[GP/EP] We are programmed to receive

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Fifteen days into this particular strange trip, Kitty had redistributed alcohol supplies between the cafe, restaurant, and night club to make it possible to easily tend bar wherever people decided to gather. Today, as most days, she settled into the lobby cafe after chivvying the cook into chicken tenders and french fries (after convincing him it was a single plate meal). It was the closest she could get to "bar food" from him and someone would probably arrive sooner rather than later to make something else.

A few people trickled in after awhile, but none of them demanding. Like her, they drank coffee from the samovar she'd put out. And also like her, most of them had something else to keep them occupied. At the moment, Kitty had a notebook open (from the gift shop; she kept her school notebooks separate in case she made it home during the term) and was sketching plans to upgrade the hotel's computer technology. She needed more raw computing power to work out the energy requirements to do what Illyana did with a thought.

She lifted her head periodically to check for new customers, and had just seated herself at the end of the bar after refilling the samovar when the first new new customer arrived. Immediately, she flipped to a fresh page in the notebook and headed it "Day 15" and made a hash mark for one new arrival. Then she looked up from her notebook and offered one and all her best bartending smile.

Comments

Assigned Threads

[st_rikeback]

Waking up in the desert was not an unusual occurrence for Alex, but what had bothered him was that he'd not been anywhere near a desert when he'd fallen asleep. He'd tried his cell and his earbud communications to reach Cassandra and nothing. That had bothered him more. Something was definitely going on and he had a feeling it was connected to Ginny's storage locker where he'd been just moments before. Or what to him was moments.

The weight of his gun at the small of his back had been comforting as he'd done some recon of the landscape. When he saw the hotel in the distance, he'd made his way there to get some answers. It was very tempting to try to beat responses out of the man behind the front desk when all he gave were one word responses and a room card. That alone told him he was probably on the pay of Mr. Johnson. Yeah, he was going to kick his ass when he got back.

Always hyper-aware of his surroundings, Alex didn't perceive any threats, at least not in the vicinity, but he did notice voices from the cafe. Voices meant answers, even if it was, where was the parking lot for the hotel and where could he steal a car?

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_raighttovampire]

Caroline had spent the last couple weeks attempting to discover the workings of this hotel and, more to the point, the failings of it. Now she had a thick notebook full of notes and a list of roles to fill.

She took her notebook and obsessive attitude to the cafe early that morning and by the time the first arrival walked in, had just about finished her first draft proposal. First she jotted down a new note - arrivals - then got up. As she crossed the room, she looked the guy over - attractive, fit. Probably about Ric's age.

"Hi," she said, extending her hand with a smile. "You must be new. Welcome to the inn. I'm Caroline Forbes."

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_rikeback]

Alex immediately shifted gears from recon to uncle as Caroline looked about to be Dani's age. He assumed she was the hostess of the cafe and took her hand in a gentle shake. "Nice to meet you, Caroline. My name is Alex. I hope you can help me. I was looking for a friend of mine, he was supposed to pick me up but I don't see him here. Is there somewhere the cars are kept? I can see if his car is there."

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_accato]

Buffy, with the help of Constance, found another outfit that she could wear so that she had two that she could alternate with until she could figure out something else. She'd been on the hunt for that something different when she noticed people gathering in the café.

It was the shell shocked look - fire bad, tree pretty - that she recognized on some of them when she entered. Buffy assumed that it meant there were arrivals and they'd already been told you were stuck. She knew exactly what they were feeling. She was on her way to comfort one when she noticed 'military' guy. Not that anyone wouldn't notice him. He was hot - if older. Not two hundred years old but older.

"Hey." She approached with a smile, hoping to help and maybe give him a 'mission'. It was always better to be occupied so you didn't have time to think about things.

"You didn't notice a creepy old guy - well besides the guy behind the front desk - that was hanging around here did you? He'd have a British accent if he spoke but would have been uber creepy."

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_rikeback]

Alex blinked at another young blonde that was about the same age as his niece. It wasn't that she was young or blond like Caroline, it was the slang that she'd used. The same kind that he would have used in high school. Or rather that the girls had used.

"I haven't." He shook his head, "Creepy in what way?" Alex's protective instincts were fighting their way through his frustration and anger.

Assigned Threads

[st_illcounts]

So you know, that wasn't for all the people that you killed, or the millions you would enslave, if you got another chance. I am not a hero, I just loved her."

That moment played over and over in John's mind as he walked out of the alley and through the streets of Old Town toward Lucy. After a while when he realized that the sounds that he should be hearing were gone, his focus sharpened. "What the hells?" He tapped his neck, "Lucy?" Silence. Had the Company come after him and drugged him? No, they wouldn't have discovered that bitch that quickly and if they had he would have been dead.

He turned slowly looking around. While it was as hot as hells would be, Johnny was pretty sure that he wasn't in the after life. He saw building in the distance, through the shimmering light of the heat of the day. If nothing else there would be answers. Hopefully.

For a brief moment, he thought about going to the first person he saw, but then thought better of it. He might be connected to the Company. Besides, everyone knew you got better answers in the bar so he headed in that direction.

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_ereoscopic]

Abby was sitting in the cafe with a 14.4k modem that she'd 'found', there were definite finger air quotes around found, but she didn't think the office behind the desk would miss it. Much. The circuit board was on the table in front of her while the rest of the modem was to the side. "There has to be a way to make this into a wifi instead of a dial up." If she were back in her lab it would have been easy. But then, if she'd been back in her lab she wouldn't have the antiquated modem ... unless she'd been doing something for Gibbs.

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_illcounts]

John's eyes skimmed the room and it wasn't any surprise that his gaze lit on the one piece of tech that he was familiar with. Well at this distance, he was familiar with it. A circuit board was a circuit board. The best place to get answers in his mind was someone that spoke his language. Technology. Either that or gun or alcohol. John was fluent in all three languages.

"Hey, what are you working on?" He asked as he approached the table.

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_rigaetsica]

When she'd come in, Joanna had seen the newcomer talking with the unstereotypically cheery goth woman. Abby, Joanna thought her name was; they hadn't gotten around to introductions yet. Later, after getting another glass of wine, she saw him again, alone this time.

"It's a lot to take in, I know. How are you doing?"

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_illcounts]

"It is a lot to take in." Johnny admitted, "but I'm used to weird shit." Just not this weird of shit he added to himself.

"I'm not too happy about getting cut off from my friends though." Truth was, he was kind of happy about being cut off from the Quad,just not so much his brother and Dutch.

Assigned Threads

[st_rayed]

Wyatt strained his ears to hear the sounds of the fighting back at the Alamo. He owed them that, to commit it all to memory, their last heroic moments. Everything inside of him had wanted to stay, to make the last stand that he hadn't made with his comrades. It would have been as much of an honor to die beside Jim Bowie as it would have been with his other brothers. Lucy was right,though, he couldn't abandon his team, not during this situation and he had to make sure that the women and children survived.

When there was silence and only Spanish voices, Wyatt turned his focus back to getting back to the ship alive, except there weren't any familiar voices. There wasn't even the sound of Rufus or the machine in the distance. Had he been abandoned? It was unlikely but Wyatt couldn't say that he cared if he had been trapped in the past.

Only this past was not Alamo or Texas past. It looked closer to California and he had no idea what was going on, but the building in the distance didn't look too far off of the architecture he was used to. "Well the best way to figure this out is to go get answers."

He stepped inside what was now obviously the lobby of a hotel but instead of going to the front desk, Wyatt went to the cafe. There were more people and more ways to get what he was looking for in there. He glanced down at his dusty clothes with Jim Bowie's knife in the waist of his buckskins and two six shooters on his hips. "Well so much for not standing out."

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_alksthroughwalls]

When Kitty saw the outfit, she immediately thought, "shit, where's Snow White?" because whether she was anti-Semitic or not, Kitty didn't want some buckskin wearing white man from the 1800s shooting her on sight. She didn't see Snow, so she set down her notes and smiled at the guy.

What he said surprised her, though. It sounded more modern than she'd have expected. She tilted her head a little, curious at how calm he seemed to be. "You'd be surprised. One guy showed up in a trench coat and nothing else. Another was bleeding from claw wounds. Buckskin's a new one on me, but not that weird. I'm Kitty."

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_rayed]

Wyatt assumed she'd meant hotel guests and also assumed she probably worked there. Her manner of speech was what he was used to so that told him he was no longer in the distant past. "I bet you do see it all. I'm Wyatt." He didn't even pretend to be another name. It was always easier for him to be who he was, even when in the past. Lucy was the one that always gave false names to 'protect history'.

"So, where is here exactly?" He hadn't thought to grab a newspaper when he was in the lobby and figured where am I was a lot easier question to ask than when am I.

Re: Assigned Threads

[st_eampunk]

Molly had wondered into the cafe when the aroma of french fries filtered out. Once inside, she noticed that there were more new people. They seemed to be handling it well, though alcohol was always a tempting offer on the first day. Which was why she'd grabbed a couple of beer bottles and walked over toward the cowboy. She assumed that he'd be having the hardest time to get used to, what for him, was probably the future. Plus, cute cowboy.

"Hey." She held out the beer bottle. "You look like you can use this."

Open to All

[st_illness]

Jedi philosophy regarded violence and killing as a waste to be avoided at all costs, but as he regarded the Sith lord through the red force field separating them, Qui-Gon Jinn reflect that like many Jedi philosophies, it was incomplete. Certain things and situations could only be truly opposed through violence - thoughtfully and precisely, but treating a situation as peacefully resolvable when it was not was an excellent way to move everything closer to the darkness. Whether that was your goal or not.

So he made no effort to speak or negotiate with the Sith while the field was up, and the second the field dropped he was already in motion to attack, thumbing his lightsaber on as he did.

Just as quickly, he stopped, because he was no longer in the lower recesses of a Naboo power plant facing a Sith. He was on what appeared to be a constructed road, in a desert. Mercifully less barren than Tatooine, it hummed with life around him. And in the distance, there was the more-complicated sense of sentient life. And a set of buildings, oddly but clearly constructed.

How interesting. Qui-Gon spared a thought as he deactivated his saber and walked towards it that Obi-Wan would have to deal with the Sith alone, and train the boy Anakin... but he was ready, surely. Obi-Wan was a fine Knight no matter what the Council said, and the Force would guide him.

As it would continue to guide his Master.

When he greeted the man behind the apparent reception desk of the main building, he was treated to a lecture that began, "Welcome, Master Jinn. You will be in the Highway Suite, room 145..." and continued into an informative lecture that Qui-Gon barely listened to. He accepted the keycard, 'listened' politely for about a minute, then left and let the man keep talking if he felt like it.

There were more people in the cafe. All human, it seemed, which was unusual, but peaceful enough.

Re: Open to All

[st_oh_honestly]

Dot was making herself useful. The samovar of coffee and the fully stocked bar were all well and good. But she firmly believed tea would be needed and had taken it upon herself - after some negotiation with the man making chicken in the kitchen - to make a pot (or three) of tea.

She had a little cart, with the tea and milk, lemon and sugar and cups. In case anyone wanted it. The man in the robes made her pause, it was an odd sight outside the church.

Dot could clock a priest at twenty paces but he didn't look like a normal priest.

Still, there was something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Would you like some tea sir?" She asked approaching with her little cart.

Re: Open to All

[st_ableandbar]

For now, Lindsey's working hypothesis was that the inn was some sort of holding dimension. He wasn't sure how who or whatever had trapped them had managed to find him to do so, but obviously they had. He'd settled into something of a routine, spending part of each day down at the stables tending to the horses (because he could, they needed it, and it fit what he wanted people to see of him), and part in the more public areas of the inn so people could get used to seeing him around and he could get a better feel for who was brought here and what they might know or be capable of, and the rest in his room, searching his sourcebook for any clue how to get out of here.

So far, that list was in decreasing order of success, but Lindsey could be patient and play the long game. It wasn't like Angel was likely to die any time soon, although if he did, Lindsey was okay with that too. His revenge could wait a little while.

This afternoon he'd come into the cafe and had noticed there were new faces wandering in. One was a guy in robes that might've been out of place, except this was California-ish, and who knew what kinds of people you'd run into there. But the way he carried himself, the way he took in his surroundings, Lindsey had a feeling he wasn't just some aging hippie.

Lindsey poured himself a cup of coffee, black, and sipped at it as his path took him past the vaguely monkish man. "You seem to be handling the displacement better than most," he observed.

Re: Open to All

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow--her hair still wet from the shower she'd taken after mucking out stables--had come in looking for food. And discovered instead only that a new wave of strangers had arrived in the hotel.

She had frozen then, wanting to flee but more than that wanting to eat. And it made her come into the cafe animal wary.

Kitty didn't try to drag Snow into a conversation, instead setting her a task. Give that new guy in the robes a beer. Okay. Snow could do that. She made a bet with herself that he wasn't a drinking type, but it didn't cross her mind that Kitty would give her something to do just to get her mind off things.

She offered the bottle. "Beer?"

assigned threads

[st_rawberryblonde]

Lydia Martin was slow to walk into the hotel after her arrival. In fact, it took her quite awhile to actually walk inside and see what was going on because she had spent a bit of time trying to walk away. It hadn't mattered that she didn't really know where she was or how to get back home. She had thought that walking down the road away from the hotel would give her some kind of answer that she could work with and it did. Unfortunately, it just wasn't an answer that she wanted.

Being informed that she had a room waiting for her, in her name, certainly hadn't helped. Of course, she went to check out the room just to see if there was anything more there that could help her. She had only spent twenty minutes searching the room before she decided to head back out, really hoping that whoever owned the hotel would let her do some kind of renovations if they expected her to stay around for awhile. Which, she hoped, wasn't the case.

Finally, after freshing up a bit and making sure her outfit was clean, the pretty redhead made her way back down to where everyone seemed to be gathering. She searched for any familiar faces or looks of recognition. She was also poking around for anything that she could read, half listening to people around her as she did.

[st_abby]

Vax'ildan hadn't meant to stare at her. He'd only caught sight of her long red hair, a flirt of flame at the corner of his vision, heart stopping in his chest for the moment that it took to get a good look at the girl that was definitely not Keyleth. But then he was staring at her, whether or not he'd meant to. And since he'd managed to catch her eye while she scanned the room, he may as well approach her and engage rather than try to slink away like a sheepish boy.

"You're new." The lean fellow in his black leather armor and feathered cloak started with the obvious as he moved closer, the hint of an unusual accent on the words. He tried a rueful smile on for her. "If you've got questions, I'm afraid there aren't many answers to be had. But I can tell you what the rest of us know."

Re: assigned threads

[st_eadfast]

Ignis had found working around the insane chicken-man to be much easier than working or negotiating with him past making sure that the man wouldn't randomly add chicken to things Ignis was cooking. (The amount of time that understanding had taken was still very nearly appalling.)

As a result, the sandwiches and pastries and other finger foods he started bringing to the cafe as soon as it became clear that new-new people were arriving had only the amount of chicken they were supposed to have. None, in many cases.

The tentative motions of someone near him told him that he was probably standing near one such new person. He transferred two of the lemon bars from the small tray he'd just set down onto a plate and offered the plate in the tentative person's general direction. "Here. I find a plate of food is good cover, if you're trying to look inconspicuous.'

[Tag Kitty]

[st_ereoscopic]

After talking to John, Abby had gone back to working on making the modem, but after a while her back, needed stretching and her pent up energy demanded that she get up and move. She was going into CafPow withdrawals but luckily someone had made some coffee.

As she poured herself a cup, her gaze naturally wandered over toward the notebook that was opened to plans that obviously was connected to computer technology. "OH hey! You're working on computer stuff, too!" Abby said by way of hello.

Re: [Tag Kitty]

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Guilty as charged," Kitty replied and shot the other woman a broad smile. "Trying to design a Beowulf cluster that won't frag the early 90s hardware." She lifted her chin at the other woman. "What're you working on?" If she was stuck, Kitty could probably help, and maybe they could work together.

Yasmeen - Angua, OT3

[captaincorsair]

When the first unfamiliar voice caught Yasmeen's ear, she collected the mystery novel (she'd read all of the adventure novels already) she'd been reading and bestirred herself to the cafe. The woman behind the bar, Kitty (nothing feline about her, however), nodded an acknowledgment as she entered and Yasmeen nodded back.

In truth, she wasn't sure what to make of Kitty. She moved with grace and handled everything with a tranquility that bespoke either stupidity or crisis experience. Since she'd seen the girl cobbling together computer parts, Yasmeen voted in favor of the latter. Yet there was nothing about her to indicate where the experience had come from. A puzzle, and one interesting enough to keep Yasmeen's attention for a time.

At her request, Kitty brought her a Turkish coffee. Thick and syruppy black coffee with sweetened condensed milk and promised to bring mint tea when that had run out. Eventually, she expected Raleigh or Snow would want something from her, but until then, she draped herself over a booth with her back to the wall and her eyes on the entrance, reading and making an occasional effort at being somewhat less forbidding.

Re: Yasmeen - Angua, OT3

[st_reetwolf]

The cat-woman's scent was a familiar one now, easy to find and follow since there weren't actually that many people in the Inn and none of them had taken to pouring aniseed or peppermint oil in the hallways yet. And Angua wanted to track the woman down, if only to make sure that she didn't misidentify some other Inn resident as 'the werewolf'.

Besides, after the initial tension, they'd gotten along well enough, running and hunting in the desert.

So Angua walked into the Cafe, where the scent led her, openly to give the cat-woman an opportunity to see and possibly scent her as well, if she could. It wasn't until after she'd collected a mug of cocoa that she went to join the woman at her booth. "Is this seat taken?"