It wasn't particularly often that Aethelred – affectionately nicknamed "Worm" by all of his friends – actually got to take a break and relax during the school year. He would never dare to even come near Disneyland during the summer, considering it would be boiling hot and full of kids on their summer vacations, but it wasn't exactly easy for an English professor to just leave so soon before test time. It had taken a lot of pleading and quite a bit of thoughtful searching for a substitute that could match his high class standards – standards that the professor insisted entailed him usually going spectacularly off the rails into a completely unrelated topic, ignoring the actual lesson plan and then giving fifty pages of completely random homework – but eventually he had, and that meant that he got to go on his trip with everyone. If he was being entirely honest, he probably would've preferred a smaller trip, with him, Roy, Rhea, V, and maybe even Red, if he wanted, but this was good too. More people just meant more fun, right?

Well, that certainly wasn't true of a long car trip. Stuck between two of the other Tangle group members, he had been trying his best to ignore the growing headache from people speaking loudly over each other, and the motion sickness that usually came to him when being in a car for a long period of time. He had spent most of the time desperately just trying to sleep, because if he wasn't awake, he couldn't get motion sickness. He had stayed up a couple of times to explain things to Roy or tell him about what could be expected at Dismeyland. He had chatted with Red a couple of times, but since the professor wasn't willing to raise his voice beyond a moderate volume, these conversations never lasted particularly long. For the most part he was sure that Selby was suffering far more than he was, having to both focus on the road amid all of the chaos and stay awake over the long drive, no doubt with a great deal of stress hanging over his head. He'd be sure to thank Selby for that later, when his legs weren't so shaky and his head wasn't vaguely spinning as he stared up at the ceiling of the van for a long moment. His eyes traced over a couple of faint scratched along the ceiling of the vehicle before taking a deep breath once one of his seat neighbors was out of the car. He moved out after them, carefully shimmying into the outside world and leaning back against the van so that he didn't fall over.

He had vaguely heard what Selby had said while they were still inside the metal clown car, but it was only now that he finally responded, closing his eyes briefly so that his head wasn't spinning, "Sounds good to me, Selb... although honestly I don't think that itinerary will actually be followed that strictly." He said the second part in a slightly softer voice, not wanting Selby to immediately freak out in a panic. He just wasn't entirely sure that any of the people in that car would actually care about any sort of plans that Selby had in mind. After many years of dealing with young people, he knew that they could do very well at not listening, and while not everybody in that vehicle was a young person, he still didn't have much faith that they would actually listen particularly closely. If he was being honest with himself, however, he wasn't sure he would focus too much on any sort of plan either. After all, this was his vacation, and he kinda just wanted to go where his feet took him... provided they could actually keep him upright.

When another of the doors of the van opened, Worm glanced over and smiled softly as he saw Roy hop out, always happy to see his adopted son. Honestly Roy was a large part of the reason Worm had decided to come, and he really hoped that the boy had a good time on this trip, and it wouldn't be too stressful. The professor knew that if he had gone to Disneyland when he was a child, he would've been far too stressed out from the crowds to enjoy himself at all, but it didn't seem like Roy was much like him when he was a kid, and that was something he was very happy for. He didn't want Roy to show the same sheltered abused tendencies that he had shown as a child, and him being happy reflected that Worm was actually doing a halfway decent job at his parenting job so far. Warmly smiling, the male held his hand out to Roy if he wanted to take it, his legs still slightly wobbly.

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The walls of Selby's SUV seemed in a constant state of closing in.  Voices overlapping constantly, save for the moments a breaking point finally reached, and the bodies all together, too close.  She found some safety, nestled beside a window she barely managed to claim, and Torren, of all people.  Someone fairly new in her life, yet friendly and, in this environment, somewhat calming.

While the break from school felt welcoming, Kiira decided almost five-minutes down the road she hated this.  Why?  Why did she agree to this?  More than once, on accident, she found her and grabbing hold of Torren's, when her breathing felt dangerously uncontrolled.  She thought of an uncle (more like fourth or fifth cousin) who grew up with asthma; she wondered, warily, if she'd managed to discover what an asthma attack felt like and made a mental note to visit him, for it'd been some time.

She possessed enough sense, at least, to bring her kindle.  The small paper-white contained hundreds of books she'd downloaded prior, many of which she'd already read, to seek some solace in throughout the drive.  Torren, a fellow bookworm, offered her some breaks from reading in the form of someone to discuss with.  The SUV finally slowed to a stop half-way through her re-read of The Hobbit, one of her father's favorites.

The college freshman felt her chest shudder with a relieved breath, suddenly eager just for air, rather than exploring the renowned Disney park. 

The professor she found the most trouble with, ironically, was her father.  He taught theology at the university she attended and practically choked when she'd put up the notion she'd be going on a trip to California, during the school-year, to have fun with friends.  She didn't blame him now, as she pulled Torren out of the SUV, practically slumping against the old vehicle the second her feet touched the concrete.

Itineraries, t-shirts... The young woman (not even out of her teens quite yet), hardly cared.  She kept quite during much of the planning, even, too antsy to bring up much of her own interests or questions.  She should've put up the idea of traveling in multiple cars though.  She regretted that immensely.

© MADI

As the rest of the group began to flow put freely from the vehicle they had all been crammed uncomfortably into for many hours, Worm watched everybody else before Red emerged, and suddenly a large hand clapped him on the shoulder. Thoroughly jostled, the male looked up at Red and tried his best not to still look vaguely queasy, mumbling in a sickly voice that he knew would fade with time, "Yeah... yeah, I'm alright. Just a little bit of motion sickness." He was touched by Red caring enough to ask, but he also remembered quite plainly still being stuck in the large vehicle, pinned as he listened to the cacophony of noise around him, too scared to disturb V to actually end up moving at all, so he couldn't quite show his appreciation at the moment. He pressed one palm against his temple to steady himself before reaching down in his pocket for his wallet, pulling it free and pulling out a small container he kept for headache medicine. Quickly swallowing a couple of the pills to help combat the pain, he offered Red a steady smile, snorting in faint amusement at the other man's comment on Selby's itinerary before looking over the rest of the group.

He noticed Crowley at first, noting the male with a bit of a nod and a shake of his head at the stuff about damages. Squeezing out of the car had been a hassle for his taller frame, and he was silently very glad for the fact that Red had been seated in the trunk, since he probably would've absolutely destroyed Selby's door trying to get out. Back to the subject at hand, he didn't know Crowley absurdly well, but he knew an enormous variety of people had been invited on the trip anyways, so he just smiled a little at the stretching male. His eyes then went over to V, who was silently slipping out of the car with her possessions in hand, looking as worn out as he felt from the trip they had just endured. He waved a bit at her, as if he was jokingly reminding her that she had used him as a bed for most of the trip, even though he hadn't truly minded. He was always happy to help V, and he had been glad she had thought to plan ahead and bring her book so that she had something to occupy her mind when she wasn't asleep.

The man winced a bit when he heard Feza's excited shrieking over the fact that they were there, and he was suddenly struck by the juxtaposition of Feza and Kiira standing in such close proximity and showing such differences. While Feza was practically vibrating with the level of excitement she was full of, Kiira looked anxious and almost sickly. He couldn't blame her if she had gotten motion sick, or some sort of headache from the ride, but honestly it sort of seemed like she just already wanted to get into the action of the parks, just so that she wouldn't have to be back inside the car, or didn't have something occupying her mind. He offered the younger girl a smile of sympathy before chuckling weakly at Feza. In the short time he'd known her she had always been excitable and loud, as if she was constantly full with as much sugar as she could possibly fit inside of her body. He could understand being excited, but he was pretty sure he could never reach Feza's level of excitement these days, or if he had ever even actually been that enthusiastic about anything.

Turning his attention back to Red, a faint smirk came to the professor's face, and he put his hands against the much larger male's back, pushing him towards the entrance and saying with a hum as he jerked his head towards Selby, "Well then big guy, if you're so concerned about Selby's little itinerary, you lead the way! After all, you're strong enough that you can shove all the other families out of the way for us, right?" He was teasing of course, and he hoped to God that Red got that fact. Usually he could trust Red to use his common sense, but with Beck here being his usual bad influence self, Worm wasn't entirely convinced that Red wouldn't just start actually picking people up and slinging them across the park, leaving he and V to watch in horror while Selby just cried.