"So... This is Portland." Garcia watched the grey-on-grey shadows of building slide by as the MAX train dashed away from the airport. She had wrangled her wheeled suitcase and her large duffle bag away from the baggage claim with guidance from her girlfriend, Susan. Now they were taking a train to a bus that would, presumably, eventually drop them off at the apartment Susan had found earlier.
"This is more the fog than it actually is Portland," Susan said. Garcia finally finished arranging her luggage in a way that was both out of the flow of foot traffic and unlikely to move. Susan moved her cane out of the way so that Garcia could sit just before a crowd of commuters traipsed aboard at Gateway.
"Good. I was worried the whole city was actually set in 1950."
Susan shook her head. "Nah, they just ran out of rendering budget for the early morning. It'll be back online in an hour or two."
"So this is what it's like to live where there's water, huh?" She laid her head on Susan's shoulder. Garcia hated flying and never slept on planes, and she was pretty sure her exhaustion was catching up with her.
Her girlfriend nodded. "Yep."
Garcia looked thoughtfully at her dark, curly hair splayed against Susan's blonde. "What do they get up here? Selkies?"
"Sometimes they wander in from the coast, apparently. But mostly salmon mermaids."
She blinked at that. "I guess this is going to be a learning curve, huh?"
"Well, you already learned the mermaid lesson, right? Don't let them eat you?"
"There's more to mermaids than just that. But yes, I learned that one well. We got a postcard from Disney right before I left, speaking of."
"Oh? What did your favorite hitchhiking ghost have to say?"
"He wished us luck."
Susan bit her lip. "I'm not sure I want the kind of luck he's offering."
"I'm sure it's fine," Garcia laughed. "He's found a home, after all. We could use that kind of luck."
"As long as we don't have to be dead to get it."