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(no subject)

Who: Tobias and you!
What: Arrival tiiiime
When: 11/19 (During Alternately You event. Because the boy knows how to make an entrance, I guess.)
Where: Info Booth, around town.
Warnings: None yet, but given that Tobias is from the early 2000's so you can expect some, uh. Language that is no longer acceptable in polite conversation.

Arrival

Tobias was in a meadow, perched on a tree one minute, and the next he'd found himself outside an information booth. After a (very short) conversation, he'd tucked himself into some bushes and made the change from hawk to boy, accepting the information and money from Jerry. But once he'd been dismissed, he wasn't exactly sure what to do with himself.

He was alone. No animorphs. No Hork-Bajir. No obvious threat. No clear objectives. The alone part wasn't so bad, but the rest was just confusing. No one plucked him out of his world without a purpose. He looked over the pamphlet with a sigh, and turned towards the park exit. He looked more like he was leaving an exercise class than a fresh arrival, in tight shorts, shirt, and bare feet.

Around Town

Tobias is wandering around town in some new flip flops and a jacket, if only so he would have pockets to stick his money, pamphlets, and phone in. Under it, he was still wearing tight shorts and a shirt at least a size too small, but he didn't seem bothered by the fact that he was a fashion disaster, sticking out like a stone-faced sore thumb.

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He huffed out a chuckle. "We were as surprised as everyone else," he agreed, having somehow stumbled upon the thrift store again, he pulled open the door and held it for Adam. "But being able to be a literal fly on the wall has its benefits. There were way too many gorilla warefare puns."

Usually Adam held the door for other people, but he accepted this change with a murmured thanks, stepping into the shop. "I bet there were." He'd almost made one of those puns himself just a moment ago.

"I'm glad things worked out for you." No matter how absurd stopping aliens with normal earth animals sounded. The important part was that it had worked.

Tobias wasn't so sure things had worked out for him personally, but he didn't say so. There were definitely ways it could've been worse.

He followed Adam in and headed for the shoes, tugging off a flip flop -- they were the right size, at least, so he started comparing their soles to those of shoes that looked like they were about the right size. "Some things did," he conceded at least. "What about you? What kind of world are you from?"

"It's..." Where did he even start? How did he describe it? It was a world...and it was his... how did he know what the highlights were? Beyond a bunch of things he didn't want to talk about with a stranger?

"It's normal?" he said lamely. "There definitely hasn't been an alien invasion." Or aliens. Or shapeshifters. "Most of my recent life has focused around dead Welsh kings," he added with a laugh.

Normal. He actually snorts when he hears the word. "So dead Welsh king problems are normal in your world? I guess that means aliens are normal in mine," which wasn't exactly wrong.

He found a pair of sneakers that weren't even broken in, matching the size of his flip-flop, so he took them over to a seat to try them on. He knew you were supposed to wear socks, but he didn't exactly have any, so on the shoes went. He stood up, rocking back and forth, testing the bend of the toe. Like he wanted to be sure he could run in them.

"In my life, they were," he said. "I have a friend who was obsessed." And Adam had humored him, like a good friend did. He'd never thought the things that happened following that obsession would have ever occurred, but it had been what it had been. His life had already been weird to start with though, so maybe he shouldn't have been so surprised, really.

"Do those fit nice?" he asked.

"I wonder if it's better or worse than one obsessed with cinnamon buns," he chuckled, though his face didn't reflect his amusement, and nodded. "These're good," and priced nicely, too. He sat down again, tugging them off and putting his flip flops back on -- and grabbing a random pair of socks from a bin. The shoes might have been white but the socks were neon blue. Just to complete the train wreck of a look he had going on.

"I guess that depends," Adam said. "Does a cinnamon bun obsession lead you to hiking through forests and caves?"

He was too polite to comment on the color of Tobias's socks, no matter how badly they clashed with the rest of what he was wearing. It was Tobias's choice, and Adam had no say in how he should live his life.

"No, but fighting an alien invasion sure did," he replied in agreement, heading to the front of the store to pay for his goods. Once that was done, he tugged them all on, and stuffed the flip flops into the bag he'd been given. "Okay, ready to play evil knievel, I guess."

"I could imagine." Especially since wild animals had been involved.

After Tobias had paid, Adam caught the door for him, holding it until they were both outside. "Riding a motorcycle isn't that exciting," he said. Though he knew for some people it was.

Exciting or not, he made sure Tobias was following him before heading down the street towards where he'd parked.

"Probably not," he agreed. "But I've seen plenty of motorcycle accidents," he replied as he followed Adam down the street, "and I prefer things a little on the boring side."

"We're not going to get into an accident." He didn't drive like Ronan.

Still, when they reached his motorcycle, he handed his only helmet to Tobias. They weren't going very far at least, because he didn't have another helmet anywhere. It felt right to give it to Tobias for now.

"Good," he replied, and eyed the helmet for a moment. He considered giving it back to Adam, insisting. But he knew already that it would be futile. "Imagine me giving you a lecture," he said as he pulled the helmet on and secured it as best he could.

"Lecture received," Adam said, double-checking the helmet himself to make sure it was secure. "Sorry; I never take anyone with me, usually." Or else he'd own two helmets. But even if he had, he wouldn't have had the second one on him right now.

Once that was done, he slung a leg over his motorcycle and started it up, twisting around after he'd done so. "Do you need a hand?"

"It's fine, as long as you're a good driver," he replied, appreciating the double-check on his helmet and shaking his head at the question, sliding on behind Adam. He wasn't graceful about it, but he managed, and he wasn't shy about sliding up to Adam's back, either, wrapping his arms firmly around the young man's middle.

It reminded him starkly of how small and young his body was. He wondered briefly if that's why Adam gave him the helmet. He thought Tobias was young, worthy of protection. Just the idea filled him with warmth.

"I do my best." He wouldn't admit to Tobias that he was still learning how to maneuver the motorcycle when it wasn't on, and that he still dumped it occasionally and had the bruises on his legs to prove it. He didn't want to make the kid nervous.

Besides that, he was glad Tobias wasn't shy about holding on, because Adam would have insisted that he did, just to be on the safe side. Once they were all settled, he took off in the direction of Tobias's place. The only reason he knew where it was without directions was because it was so close to the Barns.

At least Tobias couldn't tell from down here, his grip on Adam nice and firm. He was both quiet and calm the whole ride, only picking his head up from where it was tucked against Adam's back when they started to slow. The scenery was nice, and he knew they must've been close. "Look for a big tree!" he yelled over the wind.

Tobias was a good passenger, honestly, and he reminded Adam a little of Opal. Especially with his insistence that he was a bird.

When he brought up a tree, Adam frowned. "A big tree?" he repeated. "Like that?" He didn't lift a hand to point, but there was a tree he could see coming up.

He picked his head up to look over Adam's shoulder, getting a look at the tree. "Yeah. If we're close to where the map was marked, that's probably it." It looked like a pretty perfect tree. He couldn't have imagined a better one.

There was no house here, nothing that even resembled a home, but Adam slowed anyway once they were close enough to the tree, eventually coming to a stop.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" he asked, turning off the engine. He was skeptical, but he remembered what Tobias had said about being a bird. If he'd actually been serious... Adam glanced at the tree again. "Let me see the map."

Tobias waited until the bike had stopped, pulling out his map before it was even asked for, to have a look for himself. "It seems right," he agreed, handing the map over as he slid off the bike and carefully removed the helmet.

He brushed a hand over his hair as he headed for the tree, looking up at it and the largest branch. It looked perfect. He was so distracted looking up that he didn't see the chest at the base of it until he tripped over it and tumbled into the grass with a yelp. "Ow! What the..." he sat up, staring at the trunk.

Adam studied the map for a moment, glancing around them then back at the paper. It seemed they were in the right place, which didn't make a lot of sense, unless--

He looked up, startled, when Tobias tripped, folding the map up and hurrying over with long strides. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he replied without missing a beat. His shin was scraped, but it wasn't even bleeding. He'd been through much, much worse. "I guess this is for my stuff," he said as he pushed open the chest and looked inside. There wasn't much -- a couple of pictures, what looked like a pair of hockey pucks, an official-looking paper, and a drawing set.

It was almost nothing, but it had him going still as he reached in to pull the pictures out, looking at them for a long moment. "You wanna see an alien?"

Crouching down next to Tobias, Adam surveyed his scraped shin, shaking his head a little. He'd offer the kid a band-aid if he had one, even if the scrape wasn't bleeding.

The only thing that made him look up from politely ignoring everything in Tobias's box was the mention of aliens. He raised an eyebrow. "Okay?"

He put the photos back and picked up one of the hockey pucks, brushing his finger over part of it, and a hologram of an Andalite popped up. "This is my dad," he said quietly. "I only met him once." His face was still blank, but his voice was soft and warm. Like a smile you could hear.