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Post by Authenti on Dec 25, 2010 14:17:33 GMT
Valencia whirled around the street corner, finally reaching what looked like a railway station after what seemed like years of wandering around the city aimlessly. The lack of information booths or 'you are here' signs in the City made it kind of hard for her to find her way here.
"Right," she snapped, stomping into the station and examining the communicator detectors at the gates. "...What the hell is this?" She attempted to slip past in the usual fashion, and in doing so, her communicator slid in front of one of the detectors, unlocking the gate to her left. "Piss."
Val disentangled herself from the locked gate and swooped through the one that was open, cursing loudly, then skipped towards what seemed to be a rail map on the wall.
Her face fell as soon as she read the labels. "Closed circuit. How the hell can you be closed circuit? How are people supposed to get in and out of this damn city?"
Maybe they aren't, she thought, but dismissed the thought immediately to stop herself from panicking. That kind of thought was for paranoid idiots. Of course, she must have the wrong station. She just had to take the train until it stopped at one with a double rail...
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Post by Beff on Dec 25, 2010 21:07:33 GMT
Huffs and puffs escaped Beth's mouth, as she ran down the path she thought she'd seen Valencia walk down. Turning a corner, she was hit by a small gust of wind, causing her to shield her bare arms by hugging herself, against the cold wind. Stopping to look around, at the head of the road, she spotted the train station and let out a sigh of relief, walking towards it at a hurried pace.
Entering the arch of the railway, she spotted ticket gates, yet no ticket offices. "What?" She said in a long sigh, trying to catch her breath from the short run in the cold. Walking towards the gates, she looked up at them. "Too high to jump over.." She thought, bending down to look under "Too low to climb under..."
Taking a few steps back, she looked behind her before doing a run up kick on the gate, just shaking it a little and failing to open it. "How the hell.." She grumbled, looking around with Valencia nowhere to be seen, she must have entered, but how!
Examining the "ticket" detectors, they seemed more like a supermarket scanner than a ticket reader. Pausing to think for a second, she pulling out her communicator, glancing down at it for a few moments. "Could it be?" She thought, before placing it infront of the detector, it letting out a beep and swinging the gate open. "Hell yeah!" She exclaimed, fist pumping the air without jumping or anything too excitable, before heading straight through the gate.
Shoving it back in her jeans pocket, she left her hand in there, and placed the other in the opposite pocket, even the train station wasn't that warm. Spotting Valencia looking up at a rail map, reading the labels, she let out a sigh of relief and walked casually up behind her, stopping a distance away.
"If you're gonna run off, you might wanna tell me. You still have my hoodie y'know-" Beth said playfully, smirking and lifting her head to look at her from behind.
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Post by Authenti on Dec 25, 2010 21:56:14 GMT
Val sighed loudly as she backed away from the map, accidentally backing right into Beth and stumbling forwards again. "Sorry! Sorry, sorry, I- oh, hi, Beth!"
She glanced down at herself and then up at her recently-acquainted comrade. "Oh. I'm sorry. I forgot. I forget a lot of things. You can have it ba-" Val caught herself and cleared her throat, backpedalling as she realised she wasn't wearing a shirt underneath. "...back... when... I get another shirt. I saw a sign for a clothes shop on this thing..."
Val prodded the map, then followed the line with one finger until she came to a coloured dot with some text that read 'Fancy Hats Club - All your clothes in one place!' With her other hand, she felt around in the pocket that didn't hold her communicator, and triumphantly produced some rather damp Spanish money.
She looked through it, trying to kid herself it would work. "Well. I have. This." She fanned the cool air with it, trying to dry it out. "It smells of pond weed, but... it's still valid... right? I mean, it's real money, I can ask where to change it when... when I get there..."
Deciding to try and buy time for herself, she edged towards the train and hopped aboard, scurrying to a seat and trying not to panic.
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Post by Beff on Dec 25, 2010 22:20:31 GMT
Stepping back a few paces from Val, Beth rubbed the back of her head. She stayed silent as Val seemed to be worn down, maybe the stress of this whole city was weighing down on her too much. This stabbed Beth a little with guilt, it wasn't her fault she was here, but she couldn't help feel somewhat responsible for not looking out for her, and stopping her from getting so worked up.
Tilting her head at the money she squinted and noticed the currency wasn't English. "Is that...Spanish money?" She asked, remembering it from her holiday the year before. "Everyone seems to speak english here-" She muttered as Valencia stepped onto the train. Hopping up, she followed on, only skipping into the train as the doors closed. "Woah-" She exclaimed, nearly catching her arm in the door. Regaining her stance, she held onto the side of the train before sitting on a seat opposite Valencia. "Hey... are you alright?" She asked, her eyes glazed with concern, "You kind of- freaked out before.."
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Post by Authenti on Dec 26, 2010 1:05:53 GMT
Valencia leaned forwards and rested her forehead in her hands, gently swaying back and forth as the train rumbled along the tracks. She glanced up briefly to nod at Beth's question, then back down to her palms.
"It'll be fine. It will all work out okay in the end, people aren't heartless, if I explain what happened and look really upset someone will point me in the right direction." She seemed to be trying to reassure herself more than anything, but she quickly regained her composure and leant back in her seat, eyelids closing as she just sat quietly for a while.
"I'm sorry. I've had a bad day. I know you have, and those guys in the café too, but..." She sighed deeply and forced a reassuring smile. "Haha... waking up in a pond didn't help any. I'll be fine."
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Post by Beff on Dec 26, 2010 1:59:10 GMT
Glancing out the window as Valencia sat silently, gazing out of the window, Beth attempted to pay attention to where they were going. They seemed to have past stops such as "The Park" which she guessed was the one they attended before, and "The Pavillion" was their last stop. Looking back at Valencia as she began to speak again, Beth put on a comforting smile. "Oh c'mon it's not like you're on your own. Be optimistic! But first, lets go shopping~" She exclaimed, in the most girly way possible for her.
Standing up just as the train rolled into the part of "The Fancy Hats Club," she clung onto a pole in the train until it had fully stopped, quickly hopping off the train onto the platform which lead straight into a road, at the end of a which a lit up shop could be seen. Turning, she faced Valencia and grinned, "Lets go show them boys what girls can do whilst their in the café filling their faces!" She laughed, but insidely knowing that if Val hadn't left, she would still be in the café herself.
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Post by Authenti on Dec 26, 2010 19:22:24 GMT
Valencia's expression brightened considerably during the time she was staring out of the window at the passing scenery. As the train rumbled to a halt, she stood up and took a deep breath, flashing what at least looked like a genuine grin at Beth.
"Right," she nodded; "off we go, then. To the shops!" She waited until Beth was off the train and took a surprisingly energetic flying leap off the carriage, matching her friend's pace down the street and whisking herself off into the FHC, her enthusiastic face mirrored in the shop window.
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