Little Effort, Big Adventure
Chapter 1: Chapter One
Sitting at the dining room table one last time before they had to leave, they felt a bit weird.
It was almost a sense of self-awareness, more so in premature anticipation of nostalgia when they'd return kinda way.
And nothing was more satisfying than knowing they were the only one awake so far, thus having a few moments of silence before—
Footsteps.
Who could it be?
They peered over to see the stairs, but the only light on was in the kitchen, so it was obviously dark, unable to see.
Soon, what now appeared to be a shadowy figure walked towards the kitchen.
"Astro?" They asked.
Astro perked up after having stared at the table for a while.
"Professor?"
"You're up early…" The professor opened the fridge and scavenged for his pitcher of iced tea.
"Well, I want to get there on time," casually clicking their heels together, they saw the professor pour himself iced tea and then sit down at the opposite end of the table.
"You know you don't have to be there until 8."
Astro shrugged, "better early and ready than late and unprepared."
O'shay almost chuckled as he shook his head, "I guess so…"
…
In their room, Astro was packing up things into their bag. They were fishing around to find the cable to their phone.
"Under the desk? They pushed an office chair aside to see if the cable was there.
They reached their arm out and felt around, to no avail.
They sighed in disappointment before attempting to get up.
"Ow!" They accidentally hit their head against the desk.
Another sigh, "maybe I should just leave my phone here…"
They looked over at their bed for a moment, "But I just finished making my Blotify playlist…"
"Hmmmmm…. it's gotta be…"
They went on a search frenzy once they had an idea of where it could've been
…
"Okay… I gotta think long and hard about this— ha, that's what she said— AHEM! No one heard that…"
"It's not by my desk, not by my bed… not…"
The door suddenly opened.
"Oh, hey sib! Thanks for letting me borrow your charger!" Someone had burst into Astro's room with their charger in their hand.
"Uran? You had my charger?" Astro sounded annoyed.
"Uhhhhhh…." Uran froze.
Astro sighed, "I need this for my trip." They got up and snatched the cable from her.
"Aw, you're leaving for real? I thought you were just saying that to scare me into behaving…"
"Hmmm, well— didn't work anyways…"
Uran laughed, "try harder next time, okay?" She touched their shoulder with a faux-sympathetic smile before running off to her room.
Astro had given up on responding, and instead after packing their charger, left their room to go see O'shay.
They knocked on his door, and when hearing an all clear, they walked inside.
"Can you tell Uran to stop stealing my stuff?" They asked in annoyance.
"And why can't you?" O'shay replied, getting up from his desk chair.
"Ugh– she won't take me seriously!"
O'shay walked over to Astro and put a hand on their shoulder, "Maybe you need to be more serious, you've gotta give her a good foundation or else she's not going to learn– but nevermind that…" He removed his hand and headed out of the room, "We have to get going."
Astro sighed in a deadpan tone with a tilted face.
At least this wouldn't be a problem once they left.
…
"Ugh! You better take pictures while you're gone!" Uran folded her arms.
"I know I know," Astro gestured to her in a dismissive manner.
"I'm sure Astro will take lots of photos when they leave, and possibly show us when they come back," O'shay adjusted the rearview mirror.
"Well, I just wanted to be sure!"
Astro sighed.
"You have everything, correct?"
"Mmmhmm! All in my bag." They held up the brown messenger bag momentarily to show O'shay.
MetroCoast Rail
Metro City Station
The car pulled into the train station parking lot, everyone then unbuckled their seatbelt and got out.
"You have your card?" O'shay asked.
"Yes! It's uh… Way deep… In my pocket…" Astro reached deep into the pockets of their overalls to fish for their SIMPLE™ card, which allows them to get on train ride after train ride, so long as the card is filled and they remember to "tap" the SIMPLE™ card validator when they're ready to go. ((You can tell I've brushed up on my train knowledge, hehe ~Emily))
"Well, so long as you know you have it– that's good enough."
"Wahhhhhh, I'm gonna miss you, sib!" Uran dramatically whined before pulling her sibling into a hug.
Astro couldn't help but give into soothing her worries by momentarily holding her tight as the last goodbye.
"I'll miss you too Uran, but only if you don't give the professor a hard time." They pulled away and looked at her sternly.
Uran blew a raspberry to shrug them off, "I do what I want! Now if you were willing to pay me…"
Astro sighed, "I can't win with you, can I?"
"Not by a longshot!" Uran gave them a toothy grin.
They rolled their eyes before looking back at O'shay.
"I'll make it back in one piece!" They declared to him.
"Oh no worries, I don't have doubts," O'shay replied.
Astro nodded, and soon after, they could hear the sound of a train approaching.
"Look, it's here!" Uran exclaimed
Astro clutched onto their bag a tad harder as the train came closer, eventually coming to a stop.
They walked towards it before turning around for just a second to get a glimpse of O'shay and Uran.
"I'll see you!" They said.
Both O'shay and Uran were waving goodbye, with the doors to the train then opening, meaning Astro had to move quickly or else they would close and they'd miss their ride.
After "tapping in" and boarding, finding a seat was a task and a half, mainly since they wanted a window seat, but did they wanna sit in the front? The back? The middle?
The seats were slowly filling up, and if they really wanted a window seat, they'd have to act now, and fast!
They made their decision, and thus sat in the middle, though on their right side, so they were never able to get a final final look at O'shay and Uran.
…
The ride from Metro City to where they were heading would only take them 16 minutes, but they knew that not all rides they were to go on would be that short.
In fact, finding out the ride would only be 16 minutes was quite the shocker, since they had the preconceived notion that it would take at least 20.
Nonetheless, it was surprisingly quiet, with the only sound being the train roaring against the tracks.
They decided, to spruce it up a little, to put on their earphones and listen to music for the time being, as well as pull out the paper they had kept in their back pocket.
O'shay had given them a paper with a list of contacts they could meet on their trip, and on the back, it had a vague map of the places they planned to go, the first of which was Gardenia.
It started a few weeks back when they were on the computer looking up nearby cities.
They've lived in Metro City their entire life, but there was always this wonder about what other places were nearby, it couldn't just be Metro City and Bella Note, right?
So they researched, and researched, and researched, and eventually, after compiling a list of places to see, they brought it up to O'shay over dinner one night and at first, he was confused, he thought Astro was considering running away!
Of course, then, Astro had to correct him and from then on he was open to the idea, since he always liked the idea of Astro taking on their own adventures and exploring places without having to drag him along.
Then after, it was the two of them putting all their efforts towards planning everything from how they'd get there, who they'd meet, ETC.
And today was proof it all paid off.
They looked out the window, and saw an abundance of bushes pass them by; they wondered if the entire city of Gardenia was nothing but grass and flowers. Or trees scattered around old wooden buildings and dirt just barely being exposed because of grass that wore out.
Or perhaps maybe it lived up to its name, and the city was entirely a garden, possibly with actual gardenias, which to them makes the city sound almost… ethereal in a way.
Nonetheless, no matter what they predicted, the train was getting closer to its stop and they'd soon find out the truth.
Goodbye, Metro City
xx