....FINALLY SOME VACATION

[basic_powers]

It's Friday morning, and right now...

The bags are packed, the extra money is in a special pocket, there's no one invading anytime soon, he has no real training, so it's a little unusual for Tyler to be in this house.

It's not the usual routine and it's great, and because in a few minutes the 'family' car pulls up into the garage and Ray will be coming to visit.

"...6:56..." The hard part was not bouncing off the walls while staring down the clock. Ray had to come exactly at 7 am.

.

.

.

.

"Ray! it's 7!!" Tyler called through the open doorway, which had formerly been the broom closet. "Come on!"

Comments

[gone_byebye]

"Well, I don't really like interfering with other people's automation systems, so I'll just study the roadmaps for now on a just-in-case basis," Ray decides. "We'll see how things go with the rest of the day."

[basic_powers]

"Kay...I still have to walk to school today, but I'll get out about recess, which should let out at about 11:30." Tyler says thinking a moment. "I'll just run straight to the car so we don't bump into anyone that might..."

...well. Tyler goes to school with a bunch of meta-human children and there has been a kidnapping scandal recently.

[gone_byebye]

"I'll keep an eye out," Ray says. "And I'll try not to look particularly interesting to anyone who might want to cause trouble. I might be good with a lightsaber but there are still plenty of people here who can feed me my own feet."

[basic_powers]

"...actually I was thinking beat you up and then call the police." Tyler says after a moment. "Everyone's still kinda twitchy after Harold and Charles."

[gone_byebye]

"Gnh. And me without a legal identity in this world..."

[basic_powers]

"I think Mr. Revenant left you some ID stuff in the folder, but yeh, kinda like that."

Tyler'd like to avoid anything involving being sprung from jail by a masked vigilante.

...again.

"I better get going, class starts at 8 am and there're still regular non-powered bullies I have to avoid."

[gone_byebye]

Ray nods. "All right," he says. "Need me to do anything in the meantime, or should I just start studying?"

[basic_powers]

"Study and maybe see what else Revenant left in the folder, I didn't look at it much last night." Tyler replies with a shrug, pulling on his backpack. "I'll see you at 11:30!"

[gone_byebye]

"Sounds good to me," says Ray. "You take care, Tyler."

He'll see Tyler to the door before settling back to go over that folder. You never know what you're going to find, after all.

[basic_powers]

Indeed, and really the Revenant left Ray quite a little folder, besides the maps there's a debit card with a very high balance on it, more than enough for a few days of vacation...and bail money, should it come to that.

And paper clipped to the various brochures contains a phone number and a single request.

Please get Tyler onto some rollercoasters or something.

[gone_byebye]

Ray has to laugh, just a little bit, at that. Okay, he can pull that off. There's bound to be something. And it's been a long time since he's been a tourist and hasn't had the State Department breathing down his neck.

[basic_powers]

Eventually, the few hours between 8 am and 11 am pass through the research, and the alarm on the kitchen stove goes off at precisely that time.

And if Ray's got a destination set up...well all he has to do is type in the address to the auto-driver.

Which is an impressive looking robot sitting in the driver's seat, in a very classy mid-size car...with a leather interior.

[gone_byebye]

"Oo," says Ray reflexively, more at the robot than anything else. "I realize this is going to come across as potentially embarrassing on my part, but may I ask if you're sapient?"

It's Ray. what did you expect?

[basic_powers]

No less than what one would expect from the father of a robot daughter.

"Thank you for selecting the Clay Industries Mark 5 auto-nav system with satellite and GPS. Would you like to input your destination on the screen?"

[gone_byebye]

"All right," says Ray, since that pretty much answers his question. He leans over to poke... hm. Where were the promising lunch sites...

"Let's try the nearest SuperSonic franchise installation, shall we?"

[basic_powers]

"Please fasten your seatbelt. Would you like to obey current local traffic laws?"

[gone_byebye]

"For the moment, yes," Ray says as he settles back to snap himself in. "I reserve the right to alter or reverse that decision should the necessary conditions arise."

[basic_powers]

"Route selected."

And thus the garage door pulls open to let the packed-up car out onto the road. You have to give whoever built this car and robot credit, not only is it a very good, safe driver, the suspension work is wonder.

Ofcourse, it's only about 10 minutes of driving time to get to the school and pull up along the curb. So Ray's a little early.

"You have arrived at your first destination."

[gone_byebye]

"Excellent," Ray says. "Let's wait until Tyler's joined us before continuing any further, shall we? I'm going to get out of the car and wait, if you don't mind."

[npc238.livejournal.com]

Since the robot in the car doesn't have enough of an AI to respond to that, it stays silent and keeps the motor running. Now that it's outside, it's clear that the windows are tinted so you can't see the inside, or rather the Driver too easily in full sunlight.

And it's a beautiful sunny day today, with the temperature right around 68. Standing in front of the huge old brick school it feels almost idyllic and qui- Nevermind there's a furious five-year-old in a floating egg chair that just appeared to Ray's left.

"-CKBERRIES!! The MONKEYWHIPPED navigation is still STIRRING up!"

[gone_byebye]

Blink. Blink.

He's almost sure he ought to know who this kid is.

[npc238.livejournal.com]

Doesn't look like the kid has noticed him yet.

"Why the SKITTLES do I keep getting pulled back here...alright. Resetting travel paradgrim and vortex size...initiating.."

...maybe Ray should have stepped back another foot or so, because it looks like that school and car is melting away in a swirling vortex. It's replaced with rocky uneven ground, a swirling purple not-sky-or-space filled with glowing stars and galaxies, and a castle that looks like the future revisited the past, and mixed the architecture with their current level of building plastics.

"FRUITLOOP TWIRLING ROSARYBEARERS! Not here again!"

[gone_byebye]

The first thought through Ray's head is oh, God, Romana is going to KILL me. He shakes himself before a second can arise and says, "This happens often around here?"

It looks kind of like the Netherworld, but only kind of. Best to start off with small questions.

[npc238.livejournal.com]

Small questions nothing. Doesn't look like Zodon noticed Ray until he spoke, and judging from the sharp glance and the sneer...

"Only for you."

And he's hovering away and disappearing in a portal faster than Ray could probably catch up to.

[gone_byebye]

"Oh, for the love of cookies-"

Yep. Romana's so going to kill him. Ray shakes his head ruefully and reaches for his PKE meter. It went kind of buggy in the Netherworld, from what he remembers, but it was a buggy he'd recognize if he saw it again.