to paris with love

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli's school is not a terribly interesting school. It is, as far as Alli is concerned, a perfectly boring and average school in all possible respects. But some alumnus went and made themselves a bunch of money, and apparently they think it's a good idea to spend some of this money on "improving the cultural exposure of today's youth". (Alli has never met the alumnus in question, much less heard them speak, but she persists in picturing this spoken with a haughty British accent.) What this means for Alli is that she and a number of other 'deserving students' are being shipped over to France for free for a week. Alli's not quite sure why she counts as deserving- because her mom's single, maybe?- but she's hardly complaining. It's a free trip to France, after all.

In her usual style, Alli packs an hour before she has to leave and ultimately makes it out the door only ten minutes late after forgetting at least three vitally important items (her eyeliner!). But she makes it through Pearson security with plenty of time... well, more like barely enough time. But the important thing is, she's safely ensconced in her seat when they take off.

Once she's gotten her bag stowed and her legs rearranged in a doomed attempt at comfort and generally considers herself suitably settled, she turns to her seatmate. "Is your brain doing an Eeeeee France! thing too?"

Comments

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli growls with frustration and casts for an excuse. "It's- an emergency. A girl emergency. We'll be right back, I promise!"

[marrinikari]

Mr. Hayden turns about seven shades of red simultaneously. "Don't take too long, Mme. Lyon," he manages to squeak.

[coeur_de_lion]

Good enough.

Alli runs back to where she left Mabel.

[hatchedplan]

May is in a slightly less tangled heap on the ground, looking at her claws.

She blinks at Alli when Alli returns. "I'm very sleep deprived, but you'd think I'd also need a head injury to see this kinda thing, which would also explain why you're so alarmed."

[coeur_de_lion]

"You do not have a head injury, and I'm alarmed because you are extinct. Supposedly. Apparently not? Whatever. I give you sleep deprived." Then she recollects herself. "Why are we talking about this? Time to hide, before they see you."

She regards May for a second. May was clumsy to begin with, needs a wheelchair clumsy, and changing shape is clearly not helping at all.

...screw it, cat's out of the bag anyway.

Alli grabs May's front feet, hauls them over her shoulder, and heaves. Despite the fact that the dragon is noticeably larger than she is, and probably outweighs her by quite a lot, this doesn't seem to bother her in the slightest. They end up in something vaguely akin to the fireman's carry, or as close as someone Alli's size can get with someone May's new size. "Okay. Off we go, try not to move too much."

And May is summarily dragged over behind the porta-johns, tucked behind them with some extra trees in the way for good measure. Here Alli deposits her, breathing hard. She looks down- her feet have turned to paws, for better purchase on the soft field turf. "Well, there's my workout for the day," she pants.

[hatchedplan]

May allows the dragging. "Extinct? Excuse me? If I don't have a head injury what in the hell am I? Oh my god your feet."

[coeur_de_lion]

"You're a dragon. Congratulations. If I wasn't halfway to a panic attack this would be really insanely cool, but that gets to wait till later. Okay, first things first. Well, half a thing first." Her feet fade back to their original sneakers. "Looking human. Looking human is very much step one. Do you have a necklace with you? Somewhere, anywhere? Please tell me you have a necklace. If you do not have a medallion we are in so much trouble."

[hatchedplan]

"I - I found one. I put it in my pocket, which I no longer have, oh god I'm naked what the fuck Alli -"

[coeur_de_lion]

"Thank everything. Okay. First, you are a dragon, dragons are not naked, you'll have clothes when you're human. Just- focus on that, okay? Focus on being human really really hard. And whatever you do, don't ever damage that necklace."

[hatchedplan]

May looks at her forelegs. And concentrates.

Ice-blue scales melt away, denim and pullover fade in.

She feels in her pocket and pulls out the necklace, which has a stylized dragon on it.

"What in the fuck?"

[coeur_de_lion]

"Ooookay. Thirty second version. Mythological creatures are real, but we hide as humans. If you have a medallion, like that-" she points at the necklace May's holding, "then you can turn critter to human and back. Kids of critters are born human and stay that way unless they get their own medallion. So... I guess you had an ancestor somewhere who was a dragon? But then you- found a medallion. And poof, instant dragon."

[hatchedplan]

"Now that I've turned back am I still screwed if I lose it? Somebody must have dropped it, it was on the ground."

[coeur_de_lion]

"Yes. Yes, you are very screwed, you will be a dragon. Do not be a dragon again, please. One haul-the-dragon dodge-the-mundanes hide and seek was enough, thanks. Even with Nemean strength you're heavy." She eyes the medallion. "And don't worry about anyone else. If that belonged to someone, it couldn't have turned you. One to a person and all that. Whoever used to own that, they are very dead."

[hatchedplan]

"Uh - if you say so."

May puts the necklace on.

"Is - is turning into a dragon the sort of thing I could do by accident?"

[coeur_de_lion]

"...ugh. Yeah. Yeah it totally is. When you're new, I mean. I used to sneeze and grow a tail a lot when I was a kid. Maaaybe we tell M. Hayden you're sick and hide you in your room and I'll be a helpful roommate?"

[hatchedplan]

"Uh - okay. I'm going to - stagger over to my chair now and try not to sprout wings. And make the teacher push me, because this attraction is not designed for handicapped accessibility."

May staggers in the direction of where she left her chair, stepping as carefully as she possibly can.

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli follows her, keeping an eye on her as she walks. Alli cares less about the stumbling then about the possibility that a fall would surprise May into forgetting her shape. "I can push if you want," she offers. "Less risk of being seen, that way. And if we split a room- oh, merde, it's three to a room, isn't it? Two beds and a cot? I'll take a look on the bus, there's got to be another critter we can room with."

[hatchedplan]

"You're going to, what, quiz everyone about their jewelry?" asks May, collapsing into her chair. "Push away."

[coeur_de_lion]

Alli pushes. Compared to hauling a clumsy, half asleep dragon around, this is a piece of cake. Her method of getting over obnoxious obstacles is some combination of "power through" and "discreetly lift over."

"I mean, I could if I had to. But critters aren't horribly rare. There's some at our school I can recognize by sight, I'm just too tired to remember who's on the trip at the moment." Adrenaline only does so much. "Though maybe don't mention the dragon thing unless you have to. You are supposed to all be really dead. It's- the critter version of finding out critters exist? Something like that."

[hatchedplan]

"Ooookay, what should I claim to be instead, a - what, a phoenix, should I say I'm a unicorn, what is my cover story? How do you find out about the other critters, is there some kind of critter support group that you can only find out about if you can read the secret critter language in the decorative borders on the beginning-of-year fliers, what the hell?"

[coeur_de_lion]

"If you manage not to throw wings you could probably claim to be a nixie or a mermaid. Their bottom halves are serpenty? Ish? Or if you do throw wings- ugh, what else is there, this is like trying to remember the names of obscure countries. I'll think of something. And hah, no, that's way too fancy. We just have neighborhoods for critters. Little Italy but Little Critter instead? They're called Avalons. Maman and I shop in the Toronto one."

[hatchedplan]

"And these are hidden via government conspiracy, magic, willful not-looking of non-critters...? I don't think I'm especially serpenty, I have, like, legs. Claiming to be something serpenty would only cover for the tail and nothing else, aren't there any lizard-type critters?"

[coeur_de_lion]

"Magic. A guy at the door. Not being interesting to start with. All the above? Not a lot of work, really, the entrance to the Toronto Avalon looks like a falling apart old record store. They sell records and everything, you just have to be in the know to get in the back."

She hums thoughtfully. "What else? There's a Lamia who works in the magic shop, I think... But I don't think Lamias get medallions. I vaguely recall some local critters, I want to say Aztec but maybe Incan, that might work? There wouldn't be any in Toronto to call you out on it, that's for sure."

[hatchedplan]

"Is there a book you could look this up in? I mean, maybe not on you, but for after we're back home."

[coeur_de_lion]

"Oh sure, lots. Avalon has a bookstore and everything. I can take you when we're back. We could look here too, if you want to go sooner, but I don't think you'd have much luck in English."