itinere | (no subject)

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.~~

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?"