[GP] Check-In and Check-Out?

[st_alksthroughwalls]

For several days the doorway to Room 137, The Caveman Room, has been glowing. Then last night the occupant of Room 137 was assigned to a different room. Today, the room is open and at the back, instead of a wall, there is daylight.

Bird song fills damp, tropical air, heavy with sweet floral perfume. From all sides, voices rise and fall in a pattern universally recognizable as haggling in a marketplace. Fresh citrus wars with the copper and iodine of freshly butchered fish and shellfish, freshly baked bread, and newly tanned leather. A fountain with a cupola tiled in jade green and gold rises in the center of an oval space surrounded by a riot of colorful stalls and from the far side you hear the ringing of metal on metal.

Those who investigate find themselves amidst several hundred shopkeepers and their patrons dressed in colorful fabrics and leather boots. Beyond the market lies a city of thousands, and beyond it, an ancient temple and vast jungle that opens into what the natives call "The Land Out of Time."

~ * ~
As much as Kitty wanted to investigate this new phenomenon, and she would, it seemed especially important to have at least one person in the cafe in case of new arrivals. It was her turn, so whether Caroline and the others joined her or not, Kitty would spend at least part of the day here behind the bar. Hopefully, whatever it was wouldn't swallow anyone up. Or if it did, Lara or Wyatt or both would come get her.

Comments

Not Exploring. No. OTA

[st_oh_honestly]

Dot had heard about the transformed room. First there was glowing, which she did not approve of, and then it was - she didn't know the right word but the shocking woman with the red curly hair had called it a portal.

She didn't entirely approve of that either, unless it was a portal home. Nothing she'd heard in the conversations in the cafe made it sound like home.

So was baking. She was tried of cookies and cakes so today she was making muffins. Everyone liked a muffin.

Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eelyourself]

How long had it been? A month? Two? It was hard to count the days in a windowless cell too small to lay down in. What were the words they had used? Solitary confinement, that is what they had called it...because of course, the only cell strong enough to hold him was the one where he could not see the sun.

But god, he missed the sun.

Closing his eyes, he tilted his head toward the fluorescent bulb hanging out of reach and tried to remember what it was like - how his skin would warm slowly but eventually he'd feel that prickle as the tops of his shoulders would begin to burn after standing at his easel in the lawn.

It took a minute, but suddenly he could actually feel warm as sweat began to bead on his forehead. Snapping to attention, he opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. The cell was gone and he found himself standing on a deserted road and looking at some sort of hotel in the distance.

"Either I have snapped" He murmured to himself as he began walking towards what he thought must be civilization, "Or there this is very strange rescue attempt."

Content with not knowing the answer, he broke into a jog to stretch his muscles. By the time he made it to the lobby, he wasn't even out of breath, but he was dirty, unshaven, and in nothing but a pair of ragged orange pants usually only reserved for criminals.

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Back against the door, a tray of glasses in her arms, Kitty pushed through to the cafe. Her gaze slid across the space and found only Dot. She sighed. Being here was the right thing to do, but she would so much rather be trying to figure out what the hell was going on with the portal to Wherever World.

She just set the glasses down when her attention snagged on a man jogging in, bare-chested, unshaven, dirty, in prison slacks, and oddly familiar. "Hello," she called out in a friendly tone, a hint of a question in her voice.

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eelyourself]

That voice - it was like something out of a dream. But somehow the familiarity of it managed to pierce the haze that came from confusion, malnutrition, weeks of torture, and suddenly finding himself surrounded by more pink than he knew existed.

Barely letting himself believe it could be true, he slowly turned to find the source. His eyes found her in an instant and the first real smile he'd managed in months bloomed across his face.

"Katya!" He closed the distance between them and bent to grab her hands, just to make sure she was real. It didn't matter where he was or how he got there, he was just so relieved to see her again. "It is you! But how? How are you not dead? I was told you were in New York with Peter when the wave hit."

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_alksthroughwalls]

At least a hundred thoughts chased each other around her brain, questions, explanations, hurt, welcome, wonder, confusion, concern... Kitty hopped up over the bar (Dot would faint if she went straight through it) and flung her arms around him.

Yeah, he smelled and was dressed like a convict and hadn't shaved and didn't look exactly like her Piotr and probably wasn't her Piotr, but he recognized her and that was close enough to home for her.

She backed a step and grinned up at him. "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the worlds..."

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eelyourself]

He held her close, arms circling around her waist but was extra careful not to squeeze too tight.

"Is that what this is? Gin joint?" His brow wrinkled as he tried to piece together the rest of what she'd said. "Does that mean there is no vodka? Because I could use a drink."

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty sniffed and wrinkled her nose at him. "You could use a shower is what you could use," she teased, and then patted a stool. "Sit, big guy. I'll get your vodka." He would definitely need it to get through the explanations.

"I might even join you." She might need it to get through the explanations too.

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eelyourself]

"Da." He glanced down sheepishly at his bare chest, the only clean skin showing where they'd attached the electrodes during his last session. The sight caused his embarrassment to burn away, replaced with a seething anger for the ones who had done this to him. "I could walk though one of those car washing tunnels and still not feel clean."

He sat down delicately on the stool to make sure it could hold his weight (something that had become a habit) and watched her go through the simple
motions of pouring. It was easy for him to keep quiet and focus on her body language because something was off. There was a hesitance to her actions that had nothing to do with his smell. Not to mention the fact that she had avoided his earlier questions about how she'd made it out of New York alive.

"Katya, what is going on?" He asked softly, imploring her to help him fill in the gaps.

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty poured them each a glass of vodka but splashed OJ in hers. Too early still for drinking it straight. When she set his down, she let out a quiet sigh and then looked him over. He wasn't her Piotr, obviously enough, but what did that mean about who he was?

"Let's start with the easy part." She stifled a pained laugh that the Inn was the easy part. Her life had never been normal, and if he knew her well enough to be calling her Katya, it was unlikely his had been either. Even without the prison issue pants to warn her.

"This hotel is called the Madonna Inn. It used to be in San Luis Obispo, California. Now it's in a pocket dimension that's measured in time rather than distance. You can go four hours in any direction from the Inn, whatever speed you go, and in four hours, you'll arrive back here. When you go up to the desk, there'll be a reservation in your name. And now that you're here, you can't leave. We've got all of the necessities, for free, but that's about it. If you've ever heard the song Hotel California, it's kind of like that."

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eelyourself]

He took the glass thankfully, looked at it for a moment, then swallowed the entire contents in a single gulp. If he'd been asked, he would have the action was a reaction to Kitty's apprehension...but truthfully he just needed it.

But as she kept talking, he realized he should have waited because he needed it even more now. Her words made almost no sense, so he closed his eyes and pictured the funnel shaped diagram that had been used to teach him about pocket dimensions. "We are imprisoned in bubble at bottom of wormhole?" His brow furrowed, "but bubble did not keep growing? It stopped at this Inn and we walk in circle if we try to escape? Am I even close?"

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eampunk]

Molly had been on her way to the room that had the portal, at least from what people were saying. However, she wasn't in a hurry to check it out. It could be walking into the fire from the frying pan. So, instead of rushing out to experience it, she decided to make a stop into the cafe to see if there was a more intel.

That was when she noticed the new person. Her first thought was did he come through the portal/door or did he arrive normally? She grabbed a couple of plates and muffins before approaching him.

"Hi," She smiled holding out a plate. "Would you like a muffin? It's guaranteed to make you feel better, but it's not a very good substitute for being stuck away from home." Her eyelid lowered in a wink. "But on the plus side, it lets you meet me. I'm Molly, by the way."

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eelyourself]

By the time Piotr made it to the cafe to find something eat, he was still slightly pruney from the longest shower of his life. He had needed time to think and the water had remained hot. Also, he had been very dirty.

But eventually, he found himself seated with a drink as his thoughts spun in useless circles as he intently watched the ice melt.

The woman's sudden appearance took him by surprise but was wholly welcome, especially when he noticed the muffin. "Spasibo." He gestured to the open seat, gladly taking the offered plate. "I would enjoy such a powerful muffin. It is kind of you to share." Somehow he managed a genuine smile. "It is pleasure to meet you Molly. I am Piotr, but most people call me Peter."

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eampunk]

Molly slid into the empty seat already feeling very relaxed with him as he reminded her of Sanya. She knew it was their similar Russian accent more than how they looked.

"I kinda like Piotr if you're okay with that." Her pronunciation of his name had a tint of being from Moscow since her only reference on how to pronounce a dialect was from Sanya. "I have a friend, Sanya who's from Moscow. I've known him since I was about fifteen." Her grin grew, "and since I know that you're too much of a gentleman to ask, I'm 22."

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eelyourself]

"It is more than okay." The tendency to make his name more "American" wasn't something that explicitly bothered him, but it was nice find someone who was willing to put effort into learning the true version. "Your pronunciation is very good, even if Moscow is far from my home."

As carefully as he could, he tore off a bite from the muffin and popped it into his mouth. "He must be lucky man to have been your friend for seven years."

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eampunk]

"He works with my dad, well he did before dad retired, so Sanya's been part of the family that long." She liked how Sanya questioned things rather than just taking people or spiritual entities at face value.

"It wasn't until I got older that we became friends. Where in Russia are you from?" Molly popped off a bit of her muffin and put it in her mouth. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell from your accent." To be honest they all sort of sounded alike to her, not that she'd ever say that.

However, to be fair, she was sure that her Chicago accent probably sounded the same as a LA accent to someone not used to them.

Re: Piotr Rasputin - Assigned Threads

[st_eelyourself]

"It is always fascinating to see how families can grow to include new people or form anew." Goodness knows he had found himself a member of a number of different 'families' throughout his life.

"I grew up in a small collective in what is now Siberia but was the Soviet Union." He smiled slightly. "It is hard to tell accents apart when speaking English but in Russian, I sound like..." His brow furrowed, trying to figure out the correct phrase. "Country bumpkin."

Carlos Ramirez | Ota (tag Buffy)

[st_illavirgin]

As soon as the option to explore out of the hotel came, Carlos leapt at it. Who wouldn't? They'd been trapped in that weird hotel for what seemed like months - days merged into one, neverending cycle of work, sleep, try and figure this place out. And he thought being a Warden was monotonous.

Which is why he was out of the door as soon as word came that you could explore a new world. He still struggled to get his head around the concept that they were visiting somewhere new, but the evidence was in front of his eyes as soon as he walked into the marketplace. Fresh food, that he didn't have to cook! Flowers he'd never seen before. It was just bliss.

He was walking with his staff, his injuries from way back almost healed by now, but he knew his own body well enough to know that after a while he'd get tired. Plus, let's face it. A wizard and his staff? Now that was cool.

Re: Carlos Ramirez | Ota (tag Buffy)

[st_accato]

As soon as word spread that there was something on the other side of the room door, Buffy was through it. She knew it wasn't Sunnydale but it was a portal and it might lead to a different portal home.

After exploring a bit, she noticed a guy with a staff walking a little ahead of her. They definitely looked like they might know about portals, all magicky looking. There was also something very familiar about how he moved but Buffy was very good about hiding her head in the sand figuratively about that.

"Hi, um excuse me." She raised her voice as she quickened her steps.

Re: Carlos Ramirez | Ota (tag Buffy)

[st_illavirgin]

Carlos turned round at the sound of the woman's voice, and it only took him a second to realize just who it was. He hadn't seen Buffy since... well, since whatever it was had taken over the hotel, and several people had... well. He didn't really like to think on what he'd done. He didn't regret it, and he certainly didn't blame Buffy for it, but he thought that his first time would mean more, with some one he cared about.

But the deed was done, as it were, and they were stuck here, so he had to deal with it. "Oh, hey Buffy. Enjoying being out of the hotel?"

Re: Carlos Ramirez | Ota (tag Buffy)

[st_accato]

Of course it was Carlos because that was just Buffy's luck. Well Angelus would be Buffy's luck but this was right up there with wishing for a demon attack to distract them.

She couldn't deny that she was still attracted to him so it wasn't all weird mojo of the hotel - or Ethan. Buffy still liked to blame Ethan. With a determined smile, she answered him. "I am. Not happy that it's not connected to home but hey it's good to get away from all the pink. You look - uhhh - kind of magic-y."

At least he kind of looked like a cross between Harry Potter and the movie with the hottie elf. Gangolf or something.

Re: Carlos Ramirez | Ota (tag Buffy)

[st_illavirgin]

Slightly embarrassing, but at least Buffy was pretty to look at. And where did that come from? Come on, Ramirez. Get a grip. "This old thing?" he said, indicating his staff, which to be fair, did look somewhat battered and older than it should. That was the problem in being a battle wizard, you used your tools to fight with. "I suppose it does a bit, yeah." How much of what they did did she remember? How much magic did he show off with?

Re: Carlos Ramirez | Ota (tag Buffy)

[st_accato]

"Huh, you didn't need that at the hotel." Buffy said before she realized that she'd put her thoughts to words and then felt her face flush and she stumbled over her words hoping he wouldn't notice.

"I mean your magic must be different from my friend Willow's. She doesn't use anything, well herbs and stuff but not a staff."

Re: Carlos Ramirez | Ota (tag Buffy)

[st_illavirgin]

Carlos flushed in return, remembering why he used his magic with her. "It acts as a focus for me," he said, moving on quickly. "Don't need it for minor spells, but for bigger ones..." He paused for a moment, then the staff lit up, the runes etched on it turning green for a moment. "It just helps." Though his other foci hadn't made it here with him. "I didn't think about asking - you didn't seem surprised about magic." Yeah, let's keep any conversation very light about what happened.

Re: Carlos Ramirez | Ota (tag Buffy)

[st_accato]

"That is so cool." Buffy said honestly, and made a mental note to tell Willow when she saw her again about the staff and the focusing. There wasn't a doubt in Buffy's mind that she would see her friend again. Taht she'd see all of her friends again and her mom.

"Yeah, uh my best friend is a witch." And since she'd been a heck of a lot more intimate with him than with Dean and Sam Winchester and the Winchester brothers knew, Buffy added, "and uh I kind of hunt Supernatural things. Vampires." And she waited for the you're nuts look, though to be fair, she hadn't got any of those looks since her arrival.

OTA

[st_andingtall]

It didn't take long for Sam to decide that it didn't matter where the other side of the portal was or what happened if he went there. No, he didn't want to leave Dean (or Henry, or Rebekah, or River or Snow etc. ) to fend for himself or wonder and worry where he was, but he also didn't want to spend the rest of his life stuck inside this hotel because of fear.

He took the enchanted notebook Henry had given him and hoped Dean would look at his if Sam didn't come back within five hours, but he also left a note in the room when he couldn't track Dean down right away. It said Exploring. Back in 5 hrs or less. Check notebook for location. - S Because hopefully Dean would join him.

Whether he did or not, Sam had a mission. Someone out there, wherever there was, might know more about breaking deals with demons, or killing them, than he and Dean and Henry did.