Just a little ficlet inspired by the latest thing on Tumblr, MapCrunch.
Jeff, Troy, and Abed sat in their usual spots around the table, hunched over their laptops and clicking intently.
"Where are you at, Abed," Troy asked, glancing briefly over to his best friend.
"Not sure. I got dropped in the middle of the forest," Abed replied, clicking around on his laptop, "and I haven't seen a sign yet. What about you?"
"I'm near a town, but I can't read any of these signs," Troy said, zooming in on one of them, "I can't tell if I'm in China or Japan."
"I think I'm in Iceland," Jeff said aloud, squinting his eyes at the screen.
"Really," Troy asked, eyes lit up.
Jeff sighed and leaned back on his chair, "I'm not sure anymore. How can there be so many vowels in one word?"
Britta and Annie hung back by the door, watching them with bewildered looks.
"Wait," Troy sounded excited and hopeful.
Jeff and Abed looked over to him, waiting with anticipation.
Troy frowned, "Nevermind."
Jeff and Abed sighed, going back to their own laptops.
"Okay, I have to know what you guys are up to," Britta said, finally entering the room with Annie behind her.
"We're playing MapCrunch," Abed answered.
"Yeah, Abed found it after he signed up on Tumblr," Troy explained, "he got me hooked on it."
Annie and Britta turned to Jeff.
"Yeah, he got me hooked on it too," Jeff said.
"What is it exactly," Annie asked, taking her seat.
"You go to the website, select hide location and hit go," Abed glanced up at Annie before clicking on his laptop, "it'll drop you onto a random road, in a random country. Figure out where you are, then go off to find the nearest airport to go home."
"Seriously," Britta said, "you know you can play that in real life right? It's called getting away from the laptop and actually traveling to these countries. I've done it several times!"
"Are you saying that you've woken up on a random road in a random country and had to find an airport," Troy asked, taking his eyes off of the screen and looking at her with a raised brow.
"I...uh…," Britta closed her mouth.
"Now there's a story I wanna hear," Jeff smirked at her.
"Shut up and find your airport," Britta fired back at him.
"I don't even know where I am," Jeff said, "these signs make no sense to me!"
Annie leaned over to him, "Show me the sign."
He turned to the laptop toward her.
"That's Welsh," Annie said, "you're in Wales."
"Wh-how did you know that," Jeff was completely dumbfounded.
"I did a massive project on the United Kingdom," Annie said, grinning, "Wales was my favorite!"
"If Wales is your favorite, then tell me if this is a town or a street."
Annie moved to the empty seat next to Jeff, becoming completely enthralled by MapCrunch and Jeff's search for the nearest airport.
"There's a good chance he'll find the airport first," Abed said before looking to Britta, "maybe you should help Troy and I find ours."
"Have you figured out where you are yet," Britta asked.
"Nope," Abed clicked around, "I still haven't found a sign."
"And I still can't tell if I'm in China or Ja-wait," Troy said, zooming in on a sign.
Britta went to see what he found, looking over his shoulder.
"I'm in China," Troy felt a sense of accomplishment, "Now I to figure out what city I'm in."
Ten minutes later, Shirley and Pierce walked in, both of them wondering why their friends were squinting at their laptops.
"What are you guys looking at? Porn," Pierce joked.
"MapCrunch," Chorused the five at the study table.
"What the hell is that," Pierce asked, sitting down and looking over at Troy's computer.
"It's a game, sort of," Britta answered, "you go to this website, hide the location, and hit go."
"It'll drop you on a random road, in a random country," Annie continued, "the point is to figure out where you are and find the airport to go home."
"Does Caernarfon have an airport," Jeff glanced over to Annie, "that's the town we're getting close to."
"I'm not sure," Annie said trying to remember if that was in her report or not.
"I'm so close to Beijing," Troy said, "I'll find an airport soon!"
"Well, that sounds...fun," Shirley said, trying to sound interested.
"It doesn't look interesting," Pierce commented, "they're just looking at a map."
"Yeah, a map that doesn't tell us where we are," Troy said.
"Guys, I found out where I am," Abed said.
All eyes fell upon Abed.
"I ended up in Colorado."
The others groaned.
"That's not fair," Annie complained, "you're already home!"
"That's where it put me," Abed shrugged.
"You don't even have to find an airport! You can just go home," Jeff said, frustrated.
"You should start over with a new place," Britta said, looking at the others, "are we all in agreement?"
The others nodded their heads.
"Start over," Britta demanded.
Abed shrugged once more and clicked on go.
"I'm right outside of the airport in Spain."
"You're kidding me," Troy exclaimed while everyone else groaned again.
"I don't think I'll ever understand this game," Shirley said, shaking her head.
"Heh, me and you both," Pierce said, reaching down in to his bag and pulling out a deck of cards, "Pinocle?"
"Now that's a game I can understand," Shirley said with a smile, "deal out the cards."