fandomhigh | BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday morning

Entry tags:

!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday morning

After missing a flight due to airport security feeling the need to wand over every single piercing she had, Negasonic was in a bit a mood. Then she saw the glittery banner welcoming all Fandom High students and the portalocity lounge.

Ugh. Glitter.

She dumped her duffel bag on the floor and slumped into a chair. Five seconds later she had her phone out to tweet about what a lousy flight experience she had and how little she was looking forward to going to a new school.

She immediately got a tweet back from Colossus. "Give it a chance."

Ugh. Optimism.

She slunk down in her chair a little farther and hoped the shuttle would get here soon so she could at least be going someplace.

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Margaery looked from Eliot to the shuttle as a whole, taking her time with the image, and back to him again.

"...what is this?" she asked, a note of trepidation sneaking into her voice despite her better efforts. "Where - where are the horses?"

Aw hell. He was the one who was going to have to start breaking her in, huh?

"Under the hood," Eliot said, because that wouldn't end up confusing her further or anything. "The mechanical engine we got in here is the equivalent of about, oh, two or three hundred horses. And it eats a lot less than they would."

Just on cars, Eliot! Just breaking her in on cars. There was still plenty to break her little brain with after this.

Margaery looked largely confused at that explanation, then ventured, "So it's not alive?"

"Nope. It's manufactured. You have any machines you know of where you're from?"

"Like a mill?" Margaery tried, thinking for a moment. That was the closest thing she could think of, not that she'd spent much time in mills, of course.

Eliot nodded. "Sure. Mills count. They're a lot simpler than this one here or some of the others you'll see on the island, but they're the same basic idea."

"So we're going to ride in a mill? Instead of a carriage or a litter?" Margaery asked, simplifying things quite a bit. "And...it's safe?"

"We're going to ride in a bus," Eliot corrected gently. "Nothing's getting ground up in here. And yeah, it's actually got a lot more safety features than carriages or litters ever had. We learned all about how to make 'em safe about the same time we were learnin' how to make 'em fast and horse-less."

A bit after they'd learned those things, actually, but that was beside the point.

"How do you command it?" Margaery asked, finally picking up her bag as she realized no one else would be. "May I see?"

"Sure." Eliot sat back at the wheel a little bit so she could see better. "I'm assumin' you know how to ride a horse." At least the basics. "The pedals down here are how I tell it to go or stop, like givin' the horse a nudge or drawin' back on the reigns. This wheel here is how I steer." There were a number of other dials and switches and things, but those were the absolute basics.

He wasn't about to try to explain a clutch.

Margaery leaned in, studying each item as he explained it. She took a step back, reaching out to touch one of the rearview mirrors, glancing at her own reflection for only a second. "And these are so that you might see any obstacles?" she guessed, already looking a bit more at ease.

"That's right," Eliot said. This girl was a quick one. "There's a lot of vehicles like this on the roads around here, so you want to be able to make sure there aren't any where you want to go, even if it's a little ways behind you."

"And you've done this with other riders aboard before?" she checked, then blushed. "Forgive me for my questions, ser," she added, ducking her head respectfully. "I mean no impertinence."

Edited 2016-08-27 17:18 (UTC)

"What, given 'em a ride? Or showed them the basics?" Eliot asked. "I've driven this shuttle for you new kids once before, and driven loads of other vehicles, all different sizes. Most folks where I'm from are already familiar with how they work, though."

"Driven," she clarified, glad to be using the correct terminology. She looked a bit uncertain for a moment. "I just wanted to be sure - it's strange enough to be my first ride. I mean no offense, but I'm glad to hear it isn't yours, too."

Clearly he'd gotten here. She just wasn't sure if the conditions somehow changed with passengers.

"Nah, I got you covered." He couldn't say Fandom would never send an inexperienced driver out to pick the new kids up, but they at least hadn't this time. "There ain't room on most of the island for vehicles this large, so once you're there you'll probably find more stuff you're more familiar with. Though I don't s'pose you're familiar with bikes."

They'd only come around a little while before cars, as far as Eliot knew, and judging by this girl's outfit, she predated that by quite a bit.

Margaery bit her lower lip, shaking her head. "Horses? Carts, carriages, litters," she offered again, with a small smile. "And when I was very small I had a pony...."

Bikes were very new to her, yes.

Eliot smiled. "Well you'll want to check out the Gig, then. It's the town stable. Plenty of horses there when you get the urge to rent one out for the day. Bikes are . . . kinda halfway between. They're smaller than horses, and you can only really get one person at a time on one comfortably, but they're mechanical. You use your feet to turn the wheels. There are carts you can hire to ride around town in that are pulled by guys on bikes instead of horses."

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BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday morning

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