A year can be an extremely long time when you are looking forward to something. Birthdays never come fast enough when you are a child, and five seconds after unwrapping the presents you want Christmas to come again. How much longer can a year be than when you are separated from your family? To Locke who had spent five years of his life taking care of his brother and sister, it felt like a life time since he was home. An entire year after last tucking them in, Locke was going to see his half sibs.

The train ride was as painful as it had been the year before, even if he was going in the opposite direction. Three days of being in an overheated train car, and sitting on what was suppose to be a cushioned seat made him feel hot, cramped, and sore. At least this time he wasn't alone. Locke invited his friend Chris to come out west for a couple of days for New Years. He didn't know if Chris had ever been to San Fransisco, but Locke was feeling an itch to travel, and his friend back home wanted to meet the east coast people.

Locke stretched his arms and legs out before hitching the good strap of his backpack further up on his shoulder. "Ugh, I think my butt fell asleep," he complained, but there was a slight joking nature to it. A quick glance at his watch told him that they were on time, which meant that their ride was late. "Welcome to San Fransisco, home of the Mythbusters, the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, and fog."

Chris had spent most of the ride quietly looking out through the window. This was the first time he was going by train to San Fransisco, or anywhere actually. At first he had been almost paralyzed by the speed - the train was rushing forward in an almost unnatural way and the trees and buildings and sceneries outside was just flying by.
But even after he'd adjusted to the speed he was glad that they were not flying.

This was the second time someone had wanted to travel with him, and the first time the traveling part was actually happening. He'd been a bit hesitant when Locke first had asked him - traveling was something new for him and new things always had to be approached with some kind of caution - and then had decided to go for it. This could be interesting.

When Locke announced that his butt had fallen asleep and that they had reached their goal, Chris stretched out too.
"Good - when you said the journey would take three days I didn't realize that the journey would take three days."
He reached for his own backpack - Chris was traveling with light luggage too - and then looked out of the window again. The new city was surrounding them and he felt a sting of anticipation.
"So what do we do now?" he asked and took on his coat, prepared to follow Locke if he went out of the train car.

Locke smiled apologetically at Chris. He had given his friend warning. “Sorry man. I know it’s long, and that a plane would have gotten us here sooner, but I don’t trust those things,” he said, watching the line of people getting off for an opening. When one big enough for the two of them to get in, Locke began the first awkward steps. “If metal was meant to be in the air skyscrapers would be in the clouds, not the ground.”

As good as it felt to finally be off the train, it felt all the more wonderful to be back in San Francisco. Locke thought that he only missed a few people. How wrong he was. There was a different feel to San Francisco, the air smelled different. It was his home. “Next we try to find our ride away from the station. My step mother has to pick up my little brother and sister, so a friend is gonna get us.” It was going to be a surprise for Chris and Mai when they got home. Locke was going to be there, as sudden as he had disappeared. “You’ll know him when you see him. The guy is crazy. Tomorrow we’ll go around the city.”

"Yeah, no, I'm with you there. I don't think I was meant for flying either," Chris said as he followed Locke. He guessed Locke's special connection to the ground was to blame for his suspicion against flying.
"I'm just glad to get off that train," he continued. And that was true. The train ride in itself had been okay, although a bit boring at the end; the thing that had been really straining was the other passengers. No-one had bothered them, really, but people had stared. He was kind of used to it, of course, and the other passenger had, after a while, gotten used to him too... until every time the train stopped and new passengers stepped aboard, and the staring would begin anew.
Well, at least it had kept the seats next to them unoccupied.

Locke seemed happy to be back in his hometown - not exactly overjoyed, but he wasn't the overjoyable type. Chris guessed that if he had had a family he'd have missed them too, but he hadn't (except for his grandfather) so he didn't think there was any need for him to dwell over it. Chris had briefly mentioned that he'd been brought up by his grandfather but hadn't really felt like talking about it much. It was much easier to talk about movies they wanted to see and such things.
Anyway, Chris even remembered the names of Locke's family members: Kendra, Christian (shortened Chris) and Mai. He couldn't really say if he was looking forward to seeing them or not, since he usually was very cautious with new people, especially non-mutants. But Other Chris and Mai sounded like really cool kids, and Locke seemed to look forward to meeting them.

“You’ll know him when you see him. The guy is crazy. Tomorrow we’ll go around the city.”
Chris was eyebrow-less but he quirked the general area where his eyebrow would have been.
"...You mean crazy in a good way, right? Not crazy crazy?"
People often didn't mean crazy in any other way then the good way, but Chris nevertheless wanted to check, just to be sure. Letting a crazy crazy person drive the car didn't seem like a good idea.

"Okay, if we have any spare time tomorrow between checking out Alcatraz and Golden Gate and whatnot, can we go to a place I really wanna check out? It's... I think you can guess, it's kind of obvious..."
Chris sounded a bit ashamed, like he almost suspected Locke would laugh at him for wanting to go there.

Again all Locke could offer Chris was a small smile to ask for forgiveness. Best to not bring up the fact that there was going to be yet another three day train ride in order for them to get back to the school until after the sore muscles had time to recover. He knew that the train had been uncomfortable in more than one way for his friend. Locke sometimes wished that he himself could be invisible, and Chris had given him the impression that he wanted that too at times. "At least you don't have to worry about going through metal detectors for trains. I set those things off all the time."

"It's hard to tell with Eaan sometimes what kind of crazy he is," Locke confessed, "Remember this is the guy who knows what a parabola is, but he's dyed half his head because he was bored, and on Valentines Day he wears a Cupid costume. So either he's brilliant or just nuts."

It wasn't freezing in San Francisco, the weather a nice fifty degrees as opposed to the nineteen that they had left behind, but to Locke it was still nearly arctic conditions. Instead of snow there was plenty of fog to decrease visibility. He was amazed by it for a minute. How quickly you forget the details of your life in a place when you've been away. Just seconds ago he had told Chris about the fog, but he didn't remember it quite like this. It was also odd to try and think of where Chris might want to go. Both the places he had mentioned never struck Locke as tourist attractions, even though he had seen crowds there and he knew it was what people wanted to see. They were just part of his hometown. Now he was thinking about things the way that Chris might, and trying to see the sights through his eyes. "Pier Thirty-Nine?" he asked. Most people seemed to like it there, if not for the sea lions then for the shopping or the aquarium. Would it offend Chris to mention the pier? Honestly it was one of the first places he could think of, and not just because he'd had to take pictures of strangers there before. Or maybe he was talking about Disney. Now that was something that he could easily see as a tourist attraction. He himself had never been there.

Lost in thought of Disney and what other things Chris might possibly want to see, Locke was unaware of the rapidly approaching human cannonball that was his high school friend until Eaan had successfully done what is known as a "glomp". The teen was just slightly taller then Locke, and in the blur of movement all Locke had spotted was the streak of electric blue hair among black.

"Rock man! And Chris!" Eaan exclaimed, pulling himself up off the ground where he had pinned Locke and turning to make the same flying hug at Chris. That is the best, and maybe the worst, thing about Eaan, [/i]Locke thought, propping himself up on his elbows to watch what was going to be an odd introduction, He doesn't care who you are, or how long it's been since you saw each other. You're going to be treated like the prodigal son returning.

"At least you don't have to worry about going through metal detectors for trains. I set those things off all the time."
"Really?" Chris asked, slightly surprised. Locke's mutation held many surprises.

"It's hard to tell with Eaan sometimes what kind of crazy he is... (...) So either he's brilliant or just nuts."
"Great." Chris wasn't too fond of unpredictable people, but it would be harsh too judge this guy before he'd actually met him.

His first expression of the city was that it was... foggy. Because Chris had bad eyesight to begin with he had to squint to see the details of the buildings around him - which didn't differ that much from those around the train station where he had boarded the train. Still, the weather was much more amiable than New York, or Wisconsin. Back home it wouldn't be this temperature until March.
When Locke guessed wher Chris wanted to go he couldn't help grinning.
"I'm a fish mutie who works at a tropical fish shop. If I didn't want to go there it'd be blasphemy."

Then suddenly some guy assaulted Locke without a word or warning, knocking him to the ground. Chris flinched and backed away a few steps, shocked by this sudden turn of events. The other people at the station seemed shocked too, so apparently this wasn't some regular Californian greeting. Chris' heart started to beat fast and adrenaline flowed through his body as he tried to think of a way to get the attacker off Locke.

"Rock man! And Chris!"
Oh... so this probably was Eean. Chris frowned. Yep, to Chris this guy definitely fit into the unstable and maybe dangerous group he'd thought about earlier. But still, no reason to be rude. When the guy was getting up on his feet Chris extended his hand to greet him.
"Hi, I'm Chr-"
He was cut off by Eean who suddenly had jumped at Chris and flung his arms around him.

To understand Chris' reaction properly, you had to realize that Chris wasn't used to physical contact. There had been practically none in his early life, and even such a basic thing as shaking hands was something that he only had learned to do last year as he'd lived at the Mansion. And he'd NEVER been hugged. He'd especielly never been hugged by an unstable and possibly dangerous stranger.
Chris immediately panicked, staring to flail his arms and legs around in an almost spasmic way.
"AHH! Get off get off get off!!"

Locke moved into a crouching position. He'd told Eaan about Chris before, and he even made it clear that the guy wasn't the hugging type. Eaan, it seemed, felt the best way to handle any poor self image that Chris might have was to ignore it. When Chris started flailing about any sense of entertainment that Locke had flew out the window. Time to do some damage control. "Down boy!"he said, grabbing onto his insane friend's arms and pulling to try and free Chris. "Step out of the personal bubble!"

"Awww," Eaan complained, but did what he was told. He also bent over and grabbed Locke's fallen bag. Turning around he studied Chris with a critical eye. "So this is the guy that's trying to bump me out of the best friend status?"

"Eaan," Locke warned, grabbing his backpack and riffling through it to make sure that nothing had been broken.

Thankfully Locke reacted fast and dragged Eean away from Chris, who immediately stepped away to create a six feet space between himself and the other guy. What was wrong with him? You didn't just... you didn't just hug people you didn't know like that! Locke had been right to warn Chris about this guy.

Okay, so the first impression hadn't been so great. And it didn't seem as if things would improve when Eean said: "So this is the guy that's trying to bump me out of the best friend status?"
It kind of felt like there was some tension in the statement, and Chris answered (even though the question hadn't been aimed at him) in a defensive voice:
"I'm not trying to bump anybody anywhere."
Wait. That... just sounded weird, even to Chris himself. He weighed from foot to foot, noticing the way people were looking at them.
"Maybe we should move on?"

Eaan stared blankly at Chris before a smile split his face. "I like this guy!" Eaan told Locke. The younger teen simply gave Eaan his backpack to carry.

"Yeah, he's pretty cool," Locke said with a grin. Chris didn't seem comfortable with Eaan, but Locke was just happy that the two hadn't broken into a fist fight. Not that he really could picture that happening. Things were always awkward when old friends met new ones. "Just don't break him ok? I need someone to talk to in math class." He nodded to let Chris know that they could get going. It might be hard for Chris to find his way through the fog, but Locke didn't have a problem with it.

"Sorry about that. He's like an enthusiastic puppy. Full of energy but harmless." he whispered to Chris. As if to prove Locke's point Eaan bounded ahead of them, messing up Locke's hair as he passed. "We can go to the Pier. I've never been there around New Years, so I don't know how crowded it can get. There's an aquarium there too you know."

Chris was a bit surprised when Eean suddenly started to grin and said "I like this guy!"
"You... you do?"
"Yeah, he's pretty cool,"
"I am?"
Then Locke asked Eean not to break Chris since he apparently was needed in math class, and whispered an apology to Chris. Chris just waved with his hand to show that no harm was done and muttered:
"No problems, I mean, my roommate is Saphirus. I can handle this. I was just... a bit surprised before."
And that was true. When your roomie had a tendency to throw himself in a pool of water, even if he couldn't swim, and other times dragged a reluctant Chris with him on "superhero"-business you had to learn to adapt somewhat or get destroyed. Still, Chris knew Saphirus, whereas he didn't knew the man with electric blue streaks in his hair who apparently was nothing more than a big enthusiastic puppy... so he was keeping his guard up, just in case there was any more hugs to avoid in the near future.

"We can go to the Pier. [...]There's an aquarium there too you know."
Chris nodded - just Locke mentioning the pier was enough to brighten his mood.
"Yeah, I saw that... do they have tropical fish or just indigenous ones? And is the season for sea-lions over? Anyway, I'm itching to get away from this place."
Suddenly he frowned and scratched his elbow, realizing that he was actually itching. His skin was getting dry - he'd tried to kept himself moist on the journey but there was just so much you could do with sponges. And besides, he hadn't felt like locking himself up in the restroom of the train for too long.
Well, he should be fine for a couple of hours at least. And maybe he should be able to make a quick dive over at the pier?
They had reached the parking lot. Chris started to look around after Eean's car - somehow he thought that the car would be as easy to spot as its owner, that it would be bright electric blue and have a large winged spoiler or something.

"Yeah, you're like me," Eaan said.

Locke shrugged his shoulders. He thought Chris was pretty cool, even if the guy tended to look down on himself. "I think you are," he told Chris, "And if you weren't what difference does it make?" Locke hadn't fixed his hair back to its usual place from when Eaan had messed it up. He was just so excited to be back home that the action, which was so ingrained in his mind that he didn't realize when he did it half the time, failed to happen.

Locke shook his head in a sympathetic way. He'd had an encounter with Saphirus a long time ago and nothing had changed his opinion that Chris's roommate was insane. Not in the same way that Eaan was, but more in the shouldn't be left alone ever sort of way. "He dragged me into a gun fight once. Or more of I went after him because he was going to get himself killed. The most Eaan's ever done to me was almost tie me up with his guitar cable. Do not get in his way when he's rocking out."

It occurred to Locke however that he really didn't know much about the sea lions or the aquarium that he was telling Chris about. "The sea lions usually go away in the fall, and I read somewhere that they seemed to disappear recently, though they came back..." He let the sentence trail off, pointing to a white van that Eaan was unlocking. It was one of those vans that every plumber or handyman has. "I don't know, probably something to do with global warming, or maybe some evil Aquaman planning to take over Australia."

Eaan put Locke's backpack in the van next to a strange orange lump and held his hands out for Chris's luggage. "What's that about taking over Australia?" he asked, shoving aside an empty cloth guitar bag that was draped over the front seat. Locke gave the van a disapointed look. "Harper's home today, and Laura had a case in court, so I got the gig van. Sorry Chris, it's only got the seat in front, so either we squish together or Locke rides in the back."

"Eaan what is that orange lump?" Locke asked, his brother sense tingling, telling him that there was some sort of plot going on he was unaware of.

Chris had no problems accepting what Locke said about Saphirus kind of dragging Locke with him in a gunfight. That definitely sounded like something that could happen when Saphirus was around.
"Do not get in his way when he's rocking out."
"I'll think about that," Chris promised.

Chris shrugged when Locke mentioned that the sea-lions usually went away in the fall.
"Too bad. Well, I've heard that Australia is a pretty big place so he'll probably need all the sealions he'll get."
While he was talking he was looking over at the white van. It wasn't quite what he had expected, but he was actually kind of glad that the van looked so normal. That way they wouldn't attract so much attention.
Chris handed over his backpack to Eean.
"I can ride in the back otherwise," he offered. He had no problems with that - and besides, Eean and Locke probably wanted to catch up.

Then he turned around to see what the orange lump Locke was asking about was, but then he cought a glimpse of Locke's face and halted.
Until now, Locke usually kept his hair brushed over his left eye so Chris had actually never seen that it was... dead. That in itself was a bit shocking, but what really caught Chris off guard was the fact that he'd presumed that Locke's eye was normal and now suddenly saw that it wasn't.
"Locke... there's... your eye..."
Chris suddenly realized that just standing around in a dumbfounded way and mutter incoherently probably wasn't a good idea. Locke probably was a bit self-conscious about it, otherwise he wouldn't hide it.
"Umm, what happened? If it's okay that I ask?" he asked hesitantly.

Locke was about to say something to Chris how he was the guest, and therefore should have the actual seat in the van, or maybe even ask Eaan once again about the orange lump. The words were halted when he was asked about his eye. ”What about my eye?” Locke was momentarily confused. He brushed a hand against his face and he realized what had happened. ”Oh.”

The teen glared at Eaan, who seemed to be busy fixing a spot on the seat for Chris to sit. Locke had been contemplating telling Chris about his eye. It made him kind of a jerk to say that he wasn’t normal when he seemed to be, other than the layer of dirt. To be able to tell someone about his eye would be to take a big step away from the emotionally constipated teen that he was. He hated talking about his eye, because there was no way to avoid what caused it.

”It happened six years ago,” Locke started, climbing into the back of the van. That was the easy part, like telling people that he once broke his arm. There wasn’t anything to secure him in the back, so Locke leaned against the car seat. ”My dad and I were going to a ballgame. One minute he’s laughing about something stupid I said and the next…”

“San Francisco! Town city of gleaming spires! People live here. Golden Gate Bridge. Aaah, the Romans came here. They built buildings with things.” Eaan interrupted, popping his head over the van’s seat. “C’mon Chris. Let’s start your vacation off in style.”

"Dork," Locke said, but his heart wasn't in it. He'd made a start telling Chris what had happened to him, and they'd be here long enough that the story would be told eventually. "He's good at math and science, but apparently Eaan doesn't know that the Romans never came to San Francisco."

Chris couldn't believe he'd actually missed this for so long - he'd been hanging around Locke for some time and hadn't noticed it at all. But, then again, Locke's hair had been obscuring it for the most part - and he kind of understood why Locke wouldn't want to talk about it, how did you get that into a conversation? Oh, by the way, I only have one functioning eye.

”It happened six years ago. My dad and I were going to a ballgame. One minute he’s laughing about something stupid I said and the next…”
Locke was cut off by Eean, who started to talk about the wonders of San Francisco, but actually Chris could guess how it would end. When he'd talked about his family Locke had never mentioned his father. Chris might be kind of slow when it came to picking up on social cues, but it was obvious that this wasn't one subject Locke didn't like to talk about.

"Dork. He's good at math and science, but apparently Eaan doesn't know that the Romans never came to San Francisco."
"Uh, no. I guess they didn't."
Chris voice was kind of flat, because he didn't know what to say. I'm sorry your father died? It just seemed... wrong, somehow.
Chris climbed up into the seat next to Eean and buckled up. It really wasn't the time to talk about stuff like this right now - Chris tried to push it out of his mind and instead turned towards Eean.
"So, where do we go first?"

Once again Locke was reminded of just how good a friend Chris was. The guy might not have been able to keep from being startled by his dead eye, but Chris had the decency to not press him about what happened to his dad. Now that it was out there Locke really was going to have to tell Chris about the crash. The story hadn’t been concluded, merely paused for the time being. Later on he’d crack open the book of his life, thumb through the pages, and start telling Chris the tragic tale.

Right now Locke had to concentrate on not sliding about or tipping over with the movement of the van. Eaan and Chris both were sitting on proper seats, with belts to keep them secure. He had whatever friction jeans plus butt could be mustered. Riding in the back of a van required a great deal of focus. That orange lump was bothering him as well. ”Eaan, what are you up to?”

The question that Eaan chose to answer was not his friend, but rather the visitor who sat up front with him. “Ducks, cows. Cows that look weird. And convicts… Bwhaaaaa” he finshed, doing his best impression of a trumpet. A hand reached up to grip on the back of the seat as Eaan made a turn and Locke pulled himself up. He had known Eaan for years now and still could not predict what was going to happen next.

”Is Alcatraz even open this time of year?” he asked. Eaan shrugged his shoulders. ”So you’re taking us to a jail that might not be safe to walk around in during the winter and you don’t even know if it’s open?”

“Look on the bright side Rock Man,” Eaan said, turning his head to talk. Locke made a frantic waving motion as if to remind his friend to keep his eyes on the road. In Eaan’s opinion Locke freaked out too much in cars. “One way or another we’re going to be visiting a jail today.”