An old truck bumped along a country road miles outside of Ditto Town. Four people--five, if you count the toddler sitting on a lap--were squished in the cab on the bench seat. Their bags were piled in the bed of the truck, along with a few hitch-hikers and their belongings.

Kaelin smiled across the bags at her sister Maeve, but inside her stomach was churning. She tried to tell herself that it was just from the rattling of the truck, but she knew better. When she had first come to Ditto Town, she had firmly resolved that she belonged on the ground, and preferred to go about her day with the sky being in absentia. She did not like planes or helicopters or parachutes or any other flying machine, and, despite sometimes yearning to know her home planet, did not like the idea of spacecraft, either. But her therapist and her sister, the traitor, had agreed that this would be "good for her". Maeve didn't mind at all, Kaelin decided, but then again, sometimes it was awfully hard to tell what Maeve was thinking. It was like she went blank, and all that was left was a pleasant or surprised expression. But she was a pilot (or, at least, had flown--Kaelin wasn't sure about the details and didn't want to ask), so this was all old hat for her, of course.

She wrinkled her nose and sneezed, just as the truck hit a particularly pronounced bump.

((OOC: The characters inside the cab--and any others in the bed--are of no consequence to me, so if anyone wants to claim them for their own characters' transportation, I'm fine with that))

      "Well, here goes nothing." Thought Daniel to himself as his smallish, red SUV, thundered down a dirt road, 245 miles away from Ditto town.

      "Most normal people are in bed at 4:30 am in the morning, not off on a wild goose chase towards a city, but I'm not most people, am I?" He had a habit of doing this, talking to himself that is, not waking up at 3:30 am and running off to cities. He tried not to make it a habit to frequent towns, too many people, and not enough elbow room, or grass and trees for that matter.

      "In fact, I haven't been to a town in almost 5 years, no wonder the folks round here think me a hermit." He pondered "I am a hermit, well, in a way, I guess." But he didn't really want to see people, or towns, or even to remember. It had been easier, all those years back, to just forget and fall of the face of the map. That was right after the accident, the one in which his two brothers and his parents had been killed. He didn't care about what people thought him to be, a recluse, a hermit, he only wanted to be with his tools and his pen. They had been his best friends; they had done more for him then all the kind words and well wishes had ever come close to doing. He was a mechanic, or something of one, and a gunsmith and with these skills he consumed his time, building, altering and designing his SUV and a plethora of guns.

      "So why am I here?" He asked himself again. "Maybe I'm well?" It had hurt less over time, but at first he had fought it, trying not to remember, but at the same time, he did. He healed, slowly, painfully, but he did heal. Then there was that day, oh, it was a week ago, when he found a small and wrinkled paper stuck to his gate post, it had said "Ditto Town, Astro Camp, please?" He had thought about it, and he decided to go.

      "Well, I haven't said more than 25 words to a human in years, and now, here you go, off to a town? You have put your head right into lion's mouth my boy. Who are you to think that you can run off and suddenly be a normal person, back in society, and not have everyone think you are a creep?" But he wanted to try, because he never intended to be gone forever, but he couldn't look anybody in the eye at first, not right after it happened. Maybe he was healed now, or maybe he was going mad.

      "Whichever, it will be a memorable moment when it happens."

********************************

      4 hours and one stop later, he was on a dirt road. Again.

      "You would think that closer to the city, the roads would be nicer, but, I guess not." He mused, he had been on the road for a while, that is, a while for some people. His family had been big drivers, hours on end, and most of their cars had made it to 250,000 miles, and some of them 300,000, so he was pretty used to long trips

      “And you’d think the cars would be nicer too, in fact, if I didn’t know better, I would say we were still 250 miles away from town.” He had caught up to an old truck, going rather slower than he was, with not a few passengers, some in the cab, and some in the bed.

      “I wonder if they are going the same place I am…”

Moira tightened her grip on the small metal ledge next to her and tried to relax. Panicking - especially when no one else seemed to think there was cause for panicking - wasn't very dignified. True, she had thought there was excellent cause for fear when a nightmarish beast had come roaring down the road behind them, but her companion had scoffed at the idea that there was a beast that could best him. While that boast did little to comfort her, she wasn't going to cower if he was standing his ground. Still, she had been shocked (and relieved) when the monster had to come a stop beside them, an eye had disappeared, and a very human head had popped out.

"You folks going to the Astro Camp?" a man had asked.

Not wanting to let the bull handle this - beasts might bring no fear for him, but his interactions with humans rarely went the way she would prefer they did - she had stepped around from behind him and answered that they were.

"You've got some way to go - it'll take you hours to walk there. Hop in the back! There's plenty of room!" had been the cheerful response.

Before Moira could answer no, thank you, she'd rather walk, even if it took hours, a couple of people had appeared from the far side and a couple more from the back of the metal creature. Next thing she knew, she had been hoisted up into a large hollow in the back and pointed toward a spot between piles of baggage. She had given what she hoped was a smile to the other occupants (a slightly familiar-looking woman and girl), but had intended to escape as soon as it was discovered that her companion wouldn't fit in the available space, much less be able to clamber aboard. However, her plans were crushed when someone produced a board and some wide netting from somewhere inside the beast. Within moments, the bull had made it up the improvised ramp and had settled on the very edge of the metal ledge, the netting woven along the open edge to keep him "as snug as a bug in a rug," as one of the ladies had commented. And then everyone had returned to their places in the beast and it had roared off again, leaving Moira stuck inside it.

The monster gave a small jump and Moira lost her grip on the ledge, sliding halfway onto her back. Scrambling back upright, she cast a quick glance at her companion. Even now he seemed to be enjoying himself, eyes closed, nose in the air to catch the breeze. He looked completely ridiculous, sitting on his rump like a dog, and she hoped she would have the opportunity to tell him sometime - if they didn't perish in this thing.

{OOC: I took you up on your offer, Wren. }

Kaelin laughed delightedly as the bull tipped his head back and enjoyed the breeze, then waved to the vehicle that was now behind them, while Maeve turned to their new companion.

"It takes some getting used to, but it's worth the ride," she shouted over the road noise. "Name's Maeve, that's Kaelin."

      "Huh, strange, a bull? Well, that's one thing I never saw in the country, somebody putting a bull in the back of a truck. Hey, what works I guess." Thought Daniel to himself.

      He'd been behind these people for a couple minutes now, and they had picked up some new passengers, a young woman and a bull. He was over his 'rethinking' this and he had decided to go for it and have a good time, besides, now that he was over the initial surprise of what he was doing, he was starting to get excited about this, and really hoping he would have a good time and meet some people. 

Posted by: @wren

"Name's Maeve, that's Kaelin."

"My name is Moira," she said, giving a weak smile back and hoping that Maeve wouldn't think the worse of her for her struggle to keep her balance.

"You can call me Norro," the bull butted in, sparing a glance at Maeve and Kaeline before sticking his nose back in the air. "Isn't this wonderful? Do you always travel like this?"

The beast gave another jump and Moira amended her hopes to include a speedy arrival and that the growing unpleasant feeling was just nerves.

If one were to meet Anthony Lively, your first impressions would include noting the fact that he was tall and that his red leather jacket neither matched nor coordinated with his red hair. But Anthony would be quick to tell you that he'd chosen this particular jacket because it looked like something a spacefaring hero would wear. If you were going to space, you ought to look the part!

The next thing you might notice was the square black musical instrument case with the battered set of carrying straps. He usually wore the case like a large backpack, but it could be carried like a small suitcase, and if, like now, it was tucked between his knees he kept the straps wound through one hand to ensure he and it would not be separated.

And finally, if one spent any amount of time in Anthony's company, one would notice a generous sprinkling of musical allusions and anecdotes. 

The sun shone, and the breeze tugged at Anthony's hair as the truck bounced down the road. He'd been thrilled to accept the offer of the ride, and he'd tried to make himself useful by stacking luggage into a seat-like configuration. His attention was divided between tapping out the rhythm for 'The Wheels on the Bus' on the side of his violin case, observing his fellow passengers--and the red SUV they'd picked up on their tail--and wondering if he'd be able to hear the famous music of the spheres while at Astro Camp. Since introductions were being made, he lifted his hand at the end of the verse and gave a little wave. 

"I'm Anthony. Nice to meet y'all!"

Jeffery Evans found that the handling of his ancient pickup truck, which already drove more like a boat than anything resembling a modern vehicle, was more than a little disturbed by the massive added weight of the multitude of humanoids and the one rather large bovine. As such Jeff had to concentrate extremely hard on keeping his tires and wheels inside of the faded white lines of this backcountry road. Something he found increasingly difficult to do as they continuously picked up more and more distractions. That's without even mentioning the red 4x4 that was now tailgating his increasingly overburdened jalopy. 

"I told you we should have driven my speeder," Ashley said from her perch over the transmission tunnel and shift lever. 

"The ole girl's doing just fine." Jeff replied through gritted teeth as he avoided a pothole. 

"Besides, she doesn't get as much exercise as she used to, it was time for her to stretch her legs. Can you open the back window though? I think there's an exhaust leak coming through one of my weight reductions."

Ainsley scoffed as she pried open the stiff sliding rear window, "you mean the rust holes?"

"Don't listen to her Betty, she's a meany." Jeff said in an attempt to placate his beloved classic, patting the dashboard as if she were an old dog.  Yet as he did so the rear view mirror fell off the windscreen, bounced against the top of the bench seat and tumbled through the newly opened ventilation gap directly adjacent to his girlfriend's head.

"Heads up!" Ainsley yelled, twisting around to check on the passengers in the bed.

"Y'all good?" Jeff asked over his shoulder, eyes still concentrated on the ever winding road. 

Posted by: @valiantarcher

"Isn't this wonderful? Do you always travel like this?"

"I wish!" Kaelin shouted, intent on making sure Norro liked her. She had decided that, next to Mel, Norro might be her new favorite quadruped, and she was already beginning to scheme about the various shenanigans that might become available when one was friends with a bull (and no Squirrel-B-Gone was present).

Maeve noted Moira's white knuckling, but decided there was nothing to be done about that, and instead nodded politely in Anthony's direction. She was about to inquire about his violin when Ainsley more or less violently pried the window open, and then a review mirror tumbled out in their direction. Kaelin pulled her feet up to avoid getting clonked, so the mirror sought vengeance by bouncing away toward Moira.

Posted by: @jackalopeofevul

"Y'all good?" Jeff asked over his shoulder.

"Good enough," Maeve replied, "let's keep rolling."

      Daniel knew, from painful experience, if that pickup get's anymore weight, she's in for a wild ride. After an especially violent pothole (from which the pickup barely kept it on the road), he saw they were carrying at least two more people than he thought.

      "Maybe I could give them a hand, we certainly don't need a wreak now." So he sped up a bit, so as to get closer, rolled the window down and stuck his head out and waved.

"You've got a tail, Jeffery." Ainsley said, turning back to face the road. 

"Somebody wants their ghost back, probably." Jeff replied, waving dismissively at the child sitting on Ainsley's right knee.

"I still can't believe you decided to work for that woman. I don't trust her."

"What can I say? Since your pops cut you off, the police force paycheck ain't paying the bills no more. What's he doing now?" 

"Who?"

"The tail, who else."

"Smiling and waving like a penguin."

"Penguins don't smile. They don't even have teeth."

Ainsley sighed, "I don't think he's after your ghostie friend. Looks like he wants you to pull over."

Jeff glanced at his side view mirror, still mostly intact, then began to slow down to a stop.

"Well, let's see what he wants." 

Posted by: @jackalopeofevul

"I still can't believe you decided to work for that woman. I don't trust her."

 "Seriously?" Delia asked Ainsley. She was squished between another passenger and the door, which she promptly opened and fell out of as soon as the truck stopped.

"I mean, the truck is loud, but it ain't that loud."

"Do you hear someone talking, Jeff?" Ainsley asked as she yeeted the weightless ghost kiddo out of the door and towards Delia. 

"Take your child please. She's getting on my nerves." 

"At least I didn't steal him in the first place," Delia snarled. "Jeff, you can't let your girl keep getting feels for kids. She's traumatizing them, and I can't stand it anymore. I might have to do something."