fandomhigh | BWI Portalocity Lounge, Saturday 9/2

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!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Portalocity Lounge, Saturday 9/2

Belle had packed up her trunks and was headed home to face a life of Ogre Wars and Gaston and no miraculous technologies or grumpy older gentlemen with mysterious powers.

She'd gone through her portal only to find herself...back where she'd been years ago when first arriving at the school. The very same lounge with the very same (presumably) glittery banner advertising the school.

There was, alas, a lack of Five to argue with so far but perhaps someone new to challenge her would appear until this was sorted out. She couldn't be meant to be back here, could she? This must just be an unscheduled stopover.

At least Belle had a book to read and the lounge was comfortable enough.

[Welcome to your newbie shuttle post!]

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You can't really get on it before it's there, right?

You are not being driven by Anakin today! You're so lucky.

Heyyyy newbie time

There was a sound similar to sparklers firing off, and a portal of bright light spun-up, showing the New York City skyline on the other side.

"Oh my Dark Gods it's just Fandom, yes, I'll text when I'm there. It's just too big of a jump to cross multiple dimensions more than five times in a week, I'm letting Portalocity do the work for me."

"Yes, Strange, because I'm lazy, that's exactly why I'm going to college."

With that, Illyana Nikolievna Rasputina flipped off an unseen person and stepped backward off the roof of The Sanctum Sanctorum on Earth-18133... and into the Portalocity lounge as the portal winked-out behind her.

"This place really hasn't changed, huh?"

"I've only been here once before," Belle said, looking up from her book.

"Though it does seem remarkably similar."

At some point she'd probably notice the sign said something about a university as well.

Yes indeed, you were very lucky. Anakin certainly had more driving experience, but Zoe wasn't tempted to make her passengers fear for their lives. Yet. She was trying to look as non-awkward as possible holding a big "FANDOM PASSENGERS HERE" sign, but there was only so much she could do.

Play it cool, Arden. Just play it cool.

Stepping off the Greyhound bus that had carried her all the way from North Carolina, Arden adjusted her oversized dufflebag on her shoulder, gripped her wheeled suitcase tightly, and then confidently marched into BWI like someone who traveled like this all the time.

The number one reason people get noticed, get caught is because they look nervous, like they don't fit in. Be cool, be calm, be confident.

The training she'd done to make herself useful to Callista sure was coming in handy. Almost enough to make up for how much she hated why she'd learned it!

And so, Arden confidently marched around the airport for a good twenty minutes, and then confidently gave up before confidently asking for help to find the...Portalocity...Lounge...? Weird name for an airline, but okay. And then confidently followed those directions to find the glitteriest banner she'd ever seen. Admittedly, that threw her off her game a bit.

Was this what public school was like?.

Edited 2023-09-02 02:53 (UTC)

"Fandom High alumni returning for college, because anywhere else is too boring?" Yana asked wryly. "I'd probably sleep through 'normal' classes at this point."

Arden had missed all the portaling, but couldn't help but notice the other person here her age. She gave the blonde a chin nod and a small smile. Very cool. You know. 'Sup.

She was nailing this.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Illyana raised an eyebrow, very deliberately looking the other girl over. "Do I know you?"

"I am not sure which is worse," Illyana announced cheerfully, hefting her duffle bag on to her shoulder as she walked past Zoe. "The fact you all took me back for another round, or that I decided Fandom was my best college option."

It totally had nothing to do with 'how far can I get from my ex,' really.

To be met with Arden's own eyebrow raise at the question and the tone it was delivered in. "And here I thought rumors of Yankee manners were exaggerated," she drawled, emphasizing her North Carolina accent. "No, you don't, not yet, but since we're going to the same place, seemed like a good time to say hello."

"Like a Yankee Doodle?" Now Illyana was just confused. "What does a children's song have to do with manners?"

"Regardless, no, I am not a Yankee -- probably. Whatever it is. And it has nothing to do with my manners. I learned magic, not deportment."

Did she purposely let her Russian accent slip in there a little bit? Yes, yes she did.

Arden had been referring to them being in Maryland than anything else. It was the South by a technicality, much the same way Connecticut was barely New England.

"M-magic?" Arden asked, looking thrown and attempting not to. "Like...a witch? Are you from the other side of town?"

And then, like a very normal person would do, she leaned over and...sniffed. Then sat back, looking perplexed.

"Here? In Maryland? Ew, that's almost as bad as being from Ohio. No, I am from Greenwhich Village, by way of Limbo and Russia."

Okay, the sniffing was kinda funny. "...if you are trying to suss out my magical pedigree that way, you are going to give yourself indigestion or a migraine. I'm a sorcerer, not a scented candle."

Edited 2023-09-02 06:39 (UTC)

"Your magic doesn't have a--"

Right. Ahem. Yes. Cool. Collected. Normal.

Arden gave a quick laugh. "Guess it just goes to show that you can't believe everything you read in urban fantasy novels or whatever."

She shouldn't. She shouldn't they were still in the Portalocity lounge, and this girl could be a baseline human for all Yana knew... though she doubted it.

"Oh, I don't know," she mused, giving in to her worse instincts as she leaned in, bringing her finger up to her lips in a 'shh' motion. "Books get some things right."

For a split second, it was an Illyana with horns, red eyes, and fangs smirking back at her. "Airports are liminal spaces, you never know what you'll find between worlds."

And then she leaned back, all blonde goth girl again. "Welcome to Fandom, New Girl. I'm Illyana."

She could just be a very well-read one! You don't know her! You don't know her life!

"The fuck?!" Arden rocked back, eyes widening in surprise again. "You are fr--" She paused. "What are you?" she asked in a soft whisper, though she sounded more like Illyana was a puzzle to solve than begging for an explanation to set her world back to rights.

"Oh! And I'm Arden. Aren't you also a new girl?"

"I am a sorcerer who had a very shitty and demonic childhood," she quipped. "--and a graduate of Fandom High, back again for college."

"I do not do 'passing,' I don't have the patience for it, so normal human college was not an option."

Arden looked like she was auditioning for the role of the fish in an upcoming documentary about marine life. Her mouth kept opening and closing, coming up with and then discarding a hundred questions. At least until Illyana mentioned passing and then her mouth shut with the small click of teeth meeting teeth.

"I didn't see anything about this being anything beyond a normal human college in the literature," she said stiffly a moment later.

Edited 2023-09-02 08:02 (UTC)

"I was meant to be going home," Belle said. "Or so I thought. Instead I'm here again."

Most schools didn't have this much glitter. Probably. At least not from the outset. Other schools probably built up to this level of glitter.

Belle looked up from her book and nodded to the newcomer with a smile.

"I'm only here until I get my travel sorted out," Belle said.

Ha. She thought.

"I'm afraid I won't need a ride back."

She was going to be so surprised her name was on the list! Happily so.

"There are very few people we wouldn't welcome back," Zoe said, "and there's something to going into a situation you already know."

She wasn't entirely certain what the college option would be like, but Fandom would always be Fandom.

"The school board, they are notorious for, shall we say, 'leaving things out,'" Yes, Arden could probably hear the air quotes.

"People often show up thinking they're just going to a boarding school, or a place for troubled teens, and yet nowhere in the brochure does it mention the island is a multidimensional nexus and semi-sentient."

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" Yana asked, curious.

"That remains to be seen," Belle said. "For now it's fine. Not a problem at all."

One of the only benefits of getting older was that this wasn't her first rodeo, so she made sure to exude some calm gentleness as she smiled.

"It's Belle, right?" Zoe asked. "You're on the list. You don't have to come back, no one's going to force you, but..."

"But I graduated," Belle said. "I was meant to return home to..."

Ugh. Get arranged-married. Gross.

"You're certain?"

"It's what and also what?"

Arden offered a nod and a smile back, hopefully one that looked normal and not at all like she was still practicing the expression.

She wasn't! She'd actually smiled a lot! Well, a decent amount. Well, some. It's just that she didn't have much practice at smiling at strangers.

You know, she was going to pair it up with a wave. No, a peace sign! Yeah, that would definitely send the message of cool, normal, and totally in her comfort zone.

Unlike both Belle and Illyana, Arden didn't have a preexisting relationship with Zoe or the island. So instead, she just offered a smile and a polite nod, trying not to hunch her shoulders or look nervous at the sudden insertion of AUTHORITY.

"Ma'am," she said in a whisper, tucking her suitcases into the shuttle bay.

"I'm very certain," Zoe said, showing her the paper. "We're offering higher education classes now, so you don't have to leave yet if you don't want to."

Oh, the politeness was a welcome change. "Hello, and welcome. I'm glad you found us. Can I get your name?"

"Arden Finch, ma'am," she said, standing up straighter, shoulders back. "Freshman."

"A multidimensional nexus," Illyana repeated cheerfully. "Your Earth -- assuming you are from an Earth -- is probably not my Earth. Fandom Island is a place where all universes intersect. The library is phenomenal, it has every book ever written anywhere, and some that exist only in dreams."

"So, here is your crash course. Yes, all types of magic is real. So are aliens. Some people have powers that aren't magic at all. And the island is about as smart as a golden retriever puppy, and magical itself, so sometimes things get weird -- timelines loop on themselves, you wake up a different gender for two or three days, it rains candy... the options are endless."

"Think of it like reality as a whole is a piece of origami paper, and all our worlds are the little colored dots on the paper. Some of them fold over to be next to each other, some are farther away, but they're all part of the same paper, creating one little paper figure. Except the figure was made by a toddler, so it doesn't quite resemble anything real."

That probably helped SO MUCH. Right?

That gave Illyana pause. "Now I want to know who wouldn't be allowed back, and what they did to get on that list," she mused. "It had to have been spectacular."

The 'origami shaped like a figure made by a todder' had definitely helped the analogy. 100%.

"...Oh," Arden said because, honestly, what do you say to all of that. 'Neat'? 'Sounds good'? 'Oh, you've lost your ever-loving fucking mind'? None of those seemed quite right ~~even if one seemed a little more apt than the others~~. "And they just advertise this place to normal people? With no warning?"

Hey now, Illyana was as in her right mind as she ever was.

“Maybe that is part of the charm?” Illyana said with a shrug. “No matter your situation, whatever preconceived notion you came in with is wrong, no matter what, but you get to meet people that you would never be able to meet anywhere else.”

"Who just happen to be aliens, sorcerers, and all manner of storybook stuff," Arden supplied.

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BWI Portalocity Lounge, Saturday 9/2

Wait for the shuttle

Trip to Fandom

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