Sal's Reality, Port aux Basques: The Official Road Trip Thread

[fire-in-flight.livejournal.com]

"So." Sal leaned on the hood of the van, sneaking in one more cigarette before they left for Florida. It was quite the sight: the massive maroon vehicle was stuffed to the rafters with luggage, snack food, and had a full tank of gas.

"So?" Ven was staring at her from the other side of it, completely amused at his mentor's stressed outlook. In all the years he'd known the woman, he'd never seen her really lose her cool - but she was coming close.

"So we've got ourselves reservations for the eight o'clock boat. And it's ten after six and we needs to get goin else we misses our spot. An' Mu launches in exactly forty-eight hours and..."

Ven stooped down to pick up Shae, who had barrelled down the stairs with her still-yawning mother in tow. "And we'll get there just fine. Didn't you say she had a portal waiting for you in North Sydney, anyway?"

Sal extinguished her cigarette and blew the smoke away from Shae, watching Jav, Kurt, and Vic come down the stairs hauling the rest of the luggage. "Yes, yes, and yes, but still, b'y, I hates bein' late." She held out her arms in response to Shae's attempt to get closer to her grandmother. "Give her here, look..."

She was interrupted by a loud bang that sounded like it was coming from her kitchen. She looked at Shae, who was grinning.

"D'you know what all that noise is?" she asked the toddler.

"Nope," the little girl shook her head, brown curls bouncing around.

"Want t' go find out with me?"

"Yeah!"

They went up the stairs together, Sal maneuvering Shae into a piggy-back position. "I betcha it's Leeroy. It always is."

"Uncle 'Roy is funny," Shae declared. "He's always doin' somethin'." The girl had a slight Newfie twang and it amused Sal to no end.

"Yes, b'y."

They opened the front door and peered into the kitchen where Sam had Leeroy in a headlock.

"Do I want t' know?" Sal asked resignedly. "Or should I just yell at the load of ye to get yer butts downstairs 'fore I loses it?"

Comments

[random_xtras]

Mykayla started as her watch gave a clear trill, then pressed a button on it. "Scrat, where are you?"

"In Florida," came his sheepish voice. "I forgot to reset the destination."

"Bonehead." Vic climbed back into his luggage hidey hole, taking Zipporah and Shae with him.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"Alright," Jeimu said. "Everyone get in."

She waited until everyone did so and then raised her arms in front of her, closing her eyes and visualizing the destination...

Suddenly a shimmering patch of air appeared in front of the van, causing a chill to fall over the vehicle deck of the boat. Jeimu grinned, jumped off the roof of the van and slapped the rear end of it, telekinetically sending the entire van through the portal toward Florida.

-See you later,- she thought, before she, too, headed to Florida.

**

On the space shuttle Endeavour, Mission Specialist 4, Jeimu Chang-Oboa, snuffled as though waking up from a very long nap. Her self was whole again, with twenty-six minutes to launch, and nervousness set in almost immediately.

"Glad you could make it back," Yvonne Mahan, the mission commander, said with a grin.

"I try." Jeimu adjusted the headphones on her snoopy-cap. "Thanks, eh?"

"No problem. They're lifting the hold in a minute, then we're 9 minutes till."

Jeimu took a deep breath, listening as the other crew members did their communications check. For some reason this seemed to be validating the fact that yes, she was going into space and no, she wouldn't be home for six months. It was almost as though by verifying the comm check she was sealing her own fate.

Still, she grinned widely as she said it, letting the nervousness give way to excitement.

"Houston, Endeavour - MS-4," she said.

[fire-in-flight.livejournal.com]

"She's really good at that," Sal said, climbing out of the van and looking at the horizon where launch pad 39B could be seen clearly. "It scares me sometimes."

She then looked at Jav. "Ye okay? Let's go inside and find the radio."

[i_salted_dean]

Sam watched as Jav took a deep breath and followed his honorary mother out of the van, then shivered slightly and looked at Leeroy, who still looked dazed from his napping. She frowned slightly and put a hand on him, praying quickly for his brain to clear so he could watch too.

[random_xtras]

"Ach!" Kurt followed Sal, a small girl hanging off each arm as Vic got abandoned for the guy who felt fuzzy.

The big man grumbled, but then stopped and quirked a grin as Jabez walked over and offered him her hand. "Let's go see this tin can take off, kid."

Mykayla blinked and looked over the back of her seat at Sam and Leeroy as she felt the heart song surge.

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

"How'd we get here so fast?" Leeroy muttered. "What the @&#$ did Mu do?" He tilted his head as though waiting for Jeimu's mental rebuke, but none came - just a very firm sense of don't you dare bother me I'm busy.

"How soon 'till she leaves?"

[i_salted_dean]

"Well, it was't a fart," said Sam, looking into his eyes. "Ten minutes, now. We'd better get out there. How do you feel?"

[random_xtras]

Kurt grinned from where he perched on the cottage roof with a little girl on each knee, telling them about the shuttle they were watching.

"I wanna be up there." Zipporah pointed to where Josh hovered about ten feet in the air with Jenny in his arms.

"Comin' up," grunted Vic as Jabez pulled on his arm with hands and tail. "This'd be easier if I could use my claws."