Not Lost, Just Wandering (Open)

[Matt]

If he didn't know any better, Matt would've thought that he was lost. But being the bright kid that he is, he knew the subtle difference between lost and wandering. Of course, he hadn't crossed that line yet... Right? The old stop sign with the spray paint on it was beginning to look pretty familiar by the third time around...

Curiosity and boredom were one helluva mix. Had it not been for either, Mail Jeevas wouldn't be in his current situation. Rather than chill in the warmth of Wammy's House, he decided that he was going to take a chance and get the heck out, at least for a few hours. All of his homework was done, getting his ass beat by Team Aqua on his game was becoming repetitive, and the newest Nintendo system had supposedly went on sale, so why shouldn't he attempt a breakout? It seemed like a risk to take ever since Roger began watching him like a hawk, thanks to a little event involving toilet bowls and explosives, (Obviously, they didn't mix well.) but everything went perfectly smooth. That is, up until now. The plan went this way; search his room for money (check), get out (check), buy Nintendo DS (Epic check), and get back for an all night gaming session (No check). Unfortunately, some moron decided to have a car accident right in the middle of his route back. Now here he was, "wandering" about to find a new way to Wammy's House. Matt, of course, no longer had the money for a map. (Who needs them anyway?) So, with a full plastic bag in hand and a cigarette in his mouth, he was in one heck of a situation.

Matt could only guess that the time was now after seven pm, judging by how the sky looked. An agitated puff on smoke was blow out at the thought of being in the middle of London after dark. The last thing he needed was to get mugged. He kept moving right along with his footfall and traffic serving as the only noise in the area. There was every temptation to take his new game right out and begin playing now, but every cell in his currently overactive brain was dedicated to every street and corner he knew. He inhaled a sharp breath of smoke as he did so. Now why didn't he drag Mello along again? At least then he'd have someone to make this something he could laugh about in less than a week.

And there was that stop sign again. "Son of a bitch," he groaned under his breath. And with that, the fine line was crossed. He wasn't just wandering anymore. He was lost.

[amex]

It was true that the days spent at Wammy’s house were the most relaxing and innocent days Amex had experienced in awhile. But even she had limits. The promise she had made to herself, not to cause trouble, was being kept but that didn’t mean she couldn’t go out for a walk once in awhile. She missed the roar of car engines, the sound of people walking in a hurry and even the smoke from factories. Furthermore she’d always wanted to see London, it might not show when you see her at first, but she enjoyed to read about the world and had sworn to see it one day. What better time than now? Knowing she might not get another chance, she had set off this morning and was currently distracted by the incredible sunset. Observing the sky was one of her favorite activities, sometimes she would even stop to sketch it or she would do it later, when she had time.

However, the setting sun was also a bad reminder that she had to get back soon. Then again she could Sneek in through the window…Wild! Her lips curved into a playful smirk as that thought crossed her mind and it was way to get back into the orphanage without getting yelled at. So why not stay a little longer? Just long enough to see the stars…Ah those stars… the best thing (excluding raindrops) to admire.

The amber-eyed girl was now passing through the center, which would normally be a setback for her because she didn’t like people’s glances analyzing every inch of her clothes and hair. Yet now she wasn’t worried because, at least, the staff at Wammy’s was generous enough to give her a hair comb and a black shirt, comfortable and simple and, most of all, doesn’t grab by passers’ attention. What nice people. she thought remembering this as a young woman, all dressed up, crossed the street next to her and didn’t give her “the look”.

The girl crossed the entire park running, as if she was showing how happy she felt being free of all obligations. She finally stopped at the end of the park to take a rest and sat down on a bench next to the street. The blond tried to direct her attention to the sky again but something else caught her eye. It was a brunette who had a cigarette in his hand and had stopped in front of a stop sign looking rather annoyed. “Matt!!!” she yelled happily standing up and waving to him. Why was he here this late? She asked herself realizing he was about to ask her the same question.

[Kagumi Michiyo]

Kagumi was once again in her little corner of the room, quiet and content while reading the large alkemy book. Her long hair was now pulled back, and a small strip of hair was dangling from her head and obstructing her vision a bit as she watched intently. she was now in just a long black tanktop/tunic and pitck black gaucho pants. her eyes scanned the book back and forth, knowing she wasnt even halfway done. but she liked to read it and decipher the formulas with a newfound gusto.

sh looked up surprised how dark it was getting, that was a problem since she knew Matt had left, she checked her sports watch, " ten thirty are you kidding me?" she exclaimed annoyed and exasperated. It shouldnt take that long if you knew where you needed to go, it meant he was most likely lost. s she calmly set her book down and stood to her feet. If she left for a little bit Roger wouldnt miss her. so she walked out of the door, as simple as that.

in the streets the people seemed surprised to see her there, they wouldnt even know she was there until sh got under the streetlamps. but she ignored it and kept on walking at a confident pace, though she looked a little annoyed and she walked around a bit. nothing to do except to keep her mind on things. as she wandered, she saw the brunette along with the new kid Amex under a stop sign, " the map cant possibly be that hard to read." she piped up walking up to the two of them.

[Matt]

A few more choice words came to mind about the current predicament, but they failed to make it past the thought stage. A harsh drag on the shrinking cigarette helped to keep the swearing at bay. The sound of his own footsteps left the symphony that was the sounds of late night London as he stopped to calculate his next move. That however, quickly became the second priority as the first female voice reached him.

He would've have bothered looking had his alias not been the thing that was yelled out. Not bothering to turn his whole body, he twisted his head to face the source. Matt did all he could to hold in the sigh of relief he felt coming on when a familiar face came into his gaze. It was Amex, a much better looking Amex in fact. A brow raised in pleasant surprise once he saw what the orphange had offered her. Although she was still quite dainty, her blond hair was so much more appealing when attended to, and the shirt, although plain, was a bit more flattering this time around. This look was so much better for her, but now he was getting sidetracked. What he should really be thinking about was why she was wandering about London so late and what kind of excuse he could make up so he didn't look like a looser.

"Hey, Amex!" he yelled back to make up for the distance between them. Now he bothered to turn around, but didn't move otherwise. He was expecting her to come to him. "What the hell are you doing out here so-"

Matt's expected question was interrupted by yet another familiar, female voice. This one however, lacked Amex's enthusiasm. He was forced to turn his head again, and this time discovered Kage. Again, what he should really be thinking about was what kind of excuse he could make up. So, Matt slapped on the most confident smirk he could muster and put on a show. "Oh come on,' he groaned. "Maps are for pansies,"

[amex]

The bright amber eyes flashed as she got a reply that seemed to be just as enthusiastic as her greeting. She ran over to the stop sign and then realized that the brunette looked a bit relieved to see a familiar face. Was he lost? She chuckled slightly when that thought crossed her mind but decided not to ask so she wouldn’t bother him, also, she was curious to find out what kind of excuse the boy had made up in such a short time.

An eyebrow was raised ironically when she heard his question. She opened her moth to answer or, better yet, ask him the same when her ears caught the sound of yet another familiar person. The blonde recognized the voice of Kage and turned around to greet her too. “Hi Kage-chan.” She was so happy to see her that she didn’t notice she had added the Japanese suffix behind her name but thought that it confirmed her joyous tone and didn’t correct herself. She still added the suffixes behind her friends’ names occasionally, it was her way of showing she cared and, as they say, old habits die hard.

”Eh? I know how to get back. I just wanted to go out for a bit…’cause your right, it does get boring inside sometimes.” It was the truth though, until now, she hadn’t noticed how the time had slipped by. The stars were already playing around. “I was just about to head back and then I saw Matt-kun and I thought we could go back together.” This way she was not only explaining why she was out so late but also getting Matt of the hook, that is, if he was lost, which seemed to be the case.

[Kagumi Michiyo]

Kage had listened to both of their stories, her arms crossed and her beight amber eyes now flickering in the dim glow of the streetlamps. her feet felt the sting of some rocks and the ocassional glass, but she didnt care. in this glow, in this outfit and hairstyle, she looked like a completely different person. her head turned to matt as she listened closely to his story, only to compliment it with a smirk. then Amex came in with her story. Kagumi only shook her head in disbelief as the two of them tried to cover matt's tracks. She had to guess his own ego was getting in the way of his ability to think. and it wasnt helping one bit that Amex was trying to cover for him. nonetheless, the girls smile widened and she chuckled

" in other words you were lost Matt. dont be afraid to admit it." she knew inside he probably was not going to admit it, but it didnt hurt at all to try

[Matt]

Matt had figured that Amex was probably out here to escape the dull confines of Wammy's for at least one night, and wasn't surprised at all to find that he was right. He was surprised though to hear her trying to cover his own sorry butt. The groan forming didn't make it out into the open, thanks to the boy's unrelenting ego. Was it really that obvious that he was lost? If that was the case, he was lucky he didn't get jumped already. Not many people knew this, but he and some of the locals didn't exactly get along too well. Thanks to an unfortunate experience around this area a few months back, he became rather familiar with a couple of the local thugs. That one was probably still pretty pissed for that punch to the throat...

But back to the main concern. It didn't help at all that Kage seemed pretty amused about his current predicament. "Not lost, just wandering," which was a close as Matt was going to get to admitting it. "I hear that London's pretty cool at," he paused for a second to glance down at the watch he threw on before he left. Eleven o'clock?! What the hell?! "This time of night," Now that was official the lamest thing he had ever said in history. No one had to tell him that.

"Besides," he quickly bounced back. "Roger's only gonna lay an egg if he catches me," there was a pause as he looked at the two girls. "Well, us now."

[Kagumi Michiyo]

Kage looked from Amex to Matt, who didnt seem very happy that Amex was trying to cover for him at all, probably just some guy thing she had to figure. Most guys dont like it when girls did things for them, something about insecurities and masculinity and such. But more importantly he looked as if he just didn’t want to be there as it was. Kage shook her head, though she went out more than he did, she didn’t really want anything to do with the locals, when she was outside she was in her own little world away from the whammy kids, it was more soothing that way especially minus classes and some o the conflict that went on when the kids cleared out leaving the 4 or 5 kids. She’d rather leave before she had to hear it. So really this was more comforting to her to be out than anyone else.

She had to figure she would get to see another part of his ego when he refused to admit he was lost, she nodded, “ yes dear you are lost.” He looked down at his watch and at the same time she looked down at hers. eleven at night….perfect…absolutely perfect… “ yes it must be wonderful to be out at eleven at night, you had better be lucky I snuck a key and kept the playroom door unlocked or you would have been locked out hours ago.” Usually everything was lights out after 9 but hopefully exceptions could be made.

It frustrated her to know that he was absolutely right, a retrieval of her friends should have meant forward and back ten minutes tops, but she had to stop and listen to their explanations so he probably would have thought she ran off too, “ oh crap” she said with a defeated sigh.

[amex]

Amex was a bit shaken up by Kagumi’s reply, though she was expecting it, she was much more responsible than the two wonderers and even an idiot could see Matt was lost, not to mention how the intelligent girl must have looked upon this situation. For a moment she actually felt embarrassed, to say the least. Her friend seemed different than before and this lighting made her gaze even more powerful. “Hey, hey …it’s not exactly like that…” she stopped there as she heard Matt practically finishing her sentence and just nodded in agreement.

True, London was a spectacular city, especially at this time of night, but all of them knew full well that that was no excuse to go outside this late. Just by looking at the sky you cold tell it was near midnight. The girl looked at her feet now realizing just how bad things were, then she looked at Kagumi and apologized, she seemed to be frustrated and the staff was probably going to think she had sneaked out intentionally.

”We should go…” she said letting out a small sigh which showed she was defeated. More over, she didn’t want Kage to get in trouble too so it was better to accept the conciseness, that is, if there were any.

[Matt]

Kage's response to his sloppy excuse could be smelled from a mile away. None the less, it still forced a groan out of Matt when it was spoken. The expression of defense was quickly done away with when a frown of defeat was added on. He didn't bother to think up anything better, since it was useless at this point. He raised his hand for another drag on his cigarette, only to discover that while it was being ignored, it had burned to its limits. The minor problem was quickly solved by tossing that one to the pavement and going into his pocket for another. All he could think was at least Kage had made sneaking in a lot easier.

Amex's sudden change on the subject of being out there wasn't a favorable one. The ounce of guilt for maybe getting Kage in trouble too seemed to flicker in her expression. The new cigarette lit up with a flick of the lighter. But maybe she wasn't thinking quite the way he was. Now there were three of them, two of which knew exactly how to get back to the orphanage, and one of which had a key. The odds of getting mugged were slightly lower, and it's not like they could get into any more trouble as is...

"Well, as long as we're all screwed now," he began with a lighter approach. "What's the rush?" he shrugged. Maybe it was just the urge to show off to a pair of girls talking, but at least now he had someone to call the cops if needed.

[Kagumi Michiyo]

everyone continued to cover for one another as her gaze switched from Matt to Amex, Amex seemed plenty embarassed that she had come out to find the two of them. Kage had not expected them at all to have been together, she expected her more to have to round them up. she was fine with them sneaking out, she just wanted them to be back before Roger wrung their necks. Amex appeared to be wracked with guilt at the sound of what Kagumi had said, and even wanted to go back so that way at least Kagumi didnt get into any trouble.

But Matt seemed to be thinking about other things. One thing was for sure, now that he knew both of them had the ability to get back, and Kage had the key, his worries became less and less. Kage stood up straight, her arms crossed as she let out a yawn, the night was starting to get to her but she figured he was right, now that they were all here, they could take their grand old time getting back, " So then Matt..." she said relaxed, " what do you suggest we do in the middle of the night?"

[amex]

Apparently, she was going to see London in all it’s glory now. Going back seemed to be a more reasonable choice especially since she had promised not to cause any trouble yet the idea of seeing the city this late was incredibly tempting and they were going to get busted anyway… they knew the way back and had a key, so why not going on a bit of an adventure?

She suddenly didn’t feel guilty at all. ”Yes!” she said with a grin and kind of relieved that they didn’t have to go back to ‘the prison’ again. It was also a splendid way to spend more time together. Her eyes flashed a bit as if they were reflecting her happiness but soon her smile faded away because she realized that she didn’t have the slightest idea of what they could do. “Um…yeah…what are we gonna do?” she repeated Kagumi’s question and send a questionable glance at Matt.

There was a lot of interesting things they could do here but right now the only thing she had in mind was going to the top of Big Ben. She had always wanted to do that at night yet the idea seemed too elaborate so she held back from suggesting it and waited for the others’ suggestions, flipping a small piece of paper between her fingers.

[Matt]

The touch of satisfaction Matt took in his idea was quickly deflated by the comments of Kage and Amex. As much as he hated to face it, they had quite a point. There were very few legal things for a group of teenagers to do around London during the late hours. Still, with a puff on a cigarette, Matt had a feeling there were going to figure something out. They had an accidental tourist with them after all.

Most of Camden Market had to be closed at this point, which wasn't too much of a downer considering Matt only found himself there if he was in need of a new pair of boots or goggles. Any of the tourist traps had to be open at this point, but Amex was probably the only one who'd be interested in any of them. (They tend not to be so impressive when you're born and raised in the UK like Mail was.) Matt exhaled. When you only have a few pounds to spare and you are under twenty one, there really wasn't that much.

"Well, I have enough money for a few trips on The Tube, so we can go wherever you want it to take us," he was already border line broke, so what the heck? It was his idea, he might as well pay. He also figured that rather than be defeated again, he'd play the politeness card instead. "Amex, you're the one here for the week, so any thoughts? Kage and I have until we get sick of the place to do what we want,"

(OOC: To avoid confusion, The Tube is another name for the London Underground, the world's longest metro system.)

[amex]

Amex’s hopes that someone else would suggest an activity quickly vanished when her brunette friend asked where she wanted to go. She lifted her shoulders slightly and hesitated for a moment. Honestly, she had been everywhere she wanted to go today except The House of Parliament. “Are you two sure you don’t have any ideas?” she asked hoping that one of them would have got an idea by now but, unfortunately, the only one who wouldn’t eventually get bored of the tourist traps was her.

”Well…the only place I haven’t been to today but want to go is probably The House of Parliament.” she started off pulling out a rather scrubby map out of her pocket. “Though wouldn’t that be a bit boring for you?” the girl added glancing at Matt and Kage before moving her gaze back to the map. “Westminster station looks closest to it.” She lifted her eyes from the map again and put it back in her pocket. Without that old thing she’d probably be lost by now, even though her ability to remember places she had been to and roads she had passed was excellent, being in a big city like London could occasionally result in her getting lost. But now she was with her friends and, considering they grew up in the UK, she didn’t need it.

“So should we go there?” the blond asked, half of her hopping to get a “no” or a “some other time maybe” and the other half badly wanting to go.

[Kagumi Michiyo]

Kage had decided for a time not to speak, just listen. When Matt recommended the Tube, all Kage did was nod in agreement. And when Amex was asking hopefully for something to do, Kage shook her head. To the teenage girl, she could have cared less where the three of them ran off to as long as she got the chance to stretch her legs and walk around; she found it pleasant at night. But where could they go really? they were too young for half of the stuff and the other half was boring.there was really nothing left but to sit back and let them talk it out for themselves, then all she had to do was tag along.

When she recommended the House of Parliament, all Kage could do was shrug. It was an okay place, not too boring for her, but whether or not they went was all the choice of Amex, she was the guest not them. " Meh, I have done worse," she said halfheartedly, " I am completey fine with going there if you two are, or we could just walk around town, I have a bit of money with me to last the three of us."