Fluent Freshman - Part 44
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The flight up to New York is a pleasant one.
The time in the airport itself had been less pleasant. Matt, as it turns out, is a firm believer in arriving with just enough time to check a bag, get through security, and get to the gate. He had claimed up, down, left, and right that he had it down to a science.
No matter how many times Smith had wondered about the scientific rigor of this 'science' he still kept it to himself. There was no need for Smith to voice his uncertainty with this plan because Kevin well and truly had it covered.
"You're giving us only an hour to check bags, get through security, and get to our gate?!" Kevin demands.
"Kevin, if you wanted to be there earlier then you could have asked Andrew to give yo a ride." Matt says. "We'll be fine."
"You know what Neil and Andrew get like when they have a long roadtrip ahead of them." Kevin argues.
"All lovey-dovey?" Nicky asks as Aaron makes a gagging sound.
"No, well yes, but no they always stop and buy all of the worst food too." Kevin reminds. "I'm just concerned about us missing our flight! We have barely enough time!" Kevin huffs crossing his arms.
"You're wrong anyways." Aaron says idly as he continues to text with Katelyn.
"How am I wrong?!" Kevin demands.
"We also have to park within that hour that Matt has left us with." Aaron says looking up from his phone.
"Matt!" Kevin squawks.
"It'll be fine." Matt reassures for the 2nd time.
"We all have checked bags!" Kevin exclaims, "What if we miss our flight?!" he wails.
"It'll be fine!" Matt repeats.
"No it won't!" Kevin exclaims.
---
It was fine.
The only real delays they met were at security.
Smith prided himself on being efficient in the security line. He has his watch off, his phone and ID secured in a zipped jacket pocket, his backpack and electronics in separate trays, and his shoes ready to be slipped off.
So he was shamed to have been the cause of the first delay when the TSA agent wouldn't wave Smith through the metal detector since she didn't realize he was there. That had been a whole anxiety attack and a half as the line had formed up behind him all wondering what the hold-up was.
Finally she seemed to startle as she realized that Smith had been standing there waiting and waved him through.
The other delay was that Kevin got patted down after he had forgotten to empty his 'emergency' water bottle.
It was probably for the best that they didn't have to be in the airport for that long. Every announcement that it was very important to not leave your bag unattended made him worry that with every blink somehow someone had slipped a bomb into his backpack.
While it was on his back.
As he was running with the rest of his friends to their gate.
"It just had to be the gate on the other end of the terminal." Aaron huffs.
"It would have been 100% perfect if someone hadn't left their water bottle in their bag despite the, let me check, 3,820 signs that said remove all liquids from your carry-ons!" Matt says as they continues to run.
"I said I forgot!" Kevin yells back from his spot at the front of the pack. Smith was under the distinct impression that Kevin was keeping pace with them since he had seen the Striker move much faster on the court and during warm-ups.
"We could have forgiven that!" Nicky pants, "Why did you have to slam the whole thing to prove that it was 'just water'?" he asks.
"Because I wanted to prove I wasn't a national security threat!" Kevin says. "I'll be going to the Olympics in a couple years and I can't have that on my record." he continues as he rounds a corner.
"What record?!" Smith asks suddenly worried that there was a record.
"Smithy, there's no record Kevin's just an idiot. An idiot who got patted down, tested for explosives, and had his carry-on searched." Nicky huffs.
"You don't know that there's not a record! The record everything nowadays!" Kevin huffs and their gate is in sight.
"Kevin, just shut up!" Aaron exclaims as they reach the line for their flight.
"Wait why aren't any of you getting shitty with Smiths?!" Kevin asks.
"His delay was like a minute and more importantly NOT HIS FAULT!" Nicky defends.
"He should have just walked through!" Kevin argues.
"Oh it's fine if he gets a record but not you?!" Aaron asks.
"So there is a record?!" Smith asks again.
They reach the line and the largely empty area around their gate is more than enough evidence that this was the final boarding. Smith breathed a sigh of relief as he took his place in line behind Nicky.
"The lines pretty slow, I'm going to go get a water." Kevin says and before any of them can say anything he is off towards a busy looking Newsweek store.
"I cannot believe him." Aaron huffs.
"All that water he just drank and is about to drink? He has lost window seat privileges." Matt pants wiping sweat from his brow.
"Agreed." Nicky says.
Smith laughed between panting breaths. His stomach hurt a bit from the stress of running but it was fine.
They get on the plane without Kevin and head to their seats. Most of the overhead storage is taken up at this point but Smith slides his bag under the middle seat in front of him after Matt
In the end, Kevin barely made it onto the plane in time since he got caught up in deciding on water. "You're in my seat." Kevin says as the only man not yet seated.
"I am not about to spend this flight getting up every 2 minutes because you have to pee." Matt says, "Abby didn't used to need to take all those pitstops when we're on the bus." Matt adds.
"I hate the aisle, the cart could hit my legs." Kevin argues.
"Then you can sit in the middle if Smith's willing to move." Matt says.
"You can have the middle Kevin." Smith offers actually preferring the aisle seat since then he doesn't have to ask anyone to move for him.
"I hate the middle seat, there is no room." Kevin crosses his arms.
"Smith is like only 3 inches shorter than you and he's not complaining." Matt continues.
"It's an important 3 inches."
"I bet it is."
"Nicky, are you serious?"
"What?!"
"There is an uninvolved member of the public, right there."
"He's wearing headphones it's fine!"
---
It's fine.
Eventually Kevin takes the middle seat if for no other reason than Matt stubbornly pretends to go to sleep but absolutely does not want the aisle seat either.
Smith gives it up and ends up with his own preferred seat while Kevin pointedly takes both of the arm rests, as is his right. The plane ride progresses smoothly from there. Smith has always liked flying. There is always a sense that the second that he gets onto the plane and the door closes he has absolutely zero control over what happens afterwards.
That is a nice comfort.
He pays attention to the safety briefing, finds his nearest exit, and that he should secure the bag over his own face before securing it on Kevin's.
He puts his headphones on and tries not to think about the anxiety of meeting the 'girls'.
He has heard much about the 'girls'.
Allison Reynolds. Allison was someone who's legacy existed even outside of the team. Smith didn't know much about fashion but a Reynolds bet remained a solid practice within Palmetto. She was, undeniably, absolutely gorgeous and if Kevin was to be believed 'kind of a bitch'. Nicky had swatted his arm but had said that it was not entirely inaccurate but like 'in the best way'.
Dan Wilds. He met Dan. Dan was nice. Also, if Matt was to be believed, the best human to ever walk the planet earth. The reason the sun rose in the east and set in the west. The gravitational pull that held the universe together. If Andrew is to be believed, she's fine.
Renee Walker. Renee was the one who taught Andrew how to use knives. His friend has talked warmly of her, in the way that Andrew talks warmly about anyone which is mentioning them at all. She was the one that Smith was the most anxious about meeting.
Kevin turns his nose up at the ginger ale that Smith gets but he's allowed these now per his actual doctors orders.
1 hour left until arriving at JFK.
He hopes this ginger ale is enough to calm his stomach since he's still not allowed Pepto.
MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU
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Johto Culture/Worldbuilding Headcanons
Since the New Bark Town kids are out of the way, I figured I'd do some basic worldbuilding stuff before we start covering more characters. There's more I'll cover later on, but to start off with, let's go over the general culture of Johto!
As a whole, the people of Johto lean towards more "traditional" values such as putting family first, a sense of obligation towards their communities (national pride/patriotism is very strong in older populations), an emphasis on respect towards elders, etc.
That being said, Johtonians are also very private---typically, what happens behind closed doors stays behind there for better or for worse. That doesn't mean people aren't extremely nosy, just that they wouldn't actively disrupt the public peace with their gossip.
Joint families are the most common form of family unit, though nuclear families have become more prevalent in cities such as Goldenrod due to limited living space. Houses tend to consist of one main living space (usually living room/kitchen/dining room combined) with bedrooms and bathrooms accessed through either a side hallway or a second floor. Sometimes (usually in downtown areas), a family business may be on the first floor while living/private spaces will be located on the second floor.
Similarly to Sinnoh, Johto's history is considered very important and conservation efforts are taken very seriously across the region. However, those efforts are mostly aimed towards preserving current knowledge instead of actively discovering the past, meaning there is still information that gets forgotten and lost to time.
Due to this (and also partially because of the burning of Brass Tower), Ho-Oh receives much more reverence than Lugia. Before, they were considered the twin guardians of the region and protected the balance between people and pokemon, but now, Ho-Oh has been deified while Lugia is sidelined and nearly forgotten.
Johtonians have a very distinct accent, mostly since they're a bit more secluded compared to other regions. Goldenrod and Saffron City have a stronger mix of Johtonian and Kantonian accents mostly due to tourists and commuting workers on the Magnet Train.
Johto exports a large amount of artisanal and handmade goods, especially woodcrafts such as cabinets or other large furniture (it's much more heavily wooded compared to other regions), but the region also has a very successful maritime industry that could almost rival Hoenn's.
Johtonians receive their ID card on their 13th birthday. At that point, they may opt in to take the gym challenge. If they do, they will receive a trainer card that contains information pertinent to the gym challenge on the back, which is then updated with every gym the trainer beats. They will keep the same ID their entire life regardless of whether they complete the challenge.
On a similar note, the age of majority is 20, which is a bit older than most other regions (Sinnoh/Kanto are 18, Hoenn is 17, etc etc.)
Children typically get their first pokemon (also referred to as their starter pokemon) at a very early age. This is to help teach them responsibility and respect for pokemon, and it provides them protection when they're unsupervised.
Public schooling is free up to 13 years age, at which point they can choose to pay to go to a private school, take a break to go on a pokémon journey and take on the gym challenge, or quit altogether.
Far more often than not, children will take about a year to go on their journey and then go back to school. Upon their return, they generally have the option to skip certain classes (both the ones they missed and future classes) if they're able to put together a decent report detailing their experiences and what they learned on their journey.
Nontraditional scenarios include students returning from their journey earlier or later than a year, students going on their journey and not returning to school, or going on their journey/dropping out of school at older than 13 years (there is technically no upper age limit at which the gym challenge can be started).
Crime rates are pretty low (especially major crimes such as assault, burglary, kidnapping etc.), which is part of the reason why children are allowed to roam the region unsupervised. This is mostly due to heavy restrictions on which/how many pokemon are legal to own, with and without certain permits. Additionally, the maximum number of occupied pokeballs a person is allowed to carry at once is six, although the average person will own at most three pokemon. Such laws are common in other regions, but Johto is more strict about their regulations.
Additionally, since taking care of children is often a community undertaking ("it takes a village to raise a child"), many adults will keep a close eye on nearby kids and keep them out of trouble regardless of whether they're related.
Since traveling trainers can’t hold down a steady job, a common way to earn money is just to pop into local businesses and ask if they need help. It’s not guaranteed to work, but most businesses will either find something small for them to do or recommend a different business to ask.
Pokemon centers will often allow trainers to sleep overnight in the lobby, though it's frowned upon to stick around for more than a day or two---camping outside or getting a room at an inn is better for longer stays.
Also, because pokemon centers are so widespread and well-recognized, they're often used as a meeting spot for social gatherings (though again, loitering inside isn't welcome. it's like meeting up with friends in a hospital lobby). As a result, many businesses---mainly third spaces such as restaurants and recreational spots---will compete to establish themselves as close to pokemon centers as they can.
Live performance tends to be the most popular form of entertainment across the region, including traditional/ceremonial productions, theater, and music. Historical enactments are also very popular during festivals. This is in part because oral storytelling used to be the region's main form of chronicling its history. (There are a few exceptions, such as the Dragon's Den containing extensive records of the Dragon Tamers and the local area, but unfortunately, access to those records is generally very limited.)
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