Newbie Shuttle, Portalocity Terminal, BWI {Saturday Morning Fandom Time}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

Miriam didn't much care if anyone saw that she was being dropped off at the terminal by the Baltimore Five-O, but she did roll her eyes at Officer Jackass for muttering something about dumping out the trash when he opened the back seat door so she could slide out. For a moment she was tempted to touch him to see if he had a nice painful death, but instead it was Officer Friendly sticking his hand into hers and slipping her several $20 bills and telling her this was her chance to turn her life around, don't mess it up, blah blah blah.

"Flying sucks," she said casually. She'd gotten good at not letting it show when she saw someone's death flash in her mind. "Next time you want a vacation, you should drive cross-country. It's a lot more relaxing. Trust me." He gave her a confused look and shrugged, then patted her on the shoulder one last time before climbing back into the police car.

The first thing she dug out of her messenger bag were her gloves even though it was way too fucking hot for them. There was no way in hell she was going to tell the cops just why she wanted them on or they'd toss her in the loony bin. The second thing was her cigarettes she could suck down some sweet nicotine before trying to find the waiting area for the shuttle to this boarding school. The glittery "Fandom High" sign made that easy enough. She claimed a seat and chewed on a thumbnail as she looked around to see who else was heading to this place. She gave it three days before she snuck out and hit the road again.

Comments

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

Food just so happened to be an excellent way to coerce a young mutant into being less wary and more social. Or, at least, this particular one. Evan gave Miriam a little smile, some of his awkwardness being tabled for the time being, as he nodded and inched a little closer.

"I'd love one, thanks. Are you headed to Fandom High, too?"

Look, maybe this airport just had random people offering pretzels to kids waiting under glittery signs, okay? It could totally happen.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"That or juvie," Miriam said, holding out the bag. With her gloves on she wasn't worried about skin to skin contact. The kid was kind of cute in a weird way and she didn't want to see his head explode or something. It brought down the mood.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

"Hopefully not juvie," Evan decided, reaching in and helping himself to... one pretzel. She'd offered one! He wasn't going to take more than was offered, that wasn't how his parents had raised him! "As far as I can tell, I haven't actually broken any laws, so that would be a kind of rotten place to end up, you know?"

A beat.

"... We're not headed to juvie, are we?"

No, Evan.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

That got a snicker out of Miriam. "No, that was my choice. This school or juvie. I went for door number two because I'd look like a cheap Halloween decoration in an orange jumpsuit. Figured it for some sort of reform school but if you haven't been a bad boy, how'd you end up heading there?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

"I haven't done anything wrong, but that doesn't mean I'm not a handful," Evan sighed, eyeing his pretzel a moment longer before finally eating it. "I was having some trouble with the other students, and my other school was... kind of understaffed. So they gave me the option to go somewhere else until things blew over."

He fidgeted for a moment, and then rummaged through his bag to pull out the brochure that Professor Guthrie had handed to him.

"I thought it was summer camp," he admitted. "Um... do you mind if I ask what you did?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"Got busted trying to walk out of a liquor store with a bottle of Jack down my pants," Miriam shrugged. Sort of. She'd seen the guy behind the counter get shot up in a robbery and waited until the two assholes who'd killed him had taken off with the money in the register, then she'd waltzed in to help herself to some booze and cigarettes. Hey, waste not, want not, right? Only the police had arrived before she'd gotten out. The security camera footage clearly proved she'd come in after the shooting, but with a prior shoplifting record she'd ended in more than a little bit of trouble herself.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

Evan wrinkled his nose a little at that. Yeah, it really wasn't the sort of trouble he could see himself getting in. Much.

"I helped a bunch of my classmates break into a casino once," he offered, in an attempt at solidarity. "Their security team hurt our Headmaster, and we weren't going to stand for that."

Well, that, and with Logan's skeleton twisted up in horrible ways, they'd kind of needed to get something in order to help put him back together, uh, right.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like a nobler cause than just wanting to get wasted," Miriam said, popping a pretzel into her mouth.

She held out the bag to Evan again. "I'm Miriam, by the way."

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

"And you can call me Evan," he replied, smiling his thanks as he reached for another pretzel. "So..."

He popped the pretzel into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed before managing more words.

"You really didn't know it was summer camp? I guess maybe they could have given me the wrong brochure or something."

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"Nah, the legal aide chick said it was some sort of special school. Figured anything was better than juvie so I signed on. I clean up my act and graduate, I go free. Yay." She twirled one finger in the air.

She craned her neck to look at the brochure in Evan's hands. "So what's it say about this place?

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

"Um..." Evan flipped through the brochure, shrugging. "Old-fashioned, rustic setting. Small town with all the basic amenities. Character-building, friendly atmosphere?"

He passed the pamphlet over.

"It looks like the school is a castle. That's kind of cool?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"Well that explains Sir Dorkalot over there," Miriam said, taking the pamphlet and looking it over. "Huh. Looks kind of cool I guess. Better than bars on the windows and community service along the highway. I wonder if that causeway floods and makes it hard to leave the island."

By leave, of course, she meant escape if she decided she was going to make a break for it.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

"I dunno, I think if there's a town there, with businesses and people living there and stuff, easy access to the mainland is probably something they'd make sure they'd have."

Well, it made sense to Evan, anyhow.

"If not, you can probably rent boats or something. An island has to have boats, right?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"Makes sense to me," Miriam said. She handed the brochure back to Evan and flopped back in her chair. "Just so long as 'old-fashioned' and 'rustic' doesn't mean 'no electricity or indoor plumbing.' Or A/C. Greatest fucking invention in the history of mankind. Or maybe the toilet is. It's a toss-up."

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

"I think if I had to go without one, I'd probably choose to keep the toilet," Evan admitted. "Indoor plumbing. Pretty awesome."

It kept people from wading in their own waste, which was not something that he was in any particular mood to do any time soon.

"But I think they've got power here. I mean... I hope they do?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"Guess we'll find out soon enough," Miriam said with a shrug.

She swept one finger across her face in a vague semblance of the lines on Evan's cheeks. "So what's that mean?" she said. "Something new you kids are doing?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

Evan blinked up from his bag at that, idly putting a finger to one of the raised black trails that crossed his face.

"It... it doesn't mean anything," he said, a touch of defensiveness sneaking into his voice. "It's just my face."

Whoever you thought he looked like, you were wrong, Miriam! Wrong! Honest, he wasn't like that!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

Miriam held up her hands. "Not judging, just asking," she said. "It's totally cool." She'd gone through a phase where she'd drawn squiggles under her eyes with black eyeliner.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

"... Really?"

That was pretty obviously not something that Evan heard often, no.

"You don't think it's creepy, or anything like that?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"Like I'm one to judge," Miriam snorted. She with her obviously dyed hair and raccoon eyes. "I think it's kind of cute."

She resisted the urge to ruffle his hair. He'd probably hate it.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

Evan actually blushed a little at that, a pink flush coming easily to his pale cheeks.

"Oh... You... you do? I... oh."

What did you say to something like that?! He had no idea! So he was going to sit there and fidget and blush some more, okay? Okay!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

The blush was even more adorable. "I totally respect self-expression and non-conformity, kiddo," she said. "Be a square peg in a round hole. Don't run with the herd. But enough about philosophy. So where are you from, Evan?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

"Kansas," Evan kind of half choked out, still wrapping his head around that 'cute' part, somewhat. "I'm from Kansas. I grew up on the farm."

So, add rural folksy charm to all of that adorable awkwardness, Miriam.

"Um... you?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[seeshowyoudie.livejournal.com]

"Ohio. Small town, middle of nowhere, you never heard of it," Miriam said. "Ran away to the big city and now I'm here. The next great adventure."

Re: Wait for the Shuttle! {6/30}

[genesishero]

"From the big city right back to a small town, huh?" See, small towns, Evan could comprehend. "They probably don't have many castles in Ohio either, though."

The castle was totally a selling point.