BWI Airport, Portalocity Lounge

[sciclone]

So ... this was the East coast, huh?

Cosima wasn't sure what she had expected to see, and the bland nothing of an airport lounge wasn't giving her much of an impression of her new home yet. She felt a sudden twist of worry mixed with homesickness. Maybe she shouldn't have obeyed the impulsiveness that had led her to transfer to some tiny boarding school thousands of miles from home. Not that San Francisco was doing anything great for her lately, but at least she knew people there.

If she looked at it logically, she knew not to let her nerves wreck the experience. School would be fine, and if it wasn't, she could go home at the end of the summer -- or even sooner if she wanted. But logic wasn't the easiest thing to have when you were 16 and alone in a strange airport.

She lounged in a hard airport chair, earbuds in, and poked at her phone until she found a new science podcast to listen to. It was comforting.

Comments

Wait for the Shuttle

[sciclone]

And meet your fellow inmates students!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[boneyard_girl]

Ada had begged. She'd pleaded.

She was sitting in an airport anyway, sitting on a duffel bag. Uncle Chester had promised to send along her steamer trunk later, but for now, she was trapped in airport hell and forced to wear shoes.

Sending to school on an island was a terrible idea; the walls didn't move and she was going to be surrounded by water. But Uncle Chester had promised that no one was going to blink twice at a 'biological impossibility,' and Ada knew there was no way she was going to catch up on her studies in time for the government tests. It was the best option she had, and so she'd make do.

She pulled a deck of cards out of her back pocket and started shuffling. "Follow the lady?" she called, flipping out a Queen of Hearts before making it vanish back into the shifting cards. "Dollar in to follow the lady."

Please. The airport was full of townies. If she didn't cheat someone out of their wallet, Chester would be ashamed of her and she'd have no right to call herself a Miller.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[sciclone]

Cosima watched the girl play with the cards for a minute, brow creased with interest, before she finally got curious enough to take her earbuds out.

"So, what are you doing?" she asked,in a tone that held far more inquisitiveness than it did judgement.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[omgnochecksyet]

Most of Eric's stuff had been shipped ahead and would be waiting for him when he arrived at the school... camp... whatever it was, exactly, he still wasn't entirely sure, but Coach thought the change of scenery would be good for him. The reason he had had it shipped ahead was so that he could use his baggage allowance for the plane to bring something very important: namely, a couple dozen strawberry rhubarb tarts to share with his fellow new arrivals.

He peered around the waiting room, spotting the girl with earbuds. His sunny expression faltered a little as he considered what to do. Part of him wanted to go over and introduce himself, the other part figured that earbuds usually meant someone didn't feel like being interrupted. So he settled for sitting in a chair across from hers, offering a little wave if she happened to glance up.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[sciclone]

It took a minute -- Stuff to Blow Your Mind was, well, blowing her mind -- but evetually the podcast hit a dull part and Cosima glanced up to catch Eric's eye.

"Hey," she said, waving slightly at him in return. "Headed to Fandom too?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[boneyard_girl]

Ada smelled food. Ada was gonna zero-in on the kid with the food.

"You only pack cookies, no clothes? I mean, I'm pretty sure it's not a nudist school," Ada said, plunking down next to him. "Or if it is, that's news to me, and oh wow Uncle Chester will ground me for a lifetime."

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[traded4an-oz.livejournal.com]

This was fucking bullshit.

It had been fucking bullshit when his mom had silently slid the brochure across the table and stared him down, it had been fucking bullshit when his dad had stood in the doorway and watched Jesse angrily stuff his dufflebag full of hooded sweatshirts, and it remained fucking bullshit for the entire flight from Albuquerque.

And now, Jesse was faced with the dilemma: he could totally just bail on this. He'd never been to Baltimore, sure, but he could find something to do here. He'd be legal in a little over a year, and until then, he could lie.

And he was almost committed to this plan when he saw the other new arrivals for this school of his. And if he was looking at the right group of people -- well, this didn't exactly look like military school, was the thing.

It was worth poking at, anyway. He could always bail later.

He wandered over, and asked -- kind of loudly, since the one girl had an iPod or whatever -- "Is this for, uh...Fandom High?"

Also didn't sound like military school, now that he was thinking about it. He'd been too mad to notice before that it wasn't named 'Have No Fun Academy' or whatever, like the rest of them.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[sciclone]

"That's us," Cosima said, smiling up at him and feeling more at ease. This guy seemed like a familiar type from back home. (Her gaydar was a work in progress, but her stoner-dar didn't lie.) "Hey, I'm Cosima."

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[boneyard_girl]

"If it ain't, I'm in the wrong spot," Ada offered. "We'll just have to sit here, adrift, until they call our names over the intercom like some toddler who wandered off 'cause their dad was too busy watching the game."

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[goforthe_optics]

It occurred to Tali, as she stepped out of the portal (and it was a good thing for the poor unsuspecting employees at the Citadel Portalocity terminal that she hadn't had the time to grill them about how these things worked), that this would be the first time in several months she'd arrived in some new and unfamiliar place without Shepard and the rest of the squad to watch her back.

That . . . was mildly disconcerting. Then again, she didn't have mercenaries shooting at her, or docking officials giving her the runaround, or C-Sec agents trying to get her to leave, so that was a definite improvement over all the places she'd gone between leaving the Fleet and joining Shepard's team.

Her weapons and the few small possessions she'd accumulated during her time on the Normandy were all stowed away in a footlocker that bore a Systems Alliance logo, and while yes, it had been a gift she was still worried, out of habit, that someone might spot a quarian with Alliance property and assume the worst. Well. She'd been nervous about how humans on a pre-spaceflight Earth would react to her, but maybe it would work out to her advantage if the quarians' reputation hadn't preceded her here.

So don't mind the girl in the full body suit and mask, who apparently only had two fingers and a thumb on each hand, sitting in a chair in the corner with her head bobbing in time to some unheard music.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[bestatmystery]

Oh, Lottie was totally minding the girl in the full body suit and mask who apparently had only two fingers and a thumb on each hand and was sitting in a chair in the corner with her head bobbing in time to some unheard music.

"What're you listenin to?"

Clearly she had on some earbuds in her cosplay space suit.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[sciclone]

So, Cosima could kind of make sense of the outfit as a religious thing, but then you threw in the facemask and the missing digits and ... there was really only one thing she could say.

"Hey, are you headed to the school? And that's about the best cosplay I have ever seen."

It wasn't a look Cosima would go for, and she couldn't quite place the fandom, but who was she to judge other people's hobbies? Besides, the brochure had said Fandom was supposed to be for weird smart kids; it made sense to her there'd be at least one person dorky enough to fly in dressed for Comic-con.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[worstofalltime.livejournal.com]

There was a alien here. And not the kind Wash had seen before. So, maybe this was the correct spot for the assignment and not some terrible joke.

Assuming the director was capable of making jokes, that is.

And that would be why Wash was keeping an eye and sensor over on the only other person wearing full body armor. Like it was the sensible thing to do.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[boneyard_girl]

Huh. Apparently the old man hadn't just been pulling her leg when he'd said this place had seen its fair share of 'biological impossibilities.'

Ada sidled over to the...girl?...giving her a frank appraisal. "H'lo. You headed to this Fandom place too?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[bestatmystery]

Lottie was still buzzing from the excitement of an actual flight as she headed into the lounge, lugging her big purple bag; though she was managing to play it cool. She was a teenager, now, after all. Off on exchange all on her own. She even had a French leather jacket, and she was wearing far too much eyeliner. She'd impress her new friends for sure.

"Bun-jooor," she greeted terribly, leaning against a wall with her best Mimi impression. "Mess aimies."

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[sciclone]

"Bonjour," Cosima repeated, just ... going with it. She only had a little French, but she could try it. "Je m'appelle Cosima. Comment ca va?"

Her accent was ... marginally better than Lottie's. Marginally.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[boneyard_girl]

Yeah, Ada just kinda blinked at her. "Say what?"

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[yogurtvore]

Blue had not taken a plane from Virginia to Maryland. That would be ridiculous, and also expensive. But Maura had made noises about traditions being important and bonding with her new classmates (since Blue had failed so spectacularly to bond with her old classmates over more than ten years of Henrietta public schools together), and had driven her to the airport instead of directly to the school.

She dragged her bags into the lounge and looked around. "Please tell me this is the group for Fandom." Please. Her bags were heavy. She had a lot of clothes and didn't want to schlep them any further right now.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[bestatmystery]

Lottie nodded to her. "You're in the right place," she said. "We are all listenin to music on our earphones."

Well, two people were. When they weren't chatting. Which was the same thing.

Re: Wait for the Shuttle

[worstofalltime.livejournal.com]

When Washington had been given the coordinates for transport to his new assignment, he'd pictured something a little more space-worthy. And a little less surrounded by teenage civilians.

"You've got to be kidding me."

The Trip to Fandom!

[sciclone]

Meet your drivers and get on ye olde shuttle bus!

Re: The Trip to Fandom!

[suitably_heroic]

"This galaxy's technology," Atton muttered under his breath as he futzed around with the dashboard from his seat behind the wheel. Or, well, eyeballed it, because there wasn't much to futz around with. He could drive just fine, he'd had plenty of classes and even some practice. Didn't mean he wasn't wishing for a large speeder right now.

Anyway, he was there, being the slightly friendlier half of your driving pair this morning. Hope you enjoy your trip!

Re: The Trip to Fandom!

[wrongkindofsith]

The less friendly half of your drivers stood by the door of the bus, a completely approachable figure in red leather.

"Anyone who doesn't want to walk to Fandom needs to get moving," Cara called out. "And be quick about it."

Re: The Trip to Fandom!

[goforthe_optics]

Well, it was roomier than the Mako, although Tali was, out of habit, listening closely to the sound of the engine to see if she could figure out what might need tuning up, though unfamiliar as she was with combustion engines, that might prove tricky.

She made sure her luggage was safely stowed away and settled in for the ride. It would probably be fine; she doubted this bus was equipped for ridiculous vertical climbs. Besides, what were the odds that anyone in the galaxy was an even worse driver than Shepard?

OOC [newbie shuttle]

[sciclone]

Up early because excited.