I love writing banter between the gang. And cute stuff. So much fun. With Camp Nano approaching I'm going to try and crank these chapters out a bit faster. Let's see how that goes. Ps. Thanks to Rena, whose update encouraged me to not fail. Any similarities between our stories are pure plagarism and the result of some kind of style osmosis. Enjoy~
Tired man in unbuttoned suits and loosened ties stuffed travel bags into the overhead bins, while mothers buckled in sleepy children. Passengers mumbled their half-hearted annoyance as their chairs were jostled by those still trying to find their seats. Those traveling in light summer clothing tucked into jackets and blankets, chilled by the recycled air circulating through the cabin.
And, bouncing in her seat, Aelita took in every unglamorous detail with barely contained excitement.
"Ready for your next first of the day?" Ulrich asked, flashing Aelita a smile as he crammed his duffle into the overhead bin. Aelita nodded rapidly before being distracted by her window as she caught sight of a little transport loaded with luggage barreling across the tarmac.
As everyone settled into their seats and the plane began moving away from the airport, Aelita's exciting bouncing picked up in intensity. Peering out the window, she waved to the men directing the plane as it backed up and, more than once, she tapped Yumi's arm to show her something that excited her.
Laughing, Yumi handed Aelita a magazine and a little, plane provided pillow.
"Just wait until we're in the air," she said. "Then you'll have something to look at." Eyeing going wide, Aelita pressed her hands to the window, eagerly awaiting whatever sights she would be seeing next.
Eventually the plane, which had been wandering along at an easy, winding pace, rolled to a stop. A little confused, Aelita glanced to Yumi, who gave her an encouraging smile.
"We're about to take off," she said. "Better hold on tight." Clutching her jacket, which Yumi had made her fish from her bag before they boarded, Aelita tried to imagine what take off would be like. She only had a little time to wonder though.
Outside the plane the engines roared to life, the airplane beginning to inch along the runway. Accelerating quickly, the plane barreled along, bouncing a few times before lifting off. Aelita felt the exact moment when the plane went from being held up by the ground to being carried by air, and it filled her with an unexpected thrill. Quickly turning in her seat, Aelita looked to see if any of her friends had felt it too.
To her surprise, Yumi didn't seem to be paying the take off any attention at all as she perused one of the magazines she'd found in her seat pocket. Turning to peer between the two seats, Aelita spotted her two male friends. Odd was plastered to his window, obviously having as much fun as Aelita. Ulrich was clinging to his chair, and Aelita would have been hard pressed to say if he was enjoying himself or completely terrified.
Noticing Aelita watching him, Ulrich attempting what he must have thought was a smile. Grinning brightly back, Aelita turned back around in her seat and focused on her window once more.
A gasp escaped her at the sight that twinkled back.
Below all of Paris glowed bright, the lights if the city illuminated beautifully against the dark of the night. Aelita could still make out the headlights of cars as they followed the roads, like lines if bright little ands marching across a field of stars.
"Amazing, isn't it?"
Blinking, Aelita tilted her head to look back. Through the gap between her seat and the side of the plane she could see Odd grinning. She nodded.
"It's beautiful," she breathed.
"Wait until you see London."
Odd had been right. If she'd thought France had looked lovely from the air, it was nothing to seeing London as they swooped in to land.
Being so low, Aelita could make out individual kinds if cars in the roadways as they weaved through the city. She was surprised to note that they seemed to be on the wrong side of the road. When she pointed this out to Odd, he simply nodded.
"Yeah, some places do that," he said, grinning mischievously. "Watch," he added, pointing to his own window. "We're starting to land."
With a thrill of excitement Aelita turned back to her window, her eyes widening as she realized they had indeed dropped even closer to the city below.
Watching the city rush up to meet them incredible. There was an almost surreal aspect to it all as the city transformed before her eyes from the beautiful cluster of lights into buildings, streets, cars, and even little moving dots that she realized were people. They sailed across rooftops, so close Aelita was sure that, if she wanted, she could have reached out and touched the tips of their chimneys.
And then the buildings below them were gone, replaced by open fields as they swooped in over the airport itself, its maze of runways and jetways illuminated with rows of little white lights. Aelita's fingers curled tightly around her armrest as she prepared for the landing. Without any previous experience to guide her, she couldn't be sure if it was going to be something rough and wild, or so gentle she didn't feel it at all.
In the end, it turned out to be a little of both.
The plane bounced when the wheels first touched the ground, lifting up and hitting the ground again before staying on the runway. Slowing drastically, the plane shook as it decelerated from airborne speeds to something a little more ground friendly.
Blinking, a wide grin spitting her face, Aelita swiveled to see what her friends' reactions were to yet another new experience. She was slightly surprised to note that they weren't all that different from when the plane first took off: Yumi was still reading her magazine, Odd was still plastered to his window, and Ulrich still looked like he might just start crying.
"Well, Aelita?" Yumi asked, as the plane began making its way towards the gate. "What did you think of you first flight?" Aelita, who looked fit to burst with her excitement, grinned brightly.
"Can we fly everywhere from now on?"
Yumi laughed, while behind her Ulrich made a disgruntled noise, triggering further laughter from his friends.
"Don't worry princess," Odd answered her. "You're going to get your fill of flying soon." Ulrich sighed.
"Don't remind me."
While his friends continued to poke fun at Ulrich's expense, the plane worked its way to the walkway extending out over the tarmac. Man in orange vests waved the plane in to position, as numerous little cars towing empty baggage carts converged on the flying behemoth.
Inside the plane people began to shuffle and move, sighing and stretching as they climbed to their feet. Some people began rummaging through overhead bins while others climbed to their feet, moving with purpose into the aisles without going anywhere. Eyeing her fellow plane riders, Aelita unbuckled her seatbelt, preparing to stand as well, when a hand appeared on her arm.
"Not yet," Yumi said, using her free hand to tuck away her magazine. At Aelita's confused look she continued, "we don't have to catch our flight right away, so we're not in a rush."
Leaning back in her seat, Aelita watched as the few people standing quickly turned into a single-file crowd, people packing into the aisle as they gathered their bags close. Only a few others had remained seated.
Eventually, with an announcement from the pilot, the line-crowd began an awkward shuffle towards the exit. It took some time for them to filter out, but by the time they were gone the plane was left to those who had waited patiently, who were now able to gather their things at their leisure before disembarking from the plane.
Aelita wasn't sure when, but at some point she'd made the assumption that airports would all look alike. Stepping into her second airport of the day soon proved her wrong, bringing her to an abrupt stop as she stepped out of the gangway and into her first look at London's airport. Grinning at their friend's amazement, the rest of the gang scooted unobtrusively to the side to allow Aelita her moment of wonder. Eventually Aelita noticed her friends waiting and, with a sheepish grin, hurried over to join them.
"What do we do now?" she asked, allowing her bag to drop at her feet. Before anyone could respond, a gurgling noise filled the air.
As one, all eyes turned towards the source.
"What?" Odd asked, scowling as he covered his stomach. "I'm hungry."
"Well, I think that answers that question." Ulrich grinned as he hefted his bag onto his shoulder. "Let's go find something to eat."
While the others dug into their food, Aelita only half paid attention to her dinner. Her gaze was busy darting around the restaurant, taking in the sight of people from all over the world catching a quick burger with their luggage tucked under the table. She was so engrossed in her people watching that she failed to see the amused looks her friends were giving her.
Eventually her appetite got the best of her and Aelita turned to her sandwich. As she finally got to munching, she decided to direct the group in conversation, presenting them with the question foremost on her mind.
"So, Odd," she said, around a mouthful of turkey, "what's your home going to be like?"
"Yeah Odd,' Yumi said, a teasing glint in her eye, "Let's hear about this imaginary house of yours."
"Huh?"
As the girls dissolved into oddly knowing giggles, Odd turned a confused look on his friend.
"What does she mean by 'imaginary'?" he asked. Ulrich shrugged, not looking up from his dinner.
"Her dad probably thinks you're lying about having a house, and this you're just getting us to fly to some empty island in New Zealand as some kind of practical joke."
"Me?" Odd asked, a hand plastered across his chest. "Why would he ever think such a thing about sweet, innocent little me?"
"Because he's met you?" Ulrich tried. Aelita giggled as Yumi rested her chin in her hand.
"So, Odd, tell us about the house."
"Please," Odd said, wrinkling his nose. Yumi pulled a face back. Rolling his eyes, Odd settled back into his chair. "Okay, so. The summer house." He paused, then, "you guys know my mom's an artist, right?"
"Yeah," Ulrich said, flashing Yumi a confused look. "So?"
"Well, a few years ago she did this giant painting of what her dream house would look like, if she could have it. She spent months on it—it was practically a member of the family for a while. Dad would always joke that we needed to make an extra plate of food for it at dinner.
"Anyway, so my mom spent forever painting this thing. We never got to see it though, because she wanted the final thing to be a surprise. But she ended up finishing it right before one of her gallery show things, so she took it with her to the show before we got to see it, and it someone bought it."
"That sucks," Ulrich said. Aelita nodded.
"It must have been a shame to miss it."
"Oh, it was," Odd assured her. "But we got over it."
"Good old Della Robbia attention span?" Yumi joked. Ulrich grinned.
"I think that runs in the boys of the family."
"Ha ha," Odd deadpanned.
"So, did you ever get to see the painting?" Aelita asked, redirecting the conversation in her usual, curious way. Grinning, Odd turned to the pink haired girl to continue his story.
"Kind of. See, after the painting got bought, my dad started traveling a lot more for his work. He'd been saying he was expecting to get promoted or something, so we didn't think anything of it."
"I'm failing to see how this relates to a summer house," Ulrich observed.
"Don't interrupt," Yumi said, waving a hand in his direction.
"Yeah Ulrich. Don't rush the story. So, dad started working more. For like, a year and a half he spent more and more time working away from home. It started to annoy mom, actually. She didn't like that he was home so little. Especially because their anniversary was coming up." Aelita and Yumi, enticed by a possible romance plot twist, leaned in closer. Ulrich, less interested, returned to his sandwich. Odd ignored the brunet, taking advantage of his captive female audience.
"So, their anniversary was like, two days away, and my dad had been out of town for almost two weeks. And then without any warning my dad shows up and tells us he's got tickets for the whole family to take a weekend trip. Mom? Was so mad. She was expecting some kind of dinner and movie for two thing, not having to lug her bratty kids on a trip somewhere."
"Bratty kids meaning her daughters and annoying son?"
Odd frowned at Ulrich.
"I'll have you know, I'm the favorite child of the family."
"I thought Adele was the favorite?"
"Adele?" Aelita asked.
"My oldest sister," Odd supplied. "She's second favorite."
"I thought your parents were getting annoyed with your grades this year?" Yumi asked. It was Ulrich who answered her.
"Don't you remember the parent-teacher conferences last semester?" The dark haired girl was silent for a long moment as she remembered that particular scene.
"That's right," she said, shaking her head. "What was it they called it? 'Expressing his inner creativity'?" Ulrich snorted. That had been one way to describe Odd's April fool's pranks.
"I think Delmas called it 'vandalism'."
"He just has no appreciation for a good sense of humor," Odd defended. "You should have heard my parents when I told them about Jer's spray painting spree," he added, referencing Jeremy's scheme to stay in school over a holiday break. "They were so proud I thought they were going to try and adopt him." Ulrich, the only member of the group who had spent time with all of Odd's family, choked on his food.
"Jeremy living with the Della Robbia horde?" he finally coughed out. "I'd pay to see that happen."
"Jer would fit in just fine," Odd said.
"Like a goldfish living with 'free spirited' piranhas." Odd sniffed.
"No appreciation for the artistically inclined."
"That's one way to put it."
Aelita, who was displeased with the way the discussion was deviating from a story who's plot she wanted to know, frowned openly.
"So what happened with the weekend trip?" she asked. A blank, blue eyed stare met her gaze. After a moment Odd seemed to remember the story he'd been telling.
"Oh, right," he said. "So, mom was all mad, but dad had already bought bus tickets so we had to go. He wouldn't tell us where we were going though, which we kids thought was awesome but mom thought was dumb.
"Anyway, we take this bus all the way across New Zealand to this ratty little ferry port that had one boat that looked like it was going to sink any second. Mom was so mad at this point that she almost refused to get on the ferry, but dad let us kids all run ahead and get on, so she kind of had to."
"I feel like we're getting a look at what you'll be like as a parent," Ulrich said. Odd deftly ignored him.
"So the ferry leaves, and at this point everyone but my dad thinks it's going to start sinking before we actually get anywhere. But he tells us all to ignore it. And then we start heading for this little island and my mom immediately thinks my dad's trying to get us all to trespass on someone's property."
"Your dad would do that?" Aelita asked. Ulrich scowled.
"The better question is, 'your dad would do that twice?'" Odd laughed.
"He was welcoming you to the family!"
"I was arrested!"
"Being escorted back to my house via cop car isn't arrested." Ulrich huffed. Odd took this as a victory and continued his story.
"So, now mom is refusing to get off the boat, which dad thinks is hilarious and which he gets around by convincing us to all storm the island when the ferry gets there. So now mom is so pissed, but she gets off the boat and follows us, because dad told us to go running off down the path through the trees."
"And you did?" Aelita asks.
"Their dad is always telling them to do stupid stuff," Ulrich said. "And for some reason they always do it."
"Not stupid," Odd defended. "Fun."
"Like trespassing on private property?"
"He didn't tell you to get caught. That was your idea. But anyway," he continued, "we all go running off down this path with my parents following us. And we all think there's going to be like, a tent waiting at the end, because we think dad's still trying to mess with my mom. But we get to the other side of the island and there's not a tent. There's an entire house."
"So you were trespassing?"
"That's what we thought, till mom showed up. She stopped, stared at the house for like, an entire minute, and then my dad goes 'Happy anniversary!' and she bursts into tears."
"Wait, she cried?" Yumi asked, looking shocked. Odd nodded.
"After she calmed down we found out that the house was identical to the dream house she's painted. My dad was the one who bought the painting, and then he went and had the actual house built. He bought the island from a guy he worked with, and then he had a bunch of friends who owed him favors help him build it. When we thought he was going on long business trips he was actually going to the island to work on the house."
"Wow," Aelita breathed, her eyes bright with wonder. Yumi looked thoughtful for a moment, and then turned to Ulrich.
"I would like it noted that I also want my dream house as a gift." Odd burst into laughter while Ulrich sputtered, struggling to come up with an appropriate response. While Ulrich floundered and Yumi grinned her triumph, Aelita continued to pepper Odd with questions.
"Is it a big house?" she wondered.
"It's tall," Odd said. "There's a staircase in the middle that spirals up to the roof, and the floors all branch off it. I think my mom was going for some kind of flower effect through the house. There's this big flower shaped stained glass sky light and everything, and dad even put a little garden on the roof."
"It sounds lovely," Aelita breathed.
"That's not even the best part," Odd assured her. "The house faces the beach, and if you don't mind walking a little bit there's these awesome caves and a cool little inlet thing. And my dad built this awesome natural looking pool in the back. If you like swimming or exploring or napping, you're going to love this place."
"Sounds like it's got Aelita, me and Yumi, and you covered," Ulrich teased. Odd tossed a french-fry at him.
"I can't wait to see it," Aelita said, bouncing in her seat. "It sounds amazing."
"Don't worry, you'll get to see it soon enough."
"Sooner than you think," Yumi said, as she glanced at her phone. "We need to hurry up and get to the gate, the plane starts boarding in fifteen minutes."
The gang paused long enough to share an understanding look before they dove back into their food, quickly shoveling down what they could before Odd dumped a pile of bills on the table and, haphazardly gathering their things, the group took off into the airport. Filled with excitement brought on by Odd's description of the house, they raced through the crowds of people, bags trailing out behind them. In their excitement they reached their gate more quickly than expected, giving them time to catch their breath as they waited to board. Despite the disapproving looks from the adults sitting around them the gang continued to scuffle and laugh.
Luckily their energy began to fade as they piled onto the giant plane that would take them all the way to Australia. As they shuffled into their seats, claiming the center row of four to themselves, blankets and pillows began to emerge as they stuffed their bags into overhead bins. As she tucked herself into her pink throw, Aelita tried briefly to look out the window across the aisle, but even with the row of seats between her and the view empty she couldn't quite make out much beyond the dark night sky.
"Go to sleep, Aelita," Yumi said, fluffing her own pillow before propping it against an already softly snoring Ulrich. Glancing past her two friends, Aelita spotted Odd situating his pillow on his tray table.
"See you in the morning," he said with a smile before crossing his arms under his pillow and burrowing under his blanket. Taking her cue from her companions, Aelita tucked her pillow behind her head and pulled her blanket up under her chin, wondering as she did how anyone could sleep through something as incredible as flying.
She was asleep before the wheels ever left the ground.
The faint sound of laughter was the first thing to reach Aelita's half sleeping mind.
The sunlight streaming against her eyelids was a close second.
Frowning her discontent, Aelita wondered briefly why her blinds had decided to stop working before remembering just a moment later that she'd moved out of her dorm room already, causing her eyes to snap open.
"Good morning," Yumi greeted cheerfully when Aelita blinked blearily in her direction.
"Good morning," the boys parroted from behind her. Aelita turned her attention to them, and blinked again.
"Good…morning?" she said, staring at the boys and they grinned in her direction. "What happened to your hair?"
Odd and Ulrich glanced at one another, eyeing the pigtails, braids, and ribbons decorating their hair.
"It's a long flight," Yumi explained. "We're keeping busy."
Despite the less than comfortable nap she'd taken and the strangeness she'd awaken to, Aelita could feel her sleep rejuvenating her as she became steadily more awake.
"We're not there yet?" she asked, glancing around for an idea of the time.
"About two thirds of the way," Ulrich supplied, offering his wrist so she could see his watch. She did a double take when she saw that nearly nine hours had passed. She'd gotten an entire night's sleep, and they still weren't there!
"What are we supposed to do until we get there?" Aelita asked. As engrossing as flying had been before, she was now stuck away from an aisle, and with plenty of sleep in her she was getting antsy. Odd grinned, pulling out his backpack and setting it on his tray table. It landed with an impressive thump.
"Now the real fun begins."
With sunlight streaming through their windows and a few hours of sleep beneath their belts, Aelita was quickly introduced to the art of keeping busy on a plane. Breaking out a deck of cards, the gang worked their way through multiple rounds of go fish, war, rummy, black jack, a tag-team version of solitaire, and a twenty minute attempt to learn poker that never really worked out. Odd's coloring books surfaced next, and what began as doodling soon turned into a full blown coloring war, with Odd handing out the finished products to the flight attendants and two passengers just trying to find the restroom.
When Odd's bag of tricks began to lose its interest Aelita's pink laptop emerged, packed last minute at Yumi's urging. Popping in a move, the gang only spent about twenty minutes watching it before they realized they noticed a list of scenes at the side of the window, and the fact that they could re-name them. Eventually the movie fell solely into the hands of the boys, who threw themselves into analyzing the physics of the action flick ("I could do that" "I could do it better"). The girls, meanwhile, broke out their make-up bags, and began a whirlwind session of who can make the other look more ridiculous.
Meanwhile Odd's camera continued to flash, documenting it all.
To Aelita's surprise, what seemed like things that only passed a few minutes actually carried the gang through the rest of the flight, and before she knew it she realized her view through the windows was beginning to show civilization growing closer and closer. When she pointed this out excitedly to her friends, Odd immediately grabbed her hand and tugged her over into an empty window seat, the pair plastering themselves to the glass to watch the landing.
"Is this what it's like having children?" Ulrich grumbled from his seat, eyeing the piles of cards and coloring books Odd had left behind.
"It's what it's like having Odd as a child," Yumi responded brightly before grabbing a clump of Ulrich's hair and tying it up neatly with a ribbon. Ulrich simply sighed.
Landing in Australia was much different for Aelita, as this time around the sun was up and she could see all of the buildings and the airport illuminated around them. Questions poured from her as she pointed out every detail she could see, and Odd did his best to keep up with his answers. Across the aisle Yumi and Ulrich attempted to tidy up after their messy friend.
And as they tucked away movies and crayons, they watched Odd and Aelita share their excitement as they passed through a cloud on their way to the ground. At Ulrich's knowing look Yumi could only smile as she quickly snapped a picture of the pair, the message in the twist of her lips clear.
They'll figure it out eventually.