“We’ll get you settled in the city, and Fiona and I will periodically check in on you,” Kevin said. Apparently Lost didn’t appear with enough frequency to keep them that busy, so as part of their duties they were sort of like case workers for new Lost as well.
The whole group was taking a transport to Insaron, the largest city nearby, where they would be given help settling into their new reality. Kevin and Fiona were together in front, talking quietly about work related matters.
Nellie giggled as Skyler made a face at her from his seat. She had warmed up to him quite well.
He was surprisingly good with kids, though he has said he was an only child. When Gemma commented on this, he gave her a sheepish smile.
“I’m an only child, but I have a lot of younger cousins and I used to babysit them often.”
“Did you get offered the Babysitter Class?” Gemma asked.
“Nope,” Skyler said, “I speculate you got it because you’re actively babysitting.”
Gemma nodded. Considering all the crazy stuff, that made perfect sense to her.
“Did you bring anything with you during the warp?” Gemma asked.
“Just my phone,” Skyler pulled it out of his pocket, a well kept newer model, “I was in the middle of texting my boss when I was transported.”
Gemma pursed her lips, “Kevin told me I could sell my e-books and music for profit. You could probably do that too.”
Kevin lit up, “That sounds like a great idea!”
The two then discussed their tastes in books and music, which, luckily, wasn't remotely alike, apart from both of them having some of the old greats and classics.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I think people here are going to get a kick out of all the isekai fiction I’ve got.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’s portal fiction, like Narnia.Young adults ending up in a different dimension and trying to survive. It’s a little freaky how similar some of the stuff I’ve read is to Travalar. Except the super modern cities and stuff, I guess. But I guess it makes sense, since so many Lost have landed here over the years. It’s probably better this way. As cool as living in a video game type thing would be, I don’t know how great it would be to live in constant warfare,” Skyler said.
Nellie made a squawk, like, stop talking and play with me more!
Skyler played peek-a-boo again with her.
“Do you...want to hold her?” Gemma wasn’t really asking, because even as she said the words she deposited Nellie into Skyler's arms.
“Oh, uh…” Skyler was nervous for the first minute of actually holding her, but his time with his little cousins came back, because soon Nellie was bursting into cute little giggles.
Gemma pulled out her own phone and snapped a shot of the two of them playing.
“You guys are so cute,” she smiled.
They landed not much later in Insalon’s transport landing zone.
Gemma had braced herself for a whole lot of weirdness, and she was glad she had.
There were three primary races native to Travalar, Kevin had explained over lunch, earlier. Humans, like Fiona was, Veliorin, a kind of bird people, and Dewuars, an aquatic race. Intermarraige between the three had been frowned upon for a long time, but it was possible, and becoming more mainstream. Kevin said not to worry about all the details of it, just to be aware of the possibility. And that the pople walking around would be quite interesting looking to her, since there were only humans (that Gemma knew of) walking around on Earth.
The coming of the Lost had expanded the pool even more, and there was a small government department dedicated to keeping track of all of the new types of beings that resulted in the marriages between peoples.
So, when Gemma stepped into the hustle of traffic in Insalon’s transport zone, she was somewhat prepared to see the multitude of scales, feathers, the occasional back covered in tentacles, the horns, fangs, extreme height, extreme wideness, and other things.
“Welcome to Insalon,” Fiona said.
Gemma took a deep breath, and pushed the stroller forward.