[ttd] coachman hold the horses [cordy]

“No, I’ll just swipe you through--” Edith grabbed Cordelia’s elbow and steered her toward the turnstiles. Frankly, she was surprised that she had headed toward the ticketing machines at all; Cordy hadn’t really struck her as someone to use public transportation (nor an enthusiast who didn’t use it but still knew how it worked, because those people sure did exist). Edith slipped off a strap of her backpack and pulled it around to her front, making it easier to grab her Oyster card from the little zip pocket. “Go through when it beeps,” she said, nudging her forward with her hand as she tapped the card to the reader.

Cordelia went through and Edith spared a glance over her shoulder before she hopped over; she wasn’t so drunk that she had forgotten she was a witch and could have solved things that way, but there was just something about doing it the muggle way-- much like how they were taking the Tube rather than apparate anywhere, but that was because she was so drunk. Trivia seemed to go better with a couple drinks, and then they had come in third to last, so that warranted a bit of a celebration. A good celebration; Edith didn’t want Cordy to apparate so she was bringing her home with her to use the fireplace instead. (There were a couple weird looks in the pub as Edith loudly explained her line of thinking, but she hadn’t noticed.)

At least her new flat was closer to a station than her last one--she was getting pretty tired of walking already--even if it required a minimum of one line change to get there, rather than the several stops on one line it took to the Hackney flat.

“This way,” she said with a point, signaling toward the stairs, then to the right toward the train she could hear coming into the station. “C’mon.” She didn’t much feel like waiting for the next one. She stepped quickly--she wasn’t a runner--toward the closest set of doors, then headed toward the back of the car once she was sure Cordelia had minded the gap and made it on just fine.  “It’ll be a few minutes,” she said before she sat with a sigh, scooting in toward the window, rubbing her eyes with her fingers as she made herself comfortable.

@Cordelia Leighton

"What d'you mean, swipe though?" Cordelia said, laughing to cover her concern. The -- what had Edith said, turn-tile? -- the turn-tiles were intimidating, yes, but, damn it all, she was a published expert, expert on blending into and enjoying the muggle world, and she simply must be able to figure out the Tube, or what was the point of it all?

And furthermore, she was absolutely sloshed.

The thingy beeped. Edith shoved her through the metal contraption, not sparing a glance for the crumpled pound notes Cordelia clutched in her hands. She was prepared, wasn't she? Cordelia had managed to take the bus once, not the Knight Bus but the big red double-decker things, and then she had been able to drop (muggle) coins in and it had all worked out fine. There didn't seem to be a conductor or a slot for notes here, though, and Edith had figured it out too quick for the younger witch to follow. Out the other side, Cordelia spun around, trying to deduce Edith's method.

Which was, uh, taking an unladylike swing over the turn-tile.

Cordelia snorted, stumbling a bit as she returned to Edith's side. "S'that the traditional method, then?" she asked, following where Edith led and pointed. The train wasn't like the Hogwarts Express -- it was chrome, shiny, but in a smudged sort of way. Edith hopped through doors that were level with the platform -- now wouldn't that be something on the school train, Cordy thought -- and Cordelia just managed to get in before the doors closed. Cordelia looked at them for a moment, blinking, before making her way to the back of the car with Edith. "Them doors, they ever clip anyone?" Cordelia asked, concerned. They had closed much too quickly -- it seemed a safety hazard.

A few minutes, Edith said. "Faster than I thought," Cordelia replied. She hadn't been on many trains, in her life -- just the one, really.

She felt drunk, and all turned around -- her internal compass was floating in alcohol, but it seemed like they were perhaps heading further from Edith's apartment. "S'the right line, right? How can you tell the difference?" The platform had been a fleeting blur to Cordelia, but it seemed like the names on both sides were the same.

“No, that were… not strictly legal,” she said, snorting after a second because she was hilarious.

Edith pulled her backpack around to her front, resting it in her lap as she took a seat. “Hmm?” She had heard her right, but it took a couple blinks to realize what Cordelia had asked. “No, ‘course not.” Except of course the doors had clipped people before; they had clipped her backpack before, but at least she was on the right side of the door and not hanging off the outside.

She nodded along with the marvel at muggle technology, stopping herself from talking about the trains in Japan and how they went really fast-- she didn’t know how fast, or why, and she couldn’t elaborate on details at all, and he assumed that Cordy would have had follow up questions. Better to just keep her mouth shut.

Was that the right line? “Yeah. There’s only one at that station.” It took her brain a second to catch up. “The other train were going the other direction. To Hackney.” She pointed up and the line map above the opposite window, the one that showed all the stops along the way to the ends of the line. A voice came on the tannoy then, announcing their next stop… Hackney. Oops.

“Yeah so sometimes you pick the wrong train, like when you’re drunk and jumping turnstiles,” she said quickly, with a laugh. Edith stood up and motioned Cordy to follow, back to the doors. “I forgot I moved,” she said simply, hoping that explained the mix up. She hadn’t really forgotten; it was at the front of her brain, almost always, that she had moved in with her boyfriend of four-ish months. “Have to go back the other way.” The doors opened and they crossed the platform; thankfully the train going the other direction was coming along at the same time. Edith led the way into the car, repeating the process from minutes before.

She sat again, shrugging as she did so. “I can explain it--” the trains, the Underground, how to read the Tube map-- “when we can think straight.”