[Milliways: Field Trip to Haddyn, 2293]

[slayer_fray]

Bar had given them all back packs. It's kind of cute, really, in Mel's opinion. small little things, containing only the essentials - a zapper pistol for each of them, a cross, a stake, a round of PB&J with the crusts cut off, a flask of milky tea, and lunch money (about 20 coi each).

Mel herself just has her own gun and scythe sheathed on her back, as she climbs through the window into her small, beaten up apartment, and holds the door open for them.

Comments

[atanycost.livejournal.com]

Hell, JET was nearly over the edge when ... Mel was down there. Huh.

"...she... do this a lot?" he asks, peering down with a perplexed look on his face. "I mean."

[alwaysroomforhope]

"She's Mel," Steph says, because that totally explains it. "I think jumping around from building to building is just how she travels."

It makes perfect sense to Steph, who does the same. Just, y'know, Steph uses grapples. And doesn't have Slayer speed.

"They'll be fine."

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Makita manages to pry her face away from Mel's shirt and look up (certainly not down!). She calls out, "We're fine." Though it doesn't sound like she's entirely convinced herself.

[slayer_fray]

Mel, on the other hand, grins easily up at them as she rises on the rug, carrying 'Kita.

"You guys weren't worried, were you?" Surely not!

As they draw level with the roof, she steps off and lets Makita feel her feet on something solid again.

[alwaysroomforhope]

"We panicked," Steph says gravely. "We knew you were doomed, and we were about to make a pact to throw ourselves after you. After all, it's just not going to be the same without you two around."

[atanycost.livejournal.com]

"She speaks for herself. I already got a pretty girl waitin' on me. Damned if I'm not goin' home to her," Jet laughs, shaking his head. "...but if you want to think I was, you can go ahead and delude yourself."

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

Makita finally lets go of Mel to stand on the roof. "Can we not do that again?" The falling part. She might be willing to ride another vehicle as long as she's got some sort of guarantee that the falling part won't happen again.

[slayer_fray]

"Anything you say,'Keet."

Mel uses the heel of her boot to flip the board up and roll it up, before depositing it in her back pocket again.

"So we wanna walk a ways, then? Not a whole lot to see unless you like grime and flying cars and toy."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph grins into her collar. She loves grime and toy, and flying cars are just a bonus.

"Walking suits us. Right, J?" She elbows him, in a way that really doesn't pass for subtle at all.

[atanycost.livejournal.com]

Jet elbows back -- not too rough, though. "Sure thing."

Not everybody can climb and leap like a hogmonkey.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

The breath Makita lets out is not a sigh of relief. Not at all. Really.

"Thanks. We... don't do a lot of jumping around back home." It's too exposed, and you never know when a building might just decide that now is a good time to collapse.

[slayer_fray]

"My bad," Mel says easily. "It's the best way getting around back home. Com'on, we'll head back this way."

The way she leads them is little more than a series of very high rooftops, some of which need to be climbed on to, others a drop down. And buildings of various heights create a tiered pattern and false alleys, littered with shadows.

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph feels right at home. She's sticking a bit close to Makita, just in case, but that doesn't stop her taking the more dangerous routes and throwing in a few somersaults just for pure glee.

"We eat soon, right?"

[atanycost.livejournal.com]

Jet's not as sure as Steph and Mel, but he's not as nervous as Makita; he's more at home in the woods then among these towers of stone and steel. Still, he can leap and cavort with the best of them, and is soon following after Stephanie--

--and turning it into a sort of 'who is more spry' competition. (Stephanie is winning, but Jet would never admit that.)

"What do you eat here, anyway? There's nothin' growin' -- and no animals." At least, none that Jet has seen that's edible. Legs is obviously off-limits.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

It doesn't occur to Makita to be jealous of all the cavorting antics. She doesn't really see the need for all those acrobatics. But she grins a bit, now that she's not terrified that she's going to die at any second she takes a chance to look around. It's... nice to see a city full of life.

[slayer_fray]

Mel's much the same as Makita , almost. Acrobatics are just to be done when bored, and there's no competition in them. Mostly because Mel taking part would be unfair.

"What d'you want?" she asks, looking over her shoulder. "There's a noodle place a few levels down. They know me there, give us a discount. Or we could just steal something."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph's only half aware that it's a competition. Mostly it's just the joy of movement, and of real buildings.

"Noodles," she says promptly, standing on her hands while they catch up. "Noodles noodles noodles. After all, Bar totally gave us lunch money."

[atanycost.livejournal.com]

"I like noodles," says Jet as he skids to a stop. "Where do we go for noodles? What kinda noodles? Crispy fry or soft?"

Noodles are sort of a staple-- well, everywhere. Universal, doncha know.

'sides. At least the noodles are honest. Jet has trouble stealing from the common man. Fire Nation? No problem. Other worldly every day joes? Eh, no thanks. He'll stay honest.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

This suggestion is considered. "Noodles like alfredo?" Makita's not really much of a basic staple foods connoisseur.

[slayer_fray]

"Yeah," Mel says, dismissively. "And soft. It's nothing like you can get in Bar. Just a family trying to make their way."

She stands at the edge of the roof she's on, peering down and judging. "There," she says, pointing down and to the left, where there's a terrace a couple of stories down. "You want the board, 'Keet?"

[alwaysroomforhope]

Steph's already launching herself off the edge.

And planning on overpaying like mad, after what Mel said.

Plus, she's gotta beat Jet down.

[atanycost.livejournal.com]

And she does.

Barely.

He's almost atop her when they reach the bottom-- an arm is slung around her shoulders a moment after, and --

--a lock of blond hair is tugged on the side opposite from him.

"Not bad, Steph," he replies. "You could almost make it as a freedom fighter..." Almost. But maybe not quite. "Bet a week in the woods would kill ya, though."

Poor Mel, poor Makita. Fogotten in the 'tease the friend of the girlfriend'. Or is that 'hit on the friend of the girlfriend'? It's hard to tell with Jet.

[runmakitarun.livejournal.com]

The distance is carefully gauged. Makita thinks her dropline would probably handle it, but... "Yeah," she says to Mel. The board sounds like a good plan.

[slayer_fray]

Mel smirks and pulls the board back out again, flipping it rigid before pushing it over.

"Here," she says. "Give it a go and I'll follow you down."

[alwaysroomforhope]

Down on the terrace, Steph elbows Jet in the side and sticks her tongue out at him. "Oh, yeah, 'cos I'm totally that girl who couldn't cope without her hair dryer."

Or just a city girl through and through... one of the two.

She cranes her neck back to see where the others are, taking the opportunity to step on Jet's foot.