Welcome to Gaia! ::

"That's not a yard," Jason announced as he came in. "That is, at best, a porch with grass. Anyway," he slapped a twenty on the kitchen counter, "Let's get out of here."

Their mom was in the middle of a grocery run, but she'd left some money and a set of keys for the boys to make a gas station snack run and get familiar with the neighborhood. And while he didn't have the same sweet tooth as his brother, Jason felt he needed something to distract him from the let down of a house they'd ended up with., No wonder Mom hasn't given them the address beforehand. It'll be a surprise! Huh. Sure was!

He locked the back door, thoroughly making sure it was secure since people probably stole from houses all the time here. "The Destiny City Veterans facebook group mentioned they have a Looking at the Stars Festival in June." He gave Luke a sympathetic look. Their mom didn't even manage to get them moved while something they'd actually enjoy was going on!

"I don't even know if they're actual war veterans," Jason shook his head. "They're like...kinda weird." Most of the time it felt like they were talking solely in the form of in-jokes, or even code. But in the past few weeks, he felt like he'd gleaned a few helpful details about the city. Like the fact that most of the wildlife had rabies. And that there was only a single 7-Eleven that stayed open 24 hours. Which was really strange in a big city, Bailey was a small town without a Starbucks in sight, but they still had two 24 hour 7-Elevens.

Jason grew thoughtful at the mention of the woods, though it didn't keep him from, once again, triple checking the lock on the front door as they left the house. "We could. I hear the winter's pretty mild here. There's snow sometimes, but nothing that we couldn't handle." City mountains probably lacked most big predators too.

Stepping off the curb, trying to ignore the trash in the gutter, he gave Luke a playful shove of the shoulder. "They're big because I'm going to be tall." Any day now.

"Of course we could," Jason replied, full of confidence even as he peered down an alley, looking for drug dealers, prostitutes, and other forms of shady alley-dweller. All he noticed was a cat, though. "They'll probably think we got kidnapped? Or maybe that mom killed us and hid the bodies really well," he added before Luke had a chance to feel too happy.

"But I looked up the crime stats for this place, and disappearances are pretty high. Especially in the age 14 to 25 range. We're prime targets." Okay so no obvious drug dealers and the neighborhood could be worse. But it also wasn't very nice either. Like somebody photoshopped a grungy monochrome filter over what might have been an otherwise okay place to live.

They passed by a comic store that had tabletop advertisements in the window, and Jason nudged his geek of a brother with an elbow. "Not as good as the one back home, but at least it's close?"

With a bemused tilt of his lips, he watched Luke struggle with being mad at mom, but not that mad. "Yeah, it'd have to be a pretty good note, too. Convince her we went to Canada or something, so they don't send a bunch of rescue workers into the woods, either."

Jason considered the twenty mom had left for them and tossed the idea of snacks out the window. They were definitely going to get pizza later that night anyway, and his brother needed another sort of food right now. A feast for the eyes and maybe something to his hands busy. And Jason wouldn't mind taking a look at the board game selection himself.

"Okay, but your budget is fifteen unless you brought some extra cash, got it?"

Pushing open the with a cheery jingle, he stepped in first, taking a long sweeping look around the place like there might be who knows what lurking within. Bullies? Angry middle-aged nerds? But there were just a few normal looking people browsing, and a boy around their age chatting loudly with the cashier.

The place was packed full of visual interest, the owner was definitely a more-is-more true believer and while Jason wanted to stay loyal to Bailey's Heroes' Rest, it was kind of exciting to take it all in. This place was lacking style, but boy was there a lot of substance.

Watching his brother's face light up, Jason could already see the list of upcoming birthday and Christmas demands scrolling one and one...and on. He should make sure to skulk around his parents and guilt them extra to make sure they overcompensated for the move with it. "It's a really um...comprehensive collection," he replied a little distracted by the towering shelves of board games. For some reason, they had all four editions of Twilight Imperium?

He wondered if he and Luke could could sucker some of their eventual classmates into giving up their entire weekend to play it.

Almost as if the boy chatting with the clerk has heard Jason's thoughts, he started talking about, "Man, Hillworth is almost back in session and I'm going to have to blow all my summer money on stuff to do in the dorms. It's so boring, and if I keep cash around, my roomie will probably steal it anyway."

Whipping his head around to Luke, he mouthed, Dorms?

Kill Bill sirens started going off in his head.

Suddenly certain things were making too much sense. Especially how Mom didn't seem too worried about them not liking the house. Because they wouldn't be there. Placing both his hands on Luke's shoulders, Jason stared into his eyes. "We'll figure it out, okay? I'm gonna ask that kid about Hillworth."

Letting go, he moved past his twin and approached the counter.

"Yeah my guy, sorry to say you're off to Delinquentville. Kiddie-Jails'R'Us. You better...hey, weren't you guys together?"

Growing dismay turned into panic, as Jason whipped his head around to see...no one. "Luke?"

"Saw him head south on the way out," the clerk added helpfully. As Jason ran out, she called, "Good luck on your quest!"