, I suppose one could easy say it's even a royal pain in the ass! Oh, I do like that; it seems to have quite a bit more sharpness to it than say, rear or bum or even rump. And I'm sorry, Petra, where was it you said you were from?"

"Rhode Island," Petra said, and, knowing Europeans' grasp of American geography was frequently on par with Americans' grasp of European geography, she added, "It's north of here, the really, uh, tiny state? And it's not actually an island.

"I kind of like 'bum,' though. My boyfriend--well, we're on a break, but anyway, he's English, so he says 'bum.'"

Rosella pondered the logic in naming a place that wasn't an island after an island, before sighing slightly and hearing her mother's voice in her head about how all the girls her age were already married. Granted, she suspected Petra was a little younger than she was, which was probably why it was only a boyfriend.

"Mother would positively die if she caught me saying bum," she said, since she wanted to avoid any topic dealing with boys if she could. "So excuse me a moment while I do this."

Rosella took a deep breath, and, when she let it out, she gave off a chorus of "Bum bum bum. Bum bum bum. Bum. Bum. Bum."

"There. Much better."

Petra had to laugh a little at that, but she politely covered her mouth. "Do you feel better now?" she asked Rosella? "I hope that helped.

"Much better," Rosella said with a grin, followed by a contented little sigh. "Zounds, that felt good!"

"Zounds. Wow, I haven't heard that one since Shakespeare," Petra mused. "Language is funny, huh?"

Somehow, Rosella had enough common sense to not ask what Shakespeare was. It went right into her file of things to look into once she got on the island, though.

"It is," she agreed with a thoughtful tilt to her head. "It should be quite interesting to learn the local colloquialisms. I just hope I don't sound too silly in my attempts to adopt them, that, should I try to employ their meanings, it shall seem just as natural as sitting on my own ass."

See what she did there? SEE IT?

"You're doing a great job so far," Petra assured her. "And don't worry, half the time I think most people don't know what the slang they're using is supposed to mean. You'll be fine."

"With your confidence to back me up, Petra," Rosella's smile was grateful, "I don't doubt that you're probably right."

"If you have any questions about any weird American things, you're welcome to ask me," Petra offered. "Let me give you my phone number?"

"Oh!" A new thread of excitement went through Rosella, lighting up her face again. "Yes, of course! I haven't gotten my phone yet, so I cannot give you mine at the moment, but Alexander told me it's one of the first things I should do once I get on the island. He told me all about how valuable cell phones are, and even showed me his own! We haven't got them on Daventry, but I do wonder, if I should get one, if I might be able to call him in the Land of the Green Isles. It would certainly be faster than letters. I would love to have your phone number, Petra; it shall be the first one I enter into my phone once I find one."

"You don't have phones in Daventry? Is it like that island in where they don't have cars ~~you know, like the one we're going to~~?" Petra asked as she dug a notepad out of her purse and scribbled down her number with 'Petra West' above it.

"I..am not sure," Rosella admitted with a faint smile, "but there's a good chance that you're right. Daventry is quite different from this world, which is part of the reason I think I like this world so much."

This world. The way Rosella phrased things was so funny sometimes. Not that Petra was going to tell her that because then she'd stop, and it was cute. "Well, I for one am glad you're here!"

"That makes two of us," Rosella grinned. "And I'm glad you're here as well, Petra. I imagine you would be, too, especially after the whole ordeal with the desert island!"

"It was pretty heinous," Petra agreed. "And I'm glad to be back in civilization with, you know, shoe stores and eyeliner. And hamburgers. I miss my friends, though."

That last bit managed to get a rueful smile out of Rosella. "Yes," she said. "That is one of the bittersweet things about going to a place like this, but I suppose one can always be assured that they'll meet plenty of new friends on every adventure they take."

"Like you!" Petra said cheerfully. "That is, I hope we're friends! And I can always text them."

"Like me!" Rosella agreed with a laugh. "I would love to count you among my friends, Petra! My first Fandom friend that wasn't already my brother's friend first!"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

wasthecuteone - 2011-08-27 04:23 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

perilless.livejournal.com - 2011-08-27 14:13 (UTC) - Expand

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