itinere | (no subject)

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When Blue Sargent walks through the doors to the guidance counselor's office, pamphlet in hand and Noah trailing behind her, the last thing she expects to see are buildings that clearly do not belong in Henrietta. She turns behind her to see the doors closed behind her and Noah nowhere to be found. Slowly, Blue turns in a circle and looks for the tell tale signs of her friend. A flicker of a body, items moving that shouldn't.

"Noah?" she calls out when her search comes up empty handed. She reaches for one of the doors, thinking that perhaps she left him behind in the high school. Or maybe he disappeared when her name had been called. She tries to open the door and frowns when it refuses to budge. Again, she shouts: "Noah!"

Nothing.

Suddenly, she wishes she had her pocket knife on her instead of this useless pamphlet to a college she probably can't afford anyway. Something useful. Though Blue is no stranger to the weird and the impossible, lately, she's preferred to be prepared. Mountain View High School isn't on a ley line. She's no where near Gabeswater. She can't think of a single rational explanation to this impossible place.

Chin up, gaze steeled, she takes a step forward into the city. She might be alone here in this unknown city but Blue refuses to be afraid. Unaware of the PDA in her pocket and the start of answers it holds, she takes another step forward. She refuses to be trapped here, to have disappeared like her father and now, more recently, like her mother. She has a life to get back to. Boys to get back to.

~~Gansey to get back to.~~

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Adam might be sick, not as sick as Ronan, mind you, but sick, but that doesn't mean he isn't trying to work at least a few hours every day in the garage where he builds and fixes things. The garage door is pulled up to let the spring air into the large space. Adam's current project, a motorcycle for Ronan, is scattered across the floor of the garage. Adam sits on the floor inside, tinkering with various parts with a box of kleenex next to him.

He feels it before he sees anything. The ley lines, the bits of Cabeswater that extend into this place, they're always a part of Adam. Sometimes he can feel them more than others. But the point is that he can always feel them in some way or another to the point that it's second nature. He doesn't notice it so much anymore unless something is wrong. Right now he just feels a surge, a surge he hasn't felt since... Henrietta.

Just as she passes by Parrish's Garage, he looks up and sees her. Everything feels tight like a coil, a discomfort because he still feels that rejection from her and because if she's here, she'll see he's also moved on from it. "Blue?" He says it quietly, so the name would be familiar if it is her, but easily ignored in case it isn't.

It's been a month and some days for Blue since that horrible night where she finally admitted to Adam that it wasn't going to work between them. There's still a part of her that wishes it had gone differently. Wouldn't life have been so much easier if she had developed that crush on Adam instead of Gansey? At least, there wouldn't have been that lingering awkward between them. Or the constant reminders of everything she shouldn't do with Gansey. More than just not kissing him.

It's all complicated and messy and she does her best to ignore it. Generally, it works. Generally, she no longer has to spend time alone with Adam Parrish.

Not that she cares right now. Because seeing Adam in the garage and hearing him say her name means absolutely one thing to Blue: wherever she is, she's not alone. A large smile crosses her face as she immediately stops in her tracks and turns to face the inside of the garage.

"Adam," she greets as she starts to walk forward. "So you're here, too. And rather settled by the looks of things. Does that mean you can tell me what's going on?"

It's a strange dichotomy of emotions upon seeing her. He's glad because it's Blue. He's sad because it's Blue. He's worried because of the complications between the two of them. He still feels that sting of rejection when he had laid himself bare before her in a way he had never done before in his life. He understands because he's Adam Parrish.

Most of all, he's anxious because now he and Ronan are... something. Did they decide they were boyfriends? Yes, he thinks they did. And it took a hell of a lot to get them there. He's scared because in spite of everything, she's his friend and he cares what Blue Sargent thinks of him. He knows his dad would bash his face in if he knew his son was dating a boy. He can already feel himself closing off to what he'd opened himself up to with Ronan because Adam cares.

Ronan would say that he shouldn't give a damn what people think. Adam can hear his voice in his mind right now.

He offers Blue as much of a smile as he ever gives, which admittedly isn't really much of a smile at all rather than a softening of his otherwise rigid features. He is glad to see her. "Ronan's here too." He says, then nods as he draws another kleenex from the box. "I have some theories about it... about here. Did you just...?" Stupid question. Of course she just got here. Adam falls silent for a bit before asking another question. "Are you sick?"

Blue grew up in a house full of psychics. In a house full of women. She's heard all the various jokes the other kids would crack in front of her. She's heard all the comments whispered behind her back. Blue could never bring herself to be discriminatory against other people for their lifestyle choices. Unless, perhaps, you're Richard Gansey the Third. As long as Ronan and Adam are happy, she'll be happy for them.

And a little selfishly, pleased that she no longer has to worry about hurting Adam again. She can't help the way she feels about Gansey. She's tried not to feel anything but hate. Or lukewarm acceptance.

She frowns when he reaches for a tissue and asks a few seconds later if she's sick. It seems as much a stupid question as asking if she just arrived here. "I'm fine." It's Adam that she's concerned about. "Should you be working this hard given your cold?"

Adam can't let himself think it will be that simple. Nothing in his life is simple. Partly because of the life he was born into in the trailer park on the outskirts of town, a place make for leaving. Partly because Adam was his own worst enemy and would make things hard for himself if they seemed to easy. A lifetime of crap and trying to be invisible, unnoticeable, alone... it was hard for anything in his life to be easy.

"I'm fine too." Ronan has the flu. Adam just has a sniffle. He can't bring himself to complain too much, especially not to Blue.

He's surprised she didn't ask about his theories. But he goes ahead with them anyway. Sharing knowledge is the easiest kind of conversation right now with everything else going on in his mind. "I think it's like a... pocket dimension. Itinere. It pulls people in from different times and worlds... It's amazing, really.

The look of worry still remains on Blue's face. She's not certain if she'd call his condition fine. The thing about Adam Parrish though is that he doesn't let other people in. During that brief time they dated, she learned more about Adam through his friends rather than from anything he said to her. She wants to argue and under any other circumstance, she would. But the discussion of Itinere seems a little more important right now.

Blue takes a seat on the nearest surface and readjusts her skirts to cover her lap as she sits cross-legged. "Kind of like Cabeswater?" Though Cabeswater isn't exactly a dimension, is it? It's something else entirely. A dream. "How long have you been here?"

She makes herself comfortable and Adam is okay with that for the most part. There are things he doesn't want to talk about. His anxiety over Ronan and him is a very real and living thing, he feels like and he's so worried someone will notice, that Blue will notice. He doesn't want her to think he isn't glad she's here. He is. Here isn't so bad. In fact, in a lot of respects, here is better, at least for Adam. But his whole world feels tossed upside down in the same way it had when Ronan had hit his father for hitting Adam.

He's relieved when she asks about Itinere and nothing else.

"Kind of like that." He nods. "But different. There are ley lines here. I can still feel Cabeswater." And he doesn't know if Cabeswater had already been here or if it came here because of him or if it even really mattered. The point was that it was here.

He knows how strange this will sound, but he has to answer her question. "Almost seven months. Ronan and me." At first, they had tried to find a way to open the door home again. That came up fruitless, however. So they had made a life here, hoping others would come. Now that they were here, Adam felt kind of bad about their being here instead of in Henrietta.

That Adam is hiding things isn't anything new by now. She knows that it's hard for him to open up. But Blue doesn't feel like she has any right to push anymore. She lost that when she rejected him. If she ever even had that ability to pry into Adam Parrish' life to begin with.

Itinire is a much safer topic.

"Seven months?" It's not that Blue doubts Adam. He has no reason to lie to her. But that seems impossible. She had seen him only a few days ago in Henrietta. Blue doesn't like to think that his and Ronan's appearances would go unnoticed. Just the opposite, really. His answer sounds so impossible, she just has to repeat it aloud. Then again, they have lost time in Cabeswater. But seven months... "And there's no way home?"

"I know." He says with a nod, knowing how impossible it sounds. Impossible, but true. Ronan and he talk alot about what the others might be doing back in Henrietta. About twice a week they go and check the doors to home. They're always locked. Which is why it's surprising that anyone got in. Adam would go check their door again after speaking with Blue.

"People whose doors aren't stuck like ours has been, they can go back into their worlds and its like they never left." He explains. "Like life keeps going at home or... pauses. Depending on how you look at it."

He looks up to her curiously. "Did you try to go back through the door you came in?"

Her door had been closed. She had tried to open it as soon as she realized that Noah hadn't followed her into the guidance counselor's office. And, more obviously, that she was no longer in her school. She hadn't given it much thought until now.

Blue doesn't have to say anything aloud to answer Adam's question. It shows from the worry and fear on her face. Her door hadn't opened, just like it hadn't for Adam or Ronan. Will it take her seven months to get home? What about the others? Gansey and Noah. Her family at 300 Fox Way. Her missing mother.

"I've got to get back," she insists, worry and anger on her face. "I can't stay here permanently. Not with mom missing, too."

Adam and Ronan had once tried very hard to get back home. Then they had become complacent with one another, still longing for their friends and for their quest, but somehow okay with being here too. With Blue here, and the others following, Adam would have thought it would get even better.

But then, Adam had no one worth going back to, family wise. Even as much as he missed them sometimes, they weren't worth going back to. And it was better here where he couldn't even try it.

Now, with Blue's insisting, the tone of her voice, he stops his work and looks up to her, into her eyes and then immediately somewhere just beneath those eyes. He's silent for a long time before ensuring her. "I'll help." He would try to work harder for a way home than he had been. For her. "I'm sure Ronan will too."

Gansey and Noah were still back home. So are Orla and Aunt Jimi, Persephone, and Calla. Blue might not know where her mother is exactly but she knows Adam would mention if she were here. Which puts her back in Henrietta too, be it Cabeswater or somewhere else along the ley lines. They were people worth going back to. She might not be rich, not the way Gansey and Ronan are, but she's rich in family.

She tries to push aside the worry. She's only just got here and there's no guarantee that she'll be trapped as long as Adam and Ronan. Besides, shouldn't their predicament be of more concern? If anyone deserves to get out of here, it ought to be them.

"I appreciate it," she says earnestly. "And we'll get you and Ronan out as well."

Adam didn't know if he wanted to go back to a world where he had to fight so hard to keep up. With his three jobs and Aglionby and Robert Parrish and his mother who couldn't do anything but cry. Of course, he would go if the others went. But the thought didn't appeal to him as it probably should. Adam could breathe here.

The reasons he would try to go back were for Blue and her family. And, he supposed, so that he could get to Glendower first and wish the inevitability of Gansey's death away. His and Ronan's reprieve here was effectively over. This breather was probably more than he deserved anyway.

"Yeah. Ronan misses Matthew." He says, then adds with a smirk. "Declan, not so much."

She doesn't mean to be a burden in any way. Blue had honestly thought that she had been walking into the guidance counselor's office when she had crossed the threshold into Itinere. It had taken her by surprise to find herself in this city. Even after Adam's explanations, she still feels shocked by what had happened. But giving into that shock would only waste her time. The sensible thing is to remain calm. Panicking will get her no where.

At least she's not alone. She has Adam here and, apparently, Ronan. The situation could be much worse. But she'd hate to be in the way for either boy. They're her friends. She wants what's best for them.

She nods at Adam's comment. Of course Matthew would be missed, especially if they've been stuck here this long. Which leads Blue to another question. Her lips purse in thought before asking, "How often do people seem to arrive here?"

Blue wouldn't be a burden. Adam will adjust and make room for her. He and Ronan would give her their bed or the couch. Actually, Adam might take the floor and Ronan the couch and Blue can have the bed. Or maybe they can go to the Barns where there are plenty of rooms and less chance for Blue to notice there's only one bedroom in their apartment. They'll work something out.

Blue won't be alone. Because the bottom line is that they are friends. Here, there is no 300 Fox Way. Here, Blue will need them more than she ever had, he thinks.

"It's random. We can go weeks and months with no one new. And then sometimes it seems like it's every other day." Which doesn't help. He digs in his pocket to get out the phone they all got upon arrival. "Everyone gets one of these though. There's a contact list of everyone here whether you know them or not."

Scrolling through the phone, he finds Blue's name and holds it out to show her. "See? You just got here. Your name is there. We can text or call or video or... whatever. But you can check every day to see if any names you know are on there."

Never does Blue want to imagine her life without these boys in it. In such a short time, they’ve become as important to her as any resident of 300 Fox Way. Adam is right in thinking that she’ll need them now more than ever. Blue has never had to be on her own before.

She reaches into her pocket when Adam pulls out his phone and sure enough, there’s a phone in there that she hadn’t had previously. She looks at it curiously, skipping the welcome message to go straight to the list of contacts. There are a lot of names that she doesn’t recognize but two that she does: Adam Parrish and Ronan Lynch. That, she knows, is what matters. And though she’ll feel sheepish doing so, she’ll check every day to make sure those boys are still listed.

“I’ve never had my own phone before,” Blue tells him as she pockets the phone. “How do we pay for it?”

The phone is a novelty to Adam too. He's never had one of his own either. It's actually kind of nice to have Blue here, who isn't used to living with an excess of money like Ronan is. Almost everything in their apartment, and much of what Adam has, is because of Ronan's dreaming, not Adam's frequenting the shops.

"We don't. Nothing here costs money." He says that in an uncomfortable way. It's hard for Adam to wrap his mind around not having to have money. "It works on... an honor system, I guess. Cause there's stores and shops and things like that. No money."

Adam works here because he would go crazy if he didn't have something to do, if he didn't work. He's always worked. This garage gave him normalcy. "It's weird."

If someone handed Blue a lump sum equivalent to what Gansey so easily throws around, Blue would probably gawk. And then very sternly insist the money go to those who really need it. Being told that there's no monetary system in place isn't quite the same thing but it's close enough. She looks at Adam as if he's suddenly grown an extra head.

Honor systems? Stores and shops where people can take whatever they need? It all sounds too good to be true.

"Even before the Babylonians introduced a commodity money to their economy, people still bartered for goods," she points out. "Services might be complimentary but there's still a cost to making any good. How can something like this phone just be free?"

Ronan is sick as shit. Adam is keeping the ley lines in Itinere up well enough that Ronan can dream anything he might need while Adam is at work. Their apartment is slowly being taken over by virus-driven dream things. Necessity has nothing to do with Ronan leaving the apartment that afternoon. It's got everything to do with boredom.

Which is why Ronan is wandering the streets, Chainsaw on his shoulder, looking like something Death scraped off his shoe. He's clammy, pale, feverish and his nose is red from blowing it. His jaw is littered with stubble that's nearly a week old. He looks like someone that mothers should definitely hide their children and their purses from. Despite being sick, he still notices the details of things; he's still observant (a dreamer has to be) and the familiar looking girl coming toward him on the sidewalk doesn't escape his notice. He scowls at her appearance, but not so much because of her appearance. He grumbles a string of curses, capping it off with one word:

"Hallucinations."

Because after all this time, that's clearly what Blue is: a fever hallucination.

Blue has already encountered Adam Parrish in his garage, working despite the cold that seems to nag at him. She had chided him lightly for working while sick even though she understands that need. But however sick Adam had been, Ronan looks ten times worse. Of course he'd be walking around without a lick of common sense, too.

"You should be home in bed," she scolds without hesitation. That scowl doesn't scare her. It rarely does. "Especially if you think you're seeing hallucinations. What are you doing out?"

Ronan is out walking about because of the same need. He's slept until he feels like he's going to get bed sores from sleeping.

He scowls at Blue's scolding. He may like her better than he used to (he just doesn't understand her or anyone's fascination with her) but he doesn't like being scolding regardless of how much he like someone. He only tolerates it from Gansey because it's Gansey. "Because the damn apartment is filling up with frustration sick dream things," he says it in a tone of voice that implies that Blue should realize this despite the fact that her not having thought of this is totally valid.

He can control his dreaming now; he's very good at that control, but when he's sick and bored his mind searches for things to do. Fevered dream things are the result.

She rolls her eyes at his scowl and tone. Like she's supposed to know the result of fever dreams. Ronan's ability is fascinating but there's still so much she doesn't know about it. There had been strange items in the Barns. Toasters that worked without electricity, creepy looking masks, knickknacks that Blue couldn't even begin to figure out a purpose to. She knows that Chainsaw came from his dreams just like Aurora Lynch came from his father's. The thought of anything that what might come out of Ronan's frustrated sick dreams is a little worrisome.

It's not an actual excuse to be out for a walk when sick, however.

"Then Adam and I will clean it out while you sleep."

They're just going to be scowl buddies. Basically, things are normal already. At least between Blue and Ronan. Honestly, there's still a lot that Ronan is figuring out and even more he's reluctant to share because Niall was so adamant that he not tell anyone about the dreaming. For the most part, Ronan has control of the dangerous parts of the dream. He doesn't hate himself now and that has a big influence on what he pulls out of his dreams. Though, if he's sick and he has a nightmare, it could be bad.

Sure it's not!

Ronan smirks at that. "You've seen Parrish then?"

"In his garage," Blue responds patiently. If they're standing here talking, at least, his body has a chance to rest. It's not ideal but it has to be better than if he kept walking. So Blue hopes.

Especially since the mention of Adam brings back a reminder of the other boy's state of health. It hadn't been as bad as Ronan seems but maybe she had been too soon in volunteering Adam to help clean. She frowns slightly. "Come to think of it, he seems to be catching whatever it is you have. And here I thought it was Gansey who had trouble taking proper care of himself."

He's not going to keel over even if he should be in bed. "That's where he is most of the time."

"It's something going around," he says but scowls at the idea that he can't take care of himself. "We're perfectfly fucking able to take care of ourse
No. They're really not. Though Adam does a pretty good job of taking care of Ronan at least.

She'd still prefer not to take any chances in this strange city. They might not have adequate health care here. Perhaps the illness could be magical in nature. Could illness be magical in nature? Blue doesn't know. Nut she does believe that sometimes, it pays off to be safe rather than sorry.

Her arms cross over her chest. She's not buying this. "By going for a walk? I may not be a doctor but even I know this isn't how you get better.""

Ronan just glares at her a moment. "The fuck you want me to do? Go back. Lock myself in my room with fucking chicken noodle soup and hand sanitizer?"

Clearly he thinks this is the most absurd idea ever.

He’s not alone in thinking that it sounds absurd. Chicken soup is a wonderful thing to consume when sick but it’s not the only food or drink. Tea helps, too. Water. If he has a flu like symptoms, something ginger would help him. And she’d insist on soap and water over sanitizer. But she doesn’t think Ronan will listen to any of that.

Blue rolls her eyes at the response. Overall, she remains patient. Arguing with him won’t get either of them anywhere. “You’ll need more than that. We’ll lock you in the apartment instead.”

Ronan won't listen to any of that, but he has been drinking and eating a surprising amount of ginger ale and chicken noodle soup, mostly because that's what Adam has been making. He snorts at her comment, something that would be more intimidating if he weren't so sick.

"Yeah, that's gonna work out well for you."

Even if he weren't so sick, Blue isn't the sort to get intimidated so easily. She knows Ronan well enough by now. He can be dangerous and vicious when pressed but Blue thinks that a lot of the time, his bark is worse than his bite. Her arms cross over her chest. The expression on Blue's face remains defiant.

"I believe it will."

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