Lloyd: Ho-ly crap. I really did not mean to hold of posting this so long, and since I'm kind of the one that has the finished copy, I guess it's my fault that it wasn't up sooner. -sheepish grin- Even though this chapter has been ready for a very long time... Anyway, my own idocity aside, this is chapter...two? Yeah, chapter two. Thanks to our two reviewers (Whoot! We got reviews on our first chapter!), and I'd like to answer a question by one of them that was how we got the character names. Honestly, I just picked a name of someone in my family. The fact that 'Caitlin' and 'Katherine' are so similar is a complete coincidence.
Genis: But if the first one was a prologue, wouldn't this be chapter one? Whatever. And ... um... my grandma's name is Catherine... *ahem* Yeah! Chapter one/two! ^.^ And, blame Lloyd for not updating. It's totally all her fault.
Lloyd: I'm sorry! And I didn't remember if that was a prologue or an actual chapter... (And by the way, we don't own ToS. Which is sad.) And also, real quick, thanks to Manwathiel for still helping us with beta-ing.
The two girls landed with a thud on the hard ground. The surrounding area looked nothing like England. The towering blocks that make up Stonehenge were nowhere in sight, and the ocean could be heard from where they were. "What the hell just happened?" Caitlin exclaimed as soon as she realized that they weren't in England any longer, which took about a minute of looking around blankly.
"Hoooly crack. Where are we?" Katherine said slowly, while shaking her hand quickly in the air. Like with her friend, it had taken Katherine a moment to notice that they weren't in England any longer. She didn't even seem to notice that Caitlin had spoken, let alone asked a question that couldn't be answered, "Ow, ow, ow... well, Lloyd, where are we?"
"How'm I supposed to know? I'm as confused as you are, Genis!" Caitlin pointed out, watching Katherine moving her hand through the air in pain. She was trying to hide a smirk that wanted to come to her face. "And how'd you hurt yourself this time?"
"I hit my hand. On the ground," Katherine answered shortly, stopping her wild flailing and inspecting her hand. Caitlin rolled her eyes at her friend's klutziness and muttered, "Idiot," under her breath while getting to her feet. Katherine didn't seem to hear the small insult and also got up. She was looking over the other girl's shoulder when she suddenly pointed. "Hey, look! There's a city over there!" She announced, momentarily forgetting the small pain in her hand.
Curious, Caitlin looked around to see where her friend was pointing. Just as she had said, a city was resting a ways away from the two girls. Nothing distinct could be made out, but a blue line could be seen right past the town - the ocean. Caitlin started off toward the city, saying over her shoulder, "Come on. Let's go see if anyone will tell us where in the world we are." She glanced back at Katherine to make sure she was following; the other girl ran up to her friend, walking alongside her.
"We're one waffle away from reaching the city! Hurry up!" That made Caitlin snicker and roll her eyes. Just like her friend to quote Bolt almost randomly.
"How long is 'one waffle away' anyway?" Caitlin asked curiously, looking over at Katherine for the answer. Katherine just shrugged, not knowing exactly how to answer it.
For several minutes, there was a lot of pointless yet hilarious chatter that wiled the time away until they reached the gates of the ocean town. The buildings looked a lot bigger this close up, and right inside the entrance a bridge connected the town to the road. There were quite a few people on the stone streets, and the two girls were given a couple odd glances. A sign sat on one of the posts at the entrance, and Katherine went to read it so that they knew where they were.
"Palma--" She started reading aloud, before stopping halfway through. "Lloyd, we're screwed."
Confused, Caitlin drew her attention away from the seaside town and looked at the sign. Her jaw dropped and she read the word a few times over, "What the hell?" She said (again) as soon as she got her voice back. "No way. This can't be Palmacosta. That's a place in a video game, not in real life!"
"But... but what if Stonehenge is like the Otherworldly Gate? We're stuck here! What do we do?"
"But I thought the Otherworldly Gate was just a portal between Tethe'alla and Sylvarant," Caitlin said, her voice hushed. There were a lot of people watching them, because of their reaction to finding out about the town. "As for what we should do, well... what else? Hang out here, try not to draw attention to ourselves, and try to find a way back!"
The group of onlookers dispersed after a moment, leaving the girls alone. "Well, we don't have any Gald. Maybe we should try waitressing at the Academy? They pay pretty well for...well, here I suppose."
With a sigh, Caitlin nodded slowly. "I... I guess we could... this is so weird," she muttered. It was kind of hard to grasp the fact that they had just happened to travel from Stonehenge to Palmacosta. It was a bit too absurd for her to believe fully. She and Katherine had just been sent into their favorite video game, it seemed, and quite randomly as well. The idea that they were dreaming was much easier to grasp and she went with that mental conclusion. It was all just some wacky dream from playing a little too much Tales of Symphonia.
Slowly, Katherine entered the town and instantly came upon a store that she walked up to, stopping and reading the sign, while Caitlin looked at the full display window; it held dark bottles. The sign proclaimed the name of the store to be Marble's.
"Caitlin, this is too sad. I never could handle going in here, at least after I found out what it was. Remember when I tried to avoid it all together?" Katherine said, giving the store one last glance and then walking away.
Realizing that her friend was leaving, Caitlin jogged to catch up before answering the question. "Yeah. It didn't work out so well. The game really wanted you to go into that shop... poor Marble," she said, glancing over her shoulder at the store. A second later, she almost ran into someone, so she turned around so that there were no more near-collisions in the middle of the street.
Weaving in between people easily, now pulling Caitlin along by her wrist so that she would keep up, Katherine made her way to the Palmacosta Academy . It looked a whole lot bigger in real life than it did in the game, and Caitlin suspected it had more than four rooms all together. As Katherine dragged her friend inside, she noticed a basket in the corner that was the Wonder Chef.
"Spell your love with ketchup..." She mumbled while her friend rolled her eyes, before she continued dragging Caitlin down the hallway where she presumed the cafeteria to be.
"You know that you don't have to drag me around everywhere," Caitlin complained, pulling her wrist away from her friend and looking around the Academy. "And do you even know where you're going?" she added as an afterthought. It seemed pretty easy to get lost in this place now that it was real-life-sized.
Katherine laughed nervously. "Of course I do! In case you haven't noticed, this place looks almost exactly like the game. Let's see...there's the sign. Look, Lloyd- today's special, same as usual. I wonder if it's chicken tenderloin." Caitlin snickered at the inside joke - which had happened all because of the tenderloin recipe only needing 'meat' and the two girls picking apart the logic of that - while her friend stifled a giggle and entered the cafeteria, where she stopped in the doorway, mouth agape with shock because of the size of the room. "Hoooly Martel. Waitressing will be a lot harder than I thought it would be."
Seeing as how Katherine was in the way, the second teenager had to look over her shoulder into the cafeteria to know what she was talking about. Once she saw the giant room in all its glory (holding about a hundred tables, she estimated roughly), she gave a low groan. "Aw, man.... I thought this would be easy. There were only two tables in the game!" she said, pouting slightly. "This means it'll be a lot of work...."
Flitting around excitedly, Katherine looked for the man in charge. Finding him, she calmed down and steeled herself to ask for a position. "E-excuse me. My friend and I were wondering if you had a waitressing position open? Uh... maybe with a uniform, too, please?"
Caitlin stood behind Katherine, looking around at the cafeteria as her friend spoke. She wasn't really paying attention to what was being said. Instead, she was still trying to figure out why they were there in the first place. It wasn't working.
The man Katherine had spoken to looked at the two of them and then around at the large cafeteria. "Well, we could use some extra help," he told Katherine, nodding as he spoke.
Katherine smiled. "Thank you! Thank you so much! Um, do you have some uniforms for us? And what exactly should we do?" She listened intently as the man, whose name turned out to be Carl, explained the waitressing 'process'. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Caitlin wasn't paying quite as much attention as she should have been. Katherine sighed inwardly. There was one more thing she'd have to explain.
"Follow me," Carl said as he moved towards one of the back rooms. "Here are your uniforms, and you can change in here. We work until sundown, but you'll get some breaks in between. Start as soon as you're ready. Good luck!" Carl chuckled as he walked back to the kitchen.
"So, uh...what're we supposed to do?" Caitlin asked sheepishly when Carl left the room. "I kind of wasn't paying attention."
"So I noticed. Look, it's exactly like in the game, alright?" Katherine quickly put on the rough wool uniform. It was mostly without dye, but had blue trim everywhere. "I should probably undo my hair, but what about my glasses? Should I leave them? It's not like no one else wears glasses, but..." As she spoke, Katherine pulled out her hair tie and put it in the pocket of her folded jeans.
"Why would you take your glasses off, anyway? You need to see. I'm leaving mine," Caitlin pointed out, also putting on the uniform. She removed her watch and stowed it in the pocket of her jeans, since she doubted people there had watches. But then again, if it were a dream it wouldn't really matter, and that's all this experience was, right? "And it's not exactly like the game! There are at least fifty times as many tables!" she added.
Katherine sighed. "I mean, the process is the same. People order, food is made, we give them the food. Best part is that because there are two of us, I can man the counter and you can give them food," Katherine explained, a sly grin on her face. "I can write the orders and a quick description, too, if you want. I snagged a pencil from Carl, and there should be plenty of paper."
"Hey, why am I the one to give the food out?" Caitlin whined, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't want to do that! There are too many people." The slight, childish whine didn't leave her voice as she looked accusingly at Katherine.
Katherine laughed evilly as she led Caitlin back to the main cafeteria. "Finally catching on, Lloyd? I didn't want to do that, and I was the one paying attention, so I told Carl that I would take orders and you would pass out the food." Katherine found a pad of paper and set it next to the cash register. "Now, you can sit here and try to remember where people sit. Have fun!"
Caitlin scowled, not liking the arrangements very much. "I hate you, Genis," she grumbled crossly, plopping down into a chair until she was ready to start working. She was trying to think of ways to make her job easier as well, though no successful-sounding ones came to mind. "You're evil, you know that?" she added.
"Yes, yes I know," Katherine mumbled. "Very evil indeed." The first customer came up to the counter. He was a young man in a blue school uniform, and he looked glum as he placed 40 Gald on the counter.
"I'd like two Yum Tea and one curry please." Katherine smiled, thanked him, and quickly scribbled his order down on her note pad. The next customer was likewise served and when she had five orders, she peeked into the kitchen.
"Carl! I have some orders!" She handed the paper to Carl and scrambled back to the counter, praying to Martel that Caitlin was remembering where people were sitting. Her eyes stung a little, she had forgotten that they used onions to make tenderloin. Katherine hated onions with a fiery passion, so she figured she would spend as little time as possible in the kitchen. Sighing to herself, Katherine took more orders.
When the food came out, Caitlin took it to the customers - feeling very nervous as she did so, since it was a little difficult remembering who sat where, especially since she had a hard time remembering what people looked like. She got a few of them right, but a few more than that wrong and had to quickly correct her mistake until she got it.
Suddenly, a bright flash of light stopped all activity- some students paused mid-bite- and a faint rumble restored life to the room. Everyone- students, professors, staff, even a cat- all moved closer to the window, some standing right in front of it. The view from the window could only be classified as unique: across the sea, to the point it was almost invisible, a giant tower stood, not only reaching the sky, but surpassing it.
Everyone gasped collectively.
"It's here."
"The Tower of Salvation."
"The Chosen will finally begin her journey."
Mutterings flew through the air, giving everyone a sense of hope. Everyone but Caitlin and Katherine. The latter gripped the edge of the counter tightly, resisting the urge to smash her head against the wooden surface. This was bad. Really bad.
The other of the two girls was just looking toward the window (not that much could be seen out of it, with so many people looking out at the Tower of Salvation). "Oh, man...." she muttered. "This can't be good." She looked over at Katherine and grabbed her shoulder, pulling her away from the counter before she did smash her head into it. "But it can't be that bad, right?"
The long-haired girl squirmed out of the other's grip. "Yes, it is. The only way for us to get out of here is to join Lloyd and the others, you know that, even if you haven't thought about it yet. And as for where we came in during the timeline, well, I hope you can figure that out." Katherine shrugged her shoulders. "I really hope you aren't expecting them to be here in eight hours. This part of the journey could take weeks and we're stuck here until then. We'll need Gald, so...I guess we should get back to work." Most people had already returned to their seats, politely eating their meals.
For a moment, Caitlin pondered over it and sighed. "I don't want to go on the regeneration journey," she complained, looking out the window again. Maybe this whole experience would get done before that though? She hoped so. "Hopefully, we can join up after they get rid of the ranch, though. If they do that before Kilia like we did," she added hopefully. She really didn't want to go to the ranch with the group - they didn't even know how to fight, except with lightsabers! That wouldn't be very helpful, even if the two of them did buy weapons while in Palmacosta.
A few more customers came by before Katherine addressed Caitlin's last comment. "You don't want to go? Why not? I'd say it sounds like fun, but then reality would ruin the statement." There was an odd sound, sort of a mix between a nervous laugh and a depressed sigh. "It's just about the only way for us to get home, which I'd rather like by the way, and we're lucky to be at this point in the game-there's a ranch, and we'll be able to snag some Exspheres. Although..." Katherine stopped; another customer had come up to the counter. "Yes, may I help you?"
The customer, a young blonde girl, smiled. "I'd like to order the special please. I believe that it's chicken tenderloin today." The smile faltered when a small storm of giggles erupted from the waiting staff. "What is so funny about my order?"
Katherine took a moment to stop laughing, deciding that telling this Sylvaranti about their inside joke wasn't the best idea, and answered, "It's just that you sounded unsure about what the special was, but it's the same every day."
Caitlin covered her mouth with a hand, muffling her own snickers which she tried to force down. "Chicken tenderloin" would never stop being funny, even if the two of them heard it a lot while waitressing. It just seemed too silly. Though she managed to stop her laughter and took her hand away. "Yeah, you'd think you'd know what the special was by now," she said, nodding and agreeing with her friend.
The blonde huffed and crossed her arms. "So I haven't been living in the cafeteria like you...vermin, but perhaps I don't generally eat here and, therefore, I would not know what the special was, today or any other day." She fixed a glare on Katherine. "I would like chicken tenderloin, and I would like it now." After keeping her glare a few extra moments, she stomped off, muttering under her breath.
Uncomfortable in her seat at the register, Katherine turned back to Caitlin. "Well, I guess at the preppy academy we can expect a few customers like her. Don't forget where she sits!" Katherine finished in a mock sing-song voice, stepping gingerly into the kitchen to place the order and ignoring Caitlin's groan from behind her.