Mainland Road Trip- Friday- 11/19/2021

[alwaysonguard]

  

Dwight stood, leaning against the side of his SUV, taking a moment to enjoy the cool breeze and the salty spray of the nearby waves. Having lived in Haven, on the coast of Maine for most of his life, there was something oddly comforting about ocean sounds and smells. And all the Fandom craziness had just gotten a bit too crazy at last, so he and Miguel had plotted and planned and decided there was only one solution - road trip!

So it was, he was now standing at the end of the causeway waiting for Miguel. He already had his duffle bag in the back along with a cooler. And as far he was concerned, Dwight was ready to leave the Fandom insanity behind him for a few days at least.

[NFB once they leave the causeway due to distance]

[ETA: Never mind, this is too long to do in a thread. Preplayed with what_the_shock!]

Comments

[what_the_shock]

"Oh yeah, of course," Miguel assured him solemnly. "Which is your good side?"

[alwaysonguard]

"Any side, so long as the photo never sees the light of day" Dwight quipped as he took a playful bat at the phone as it looked like Miguel was trying to snap another picture of him.

[what_the_shock]

"Don't worry, it's not getting sent anywhere for another century," Miguel assured him breezily. "Okay, so tell me two lies and a truth. Or two truths and a lie? Whatever. Or pick a radio channel and I'll fight you over it."

[alwaysonguard]

Dwight considered the options for a moment and smirked. "Okay so here we go, two truths and a lie. I played football and did wrestling before I joined the military. I married the girl I went to the prom with. I have never been to a big city like New York or Chicago."

[what_the_shock]

"Those all sound like something you'd do. Hm. Never being to a big city is the lie?" he guessed.

[alwaysonguard]

"Dang I'm going to have to pick harder ones next round," Dwight said giving Miguel a nod of approval. "Yeah, obviously contact sports were kinda my thing," he said with a chuckle. "Took about four years after we graduated but I did eventually marry my prom date. And I have actually been to a few big cities though they actually were all overseas during my training and deployment."

[what_the_shock]

Miguel nodded. "Kind of what I figured. Sorry, I guess you're just predictable." He smirked. "Okay, hold on, I can do this." He thought for a minute, then said, "I did soccer and swimming in school, my ma smokes illegal cigarettes, and my brother's a superstar hacker."

If anybody noticed most of those weren't actually about him, well...he was trying to keep it light.

[alwaysonguard]

"Let's see..." Dwight glanced over at Miguel with an inquisitive look for a moment. "Okay, the first one is the lie. That's what I'm going to go with!"

[what_the_shock]

Miguel sighed. "Guess I need to come up with harder ones, too. Yeah, I've always been a geek. Never did much physical at all until the spider thing. Plus I nearly drowned once; doesn't endear me to pools."

[alwaysonguard]

"Yeah, ya don't exactly scream sports enthusiast," Dwight said with a wink. "So, let's see.... Gotta try and stump ya this time.... Okay I was a member of a secret organization back home in Haven, I had a collection of baseball cards growing up, I almost went to acting school after I graduated high school."

[what_the_shock]

"Huh. Okay, I'm pegging the baseball cards as a definite truth," Miguel said. He eyed Dwight. "The secret organization thing is shocking weird, but I'm going to guess the acting's a lie, because you are a terrible actor." You wore your everything on your sleeve, Dwight.

[alwaysonguard]

Dwight gave Miguel an absolutely scandalized look. What on earth were you saying, Miguel? He had made it almost three whole weeks down a hole before showing just how freaked out and mentally fragile he was. And he had handled all the insanity the island had thrown at him quite well. I mean really... he could have done a lot worse after having Lizzie come back just to have her snatched away again. His acting skills were quite exceptional... to a point. Until they weren't.

"I have no idea what you are trying to insinuate," he said with a huff and reached out towards the radio. As hour one of the road trip ticked by the radio cracked to life. And it looked like the radio war was off on a good note - seems like fate or whatever you wanted to call it had a bit of a sense of humor there huh Miguel?

[what_the_shock]

Yeah, well, from Miguel's end, it was totally true. He smirked a bit until he heard the radio song. He rolled his eyes (under his, yes, dark sunglasses), but it wasn't like he could blame it on Dwight. Could he? He eyed him suspiciously for a moment.

Then he sighed, decided they had clearly switched games, and reached out to turn a dial. The music blasted loudly, and he winced and turned it back down before trying the next one.

Hm. Not really Miguel's kind of thing, but better than the last one.

[alwaysonguard]

Dwight let the song play for a bit. Miguel looked about as impressed with it as he was, so he reached out to hit one of the buttons under the dial. He paused for a moment, finger over the button, then punched it decidedly.

Dwight smirked as the song played, wondering if Miguel would catch on to what he was doing.

"Ah good one. Classic," he said, glancing over at Miguel to see his reaction to what was surely more than an outdated song in his time.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel...wasn't too sure about this one. Maybe better than the last one? Definitely better than the stupid sunglasses one.

But admitting he didn't mind it seemed against the spirit of the game, so he spun the dial again.

...Ugh. "Okay, never mind." He tried again. "Okay, are there non-depressing songs on this thing?"

[alwaysonguard]

"You're just doing it wrong," Dwight quipped. He reached out and grabbed the dial and gave it a turn. Ok... not too bad.... He knew the song and it wasn't one that made him totally flinch like some of the other songs he heard.

"So, what you think, Miguel? About a 5 or 6 out of 10?"

[what_the_shock]

Miguel listened for a while. "Eight out of ten for the general premise, two out of ten for the mama references, so yeah, call it a five." He leaned back. "This one can stay for a bit." He tapped his foot. "How many stations do you typically get?"

[alwaysonguard]

"Around this area seems to be a decent selection. At least twenty or so stations that come in clear and about as many that can be kind of hit and miss depending how far out you go." Dwight tapped along on the steering wheel as the song played. "Then of course there are the god-awful talk show stations," he said with a shudder.

"Other than the old huntsman's station that used to be on until a few years ago, you still have a few sports stations here and there and things like that. The farther we get from the city and the more 'wild' the area gets we will start losing stations and may end up having barely any if we get far enough out."

Dwight glanced over at Miguel for a moment as he asked curiously. "What's radio and all like in Nueva York? Still got radio or has some new tech replaced it at last?"

[what_the_shock]

"It's all what you call 'streaming' here," Miguel said. "Net-based. A bunch of official stations, all kinds of genres, mostly decent but sometimes a bit bland. Then some small illegal ones that move around. They play more interesting things sometimes, but also a lot of crap. Neither's into many oldies this far back, but my friend Xina's a fan of everything twentieth century, and collected discs and files and played them for me."

He thought. "I remember...Dean Martin, and Yes, and Janis Joplin, and Duran Duran, and Abba, and TLC, and Rage Against the Machine. A few others, but those are the names that stick out." Some because he liked them, some because Xina did, some just because the names were weird.

[alwaysonguard]

"Yeah, I am still playing a bit of catch up myself," Dwight said with a chuckle. "Was never the most tech savvy, I mean these hands are not exactly built for touch pads and small buttons! But even more than just the technology, the music has really changed a lot in the last decade or so. Never realize how much it actually changes till you miss out on a few years of it."

Dwight thought for a moment. "There are some really good ones I've found over the last month or so since arriving in Fandom. Seems the old obsessions with Queen, Guns n Roses, and such has given way to the likes of Linkin Park, Creed, Bon Jovi, and The Offspring..." Dwight made a face and laughed as he shook his head. "One thing hasn't changed in all these years - band names are really weird!"

[what_the_shock]

"Yeah, pretty sure that's a constant," Miguel noted. "Across times and universes, band names are weird. Also some of the names people pick for themselves - heroes and villains pick some really weird names. I think it boils down to 'people are really shocking weird', and we can leave it at that."

He fiddled with the dial again, and ended up on something harder. "Not bad."

[alwaysonguard]

Starting preplay block post

"Aye, true that," Dwight said with a nod. "And speaking of weird band names," he quipped as Miguel changed the station. "But one of the definite classics, no matter what century you are looking from."

Dwight let the song go almost to the end before giving the dial a twist, landing on another station and another song. "Ah yes, an example of a song that you absolutely love and have no idea why!"

"...Do you?" Miguel asked, a little skeptical. Not that it was bad, but he felt the need to follow that assertion with skepticism. Still, he let it play most of the way before trying again. "Oh, very funny," he told the radio.

"It has a special place," Dwight said with a slight laugh. "It's more the memories associated with the song than the song itself." He glanced at Miguel as his song started to play. Letting it go for a little bit he cracked his fingers with a somewhat dramatic flare and reached over and switched the station again. As the song started to play, Dwight stared at the radio for a moment and balked at it. "Are you serious right now?"

He gave an almost frightened laugh as he slowly turned and looked over at Miguel, the two staring at each other for a moment before Dwight reached out and hit the button turning the radio off.

"And on that note.... I think it's about time we stopped for lunch. What do you think?"

"I think we should do whatever necessary to escape that," Miguel agreed. He looked around at the buildings they were passing. "Empanadas, or stop somewhere here and save them for later?"

Dwight nodded in agreement. "I'd vote keep them for later in case we do end up out in the boonies tonight. Will make dinner plans a bit easier."

They drove for a moment as Dwight tried to get a feel for what might be in the area. "So, any preference? Quick easy fast food or something a little nicer? What are you in the mood for? Five years of military food essentially turned my stomach into rock, so I can handle just about anything."

"I can't really be poisoned, so I'm good for just about anything," Miguel quipped. "Not really in a mood to deal with a waiter or anything, so maybe fast food? Something better than Mooby's, though." Mooby's was awful.

Dwight looked over at Miguel. "That super healing ability of yours sure comes with some really nice perks!" Dwight drove on looking for a good place to stop for a quick bite. "Pizza and wings sound okay? There's a place up ahead that sells it by the slice and has wings ready to go by the bucket if you want."

"What can I say, I'm a marvel." Miguel smirked. "Sounds good. You like them hot?"

"Hotter the better. Though... Atomic Meltdown wings probably aren't a good idea when we still have a good bit of driving to do. That fire lasted for hours afterwards - last time I had wings that spicy my eyes wouldn't stop burning and watering for hours." Pulling off the road and into the parking lot, Dwight looked over at Miguel. "So, a bucket of hot wings and a couple slices of pizza?"

"Hot as you can get them," Miguel agreed, grinning now. "Make it two buckets, though? That 'super healing ability' of mine comes with a few downsides, too." He eyed the place. "You think they have root beer? I'd never had it till I got here, you know, but it's great."

"Pretty sure they do. Pepperoni pizza alright?" he asked as he started towards the small store's front window. "You can grab us a seat out here and I'll be back with the grub in a few minutes."

"Sure; sounds good." Miguel found a table and brushed a few crumbs off, then opened the heavy umbrella above it before sitting down. Just because he'd heal it, didn't mean sunburn was fun, and his glasses only did so much good. He looked around and saw a family with kids being noisy a few tables away, and a few teenagers hanging out by one of the patio rails, smoking. No, wait - vaping. Something his world hadn't ever developed.

It was, as promised, almost ridiculously normal for this time and place, from what Miguel had learned. Just so long as nobody tried to rob the place or a plane didn't crash into the middle of it.

Was it bad he was on edge waiting for something to happen? That was probably bad, right?

A few minutes later Dwight returned, carrying a large flat box with two large buckets and a cup holder expertly balanced on top. He walked over and set everything down on the table, the little jump Miguel gave as he walked up on him noticed, despite how little it actually was.

"Okay, bucket of extra spicy wings, old fashioned root beer, and I went ahead and got a whole pizza. Gives us something else to eat later on since pizza always tastes better a day or two later."

He watched Miguel for a moment as he sat down and started unloading everything and setting it all out.

"At least the weather's good today. Always prefer eating outside if I can. Don't do too good with crowds and enclosed spaces" he said with a slight grimace. "Very much prefer the outdoors. You gonna be okay?" he asked, pointing up to the clear skies overhead.

Hey, it was barely a twitch! Miguel shrugged. "Not much choice, is there? Yeah, I'll be fine. Bring on the greasy food!" He tugged one of the buckets closer and snagged a wing off the top. "Let's see what passes for spicy here."

He munched on it, then nodded. "Not bad. And not hot enough to melt your eyes, I don't think," he added, grinning at Dwight.

Dwight gave Miguel a smirk and grabbed the other bucket and grabbed a drummette and took a bite. He chewed thoughtfully for a minute and then nodded with a smile. "Yeah pretty good. I give it seven stars compared to a lot of the other places you can get wings on demand."

Finishing it off, Dwight grabbed another one out of the bucket and took the plastic cover from his bucket and tossed the bone in it. And for the first time in... what months... more than a few months for sure... Dwight felt himself actually start to relax.

"Don't forget the pizza" he said, not really expecting Miguel to have forgotten. "Their pizza is pretty good too," he added, grabbing one of the paper plates and putting a slice on it.

"You've eaten here before?" Miguel asked, finishing one wing and starting another. "Are these a chain, or you've just come this way?" His napkin started blowing away, and he pinned it to the table with a talon. Eating outside had a few disadvantages, too.

Dwight flashed a quick thumbs up at Miguel for the quick save. "I've been in the area a few times a while back. There's a naval base about an hour or so south of here I went to a few times years ago before I finally enlisted. Went with the Army instead but the Navy had been my other option at the time."

Dwight paused to take a big swig of the root beer before continuing. "Anyways, yeah I used to stop here on my way to and from the base those few times I had been there. Last time was like ten years ago though, so I'm really glad to see the place is still here and still doing so well!"

[what_the_shock]

"Especially since ten years ago for you is like, what, twenty-five or something?" Miguel said. He was a little fuzzy on how far back Dwight was from. "So what's the difference between the army and the navy? I mean, one's land and one's water, I know that," he hurried to add, "but what made you go with one over the other?"

He got a plate and plopped a couple pieces of pizza on it before starting in on one.

"Damn, you're right. I still keep forgetting just how much of a jump there was. I left Haven and it was 2010. Arrive in Fandom and find out it was 2021? Yeah losing eleven years like that is a bit of a shock. Guess my mind is still trying to come to terms with that." Dwight shook his head a bit and snickered a bit. "My brain has a hard enough time with things as it is."

"As far as the enlisting went, it really was more of a selfish reason than anything else that made me go with the Army," Dwight said a somewhat sad smile spreading across his face for a moment. "Tuck, my best friend from college wanted to enlist too and he ended up going with the Army. I mean there were other things I considered of course, but yeah... knowing Tuck was going Army was kind of the deciding factor for me in the end." Dwight looked at Miguel and smirked as he added, "And the fact it turned out I get seasick ridiculously easily also helped with the decision!"

Miguel laughed loud enough to make the other people glance over. "Wait, didn't you grow up on the coast? How did you not know you got seasick?"

He would get to Tuck in a second; right now he was definitely going with this one.

"Grew up in Maine and yeah, a lot of it was on the coast. But evidently there's a bit of difference between a fishing boat in a calm harbor or bay and a huge ship in the middle of the ocean" Dwight said defensively. "One of the guys in Haven, Duke, he lives on his boat. Tried to go out with him and few others once to do some fishing way out off the coast. Did okay till we got out a ways and the waves got really bad. Figured it was just a fluke since I had never had that much trouble before..."

"Oh shut up," he said, giving Miguel a playful punch in the arm. "I'm sure you got your little embarrassing weakness you discovered in an inconvenient way. Afraid of heights? Fear of falling?"

"I jumped out of skyscrapers a lot back home," Miguel said wryly, fending him off. "Wouldn't get far if I was afraid of heights. Like I said, not fond of swimming, but I've been to underseas installations and such, not had much of a problem." He shrugged. "I had a lot of awkward discoveries when all of this," he gestured at his glasses, "happened, if that counts. Shredding all my clothes, learning just how much of an ass I'd been."

He cocked his head at Dwight. "This the same Duke as in Fandom? My boss Duke?"

"Yeah, wannabe pirate Duke," Dwight snorted. "At least... kinda the same Duke? I mean he was still around when I left Haven to come to Fandom, so I'm not really sure how far past that time this Duke is from and..." Dwight rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I always get a headache when I think about these timeline jumps and all. But yeah same Duke - doubt he changed all that much between when I knew him and when he came to Fandom."

Because honestly, what could have happened in a year or so in Haven, right?

Really, how bad could it be? "He seems decent," Miguel said. "You both seem pretty good considering the shocking mess your hometown is. That why you joined the army - to get out?"

"To get away from everything really," Dwight said simply, "I never found out about Haven until my Trouble activated. But even before that yeah life was a bit of a bitch. Marriage was on the rocks, and even though we had Lizzie who was like four at the time, my ex was determined to make life hell. We had sort of unofficially separated, to ya know 'give us time to figure things out' and all that. It was only because she threatened to ask for full custody if I actually left that I agreed to not ask for a divorce right away."

Dwight sighed. "Anyways, yeah joined the Army, figuring a couple years' tour overseas would give her time to figure out what she wanted, give us time away, let me show her I was willing to do whatever it took to make things right...And well that kinda blew up in my face in a spectacular way," he said with a dark chuckle. "But yeah, like many crazy young men, tried to use the military to figure things out."

"Never quite got that," Miguel admitted. "But then, I knew from about nine that I'd be a scientist at Alchemax." Whether he wanted to be or not. "So you and your friend...Tuck?...you decided to join up together?"

Dwight gave a slight smile as he thought about his old friend. "Yeah we enlisted and went through boot camp together. Got shipped out on our first mission together too. He was such a great dude, you would have liked him I think," he said flashing a grin at Miguel. "Tuck had a sarcastic side a mile long and could always be counted on to crack a joke - often at the most inopportune time." Dwight fell silent for a moment as the memories played out for a moment. "Yeah, Tuck was an awesome guy. One of the best friends I ever had."

"Sounds like my kinda guy, yeah," Miguel agreed. "Guessing he was in your squad?" He heard that past tense. He didn't want to press too much, but it felt like not addressing it would be sort of dishonest.

"Yeah," Dwight said simply. "We had several missions together and our unit got deployed to Afghanistan. Tuck... he was one of the many that didn't come back home." Dwight went silent for a moment then shook his head slightly, clearing away the memories and gave a soft smile. "He left his mark on a lot of us though, so he's still around in that regard. But yeah, miss his sarcastic ass at times," he added with a slight chuckle.

"I promise to do my best to make sure you get your daily dose of sarcasm," Miguel said solemnly. "Sorry about your friend, though. I guess that was pretty hard." He'd never really had close friends himself, except for maybe Xina and Gabriel, but he thought about Morph, and...yeah.

He'd been working his way through the chicken wings as they talked, and off to one side, he saw a little kid gaping at his extensive pile of bones. He rolled his eyes. Then he gave them a wide grin and watched them run back to their family, eyes wide. Screw gawkers at any age.

"You're doing a bang up job of it so far," Dwight quipped as he gave Miguel an appreciative smile.

He turned his attention back to the bucket of wings, adding to his own growing pile of bones as he watched Miguel and the kid interact. Dwight about choked on the wing he had been working on as he tried, and epically failed, to hold back a laugh as the kid ran away like he had seen a vampire or something.

"Not too fond of kids huh?" Dwight said, still half laughing half choking as he reached for his drink.

"Not too fond of being stared at like that," Miguel said. "Or of kids, yeah. The ones back on the island are fine - they're nearly adults, you can talk to them at least. Little ones? No," he said firmly. "Didn't like them when I was one, my opinion hasn't improved as I got older."

He finished the wings and switched back to pizza. Then belatedly realized Dwight probably liked at least one of them and missed her. "Sorry."

"It's all right," he said simply as he finished the last wing and dropped the bone into the pile. "Not everyone likes kids, simple fact. Though... I think Lizzie might have been able to change your stance, at least a little," Dwight said with a soft smile. "She was a good kid...."

"Anyways... I'm going to go get a refill for the next leg of the drive. You want one too?" Dwight simply stated as he stood and picked up his cup from the table.

"Yeah, thanks," Miguel said, handing Dwight his cup. "Hey, I'm sure if any kid could, it'd be yours," he added, dubious but hopeful. Even his own AU kid hadn't really won him over, even if she had been kind of cool.

"I've got this," he said, standing himself and gathering up the garbage. He stuck another piece of pizza in his mouth and headed to the cans. He had to pass by that kid's table, and could hear their mother patiently explaining that look, he was out in the sun, so he clearly wasn't a vampire...

Dwight got the refills and started back. Seeing Miguel waiting for him, he headed over to him, passing by the same family's table. He gave Miguel a look as he handed over the drink.

"Earning a reputation already around here," he said jokingly. "Come on, let's head out. You know, before someone calls in a sighting of a vampire and a sasquatch."

Miguel took his drink with a nod of thanks. "Sasquatch? That's you, I take it?" He pretended to look Dwight over. "Yeah, I can see it. Not sure if you're hairy enough, though."

He climbed back in the truck, keeping the last of the pizza with him. "You need me to drive at all? I don't have a modern license, but I won't crash us."

[alwaysonguard]

"Sasquatch is kind of a colloquial name," Dwight said simply. "Duke used to call me that, was kind of an 'endearing' nickname he gave me years ago... and just kinda stuck," he said, giving a shrug and feigning confusion as to why.

"If ya want you can take over for a bit. Trust ya not to kill us," he chuckled. "Could use a bit of a break, thanks!"

"Sure." Miguel passed Dwight the pizza. "You hold that." He climbed into the driver's seat, then spent a minute finding the controls to make it half a foot shorter. "Not a word," he told Dwight.

Eventually he had it settled, then took another minute making sure he had all the controls down. They'd probably be fine if he didn't have to use the wipers or the cruise control. "Ready?"

Dwight watched in silence, raising his hands innocently. Yes he was judging you, just a little, Miguel "Just remember, 'up' is not an option to avoid a collision," he said teasingly.

As the SUV revved up he set the pizza box up on his side of the dashboard. Leaning back he reached down for the lever and slid the seat back as far as it would go and stretched his legs out.

"Ready, let's see where that road leads us next!"

Right, no up. Miguel gave Dwight a dirty look while privately admitting that was a good point to remember. He pulled out onto the road and got back on the highway. "Any particular place we're stopping, or just keep going and see where we end up?" he asked.

"Well in about an hour or so we will be as far as I have gone before for this area," Dwight said, pulling out the map from the glovebox and fiddling with it. "There's a nature preserve that has a few camping sites open to the public. I've been there several times, it's really nice, and I got the gear we need already in the back if we go that route. The last of the decent hotels will most likely be here in the next twenty miles or so. Once we get out of town things get a lot more sparse and spread out, so a decent hotel will be harder to come by." Dwight looked up from the map and at Miguel. "You are the one behind the wheel for now, your call."

"I'm not really into camping, but we should probably go farther than just twenty miles," Miguel said. "Let's see what we can find."

He gave Dwight an amused look. "Seriously? A map? Even in this century there are computer and phone apps for that."

"Sure - we got a few good hours of daylight left. May even make it to the next town and find something decent for you, you softie," Dwight said teasingly. As he messed with the map he glanced over at Miguel. "Yeah I know... not the greatest with all the technology and stuff. Barely even use my phone. Think I've had all of two messages that haven't been from you since I got to Fandom. And besides... These hands are not made for tiny phones and such. Trying to send a text of more than five words makes me want to throw my phone across the room! Guess I could try and figure it out though," Dwight said as he fished his phone out of his pocket for the first time so far that day.

"Voice control," Miguel said. "Oh, shock! I forgot to take pictures of our stop for Gabriel. Here." He dug his phone out, unlocked it, and handed it to Dwight. "Take some pictures of the pizza. Make them artsy; he's a holo director."

"Ha! We are just barely getting into all that voice control stuff now," Dwight said with a laugh as he took Miguel's phone and started snapping some pictures. A couple of the pizza box and the pizza, a goofy selfie, and then he turned and snapped a few of Miguel. "Gotta have proof that you were on the trip too!"

"Shock, no!" Miguel flailed. "Don't send those! Quick, write and tell him to delete them! If anybody knows it's me, they'll be after him!" Hopefully Gabriel would think to do it himself, but...well, Miguel wasn't counting on that.

"Didn't send them yet," Dwight reassured him as he pulled them up and deleted the two he had taken of Miguel. "Sorry about that, man," he said apologetically. "Forgot you gotta go incognito still," Dwight said as he handed the phone back to him. "Feel like an idiot now, sorry about that,"

Miguel took the phone with a grimace and bit back his first angry thoughts. "Nah, I should have thought about it after I took pics of you. Not that anything I send him will be normal, but he's good at plausible deniability, and random pictures from an unknown number probably won't be traced. Anything with me in it's likely to get immediately flagged on the net, though. When I said I can't go back, I really can't go back."

Dwight fell silent for a few minutes. "Probably for the best you handle the photos, so I don't fuck things up again," he said with a sigh as he looked over at Miguel again. "This is why tech and I don't usually get along - bad things happen," he said with a forced laugh. "... sorry, man."

"Huh?" Miguel gave him an incredulous look. "Take all the pictures you want; you're fine with the tech. Just don't get me in any of them and we're good."

He sighed. "Look, you know that whole 'secret identity' thing a lot of costumed people seem to do? I don't know about anybody else, but I did it because if the corps like Alchemax and Stark-Fujikawa knew who I was, they wouldn't stop until I was living out my life in their labs, and not behind the computers. Which was all good until someone pulled off my mask on international feed. That's why I can't really go home. And if they even suspected Gabe knew how to find me, they wouldn't stop putting the pressure on him until I had no choice."

"That's got to be rough. It's hard enough trying to live a normal life hiding the fact you have a Trouble or something similar. I can't imagine not being able to even show your face in certain places." Dwight shook his head as he glanced over at Miguel. "I am definitely not superhero material... regardless of what seven-year-old me thought. Not sure I would be able to handle that kind of isolation and being cut off from people. You have my respect, that is for sure, man," he said, giving Miguel a slight but sincere smile.

Miguel huffed. "Okay, look. First of all, I am seriously not the superhero type. I do my best to help, but nobody wants me as a role model. Second, it's not like I really have a choice. Third, I never really had all that many friends to begin with, which kind of ties into that first part. Between my team and Fandom, I've got more people with me now than I ever did before I left, even if I wouldn't exactly call them all friends. They might dropkick me."

One of them was Sabretooth and one was Rosa, after all.

"Then we make a fine pair," Dwight said with a somewhat smug grin. "Wasn't exactly the most popular guy to hang out with back home for...obvious reasons."

He fiddled with the settings on his phone for what was entirely far too long to pull up a GPS app. He flashed Miguel a warning look, practically feeling the scoff coming before he even said anything.

"So.... how far are you wanting to drive for?"

No scoff, but Miguel would smirk, even if it was a little strained and he was glad of the subject change. "Eh, I'm good for a while. You said you figure it's a few more hours to the next town?"

Dwight gave a slight nearly indistinguishable nod, he had been right. Subject change was definitely needed. He looked down at the phone and studied the moving display on the screen.

"I'd say about an hour to the next one and any amount of time after that till we find a decent place to crash for the night. We should be good to just keep following the main highway here...looking like it cuts right through the next town. And we are getting into more open areas out here too, so there shouldn't be a lot of traffic to deal with."

Dwight glanced out the window for a moment silently for a moment before turning back to Miguel. "And sorry if I'm a bit..." he waved his hands around his head and made a face, "you know, spazzy. Still a bit off mentally. Being a kid for the weekend was interesting and all, but that's a part of my life I don't think back on too often. And reliving it, even for that bit of a time...still got me off my game."

That was an understatement Dwight thought to himself, considering how hard he tried to keep everything in neat little emotional compartments. Yeah, it was definitely still affecting him, even now.

"Yeah, same," Miguel said. "Definitely was not fun." He tapped the steering wheel. "Maybe we should go back to music for a little while. Or what was that other game?"

"Yeah that whole ordeal was... ummm interesting, to say the least" Dwight said shaking his head. "Sorry I was a bit of a know-it -all jerk." he glanced over at Miguel. "One of my biggest weaknesses I've worked pretty hard to keep reigned in. I know we were both kids, but I think we both need this trip, in the worst kind of way."

Dwight watched Miguel for a moment before giving a slight stretch as his back cracked slightly. "I think radio might be best right now," he said as he punched the button and gave the dial a twist. "Feel free to change it whenever you want. I think I'm going to just rest my eyes for a bit. You'll be okay for a bit?'

"Oh, please, I'm fine. 'Up' isn't an option, I remember." Miguel waved a hand. "Go to sleep, you probably need it, old man."

"Oh hey watch it," Dwight huffed, shooting Miguel a look of mock offence as he opened his eyes and looked over at him. "I'm only a few years older than you, remember? Won't be long till you are in my shoes." Dwight chuckled and settled back, closing his eyes as he listened to the music as he rather quickly fell asleep.

"Probably a lot longer than you think," Miguel muttered. He had no idea what his lifespan would be with this healing factor, but...yeah. Not thinking of that. He twisted the dial on the radio until he found a station playing something utterly mindless, and left it there.

***

[what_the_shock]

The next thing Dwight was aware of was the SUV hitting a bump in the road. It jostled him enough his head slid slightly and bumped against the side window, Not hard, but enough to wake him up. Shaking his head and taking half a second to remember where he was he looked out the window then to Miguel. He wasn't sure what time it was, but it was late enough the sun was starting to get lower in the sky.

"Sorry about that," he muttered as he sat back up right in the seat. "How long was I out for?"

"A few hours," Miguel answered, glancing at the clock. "Hey, like I said, you needed it. We're coming up on another town, though, if you want to look for a hotel. They're all the same to me; none of these names exist in my time."

Dwight studied the road ahead of them for a few minutes as they drove. "That one's as good as any. They really are all about the same in reality," he chuckled as they pulled off the road and to a stop in the parking lot. "Wanna come in while I get us a room?" Dwight asked as he reached into the glovebox for his wallet. "Shouldn't be too crowded or busy this time of day."

"Sure," Miguel said, stretching his fingers. "Probably do me good to stand up." He tossed Dwight the keys and opened the door, dropping to the pavement and stretching as he looked around. The place was dingier than Fandom, but cleaner than Downtown, so he'd slept in worse places. "Do we bring our things in or do they get them?"

"Naw we bring 'em," Dwight stated as he walked to the back and grabbed his duffle bag out. "In some hoity-toity place they might have someone working as a bellhop or bag boy... definitely not a place like this." Dwight waited for Miguel to grab his bag before closing and locking up. "Miguel, welcome to roughly 60% of hotels in this time period. Better than some and worse than others - not good, not bad. In other words, good enough for one night stay."

"Which is exactly how long we'll be here," Miguel noted. "Convenient."

He followed Dwight into the lobby, which had a counter that was clean but had seen better days, and a person behind it who...was pretty much the same, really. Miguel nodded to her.

"Afternoon," she greeted them, smiling at Dwight. "Looking for a room?"

"Yes, please. One room, just for tonight," Dwight said with a slight smile.

"I have a ground floor room available if that works for you both," she said looking from Miguel back to Dwight.

"That will be perfect, thanks," Dwight replied as he handed her his card.

"Wonderful. So, here are your keys for room 125. Check out is before 11am. And we have a complimentary breakfast here in the lobby each morning at 7 am. Enjoy your stay and don't hesitate to let us know if there is anything we can do to make your stay more pleasant."

Dwight nodded in thanks as he took the plastic card keys and handed one over to Miguel.

Miguel took it and nodded, too. "Only hotels I've been to in this time, everything was set up by the school," he confided as they left to find the room, "and not in this country. And the last trip had eight of us in one room," he added, frowning. Faye still hated him for claiming the bed out from under her the first night.

"Well then this should be a bit of an upgrade," Dwight said as he slung the duffle bag over his shoulder again and headed down the hallway looking for their room. "Just the two of us and no fighting over beds or sleeping arrangements.... And no fighting over the shower either," he added with a laugh. He had been on his fair share of field trips and road trips over the years with a lot of people crammed into one room.

"Ah here it is," he said, stopping and sliding the card into the slot on the door. It beeped at him and stayed locked. He tried it again and the same thing happened. "Oh come on now!" Dwight said as he swiped the card again to no avail.

"Try mine?" Miguel offered, holding out his card. He surreptitiously checked the room number, but yep, this was 125.

Dwight nodded and tried the other card and the beep changed to a click as the door unlocked. "Of course it opens with YOUR card," Dwight muttered with a grin. Pushing the door open, he handed the card back to Miguel as he followed him in and then closed the door behind them. Reaching to the side of the door he flipped the light switch on.

"It likes me better," Miguel said with a grin. "Who wouldn't?" He looked around. It was...very earth-toned. He dropped his bag on the bed near the windows and twitched back the curtains. "Great view of the parking lot." Eh, they weren't here for the view. Or the TV, which was weirdly clunky, and he eyed it for a second.

Dwight's bag dropped at the foot of the other bed as he flipped the switch on the other side of the room to give them a little more light. He sat on the end of the bed, kicking off his shoes and sliding them under the foot of the bed as he watched Miguel studying the very very old-school set.

"It's a television," he said, slowly, a mock tone of patient explanation. He stood and walked over to the equally outdated cabinet the TV was in and picked up the clunky remote. "And this.... is the remote we use to change the channels," he said, holding it up for Miguel to see.

Dwight knew he had a punch or slap coming and he well deserved it, but it was just too good of an opportunity to not take advantage of it.

"Yeah?" Miguel asked overly innocently. He toed his own shoes off, but left them where they fell. "And how do the lights work? I usually just talk to mine." Which was true, actually, but he had learned a few things in his years here, thanks.

"This thing is shocking ancient."

"Compared to your time, I think anything I live through would be classified as ancient," Dwight said with a smirk. Knowing good and well Miguel had a grasp on lighting, Dwight stood and walked to the bathroom. "The real indication on how ancient this place is will be the shower," he said knowingly. Pulling back the shower curtain Dwight stared and scoffed. "Yeah... ancient."
(https://www.sunrisespecialty.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Step-13.-That%E2%80%99s-it.jpg)

Miguel came to look at it. "I...wait, there's no markings on it. Not that the markings always work," he'd learned that much, "but do you just sort of...twist it and hope?"

"Pretty much," Dwight said, shaking his head with a sigh. "Turn to the left and hope it doesn't boil you alive and twist to the right to cool down and hope it doesn't freeze you out. While also hoping the handle doesn't break off in your hand." Because yes he had had that happen before at a few places he had stayed that were MUCH worse than this. "Thankfully just here for the night so quick showers shouldn't be too difficult to figure out."

"...how fragile are they?" Miguel asked. Look, he had a worse problem than Dwight there, even if he mostly knew his own strength these days. The last thing he wanted to do was break the shower, especially if he was in it at the time.

"Eh you'll be fine. The ones I've had break on me were already rusty and corroded. This one at least looks like it was replaced within the last... three years?" That was a good thing, right? "I'll take mine first, test it out and all later." Because that was a perfectly normal thing to do when staying in a three-star hotel, right?

"Sounds good," Miguel agreed. "Plus then if I break it, you're not out a shower." He could probably fix it with webbing, right? Maybe?

He went back out and threw himself down (carefully) on the bed. "So what do we do in a hotel room? I'm not ready to sleep yet, and you just were, so. What's on the TV?"

"Well let's see..." Dwight mused as he grabbed the remote and turned the set on and flipped to the guide channel. "Well lucky for us they have cable so at least we have plenty of options to scroll through. Here, see if you can find anything interesting," he said as he handed the remote to Miguel.

Miguel took the remote, frowned at it for a second, then tried one of the up arrows. Nope, volume. The other one worked, though. News, news, different news, some kids' show...people spinning a wheel? He stopped for a second, but it seemed to be some sort of crossword thing. He gave up after a few minutes and kept going. Hey, look, something with food! Okay, weird food, but that just made it more fun.

Sorry, Dwight, "Carnival Eats" was your life now.

Dwight smirked as he saw what station Miguel had settled on. "Guess it's normal human nature to be drawn to weird foods, especially when you are not the one having to eat it." Dwight sat on the edge of the bed and watched as yet another fried food atrocity was being demonstrated. "I swear... I can feel my arteries closing up just watching these shows sometimes...."

"That's the most fun," Miguel said, grinning. "Though if any of these things are nearby, I'm in." Was it fair season? How should he know? He looked around, opened the drawer, and found a book of "things to do". "Hey, here." He flipped through it, and held it out so Dwight could see.

Dwight squinted at the small print in the little book and sighed, giving Miguel a "really dude?" look then laughed as he leaned over and reached for the lamp on the table between the beds. "Not all of us have superhuman vision there buddy," he said sarcastically. "Let me get some more light for these eyes of mine."

Dwight twisted the little knob on the lamp and nothing happened. He tried it again and still nothing. He saw Miguel bite back a smirk as he watched Dwight lean over and look behind the table. "And before you ask, yes, it is plugged in! And the bulb looks fine so I don't think it's that..." He went back to trying the switch a few more times, then sighed. "Looks like we got a bum lamp."

"Yeah?" Miguel perked up. "Let me see." He picked it up and turned it over, checking how to open it up.

Dwight watched as Miguel inspected the lamp with a grin. Typical geek he thought to himself. "I got a basic tool kit outside if you want."

"That'd help," Miguel answered, distracted. He reached down and unplugged it, then took some time checking the plug and cord for breaks.

Dwight nodded as he slipped his boots back on and headed out to the truck. A few minutes later he walked back in and set the small travel-sized box on the bed beside Miguel. "Here you go - should have all the basics that you would need. Think there's even some electrical tape and such in there from the last time I did work at the shop."

"Thanks." Miguel nodded and opened the case. He already had the lamp's bottom pulled off and was examining the wiring. "It's not like these things are complex; there's only so many things that can go wrong." He took out a screwdriver and checked and tightened the connections, then started checking the rest of the wiring.

On the TV, someone yelled, and he glanced over for a second - something about fried jalapenos and watermelon - before going back to the wiring.

Dwight watched Miguel work for a moment and then picked up the booklet he had been looking at. Moving over to the other bed so he had better light, Dwight started looking through the book and found the page Miguel had been trying to show him.

"Spring County Autumn Fair," he read as he looked over the page. "Rides, games, food, and fun for everyone." Scanning the rest of the page he looked at the dates given and smiled as he glanced at the TV just in time to see the fried watermelon going down.

"Sounds like a good way to spend a day," Dwight said half to himself half out loud as he pulled out his phone and tried to - rather clumsily still - look up the directions.

"Is there enough to do for a whole day?" Miguel asked. "I only know about the food." He found the bad section of wire and sliced it off just above and below with a talon, then started stripping the insulation to reconnect it.

"If you like thrill rides there's plenty to do. There's also usually some kind of fun house..." he saw the questioning look Miguel gave him. "Sort of like a fun indoor obstacle course you have to make your way through. And larger fairs and such may even have a small roller coaster or something similar set up." Dwight turned his attention back to the book and scanned through the page again. "And it looks like this one has animals and exhibits to look at, and of course lots of carnival games to play as well."

"What kinds of exhibits and games?" Miguel asked. He finished twisting the wires together, then used Dwight's electrical tape to wrap them and plugged the lamp back in, smirking as it lit up this time.