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

[st_abby]

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.

Comments

Re: OTA

[st_hotflashes]

She paused. Him giving her full attention seemed a lot more daunting. She almost asked him to solve the equations while she spoke, but Liz knew that was weird.

"It's not, um, a big deal or anything. Or, okay, it not not a big deal, but it's not a big deal as in there's an ongoing issue that can't easily be resolved or anything."

Liz was rambling.

Re: OTA

[st_arkintern]

Peter dampens his lips and wordlessly watches her, his brows furrowed. He's not sure what's going on, but her rambling is really starting to make him nervous. She says that it's not a big deal, but...

It's starting to feel like one.

Re: OTA

[st_hotflashes]

She felt the heat in her cheeks grow because she maybe should have thought about exactly how this was going to go, but she had been more pre-occupied with the action in general.

Liz squeezed her eyes together and pushed the words out. "Brad kissed me yesterday." Her eyes opened and bit her bottom lip as she looked like she was waiting for something bad to happen.

Re: OTA

[st_arkintern]

Peter isn't sure how to process or how to react to it, so for a few long seconds, he doesn't say anything. Then, as if suddenly realizing he should say or do anything, he says:

"Oh."

Liz/Peter

[st_hotflashes]

She scrunched her nose. "I'm sorry." Even if it wasn't her fault, or she was pretty sure it wasn't. "He, um. He apologized after and I told him I wasn't interested and he said 'I know' and said he shouldn't have done it and then sort of just... walked away."

But it still had happened.

Re: Liz/Peter

[st_arkintern]

Peter takes a breath and then stands up.

"I'm not mad at you, but I think I need to go think about things," he says, not quite making eye contact.

Re: Liz/Peter

[st_hotflashes]

Liz panicked and stood up in her seat when Peter did. Maybe Caroline had been right and she shouldn't have said anything.

"Peter?" Her heart felt like it was going to push out of her chest.

Re: Liz/Peter

[st_arkintern]

"I'm not mad," Peter repeats, and he finds that he isn't. He's something else, and he's not quite sure what that is. "I just need time to figure things out."

Re: Liz/Peter

[st_hotflashes]

Liz wanted to ask 'figure what things out?' but she had been here before and on the other side, though her side she knew that Max had kissed back and he had wanted to.

She pressed her lips together, her hand moving up instinctively to hold onto one of the strings of his hoodie that she was wearing.

"I love you..." And a part of her was worried that was the last time she'd get to say those words to him.

Re: Liz/Peter

[st_arkintern]

"I know. I love you too."

Peter looks over at Liz and attempts a smile that doesn't quite make it all the way there, then turns and heads for the stairs.