get me outta here :: kin, nat

It was nearing midnight, and the three members of the KINATHEO squad (named such by Kinley, one boring afternoon) were out by the abandoned Mayweather Lighthouse. Calling it abandoned wasn't quite true, Theo had come to realize. On the weekends it was usually quite the opposite of abandoned, as it seemed to be one of the most popular party spots for the students of Redfern. Theo had no interest in coming here when it was like that, though, so whenever he, Kinley, and Nat ventured here it was usually during the week.

"I wonder when they actually used this thing for something other than lame-ass parties," Theo thought aloud as they entered the little clearing the lighthouse stood in. It was pretty dilapidated now, especially with the beer bottles that often lay scattered at the foot of it (Theo wondered what poor sap had the job of coming out here to clean up periodically after the losers that partied out here), but it was pretty cool looking, anyway. When had they stopped using it as an actual lighthouse and let it fall into disrepair? He kicked an empty beer bottle across the sandy ground.

"Probably before the school and stuff were here," Nat answered, looking around. This place would be a lot cooler if it wasn't fucking trashed all the time. Seriously, she liked sneaking out to drink too, but at least she cleaned up after herself. "I wonder why they let it fall out of use." Plenty of ships still navigated these waters, after all.

They got to the door at the base of the lighthouse and Nat had Rio do his little trick to unlock the door. She was glad to be here with her two only friends, and was even more glad that said two friends got along so well. Or at least, as well as Theo could be expected to get along with anyone. The three climbed the stone steps until they were up in the lantern room.

"Who knows," Kinley said. She wasn't interested in the history of the place, just in the adrenaline she got from climbing it all the way to the top. When they got to the lantern room, which was even higher than the room that led to the platform, Kin walked over to the window. "Wow," she said. Coming out here at night was always so awesome--you had a perfect view of how the stars and moon reflected off the ocean.

Theo, who had been busy poking around in an old desk, looked out of the window from his side of the room. "You girls and your stars," he said, shaking his head and going back through rummaging through the desk. He didn't expect to find anything good in there considering the fact that delinquent students had had run of the place for years and years, but it was still cool to look through. "Jeeze, some of the stuff in here is like, a hundred years old." He pulled out an old log and read off the date at the top, "August 21, 2017."

"That's when Mr. Bellomy started working here," Nat sat matter-of-factly. She had been examining the lighthouse lens, which was still more or less intact but long since rendered nonfunctional. When Theo pulled out the log, she walked over to peer over his shoulder.

The log turned out to be pretty boring, with the lighthouse keeper recording things like service and maintenance, and how many ships they saw pass that day. "Yikes. What a boring job," she said. Nothing to do but count ships passing by.

Both Kin and Theo snickered at the comment about their headmaster. Theo had found he disliked the man as much as both Kinley and Nat did when Mr. Bellomy called Theo down to the office for skipping class too many times. Theo had argued that this was through no fault of his own--if the classes were more interested, he'd feel more inclined to actually show up. Mr. Bellomy had called Jack, and then that had opened a whole different can of worms.

After Nat had given up and went to go explore something else, Theo continued to flip through the log for a few more moments. It was boring, he agreed, but part of him also thought it was cool. It reminded him of the journals he kept. The lighthouse keeper had recorded events of the past just like Theo, and they could be revisited whenever someone flipped open their books. It made Theo think of the last time he'd gone through his notebooks. Maybe they didn't date back a hundred years like the one in his hands right now, but they did date back to a different lifetime.

He'd gotten his first journal for his seventh birthday. A few months later his parents were gone, and so was the old Theo. Feeling a twinge of a something he couldn't place, he shut the book and shrugged his book bag off his shoulders to slip the log book inside it. It wasn't like it was getting any use out here, anyway. Not that you'd care even if it was, Panda told him.

"Let's go outside," Kinley said, bored of the small room. She led the trio back down some stairs and they walked out onto the platform. Seven became a bat and swooped around outside in the dark, enjoying the night breeze.

"So," Kin said, leaning way over the railing to see what the ground looked like from here, "are you guys doing anything over break?" Redfern's fall break was coming up next week, which meant she was going to have to go back home to Snoozeville. Blech.

"I'm going home," Theo said, suddenly. He wasn't sure where it had come from, or when he'd decided it, but once the words had come out he knew that's what he was going to do.

Nat looked out over the ocean. It was a clear night, and the moon and stars reflected off the water. She was about to tell Kin that she had been thinking of asking her to spend break in Earalas with her, where they'd have a lot more freedom than Kin would have in Solas. But before she could open her mouth and get the words out, Theo piped up with something surprising.

Theo wrote:"I'm going home."

"What? I thought you hated it at home," she said, brow furrowed. She had been sure Theo would spend their break here at Redfern, no matter how much she was hoping he'd come back to Earalas. If he was serious, then maybe all three of them could hang out over break. :)

Kin, too, had been surprised at Theo's proclamation. She knew from Nat how much Theo couldn't stand his adoptive dad, and Theo hadn't exactly been quiet about it, either.

"No, not Earalas," Theo said. He couldn't help but feel a sliver of annoyance that Nat thought he would ever call that place home. "Lilycove."

Kin's eyes widened. "Wait, what?" Lilycove? That was like...no where near Earalas (which was definitely where Theo lived). "Would Whatshisface be okay with that?"

Theo shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I don't care what he thinks." Jack was the least of his worries, and besides, he was probably thanking the gods Theo was out of his house, anyway.

Kin raised an eyebrow. "So how do you plan on getting there?" It wasn't like unsettled kids could just traipse across Amelia whenever they felt like it. "Lilycove is like...I dunno, like forever away."

Nat heard the annoyance in Theo's voice and narrowed her eyes, feeling defensive. How the hell was she supposed to know he hadn't meant Earalas? He'd never told her anything about living in Lilycove. Before she could retort, though, Kin cut in.

Kin wrote:"Would Whatshisface be okay with that?"

Theo wrote:"Doesn't matter. I don't care what he thinks."

"His name is Jack," Nat muttered quietly. Theo didn't have to think of Jack as a parent or even like him if he didn't want to, but Nat liked him and she wished Theo wouldn't talk about him like that around her.

Kin wrote:"So how do you plan on getting there? Lilycove is like...I dunno, like forever away."

"There's a train that goes from Solas, to Dian, to Lilycove," Nat answered automatically. Anytime she traveled with her dad she was the designated map reader, and knew the train routes by heart. But that wasn't the question she was most interested in. "Hey Theo, what do you mean by 'home'? Is Lilycove where...where you grew up?"

Theo never talked about his past, but Nat had pieced together some things from conversations she'd overheard (aka eavesdropped on) between her dad and Jack.

Theo ignored Nat's mumbled comment about Jack's name. He'd never see what she saw in him, but that was none of his business.

Nat wrote:Hey Theo, what do you mean by 'home'? Is Lilycove where...where you grew up?

"Yeah," Theo said as casually as he could. He didn't want to, like, make it a thing. It'd been years since he'd been in Lilycove. The first few years he'd been in foster care he was bumped around the city, but after awhile he'd been moved to Earalas for some reason. A few years later and he'd been a randomly selected winner. He'd moved in with Jack after the adoption, never having met the guy before. That'd worked out great.

"My parents, they owned a store there."

"Sooo, you want to go visit the store?" Kinley asked, trying to piece together Theo's thoughts. Nat'd told her that Theo hadn't always been an orphan--his parents had passed away or something. Maybe the store held some sort of significant memory for him or something.

Theo nodded. "Yeah. I don't know, I just..." He walked over to the edge of the platform and rolled his eyes at himself. He could feel himself making this a thing. It was annoying and awkward.

"Let's do it," Kinley said.

Theo turned to look at her. "Wait, what?"

Theo sounded casual as he spoke, but there was a kind of lightness in his voice that made it obvious, to Nat at least, that his casual tone was forced. She sort of got it. Sometimes she could hear the same awkward lightness in her own voice when the topic of her bio mom came up, even though Nat didn't remember her the way Theo probably remembered his own parents.

"Yeah...let's do it," she agreed. Why shouldn't they go to Lilycove?

"Wait," Theo said again, confused. He hadn't, like, invited them. He'd just said he was going. He knew Kin didn't particularly like her family, and Nat sometimes got annoyed with hers, but they still had them. He doubted especially that Kin's parents would let her go on a cross-country trek.

"You want to go?" he asked.

"Duh, silly," Kin said, unaware of his internal thoughts. "You think we're gonna let you go on a crazy adventure like that by yourself?"

"You don't think your parents are going to care that you're just, like, gone?" Theo asked.

"We'll just tell them Kin came to my place," Nat said. Nat and Kin spent weekends at each other's giant houses all the time, so their parents wouldn't scrutinize it too much. "And I'll say I went to her place. It's only for a few days. You could tell Jack you came with me to Kin's, too." She knew he wouldn't, but she had to at least suggest it.

She wondered if Theo was trying to subtly say he didn't want them to come with him. "I mean...if you want us to come, that is."

Kinley got a wicked look in her eyes. Yes. This was exactly the type of thing she'd always wanted to do. A freaking secret mission cross country journey with her besties. And lying to their parents about where they were just made it even more fun.

"No, I mean, I just..." Theo said, trying to work through his feelings.

You just never thought they'd want to? Panda asked.

Theo thought about what Panda said. He'd never, for as long as he could really remember, had somebody who, like, felt like...real friends? Friends who would do something like take a random trek across the country for no reason of their own. It was an interesting feeling.

"Of course you can come," Theo settled on.

"Woo!" Kin shouted a little too loudly. She threw her arms around Nat and Theo's shoulders and drew them close. "KINATHEO takes Amelia. It's got a ring to it, my friends."

Nat smiled, genuinely happy. She was obviously excited for the trip, and the secret and forbidden nature of it just made it even more exciting. But on top of that, she was also excited to like...be there with Theo, while he did something that was obviously super important to him. Maybe on this trip they'd like, get closer or something. Maybe.

"I'm pretty pumped," she said, putting her arm around Kin's shoulders and looking over at Theo.

Theo, despite himself, felt a little excitement brewing in his chest, as well. The idea for the trip had started out as some mopey thing (like most things Theo tended to do), but now that Nat and Kinley had expressed excitement, it was starting to rub off on him. It didn't need to be some tragic "woe is me" affair.

The three friends talked for a little while about how they'd get there, but then decided they'd better make plans when they could use a map to do it, so eventually went back to their dorms to get some rest.

YAY ROADTRIP, MUCH EXCITE