Last Train to London

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen told himself that he'd celebrate every good thing that came his way from now on--no matter how small. He wouldn't celebrate it in want of something but for it's own sake. After all, there was no higher power to bargain with. It was just him.

Him and two kids.

Him and two kids and a giant VW Bus he was 60% comfortable handling. And a magical piece of paper that kept their entire lives packed neatly and lightly.

He kept reminding himself of how far he'd come in just a few weeks whenever he started really missing a nice matcha. He had Doppio on a strict assignment to look out for even the instant stuff. Every day was a new lesson in unpredictability but they'd found that there were clusters of stability. Some towns had mostly escaped the rupture unscathed and others were like patchwork from a monkey's hands. You just took what you got, hustled, and hoped for the best.

Today--today wasn't bad. They'd lucked out with a highway cutting through a sprawling plain with small patches of life in the distance. There was no telling how long the road would last, but word had spread across the town they'd just left that it went on for awhile. The street signs weren't in a language he recognized but it's not like they'd serve their purpose even if they did. Reigen spared a thought for all the taxpayer dollars gone to waste.

"Quartermaster," he snapped his fingers and adjusted the thick technicolor shades on his nose, "coffee me."

Comments

[espresso_doppio]

"On it, Captain." Doppio unscrewed the head of Reigen's tumbler and passed it up front.

His station was in the back of the bus with all the inventory. Doppio couldn't complain--it was pretty comfortable in the back. Everything was covered in a pillow, beanbags, or a shag carpet. There was actually so much stuff (including stuff Reigen didn't let him handle directly) that they had to pack it up and store it in the paper. Whoever owned the van originally knew how to have a good time.

"Hitomi, did you want anything?" Her place was shotgun as 'Navigator.'

[aoihitomi]

"Can I have a green tea?" Hitomi asked. There had been no need for her to navigate in some time and she felt bad that she was taking up a prime sitting space in the car.

Doppio didn't seem to mind, though. He was in his element. At times like these, Hitomi wondered if maybe he had been a batista in the life he had forgotten. He seemed happy enough.

[espresso_doppio]

"Right!" Doppio quickly retreated and returned with Hitomi's tumbler filled with a fresh brew.

He couldn't explain it, but he was most at ease when he was being put to work. The fact he almost exclusively wore dresses now didn't get to him much, either. 'I must have been a pretty easy-going person before.'

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"...Hm?" Reigen made a face, forgetting to swallow when he saw a speck on the road up ahead. He swallowed a huge mouthful of coffee at once. "Well now...do we have a hitchhiker?"

[aoihitomi]

"A hitchhiker?"

Hitomi leaned forward in her chair, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Oh, it's a girl."

Or more appropriately, a woman.

[espresso_doppio]

"A girl? Alone?" Doppio nervously adjusted the thick clear frames on his face. "We should stop."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Yeah..." Reigen began to gently press the breaks. "Just stick to your stories and let me do the talking, understand?"

Reigen felt bad for being as cautious as he was to help someone else out, but Doppio was still a wanted kid.

[espresso_doppio]

"Understood, Captain." With that, Doppio retreated into the back.

[throughthelookingmax]

Max couldn't hide the relief on her face as she saw the coming, and that relief only grew as it slowed, then finally stopped.

She gestured for Reigen to roll down his window, using the same hand motion used for manually rolling a window down.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

He quickly moved to do just that--struggling with the lever as it caught before managing to get the window down all the way. When he finally got a good look at her, Reigen was struck how modern her look was. 'An American, huh?'

"...Yo!" He flashed her a peace sign. "What's a groovy cat like you doing this far out?"

[throughthelookingmax]

"What?" Max almost couldn't believe what she was hearing. And Max could believe a lot of things these days.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

'What does she mean 'what?'' He'd seen plenty of Western period pieces and that sounded pretty American to him!

"Going north? I'm traveling here with my sister and company."

[throughthelookingmax]

"Just going anywhere but here." Here was definitely not a good place to be. "Think you can give me a ride?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

She struck Reigen as honest enough.

"Passenger of the wind, huh? Hop in, sis." He gestured towards the van's sliding door.

[throughthelookingmax]

"Thanks. I'm Max, by the way."

She opened up one of the back doors and climbed inside. There were two others there. A young woman with pink hair and a brunette sitting up front who watched her as she climbed in.

"You headed to a specific place? Or is North it?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Reigen. This is my younger sister Hitomi and our friend in the back there Donatella.” The bass of the ELO track that came on made the interior thrum. Reigen fussed with the window handle to roll it back up and shifted gears to get it out park. “Well, how should I say it…we have a lead on someone we know being out this way.”

[throughthelookingmax]

"That's more than what most people have. I feel like everybody is separated from everybody right now."

[espresso_doppio]

Doppio watched as Max settled down into the back with him. She seemed tired--exhausted--and he wondered if she had been alone this whole time.

"Can I get you something to drink? To eat?" He didn't bother with changing his voice anymore when he spoke to strangers. He tried to go falsetto at first but found that it didn't matter either way.

[throughthelookingmax]

"You got water? I'm parched."

[espresso_doppio]

Doppio bent over to open the cooler stored under the drop-down table. He pulled out a water bottle that was nice and chilled and handed it over. He wanted to boast about how clever they had been with storing a ton of ice to chill goods they found in their magic paper but he figured Reigen wouldn't want him outing all their tricks at once.

"Are you sure you don't want anything else? We have a lot of food."

[throughthelookingmax]

"That's pretty generous. What do you have?"

Maybe it was a bad idea to accept food and water from strangers, but Max was parched and starving. And in any case, wasn't it worse for her to get in a car with strangers than take a water from them?

[espresso_doppio]

Doppio made a face as he thought of everything he made in the last day. They’d been on the go so it was a lot of stuff that stored easily. “Do you…like dumplings? Soup? Or oni—ong—“

“Onigiri,” Reigen helpfully filled in. He and Hitomi had taught him how to make it.

[throughthelookingmax]

"Sure. Thanks."

There was something off about the woman, but Max wasn't about to cast judgment.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

If they never found out Doppio’s real identity, Reigen was sure he had a serviceable future ahead of him as a waitress.

“Hey, Hitomi-chan.” He lowered his voice. “How far would you say we’re out? Halfway yet?”

[aoihitomi]

"Mmm, yeah. I think so. Reigen-san, how much gas do we have?" Hitomi could get a sense of how far away they were from the nearest town, but even Hitomi wasn't sure how far away the last town they left was.