strangetrip | [GP] Check-In and Check-Out?

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[GP] Check-In and Check-Out?

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.

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Kitty winced, heart clenching at the words, and she reached out to cover his huge hand with hers. "Oh, Piotr, I'm sorry." The anger raged behind the sorrow, rising up to throb in her temple and at her throat. "What happened?" she asked tightly. "How did we die?"

We, not they. Mutants always, everywhere, were we. As were Jews.

Edited 2017-04-08 01:18 (UTC)

"It is..." His throat closed for a moment, overwhelmed by the pain and anger. He'd never tried to put it all into worlds and it was harder then he'd thought it would be. How could he talk about all of the graves he'd watched filled? Turning his wrist, he took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "It is long story, Katya."

Finding solace in the drink, he used the vodka to help loosen his tongue. "Magneto unleashed wave of natural disasters on cities around the world, including a tsunami on New York. Most of our team was there, or went to help and died in process. Then more died when we went to fight Magneto. Then Sentinels were sent to the manor and more died. Then Scott was shot in head during speech but Magneto's son. Then government said all mutants must turn ourselves in or be shot on sight."

In the silence that followed, he finally noticed the faint tinkling noise that was coming from the web of cracks spreading from where his fingers had tightened unconsciously around his glass. Luckily the hand that was still holding hers hadn't reacting the same way. "Like I said, long story."

Kitty noticed before Piotr did that he was breaking the glass, but it wouldn't hurt him, and she simply phased her hand in case he accidentally subjected her hand to the same treatment. "And I was in New York," she said quietly when he finished.

"Don't give up hope of seeing me...the other me...again. We both have a way of turning up when we're least expected."

She didn't want to rehearse the whole story of Genosha, her father's death, his multiple deaths now on top of his world-hopping after an escape from a concentration camp, so she only told him, "You'd only recently come back from the dead in my world when I arrived here," and left out the part of him turning her down again and her going off to university to lick her wounds.

"Da. You left mansion to fight crime with the Spider man. " He murmured, setting the fractured glass down on the table. "You were very happy with Peter and would talk for hours about your adventures." A fond smile tugged at the corner of his tired lips, remember the hours they'd spent talking about their romantic exploits.

"I came back from dead?" His eyebrow arched slightly, though he wasn't actually that surprised. X-men had a tendency to cheat death. If he hadn't watched so many of his teammates lowered into the ground, he would keep up hope that they would do the same. "Did I die well?"

He could tell that there was something deeper going on with Kitty. Something was fundamentally different between his version of her and the one sitting in front of him, but he was far too tired to pinpoint what it could be.

"Which time?" Kitty asked, painfully wryly, before shaking her head. "No one dies well, Piotr. They just die." Death always came too soon, the wrong way, unexpectedly, and painfully and leveling.

"You're alive at home and here, so let's not talk about it." After all, it hadn't changed anything. He'd still loved someone other than her. Her lips pressed tightly together, pain creasing the corners of her mouth and dulling her eyes. "Not today, anyway."

Cruel enough he'd been dropped into another prison from the one he'd just left. No need to dwell on his alternate life's other cruelties.

A year ago, he would have argued...that dying in the protection of those who could not protect themselves would have been an honour...but apparently he'd lost that option. Probably somewhere after the tenth grave he'd dug.

"Katya," Piotr rumbled, concerned as he watched her struggle. Without thinking, his thumb began tracing a line back and forth across the back of her hand. "Your words say you do not want to talk but your face tells different story."

Confusion, hurt, and the first stirrings of anger made her skin prickle where he touched and she drew her hand away. "My face lies."

She didn't want to talk. Not about any of it. But here he was and now he was touching her and... she shook her head. "Were we together in your world?" Because she needed to know. Now.

His brow furrowed, his concern deepening and solidifying into true worry. The Kitty he knew had never tried to push him away like this...but this wasn't his Kitty. Slowly pulling back his hand, he laced his fingers together.

"Together? Like I said, you were in..." The words faded as the haze of his confusion managed to part enough for him to recognize what she was truly asking. "You do not mean in the same location."

The implication of her question was stunning. His mouth opened and closed as the seconds ticked by. his mind trying to wrap itself around the concept. "I am sorry. It is hard for me to think of world where that could be option."

"Wow," Kitty replied, voice dripping with vinegar. "And I thought it was bad when you said no in our world. You can't even imagine being with me. Wow."

It was really all she could think to say. In all the time they'd known each other, Piotr had been many things. Cruel had never been one of them. Able to make her cry was, and the tears slid down her cheeks unbidden and her fists clenched ineffectually at her sides.

"Katya, Katya no. It is not like that." He shook his head violently. "Христос. Я рубил дрова."

Now he'd hurt her, which was the last thing he ever wanted to do...he was just so tired. All he could do was be as clear as possible now and hope that it made up for his stupidity.

"I am gay."

Edited 2017-04-18 20:24 (UTC)

Of course he would say it's not like that. What else was he or anyone else supposed to say when they break a friend's heart? Thing was, Kitty didn't care what it was like. It still fucking hurt.

She wasn't looking at him, wasn't even listening, really, in the quest to pull her shit back together. Somehow, though, the last word caught her attention and she stared, almost uncomprehending. Her tears stopped and her head tilted quizzically. "Gay?"

A blink. It didn't want to compute.

"You've been with dozens of women..." No, her Piotr had. "Have you always been? I mean, I know that's kind of a stupid question but I think I get a couple of free stupid questions right now."

"Da. Gay." Piotr confirmed, though the word came out a touch colder than he normally would have used with her. "Always. Even when it cost me friends, my family and brought me to my knees in front of firing squad."

"That's..." Kitty shook her head and quickly dashed her tears away. This time she paid no attention to anyone else who might be looking and phased through the bar to stand beside him.

"That's my Petey," she said softly and offered him another hug. Kitty could be a real bitch and hold a grudge for years. Just ask Moonstar. But she didn't want to be mad at Piotr, and being mad for him was much easier. "Bravest man I know."

Piotr stiffened just slightly as she came toward him, but accepted her hug. "Not brave." He trusted his Kitty with his life, but Kurt had shown him that even those he loved could be closed-minded and cruel. "Just too stubborn to be anyone except myself."

His eyebrow quirked. "But dozens of women?" The thought couldn't quite get purchase in his mind. He'd only been physical with three men in his entire life. "That...does not sound like me."

"It wasn't you," Kitty affirmed without releasing him from her hug (although he really did need a shower). "It was the other you, and dozens is hyperbolic. It just seemed like dozens of women, since none of them were me."

She tipped her head up to him, still teary-eyed but earnest. "I'm not bothered by you being gay. I swear. It was a surprise, is all."

"Da. I am sorry he hurt you in such a way." Bending down, he kissed her on the top of the head while she hugged him tighter. His mouth quirked in a little smile. "And who knows, if you I had had the freedom, maybe I would have had dozen lovers by now too."

He reached up and brushed a tear from her cheek. "I believe you, Katya. I have seen enough hate to know that it is not in your heart."

"There's hate in me," Kitty corrected him. "Bitter, unrelenting, violent hate. It's just not for you." Magneto, Cassandra Nova, Emma Frost, Sentinels, sometimes even the Professor, but never Petey.

She tipped her chin to Sam Winchester who was doing...whatever it was that he did...at the counter. He nodded back. Over time, the regulars in the Cafe had developed something like a system for covering the bar.

"Come on, let's go find your room and get you some clothes."

"Yours is different hate." His brow furrowed, but his tone was confident. "I would bet those you hate earned it through cruelty or betrayal."

He couldn't be considered an expert on many topics, but he had seen more hatred in his life than most. People had tried to kill him for his sexuality, his nationality, his biology... but rarely for his own actions. "It is not the common, petty hatred that is based on a loathing of ones self but is taken out on others."

Piotr's eyes followed Kitty's to the man at the bar, his eyebrow ticked up for a second. The man was attractive and almost as tall as he was.

"If we are stuck in pocket universe, where will we find clothes?"

Kitty quirked a small smile at Piotr taking in the beast of a man that was Sam Winchester. She nudged him in the belly with her elbow but didn't say anything.

"This place is weird. The hotel has a couple of shops and the restaurants and bars that get restocked. I've been trying to track it by surveillance drone, but there's nothing for them to see." She shrugged, obviously not happy with it, but used to it by now. "There's probably something in your size and, if not, Dot and Constance are both great seamstresses."

"You will figure it out." He nodded. "You are too stubborn not to."

Draping an arm around her shoulders, he let her lead the way out of the cafe. "I will not hold breath for proper clothes." He could barely find clothes to fit him when he had nearly endless options. "It is good to know there are those here with such skills, though I do not have a way to pay for their services."

"We kind of work on a barter system since not everyone even comes from the same century or planet," she told him while leading him over to the front desk.

"I should warn you. The actual staff of the hotel? They're like... shades. They won't talk about anything outside their work functions and they're obsessed with clean towels."

As though on cue, the Innkeeper said, "Good afternoon Miss Pryde, can I get you some fresh towels?"

"No thanks. I'm good." She glanced at Piotr and tried not to laugh, shrugged, and said, "This is--"

"Piotr Rasputin. Yes, I have a reservation for Mr. Rasputin." He bent slightly as though retrieving something from a shelf beneath the counter and produced the property map/folder and keycard. Setting it on the countertop, he used a red pen to circle room 217. "Building Three. The Edelweiss Room. Will you need fresh towels, Mr. Rasputin?"

"Century or planet?" Piotr asked, but then changed his mind. He was too tired and confused to try and process anything else. "Tell me later, da?"

Piotr couldn't help but chuckle as the Innkeeper responded as if on cue, even if it was slightly creepy. "Da. I would like many. Do you have extra large towels?"

"Later, yeah," Kitty agreed, and then laughed when the Innkeeper ducked into the room behind the desk.

He emerged a moment later with an enormous stack of towels and bath sheets and wash cloths and hand towels. "I believe you will find these more than satisfactory. And if you require a robe, I recommend the monogrammed terry cloth in the boutique. They're quite magnificent."

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