[Closed] What if I'm far from home? Oh brother, I will hear you call

[goingbythebook]

Who: Huey and Louie, then Webby and Lena
Where: The Academy
When: New arrival(s)
What: Huey finds some familiar faces in a sea of strangeness


This was... completely new and strange for the duckling. One minute he'd been minding his business around McDuck Manor, and the next he was here. True, there had been something of a "warning"- a strange swirling feeling around him, lighting up every nerve and then yanking him through time and space -but that did absolutely nothing for the absolute shock of it. What's worse, that feeling didn't subside even after landing; it buzzed pleasantly under his skin, and seemed to get stronger the more he faced a certain direction. So, afraid but curious all the same, he followed the strange "compass."

What he thought wandering through the Tenscore Kingdoms was too long to put here, but suffice to say there was quite an information overload. What are those? Who is that? What kind of creatures are these (both two-legged and some other many-legged varieties he saw around, pets or otherwise). Does he hear conversation about magic-? Continuing to follow the feeling, he traced a path to Diatu Magicademy, and once he passed through its gates did the sensation finally subside. Someone was by soon after his arrival to tend to him, muttering something about "new Sundered" and giving him a crash course on where he was: a school of magic and mystery, summoned here through spells hitherto unknown (or outlawed) to learn to use the power now residing within him. Supplies, House, everything was summarized, and then he was turned loose. The school day was currently in progress but, as a new arrival he would be more expected to explore. Besides, he still had to find his bonded Familiar- one was normally given to a student, but seemed there was something strange about Huey's, so off he went.

And, that's about it. Head still reeling from everything that'd happened in the last twenty minutes- twenty minutes?? it felt like twenty years!! -he walked through the halls of the school, clutching books to his chest. This was all so strange and new... And he was feeling more lost than ever.

Comments

[goingbythebook]

He didn't seem entirely convinced and Louie might, for a moment, worry that he would press him more. Then Huey sighed and nodded, letting it go.

"Alright, but if it does, you come get me okay? I'll put a stop to it but good!"

[talkyourwayout]

"Sure thing, Huey," Louie said, though honestly, he was just relieved the subject was dropped. "Now, let's see... We still have to see if your owl's here."

[goingbythebook]

Huey paused, half tempted to send Louie to wait by the door rather than come further with him, worried if other Eiather students were like that. He eventually settled on a different solution.

"Fine, but stay by me."

[talkyourwayout]

"Oh, come on! Hu-ey!" Louie appreciated the protection, on one level, but still! It made him feel less like a little brother and more like a tiny kid. All the same, that was his only protest as they headed on.

There wasn't another incident, perhaps because Louie kept his head down. There were certainly plenty of dark looks, and the occasional unimpressed kind of sniffing sound, though.

[goingbythebook]

There was a scoff sound at the back of his throat and a hearty eyeroll as they continued. It wasn't until they were mostly alone, climbing the stairs to the Common Room, that he elaborated though.

"It's not just that. It's..." He paused, trying to think. "I don't think 'fish out of water' even begins to describe how I feel right now. Maybe more like a fish being told that suddenly it has to fly to the Moon instead? Anyway."

Huey stopped near the landing and looked over at his brother again.

"Seeing you here, and even just knowing Webby and Lena are here too, without having seen them yet? Is a lot of comfort, and kinda helps what is... quite frankly, a frightening situation." A ghost of a smile, then he walked on, knowing his brother wasn't much for sappy stuff anyway. "Anyway yeah let's just find that owl."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie was quiet at first. He'd clearly heard Huey, but it was true - he wasn't one for that kind of mush. The idea of just focusing on Ptolemy seemed like a good one.

But after a moment, he did chime in with, "A nerd brain like yours? I'm sure you can adapt."

[goingbythebook]

Huey laughed, but it was a grateful smile he actually flashed at his brother. Once they stepped into the Common Room though, his attention was swiftly drawn to the (comparatively) enormous owl bantering with other students. It was Ptolemy, no doubt. He could talk?? No, wait- Seems the group was playing some sort of game, rolling dice and- exchanging coins.

"He gambles?"

[talkyourwayout]

Louie's eyes followed Huey's gaze, but his reaction was quite different. Where Huey was shocked, Louie broke into an absolute grin.

"Oh man, that's so cool!" Louie enthused, before adding in an awed whisper, "I'm going to learn so much from him..."

[goingbythebook]

"Louie!"

Huey may've been glaring but, hearing their exchange, the owl looked up and then swiftly winged his way over.

"Ahh, you must be Huey!" came the warm greeting, landing by them both. "I was given a heads up of your arrival and I apologize profusely for my own belated appearance, but I was-" Pause. "Occupied."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie just snickered in response to Huey's indignant remark, and once they were joined by Huey's familiar, Louie gave a nod of greeting.

"Hey there! I'm his brother, Louie, and I respect your priorities." Another snicker, there.

[goingbythebook]

"Ahh, what a wonderful pleasure to meet you as well, Louie!" Ptolemy was all smiles, if such a word could be used for an owl, despite having just been caught betting with students. "Now, Huey, I am here to make your schooling go easier. You can count on me for advice and information, and if you need me I'll never be far."

Hearing his name called, he turned to look at the crowd of students he'd left, easy enough an action for an owl of course, then looked back at the duck brothers.

"If you'll excuse me however, now that introductions have been made I must get back to my activity. You will know where to find me!" A last exclamation over his shoulder as he returned to the earlier game.

Huey had been rather silent over this whole exchange, caught between marvel and... something else, though it was a rather flat look on his face as he turned to head back downstairs. Overhearing "Who had 12:15?" behind him only flattened that look further.

[talkyourwayout]

For his part, Louie was positively on cloud nine. "What a cool guy! Huey, do you realize how-"

He paused, there, patting down one arm of his hoodie, then the other, and finally the pocket. Once he was reassured that Cash was back in his dorm room...

"-How lucky you are? I mean, Cash is great, but he doesn't talk! Forget about the rest of it!"

[goingbythebook]

Huey let out a sigh, though he was firmly ready to get out of the dorm now and get to the rest of it, all things told. Once he put his things away, they were gone.

"Yeah, I guess. I'll just have to deal with the rest of it later."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie blinked as the abrupt realization hit. "Wait, this really bothers you that much?" He knew Huey was a goody-two-shoes, most of the time, but couldn't he see the potential here?

It might make the most sense to move along to another topic... "Did you want to go find the girls, or... Oh! Are you hungry? The Great Hall should have calmed down by now, but I'm pretty sure lunch is still going on!"

[goingbythebook]

Unfortunately, considering Louie led in with the issue, Huey's not just going to let it drop. Sorry, Lou.

"Yes it bothers me! Can't you see he's addicted to it? Whatever he explained about being there for me, it clearly took priority! He didn't even come to meet me because he was up there shooting dice!" Snort snort huff, sigh. "I'm going to have to talk to him about that, see if I can't at least get him to shift his priorities some..."

Wait, he'd asked other questions right? Backtracking along the tantrum train track and- ah, there we go.

"No I'm not hungry, let's just find the girls."

[talkyourwayout]

"O...kay, we'll go find them," Louie said, hesitating as he spoke. It wasn't new, of course, to see Huey worked up like that, but it never got any less alarming when that rage wasn't aimed to protect himself or Dewey. The fact that Huey was trying to look out for Huey here didn't occur to Louie. Really? The need for that rarely did.

Huey was his big brother, after all. Sure, it was only a matter of minutes, but all the same... Big brothers didn't need protection, did they?

"Um, so they're probably hanging out in Webby's dorm or common room by now," he mumbled. "Lena has trouble getting into Purifeul."

[goingbythebook]

He could be calm, really he could! Didn't want to upset Louie after all. No 'Duke of Making A Mess' to be found here, no sir.

...Maybe if he counted the steps on the way down, to get his mind off things.

"Can't get into Purifeul? Why?"

[talkyourwayout]

"Oh, because there are weird math equations on the doors instead of locks, or whatever," Louie said with an indifferent shrug. He wasn't particularly keen on the idea of talking about Lena, much less seeing her soon. Officially speaking, they were okay, but there hadn't exactly been a heartfelt case of making up.

So he decided to shift the conversation topic once more as he lead the way toward the Ka dorms. "Oh! I forgot to tell you about Orisa before. You'll like her, I bet. She's a robot."

[goingbythebook]

Math equations? On doors? He made a mental note to ask Lena about that later.

"A robot?" Yep, that was definitely a spike of interest; not even a question of whether it was possible, like he might've before. After new worlds and weird creatures and magic and gambling owls, all in about half an hour, who's to say what else is out there. "Like, what kind of robot?"

[talkyourwayout]

"She's an omnic robot," Louie answered with a decisive nod. He still didn't know exactly what omnic meant, but he definitely remembered the term coming up. "She's huge, and one of her hands is a gun... Thing. It's all pretty cool!"

[goingbythebook]

"Woow, that does sound pretty cool! I bet she sticks out of a crowd," he snickered softly. Wouldn't 'have to keep an eye out' for that one.

"Man... I don't even know what to think of this place so far, but it sounds like you've really found a niche for yourself with all that you've told me so far."

[talkyourwayout]

Louie smiled at that, looking downright proud of himself. If there was any insecurity on Huey's end, it was lost on him as he realized that it was true. He really had done okay here, so far. And he'd been pretty unsure of how he'd do at all in the beginning.

Although... Back then, he'd been glad his brothers weren't there. It had felt like a welcome chance to be his own person. Now it was clear that a few months of that had been plenty.

"Yeah, I have. The people who came here, the other Sundered... They're pretty great. We're good at sticking together and looking out for each other. There's, uh... There's a word for it. I can't think of it."

[goingbythebook]

Honestly, it was all for the best Louie didn't pick up on his insecurity. There was really no need to let his brother in on that, not when what Huey wanted was for him to become his own person. He, Huey, liked being needed it was true, but Louie standing on his own... it was nice.

Even if he did feel all squirmy inside.

"Comraderie might be the word you're thinking of. And if it's really like that here, then... I can't wait to meet the others."

[talkyourwayout]

"Sure," Louie said with a shrug. "That sounds good. And I think you'll like a lot of the people. Some of them are almost as weird and nerdy as you, Huey!"

It's said very casually; Louie had no idea he might be hurting his brother's feelings. Hopefully, he was not, but...

"Okay, this is the building for Ka... It's haunted, by the way." Another shrug, before Louie began pounding on the door with a fist.

[goingbythebook]

In times past that might've hurt his feelings, and maybe it still did a little inside. But this was a Huey who had come to better terms with his whole "weird nerdom isolation" thing. ...mooossstly by way of Cousin Fethry.

Oh but hold on-

"Haunted? Are we talking about how the mansion is technically haunted now, or are we talking 'built on an old graveyard' haunted?"