001 - Arrival - ACTION/TEXT

[alandwithoutmagic]

Who: Neal Cassidy/Baelfire
What: Arrival & Freaking out
Where: Around HQ
When: 9/29 -ish and really any day after that.
Warnings: None

He wasn't expecting the sudden jump to another world. It was disorienting. He'd been in his apartment in New York and after the strange change he found himself in a bathroom stall. It'd taken him some time to puzzle out that he had just jumped from one location to another; luckily the strange old man came and explained some of it. Enough to make Neal wish he was anywhere but here.

He held the phone in his palm, feeling it's weight before pocketing it and heading out to explore. He really didn't want to just send a message to anyone and everyone but after wandering around, locating all the important parts of HQ and stopping by the hospital, he decides to send a text. With that done he slipped the phone into his pocket and continued to take a look around. This didn't feel like his New York and the longer he stayed the more he wished he wasn't here.

Neal can be found anywhere though he didn't stick out as someone who was new. He's good at hiding in plan sight.

TEXT

Anyone want to get a beer?

Comments

[alandwithoutmagic]

Neal ran his fingers through his hair before turning and heading towards what he prayed was the exit. He exhaled a slow breath. "Yeah."

He didn't like August but he didn't have too. He'd rather have someone he knew here than a complete stranger.

[iwasinphuket]

"So which one of these is your apartment?" Neal doesn't have to like him. He's just glad that Neal seems not to be angry at him anymore.

[alandwithoutmagic]

Neal turned down the street and pointed to the familiar building. It looked the same but as Neal stepped towards the door he noticed a name where his apartment had been. He pointed to it with a frown. "Not mine."

Damn it.

"Let's get a drink. I know a place."

[iwasinphuket]

"Yeah, okay." He could use a drink. There's a lot to process here. "I suppose you know a place for that too."

[alandwithoutmagic]

"Assuming not everything in New York has changed."

Neal turned and veered off towards the closest bar. It was midday and nearly empty but he didn't care; it was close, which was another reason he'd liked his apartment. He took a seat at a stool and waved August to join him. After a few seconds he caught the attention of the man behind the bar.

"Ah, beer and you?" He pointed to August to place his order.

[iwasinphuket]

“Beer is fine.” It's not what he's drinking that's the most important thing right now, after all. “I guess not everything's different about this place then.”

[alandwithoutmagic]

"Not everything is the same either." He exhaled a slow breath. "I don't think any of the people will be the same." Neal hoped it wasn't some strange thing where they might see another version of themselves.

He's been through so much he rarely ruled anything out.

[iwasinphuket]

"Probably not. I wasn't in New York before I came here." So whatever is bringing them here isn't just bringing people from New York.

[alandwithoutmagic]

"Yeah, whatever it is might be taking us from all over. I didn't recognize everyone down there. Not even just from Earth but other worlds too."

That didn't sit well with him. "I don't know anything that powerful. Traveling between worlds is very strong magic."

[iwasinphuket]

"Traveling between worlds like that is getting harder all the time. Or so I've heard." He hasn't done it in years, after all, but he knows there will be no using enchanted wood in the process anymore, now that the last enchanted tree has been used up.

[alandwithoutmagic]

"Yeah. There aren't many beans left and most of the other methods are to obscure to be common knowledge." Neal turned towards August.

"You never told me how you and Emma got here?" He'd never asked. He'd been to freaked out when August showed up and knew who he was. He couldn't let his father find him, even now he was nervous about it.

[iwasinphuket]

"A wardrobe, carved out of an enchanted tree." Carved by his father, in fact, and originally intended for Emma and her mother, until the plan had had to change.

"The last enchanted tree in the realm, in fact."

[alandwithoutmagic]

Neal frowned and then nodded his head. "Guess that makes sense. The easiest way's to travel between worlds are always grown." It made a weird kind of sense.

When their drinks arrived Neal quickly took a swing "This place isn't that world." Where they both were before. "It has magic." Which he disliked but it might be good for them. "We might be able to find a way back."

[iwasinphuket]

"I don't know of that many ways to do it." He hadn't done any looking, either, after going to the land without magic. He hadn't wanted to go back or anything, after all. "Maybe we can find a way back."

[alandwithoutmagic]

"I know a few." It was more than a few though he didn't think that many of them would apply here.

Neal took a long sip of his beer before placing it back down on the counter. "We'll probably be here for a while. Might as well get comfortable while we figure it out." He didn't see how rushing might help them.

[iwasinphuket]

"I only did it once and never tried to do it again. I haven't thought about it, or gone looking for any methods." This world doesn't seem to be connected to the other ones in the same way though.

"It's not like I've never had to get used to a new place before."

[alandwithoutmagic]

Neal felt himself smile. "You and me both." He shook his head before raising his drink to his lips.

"Today we drink, tomorrow we start figuring this out." He needed to organize his thoughts and he thought that he might be able to find that at the bottom of his glass.

[iwasinphuket]

"That sounds like a good plan to me." They'll see what happens in the end. He doesn't know Neal well, but gets the feeling that he won't stop looking until he finds some answers.

[alandwithoutmagic]

Neal nodded his head and then laps into silence to enjoy his drink. He wanted time to wrap his mind around everything before he figured out where to start. It was a comfortable silence and he figured that August could use the time to think as well or just drink which was looking more alluring by the second.

[iwasinphuket]

He sits in silence for awhile, until curiosity gets the better of him. "Is it just the two of us here, or are there any others?"

I'm just gonna say he ran into Emma already

[alandwithoutmagic]

Neal coughed and then shook his head. "Ah. I am not sure. I ran into one person." He sounded more than a little awkward about it.

[iwasinphuket]

"One person from our world? Who was that?" Is it someone he wants to see or not?

[alandwithoutmagic]

Neal cleared his throat. "Emma's here."

He had nothing else to say about it because those two words really said it all.

[iwasinphuket]

"That's good." For Neal's sake. Maybe they'll get their chance this time. "I haven't seen her yet."

[alandwithoutmagic]

"Yeah? She wasn't to happy to see me."

He wasn't really sure what to think about it.