strangetrip | [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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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."

“Still pretty new, then.” Lara’s tone was one of sympathy now. Most people didn’t choose the Inn, after all, and not everyone grew to like it. “Settling in for the long haul okay?”

"Define 'okay.' Nah, don't. Do a little dance, make a little love." Tony shrugged. The first few weeks he would have just obstinately played semantics. "'Long,' however, I would like defined. I don't see the hotel just handing me that one."

"You don't know how long you're going to be here and can't predict it." Lara shrugged a little. "So... define 'long' as 'the rest of your life'. Which sounds like it would be your worst case scenario." He didn't sound happy to be there, for certain.

"In part." Tony took a bite of his gluten-free waffle and left it there. His genuine worst case would be being trapped there forever while time passed normally in his world. No Tony, one less guardian against Thanos and whatever came next.

'Actually, I'm certain it could get worse the more I think about it. Soooo I won't.'

"New topic, you have any mechanical engineering needs?"

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

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