Road to Arcadia: the Path East

Chapter Nine: Outgoing Male

Kai had most of his things packed already. It was a lesson they had learned early in training, what to bring along when you leave Arcadia. Most of the lesson was obvious to him. He had already near mastered the art of deciphering what was important and what was tertiary. The provided checklist from the R&R leadership was a set of training wheels.

There was a familiarity in his packing his bag he didn't want to think about. At least the duffel provided to him by the R&R had more ergonomic space than his old messenger bag originally purchased to hold school supplies. The only things Kai had left to pack in the day and a half or so between his assignment and his departure were his official documents provided by the Arc and the additional white coverall suit that was gifted to all those who made it through training. While the specifications for the bags were strict, there was space provided for a personal item or two.

That was the only compartment Kai double and triple checked. His personal item wasn't large--an empty notebook with a thick casing, ready to record his thoughts and experiences out on the road. There was a note inside in case anything happened to him. There always was.

He checked his bag one more time before gathering his things and leaving the apartment. The message left for him in his mailbox told him to be at the INT at 1500 hours on the dot. His white suit needed to be packed, but he didn't need to wear it to board.

He had spent so much time in uniform during his weeks of training that he didn't get many opportunities to wear normal clothes. Although, the definition of normal clothing in Arcadia varied from anywhere else. His wardrobe these days was shaping up to be quite different from what he used to wear on the road and even the time before that. It took him a while to ditch the desert poncho and ski goggles as a daily part of his getup. The handmade poncho was still in his closet. The goggles were in his bag, just in case.

Kai didn't like to spend much time figuring out what to wear, but he still needed to make a good first impression. The standard black short-sleeved shirt and fitted-but-not-skin-tight leggings that were required parts of the uniform under his white suit didn't seem quite punchy enough.

He didn't mind the adopted fashion of loose fitting clothing. It mimicked the closet stylings of Kai's youth. Today he wore a large, sleeveless forest green linen shirt with a hood sewn in. There was a patch of white on the back that he had the honor of stitching in himself. His pants, besides being a darker shade of brown, weren't much different. They were loose in a way that he hoped he might be able to fill in one day, secured to his waist with a braided belt. His boots were standard issue, R&R black and white work boots. He had a spare pair of canvas shoes in his bag, but it was easier to wear the boots than carry them around.

Once his bag was in hand, he didn't waste any more time in the apartment. He didn't mind the solo venture today. Most of the new class of white suits weren't shipping out until at least the next week. Kai was just lucky enough to be the first to do so. Most of the trip to the INT was spent thinking about how exactly he was going to get on the bus. Was his bus already on Arcadia, waiting for him to hop on before it was placed on the ground, or were they just going to shoot him out of some sort of airlock? He personally hoped for the latter. At the very least it would make for a good story.

The doors leading to the OUTGOING TRIPS section, located in the heart of the Integration building at the core of Arcadia, were big and heavy. They were intimidating, which, Kai mused, they were supposed to be. After all, it was not an easy decision to leave Arcadia. It wasn't simple to do either. There was a quiet understanding amongst the residents that it wasn't meant for everyone, but it was only difficult to get out because it was so hard to get in. If you were even considering leaving, they wanted you to know.