strangetrip | Check-In Day: Around the Inn

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Check-In Day: Around the Inn

Finished with self-imposed paperwork and emergency planning for the week, Regina permitted herself a leisurely ride on this absolutely gorgeous spring day. After a good gallop, Grace was content to walk, cropping at dried scrub and new shoots when Regina gave her rein. Regina steered the mare gently toward the west; she could teleport, of course, but she appreciated the quiet of riding toward the beach. She found, in the wake of Henry's Christmas visit, she more often craved the scent of the salt air and ocean breezes. Of course, the Pacific never quite smelled like the Atlantic, always warmer and less bracing somehow, but it soothed the wildness in her just the same.

Back at the Inn, Kitty busied herself with stocking the pool bar and generally setting up for the warmer seasons. The pool had been skimmed of winter detritus and chlorinated by the staff-spectre she rarely if ever saw, and there were fresh towels set out like a proper resort. Since the choice of music was hers, the air around the bar filled with dance beats, Afro-Caribbean today, and Kitty moved right into it. She didn't usually dance at work, but she felt bright today and maybe Lara would come down and work with her and they could goof around Cocktail style.

Sam passed through the Copper Cafe in search of a cup of coffee and a salad, or one of the two gorgeous women he'd somehow wound up involved with. His brow scrunched like a caterpillar hurrying away from a predator while he semi-consciously outpaced thoughts about babies and brothers, and possibly babies and girlfriends. His mild scowl wasn't helped by the pack of spirits trailing him and chatting at him about the lives of his family members. He'd asked them not to gossip about people he wasn't close with, but as a consequence, they talked rapidly and often about River's most recent oddness or his mother and Hathaway acting like...well, like him and Molly and Bo, and no thanks. Ditto on Dean and Jane. For all that he looked a little bothered, there wasn't anything menacing or aggressive about it. If anything, the slight tilt of his head as he strolled through the Inn looked thoughtful, as though he listened to something somewhat distant.

Lillith had come to a bit of a routine for arrival days, and around noon, she sat for tea with River Song. They spoke little, and it was difficult to tell whether the women even liked each other. But for all that, Lillith was content with the ritual. If Curnen sang, she would go out to the lawn next and listen. In fact, on such a sunny day, she would undoubtedly flop on the lawn with a sketchbook and a practice notebook, letting her mind float between image and spellcraft as it would. Out here, she would quickly veil herself at the approach of anyone new, but she often was distracted enough that they might catch her in her true form with her all unaware.

Around them, the Inn hummed and buzzed with the happy energy of winter giving way to spring. The most patient and subtle would undoubtedly note the undercurrents of tension, fear, frustration, and boredom that built up over time. But for day, at least so far as this four were aware, the worst of it had been suspended, in favor of enjoying warm sun and the company of friends.

[OOC: GP. It's a gorgeous day. Come and play! All four of mine can be available. Ping me if you're inspired to tag. <3 Welcome, Carol, Toby, and Number Five!]

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Toby stood a little straighter, sort of harder to do with his stature, but he did. "I got it ---.' He was about to say something else to make him sound cooler, but he liked Thor a lot so he told him the truth.

"Um, it kind of started out in a cursed box, the curse not the hammer, and Vendel had to put it somewhere so he put it in the hammer. BUT it was my idea to put it in the warhammer. Pretty sweet, right? Anyway, the hammer has the ability to be really light or really heavy because it pulls on gravity. And when you use it, flame-oh!" He pointed to the hammer being flame-y in Thor's hands.

Thor looks down at it. True enough, the hammer is suddenly ablaze with flames.

Thor spins the Hammer around rapidly with one hand, the same way he did with Mjolnir before he was preparing to take flight with it. Flames pinwheel with the movement, sending little sparks of fire skyward.

Thor lets out a soundless laugh, then offers it back to Toby. "How long have you been using it?"

Toby reached for the hammer and was about to answer Thor when the hammer began to rise and Toby (and hammer) went toward the ceiling. "Oh man." He'd only flown a couple of times with it but he can do this, he knows he can. He shifted his weight toward the floor, just like he did when he saved Darci. Luckily it worked again and he landed.

"Whew, I almost thought that you'd have to grab my foot. I've only been using it a few months." Toby set the head of the hammer back on the ground, but he still held on to the shaft.

"Yours makes you fly too?!"

Thor already loves this hammer. "I had to spin mine around to make me fly, but I had all sorts of problems with it. Crashed into many, many trees."

Toby actually felt better that someone like THOR had issues with his hammer, too. Especially the flying part, that was hard.

"Me, too! Well, not trees, at least not yet, but I've crashed a couple of times. The curse in the hammer manipulates gravity so it kind of makes me fly but mostly, I just hang on when it becomes lighter than air."

Thor nods at all of this. It sounds like their hammers were different -- but still had some remarkable similarities.

"What's your name?"

"Oh man. I got so excited I totally forgot I need to find a phone. I'm Toby, and is there a phone here I can use. I have to call my best friend Jim."

He was pretty sure Morgana hadn't spell whammied them, but he still needed to call his friend to make sure something weird hadn't happened to him, too. Well and to tell him that he'd met THOR! Totally had to get a selfie with him as soon as he got out of his armor.

Thor grimaces.

"Oh, about that..." This was the part of the conversation Thor hated. "We're stuck here, in this pocket dimension. You're not going to be able to call out, but eventually, you might end up going home."

"Eventually?!" Toby's jaw dropped and he was speechless for a minute. Which was rare for Toby and then got really freaked. "Wait. I can't use my phone? No social media? No streaming? No calling friends?"

That was worst than the eventually part.

"Well, you can use your phone to take pictures," Thor says, trying to look on the bright side of things. "Or listen to music you have downloaded."

"Yeah, I guess that's not so bad." Toby was always a glass half full kind of guy. He was still going to miss watching movies and checking his social media, but mostly he was going to miss his friends but there wasn't anything he could do about that so that got pushed aside.

Toby looked around the lobby and then back at Thor, "so um people just hang out here? Like a really long vacation?" Which could be cool. Sure, his friends weren't here but it's kind of like his own adventure.

Thor thinks about it, then nods; that was one way of putting it. "Basically, yes."

Frankly, that was probably the best way of putting it.

"There's a creepy old man at the front desk," he says. "He already knows your name and has a key to your room and no, you can't change it." Thor had been fine with his floral mess, but the room interiors were often a source of angst for the inn's occupants.

"Um." Toby was a little embarrassed, but only a little. "I don't have any money." Well he had five dollars but he was pretty sure that wouldn't cover the hotel room.

"Oh," Thor says, as if the thought just occurred to him that this might be Something That Newcomers Need to Know. "All of it is free. People usually do things to help out around the inn, but the accommodations and food are ample enough for all."

"Seriously?!" Toby was excited at that news. "Everything?" He was thinking it was like an all expenses paid vacation that you won - or the lottery.

"Yes, though all the technology is vintage by most standards," he says. Including his own. Midgardian tech was already fairly quaint from when he came from, but this was even more antiquiated than even that. "And there isn't much outside of what's in the gift shop or the kitchens unless you make it yourself."

"Uh, I'm not all that handy." Toby made a little face, "and you definitely don't want me making any food. My friend Jim, he's the cook." Jim always made Toby's lunch when he made his own. Toby rode his bike to pick up Jim, and his lunch, and they both went on to school from there. It had been that way since Jim started making lunches.

"But I'm a good scavenger." So there was that.

"Please tell me there are computer games here." Because he would die if he was cut off from that. Especially since he couldn't access games on his phone!

"Scavenging is a very useful skill," Thor says with a nod. But before they can dwell on it very much longer, Toby's asking about computer games.

"There are some old Nintendo games," he says. "A Nintendo and I believe someone has a Game Boy."

Toby heaved a heavy sigh. THEY WERE ANCIENT! HE WAS DOOMED! .... oh well at least he was on an adventure without Morgana trying to kill him and his friends. That was a plus!

"Wow. I haven't played a Game Boy in forever." And by that he meant since he'd been a kid, almost ten years ago. "Guess I have to brush up on my mad skills." He gave Thor a braces filled smile.

Thor grins right back. "There's a friend of mine, Quill, who is good at playing Mario Kart if you're looking to test yourself." True enough, video games seemed to be one of Quill's favorite pastimes, aside from music.

"Did you have any more questions about this place?"

"Nope, I think I'm good." Toby shook his head. "Free room, free food and a place without someone trying to destroy my hometown." A beat, "Plus someone that can help me with my hammer if I need it!"

"Of course," Thor says, smiling. "I'll have to show you my weapon too. It's a hammer-axe-kinda thing." It wasn't quite 100% hammer, nor was it really 100% axe.

"AWESOME!" Toby said with his usual excitement. "Maybe my hammer will turn into a hammer-axe-kinda thing!" That would be cool but he was pretty sure since his was more of a curse that was in a hammer, it wouldn't change, but he could hope!

"Maybe," Thor says, still grinning. "Personally, I prefer a hammer, but my sister broke mine, so..."

Thor holds out his arms as if to say no hammer.

"Woah you have a really strong sister if she could do that." Toby was pretty sure that AARRGGHHH's sister could break his war hammer, if his friend had a sister.

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