This place was absolutely incredible. From the characters from Muggle movies and books she’d seen over the years to historical figures walking around out of time, Tracey had so far been enjoying herself in Atlantis to say the least. She appreciated a good adventure, and this was definitely one of her biggest. It didn’t hurt that there were people here from home to make the adjustment a little less hard. She had her brother, a couple friends, and Quidditch colleagues around to add a little bit of familiar to the place. Plus, there was a Quidditch pitch. It hadn’t taken her long to go for a ride through the pitch. It had only been a couple weeks, so she wasn’t missing the game too much yet. Soon, though, she thought maybe between the group of them there that they could work out a match of some sort.
Dropping off her broom at her new home, Tracey walked around the city to see what she could get into. There was already so much to explore that it was impossible not to find something new each time she walked around the city. One afternoon she’d even visited the Louvre. How that was in Atlantis and not in Paris was another element of this place that amazed her. Tracey loved holidays in Paris over the years, so it was another piece of the Atlantis puzzle that kept her from returning home. Why not stay and do some good while she could?
She thought about stopping by the Three Broomsticks, but instead she decided to get something a little closer. It wasn’t long, though, that she wondered if maybe she should have taken the long route. For some reason, everywhere she walked, Tracey was walking on top of books. Cookbooks to be more specific. She knelt down to read a couple of the recipes that actually seemed to be quite good when suddenly she saw a white object coming towards her.
Jumping out of the way, the white object hit a lamp post and spattered. Was that a bloody egg? Confused, Tracey shook her head and kept walking only to feel something nip at her feet. One of the cookbooks was trying to bite her.
“What in Merlin’s name….” She trailed off and jumped back again at another attempted bite. Quickly, she ducked inside the first door she came upon and looked at the person standing there in front of her. “There’s….” She pointed out to the street. “Books. Biting books.”
Danny had worked through the night. He hadn’t exactly meant to, it was just easy to lose track of time at the base, especially when he was working on something that had his full attention. Poe had come in that morning to find him, exhausted and covered in grease but satisfied. He’d been learning how to take apart the forcefield function on one of Atlantis’ more advanced fighter jets, using some of the books Sam had leant him as a guide. It was very different from anything he’d encountered at home but he’d relished the challenge of getting his head around it. He’d wanted to figure it out on his own, without having to rely on Poe for advice. As much as Danny liked and respected the other engineer, he hated having to go to him everytime he was required to work on something post 1950… which was almost everything the Base owned.
He’d worked on for a few hours but, eventually, with heavy eyelids, he’d mumbled a farewell to Poe before signing himself out of the Base and starting out towards home. Despite his tiredness, it had been impossible not to notice that, everywhere he walked, there seemed to be a carpet of books under foot. His body had ached for bed so he’d pressed on for as long as he could, trying his best not to damage the pages of the open books. It hadn’t been until one particularly vicious tome had actually tried to bite him that he’d ducked into the nearest store - thankfully not a bookstore - to seek sanctuary.
He’d only been there a few moments when someone else, apparently having the same thought, joined him.
“Yeah,” he said, rather weakly, in reply to the young woman’s explanation. What were you supposed to say in response to something like that? “I guess this is one of those weird Atlantis things everyone’s always talking about,” he offered, feeling he should at least try to rationalize the situation. If he didn’t doubt his own powers of imagination, he would have been tempted to believe this was all just a fever dream induced by a lack of sleep and breathing in too many engine fumes.
“I knew that people said there were times when this place could be… unusual, but streets made of cook books tossing eggs or trying to bite you?” Tracey shook her head and glanced back outside just as an egg came towards her and splattered against the window. She jumped back a bit in surprise and brought a hand to her forehead - just in case. She didn’t feel unusually warm, so she could only assume that this was one of her first real Atlantis experiences.
“This is mad,” she said but with a hint of a smile. It was crazy in the way that made her want to keep looking and see what would happen next.
“So, you haven’t been here long either then?” Tracey walked over towards him and leaned against a wall. She picked up a nick nack, studied it for a brief moment, then sat it back down on its shelf. “ I mean, you don’t seem completely used to these types of things either.”