Field Trip: Chicago

[TheAbsurdist]

June 10th,  Chicago, Illinois.

 

GM

 

The plan was simple.  Mr. Landis organized some of the kids from the last trip, though this one was less involved in showing the woods and general survival tips (though the two students who demonstrated skill in the outdoors was a small bit of surprise).  So this time it was a shift to an urban environment.  Specifically his old stomping grounds given that he went to college at Northwestern.  And since it was the end of the term, it made things even easier.  Plus, cheating thanks to Sam's ability to teleport.  Though the first day was largely getting the everyone there, and settled in the hotel, plus some Chicago style stuffed crust pizza.

 

Today was a bit more of the tourist thing.  "Alright everyone, today we are going to the Museum Campus on the lake, so we should be able to see three museums, give or take how fast we feel like going.  Also, no one is allowed to replicate anything from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, andTona?  No riding on top of the L, unless absolutely necessary."  Said as he hustled the herd of kids up to the train, as otherwise it was a several mile trek out to the museums, instead of a cozy walk.

[Blue Rose]

Personally, Sam had been hoping to put in some more planning of her own and some more privacy before bringing Tona to Chicago. Again. For the first time. Psycho robot clones are weird.

But she got to demonstrate the inherent superiority of Chicago-style pizza! Well, 'superiority' would require a frame of reference. And it would be kind of weird to follow up with some lesser pizza and going, 'See how much less awesome this is?' But demonstrating the awesomeness of Chicago-style pizza works, too.

Between being back in her home town and actually having the really, totally, completely real Tona with her this time, probably, hopefully? She's been extra bubbly since they got here, hardly letting go of Tona the whole time. Right now, she's all but dragging Tona to the L. Something that's exciting even for her, since she's so rarely used it. Teleportation and all. Though at the instructions, she has to stop and ask, "What's Ferris Bueller's Day Off?"

[Raveled]

Tona was feeling unsettled. Part of that was the teleportation, of course; going from one place to another without any transition was better than getting into a metal can to be flung faster than sanity across the country, but it still wasn't how she would choose to travel. Being around Sam was good, but she still wasn't entirely over the events of the Day of Wrath, and the fact that Sam had already shown her replacement around Chicago left her wondering how this trip was going to go.

So she was planning to hang back from the crowd, but Sam's mood was infectious and soon Tona was getting excited despite herself. The comment about riding on the train made her feel defensive -- it had been necessary to jump across those cars! -- but the movie reference surprised. "I know that one!" she shouted, pride shining through her voice. "By John Hughes, with Matthew... uh Brodey? And Alan... Rude?" She looked at the group, and realized that she was being rather loud. "It's... John Hughes has really good movies, okay?"

[TheAbsurdist]

Today was better for Elias, than yesterday.  Yesterday involved teleportation.  And Elias hated it.  With his senses it was a lurch, and suddenly he was having to orientate himself again, with the web and the feelings of all these minds.  He had thrown up in a dumpster.  It was not pretty, and it made him cranky, as well as gave him a headache.

 

But today?  That was fine and dandy.  Or in Elias terms: neutral.

 

He didn't immediately add to the conversation, because he was decidedly without a clue when it came to popular culture.  His hands stuffed into the pockets of his hooded sweater, and his head turned away from the group, canted a little as he watched.  His quaint paranoia always there, or it was his natural 'here but not entirely present' demeanor as he was focusing on several things at once.

[Vahnyu]

"Hehe, no reason to be defensive, Tona." Serge laughed. He had already experienced teleporting first hand, a few months back, and he was able to handle himself a bit better than Tona and Elias, but only marginally, and he was still glad to not have to do that for the time being. "I saw it once on cable. Can't say I disliked it, but I did find the plot and pacing weird in a few places here and there. Then again, I was what, thirteen at the time?"

 

Turning to Sam, he added "Anyway, as you might have inferred, Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a movie from the mid 80s or so, about a guy named Ferris Bueller, who decides to take a day off of school, and there's also his best friend and his girlfriend who accompany him, while the principal of the school is hunting him or something, and then wacky things happen... and... uhhh... I... don't seem to remember much of the plot, really..." He trailed off, with a slight embarrassment. He decided to ask Elias instead "What about you, Elias? Have you watched it recently?"

[Thunder King]

Mali knew the movie, and actually didn't much care for it. She was of the opinion that Ferris wasted his natural talents by working so hard to avoid working. Such a concept was anathema to her. She'd been to Chicago more than a few times, and enjoyed the taste of Chicago style pizza. Even if it meant veering away from her diet to indulge.

 

"I love Chicago." She said, looking around. "It's got a lot of history and a strong character. I believe it was Carl Sandburg that called it the 'City of the Big Shoulders'."

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

Mr. Landis, for all his good natured and enthusiastic aplomb did manage to look flatly at Sam.  Not that his expression would really impact the sardonic girl.  "Right, right, let's not fixate on John Hughes movies.  Those are from my teen years."  He waved the group on. as he turned from the group.  "Onward Claremonters!  To the El-Train."  And before moving, he stopped and looked over his shoulder at them.  "If we can make it there without shenanigans, I am buying lunch for all of you."

[TheAbsurdist]

Elias blinked as attention was brought to him, and he looked at Serge, frowning a little and shrugging.  "No."  It wasn't like he had watched a lot of television growing up, and he tended to never do anything entertaining.  The closest he had to that was his job, and the occasional snippets of free time he allowed himself.  Television and movies ranked down on the list.  All things considered.  Shaking his head slowly, and thrusting his hands in his pockets as the focus of his eyes sort of shifted away.

 

This was the part where he would normally prattle off some information about it, but he instead he was focusing on something, somewhere else.

[Blue Rose]

As Tona goes off about John Hughes movies, Sam almost laughs, but settles on a smile, glad to see Tona learning the world. "He does, does he? You'll have to share some with me one of these days." She gives Tona a playful hip bump, not that she has much to bump with. But talk of John Hughes (whoever the Hell that is) has gone on long enough, so she drops the subject and returns to zipping ahead and tugging Tona for the ride.

Of course, being so far ahead doesn't stop her from carrying on the conversation. She just turns around, walking backwards, through the crowd, while talking louder, enough to cut through the crowd. Both safe and courteous, to be sure. "Chicago's great. Always more to see. Old job kept me from seeing as much of it the way I like, but that just means more to explore!"

[Raveled]

Tona grinned and let herself be pulled forward, sticking close to Sam. "You'd like Ferris Bueller," she said. "Like you, but with less teleporting and shadows, and more talking and parades." She looked around the city, trying to fix landmarks in her head, but it was almost impossible; there was no horizon in cities, everything was so closed and small, how did anyone find their way around? Still, she wasn't worried. Sam was here, and Sam was always going on about Chicago.

She pulled the other girl close, bumping hips again (that was a fun activity). "So where are you taking us first?" She left it open whether us meant the whole group or us just meant Tona and Sam.

[Blue Rose]

"More talking than me? I can hardly imagine," Sam counters with a grin. "Though the world could definitely use more parades in my honor."

She pulls in at Tona's behest, talking low as she reaches into her coat, pulling out two strips of sturdy paper that she waves under Tona's nose. "I dunno what Mr. Landis has in mind, and I'm not gonna get in his way, but after, I have two tickets to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Capping off with an excerpt from Prokofiev's composition for Romeo and Juliet. Not the full ballet, but if you like it, I can totally get us tickets to the ballet some time."

[Vahnyu]

Classic music, eh? Serge thought to himself, after accidentally overhearing the two girls talk. Heh, might be nice. Romeo and Juliet, huh?... Now that I recall, I really enjoyed the song 'What is a Youth', from Franco Zeffirelli's film version. It had an ethereal yet sad tune to it... now, how did it go... the young teen mused, as he tried to bring the memory of the song back to mind. What is a youth? Impetuous fire. What is a maid? Ice and desire. The world wags on. He sang in his mind, letting a few hums escape him. A rose will bloom. It then will fade. So doooooes a youth... So doooo-o-o-o-o-o-o-oes the fairest maid. After a small pause, he gave up ... Yeeeah, I only remember up to this point. Snapping back to reality, Serge found himself staring pointlessly in the distance. Realising that he might have looked awkward, he apologised, and giving a  sheepish smile, Serge turned at his fellow schoolmates. "Hehe, sorry, wandered off to my little world, again, didn't I?" he said, as he stepped into the train along with the rest of the group.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Vahnyu

[Raveled]

"Don't have to spend money to get me in a dark room, you know," Tona said, half-jokingly. Internally she was conflicted. This was Sam's city, and spending more time with Sam was of course a good thing, but plays always seemed rather flat to her when they studied them in school. How in the world could someone like Shakespeare write in the same language as everyone else and be so hard to understand?

Wait. Ballets were fancy, right? "Hm. Only really have jeans and shirts." She shot Sam a sideways look. "Is this just an excuse to make me wear fancy stuff?"

Edited October 20, 2013 by Raveled

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

And it was then that Mr. Landis moved around behind them, urging them along.  "Less planning ,more walking people, come on!  I swear, it's like you guys are trying to make to a grumpy old man."  Of course it wasn't like the train was always on time, but Mr. Landis was try to keep things moving at a brisk pace.  If just for the hopes that his students wouldn't get distracted.  Oh how this group loved to get distracted.  "We're gonna see all the museums we can today.  Might hit up another tomorrow.  Also I got us tickets to Cubs game tomorrow."

[Thunder King]

Mali was not one for baseball, not really, but the idea of experiencing a game in person sounded fun enough. Normally, history and such held very little interest for her, but she did enjoy seeing real history. Animals and skeletons, exhibits of real artifacts from history. Much more interesting than any old book could make them.

 

Still, she kinda felt...lost. She was happy for Sam and Tona, as her two closest friends, yet she didn't know anyone else here half as well as the two of them. But that was fine, she decided. Always good to make new friends.

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

 

"Alright, alright..."  And with that, Mr. Landis hustled the kids up onto the platform to take the train that would get them down to the lake, and the museum park.  Once on there he chatted with the kids about things, while they also talked among themselves,  Eventually they descended down to the Milennium Station under the Milennium Park.  Once they were were off the train, and headed to the lake, to wander south along it.  Picking up snacks on the way, as they made their way to the famous Field Museuem, home of Sue the t-rex.

 

"Okay, so we are not on a special tour, so I am going to ask everyone stick roughly together.  And please don't touch anything in there that visitors aren't allowed allowed to touch."  Said as he walked up the stairs with the kids in tow.  "And abide by the rules... and no riding Sue."

[Blue Rose]

"Oh, don't worry; I grew out of riding Sue when I was ten."

She walks into the place like it's an old home; it's been a few years, and she marvels at the changes as she grabs a program and flips through it. "Aw, we missed the Maria Pinto collection... oh well."

She ponders for a moment, then takes Tona's hand and zips off. "Oh! I gotta show you the Hall of Jades! Lot of it used to be mine, but the AEGIS jerks made me give it back... hey, is that an Archtech laser grid? That's new. Definitely an upgrade from their old crap."

She seemed to completely miss the whole 'stay together' part as she walks along, making no secret of her many past after-hours visits to the Field Museum.

[Vahnyu]

As the students continued making their way towards the Field Museum, Serge noticed that Elias had gone awfully quiet during the last half hour or so. Feeling that he should do something to cheer him up, he approached him from the side, and in between snacking on some deliciously crunchy Maltesers, he said to him "Would that I could give a couple of hundred dollars for your thoughts, Eli! What's on your mind, man? Don't tell me travel by train makes you ill or something..." he jested, while flashing him an honest smile. "We'll soon be hitting the museums, at mister Landis' behest, but is there something you would like to see? Something that would really excite or entertain you?" Serge asked, as he tried to make small talk with his classmate. "Come on, brother, you can tell all to uncle Serge!"

[TheAbsurdist]

It took several moments before he looked at Serge, and he blinked a little bit, as if realizing what his classmate had said.  His eyebrows knit together, as he pondered what Serge said, and then he shrugged.  Elias' favorite gesture, as far as anyone who kept track would note.  "The train shudders on the track."  Said as if somehow that explained everything, of course it very nearly could.  "I am here because I am required to be, what I see doesn't matter to me."  Which was true, he knew comparatively nothing about the museum, like Tona he was something of an innocent of several aspects of the world, but then the version of it that he grew up in was... skewed compared to others.  Plus, with his memory, anything he saw he would be able pull up with relative ease later, and with the same gravity as the initial moment, and as such initial exposure to stimuli held less importance to him as to him all empirical data was equitable.

[Raveled]

Tona let herself be pulled along by Sam, glancing at the exhibits but not really taking much in. Museums seemed to have so much reading in them, and so little experience. She would rather be out in the world, being around something alive, than crawling through a building full of dead things.

Something did catch her interest. "If you had all this stuff before," Tona asked, temporarily putting on the breaks, "why do you want to see them now? Didn't you see enough of them when you owned them?"

[Blue Rose]

"Because they're awesome!" As if that needed explaining.

"Jadework is some of my favorite, and I know my treasure. It starts off as just an ordinary-looking rock, and they carefully grind and polish it into something just gorgeous, and it's real sturdy, too. Some of this stuff is five thousand years old. Fox actually brought me to watch some modern Chinese jadeworking, and I even got to try a bit myself, not that I was ever any good at it. It was just a lesson in," she clears her throat and takes on an exaggerated, authoritarian tone, "The infinite bounty of patience."

As they enter the hall, something catches her eye immediately. "This is new." She goes over to a yellow jade pendant, taking in the work, considering how it would have been strung and worn, and taking measure of the security around the piece. She's not planning on coming back to take it, of course, but good training sticks.

[Vahnyu]

Serge frowned in dejection, as he realised that following his instinct in attempting to make Elias open up to him may not be the best approach. Sighing, he smiled at him and said "Ah, I see. At any rate, if we find some free time later on, we could always hit the arcades, or go to a bowling alley or something. I mean, I may not look it," he jestured, indicating his rather lanky physique "but I DO know my way around a billiard table. Whaddaya say? Come on, it'll be fun!" he said with a light laugh, hoping that this would make his classmate feel more comfortable at the very least, if not making him open up a bit.

 

"Well, what about you, Mali? I'm sure you could give us a helpful pointer or two in the finer art of taking down pins by throwing a rolling ball from a distance!" He said to Mali, inviting her as well, as they made their way around the museum.

[Thunder King]

Mali chuckled. "Bowling's not necessarily my favorite sport, but it is fun." She said. "Get a bunch of people around the alley, and play. It's one of those things you can have fun with even if you completely suck." Truth be told, she did kinda like bowling. It was competitive, but since your opponents had nothing to do with your performance, it was also a sport you could train at and improve without needing anyone else around. Anything you could train at and have fun while getting better appealed to her.

[TheAbsurdist]

GM

 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Everyone, slow down just a little, alright?  We are going to synchronize our watches here kiddo, I have 10:07, we'll meet back in front of Sue," and he gestured up to the massive t-rex skeleton, "At noon.  We'll see where we are at, and see whether we'll stay here or move on.  If need be, you all have my cell, I and going to do the standard circuit..."

 

"HER!  That's her!  I've called the police!  Hold her!" Came the shrill cry from among the throngs of people at the museum.  A stern and harried looking woman approached with a security guard in tow, one arm held up and jabbing a finger in accusation towards Sam.  The guard drew a tazer pistol and leveled it at the formerly larcenous girl, the museum worked kept on harping, "That one!  She stole from here before!  Look at her with her new gang!  Stop them!"

 

"I can see she is there."  The guard drawled easily, before he addressed Sam evenly.  "I am going to need you to to hold still ma'am."  At that point he realized that there was a group of them, and he swore under his breath as he took one hand off the pistol and hit the radio on his shoulder.  "We have a group.  Better update the cops, six of them, five teens, one adult."  Then he addressing them again, "Could you group together please, hands where I can see them."

 

"I believe there is some kind of misunderstanding, we are a school group for an end of the yea-"  Mr. Landis tried to speak as he slowly edged himself in front of Sam.

 

"Hardly!  I'd remember that little thieving-"  The museum worker snapped.

 

"Ms. Browning, you are not helping, please go.  And sir, hands where I can see them, and stop moving."  He cut off Ms. Browning, who was very clearly agitated and glaring at Sam murderously.  As this happened a pair of guards came sprinting into the room, each of them drawing similar stungun pistols one joining the first guard and the other going to cover the front door, while museum workers were ushering out the rest of the people out of that room.

[Raveled]

Tona followed Sam, falling a bit behind as the former(?) thief rushed ahead. It seemed an odd mindset, to let go of one's victories so easily -- and then to let those victories be displayed somewhere else, by the person you stole them from! The young archer could only liken it to someone claiming a kill she had made, and touting it as the greatest victory in history. She certainly wouldn't stay quiet if that happened to her!

And then the whole world seemed to catch up with them. Mr. Landis tried to set a schedule (and had Tona remembered her watch?) but soon there were brown-uniformed security guards rushing the group. Tona tired to step between their weapons and Sam, but before long they were surrounded. Her mind immediately flipped into combat mode; Mali can take three, don't know about Elias and Serge. Assume one apiece. That leaves... too many for me. Okay, new plan. Get shadows, Sam gets everyone away...