itinere | OTA || Outside the Apartment Building

To say that Lydia was more than a little bit lost was an gross understatement. She hadn't wandered off in a trance in a long time and even if she had, it wasn't likely she'd end up in a completely different city, at least not without her car, but here she is all the same.

The personal device had welcomed her and Lydia had balked for a moment before her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She's made her way to the mentioned apartment building and she's trying not to think about the fact that she's definitely supposed to be tutoring Stiles in about an hour...and going to "a friend's house" after that. Both of them will notice she's gone. At least, there's some comfort there, because if they notice she's missing, they'll come looking for her and then maybe they'll be able to guide her back home.

She stares up at the building and can't quite make herself head inside because, well...isn't that sort of resignation? In a way? Instead of actually heading in, she looks back down at the PDA. What the hell, it's worth a shot, right? She can't be too far from home, she tells herself, so she'll recognize the name of the place as soon as she hears it and then she'll know which direction to go to head back in the direction she originally came.

network text;

So...no, but really...where am I right now? Which town?

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Lydia looks up from her PDA at the movement in the corner of her eye and then back down again once she notices that it's just someone leaving the apartment building. She's still trying to figure out the significance of the blue doors and whether that was actually her imagination or not. But she looks back up again when she sees in her periphery that the girl has approached her.

A small smile graces Lydia's face when she sees the girl wave and smile as well.

"Hi," she replies, clearing her throat and wrinkling her nose a little. "No, um I just got here. I think? I'm sort of lost," she admits. "I'm Lydia. I was...where...what is this?" she asks, showing the girl the PDA. "Sorry, hang on, there was a note," she says quickly, shaking her head and bringing the PDA back to her own view so that she can search for the note she'd seen when she'd first looked at the thing. Maybe this girl could give her a little more guidance.

"I know this is all pretty confusing." Jill offers, watching Lydia fiddle with the PDA they all have. It's standard issue, everyone's is the same. "I know I was a little lost when I first got here. And when I say a little lost I mean can't see the forest for the trees lost." Maybe it would help to know she wasn't in the boat alone, the boat, being here in the dome.

"This is Itinere. It's... I don't know but it's a dome. I know that looks like sky up there but, think Truman Show but not on Earth and not a television series." Which is a lot to take in, so she pauses for a moment.

Something normal might help to break up the insane sounding truth. "I'm from Alabama. US of A. Earth." So weird that all of that is required here for some people, Alaina comes to mind. "How about you?"

The other girl seems fairly confident and it's already starting to lead Lydia to believe that the other woman is familiar with this place before she even comes out and says so, in not so many words. "...have you been here for a while?" she ventures, more curious than wary.

Lydia hasn't seen the Truman Show, but she knows the premise in passing and the idea of being watched like that makes her really uncomfortable. It shows on her face for a flicker of a second before she forces composure. "Great..." is all she can come up with for a response.

The other girl says where she's from and Lydia nods a little. Alabama, she's heard of. But then Jill goes on to specify the country and then planet and Lydia blinks. "Uh, California," she replies after a short moment to recover from the confusion that came with that kind of unexpected specification. She doesn't add the rest, because it's a given if Jill is from Alabama, she thinks.

"Oh yeah, for just under a year." Which seems a little unreal to her, that she and Lucy have been here that long. Here isn't so bad though, that much she knows. Even with what just happened, the place being attacked and destroyed, it still doesn't seem so bad. Jill grew up with nothing, a side note to her parent's daily drama. Here is a walk in the park compared to that.

Now the buildings are magically repairing themselves from the ground up. They're all in various states of repair. The apartment complex is completed though, thank goodness.

"I've never been to California." In truth, she's never been outside of Alabama, except for this. She's not well traveled at all. "There's a beach here." She offers, hoping that will help to soothe what she knows is a strange experience. "Is there anything I can help you out with?"

Lydia chews her bottom lip a little, half in thought and half in worry. "That's a long time..." she thinks aloud, tucking her hair behind her ears and looking back down at the PDA for a moment. She wants to ask whether Jill tried to leave or if she likes being here, but it feels like not matter how she asks, it'll come out sounding rude and ungrateful for the other woman's help, so she decides not to.

"I didn't live near the beach, but I used to go a lot," Lydia speaks up, trying to find some common ground with this woman that isn't revolving around their presence in this place. "Before things got crazy, anyway. So...I haven't been in a while. Maybe I'll check it out."

She looks back at the PDA and then her eyes return to Jill. "I don't...I mean it said I'd have somewhere to live, but...?" she lets her voice trail off because it sounds weak in her head and she thinks it'll come out sounding even worse. She has no idea whether she should trust it or where to go or what to do from here. ...and she's kind of hoping Jill picks up on that and runs with it, because she doesn't want to have to say it out loud.

It is a long time. Jill nods and tries not to think too much about it. If she wanted to, she could go right back through the blue door that brought her here. Well, she thinks she could. Sometimes it's locked. Most of the time it's open. She knows others whose blue door to their home world is always locked. She'll consider herself lucky.

She doesn't miss the remark about things getting crazy for Lydia. She's curious, but she doesn't ask yet. A person should have a chance to settle in and get a foothold in their surroundings before there are too many questions about a world and life they might not be able to get back to.

"You probably have a room in the apartments. Just go to the front desk and you'll get a key." She knows it sounds too easy. But it's really how it works. "And don't be freaked out by what you see when you walk in. This place... it has a way of catering to people. Some apartments are bigger on the inside and they'll be whatever you want them to be. You can wish things into existence if you think too hard about it."

It sounds insane, but how else does Jill end up with killer shoes? "I know it's weird, but... people have even wished entire buildings here. Homes and businesses."

With a nod, Lydia forces what she hopes looks like a genuine smile. She doesn't want to look ungrateful, because she isn't; she actually does appreciate Jill's help, but that doesn't make her want to actually be in this place any more than she did two seconds ago. "Thanks," she says.

Jill's addendum of a vague warning throws Lydia off a little, if only because it sounds almost too casual in tone for the words the other woman is actually saying. Lydia files that away under the "been here too long; this is normalized" folder and just assumes that, if she's stuck here long enough, it'll feel the same to her eventually.

But then the other woman elaborates and Lydia finally looks a little bit hopeful. "Whole buildings? Well...what about...people? Or pets?" she wonders. If she can't have her mom or her boyfriend, that's upsetting, but if she can have her dog, Prada, that might lessen the sting a little, just because it'll be a little slice of home.

People? Jill has never really thought to try that. The only person she could and would ever wish here is already here. But she can think outside of herself and knows that other people surely have others that they wish were here with them. Even Lucy has probably wished her parents here before. And the fact that Lydia poses the question, of course she wants others here, not to be alone.

Jill's features turn softer, something akin to empathy even though she wishes no one else from home here. She knows what it's like to wish you weren't alone. "I'm not so sure about people. Pets, I'm pretty sure I've seen a few people here with pets." She really hopes that helps, hopes Lydia wakes up one morning with whatever pet she misses curled up with her.

The expression on the girl's face leads Lydia to believe, before Jill even answers, that the response she's about to get isn't going to be the response she wants to hear. So Lydia mentally braces herself for that particular (and peculiar) brand of disappointment.

A weak smile crosses her face. If she's stuck here more than a couple of days, then hopefully she can wish Prada here. He's her baby and having him around again would at least help her get into a semi-comfortable routine and she could let him distract her instead of spending all kinds of time in her own head the way she worried she was probably going to.

"Well, that's better than nothing, I guess...?" she asked more than said. "Anyway, I'm sorry, I won't keep you. You're clearly on your way somewhere..."

OTA || Outside the Apartment Building

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