[GP] Check-in Day

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Two years.

When Corbie had her first anniversary at the inn, it had stalked behind her with such slow, certain dread that she had hardly been able to face the day. This second year had crept up so quietly that she hadn't noticed it until it was upon her, until she sat stitching in the sunlight. Maybe it was because she'd been too worried about Jackson to focus on moping.

The repair she was making was unnecessary. She'd torn the hole in this skirt herself. But she was sure she'd figured out the delicate work she needed to pull it off. With each stitch she made the hole didn't close, but vanish beneath a very minor illusion she put and anchored to the cloth through the thread. When she was done, neither sight nor touch should reveal any damage had ever been done.

Was this as much of an accomplishment as it felt? She thought it was pretty nifty.

Comments

Caden - Assigned threads

[st_ripandslither]

If Caden had learned anything from Cal breaking his heart, it was to embrace heartbreak, rather than shy away from it. Everything would have gone so much more smoothly for him if he had from the beginning. So, as he stood on the platform, watching the train to Castyll pull into the station, he took a deep breath and turned around to look at the small town of Glynn one last time. He was leaving behind so much, or rather, so many people. Down that street stood Gerrick's, where Reagan would already be at work, nimble fingers working needle and thread, making another brilliant item of clothing. Just a little farther, Antoine's, where so much of Caden's heartache resided. Antoine might be up already, and Caden's heart clenched painfully, lungs filled with recent grief and hurt. He hoped Ciara did well by him.

The temple soared over all other buildings, and the sharpness of his pain soothed over into something duller, older. Cal would be up already, perhaps working on his next Braddon study. Or writing Beau.

Rosier Manor was too far for Caden to see, but he could picture Beau's smile as he read a message from Cal. Morrie would already be hard at work, managing the staff. Beautiful, stern Morrigan, who broke so beautifully when she let herself go, as she had again just this morning, after this last night they had spent together. Caden let her love fortify him, and thought of others he would miss. Young, effervescent, joyful Emlyn. His colleagues at Antoine's - even Ciara. Hazel and her shameless flirting. So many of his clients - but not all of them.

Caden had had good years here. But everything was transient, and he turned his back on Glynn, shouldering his small travel bag to step into the train, and back to Castyll. Everything was transient, but for now he still had his mother and his best friend. And he was coming back to them for more than a short visit. That, at least, warmed his heart.

Except, between one step and the next in the train corridor leading to his compartment, the world blurred. Caden's breath caught, his steps faltered, and he stared in incomprehension at the world around him. The landscape was arid, dryer than anything he'd ever seen like he'd ever seen. No rolling hills, forests and fields. No snowy mountains, either. What had just happened? Was he dreaming?

In the distance, there were some hills and, he thought, a few buildings. The weather was cooler than it had been, but the walk would warm him up, in the long grey skirt and simple blue tank top he had worn, a casual outfit for his trip. He hadn't bothered to put make-up on, and his hair was pulled back in a half ponytail, instead of anything more elaborate.

By the time he reached the first hot pink sign heralding this place as an inn of some sort, Caden was wondering how come this dream felt so linear and real, and there was a stone at the bottom of his stomach. This was like no dream he had ever had. He touched his thumb to the torc ring he had decided to wear today, sent a prayer to the gods, and walked on towards the nearest building.

Caden / Valkyrie - Meet

[st_allionofdoom]

Valkyrie had claimed a seat on the warm rocky railing that lined the path leading to the main building, sitting cross legged in a dark tank top and shorts combination that defined the only ensemble she wore the moment the weather had warmed up. She'd arrived in November...not that it had been all that chilly even then for her, save for the winter wonderland Loki and Thor had summoned in the midst of winter that prompted her to at least put on close-toed shoes.

By this point in the day, she'd abandoned the branch she'd been whittling down to do nothing in particular but watch the world go by, content to watch other residents go about their lives. Tony Stark had been occupying the front lot a good ten meters away all day working on a wood-crafted automobile of some kind and while she wasn't nearly as close to the man as Thor was, it was somewhat entertaining to watch him flit from place to place with his fifth of coffee.

Also, it was arrival day. The last few had been quiet, but the Madonna Inn was a world of dual monotony and unpredictability.

Movement caught her keen eye immediately, and she tracked the unfamiliar figure approaching the inn as he got closer, lowering her feet towards the earth. The long hair made him appear Asgardian in a way--not that Asgardians had a monopoly of long hair on men, but the trend didn't catch on the same way in most other places she'd been--but the attire threw that notion right out the window.

"Been on your feet long?" She called out as he came within earshot.

Re: Caden / Valkyrie - Meet

[st_ripandslither]

Caden looked over at the woman, glad for the apparent friendliness of her question. She was speaking Clovennian, but her accent wasn't one he'd ever heard, and she was showing entirely too much brown skin to be one of them. Even an Aurellian wouldn't show this much in public, as a rule. Perhaps he had been transported to one of the colonies somehow? One of the, ah, other colonies, the ones across the sea.

He stopped at a decent enough distance from her that they could carry on a conversation. "At least an hour, I should think," he answered, his accent both more sophisticated than hers, and flatter. "This is meant to sound very odd, but... would you mind telling me where I am?"

Re: Caden / Valkyrie - Meet

[st_allionofdoom]

She began unscrewing the flask that had been sitting protected in the shade of her body automatically as that question immediately came up. "I could. Can't guarantee it'll make any sense." She took a long swig and offered the whiskey-filled flask to the stranger while he was being polite.

"Would you prefer the long or short of it?"

Re: Caden / Valkyrie - Meet

[st_ripandslither]

Caden turned down the offered flask of who-knew-what-liquor with a shake of his head; whatever was going on, he didn't want to muddle things further with alcohol. "Thank you." What he truly wanted was water, after walking for so long, and a place to rest his feet, but he wasn't sure how long they might talk, and sitting beside her seemed a bit presumptuous. He would have, in an instant, if he had felt at all steady, but he was in too much of a state of confusion to behave much like himself. "Perhaps... start with the short?"

Re: Caden / Valkyrie - Meet

[st_allionofdoom]

Noting his body language and the direction of his gaze, she nodded at the rocky railing across from her for him to take a seat. Somewhere in the background, a clang! and Stark swearing could be heard. She spared a glance to make sure the fragile Midgardian was still in one piece before turning back towards the stranger across from her.

"You're in an inescapable alternate dimension." She took another swig and gave him a thin, sheepish smile.

Re: Caden / Valkyrie - Meet

[st_ripandslither]

Caden looked in the direction of the sound, and watched in ongoing confusion as a man seemed to curse a large wooden sculpture. It looked somewhat like an automobile, and yet... entirely unlike one.

Caden looked back at the woman, and, all right then. The short version explained nothing. He might as well take a seat; he was in for the long one. He moved up on the railing remarkably graciously, although there was, for once, nothing studied in his movement.

"I don't know those words," he admitted, as he settled on the railing and adjusted the strap of his bag over one shoulder. His expression was open, his confusion and desire to understand obvious in his features. "Alternate dimension, I mean." Well, he knew them out of context. But in this particular one? He could not make them make sense.

Re: Caden / Valkyrie - Meet

[st_allionofdoom]

"Right. Well..." The woman worked her jaw from side to side as she worked her brain for another way to approach the matter. She couldn't simply leave a now-fellow prisoner in the dark, after all.

"Where are you from?"

Re: Caden / Valkyrie - Meet

[st_ripandslither]

"Aurelle," he replied cautiously. This was clearly not Aurelle, but he still expected her to at least have heard of the capital, so he added, helpfully, "Castyll. I was on a train, and then..." He looked out towards the arid landscape, touched his thumb to his torc ring. "I was here."

He looked back at her, licked his dry lips, then asked the question he wished he didn't have to ask. "This isn't a dream, is it?"

Caden & Corbie - Greet

[st_rikingblueeyes]

It was always easy to spot a new face at the inn, and not just because there were so few of them that you memorized them quickly whether you tried to or not. It was there in the way people moved through the space as well. Something that spoke to unfamiliarity when someone who had been here a month or more knew where everything was and could get there without thought.

For Corbie there was a brief moment of uncertainty. After all, the last time they'd had a check-in day and she'd seen new faces, they'd turned out to be the faces of the inn's many ghosts and that... had not gone well. In the time since then, she'd made deliberate efforts to get to know them better, but she was still living and they were still not and the whole thing was a process.

She took a deep breath, put down her sewing before her on the grass, and decided to have faith in her senses. "Can I help?"

Re: Caden & Corbie - Greet

[st_ripandslither]

Caden had been rubbing his thumb over the edge of the plastic card he had been given - a keycard, he'd been told, before being pointed in the direction of the building housing his room. The odd person behind the front desk had a reservation under his name. A room all ready for him. None of this made any sense, and he walked on mechanically, not quite, as it turned out, heading for the building. At some point, surely, things would fall into place and make sense again?

The greeting broke him out of his thoughts, and he composed himself as he found its origin. A beautiful young woman sitting on the grass. He managed to give her a smile, making a conscious effort so that it would reach his eyes. "I was given the impression that no one could, really." As if it were a joke, instead of something too big to really wrap his mind around.

Re: Caden & Corbie - Greet

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie tipped her head to one side. "Well. Not if what you need is to get outta here. We all need that, but no, haven't figured it out. Not yet." She got up, gathering her work in the crook of one arm and extending her other hand as she came forward. "I'm Corbie. Welcome to the Madonna Inn."

Re: Caden & Corbie - Greet

[st_ripandslither]

Caden hitched up the bag on his right shoulder, then reached out to take her hand in his, and give it a warm shake. "Hello, Corbie. I'm Caden. I've just got here." He thought that she knew that already, but Caden wasn't sure what else to say.

He was so used to knowing just what to do, what to say, how to act in any given situation, in response to any kind of person. But how was he meant to read people from cultures he knew nothing about? In a situation so unlike anything he could ever have imagined?

Re: Caden & Corbie - Greet

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie smiled gently. She was the local now (after two years, Lady help her, she'd been at the inn longer than she'd lived in Esmer), it was up to her to know what to say. Or at least to take a stab at it. "And how are you doing with that so far?"

Re: Caden & Corbie - Greet

[st_ripandslither]

Caden was honestly not sure, but in doubt, he kept up his warm and friendly front. "Still expecting to wake up any second," he admitted, then paused. "Or - no. Hoping to. Have I interrupted your work?"

Re: Caden & Corbie - Greet

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie waved that off. "Ain't anything I can't continue later. And I'm almost done," she said, excitedly holding up her work to show him. "This hole was big enough to put my hand through when I started." Granted, Corbie didn't have very big hands, but there was still no sign of any damage at all beyond about an inch's worth of stitching left to do.

She looked a little sheepish, realizing that her excitement over that might seem a little over the top. "It's, um. Magic."

Emma - OTA

[st_ackeddeck]

Going through the inn's decorations and event planning supplies in search of liquid chalk markers had been a longshot at best, but since there was no sign of leaving any time soon, she was trying to branch out a little with art media and techniques. She couldn't really be all that disappointed at not finding what she had been looking for, when what she found was maybe even better. A set of paint pens with metallic paints, probably meant for writing on the base of wine glasses or other decorations for the many weddings the inn must have had when not in a pocket 'verse.

She'd added the pens to her dwindling art supplies immediately, and had used them a couple of times to add glints of gold or silver to paintings. Today, though, she was trying something new. Something she heard of being done, and a general idea of how, but there had always been more interesting or important things to do with her time.

That was before life at the inn. Here there was nothing but time.

Which was why she'd taken over a booth in the restaurant in the middle of the afternoon – not wanting to be in the way, even though everyone currently stuck here could be in the restaurant at the same time without the place being full – with her steampunk deck and the copper pen. Several cards were lying in a neat row on the far side of the table, and she reached across to add another to the line. It slipped from her fingers half a second early, though, and from there off the table completely, just as someone was coming by.

"Oops. Sorry. Um, could you grab that for me? It should be dry enough to pick up, but maybe don't handle the edges too much?"

Corbie & Vex

[st_ubby]

At two and a half months – and Percy having made an incredibly helpful breast pump that allowed him to take over some of the nighttime feedings so she could get a decent night's sleep – Vex was back to short shifts in the clinic just to have something to do that didn't revolve completely around Elaina. Still her body told her it was time to go before a glance at the clock on the wall confirmed it, and she was just gathering up her things when she caught the sounds of a hungry-fussy baby working up to what would soon become a scream if she didn't get on the tit quick. The handover was practiced at this point, Vex kissing her husband hello as she unbuttoned the oversized shirt one-handed, and Elaina passed from his arms to her waiting one, all as a smooth action, and a mouth just opening to howl found something better to do instead.

After Elaina had had her fill, Vex grabbed the bag of baby necessities – how could someone so small need so much paraphenalia? It made Vex wish they had a second Bag of Holding, although technically the one she had already was a Bag of Colding, smaller but better at preservation, just for the baby's things – and headed outdoors. It was too nice a day to be stuck inside. The sun and fresh air would do Elaina as much good at the Tummy Time all the books insisted was necessary for proper development.

Smiling when she saw Corbie sewing in the sun, much as their mother had in better days, Vex cooed, "Let's see what Corbie's doing, treasure. Is she sewing?" Vex shifted her hold on the baby so she could sit down by Corbie, and peered over for a look before digging into the bag for the small but so soft blanket Vex had made in the later days of her pregnancy.

Re: Corbie & Vex

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"Hi Vex," Corbie greeted with a shy little smile. One that grew wider and warmer at the sight of the baby. "Hello, Elaina," she cooed. She couldn't help the way that babies made her feel all gooey somewhere in the pit of her belly, even knowing they were shitting, screaming monsters. She'd still wanted kids since she was eleven. "It's not that interesting, but if you wanna see."

Re: Corbie & Vex

[st_ubby]

"Our mother was a seamstress. Did Vax ever tell you that?" Vex knew Corbie had helped Vax with the making of Elaina's beloved stuffed alicorn. "Elaina is named for her."

Vex got the blanket spread out on the soft grass in front of them, and laid the baby on her belly. Next she pulled out the alicorn and bounced it lightly in Elaina's field of view.

"She could work magic with a needle... when she wasn't worn to the bone by other people's laundry."

Re: Corbie & Vex

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie smiled at the appearance of the alicorn, pleased to see it so well loved. "I believe he mentioned it." She wasn't entirely sure in the moment, but it did feel familiar.

Gran too had been worn down, by work and care. She wasn't sure she wanted to dwell on that right then, so she made another stitch and another fraction of the hole didn't just close, it disappeared. "Literally magic?"

Re: Corbie & Vex

[st_ubby]

Vex had good eyes. It was one of the things that made her so good with a bow and staying alive in the wilderness. So even with more than half her attention on Elaina, she noticed the way Corbie's stitch didn't just do what Vex would expect. Literally magic.

"No, not literally. Not like what you just did. But it almost seemed that way to me at the time. Is that what you do, then? Use magic to make your repairs?" Tibs had had a wheel that allowed him to mend things, as long as they weren't too broken, or any magics on the item weren't dispelled.

Re: Corbie & Vex

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"It's something I've been experimenting with," Corbie said with a brightly pleased smile. "Lillith and Molly have been teaching me veils and illusions, but the thing about any spell is that eventually is just kinda evaporates if you don't anchor it to anything. So it crossed my mind that I could put that together with architectural thaumaturgy and anchor a spell to the cloth using the thread."

Re: Corbie & Vex

[st_ubby]

Items having enchantments on them were nothing new to Vex, but how the magics were wedded to the item was something she left to the wizards and artificers who understood it. She had no clue what architectural thaumaturgy was – thaumaturgy, sure, she could do something like what she understood of the word, but it was nothing like what she watched Corbie do with needle and thread and magic.

"Are you using magic, your... architectural thaumaturgy to made the mending invisible, or putting some kind of spell effect into the cloth?" Even the former was impressive to Vex, but the latter could give her ideas if she wasn't careful. "My... 'spells', for lack of a better word, are more natural or divine in origin. Arcane magics are way over my head."

On the blanket, Elaina tried pushing up, and Vex danced the stuffed toy for her again.

Re: Corbie & Vex

[st_rikingblueeyes]

"Making the mending invisible," she said, holding out the cloth for Vex to see. "Sight and touch. But I got some ideas for how to put an effect on the cloth, too. What's a natural spell?" She understood divine magic some, having talked to Kash about what clerics were and what they did.