[GP/EP] Check-In Day: Pastabilities

[st_arkravinghazelnut]

The last check-in day had come and gone as quietly as most other days, but Tony had made it a point to linger around the lobby every two weeks. It was tradition, after all. You could only be cynical about a pink eldritch prison for so long before you felt the need to inject some decorum, however half-assed.

During a quiet trip to a Wisconsin suburb Otherworlds, Tony had snagged an old Harley-Davidson calendar at a garage sale (why not), unique in that the previous owner had filled every single square with national holidays. Today was National Linguine Day. Truly, the most hallowed of all holidays. To celebrate, he made an order to the kitchen to bless the inn with trays of pasta, inclusive to all diets. No gluten or dairy for him, see how long that lasted.

Despite the swift approach of fall, San Luis Obispo boasted sun and 70 degree weather, so Tony arranged a chair and table outside and fiddled with a little mechanical orb the size of a jawbreaker. He prodded at its insides with a screwdriver while his half-eaten pasta dish sat ignored, his glasses magnifying the orb's internal features.

Comments

[st_mj]

MJ looked around her as she arrived in what looked like to be a lobby of a hotel. She had just landed after Peter had taken her swinging through the street of Queens and Beck had played that god awful video, blaming Peter for everything that he had done when suddenly she wasn't on the streets of Queens but...

In a hotel?

Spinning around in a circle, she reached into her pocket to grab her phone to call someone or try and use Google Maps to figure out where she was when she spotted someone nearby.

"Ok, where am I?" she asked.

[st_guyinthechair]

Ned wasn't who she was talking to. In fact, she had picked one of the hotel staff and they were not super helpful at all. Ned found most of them creepy. They talked, sure, but it was what he imaged it'd be like if you talked to a living mannequin.

It was when he turned the corner, library book about physics in hand, that he spotted her. His jaw fell open and the book fell from his hand.

"...MJ?"

Holy crap.

[st_mj]

The person she was talking to was very... flat. That was the only way to describe it. While she had managed to get a couple of answers out of them it wasn't a particular quick process. She had opened her mouth, to ask another question when a familiar voice had her spinning around instead.

"Ned?" she blinked at him. "What are you doing here? Peter didn't say anything about you leaving."

[st_guyinthechair]

He blinked a few times. "...what?" He wondered what she meant about Peter leaving, but then realized what day it was and that MJ was new and so whatever she was talking about was from back home. He had to wonder when she was from.

"Oh, uh. Okay, so this is going to sound really weird and like, from a movie or whatever, but this isn't New York or even our like, universe. You're at a hotel in some sort of pocket dimension thing..." He trailed off and wasn't sure how to add to that other than to try to smile reassuringly. His eyes widened a bit suddenly. "Oh! But Peter is here! And -" Thankfully his brain caught up with him. Probably throwing things like 'girlfriend' or 'daughter from another reality' or even the mention of Tony Stark would probably be a lot.

"And yeah."

[st_mj]

"Ok. That sounds really weird," she agreed. "Peter is here though? I saw him just moments ago back home. Did he just get pulled here too?" she asked in a rush. She hoped that he was ok especially with not being there to deal with the fall out of the Mysterio thing.

She knew that Ned was going to say something else but she didn't know what and it was obvious that whatever it was that he didn't want her to know what it was. Which just made her even more curious.

"Right," she said with a nod instead.

[st_guyinthechair]

She had just seen him. Ned felt definitely unqualified to be the one to introduce people the the Madonna Inn. Or maybe just unqualified for people from home. Next check in day he was hibernating in his room.

"Yeah. But it might be a little weird?" He was probably downplaying that part by a lot. "So this place... people come from all sorts of timelines and stuff. Peter's been here for like, a year? And I've been here for a couple of months now. The last thing I remember is I was watching Spider-Man go up into a space ship on TV." Spider-Man because as far as Ned knew, MJ had no idea Spider-Man was Peter.

[st_mj]

"That is weird but then again everything back home has been weird too so what else is new," she said with a shrug. "You come from years before me if that's what you remember," she said with a frown. "That was what 2018?"

"And oh, do you know what happens after that?" MJ suddenly asked worried that she might have said something she shouldn't have. That was going to be annoying to constantly think about.

[st_guyinthechair]

MJ was taking this better than he thought, but then again, she was apparently after the space thing and things had gotten weird. "I've heard some stuff. Like the whole blip thing and then coming back. And our trip to Europe. I'm apparently dating Betty, so that's cool." He smiled a little because he actually had a girlfriend which was awesome. "Peter's from like... sometime in the middle of our Europe trip. He told me stuff about it." Not everything. Ned was pretty sure Peter was holding out on him. "Why? What do you remember?"

[st_mj]

Oh MJ was freaking out, she was just better at hiding it than most people. Plus after what she had gone through in Europe she was just rolling with it. What else was there to do? "I come from after the Europe trip," she told him. "It's odd we come from three times." Does that mean to Peter he and MJ weren't yet dating? That he didn't know about Beck and the whole evil dude thing or the outing? That was going to be an awkward conversation.

[st_guyinthechair]

"Super weird." He nodded in agreement. Ned had no idea how he was going to navigate the whole situation. He felt like he was privy to some volatile information and he didn't want to be the one to blow things up.

"So, uh... you want to go find your room and stuff? Try to settle in?"

[st_mj]

"I guess I should do that. I assume there's a way to know what room I'm in?" she asked looking around the lobby. "Then I guess I need to figure out where everything else in this place. Did you want to hang with me or do you have stuff to do?" she asked him.

[st_guyinthechair]

"Yeah, the guy at the counter would know. There's about four people who work here and they're super creepy, but they'll do things like give you a key." He gestured for her to follow him and when he was confident that she was following, led the way. "I don't really have stuff to do. I mean, it's a hotel and we're stuck in it a lot of the time so... yeah. It's not so bad though? Plus there are some rooms that open up to Otherworlds - those are like other worlds that are kind of cool to visit."

[st_mj]

"Thanks Ned," she said with a nod as she followed him to the counter. After a brief discussion with the staff member there which resulted in the acquisition of a room key for herself she turned back to him. "I guess that's fair and by Otherworlds you mean we can travel to different worlds? Can we travel home?" she asked curiously.

[st_guyinthechair]

"Different worlds, yes. Home, no. I mean, at least not yet? There's been a few places that looked like New York, but like, my family wasn't there and stuff. It's weird. Peter and his roommate went into one that had people from his roommate's world, but stuff wasn't right. Like, the small details and stuff. So far no one's come across their actual homes." He offered a small apologetic smile. "But we're all here now together. That's something, right?"

[st_mj]

"That is something yes," she agreed with a nod actually grateful that they were here. They'd gone through a lot together and it would have been strange if her boys hadn't been here. Oh she would have survived but it was nice? Not that she would admit it.

[st_guyinthechair]

"Come on." He gave her a smile. "Let's show you around."

(ooc: fade with him showing her around a bit?)

[st_illfive]

"I'd start with a less layered question, but that's me." Five (Owen, he had to remember to try Owen) sipped his margarita on his way out of the bar, watching the new girl. Sixteen or seventeen, if he had to guess, definitely new, but didn't look inclined to either tears or panic.

Good. He'd have felt very briefly bad about walking around a crying girl. "I personally started with 'what the fuck', but that's just because I didn't expect a good answer."

[st_mj]

MJ snorted in amusement at the young boy in front of her. "I considered starting with that but I figured that I should get some actual answers before I freaked out. I mean considered freaking out but there's no point. It wouldn't get me anywhere. They're not very helpful. What questions did you find the best to ask?" she asked curiously.

[st_illfive]

"Actual answers! Dare to dream, kiddo." Owen took another sip of his margarita. "My questions wouldn't help you much, but I can take a stab at answering yours."

He gestured around. "In one sense, you're in central California, at a place called the Madonna Inn. In another sense, you're in a pocket dimension of varying size that looks exactly like the Madonna Inn in central California. Third option is that you've entered an interdimensional hub and roach motel... that looks exactly like the Madonna Inn. Pick whichever of those three you like, more than one, or come up with your own."

[st_mj]

MJ tilted her head and studied him. "So basically I'm at the Madonna Inn. Well it could be a worse place to be," she shrugged. She'd never actually been there nor had she heard of it but based on the lobby it looked ok. She'd see what she thought of it though once she figured out the question. "And the fact that you're here and not at home means...?" she asked curiously.

[st_illfive]

"Mostly that I haven't figured out how to get home, but the actual answer is interdimensional roach motel. This place grabs people and doesn't let go." He shrugged. "I've been stuck in worse places. At least this one's got food and a roof."

He tilted his head, evaluating her, then continued. "People get yanked here from different universes, different times, or both. If you see someone from where you were, they may not have come from when you were, and they may've been here for a while. I hear it's disorienting."

[st_mj]

MJ tilted her head on the side and studied the young man - boy? - in front of her. "Well that's just annoying," she said dryly. "It can't even be polite and pull us all from the same time. I could handle different universes alone but no there's time travel involved too. Of course it couldn't have been easy." The sarcasm dripped from her as she spoke but she couldn't help it. She'd seen a lot of stuff back home from aliens and disappearing and coming back to life.

"Is there any way to know in advance or is it just a matter of luck?"

[st_illfive]

"I wouldn't call it luck. But chance, sure." Owen shrugged. "Or at least, if there's a reason or a pattern nothing's bothered to make it readable."

[st_mj]

"Huh. I'd hope it would make it shareable because surely nothing is truly ever properly random," MJ shrugged. "I'm Michelle by the way," she said introducing herself.