Library, Sunday

[unusual_sith]

Lana didn't have a new sibling this term, so she'd skipped the picnic, but from what she was hearing, the new people had never shown up? And there was a low hum of anger and worry on the island today.

So she was at the library as usual, meditating to try to pin things down. Which would be easier without books climbing on her, granted.

If anybody showed up, though, they could still get help. The library was open!

Comments

[heroic_jawline]

Steve was absolutely fine with seeing Tony open a box and then disappear, especially after he'd opened a half dozen boxes of his own and had instead ended up with a variety of school supplies, a blow dryer, and a school directory.

He'd brought them all with him just in case they were actually clues and walked into the library, eyes only slightly pinched to show his worry.

"JARVIS says Tony's still alive, so I'm sure that means everyone else is fine too," he said in a reassuring voice. "Do we know where they went?"

[unusual_sith]

"Mr. Stark is missing, too?" Lana got up from the floor and carefully took the book off her shoulder and set it on a table. "I haven't heard anything yet. What happened?"

[heroic_jawline]

"He opened that box," Steve said, pointing to one that looked like it might have been kicked in frustration by a super-soldier last night, "--and disappeared at the picnic yesterday."

[unusual_sith]

Lana eyed the box, feeling out for it in the Force, but it sat there, innocuous and...well, boxy. "What was in it?"

[heroic_jawline]

"I have no idea," Steve said. "Tony opened it and disappeared. All the boxes I opened just had...things in them. It's weird that we're still getting gifts even after Christmas, right?"

[unusual_sith]

"Is it?" Lana asked. She had no idea.

"Stand back, and I'll open it." She waved Steve away from the box, stood well back herself, and reached out with the Force.

[hashtag_chocobro]

To say that Prompto was mildly freaking out would be a big freaking understatement. Look, maybe it was just coincidence that the shuttle bus just straight up didn't show up right after he and Nina had gone and messed with it, but, considering his track record with these things? It did not look good, and he was antsy, and he knew that, a lot of times, when things like this happened, everybody at least tried to pool their resources, and so he was just a bit old fidgety mess when he got to the library to look around and maybe catch some idea of what was going on.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve gave him a smile that was intending to be reassuring. "Hey there."

[hashtag_chocobro]

It was, a little, and Prompto gave a small, slightly reassured smile and a lift of his hand in a wave back. "Hi," he said, dropping his hand again and immediately twisting his fingers together again. "Um, so, does, like...has anyone really found out what might have, um, happened and stuff yet? That you know of?"

[heroic_jawline]

Steve shook his head. "Not much, but I don't think anyone's disappearing today, at least? So far?"

Way to be optimistic, Steve!

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto's eyes grew a little wider.

"How many people do you think will disappear?" he asked, the pitch in his voice rising to match the wideness of his eyes.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve's shoulders slumped just an inch in defeat. "No idea," he admitted, "but Tony's computer is tracking everything and he'll let me know if someone else goes missing. So far it's just people yesterday, but there didn't seem to be a pattern aside from the boxes and some weirdo catching folks in a sack."

[hashtag_chocobro]

"He's got a computer that can do that?" asked Prompto, momentarily distracted with interest before he shook his head and tried to get focused on the more important stuff, at the moment. "Right. So. No pattern, just boxes and a weirdo with a sack..."

So, you know, super cool.

"Any...uh...anything about...feathers, by any chance?" he ventured with caution.

[heroic_jawline]

"No," Steve said slowly. "Why?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Weeeelllllll," said Prompto, just as slowly, his fidgeting growing worse and his eyes sort of drifting off to the side, "sooooo....you know how, um, me and Nina, we always sort of, you know, decorate the newbie shuttle every semester? It's kiiinda a big deal and, like, tradition and stuff? But, I mean, this year, we did it, and then the bus disappeared, and so now I'm all, like, what if we sort of went...you know....too far?"

He'd taken down a shield dome that unleashed vampires on the island with rainbow crystals and pig Latin; don't tell him it wasn't possible!

[heroic_jawline]

"I'm very sure that the bus decorations didn't attract whatever this was to steal it," Steve assured him.

[unusual_sith]

"Prompto?" Lana frowned at him. "Are you here about the missing people, too?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

"Y-yeah," Prompto said, nodding a little, then trying a faint smile, and then sort of shrugging, like he honestly didn't know what to do with himself at that moment. "At least, I was kind of hoping to be? Because, you know, sometimes, when things go weird like this, everyone starts hitting the books and looking for what happened or something like that? Or maybe there's something I can help with?"

Maybe something had come across something in the annals of Fandom lore that said that there was no possible way that dressing up a bus like a chocobo could ever cause a bunch of people to just disappear?

[unusual_sith]

"I haven't found anything, but 'missing people' is a bit of a broad subject," Lana said. "Do you know anything to narrow it down?"

[hashtag_chocobro]

Prompto hesitated, looking very much like he really didn't want to say what he was about to say, but he knew he'd feel even worse if he didn't.

"Maybe...um, we could try looking to see if there's anything under 'chocobo' and 'bus,'" he suggested, "together."

Sure, it might not explain why people were disappearing from the island, but it could solve the missing shuttle thing...and maybe it just been a chain reaction sort of thing.

[unusual_sith]

"...That's certainly a bit more specific. All right."

Lana headed over to the library computer and started searching.