E2 - Astray (2)

After Janet finished teaching Ryan his lesson, we headed to floor 100: "The Hub". Our organisation, "The Synchronization Project", was formed in August 2023 - one month after the 『Synchronization Event』 - by the UN, to help research magic and assist the world in transitioning to a new status quo. As such, there are Sychronization Project buildings in each nation that we can travel between using portals.

"Right, Geneva to London, then we'll fly to Tennerfield. Ready to go home, boys?"

"Is it really safe for Ryan to portal with a concusion?" Alix joked.

"Well I've healed up already, it wasn't that bad-"

"Oh, really?" my girl materialised, with a smirk that made Ryan rethink his life choices.

"Wait, Janet no, please," he grovelled. "Ooo, we do have to pop back home once we're done though, Alix's Dad's really wanted to meet you two."

"Dude, how do you talk with my Dad more than me?"

"Just a better son I guess."

"Wow. Come on then, let's not keep him waiting."

「Voom」

As we stepped through the yellow circle, appearing on the other side - like we just walked through an ordinary doorway - we ran to the window and took our obligatory mission selfie.

"Catch you soon, Mr Martínez!" Janet formed, as Ryan tried (and failed) to cover Alix's face.

As Alix was posting the image on his socials, I checked my phone to see a message from my mom.

"Weird, it's 2am back in New York, guess she's working nights."

"You good, angel?"

"Yeah, nothing important, I'll sort it later. Right now, let's jump!"

Focusing my energy into magic circles on my back - or as we call them, "paths" - beautiful angel wings of yellow light formed, strong enough to carry me and my piney (short for porcupine, 'cause Janet will stab you, and I love it). Simultaneously, Alix placed his signature purple path on a conveniently placed scrap pile, morphing it into back mounted jet-wings.

"Lucky. I don't have to jump to the ground for material today," he said as we flew up north to our destination.

「Zoooom」

"Welcome to Tennerfield City, the local time is 7.15 am. Can passengers please stay in my arms forever and keep being the most beautiful people on Earth."

Janet was adorable - as always - when she formed a hundred hearts around me. Unfortunately, our moment was interrupted by Alix dropping his brother on the ground.

「Thud」

"Pffft. Ryan, beautiful, if only."

"See, this is why you don't have a girlfriend," he shot back.

"Not like you've got a man either, britz."

Suddenly, two "SHUT UP!" constructs interrupted the boys by smacking them in the face, before all 3 lept into a snark off.

"Good lord, how are we all adults?" I chuckled.

Our job in Tennerfield was to discover why the local government had dissolved and make a report on the conditions of the residents, so we went straight to the best place for information: The Pub. Now, in a normal town, you wouldn't expect the pub to be busy at 7 in the morning, right? But this wasn't a normal town.

Every seat was full, both inside and out. The smell of booze was unyielding, but somehow sweet and homely; the patrons' laughs and cheers deafening, but welcoming and warm. A real community.

"Well, when in Rome," smiled Janet, as she walked us to the bar, ordering a beer.

"The owner here?"

"Ah, you're speaking? Writing? To her poppet. How can I help?"

We explained to the sweet, older lady that we were investigating the eradication of the Tennerfield Council and she was more than happy to inform us:

"Bunch of Whalfers they were, all corrupt - embezzling money to their mates, gutting community funding - but we couldn't do nowt to get rid of 'em till the big day. You're not here to reinstate them are you?"

"God no," replied Ryan, "they sound awful."

"Plus, we're not here to interfere with your self-governing, just here to do a report on: the aftermath and conditions of the people. As long as no one's in danger, we're sound - we're not the Knights," Alix explained, as we all rolled our eyes in disgust for that organisation. Eurgh.

"Ah good, cause they're the ones who started it; learned their fancy new paths (or whatever) and tried to threaten us, so we banded together and defenestrated them. Strength in numbers, I guess. Even got to remove the mayor myself," she exclaimed gleefully.

"You got to chuck people out of windows!" Ryan and Janet responded in awe, "Dooooope!"

"Ha, yeah, been good for business too. But wouldn't say that no-one's in danger. There's been a nasty bunch that've been ruining the fun, making it hard to walk around alone. Especially if you don't look or act like them, you know. We've tried to push 'em out as a community, but they're good at magic. Even better at getting their hooks in people."

She looked at us regretfully, almost teary-eyed, and Alix picked up the hints.

"Like someone close to you?"

"Yeah, my nephew, only 15 too. Should've been a better example to him."

"There's always hope, he can still come around."

"Tell you what," said Ryan, "why don't we go pay them a visit, eh? What's his name?"

"Sven, but it might be dangerous, especially for you guys. I can't let you put yourselves in danger for m-"

"Ah, we can handle it. Couldn't call ourselves the Project's team 13 otherwise."