BWI Airport Portalocity Lounge, Saturday morning

[desertwolfcub]

Malia had never been out of California before. Or Beacon County, for that matter. She'd barely been out of Beacon Hills proper, and that was mostly as a coyote hunting for food.

So this was new and exciting! Or, you know, new at least. She was going to school. One that didn't, as far as she could tell, require her to learn math. So right there it had one up over BHHS. It also didn't have Scott or Stiles, which was not a point in its favor, but in the end, she'd decided that not having to struggle through eleventh grade math beat out getting to have the few people she knew around, especially when Scott agreed he could try to teach her control over the internet.

So here she was. Her ears still felt stuffed full of cotton from the plane, and the whole airport smelled like cleaning fluid and anxiety, and she was managing to claw tiny holes in the upholstery with claws that didn't want to stay hidden away like they were supposed to, but hey. At least she was having an adventure?

[IT'S NEWBIE SHUTTLE TIME! Up early-ish because work has been dumb this week and I might be slow.]

Comments

Wait for the shuttle

[desertwolfcub]

Side-eying your fellow new students is optional.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[kawaii_complex]

There had been cats, just outside the terminal, and Sakaki probably should have known better. But she couldn't help thinking that maybe American cats were different, maybe they were nicer than Japanese cats, kinder, more affectionate and used to being pet.

They were not.

Luckily, they were very helpful at the first aid station with patching up her wounds, so it was with a bandaged hand and one across her cheek where she'd been scratched that Sakaki made her way over to where the shuttle was going to take them all to their new school, clutching a map and brochure and double checking both before feeling certain she'd arrived at the right place.

And even though there weren't many people there, Sakaki felt seized by a strong anxiety about the whole thing, causing her to stalk off for a seat that felt out of the way of everyone else, clutching her English language guide tightly and rehearsing some of the more basic phrases in her head to distract herself.

Or just making herself more nervous.

That. It was definitely that second one.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[desertwolfcub]

Malia tilted her head up a little as she sniffed.

"You smell like cat," she observed. "And fear."

Oh. Maybe that was one of those things that humans weren't supposed to say to each other?

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[kawaii_complex]

There was at least a brief spike of one of those when Sakaki looked up and blinked at the other girl, but soon settled, as her eyes fell back down to her book, as if the phrase she was looking for (which she knew, she didn't need the book, why had she looked at it? She couldn't focus on the letters anyway) would just appear magically on the page.

"There were cats," she finally explained, looking up again and for eyes drifted toward the direction she'd come from, "outside."

So that explained half of it, at least.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[desertwolfcub]

Malia nodded. That made sense to her. "And you're afraid of cats?"

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[kawaii_complex]

"Hm?" Sakaki blinked again, wondering if she was misunderstanding the other girl. "No. I..."

Could actually stand to be much more afraid of them.

But she couldn't just explain that she actually loved cats, that cats were her everything! She felt she couldn't really explain the fear part very well, either, but at least that might be a little more universal.

"I'm just nervous, I guess."

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[desertwolfcub]

"Right." She smelled way more than nervous. But Malia understood not wanting to admit to fear, at least.

She tilted her head a little and offered this new girl a tiny curl of one side of her lips. "I'm Malia."

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[imawizard]

Harry had never been on a plane before, and there were a lot of things he could pass off as just being new to him, but between the trunks that didn't look like anyone else's luggage and the way people kept looking at his owl in her cage that he was carrying, he figured maybe he was a little new to other people, too.

He was good at dodging weird looks by now, though, and got to the lounge, and took a seat and got settled.

And then thought to ask, "Is this for Fandom High?"

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[desertwolfcub]

Malia glanced around and shrugged. "It'd better be." She looked at all this kid's stuff. "You have a bird."

Because, you know, maybe he hadn't noticed.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[imawizard]

"Yeah. She's an owl, really." Which was pretty obvious, if anyone had ever seen an owl, and he probably didn't need to say that. "Her name's Hedwig."

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[desertwolfcub]

"I know what owls are," Malia said, a little defensive. "They're stringy and the feathers get caught in your teeth."

She probably wasn't supposed to say that.

She tilted her head a little, giving Harry an appraising look. "They're hard to catch, too. How'd you get it?"

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[imawizard]

"I, uh, bought her," Harry said, frowning and tilting his head. "Did you say 'caught in your teeth'...?"

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[kawaii_complex]

Sakaki was definitely one of those people eyeing the owl, although her look was almost entirely admiration and awe, because she was just beautiful! She'd never seen an owl up this close before, and the moment she saw her, Sakaki was absolutely enamored !

She would have never expected owls!

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[imawizard]

"Hi," said Harry.

He was here too.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[kawaii_complex]

Sakaki's head turned slowly from the owl to the sound of a voice, and then she jumped with a small sound of surprise because there was a boy there, too!

Instantly embarrassed by her reaction, Sakaki wanted to just curl up somewhere and die perhaps, but instead, she managed a staggered, "He--hello" and a nod that seems like it was trying to be more polite than it managed to be.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[imawizard]

"That's Hedwig," Harry told her, since it seemed like he was secondary here. That was fine. It was kind of a nice change.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[craic_killer]

Clare had never left Northern Ireland, never been on airplane and never spent more than a weekend away from home in her life.

So this was already a LOT.

She was lugging her backpack and the world's heaviest hard-sided suitcase and finally just stopped, panting. "Please tell me this is the right spot," she said, words tumbling over themselves, "because I'm absolutely knackered in I have to move one more step, I'm going to burst right into tears."

Hopefully someone could hear through all of the Irish accent there and help her.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[desertwolfcub]

Malia had very little idea what this short blonde girl had said, but she could recognize someone struggling with something heavy when she saw them, so she got up (making sure she wasn't actively showing claws or anything) and came to over to wordlessly pick up the bag she seemed to be struggling more with.

Malia would manage it like she was picking up a teddy bear.

"It's the right spot," she said, mostly to avoid tears. "If you're going to Fandom High, anyway."

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[craic_killer]

"I am," Clare said. "My friends back home are terribly jealous. Hello," she stuck out her hand to shake. "I'm Clare."

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[desertwolfcub]

Malia got most of that. At least enough to work out that there was a name in it, and also some reference to other people.

She shifted the heavy bag to her other hand (still holding it up like it was stuffed with feathers) and shook Clare's.

"Malia. My friends back home are . . . probably fighting something evil that wants to eat them."

And thus maybe a little jealous, as well.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[craic_killer]

"...something evil that wants to eat them?" Clare repeated. "Metaphorically?"

She'd spent a lot of time only half paying attention in Mass.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[imawizard]

"Fandom?" Harry guessed. He was pretty used to deciphering accents by now.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[craic_killer]

Well, she was a bit like an over-excited female Seamus, if that would help at all. "Fandom!" she confirmed, smiling. "I didn't know it was co-ed!"

Oooh.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[imawizard]

Harry looked around, noted that he seemed to be the only boy so far.

"If it's not this is probably going to go badly for me," he realized.

Re: Wait for the shuttle

[craic_killer]

"Maybe it's a new trend," Clare mused. "My school back home had just the one English boy too. Are you called James?"