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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"...Mom wouldn't let me take the road-test."

It wasn't as though she'd never then stepped behind a wheel; however, all those instances had promptly ended either in disaster or on a back-street rather close to disaster. Buffy gave a self-conscious little shrug. "I flunked the written. Never got my license. And afterwards--" after mom died "--if I needed wheels, Giles or Xander provided. Came through. Very rarely failed."

"And now, in your current predicament?" While he did not know much about this world, he had seen enough streets and vehicles around to know that they were the preferred mode of transportation. He followed up with a related question. "Are we going to require one of them to go anywhere around the area?"

The idea of being stuck in a car with Xander did not sound appealing; the young man had already shown himself to be suspicious of him and his intentions with Buffy.

Buffy played up the notion of her having an idle mind more often that not; however, this morning -- and with him -- she let her logic fly. His fears weren't too difficult to deduce.

"We won't be requiring a chauffeur, if that's what you're fretting about. But -- that is why I asked about the bikes. I think Dawn said something about two quaint old things in the barn. We could go a-peddling our way into town. It's not a horrific distance. My calves are up to it. Are yours?"

Fretting. He couldn't help but raise a brow at Buffy's use of the word, as if in askance, before he moved past it and entertained her proposal. What a change it would be, spending the day learning how to do something like that and simply keeping Buffy's company.

"You may have to be patient with me." Something of a light warning, though he was quick to balance it by referring to his own gratitude. "...Not that you have not been, this entire time."

"Isn't that what leaders are supposed to be? Patient. Wise. Kind. At least, they are if they're women."

Her expression turned distant for a moment, and she threw a leg over the picnic table's bench -- as if preparing to stand up. "Be a woman and in charge and the moment you try to be decisive, everyone calls you a bit--

Well. They don't call you a saint, at least."

She was speaking from personal experience; that much was obvious with the way she looked off. Albert smiled wryly, trying to imagine just how chaotic the situation had been.

And now she had been restored to her true role beyond any pseudo-general role she ever had in the other world.

"I somehow don't imagine you taking well to being called a saint. But you described some traits of a leader, yes. A good leader."

"They don't know, yet. How hard it's gonna get. Once we get the castle. Start hunting down the new Slayers. Start trying to organize the squads. And I can't even tell them, can I? Because that would be wrong..."

Buffy had always suspected that she would one day go home. She'd never expected to end up back a year in own damn timeline, re-living events but with new knowledge. And a new ally. She gathered the dishes back onto the tray and stood up from the table.

"I'm gonna go give these a scrub down. And you, Albert, are going to meet me by the barn in exactly twenty minutes."

He watched Buffy collect the dishes, nodding unnecessarily in confirmation of when they would meet. His mind was more fixated on her references to things that had come to pass and were now being repeated. They had barely scratched the surface of that topic, focusing more on the day-to-day happenings and whatever they could find on the possibilities of opening a way to another world.

What decisions would she change, knowing what she knew now? Who would she pull into her close circle, and who would she push away? The years spent in Luceti would almost certainly change dynamics, especially if she had only spent a limited time with these other Slayers in the past. And now she had a distraction--something new that she felt responsibility towards that would pull her away from other things she otherwise would have focused on.

"It would not be wrong," he finally said. "But I doubt a few words will help when you have such a tremendous task ahead of you."

Similar concerns skirted the edges of her consciousness. When it came time to assign Andrew's squad to Italy, would she do so because it was a good tactical call or because she'd done it before? It stank of the same problems that arose from prophecy. Buffy hated prophecy.

"If I tell them some things, how do I justify not telling them everything?"

But she didn't really want her question answered. Right now, all she wanted was to toss these dishes into the sink and find a pair of bikes to take them far away from a life she'd already lived once. For a few hours, at least.

"Wear something comfortable. Biking? Not always a walk in the park. I suggest those sneakers I got for you on our ill-fated first shopping spree."

In order to brook no argument, she ducked off the deck and headed to the kitchen.

Stuck In The Wrong Place

Same Old People, Wrong Destination

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