Stuck In The Wrong Place

[dammitmasa]

Same Old People, Wrong Destination

Today you get a message from the Malnosso. They’ve found a way to send you home. You’ll remember Luceti, but it’s a one way trip. You’ve said your tearful goodbyes and prepared yourself for the inevitable return home. One moment you’re in Luceti, the next you’re not.

But nobody ever said the Malnosso ever got everything right. Sure, you’re not in Luceti anymore. Yes, you’ve lost your wings and barcode. But this isn’t your world. It’s some other world and now that you’re cut off from the Malnosso, you have no hope of ever getting back home. Which means that wherever you’ve ended up, you’ll be spending the rest of your life there.

On the up-side, you’re not the only one stuck here. Someone else from Luceti, also alien to this world, is stuck with you. With the common bond of being strangers to this brave new world, it’s inevitable you’ll stick together. But for how long?

Considerations

1. You can go to any other world you want! It just can’t be one either of your characters are from. You can make up something like a fantasy world, something from a sci fi, or something just like the modern world. Or you can pick a canon neither of your characters belong to.
2. Ideally they should both be from different canons altogether. But this isn’t required!
3. There’s supposed to be no way back. Even genius characters ought to find it impossible. But does that mean all hope has to be lost? For those who have been gone from Luceti a long time, it might be fun if they were given a chance to go back to Luceti and be trapped again.
4. For an optional extra level of complexity, give consideration to your character’s appearance or to their abilities. Will they stand out in this new world? Will they have to hide what they can do? Or will they even be able to use their powers if the source of their powers is gone?


Prompts

1. Day One - You’ve both just arrived on this world and by chance, you run into each other. Two heads are better than one. Now you just have to figure out what to do next.

2. One Week Later - You’ve been in this world a week. Things are starting to sink in. So is the idea of being stuck here. It’s time to start thinking about the long term.

3. One Month Later - Now that you’ve both been here awhile, you’ve learned the ins and outs of your new home. You’re making a living and getting by, but you still think of home.

4. Six Months Later - It may not be home, but you’ve learned to be comfortable. By now, your relationship with your fellow Lucetian has certainly evolved as well.

5. One Year Later - It’s been long enough that you sometimes wonder if you ever did live in a place like Luceti. So what’s life for you like in this whole new world?

6. Other - Don’t be limited by the above. This could be two weeks later or twenty years later! Of course, you can always time skip once you’ve established what you want to do at one time period.

Comments

[calmbeforethe]

[Ororo had planned to see to it that whoever was on-board that shuttle was all right after that tricky landing - at least, from afar - and be on her own way. But only one figure emerged from the ship - one familiar figure, at that. She smiled, pleasantly surprised, and decided to meet him at the edge of town.

She called ahead, and if the wind carried her voice to him, it was probably/maybe just a coincidence.]

Masaomi!

[generalflirt]

[His full name is something he hears less and less of each year as the crew come up with new and defined nicknames for him and "Masa" becomes more of a well known name in the business. It brings a genuine and - he's vaguely surprised as always to find - nostalgic smile to his face as he turns in the direction the call came from]

Ororo! Typical, eeeeh? I try to come surprise you and you find me first.

[calmbeforethe]

[Similarly nostalgic, Ororo has nothing but a fond smile and a warm embrace ready for him when he was near enough.]

That is no fault of mine, not when you are so fond of dramatic entrances. [Her smile then turns into a chastising look.] You should have informed me you were coming; I would have had a room prepared for you at the town's inn...

[generalflirt]

[An embrace he meets her with. It hadn't been that long - a few months, maybe - but with the special connection of both of them having been from two other universes entirely than this verse, it does sometimes weigh on him not to see her even for that relatively short length of time.

Sometimes, he wonders if she feels the same. After all, it's strange. It's not like they were close before coming here.

He keeps smiling even in the look she gives him. Only a fear years ago it would have looked more boyish than it looks on him now. As it is, it instead just looks more than a little roguish After all, though he's only 23 now, he's still much more of a man - and a man of the 'verse here - than the buddingly confident older teen he had been when he popped out of Luceti with her.]

I don't need any ceremony, and if they're full I can just sleep in the shuttle. It's noooo problem, trust me.

[calmbeforethe]

Nonsense, I won't have you sleeping in a ship when there are perfectly fine accommodations in town. Of course there is room. [And if there isn't, she might pull a few strings. It was no trouble, and there was very little she wouldn't do for her young friend. No, they hadn't been that close prior to being sent this far ahead into the future, but they did have a special connection now, one that literally no one else in the Verse would understand.

She links arms with him companionably, setting a leisurely pace for the town proper. It was a chilly night, but as always, walking with Ororo meant that Masaomi would hardly feel it.]

Now, what brings you to St. Albans? I seem to recall you mentioning having some business elsewhere?

[generalflirt]

Yeah, Shimmering's touched down on Miguellio to load on on the season's spices. But their harvest festival's the same every year, and [He makes a dramatic hand gesture with the arm not interlinked with hers to imply fireworks and dancing at the same time.] Towers're down and the skies ain't clear for another day or two, so Captain figures we just oughta keep grounded 'til the partying stops.

[So really, the only reason he's on this nearby moon is to see her. It wasn't a long trip or a lot of fuel, but for a personal favor like this he will need to cover the expenses from his cut of this gig]

[calmbeforethe]

Piloting alone through a sky of fireworks is hardly safe, Masaomi, you should have known better... And is Miguellio not quite a ways away?

[She frowns, doing the mental calculations of just how much he would have had to spend for this little detour.]

Let me reimburse you for your trip's expenses, my dear. It's the least I can do, after you've taken the time and effort to come and visit me all the way out here.

[generalflirt]

But Ororo, aren't you sparing me the cost of your companionship for these next few days?

[Though really, he would leap at the chance to get the expenses covered - because he knows she can handle that hit more than anything - as they walk arm in arm he can't help but make little comments like that. He's practically floating to be next to her.

After all, Masaomi did tend to attach himself at a very deep level to a particular woman at a given time. Saki, Katara... and now, in the last four years, the older one next to him]

[calmbeforethe]

[She gives him a glance of mock offense, though she gives up half a second later and even chuckles a little. She's missed his good humor, something she had come to appreciate over the years.]

I am off-duty, as I am sure you well know. There is hardly any business here on this planet, and the nearest of the Guild Houses isn't for a few worlds yet...

[generalflirt]

Hooooh, so as I thought, I get you all to myself! [And he winks at her laughing a bit himself to match her. Though he's making jokes, teasing, there's really nothing more or less than love behind it. He'll follow up, soon enough, but for now he's got this line to pull. A tired but classic one.]

[calmbeforethe]

Ah, that's right; I suppose you do have the pleasure of my company for the next day and a half. Aren't you lucky?

[But he always has her all to himself, or at least he usually does, with the way that she makes sure to set time aside to spend time with him, when their schedules allow for it. Family has always been important to Ororo, and Masaomi was probably the only one she considered close to family anymore.]

[generalflirt]

Extremely so. A little odd jobs crewman like me's meant to be in their bunk with nothing but thoughts of a woman like you, speakin' frank.

[It's a lewd joke, perhaps. He did mostly grow out of them with age (or well, as much as one can in the rough and tumble society he amalgamated too), but his elation at being with her again and he slips back into old habits.

While he doubts it'll offend her or anything, he does try to shift their linked arm so he can actually take her hand.]

[calmbeforethe]

[Ororo still has some standards, Masaomi, so he gets a gentle slap on the wrist for that distasteful joke. But after that, she lets him take her hand (bare, because even after all this time, she still forgets what counts as appropriate dress for certain types of weather is.)]

Ai ya, just what kind of thoughts are those crew members of yours filling your head with between jobs, Masaomi?

[generalflirt]

[Okay, okay, that was deserved. His own hands have gloves, of course - fingerless and thicker than they could be. But he snorts and shrugs a bit]

Fei Hua? [With a light eyebrow raise before he laughs and] 'Course there's the drinkin, shootin, and a whole lot of jabber, but I don't think any of them taught me to keep my head full of you, Ororo.

[That last part he says with a sincere little smile to imply he doesn't mean that in a disrespectful way, despite the earlier quip.

That and, holding hands as they are, maybe he's flirting. Just a little.]

[calmbeforethe]

I should hope not. You have many other, more important things to worry about, Masaomi.

[Don't think she hasn't noticed all the guns he's got hidden on his person! She doesn't mention it, because she does know by now what he gets up to on the job. She gives his hand a little squeeze; she worries, but he's probably tired of hearing that from her, after all this time.]

[generalflirt]

Maybe two or there. [He admits, with a little half-shrug. Oh, he knows she worries. It's only obvious she always had. But his path's something he set out on years ago and it's a lifestyle he's frankly come to enjoy, despite it all.] I like to think we both lead rewarding lives, though.

[calmbeforethe]

[She nods, but when she speaks she sounds a little distant.] I think we've done quite well with what we were given.

[She does think about Luceti and about home, often. What she's doing now, it's good. But there was nothing for her to really fight for, the way she fought for mutant rights back home, since she was, as far as she knew, the only one of her kind here.]

[generalflirt]

[For Masaomi, the losses are tangible, they're people. Xion, Anri, Mikado, Katara, Shikamaru, Linda, among other, are all people he misses terribly. But his attachment to both Luceti and to indeed Earth are because of those web of connections, and even severed, they exist in his memories... and new connections can be made soon enough, as long as that isn't dwelled on too much.

But perhaps - no, probably - Ororo isn't quite the same, as now that the town is well within their sights for arrival soon, he tilts closer to her as they walk and changes the subject-- or at least makes it irreverent] And I swear, for every bit I've aged and grown, you, if anything, look younger for. Is that a skill from the Guild or's that something from your genes?

[calmbeforethe]

[She mistakes his tilting closer as a reaction to the cold weather, so she raises one hand, palm up, and creates a pocket of warm air around them. Nothing showy, since there were people up ahead by now, but enough that he'd definitely feel the difference. And she does it with enough familiarity that she doesn't notice she's doing it, busy as she is with giving him a faintly amused glare.]

Forgive me for saying so, but that sounds rather like a poorly-concealed shot at my age, Masaomi.

[generalflirt]

Not hardly, Ororo. I love you far too much to make anything like that.

[Love is another word he wonders as to when it entered his vocabulary about this woman. Probably a year or two ago, he supposes. Feeling the warmth, he doesn't back off, but just keeps their hands held and the close march towards the town. But... it is appreciated. Cold was never his preference]

[calmbeforethe]

[It's a simple matter of keeping the temperature up, really. And even as they make it to the inn, she lets the cloud of warmth linger a few moments while the receptionist attends to them.

She chuckles, though, at his comment, and even gives him a brief, one-armed squeeze.]

And I, you, my dear Masaomi. Though with how long it's been, I don't think I could really blame you if you did. [She raises one hand to her hair.] Goddess knows I've gotten enough curious questions on why my hair has gone white at so early an age...

[generalflirt]

If it's been that long for you, it's been that long for me as well. Nothing different for our times together. Besides, strange or not, you look... [A beat and he mouths off a phrase he's pretty sure he's heard before] Piow Liang De Shao Ji. [He says this lightly, trying to be more reassuring than anything, and squeezing her briefly back as the receptionist is turned the other way]

[calmbeforethe]

[It's indeed a phrase she's heard thrown her way. Long used to compliments, Ororo doesn't usually let such words affect her the way most men expect - part of why she was mistaken for a Companion early on, really. Of course, hearing it from Masaomi, who she knows means it sincerely, is a different matter. She chuckles.]

You are too kind; I'm not getting any younger, and you know that. [She gives him a fond smile.] But thank you.

[generalflirt]

Time doesn't wait for no one, but you and I both still got plenty of it. [Unless he dies, of course. He says it simply, as sort of a parting bit before adjusting the scarf on his neck some. He can't decide if the inside of this building is cold or warm. It's the curse of living on a space ship most of the time, surface thermal regulation is totally different.

That said, the attendant (because of Ororo) will manage to get the room situation in order fairly quickly, now that she's turned back to them]

[calmbeforethe]

Goddess willing, of course. So long as you do not get into any thrilling heroics, that is. [She gives him a pointed look. It's funny, it used to be that she was the one living a dangerous life. And in some ways she still misses that - not the violence, certainly, but having something to fight for. But it was harder, in this time, to find something of that nature.

In any case, the attendant hands Ororo one of those special keys - looks like a doorknob, but isn't - that you attach to the right door for it to open. Soon they're led down a corridor where the rooms are a little bigger, a little fancier.]