Welcome to Haven:

[fluxscapemod]

What: It's moving day for everyone.
Where: Haven MagLev Train/Haven Train Station and then Jerry's Info Booth for the Newbies.
When: 04/28 - Morning
Warnings: There will be swearing, probably mentions of violence. Will update as needed.

This FluxOver starts a lot differently than the others. For starters, everyone and we mean everyone is waking up on a train. No one's waking up in their homes. The first sound anyone hears isn't an alarm clock. It's the steady hum and squeal of the MagLev train just barely skimming it's rails as it makes a turn towards the Haven Train Station and then a deep, gravely, lightly accented male voice saying:

"Haven Train Station! Last stop! Everyone off!

And then the grinding of brakes as the train slows down to a bit of a harsh stop. With so many people stuffed into the train like sardines, it's probably hot and crowded, and everyone wants off. It's also very likely you're going to wake up leaning on someone. Do you know them? Are they a stranger? Let's hope you didn't drool while you were sleeping, or snore too loudly.

When the doors open, the heat probably gets a bit worse and the crowd is very eager to get off the train. Jostling and bumping, it seems as though no one cares who they smack into, they just want off. Since it's the last stop, it's probably best you depart, too. Should you choose to stick on the train, you'll find that while it does depart the Haven Train Station eventually, it just goes through a foggy area that seems to lead right back to the Haven Train Station. It'll keep doing so until you depart the train. Once the last person is off, the train will roll away and disappear in the distance.


For all the newcomers, you'll feel an impulse to go right to the very ramshackle-looking information booth, where a gentleman named Jerry has your information packet. For everyone else, your phones will start buzzing and a voice will start giving you directions, leading you back home and we're sorry to say it, but your homes have taken on the external appearance of everything else around them. Pieced together, rusty. Built more for survival and less for visual appeal.

Again; externally. Internally, you'll find that nothings changed and home is just as you remember it. And for anyone that got anything for FluxMas, you'll find your stuff waiting for you in the kitchen of your homes. Unless it's a vehicle. You'll find the keys to that in your pockets, shortly after stepping into your houses.

Settle in. Explore. Find your friends.

Welcome to Haven.

Comments

[curious_spirit]

His head dipped when she nestled against his chest, kissing the top of her head as his arms came around her. "I wish we were both back home with him." Shadow carried guilt regardless of not being at fault over their current circumstance. "But I'm glad we didn't get split up." He gave her an affectionate squeeze.

"Let's take it a day at a time. Learn what we can about being here, and how to get back." They could also learn about each other. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, having the time away together without Leo feeling abandoned. In a sense, it gave them time to catch up.

Shadow knew how he felt about Lydia but it wouldn't be bad to have the time together and figure out if the feeling was mutual. Could they build a life together how he dreamt? His hands came up and gently clasped her face together to look up at him. "Let's look around this place," he urged in a gentle voice.

[wantadistraction]

It would be better if they were both with their son but it does soothe her to hear him say the same thing about being glad that they hadn't split up. It earned him a small smile as she returned the little squeeze, lifting her head to rest her chin against his chest so she could look at his face again.

"Okay," She murmured in agreement after licking her lips, thinking the words sounded easy but the follow-through on getting back home could be harder. She just had that feeling. That made her sigh a little as she rubbed a hand against his back as much to soothe herself as him. Maybe it was a bit selfish to be glad he was there but she was relieved to have his support and to know she didn't have to face it all alone. Plus maybe it would be good for them?

Then she paused as he cupped her face between his hands, centering her focus and her thoughts on him again before she nodded slightly. "Sure, do you want to head back to what looks like the center of town?"

[curious_spirit]

"I meant in here. See what we might need before heading into town," he answered then lowered his head to rub the tip of his nose with hers affectionately before straightening back up. "Maybe even figure out where to go in town first."

His hands had fallen to his sides but not without first taking her hands and swinging them lightly before finally letting Lydia go to do as he'd suggested. Shadow was curious as to why they were designated this particular residence. He moved out of the common area toward a bedroom.

There was something like a footlocker at the end of the bed that he was drawn to. He lifted the lid to have a look inside. "What do we have here?" Shadow muttered out loud before taking a deeper look inside.

[wantadistraction]

"That works too," She glanced around at his correction, eyeing their new home and what she could see so far. The layout wasn't bad and the furniture did look comfy but it definitely wasn't home. While she liked her home to be clean, this was almost too much as it was lacking the toys and the baby things she had gotten used to.

But Shadow was good at distracting her as she leaned up to brush her nose against his and followed it by quickly pressing her lips against his in a small kiss. Then she pulled away to look around again, trailing after him when he started to head in the direction of the bedrooms.

"What is it?" She asked curiously, stepping around him to get a look at the footlocker. She couldn't help but watch curiously over his shoulder until she caught sight of another footlocker sitting under the large window to her right. Still curious, she made her way over, leaning this way and that to look at the outside before reaching down to pop open the clasp. Lifting the lid, she blinked a bit at the contents inside.

Making sure the lid was fully open and resting against the wall, she reached in to grab the first thing she had seen which was a photo album. Flipping it open, she melted as she turned to look at Shadow. "Look."

Inside he would find pages and pages of pictures, mostly of Leo ranging from the day he was born to rather recently considering Shadow was in a handful of pictures near the end. Lydia was in a lot of pictures as well, usually holding Leo or sitting with him. There was also a picture or two of her pregnant.

[curious_spirit]

Unlike with Lydia, his once wife wasn't affectionate. Laura didn't push him away but she didn't freely touch him or initiate affection. It was seldom she even reciprocated, often turning away from him in bed. Lydia was nothing like that. Every moment since reuniting, Shadow knew his feelings weren't one sided.

He might have moved from her side easily but relished the close proximity while they had it. Given what he'd been through in the time without her, Shadow knew to enjoy the time they had because it could go at a moment's notice. He was surprised Lydia had been taken with him. The thought wouldn't leave his mind.

Yet there was a break in the fear of losing her company when they looked at the trunk in the room. A photo album of Leo from birth to when he last saw his son. Even photos of Lydia still carrying him in her womb. He couldn't look away from the array of pictures to notice his items in the same trunk.

Lydia might not realize the coins or books meant anything to him, much less a deck of playing cards. Shadow didn't have any pictures of his mother or photos of him with anyone else. Who knew how this place picked the items they had. He'd later wonder if the photo album didn't mean that she was the target taken and he was only along for the ride.

There was the biggest of smiles on his face as he carefully looked at every picture. His eyes were a mix of regret and pride, leaning more toward awe at mother and son than anything sad or negative.

"I wonder if there's a place here that can duplicate photos. I'd love to make a copy of this one," he told her a seemingly recent one.

[wantadistraction]

Affection was easy for Lydia as it was something she had lacked growing up after her grandmother had died and it soothed a lot of different broken pieces inside of her. Plus the time apart from Shadow and the bond they had made it easy for her to turn to him, to reach out and find any excuse she could to initiate contact. Even in bed, she preferred to cuddle with him than roll away and put any sort of distance between them.

Perhaps it was also knowing too how easily something or someone could be taken away from you. How time was short and it was important to hold onto the person you loved when you had them. That was why it was a relief to be taken with him this time even though she had to deal with the pain of not having Leo there.

The pictures could never change that but it helped to look at the moments frozen in time, brushing her fingers lightly over Leo's face here and there as they slowly turned through the pages. At one point, she smiled at him, letting him take over holding the book for a moment so she could look at the things left for them again.

"We can take a look when we go exploring. I'd like to get a few copies made so we can hang them up," She murmured, poking in the box and pulling out something that she didn't think was meant for her.

[curious_spirit]

"I'd like that," he replied about taking a look for a place to make copies or maybe even enlarge some of the photos that had arrived with Lydia. Shadow picked up his gaze, watching her look through the trunk without releasing the photo album.

Books, coins and a deck of cards... Shadow peered in and thought there wasn't more proof that he didn't have a life without Lydia and Leo. At least, not a memorable one from his point of view. "Those are mine, I think." He reached for the coin in her hand and flipped it over each of his fingers.

Maybe she remembered that from when they first met. Shadow had proved an understanding of physics with the trick, although Lydia had been working on a completely different science at the time. Or math. That meeting remained fresh on his mind although nearly two years had passed.

[wantadistraction]

There was a part of Lydia that wanted to continue looking at the book but there was another part of her that found it too painful to at the moment. It ached to look at her son's sweet face and not know when she might actually see it with her own two eyes again. It also made her hurt for Shadow as he had only just found them and it didn't feel fair to have them separated again so soon.

So she focused on the coin as she handed it over to him, watching as he did the familiar trick of flipping it over each of his fingers. Of course, she remembered the first time he had done it on the first night they had met and how she had teased him about how he must be good with his fingers. That had been the start of their conversation taking a serious turn into flirtation rather than just mild interest and curiosity.

It made her smile a little as she reached out to rest her hand on his knee, brushing her thumb over a crease in his pants before she rose up with a bit of a sigh. Then something else caught her eye as she leaned down to pull out a stack of letters tied up with a very cliche style ribbon. It still made her smile though as she showed up, knowing full well he would recognize his writing scrawled on the front of the top one. "I don't know but I think I told you that I kept all of them."

[curious_spirit]

The letters he'd written her and photo album of Leo were bittersweet. Shadow was happy Lydia smiled but there was a pang of sadness, hating how they'd been separated and now separated from their son. He stopped rolling the coin over his fingers and put it into his front pocket of his jeans.

"I might continue to do that. A letter to you and one to Leo, every week here. I'll show you in person too but looks like you started a collection so seems only right to continue it," he told Lydia through a small smile. Shadow felt as if he had to make up for lost time even if it didn't seem as if ending up in Haven was the fault of the gods, new or old.

His eyes glanced to the stack then to Lydia, waiting for her response.

[wantadistraction]

"It didn't feel right to throw them away," Especially since she hadn't been sure that he would ever return to her or find out the truth about Leo. If it had happened that way, she had at least wanted the letters so she could reminisce but also so she could show Leo one day. Show him a glimpse of his father just in case they never had a chance to meet.

"I think a letter a week for Leo sounds nice. Or do a journal that we could give him one day if we get to keep it," She smiled back, reaching out across the short distance to brush her fingers against his cheek. She wouldn't make him write her a letter every week given they were together now but she wouldn't stop him either if he wanted to.

[curious_spirit]

"I'm glad you didn't," he responded heartfelt. The warmth reached his voice, lowering his octave a little--close to how he sounded when waking up. Shadow didn't think of it or how Lydia didn't really know that sound from him yet. Her response had him cease from thinking sadly.

Shadow nodded at her suggestion of a journal. "We don't have to give it to him if he doesn't remember us missing but it'd be nice to do. ...I'm still writing you a letter," he insisted and wrapped Lydia in his arms. In his mind, it was the least he could do to make her happy under the circumstances.

He dipped his head to kiss her tenderly.

[wantadistraction]

It was true that she wasn't completely familiar with all the different traits he had but she did have some experience with him being or sounding sleepy as well as his voice going all soft and low. She continued to smile faintly as she listened to him, enjoying the slight shiver that ran up her back whenever his voice did change. A fact that he probably didn't know.

"Okay," Her smile grew at his insistence that he was still going to write her a letter and she moved into his arms when he reached for her. Sliding her arms around his waist, she tilted her head to look at him. "I'm not going to say no if you want to."

It was a nice way to show that he cared and it meant something to her, perhaps more than he realized, that he was going to make the effort. She was still smiling as she leaned up to kiss him back softly.