29 Chimera Court, Sunday Evening

[shiroi_tiger]

Nathan frowned a little as he hung up the phone. It wasn't a bad frown, really. Just... thoughtful. He'd gotten a call from a representative from Portalocity who he'd been dealing with for some time now regarding his inability to get home again, and they'd had some news.

Good news, in fact. An ETA on the availability for portals home. He wouldn't be able to leave until Wednesday, but that gave him some time to settle accounts here, not leave anybody in the lurch. Not that leaving a house to his three roommates to figure out was likely an inconvenience, but he did have a job to quit as well. And a bit of packing to do.

He looked thoughtfully around the few items he'd gained since coming to the island.

No, not right now. Before he did anything with any of it, he was going to make himself some tea.

[OOC: Open! Nathan's time here is almost up. Just seeding that now.]

Comments

[what_the_shock]

Miguel finished making some microwave popcorn and wondered yet again if he wanted to take the machine apart and try to make it better. Engineering wasn't his preferred science, but if the chips were advanced enough...

He paused and nodded at Nathan before getting out of the way. "Hey."

[shiroi_tiger]

"Good evening, Miguel," Nathan said, nodding as he made his way to the kettle in order to fill it with water.

He was going to miss electric kettles. Of all the things here...

"At least, I hope it's a good evening?"

[what_the_shock]

Miguel shrugged and nodded. "Not a bad one, anyway. You?"

[shiroi_tiger]

Nathan smiled faintly as he plugged in the kettle.

"It's been eventful, believe it or not. Portalocity contacted me tonight."

[what_the_shock]

"Yeah? Going on a trip?" Miguel asked.

[shiroi_tiger]

"The one-way sort," Nathan replied. "They contacted me to let me know they've figured out their technical problems and they'll be able to send me home again as early as Wednesday."

[what_the_shock]

Miguel blinked. "Oh. Hey, that's great, right?"

[shiroi_tiger]

"It's great for me," Nathan agreed. "Assuming I don't go home and find that Taka has thrown all of my things out into the mud for vanishing for a year and a half without warning."

[what_the_shock]

"Ouch. Yeah. You haven't been able to get through to her since you've been here?" Miguel asked.

[shiroi_tiger]

"I've been writing," Nathan sighed with a shrug. "I have no idea if she's been getting the letters, as I haven't gotten any replies. I don't even know if time has been running concurrently to the island, or not. For all I know, Portalocity will send me back, and the kids will be grown with children of their own."

Or no time will have passed at all.

[what_the_shock]

"And they can't even tell you in advance?" Miguel was already thinking of ways he might be able to help. If they could lock onto Nathan from the Panoptichron...

[shiroi_tiger]

"I've been stranded here for a year and a half," Nathan pointed out. "Portalocity isn't exactly renowned for their exceptional customer service."

[what_the_shock]

"Ugh." Miguel offered Nathan some of his popcorn.

"If it goes wrong, can they get you back?" he asked. "If you have to live in your own future, at least you'd know the people there."

[shiroi_tiger]

"If it goes wrong?" Nathan raised an eyebrow. "This is the same Portalocity that once dropped a school trip in the middle of a mall infested with hungry zombies. If it goes wrong, then I'm probably on my own. That's nothing new for me."

[what_the_shock]

"...Right. Maybe get the info from Portalocity on where they're sending you? If Heather can get a lock on you, maybe we could bring you back."

Miguel was not going to leave Nathan with hypothetical zombies.

[shiroi_tiger]

"If it isn't too much trouble," Nathan said, after a brief pause. "I want to say I haven't made it this far in life by being reckless, but I'm fairly certain that if I do, somebody, somewhere, will laugh themselves sick."

He was very, very good at being composed, right up until he did something exceptionally stupid and still somehow managed to survive the ordeal.

[what_the_shock]

"Shock it, there's no sense being reckless if you don't have to," Miguel said. "Sometimes you just have to. I'll get that info and get it to Heather. I mean, you're an honorary Exile now; we're not about to leave you someplace awful."

[shiroi_tiger]

"I appreciate it," Nathan replied, smiling faintly. "And so long as the connection into and out of Japan stays open, any time you need a strategist..."

He wouldn't be opposed to the occasional job, just so long as he could go home again when it was done.

[what_the_shock]

"Suppose you could take a phone with you?" Miguel suggested. "It'd be good to have reliable communication."

He didn't suppose they had the infrastructure in old Japan to run one, but that didn't seem to stop Fandom.

[shiroi_tiger]

"Not sure how I would charge it," Nathan mused, "but I do intend to bring mine with me, just to be on the safe side."

With Fandom, who knew, right?

[what_the_shock]

Miguel grinned. "I can show you how to build a battery out of fruit. You can invent electricity if you really want to."

[shiroi_tiger]

"Mm, I don't know if that would go over terribly well in the village I live in," Nathan noted, sounding faintly amused. "... But I wouldn't complain about a means to charge the phone all the same."

[what_the_shock]

Miguel nodded. "Okay, so - copper and zinc for terminals; I can probably pick something up at the hardware store. You pick up some of the fruits and vegetables you'll have access to. Then we can see which ones have the best current. And you'll probably want to get a couple extra cords, in case one goes bad."

[shiroi_tiger]

Nathan paused for a moment, and then, sighing, he gave his head a nod.

"I'll have to get you to write this down," he decided. "I suppose, if it really comes down to it, I can write Portalocity to arrange for travel if need be."

He would have to wait a while, but there were worse fates, and he could be a very patient man.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel shrugged. "If worse comes to worst, you can just start saying, 'Get me out of here' every few minutes. Eventually, Heather will see."

[shiroi_tiger]

"I'll have to keep that in mind," Nathan replied, giving Miguel a brief grin as he retrieved the kettle and poured his water. He glanced back at Miguel. "Tea?"

It probably went great with popcorn.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel thought about it and shrugged. "Sure." He held out his bag. "Popcorn?"

It went great with tea.