Ian In The Wrong Place? - OTA

[ubuntu_programmer]

Open/locked?: Open
Who: Ian and whomsoever encounters them
What: Ian arrives in Auradon
Warnings: Some angst, maybe?


There was a figure slumped by the wall, their white and black hair disheveled, their glasses on the grass beside them. Their small suitcase was over their legs, their backpack dangling from one arm. After a moment they groaned and lifted a hand to their head. "Did I get hit by a truck or something...?" They mumbled.

Eyes opening, they looked around. "Well that's not good. I can't afford to be hallucinating now." They picked up their round lensed glasses and checked them before putting them on, then fished a phone out of their pocket. "No bars. Of course. I need to write an algorithm that will allow my phone to find signal from anywhere in the world. Of course, I should still be close enough to get signal anyway, hallucination or no. So... what is actually going on here...?"

Comments

[hotheadwarmheart]

"On that point we can definitely agree," he said. "Though before we start plotting a revolution or anything along those lines, how about we find you a room first? I'll try and find some less color-coded bedding; there's bound to be something buried in the linen closet somewhere." After all, he was fairly certain at least some of the teachers had lived on campus as well, and he doubted they used the standard issues bedding.

[ubuntu_programmer]

"That... would be helpful, yes. Thank you."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Right then," he said. "To the linen closet! First we change the sheets, then we change the world!" Lea pointed dramatically in the general direction of the linen closet before gesturing for Ian to follow him to the elevator. It was a lot less dramatic than the grand staircases, but a lot more practical when one had a suitcase.

[ubuntu_programmer]

They chuckled at that and followed. And thanked whatever there was to thank for the elevator.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Auradon Prep may have been designed to mimic the look of a fairy tale castle, but it still had all the conveniences of a modern building, which those who had to stay there greatly appreciated. Though even the elevators managed to look nicer and shinier than your average elevator, with wood paneling, brass fixtures, and impeccably clean carpet on the floor that displayed the school's crest on a blue background. You know, lest the students and faculty go a few moments without a visible reminder that they were rich.

Lea opted to go for the boys dorms since those would be easier to alter. And the room came with a built in game system, which he figured would be a plus. "This way," he said as they stepped out. "Linen closet is two suits of armor from the elevator, in case you ever need extra towels or anything. Those at least are the same across the board; white with the school logo on them."

[ubuntu_programmer]

"Two suits of armor from.... I am starting to wonder if I didn't get caught in some sort of explosion and I'm really inside a time loop in a video game or something," they muttered.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea shrugged. "Well if you wanna get out a ruler and measure you can, but given the decor, counting suits of armor is just easier," he said.

And sure enough, two suits of armor from the elevator was a door that he opened to reveal the linen closet. Though 'closet' was selling it rather short as it was more a small storeroom full of all sorts of towels and bed linens and similar accoutrements, most of them clearly standard issue for the school's residents and neatly arranged on shelves. On the back wall was a panel that could be opened to reveal a laundry chute; used linens placed in there would slide downstairs to the school's laundry room.

"Let's see what we've got," he said as he began searching the shelves of bed sheets looking for something other than the standard boy or girl sets. "Oh and you can feel free to grab a bathrobe from the one shelf over there, if you find one in your size. They're all the same though; white with the school logo embroidered on the left lapel." Also very soft, plush, and comfy, but that was less easy to tell by looking.

[ubuntu_programmer]

"we can't just count doors?" they muttered. Looking through the choices for bedding, they made a face. "Please tell me there is a store with more selection."

[hotheadwarmheart]

One could indeed count doors if they wanted to do it the boring way. But Lea preferred counting armor. "Not at the moment, unfortunately," he said. "The were some t-shirts and stuff at the museum gift shop, but the shopping plaza we came across didn't have a proper clothing store. There is a craft store with a lot of fabric and stuff though, and some of the people here are fairly handy with a sewing machine apparently, so if you don't mind waiting a little while they could probly help you out."

"Honestly it's a good thing we do have a few crafty people. Not many people arrive already packed for a trip, and there's only so many spare sets of clothes to go around, especially for adults. Since this is a school, most of the stuff there is more sized for teenagers."

A moment more of searching the shelves, Lea spotted something. "Hmm... I found some plain green bedding back here. Would that work, or should I keep looking?"

[ubuntu_programmer]

"Might as well use it for now. I'll have to find these crafty people, I guess."

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Green it is then," Lea said, gathering up the bedding that proved to be a nice mint green, including the duvet cover. "And yeah most likely. Or if you're a crafty person yourself, there is a home-ec room that we're free to use; there's fabric and sewing stuff in there."

"Now to find you a room. Any one that doesn't have a mark on the door is free; the rest are either claimed by someone already or belong to someone who vanished."

[ubuntu_programmer]

Ian nodded. "Are they seperated by age, so I should avoid whichever area the children are rooming in?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"Not really," he said. "The free rooms tend to be dotted around, so there's some separation just cause of that, but nothing official. There's two beds per room, but as of right now, no one needs to room with anyone else if they don't want to."

[ubuntu_programmer]

"And.... no one thought it was a bad idea for kids and adults to have lockable dormrooms in the same area?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

"It's honestly less 'is that a good idea' and more... there just not being anywhere else to really put people at the moment," Lea said with a shrug. "Right now the school dorms are basically it when it comes to available living quarters. I mean a couple businesses in the shopping district might have apartments above them, but those probably belong to people already. The palace might have a couple guest rooms or something too, but me personally, I'd almost be afraid to actually use any of the stuff in a palace bedroom for fear of accidentally breaking something more expensive than your average car. So dorm rooms it is, generally."

[ubuntu_programmer]

"Uh... huh...." Was he naïve or was this place really that different? They found that they didn't want to know, o long as someone was making sure that the kids were okay.

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea sighed. "Look, I'm not dumb," he said. "I get what you're worried about, but everyone here kinda tries to look out for each other. And anyone who was creepy like that probably wouldn't have ended up in Auradon anyway."

"And anyway, this is way better than the last place I was stuck in. It was basically this flying sentient train that traveled from world to world through the void. Being a train you basically lived out of a sleeping car room that was, for the most part, randomly assigned and shared with up to three other people. People who might be guys, ladies, nonbinary, kids, adults, humans, aliens, robots, vampires, talking cats, humanoid computer programs, or who knows what else. Had to get used to some weird sleeping arrangements there."

[ubuntu_programmer]

"............ Well that just makes me worried in a different way....." They admitted. "Talking cats? Seriously?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

Lea nodded with a bit of a wry smile. "Welcome to the multiverse," he said. "It's a weird, weird place."

"Though really, even if it hasn't been exactly willingly, I've been kicking around the multiverse for a couple years now, and I've found that most people who end up in places like this? Are surprisingly pretty cool. Everyone's kinda in the same boat, everyone remembers what it's like to be new and confused, so for the most part people just try to get along and be decent to each other. Yeah, there's personality clashes sometimes, and the occasional misunderstanding or cross-cultural kerfuffle, but well... no one wants to be that guy that everyone identifies as a jerk or a source of trouble, so things tend to get resolved without too much fuss."

"Plus if there's anything that'll turn your preconceived notions on their heads, it's multiverse travel. Take the vampires I mentioned, for example. You're probly thinking of a creepy guy in a black cape stalking and attacking people in the dark, but the vampire I met was the total opposite of that. His name is Daia, and he's actually really innocent and sweet. I first met him when he was hiding under a table, crying, after a disruption in the train's systems made things a bit more chaotic than usual for a day or so, and it's kinda impossible to be scared of someone after that. And since the train provided packaged blood for him to drink, he was essentially just a dude with a weird diet. Nothing to be scared of at all."

[ubuntu_programmer]

"You know, I really thought my job was something most people would consider weird if I was allowed to ever explain it to them, but this is something else entirely. Though given everything I'm till not sure why me. Why not someone like Addison or Ben? Or Magic?"