the plot

[♦ Mandi Harkins]

Airports. She hated airports.

There were people everywhere, hustling and bustling through the crowded LAX terminal. Picking people up, dropping them off, just arriving to the state or leaving themselves. She was sure there had to be a few celebrities scattered here or there in here as well, hidden away from the world (or so they always thought, but she always figured the disguises made them more obvious) by sunglasses and hats, but she cared little about them, or autographs and pictures, or anything of that sort. It was all petty, in her opinion. No, instead of searching for the hottest movie stars or the greatest pop idols, she adjusted the shoulder strap of her bag, gazing around the baggage claim. Their flight had landed, hadn't it...? They should be here...

It had finally happened. What they had been waiting for for so long...the missing piece of the rainbow meteor had finally fallen free of it's space orbit, and had landed in Los Angeles, California. Loose ends had been tied up as quickly as possible back at home -- they'd been preparing for this for a long time, realizing well enough that there would come a time where they would have to pick up and relocate -- and so it hadn't been as hard as one might think for them to pick up and move out. Transfers were made, a house was rented out in the city, and tickets were purchased. Four for a flight. One for a bus. There was no way they were getting her on a plane. Ever. She'd made the excuse that she would go ahead before them and make sure things were well and good with the house, that she would start to scout around while waiting for them there. They'd accepted this answer, and so here she was, waiting for their arrival to the city a few days later.

Brushing a strand of brown hair back behind her ear, she fiddled absently with the zipper of her bag, thoughts drifting towards the meteor they were seeking so desperately -- the one thing she'd been focusing on for what seemed like forever, though it had only been almost a year now. It was here...somewhere in this city. Finally, they were so close. She had looked around upon her arrival to the grand city, but had yet to locate anything. Once the girls arrived, however, they might be able to sense its location. Their own pieces of the meteor -- worn as jewelry and always on their person at all times -- might react if in close proximity to it, Mystic thought... Her fingers wrapped around the rock dangling from a chain on her wrist. 'Where are you?' she thought idly to herself. 'Where are you hiding?'

Hopefully they'd find it soon.
Before anyone else did.

[♦ Shivani Banerjee]

Shivani thanked her lucky stars that it only took so much to get children either distracted or asleep: she missed a time when she was easily pleased as such.

Debarun was a fountain of questions when she told them that they were leaving: "Why are we leaving? Are we staying with my aunties?" He'd grown accustomed to calling the Soldiers aunties, a fair enough term of endearment for a group of ladies his mother seemed to be with a lot. "Are we driving? Are we hitchhiking? Flying? Can I get a window seat?" Shivani found his precociousness more of a blessing than anything else: it showed that he sure was healthy - and mouthy for his age! Her father attributed it to his intelligent mother. She had to call him later...

A package of airline peanuts, an apple juice, a coloring book and a plastic pilot pin later, Debarun was more than content with the current state of affairs and went fast asleep in his mother's arms. Shivani, on the contrary, was anything but calm: they'd finally found the last meteor piece, but what would this mean for the future? She was always okay with the state of constant looking, but now they were confronted with the real thing: could she handle it?

She gently lifted the rock pendant around her neck from her chest. She'd preferred the necklace to a bracelet that could fall off or need to be removed as she continued nursing school. While she was more prone to mishaps when Debarun was feeling grabby, having the fragment close to her heart seemed... natural. It felt odd and out of place in any other way.

Still, it didn't feel as natural as having her son close to her heart. Debarun. She had come to terms a long time ago that he would be in immediate danger with her position. Mystic would be able to babysit sometimes, but she also needed at least one person she could trust with her baby's life, especially because of the looming danger of what she and the Soldiers were about to do.

Shivani still felt hesitance, but this hesitance was grounded with resolution and duty as she stepped off of the plane, a half-awake Debarun holding one hand, the other tugging a rolling bag. She felt warmth exude from her pendant: this was definitely the place.

[♦ Gayle Monroe]

"If I don't get to run around now, I'm going to go crazy."

The statement was muttered, yes, but that did not mean it wasn't true and heartfelt; Gayle Monroe was not one to take exercise lightly. She hefted her hiker's pack higher onto her shoulders, her eyes roaming the huge airport sprawled before them. At least they were off the stupid airplane finally.

Gayle would have almost preferred to run the entire way to Los Angeles. She disliked small spaces, and having no where to run around for a few hours was like torture. The athlete had ended up walking around the cabin a few dozen times, restless and unsettled. She didn't mind flying, necessarily, but she would have much preferred to be flying on a plane they were going to jump out of. After making some of the other passengers a little uncomfortable with her constant moving, one of the flight attendants asked her to return to her seat and Gayle spent the rest of the flight jiggling her leg incurably and probably annoying everyone within a three feet radius. Well, next time she had to go cross country, she was running. Because it was much for fun and fulfilling that way.

After lifting her little suitcase off the moving rack and contemplating whether or not to free jump around the luggage pick up area, Gayle left, waiting for the rest of her friends and soldiers to follow. Mandi was supposed to be meeting them here, and hopefully she hadn't gotten lost or anything. The sooner they got to their new apartment, the better. She could throw her things on the floor, grab her tennis shoes, and go exploring. A foot in hiker's sandal's started tapping impatiently on the floor at the thought, her muscles itching to just go.

But on the brightside, maybe she could further her acting career here! It WAS Hollywood after all. Not that she much cared for the shallowness and glamor of it all, but it's a good place for an actress to get her start. Though it was technically on the backburner for now; soldier duties had to come first for the time being. Make sure the world is safe; THEN become a kick-ass actor.

Right. Priorities.

"Ugh."

[♦ Loki Roland]

It had taken Loki a lot more work to get herself to L.A. than it had the rest of the Soliders. After all, she couldn't just pick up and move. She still needed to get permission and the like from dear old dad. Luckily it only took a little convincing. One of LA's amazing hospitals had had its eye on her father for a long time, so when she told her dad about a music school she wanted to attend on the opposite coast, it didn't take all that much persuasion to get him to agree to the move. Unfortunately though, he wouldn't agree to her living with her new friends. Instead Loki was forced to live with her father in yet another over sized, over priced home. Not that she would complain out loud, since he had been thoughtful enough to buy a house with a pool.

Luck was on her side when it came to the plane ride though. Loki was able to buy a ticket for the same flight as the other Soliders (save Mandi, who refused to get on the plane). Her father still had a bit of wrapping up to do in New York and had promised to meet her on the West Coast in about a week's time. Since she didn't know anyone, as far as he knew, that lived out west, he was certain there was no need to worry about crazy parties in his new house. Loki wasn't the type for crazy parties anyways, but her dad still felt compelled to treat her like a misbehaving teenage girl.

During the flight Loki spent most of her time learning to play a new piece on the piano. She knew that she looked like a freak with her mock piano (that was basically a long strip of plastic that resembled a keyboard), but she didn't care. In fact, she quite liked her fake piano. It was so much easier to learn rhythms when she didn't have to listen to the sound of wrong notes. After learning pretty much the entire Pride and Prejudice piano book, she began to get restless. It might not have been allowed, but she ended up walking the aisles to stretch her legs. On the way back to her seat, she met a really interesting elderly man who talked all about old time jazz clubs. The rest of her flight had been spent in the empty seat next to him chatting about jazz.

"Freedom!" Loki cried, rather loudly, once she was off the plane. Being cooped up drove her insane, even if she had stuff to do. Looking around, it took her a minute to spot Mandi in the bustling crowd of people. "You guys! I found her!" she called, pointing to their leader. Perhaps it had been rude to point, especially since she almost hit someone walking by, but manners were taught by mothers, and Loki hadn't had one for a long time.

[♦ Antigone Bennett]

clothes

That was it, she was done. Someone, it might have been her practical sister Bella, had told her to think of this as an adventure into what amounted to Glitter-land overkill. Of course, Bella had thought that Tig was upset because she was heading into the territory of her long hated step-monster, but that wasn't the real problem. It all came down to the fact that she was going to be flying coach in a commercial airplane. Which she was never going to do, ever again. The next time the others convinced her to fly anywhere, she was chartering a private jet with her grandmother's contacts and money. They could come along if they wanted, but she was not going to put herself through that again. What really floored her though, was the fact that all the others acted as if it was perfectly normal to be crammed into a seat and forced to spend you time with any number of passengers.

Someone in that mess really needed to learn how to use deodorant too.

It wasn't exactly easy for Antigone to pick up and leave NYC, but she supposed it was easier than most people. No one asked her questions beyond 'Are you sure you want to be in the same city as Tori?' and 'You don't mind working with this coach I know over there, do you?' Yeah, she was sure, even if her ex-step-monster turned into a real monster this was something she had to do. Yeah, she was inwardly upset at having to leave her little sister, and forcing a time-zone problem on her Yale courses, but those were relatively minor when you were talking about the fate of the whole world. Besides, her mother had spent some time in the City of Angels, more than a month out of every summer since her ex-step and father got divorced, working on her designs so they were perfected for the Hollywood set. Now she was heading back to LA and her mother's second boutique to work for the office attached to it and in the mean time find a missing meteorite. Easy peasy.

She had spent most of the flight looking over an old portfolio, and trying to block out the double voices of every person on the flight. Yeah, she was on that stupid medication that her psychiatrist gave her for her 'schizophrenia' (which had also been called personality dissociative disorder, and post traumatic stress disorder by two other doctors), but all it did was blur the voices to a bearable level. She still had to concentrate to hear herself, which divided her attention from her survey of her mother's prolific, old sketches. Her business managers were after her to put out another line of her mother's designs, and she was fighting it again. Wasn't it enough that she shared her mother with the world during the Christmas release? Apparently not.

By the time the plane touched down in LA, Antigone was frazzled. All she wanted to do now was to go to their rented house and sleep for... forever if she could manage it. She had just taken another dose of her pills, hoping and praying that they kicked in before she stepped off the plane. After touchdown she slipped her lacy heels back onto her feet, smoothed the wrinkles from her white shirt and black skinny-cut slacks. She refused to get off of the torturous commercial flight looking frumpy. Besides, stalker-ratzzi could smell couture from five miles away, with any luck they would be too busy glomming on to the private flights to even notice her. Alright, so she could grudgingly admit flying commercial had it's benefits, but she was going to refuse to fly anything lower than first class from now on.

But getting off the plane, following her fellows, she almost stopping in her tracks as the exterior and interior noise rose exponentially, it was all she could do to slam her mental shields into place before she got lost in all those thoughts and wandered off. So she studiously followed Shivani and Dubarun, trusting Loki and Gayle to find Mandi, since she obviously didn't have the capability to at that moment. So instead she wrestled her Louis Vuitton suitcase from the conveyor belt, just as Loki's cry of 'I found her!' went up. Cautiously, and especially wary of what humiliation she was going to have to put up with next, she walked over towards Mandi and the others, all the time aware of the heat emanating from the ring on her right hand, her piece of meteorite. “So how was the bus?” she asked, when reaching the group. "And where's the little monster?"

[♦ Mystic]

"I hope you're not talking about me." came a muffled voice from inside Mandi's beat-up purple backpack. A few more incoherant words were mumbled as something in the bag moved, trying to fight the pocket flap open. To no avail anyway, at least until a hand (Mandi's) finally unlatched it, peeling the flap back to reveal the orange tabby cat inside. Shooting a miffed green-eyed gaze up at her, ears pinned flat against his head, he muttered, "It's about time..."

Turning her attention away from his 'owner', the cat focused now on Antigone, prepared to continue commenting on her 'little monster' remark. "Missed me that much, huh Tig?" If cats could smirk, Mystic certainly would be right about now. It was all in fun, and he HAD admittedly missed the presense of the other four -- and the tyke Debarun too (though not the tailpulling, from the kid OR Loki.) It was good to have the group back together again. But now that they were here...well, it would be time to get down to business.

He looked to the others, giving them nods of greeting. "It's good to see you all. And while I'd love to sit around and chat..." He glanced around wearily. "I'd hate to draw any attention." Dropping his head down a little further into the safety of the bag, he added, "Best gather up all your stuff and get moving. The faster we get back to the house, the faster we can get you all settled and begin discussing everything." There wasn't all that much to update the girls on, admittedly, for Mystic and Mandi had found little during their short stay here. Still, they were going to have to organize themselves (and a search) in order to find that meteor...before anyone else did. Or, in the worst-case scenario, get it back from whoever had found it first.

"There's a taxi waiting outside. Get your stuff and get out there. And please, if you stop for food, get me something?" They always forgot. And it wasn't like he could just speak up at the counter. Nobody could know that he could talk. Or that he was even here, for that matter. As it was, he'd snuck into the airport. Remembering this, he ducked into the back just a bit further. "Come on, come on. We're burning daylight." And then he fell silent, hoping the girls weren't planning on sitting around and gossiping, taking their dear sweet time catching up after being seperated for the few days.

...this was Mandi he was talking about. Yeah right.

[♦ Shivani Banerjee]

"Billeeji!" Debarun exclaimed, calling the tabby "Mr. Cat" in Hindi before getting a swift hush from his mother. A little "sorry" was the child's response as he shifted his position comfortably in Shivani's arm.

Shivani smiled as she recognized that their confirmation call came from Loki. She wasn't all that much older than her but having Debarun gave her a little more perspective and she felt motherly towards them all to an extent. Everyone else seemed rather jetlagged but she could count on Loki remaining alert.

It had been quite a while since they were all together like this, something Shivani reflected on as she smiled and nodded in greeting to the rest of the Soldiers as her hands were full. In a way, she missed it: fresh off the plane from Mumbai as she was they were somewhat of a family to her and her son. Still, this wasn't an easy breezy family meeting; they had flown out here with a purpose. She didn't sense anything immediately wrong...

"Do you mind airline food chicken?" She asked the cat in the bag quietly with a smirk, having remembered that, one, Debarun wouldn't eat all of his food and, two, Mystic would most likely be hungry when they met. It didn't taste all that bad, so perhaps it'd hold the cat over in case they didn't stop for food.

[♦ Mandi Harkins]

"You guys! I found her!"

Mandi turned towards the source of the familiar voice shouting through the terminal, unable to hide a slight smile as she caught sight of Loki nearly knocking some poor innocent bystander out in her excitement. Waving to the group that had just spotted her in the crowd, she made her way forward, meeting them halfway. "Welcome to California!" she greeted, offering to take any bags they might need help with. Goodness, she hadn't realized how much she'd missed their companionship. It was good to see them all again... it was strange, how this mission had brought them all together. How they'd become friends under such strange circumstances. After all, if not for the destinies that had fallen to them, they probably would have never spoken to each other, each coming from such different pasts, different classes. Strange, indeed.

“So how was the bus?”

Turning to Antigone, Mandi shrugged. "It got us here." she answered honestly, not really wanting to complain about it when she'd been the one to want to ride it in the first place. It was admittedly rather tiresome, and much slower than then plane trip...but it was on the ground. And not in the air. And that was most certainly enough for her. "How was your flight?"

It was at this moment that she was suddenly reminded of Mystic, who was still stuffed away in her bag. Glancing around wearily, she made sure that no one was paying attention to them before unlatching the flap, lifting it up so that Mystic could peer out. He greeted the girls, and immediately started spouting off orders. Shaking her head with a slight smile, she glanced to the girls. She actually did agree with him, though. It was better to get somewhere where they could actually TALK. And not idle chitchat either. Discuss their mission, and their new strategies for this new chapter in said mission... "He's right...we should go." She smiled at Debarun as he reacted to the sight of his 'babysitter'. "That way we can get settled, get lunch, and talk." And let Debarun (and probably Loki and Gayle) run around and stretch.

[♦ Loki Roland]

As happy as Loki was to see Mandi and Mystic, she definitely didn't want to hit the pavement running when it came to her sailor duties. After all, they'd just gotten off the plane and she was starving. The motherly flight attendant had forced her to take the spam balls lunch package, but she refused to open it. She felt a little bad about not eating it, so she had stuffed it away into her purse. At least it looked like she ate it. However her stomach was starting to rumble loudly and Mystic's mention of food sounded great.

Loki was tempted to ask Mandi about the other people riding the bus, but refrained from doing so. They had the entire night to catch up and the taxi wouldn't wait forever. Buses were notorious for being full of strange characters. Hopefully Mandi would have a funny story or two to share about the trip.

"Ohh! Let's go to in and out burger. I hear it's delicious as far as fast food goes. I've been craving a burger since before we left. And I saved something for you too, Mystic." Pulling her lunch set, she dropped it in Mandi's backpack, hopefully not injuring her feline friend. Shivani had offered Mystic food already, but she loved pulling his tail - both figuratively and literally. Besides, if he could eat cat food, spam balls would probably seem like a delicacy. In all reality, he'd probably wait until they were alone and then hurl them at her. The possibility of it didn't stop her from messing with him though.

Looking around to make sure everyone was ready to leave, Loki noticed someone waiting nearby. He held a sign that read: Lori Roland. She knew that he was the car her dad had hired to take her home. Considering that her name was incorrect (again!) she figured she could tell her dad that no one had been looking for a Loki and she had just taken a taxi. That way she could spend her night with her friends, not in a lonely house. The only thing she would really miss was the brand new pool. After being cramped in a plane for a long time, she was itching to go running with Gayle. "I'm ready to move out when everyone else is," she announced, giving her "greeter" one last look before leaving without him.

[♦ Gayle Monroe]

Truthfully...Gayle didn't hear a word Mystic said. She knew she should be paying attention, since he knew the most about their situation and what to do, but after sitting for a few hours, she was restless. Her eyes kept darting around the airport, imagining what sort of tricks she could do off of what, and walking around the group a few times, just to keep moving. She didn't actually hear anything the feline said until the word "taxi" was mentioned. And Gayle couldn't help it: she groaned. "More sitting??" After that, her attention spazzed off again, missing anything else her friends said. She was already figuring out how to obtain a map and run the way to their new rental house. She'd probably let the taxi take her luggage; running with stuff was always a hassle.

She did happen to hear Loki mention a burger and had to force down a grimace. Being an avid exerciser, she preferred not to eat fast food. She didn't like the way it made her feel afterwards, no matter how good it tasted. Occasionally she'd allow herself some fries or pizza, or more often Chinese food, but tried to stay away from it as much as possible. She wasn't a health nut or anything, just cautious about what she digested. For both her career and sport, feeling fit at all times was a must. Fast food was just too greasy for her. Which was too bad, because hamburgers are delicious...

Gayle absentmindedly rubbed her stomach, ignoring it's complaint, and finally made herself focus on the group. She already had everything of hers, not that there was much to be had, but she was ready to be on the move. As usual. But still, she just couldn't help asking..."Could I just run to the house? I won't explore, I promise!" Though knowing Gayle, she would probably explore without really meaning to, on the premise of being "lost". It didn't even occur to the ball of energy that their house might be across the city, miles and miles away from the airport. But she doesn't think that far ahead, this one. Just go on impulse! Go, go!

[♦ Antigone Bennett]

She nodded sympathetic to Mandi's comment, having a hunch the girl wasn't telling the whole thing. Hey, wait, she was supposed to stay in her own head! “I would volunteer to ride back with you, but the word 'bus' is not in the 'Dictionary of All Things WASP' that my grandmother owns. Thus, it is sacrilegious. Like economy-class.” she grumbled slightly when it came to the airline reference. She should have drawn up a contract before she signed on, saying that she wasn't going to do certain demeaning things like travel economy style and crawl through garbage. Not that she's ever been put in that position, but she felt that it was necessary to cover all her bases.

“About the same.” she said, snorting a little at the irony. She was never going to fly coach again! Never! Not even if they paid her in gold metals. [B]“You better believe it fuzzbutt.” Antigone answered, mock-glaring at the moving bag. She hadn't been very amused to find out that their 'guardian' was an animal, much less a cat in the very beginning, but after a while the furball began to grown on her just like all the other girls she now spent her days with. They all had admirable qualities, and Mystic could certainly explain a lot more than Harvard and Yale could for her. She was glad she hadn't tried to walk away that night a year ago, even if it meant putting up with people she didn't normally come in contact with. She firmly believed that the rest of the astros should be nominated for sainthood because, at the end of the day, they put up with Antigone and all of her... baggage.

“I certainly didn't miss all the orange fur on my Hugo Boss.” Antigone replied to the cat, ignoring the fact that she was conversing with a pet in the middle of the Los Angeles International Airport. It wasn't the craziest thing she had ever done, but it was up there. “But I made sure I had lint rollers in my suitcase to prevent that.” It was sad to say the least, that the girls kind of reminded her of her sisters. That thought was creepy in itself. She was pulling out her sunglasses as she heard Mystic's comment on not wanting to draw attention to themselves. “You're kidding right? This is LA, land of the purse pets and bluetooths. The only thing they'll notice is that you're not in a designer bag.” She said, slipping on her sunglasses and heading towards the doors into the bright LA sunshine.

“Come on, we don't have all day.” she said, a touch of annoyance and impatience in her voice. “All of us. I'm guessing the house is too far to run to.” she ended, shrugging. “Where are we staying anyway?”

[♦ Mystic]

“You better believe it fuzzbutt. I certainly didn't miss all the orange fur on my Hugo Boss.”

Rolling his eyes, Mystic merely stuck his tongue out at the girl. He would be sure to take a nap on some of her darker colored clothes later on while the girls were unpacking, just for that. Then she could lint-roll allll she wanted to... ha. And he would just sit there (on a high shelf or dresser, preferably out of her reach) and laugh. And laugh. And laugh...

"Do you mind airline food chicken?"

At this, the cat's attention was diverted to Shivani. "Is it real, or processed?" Well, nevermind that, it was food! And he'd try anything at this point. "I'll take it, please!" he purred, taking a moment to nuzzle her hand as a show of gratitude. Just then, however, Loki announced that she had saved some airline food for her as well, and dumped something into the bag. It nearly bounced right off his head, but he managed to shift himself around so it just landed against his body instead. Shooting a glare out towards the blonde for her carelessness, he rolled his eyes before turning his attention to the box, poking his nose at it curiously. Wait, SPAM? She was feeding him SPAM? "Loki!"

He would have chastised her further, if not for the fact that the girls were moving on to other subjects -- like the rental house, their own lunch, and the fact that they were talking to a cat hiding in an old backpack in the middle of an airport.

“The only thing they'll notice is that you're not in a designer bag.”

"Hmph. Well that's not MY fault." he muttered, curling up at the bottom of the bag again as he waited for the girls to decide what they were planning to do with their afternoon. He couldn't see Mandi toting around a designer bag, anyway. It just wasn't her style. Her style was...well, no style. She dressed (and accessorized) for comfort and convenience, and nothing more. That girl would carry a designer bag when pigs flew, and no sooner.

[♦ Mandi Harkins]

Only a few moments together again, and already it was hard to keep up with everything. Mandi smiled, listening to the banter between the girls, and the cat hidden in the backpack. Chaotic as it sometimes might be, it was well...homey. And she wasn't sure that she would trade it for anything, now. Not when she'd become used to something so...consistant? Something that finally felt something like home. Or what she thought home might feel like, anyhow. She didn't know.

“I would volunteer to ride back with you, but the word 'bus' is not in the 'Dictionary of All Things WASP' that my grandmother owns."

Turning her attention to Antigone, she shrugged. "No worries. It was fine, really." The idea of Antigone riding on that bus amused her, in any case. It definately hadn't been a first class ride -- something Mandi didn't mind, not knowing anything else. But Tig? It would have most likely been torture for her.

"Ohh! Let's go to in and out burger. I hear it's delicious as far as fast food goes."

This sounded fine to her, and she nodded her agreement, looking around to see that everyone else was alright with the idea as well. Tig just wanted to get on the move, and Gayle did too. Though not to go sit at a fast food joint and eat, apparently.

"Could I just run to the house? I won't explore, I promise!"

Lifting a brow and resting a hand against her hip idly, she asked, "Aren't you hungry? And more importantly, haven't you missed me? We have to catch up!" She was teasing, of course, but she did think that they should go and sit down, discuss (as much as they could in public, anyhow) what they planned to do next. But she knew she couldn't keep Gayle from moving. "You could always run alongside the taxi." she added with a smile. It would at least help her burn some of that pent-up energy from the plane ride before she had to go sit at a resturant again.

“Where are we staying anyway?”

Starting towards the doors so that people wouldn't begin to get antsy, she answered, "A rental. It's nice, suits our needs at least." As they headed towards the door, she caught sight of someone with a sign, apparently looking for a 'Lori'. Her gaze flit to Loki, an amused expression tugging at her lips, but she said nothing and merely continued on through the front doors.

[♦ Shivani Banerjee]

Shivani couldn't help but laugh at Loki's enthusiasm, though after Mystic was done yelling she did hold a chunk of chicken through the bag until she felt the cat take it. In N Out Burger? Ah, the joys of being Hindu. She took her phone out to ask her newly acquired friend through a knowledgeable volunteer, Cha Cha, if there were vegetarian options at In N Out Burger. She knew that a "secret menu" existed, although otherwise they only sold burgers and fries. She and Debarun could probably eat the fries alone...

She finished her text as they walked through the doors of the airport, Debarun happily distracted by Antigone's large sunglasses, although he had seen them before once or twice. "Mama, what did you ask Chachaji?" he asked, shifting his weight against her.

"Cha Cha isn't a person," Shivani replied with a little smile. "I asked if there were any things we could eat at the burger place." Just then, her phone buzzed with the answers. Fries and two items from the secret menu that didn't sound all that tasty but they would suffice. That, and she still had the airline food if she could eat what was there but Debarun couldn't. These were the things she had to think of all the time since becoming a mother.

The roads seemed wide enough for Gayle to run with the taxi if she truly wished to. "I would say that people might find it odd that someone's running alongside a taxi but this is Hollywood," Shivani commented with a smile.

[♦ Gayle Monroe]

"Aren't you hungry? And more importantly, haven't you missed me? We have to catch up!"

Gayle just grinned shamelessly at Mandi and her comment, shrugging. They would have plenty of time to catch up over the next few days as they got settled in. Besides, Gayle didn't think they could actually get much talking done in the midst of a crammed taxi, though they would most likely need two, unless they had one of the van taxis.

"You could always run alongside the taxi."

Mandi's second comment widened Gayles grin further, her cheeks almost forming dimples. That could be interesting. But the more she thought about it, the more it didn't seem like quite a good idea. She'd tried to run with traffic a few times in her small home town and even tried New York, though to be honest the traffic hardly moved there anyway. It's just...when running with traffic, it's awfully tempting to jump around off and on the cars. And generally, drivers didn't like that. Personal experience backed that up. If she was a dog, like in that one Disney movie, then maybe she could get away with it, but for the most part, drivers on the road did not appreciate shoe prints on their windshields. Plus, most of them were easily excitable after seeing a random person jump onto their car, and either swerved around or screamed or honked. Kind of annoying. She didn't know what traffic was like in LA, but it might not be worth the risk first thing. And if cops here were anything like they were in New York, then she would definitely need lots of places to run. Maybe they weren't as fast here...

"I would say that people might find it odd that someone's running alongside a taxi but this is Hollywood,"

Still, Gayle couldn't help but snicker again at the image. She liked the idea that LA was a place where weirdo's and bizarre situations were acceptable. New York was kind of the same, though you were more likely to get shot if you annoyed the wrong person, rather than have people watch and take pictures. Well, anyways, back to the main issue. "Let's just get to the house! The sooner, the better!" She hadn't confirmed running alongside the taxi, so it was probably best to assume that she'd put exercising aside for the time being. It most likely wouldn't last very long, though, and if traffic really was the stop-go type, she would just get out and run. Somewhere. Else. She would find the house eventually. Heck, maybe she could just take Debarun to a park and they could play together for a while. It was rather fun having a child around; he had about as much energy as her (though she didn't need to take naps). Well, let's just wait and see. Something Gayle isn't very good at.