fh_trips | Alexandria, Egypt, 305 BC

Entry tags:

island summer jaunt 2011

Alexandria, Egypt, 305 BC

The island had taken great care in picking its arrival spot. Unlike Iceland, this place would not have a population already aware of Fandom and what it could do -- so to avoid spooking the locals, the island landed just a little whiles out from Alexandria, on the other end of a high dune that managed to block even the spire of the school from sight.

Well, from almost everyone's sight. The poor beloinclothed pretty Egyptian lad who happened to be on the wrong side of the dune at the wrong time got quite a shock, and quite possibly passed out. But let's not talk about him.

It was a nice, warm 82 degrees Fahrenheit out here. On this side of the dune, there was sand, and there was sea - not a bad place to be, overall.

On the other side of the dune laid Alexandria, the center of learning for the known world. Various forts and other majestic structures littered the coast, with less reputable-looking dwellings just behind them. Some spires could even be seen from the island itself.

Welcome to Egypt, BC, where temperatures varied between 80 and 100F this time of year. Try not to go into temperature shock -- and try not to scare the locals with your fancy jeans. Yeah, we're looking at you.

[[ ~~wait for the ocd...~~ ocd up and open! ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mirroring Fandom's, except much bigger, there was a lovely beach here just soaking up the sun. It cut short at the back by a tall dune, and by the warm sea at the front - but on both sides, it stretched out for miles.

Okay, now this was more like it! The change in the weather and the scenery was too irresistible for Ariel, who should have been at the music shop right now, to resist! She desperately needed to soak up some summer sun, and then she'd be fully charged to explore the whole new world laid out for them this week. Sure, there's be plenty of time to explore later, probably, but she couldn't miss the chance, just in case, right?

This was glorious.

The heat didn't bother Emma at all; in fact, it was just about perfect. Anyone looking for her today would find her down on the beach, tanning and reading one of her usual trashy murder mysteries.

Emma was about the last person Angelica expected to see on the beach. "Ms. Frost!" she said excitedly. "What are you doing here?"

Emma just tipped her sunglasses down a fraction of a centimeter and regarded the strange, high-strung ginger dubiously. "I beg your pardon?"

"When did you get here?" Angelica said. "When the island moved? Can I come back to the Academy now?" She felt a little pang at that; she missed her old school but she was starting to like it here, too.

"'Academy?' Then you must be another one of Jono's." Emma tapped her sunglasses back up and turned the page of her book. "Run along, darling. Auntie Emma isn't in the mood to play mother hen to a freshman."

Angelica just gave her a confused look. "I don't understand, Ms. Frost," she said. "What do you mean?"

No one had explained doppelgangers to her yet, alas.

Even if they had, it wouldn't have helped. Emma wasn't a doppelgänger, she was the original. People only wished they could look like her.

"I mean go away and get out of my light," she clarified crisply. "I don't know you, nor am I likely to do so since you seem unable to grasp the most basic concepts of logic or interpersonal communication."

Angelica took a step back, her face falling. "All right, Ms. Frost," she said in a small voice. "I'm sorry for whatever I did."

She turned to stumble away across the sand, blinking back tears. This had to be some sort of trick -- Ms. Frost would never be so mean!

Emma rolled her eyes at the melodramatics and went back to her book. <<Think about it, girl,>> she snapped telepathically, the majority of her attention already back in the pages of the mystery. <<How old do I look?>>

<<And if the response is 'old enough to be my teacher,' you fail at life forever, and your Emma had best fail you too.>> What on Earth had possessed her - the other her - to pick this spineless little creature up?

Because she was going to make her her mighty assassin! Or...something.

The voice in her head didn't startle Angelica at all, since she was used to Emma speaking to her that way (and sometimes yelling at her). She turned back, giving Emma a closer look. She did look younger; she'd been so excited to see her that she'd overlooked that.

"You're not Ms. Frost?" she said hesitantly. "My Ms. Frost?" There was more than one of her?

"It's 'Miss' Frost, I will thank you to remember," she replied absently. "I'm the only one that matters."

"Go find your big sibling and ask them to explain timelines."

"Stephanie's my big sister," Angelica said. "I'll ask her. I'm really sorry I bothered you, Miss Frost."

Her thoughts were racing now. Faramir and other people had told her about other worlds and people being from different times; she just hadn't expected that to include people she knew. Could that mean that people like Roulette and Empath were here, too?

She really wished her Emma was here. She could use a hug.

Angelica was too timid to venture into Alexandria by herself, but the beach sounded like a great idea after the chill of Iceland. She just tried not to think too hard on how the island had just moved as she stretched out on the beach to soak in the sun.

It would be a crime not to spend a day like this at the beach, which was why Lion-o was there to enjoy the sun and surf.

Seifer had crawled out of bed pretty damn early, but it wasn't until around noon that he had bothered to look out the window. The beach improved his mood, and surfing was just what he needed.

Dave hadn't dressed up for the beach, but he was still there, walking around, trying to work the fact that Maryland's background was no longer kind of Icelandic fit into his worldview.

It was going to take a little while.

There's another mile or so of sand and delta to get through if you want to get to the city properly. Don't try this in just your swim trunks.

The city of Alexandria is a beacon of culture, and many beautiful buildings cover its surface. There's the legendary lighthouse ('Pharos') out in the water, accessible through a long bridge-- but there are many other magnificent buildings to explore.

... or you could just go shopping instead. They probably sell... different kinds of fish here.

And it's smelly in a... slightly different way.

Scully had SPF 50 on, a hat, sunglasses, and an impromptu veil for modesty, if she was going to need it. Also so people wouldn't stare at the sunglasses and wonder where the hell she was from. But fair-skinned red-heads needed all the protection they could get in this heat and glare.

She was surreptitiously taking photos, because how could you not?

This will one day be a beautiful lighthouse and one of the main Wonders of the World - but right now it's just a building site in its early stages.

Come marvel over it anyway.

Edited 2011-05-16 06:07 (UTC)

Sam had paid enough attention in school to know what this was one day going to be. It wasn't anywhere near that now but standing out there with the ocean around him, it was almost heady to realize he was seeing history before it became history.

Arms crossed, he found himself just watching for awhile. In his mind, the partially constructed building was just an empty outline and Sam could imagine one of his teachers back home saying soon it would metaphorically come to life. It made him smile slightly.

The very heart of learning of Alexandria, and by proxy, the heart of learning of the modern... uh, classic world. The Musaeum hosts rooms for the study of astronomy, anatomy, and even a zoo of exotic animals... and of course the legendary Library.

The second Hermione was able, she took off to do some exploring. How many times did someone get an opportunity to be here?

...Ignore that she could go exploring on her own until they left. That was beside the point.

Anyway, of course she ended up at the Musaeum. If you needed her, all you had to do was find the Library.

The Greek neighbourhood is by far the most resplendent of the entire city. This part of the city is laid out as a grid of parallel streets, each of which has an attendant subterranean canal. The buildings are beautiful, and well-kept.

It most likely would not surprise anyone to find Ghanima here, visiting the shops and chatting with the locals in perfect Greek. Some of the other, older residents of her Other Memory stirred to be so close to their own time, but she paid them no mind.

The sun was beautiful, and the streets and air reminded her of Dune. It would not be a hardship to stay here awhile.

Gabrielle ended up in the Bruchaeum too, after a while, feeling more at home than she had in quite a long time. If there was, technically, any kind of chronological displacement or time-lag she should be noticing, well . . . she wasn't. (She wouldn't.) The only thing that was jarring despite the familiar-feeling setting was not having Xena around.

That really stuck out. A trip home, and soon, was definitely in her near future.

Still, it was nice to be able to converse with the locals in a very familiar way. (Again, not that she noticed any difference in her ease of communication, but it just felt nice.)

The northeastern part of the city is still under construction - the people who live here have only been here for about fifteen years at the most. However, it's an animated part of town, and many of its inhabitants can be seen strolling around and talking, or getting involved in trade.

The way Annie figured, she had a sort of responsibility to check this area out. Seriously. Egypt. BC. She kind of felt like she might get fired from being Jewish if she didn't go to see it, even if she couldn't exactly brag about it back home.

She could, however, pass it off as having done some really in-depth research.

In a city this surrounded by ocean, the temple of Poseidon is a popular destination. It juts up proudly between the surrounding buildings, kept in perfect condition.

It was inevitable that Percy found his way here. Percy didn't know if his dad would ever believe he'd visited ancient Egypt and gotten to see this temple in pristine condition but Percy didn't care. He was committing this to memory and trying to imagine what his dad might have been like when this temple was still new and things were different.

He'd be spending a lot of time here, he imagined. The heat didn't even seem to bother him. He could feel the ocean nearby and that was all he needed.

Gabrielle hadn't had the best of experiences with Poseidon, what with the nearly getting drowned a few times and the chronic seasickness and the helping Cecrops escape his fate (take that, modern concept of Greek tragedy), but it had been a long time since she'd been home, and the temple appealed to her sense of homesickness.

There was a chance that at this point in time, Poseidon wouldn't hold all those times that Xena had thwarted him against Gabrielle, wasn't there?

Besides, it was beautiful, and in a way something she'd needed after the horrific experience in the temple of Dahak -- the reminder that temples weren't, and shouldn't be, associated with betrayal and horrible things forever. No, she didn't trust her people's gods either, but she'd met enough of them to know that however petty and cruel they might be, they weren't pure evil the way Dahak was. It was relative. It was all relative, and relatively speaking, being here . . . this was good. Peaceful, even.

This training facility for the sports was a busy place at the best of times. Here, men worked hard on mastering their particular discipline.

And most of them did so naked.

Ah, the Greeks.

Sam's explorations had taken her to the Gymnasium, where she managed to get in based mostly on the fact that no one expected a small blond girl in brightly colored plaid to even exist, much less be wandering into their naked men wrestling time.

There was of course an adjustment period involving a lot of staring on Sam's part and swearing on the men's part (neither had really seen the like of the other before), then one of the men said something clearly disparaging about Sam being female, and the next thing anyone knew, Sam had thrown him to the ground and was smacking him with his own himantes.

She half expected to end up having to figure out how bail worked in the desert. Instead, she found herself facing off against willing (and now dressed) challengers, before someone finally got around to kicking her out.

Dick may have made his way into the gymnasium. His state of dress would not be discussed, but he made sure there were no students around when he started a series of boxing matches.

Not wrestling, though. It was difficult enough having a name like Dick without finding yourself wrestling naked dudes.

It's a big city. Please mention your location in the subject line!

Luke wasn't one to go fawn over temples of the Gods (though he probably should visit the temple of Poseidon and ask for some forgiveness), but he would make an exception for a Titan. He wasn't sure where exactly the temple was at first, since it didn't exist in modern times, but luckily he spoke Greek and people seemed eager enough to give a cute guy directions in this century as much as they do in the 21st. He frowned inwardly at the use of the Roman name, but knew his history enough to know that at this point the Greeks were on their way out, thanks to the Romans pitting them against each other.

Which was sort of amusing considering that's how he was trying to get rid of the gods.

If anyone asked, he would just say he stumbled upon it by accident, but Luke definitely had a purpose to showing up here. To pay respect, for one thing, and to sit quietly for a while and look up at the statue of Kronos, thinking about the choices he was making.

*collapses*

I'd rather be in Egypt today, even if the last time I was there it was TOO FRICKIN' HOT.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Alexandria, Egypt, 305 BC

The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Re: The Beach

Trek to Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria - The Market

Re: Alexandria - The Market

Alexandria - The Pharos

Re: Alexandria - The Pharos

Alexandria - The Musaeum

Re: Alexandria - The Musaeum

Alexandria - The Bruchaeum

Re: Alexandria - The Bruchaeum

Re: Alexandria - The Bruchaeum

Alexandria - the Jewish Quarter

Re: Alexandria - the Jewish Quarter

Alexandria - the Temple of Poseidon

Re: Alexandria - the Temple of Poseidon

Re: Alexandria - the Temple of Poseidon

Alexandria - Gymnasium

Re: Alexandria - Gymnasium

Re: Alexandria - Gymnasium

Alexandria - Everything Else

Alexandria - Temple of Saturn

OOC