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

[throughthelookingmax]

Max chuckled. "Did the camera give it away?"

But before she and Reigen could shift into their back-and-forth, Doppio interrupted them with a display of food.

Max was awed. "Where did all this come from?" She wasn't complaining, though; this was way better than what she had in eaten in... probably days now.

[espresso_doppio]

“Oh, I made them. There was a potato field we stumbled on the last time we camped. We bartered for the other ingredients.” Doppio stared at her expectantly to take a bite, unable contain his excitement at having a new person to show off to.

[throughthelookingmax]

Max forced herself to wait until she was finished chewing her rice ball before she finally spoke. "It's really good," she said. "A lot better than anything I could make."

[espresso_doppio]

“Oh, have some tea to wash it down.” Doppio pulled out a mug and a huge ziplocked bag of tea leaves. “Do you want ginger or peppermint? Afterwards I can pull out the dumplings with honey if you want dessert.”

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Hey, uh, Donna. Top grades for hospitality but let her breathe a little.”

[espresso_doppio]

“Oh…sorry.”

[throughthelookingmax]

Max suppressed a laugh. "Thanks, but I'm good. I don't know if my body could handle this much food after the last few days." She was starving, but Max didn't want to push it and make herself sick.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Smiling, Reigen readjusted the rear view mirror and looked back to the road. The rain had become an all-out storm and he felt grateful that they picked up a passenger when they did. But damn was it hard to see. ‘Wait, is that something moving—’

“Whoa!”

His foot slammed on the break and the wheels squealed as they slid on the rain-slicked road. Reigen gripped the wheel for dear life as the van fish-tailed before it mercifully slid to stop. Before he could open his mouth to apologize, the creature he had come close to barreling into stared curiously at them up ahead. It blinked.

“…Ah.” Reigen blinked back at it dumbly. It was a horse, but it wasn’t a horse.

[throughthelookingmax]

Max peered from over the seat. "Whoa, what is that thing?"

[aoihitomi]

"It doesn't look like anything I've seen on Gaea." Though Hitomi hadn't come close to seeing everything in this world. "So it probably had to come from somewhere else."

[espresso_doppio]

“Oh! There are more…” Doppio pointed out of one of the left windows. It was hard to make out through the rain and the mist but there was over a dozen of them grazing in the plain nearby.

The first creature’s curiosity piqued another’s and it broke away from the herd to come investigate. Even if it was clearly a young one and smaller than all the others it was still a good five feet tall. Doppio could just see it’s dark snout right under the window, nostrils flaring as it sniffed the air.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

The fact that Hitomi didn’t recognize it wasn’t comforting, but they weren’t acting threatening or even terribly spooked. “Good…horse-thing…” Reigen craned his neck to try and see how much clearance there was but it was taking up the middle of the road. He debated on whether or not to nudge it or wait it out, but he turned when he felt a gust of cool air come in.

“…Hey. Are you…?”

[espresso_doppio]

Doppio had his hand out of the window with the young creature eating bread right out of it. “It looked hungry…” He said in his own defense.

When it was done, it nudged his fingers with its bristly snout. He gave it’s nose a soft pat and it raised its head to press further into his touch.

[aoihitomi]

Hitomi climbed into the back of the van to get a closer look. Nearby, Max pulled out her camera to get a perfect shot.

"It's really cute," Hitomi observed contentedly.

[espresso_doppio]

Doppio was relieved Hitomi agreed. He watched as the creature peered up at her curiously, clearly hoping for a treat or some attention from the new person.

[aoihitomi]

Hitomi reached and brushed the creature's neck.

"I wonder where they're from."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

The big one got curious and rounded around to the open window. Doppio was reaching for more bread and Reigen didn’t stop him. He put the van in park and sank back into the driver’s seat.

They weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. He cracked open his tumbler and took a drink. Might as well wait for the rain to pass, he figured.

[throughthelookingmax]

Max finished taking her photos then climbed into the other seat up front. The two teenagers continued to pet and feed the growing herd outside the vehicle.

"Did you know them before you got here?" Max nodded her head towards the duo in the back.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

‘Eh?’

“I think I’d know my own sister.”

[throughthelookingmax]

"Your sister," Max repeated.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Someone who’s related to you by blood. Female.”

[throughthelookingmax]

"I don't know why you're not being truthful. It's not like you're a bad guy." She was calling his bluff.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“That’s a weird vote of confidence. Are you telling me you can’t even see the resemblance?”

[throughthelookingmax]

"Your faces are totally different."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Leave it to a photographer to pick up on the small differences, he thought.

“…You know, you got into this van pretty easily. You weren’t worried about who’d be inside?”