strangetrip | [GP] Check-In Day

The formerly California air had grown crisp with winter moving in, but the sun still shone bright and the sky was clear. At the barn and in the pastures, the horses blew out their breath in playful snorts, shied and sidled playfully, prancing with their tails flagged. Grace, Regina's mare, gave a spirited whinny at her stablemates as Regina sprang up onto her bare back from the mounting block but waited patiently for her mistress, since there would be at least one long gallop in the offing. It didn't matter to Grace that Regina had an agenda for the ride beyond the gallops, as long as she got to run.

Inside the Inn, Kitty tended bar like any ordinary day, and Caroline's baskets had been freshened and set out for any new arrivals. Each one had a magic journal for "texting" and Sam had a stack of fresh ones set out on the same table in case anyone had used theirs up. The Inn had begun decorating itself the day after Thanksgiving, helped, of course, by Caroline, and Thor had brought in a lovely fresh tree that had begun to acquire a patchwork coating of ornaments, traditional popcorn strings, and hideous gleanings from around the Inn.

In short, it was an ordinary Check-In day with a little nip in the air, an extra sprinkling of glitter, and and an abundance of apple-based drinks and a few pies, compliments of Regina's harvest and her stress-baking. What there weren't were any of Emma's fresh pastries or any of her finer dishes, as she seemed to have taken the day off. Which meant that unless Sunny or Mary or one of the others stepped up, everyone was eating dishes with chicken or what they could make for themselves.

[ooc: Feel free to use for any threading purposes anywhere around the Inn. If you want Regina, Kitty, Sam or Lillith, poke me on Slack. Welcome Hook! Don't forget to tag your character's name if you tag the post.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Emma's here?" The smile that spreads across his face is enough to tell her how he feels about that news. It's a relief to hear, because it means she's safe, and it means they get the time together that they still have never really had, what with one threat to Storybrooke or another. He doesn't know anything about this place, but thinks that he can bear it with Emma here.

And Regina, too. It's good to have friends around, especially ones who won't judge him for his past. "A drink sounds wonderful."

"Emma, but not her parents or Henry," she cautions him. Emma's been holding up well, but she hasn't been here long enough for those things to take a real toll on her. It'll help a lot, having Hook here. It did last time.

She shuts her notebook and tucks it away, then gives a nod to Kitty behind the bar. "Kitty, Killian. Killian, Kitty. He's a friend from home."

"Nice to meet you, Killian," the attractive young woman behind the bar replies. "What can I get for you? The usual, Regina?"

Regina nods. Yes, thank you."

He orders a rum and turns back to his conversation with Regina. "Maybe one day we'll all be in the same place at the same time." He hopes that more for Emma's sake than for his own, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't like to see them again. "So where exactly are we?"

"We haven't been for the last five years," she remarks, but with none of her usual sarcasm or bitterness. "At least from my perspective."

One leg crosses over the other at the knee. "Valkyrie didn't give you the rundown?" A touch of a sigh, lips pursing, before she reaches up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "This is something like a curse realm. You can travel four hours in any direction before you return here."

Five years? He'd rather not be stuck here for that long, but at least he's got people he knows here with him, which helps. But he'd still rather be stuck in Storybrooke than here.

"She did, but it's nice to get a familiar perspective on things sometimes." Regina can give it a different context because she knows what he's seen already.

"Of course." For someone like Hook, someone like her, trust came dear. Even if he believed Valkyrie, he'd know how to value the words coming from her.

But before she knew how to talk to him, she needed to know, "What was happening at home before you arrived here?" since he patently wasn't the same version of himself who'd bee in Gotham. That Hook would be in a frothing panic to see Emma.

"Plenty. There's a whole group of people from the Land of Untold Stories, and Jekyll and Hyde, and Emma thinks she's going to die because all Saviors do." Though of course he's determined to find a way to keep that from happening. "I made peace with both Liams, though." She's the only one who knows the full story of why he would need to make peace with the younger of them.

"After my time," Regina murmurs and her expression tightens, pain in it, for knowing what happened. Robin. But she didn't know about Hook and the Liams. Her eyebrow lifts, head turning. "You told them?"

He won't tell her any more than that, then. It's probably better not to give too much away. "What's your time?" So that he knows what's safe to mention and what's not.

But he's confused at that. "Told them what?"

"It's been five and a half years for me, as I said, but--" She seems to be thinking, but it's a ruse. She remembers the moment exactly. She'd worried about Emma for nearly a year after it, not knowing what had happened with Chernabog. Now... well, she didn't have to worry about Robin anymore. Just grieve for him. "It was the day Chernabog got loose and Maleficent, Ursula, and Cruella called from outside town."

She pauses a moment, breathing through the memory of ripping herself from the car and arriving instead in Gotham.

"But I learned about Zelena's pregnancy in Gotham, and Emma told me about Robin. So you don't need to worry about what you tell me, at least that far into my future." She shrugs, because it hurts and there's not a damned thing she can do about it. "But you said you dealt with both Liams, so I assume you mean you told them how your father met his end."

There's no need to update her on events then, which is fine with him. There's less explaining, and it takes less time. And there are some things he really doesn't want to explain at the moment, either. "Robin wasn't that long ago for me."

But he suspects she doesn't really want to talk about that. "The younger one knows. He...you can imagine how he took the news." It had almost meant a second trip to the Underworld for him, and he doesn't think he would have come back from this one. "We worked it out and things are better between us now."

Regina could say I'm glad to hear it, and she would even mean it. Hook is a friend now and him resolving his issues with his family is a good thing for him and for Emma.

But they don't talk to each other for niceties. There's the rest of the world for that. "About as well as my sister took Mother dumping her in Munchkinland. I'm surprised you're not sporting an extra orifice or two from a sword."

[GP] Check-In Day

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject