strangetrip | [EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

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[EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

The damp, cool, chilly morning clouded with fog seemed to fit the mood about the Madonna Inn. Nobody had been quite right since the undead invasion. Definitely not Vax'ildan. But for him, it was less about their sense of day-to-day calm and safety shattered, less about undead specifically. It was a lot more to do with losing Scanlan and Pike, and the new memorials installed in the Temple.

He wondered about it, not for the first time, even as he readied for the fresh arrivals that might be coming today - or not, because they didn't always. What decided who came and went? Was there any sense in how many and when or why? Not so far as he could tell, but he'd never been the brains.

Gathering up the great heap of cloth and rope in his arms, the lean figure summoned the wings of his armor, the black of his silhouette merging with the other dark and shifting shapes skulking about in the first light of dawn. With a crouch and a lunge from the roof, he spread his wings wide and circled through the air right up to the face of the main building, unfurling the massive banner he'd sewn of spare bedsheets and painted with dark dye to tie it up taut:

WELCOME NEWCOMERS
YES, THIS MEANS YOU
NO REALLY WE'RE SURE

Life kept going on around you, no matter how confused or scared or fucked-up you were. And the best thing, the kindest thing, the sanest thing he could think to do in all this was to start up the coffee machine, stack some decorated pumpkin-shaped cookies on a platter in the lobby, and prop open the doors for whoever would join them in being confused and scared and fucked-up today.

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Tony turned abruptly on the spinning, bright red stool. While his emotions were often hidden beyond a wry mask, he could have caught a frisbee between his parted lips.

"You left."

"Not by choice, I assure you." And even if it had been by choice, she'd have regretted it the second old wounds opened up, skin re-tore and re-burned.

But from the man's gape, he was one of the ones who wanted to leave. "And I couldn't tell you how it worked. Sorry."

"And you came back." Tony leaned in on his knees, scrutinizing the woman from head to toe.

Lara spread her hands with another smile. "Couldn't tell you how that worked, either. I tried a lot of different things... well, I tried to try a few things. It got rather complicated. Nothing worked, but here I am anyway."

"Wow. Alright. Pleasantries. Hi. Tony Stark." Tony dumbly extended his hand. "Physicist. Engineer. Superhero. Bearer of many questions."

Lara shook his hand firmly. "Lara Croft. Archaeologist, adventurer, tomb raider, crazy bloody menace, or some combination of the four. A pleasure."

Oh, good, they had the latter in common. This would be a delight.

"I haven't developed the survey, but I would so very appreciate if you would submit to some questioning." A pause. "You're not under arrest. Obviously. But I'm researching and you're my currently my only sample 'size.'"

“I don’t mind, but I have a question of my own, first.” And it was an important one. There was, after all, an entire organization of people who would never get an answer other than ‘go fuck yourselves’ from Lara Croft. “Does the name ‘Trinity’ mean anything to you?”

"...As in the Holy Trinity?" Tony raised his hands. "I'm not Catholic or anything resembling one."

"No, not like that. But it's a good enough answer anyway." Lara picked up her tea, which was getting a little cold, but that was fine. "Question away!"

"Alright. Let's start with the basics." Tony made a few pointed glances at the insides of his frames, his AI activating audio recording. "Whatever you'd like to share about your life leading up to the, ah, snatch. When you were last here. Duration of stay."

Lara shrugged a little. "Before I came to the Inn the first time, I spent a week shipwrecked on an island and fighting a cult and group of immortal guardians dedicated to an immortal Japanese queen who controlled weather and wanted to take the body of one of my best friends. I came to the Inn after boarding a rescue ship once Queen Himiko was permanently dead. I was here... six or seven months, I think?" And if he got through the first part of that, Lara thought she'd be impressed.

Throughout Lara's spiel, Tony simply nodded along. While her story was a means to an end, here, he found himself getting into the utterly fantastical narrative. Questions for later. Over a drink.

"Gotcha...year and date?"

"Assuming you mean 'when did you leave?', March 2013. Possibly April. I lost track of dates a bit."

"Right." The dates really ran the gamut, but within the span of human history it didn't vary more than a century...at least to Tony's knowledge.

"And you have all your memories of the hotel intact from your initial stay?"

"As far as I know, yes." How would she really know if she were missing any? But Lara was sure she wasn't. If the Inn wanted her to go back to her world without some memories, it would have taken Kitty. As long as she remembered Kitty, Lara would always try to come back.

Tony spun slowly on the rotating seat with a sigh that puffed his cheeks. "Any familiar faces?"

"Kitty." Always Kitty. "Sam Winchester as well. Likely others, but I kept mostly to myself. I had... it was difficult for me. People. You know."

"Ah, Kitty. Good egg." Tony's lips quirked. He wasn't familiar with the latter but he knew the man was about. Tony slowed his rotation. "You've found her, right?"

Well, he hadn't been in the cafe when she'd arrived, that was for sure. No one would have missed her entrance. Lara smiled, warm and happy in memory and warm and happy in general. "Oh yes. About thirty seconds after I walked into the lobby."

"All of us should be so lucky." Tony was, to an extent. Thor was one of the first people he encountered upon his arrival. "That's it, by the way. Questions. I'll have more down the road, you can count on that."

"Oh, good. I love questions." That was sarcasm. She was willing to answer, but depending on the topic might not be happy about it. "Now I'm completely certain you're not police. They'd have asked all the same questions again, in slightly different order, hoping for different answers."

"Not a cop. And not making this ask without a little quid quo pro." Tony patted the bar table. "Got a price?"

"Not really." Lara ducked her head a little. "I'm still not exactly good at people." She was better than she had been. Much! But it still wasn't something she was used to, just sitting and talking with someone without some deeper reason. "You weren't here last time I was, so how long have you been here?"

"Two months, abouts." 'And what a two goddamn months it's been.' "I'm acquainted with a few folks, Ms. Pryde included."

[EP/GP] Check-In: I Assure You We Are Open

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