[GP/EP] Check-In Day

[st_oriedqueen]

Why Caroline had needed her to help with Check-In Day she hadn't bothered to say. Just, "you said you'd help," and when Regina protested she wasn't good with people, "aren't you a Queen or a Mayor or something?" complete with shooing gestures. While Regina found Caroline more exasperating the terrifying, she did have a point.

So Regina suited up--literally, gathered her files and folders, coffee mug, pens and pocketed the wooden carving of Henry/Roland Robin had made for her, then headed for the cafe. If, polished and politic and patently Busy, she didn't offer newcomers the brightest or warmest smile when they arrived, it was nevertheless confident and quite possibly reassuring.

Caroline did friendly. Regina...did knowledgeable and polite. Dot and Ignis had been asked to provide finger food on catering trays. The still-grieving Miss Pryde had been tasked with samovars of tea and coffee and ice chest of soda and beer. Caroline's welcome baskets sat on the table beside Regina's for easy access. And though she didn't when she was alone in the office, Regina spent the magic to fix her eyesight so she didn't put glasses between her and new arrivals.

Madame Mayor was in.

Comments

Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

The Heartless, summoned by that Organization XIII guy, swarmed around them again. Donald and Goofy fought them back, but Sora only defended. What else could he do, now that he knew using the Keyblade on the Heartless was only going to help the Organization do whatever it was they were doing? That they were just re-enslaving all the hearts he freed from captivity?

What if everything he'd done - all of it - was for nothing? What am I supposed to do if I can't use the Keyblade?

Sora didn't have any answers, and wasn't likely to come up with any while Heartless were trying to bite his heart out.

#Imbeciles!# raged a voice in his head, recognizably Maleficent. Not actually killed by Nobodies, because of course she hadn't been. Darkness spread around Sora's feet, sticking to his shoes, sucking him down and shoving the Heartless back. #You can't be trusted to do anything!#

Darkness swallowed Sora - not for the first time, but it was just as unnerving.

And then, it was gone. He was face-down on a rocklike surface with the Keyblade still gripped tightly in one hand. Sora bounced back to his feet, ready to fight... empty space. He was on a road - a real one, not just a dirt path - surrounded by... desert. Not Agrabah, a world he wasn't familiar with. "...Huh. I guess help really does come from unexpected places. Right, Don-" Sora broke off, because it wasn't like Donald not to already be freaking out about Maleficent moving them somewhere else. Sora spun half-left, then half-right, then all the way around in a circle. "DONALD! GOOFY! HEY GUYS, WHERE ARE YOU?"

When his yell just echoed over the desert and his friends didn't respond, he frowned in confusion. "Okay. This is weird." And no, he didn't have a problem with talking to himself out loud. Why would that be a problem? "I wonder what Maleficent wants...."

Well, he wasn't going to find out or find his friends by just standing around! There was a road, it had to go somewhere. Sora followed it towards the building in the distance, which was... a hotel? In the middle of nowhere? Super weird, but also cool. A hotel meant people, maybe that was where Donald and Goofy had gone! To look friendlier, Sora dismissed the Keyblade and walked inside, straight towards the front desk.

"Welcome, Master Sora," said the guy (Sora might have used 'nondescript' if he was the type to use words like that) behind the desk. "You will be in room 174. Here is your key. Enjoy your stay." He passed over a keycard, then appeared to lose interest.

"That's okay, I'm not staying." Sora picked up the keycard anyway, out of force of habit. He was used to picking things up when they were offered to him. "But have you seen my friends? Donald or Goofy? Or Riku? Kairi?"

The desk guy 'woke up' briefly to bland out, "I have no reservations for or current guests by any of those names."

"...Oh." So what was the point here? No Heartless, no friends... hey, that was actually pretty clever! Sora perked up. Maleficent was a smart one, all right - and yeah, it helped her too, but if destroying Heartless with the Keyblade was a problem, stick the Keyblade where there were no Heartless for a while! It made sense! And... and probably Donald and Goofy were somewhere else and looking for him? Or something?

So I guess I am staying here for a while? "Um, okay. Thanks. I'm gonna look around!"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_abby]

When Vax had seen the small, sprightly figure traveling the road to the Inn from his stealthy rooftop perch, he'd decided to keep a discreet eye on him just in case. Not that he really expected danger to befall the boy, but he was definitely younger than most that had been taken in so far.

The rogue had watched him enter the building, then made his way to catch up with the child in the lobby, who was by then already tucking away his keycard and turning to make his way exploring. It was admirable, really, that he didn't seem scared or upset but rather curious and brave about the whole thing. You know, the whole thing that practically made the fully grown adults with combat skills epically freak out on arrival.

"Hello," the lean figure all in black armor and feathered cloak greeted from where he'd appeared by the stairs, approaching the boy but carefully. No, I'm not 'looking for a young boy,' Scanlan. "You've only just arrived, haven't you?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

Hah. People! And this one 'felt' a lot more real than front-desk guy. So Sora smiled and waved. Why not? The guy wasn't any scarier than Leon or Cloud, and they weren't scary at all really. Even when they were picking fights. "Hi! Yeah, I just got here a few minutes ago. I'm Sora. Have you seen anybody named Donald, or Goofy, or Riku, or Kairi?" The list was getting longer, but at least Sora didn't have to ask about King Mickey anymore. He knew where the King was!

Merrill - Assigned Threads

[st_illsabrae]

Helping the elves in the alienage in Kirkwall had mostly turned into trying to relocate as many of them as possible out of Kirkwall. Merrill wasn't a healer. She couldn't do a whole lot for the injured other than attempt to set up traps.

What she could do was come and go freely from the city. No one stopped The Champion's companions and hardly anyone thought to keep a Dalish elf in the city in the first place.

She'd gone back to Ferelden, a thing she'd never thought she'd ever do after the blight drove her clan out. She could survive on her own. It was easier with a clan, of course, with bright aravels slipping through the forests to scare off those who might think to do them harm if they were on their own.

Merrill didn't have a clan any longer, though. She was crossing the Frostbacks on the way back from staying with some accommodating Avvar when the sky tore itself open. She stared up at the sky, dread filling her heart, slithering down her spine and coiling around her throat. It wasn't safe to scream. Fen'Harel she thought as she tried to melt back into the frost flecked foliage. No one else was powerful enough or cruel enough to do something like this to the world.

Her fingers curled around the amulet at her chest as she hoped for Sylaise's blessing that somehow she would learn to heal.

She closed her eyes tightly. The gods rarely listened, but she would pray for Dirthamen to let her move as swift and silently as a secret, for Andruil to keep the beasts of the forest from her and for Falon'Din to be a friend to whoever lost their lives in this new disaster.

The wind shifted her hair, getting suddenly warmer. She could feel the sun on her face.

Merrill opened her large green eyes and- None of this was at all familiar. The sky was blue and whole and she could hear the happy little trilling of birds somewhere. She let go of her amulet and followed the road up to the nearest building. She couldn't read the sign, but it seemed rather welcoming, didn't it?

Re: Merrill - Assigned Threads

[st_reyofsunshine]

The air conditioner inside the lobby of the Madonna Inn kicks on with a sad, straining noise that sounds much like the squall of a baby Teedo. The noise is thankfully short-lived, but Rey makes a mental note to take a look at it later. She's got important things to do today -- namely, helping with the newcomers.

Rey glances up at the lobby clock, then over at the double doors at the entrance, briefly weighing the pros and cons of staying indoors or going out. The debate is short-lived; she charges past the doors and out into the heat of the midday sun -- just in time to catch sight of a figure making their way towards the hotel from the desert.

Rey holds a hand to her brow, her eyes narrowing as they make their approach. Brown hair, facial markings? Or are they tattoos? Rey's not certain. But she's certain of one thing: she's never seen this woman before.

"Hey!" Rey says, lifting her hand way from her face to greet Merrill with a wave as the elf narrows the distance between them. "You're new here, aren't you? I'm Rey."

And once Merrill is standing within arm's reach, Rey extends a hand to her to shake.

Re: Merrill - Assigned Threads

[st_rikingblueeyes]

Corbie had seen her share of marks in her time. Even Felix's tattoos had nothing on some sailors she'd met. Facial markings, though? She'd never seen the like before. Instantly she wondered what Mildmay would make of it.

She caught herself and shook her head. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to stare. Just, you're new, right?"

Fenris - Assigned Threads

[st_olenlife]

It had taken a while for Fenris to become accustomed to being alone again, but after a year or so it had become normal again.

Hawke had asked if he had to leave. Yes. He'd had to. Hawke probably had no idea what a mercy that was, his leaving. Instead of sticking around to take the mage's head off. If he did not feel such loyalty and obligation to Hawke, he would have left before it was all over.

And now, he spent his time hunting down slavers, freeing slaves, mostly in the area surrounding Tevinter. And when he was feeling particularly self destructive, in Tevinter itself. And he did it mostly alone.

One disadvantage of being alone, of course, was the difficulty in taking on an entire crew of slavers by himself. Sometimes he would break the chains on the slaves first in the hopes of aid - but this time the elves cowering in the wagon were mostly children, shivering and terrified. Damn the Imperium. Damn the Magisters. Damn them all.

The fight that ensued was more challenging than he'd anticipated. At some point he took advantage of a blow knocking an opponent to the ground to knock back his last healing potion. He tended to carry as many as he could carry, as he certainly did not want to have to employ the services of a mage.

And as if to mock his realization even further, a woman wielding daggers came at him in a flurry, catching the back of one of his thighs with a blade. As he lost his balance and fell backwards he activated the lyrium markings on his skin, thinking that he could shove his fist through her if she came at him...

But she did not come. And he did not remember squeezing his eyes closed, but when he opened them, the battle was nowhere to be seen. Nor were the slaves. Nor was any of the countryside.

He managed to get to his feet, wincing. Picked up his longsword and, still looking around him for any signs of danger, wiped it on a cloth he pulled out of his pouch and slid it into the scabbard at his back. There was a building in the distance and so he started towards it, limping. It made more sense than going out into the desert, at least. So he wiped blood off of his face with one hand, and kept walking.

Re: Fenris - Assigned Threads

[captaincorsair]

By now, Yasmeen had developed a routine for check-in days that both allowed her to see if any friends or crew arrived without engaging with hysterical strangers. She'd found a relatively stable spot with a view of the road from a large flat rock ideal for sunning, and it was there more often than not when she wanted it to be.

It had been today, so she'd taken up her sentry position and watched as a somewhat larger number of new arrivals than normal emerged. One rather bedraggled young woman on a broom raised an eyebrow, but she seemed to have her situation under control so she went back to her book.

The pale one with the interesting markings, though... he'd come through with a drawn and bloodied sword, and had more blood streaming from his hamstrings. In Gotham, she'd have paid him little mind and let the caped crowd deal with it. Here, she did run the perimeters to keep the place secure, so she stood, pocketed the book, and loped out to the road.

"Hold," she called and approached in a loose-limbed walk, all the more dangerous for the nonchalance, and no less so for the bikini top worn in place of a more substantial garment and paired with denim shorts and tall boots.

Vex'ahlia - Assigned Threads

[st_ubby]

There was a popping sensation in Vex's torso where the giant tentacle wrapped tightly around her, but Vex barely noticed. She couldn't feel anything beyond the scream in her heart, couldn't see anything but her brother's b- ... beyond her brother. Keyleth grabbed him – oh thank the gods, she would take care of him – and dragged his ... dragged Vax to where Vex struggled against the Kraken's slick, unyielding grasp.

Then Keyleth's hand caught Vex's and the world darkened, spun, shifted as the druid's magic took effect. When things righted again, Vex blinked against daylight that came from no spelled arrow, and took a breath of air light and comforting after the strangeness of water breathing for so long. She'd no sooner realized she'd left the water plane than another, more important, realization struck.

Her brother, who'd been right in front of her, who should have been right there. Wasn't.

Neither was Keyleth.

Vex blinked again, this time against the sting in her eyes, and pushed the bulbous glass goggles up onto her head so she could see more clearly. No Vax. She spun in a circle, seeing desert around her and a road of some sort, but no sign of her brother.

"Keyleth! Keyleth, where are you? What did you do?" she cried, anger and panic warring in her voice. No answer, so Vex mounted her broom and flew up for a better vantage point. Still no sign of her brother or the rest of Vox Machina. Nothing familiar, and nothing really, except some buildings ahead that even from a distance seemed gaudier than Scanlan's mansion. Still she flew search patterns, somehow finding herself back at the strange buildings after a time.

Well, nothing for it but to go in then. She wasn't going to find her brother flying around randomly. Any other day, Vex would approach the door stealthily, cautiously, checking for traps. But today the need to find – save – her brother blotted out everything else, and she steered her broom through the propped open door without a thought for her own safety.

It was quite a sight. Rough hewn stone and heavy wooden beams set against pinks and reds and the loud floral pattern of the carpet. Then again, Vex was quite a sight herself, and not in the usual way. She was soaked from head to toe, like a drowned rat, water dripping steadily off her and soaking into the carpet as she pulled the broom to a hovering stop. Bits of seaweed clung to her her armor and in the braid over her shoulder. The forgotten goggles sat atop her head like glass funbuns, scrunching against limp, blue feathers in her hair. Her bow was still gripped in one hand, but she paused not yet drawing an arrow as her gaze darted one way and then another trying to find anyone she knew.

Re: Vex'ahlia - Assigned Threads

[st_oh_honestly]

She did not know the young woman in the sedate brown skirt, and cream blouse buttoned up to her throat holding a teapot who was standing less than four feet away gaping at her.

And Dot didn't know who, or what the new arrival was. Really she thought to herself, if she was the sort of girl to faint she might do so right now. She bent slightly to glance under the broom where it hovered as if checking to make sure it was in fact flying and ignored the voice of her priest talking about witchcraft in her head.

Witchcraft or no, she knew what was expected and she took a few steps closer.

"You look like you could use a towel, luckily they have an unending supply." In fact Darryl was already approaching with a stack of them and a room key. Dot traded him the teapot and smiled back at the newcomer and offered a towel.

"My name is Dot."

Alex Kamal - Assigned threads

[st_donkeyballs]

A picture from the past came slowly stealing
As I brushed your arm and walked so close to you
Then suddenly I got that old time feeling
I can't help it if I'm still in love with you.

Drinking Ganymede Gin almost immediately after coming down off the juice and a long 15G burn was probably the last thing the crew needed to do, but dammit, they needed to honor Miller. Crazy son of a bitch, but you had to admire what he did. Holden and Naomi had left first, because that wasn't at all suspicious, and Amos had vanished somewhere else, saying he had to go fix something. Like his girl needed fixing. She purred like a kitty through all that they'd put her through. She was the best girl he'd ever been with.

Singing to himself as he walked through the corridors wasn't an unusual sight. He was conducting with the bottle of gin, barely looked at where he was going, he knew the ship so well by now. He certainly didn't notice when things changed.

It was only the when he crashed to his hands and knees, narrowly avoiding smashing his bottle of gin that he realized that something was wrong. The urge to throw up was almost overwhelming, but he held onto it, barely. Amazing how surviving throwing up in your own space suit meant how desperately you tried not to throw up at other times. But it felt like someone was standing on every one of his muscles, and why the hell was it so bright out there? A part of his brain itched with the knowledge that he was on Earth, experiencing Earth gravity, but it was ignore in favor of the struggle to get back onto his feet. Sure, he looked drunk, but for once, it weren't him. "Whoa. What in the...?" He hauled himself up, squinting at the suddenly bright light. "Uh... Hoss? Naomi? Amos?" Even Prax would have been useful now, even if he was a little obsessed.

This was bad. This was real bad.

Re: Alex Kamal - Assigned threads

[st_illunsung]

If there was one thing Jack had learned to recognize both in his years as a policeman and from his time in the War, it was when a man was drunk. Further, he didn't recognize the fellow, and it was check-in day... so most likely, he was a new arrival either getting a good start on the traditional response to arrival at the in, or already in that state upon arrival.

Either way, Jack moved to offer a hand to help the man the rest of the way up, or steady him as needed. "None of the above, I'm afraid."

Re: Alex Kamal - Assigned threads

[st_makemeastone]

River was waiting outside the main building, she was laying flay on her back on the grass looking up at the clouds trying to decide if that one looked like a horse, or if it looked like not a horse.

She was waiting in case anyone came out of the cafe and got lost looking for their rooms or needed help.

It was too loud inside on arrival day, too much confusion, it gave her a headache. So today she looked at the clouds.

"Not a horse," she decided.

Merrill - OTA

[st_illsabrae]

Merrill had thought it when she first walked into the Inn and still thought it now. Everything here was very Orlesian. It was impressive for a place that probably wasn't at all connected to Orlais. Not, of course, that Merrill had ever been this close to Orlesian finery, but she'd seen it at a distance and Varric certainly painted a vivid picture.

Her fingers ran over the smooth cool lacquered wood of the bar. It was- Oh it was so lovely. Disturbing, yes, but lovely. She was sure Isabela would have a few things to say about it. Varric as well. She could almost picture her friends sitting at a corner table, drinking and laughing. That felt like so long ago.

She got a drink and went to sit at the table she knew Hawke would've chosen so she could sip at it and people watch. It wouldn't do to get drunk, not when there was so much here when there were so many people to meet. Her heart ached for a familiar face. She didn't think that would be likely and if it were she knew her own luck. If anyone were to come to her here, it'd be Mahariel to compound her guilt for what happened to their clan. Still, she'd be overjoyed to see him no matter how much pain it brought.

Re: Merrill - OTA

[st_opthetemplars]

Thankfully places usually reserved for getting drunk tended to look the same no matter the land one found themselves in. And as always, Anders had no trouble finding the nearest bar. Maybe it wasn't wise to drink anything in a place he just arrived and he might need his wits about him to run, but that had never truly been his style. After escaping from the tower he'd wanted to live a little and enjoy his freedom. He could have a drink, just one. He felt he earned it by not being more upset about arriving wherever the Inn was supposed to be. More importantly his cat wanted a drink.

He found a spot at the bar and pulled Madam Fluffy out of his coat, setting her down so she could stretch her four tiny legs a bit as he waited for a barkeep. While waiting and occasionally petting he happened to glance at the people around him, or rather he happened to glance at Merrill.

He blinked once at the sight of her then couldn't help what fell out of his mouth next. "Andraste's burning knickers. Merrill?" Anders, surprise to him, was very pleased to see her. Really he would have done with any familiar face but as he hadn't seen another until now he was mildly thrilled. "What in the Maker's name are you doing here of all places?"

Anders - Assigned Threads

[st_opthetemplars]

With Hawke gone the days started to blend together for Anders. He rose, fed the cat, brewed tea, wrote, argued with Justice, ate, fed the cat again then went to bed. For months before they'd been travelling around Thedas freeing circles and investigating red lyrium. There had always been something for them to do, even if it was just survive another day. Then Hawke got that letter from Varric. With news that Corypheus returned her smiles and jokes had vanished, she'd taken him to a tiny village in the middle of nowhere and left him with a kiss and a promise to return. It was a shaky promise and the joke she told him as she walked away didn't have her usual bite. He could tell that she wasn't sure she would make it back this time.

For the first week he hadn't gotten out of bed for much beyond tending to the cat. After that he'd had a burst of energy and he'd set to improving the little hut, making it more cat friendly before he felt compelled to write again and covered the interior of his hut with a rough draft of his next manifesto. He let it be for a week before shame and self-loathing compelled him to paint over it. That day he dressed, grabbed his staff, slipped the cat into his coat and headed off to the small market to purchase paint only for him to realize after a few feet that things didn't quite look right.

Anders started walking in the direction of the buildings not so far from him. Rivain was warm but this place was different. The air didn't smell like cinnamon, ginger and cloves, the Seer's house had become a tea room and the woman brewed it in such great quantities that one could tell how close they were to the village by how strong the smell was. Beyond that the buildings he approached looked like something from Orlais, not Rivain. Justice wasn't pleased, neither was Madam Fluffykins, both were complaining at him now but he didn't pause to quiet them. He patted his coat over where the kitten was and let Justice know he would keep his guard up as he reached the door and stepped inside, not at all prepared for the sight before him.

Re: Anders - Assigned Threads

[st_accato]

Buffy was just on her way back from checking out the boutique - nothing new darn it - when she spotted a man in a cloak with a staff that looked a little confused. Since her only experience with a man in a cloak with a staff besides hottie elf in the movie with Golfbag (or whatever his name was) was Carlos, Buffy assumed this guy was a Wizard Warden from his world.

"Hi." She smiled wide on her approach, "welcome to the hotel. I know it's a little wonky at first and you're not where you were expecting to be but magic can be weird like that. I'm Buffy and this is a hotel that we're not sure where it is except not home." Her nose scrunched, "and yes everything is that pink."

She felt safe mentioning magic what with the cloak and staff, otherwise she would have gone with - no this isn't a dream welcome speech.

Re: Anders - Assigned Threads

[st_eelyourself]

The amount of the commotion in the Inn today was a bit overwhelming for Piotr. He'd gotten used to his days being relatively quiet and mostly solitary (with one notable exception). Per usual, he'd made his way down to the cafe with his sketchbook in hand, pencil behind his ear, he found his favorite seat taken. Slightly flustered, he turned around to leave and nearly ran into another guest.

"Oh! Извините! Excuse me. I should pay more attention."

[st_artrekodo]

Odo stopped talking as he stepped on the transporter platform. He was reviewing the latest security details with a slightly-bored but nevertheless polite captain Sisko. Odo knew the Federation man trusted him to do everything right and was more than happy to entirely delegate the daily stuff that needed no special authorization, but still, reporting to your senior officer was the required thing to do, so he did it. He waited for the few seconds it took the transporter beam to scan and demolecularize him, and as soon as his being was coherently reproduced on arrival, he took a breath (at least, he faked it out of habit) to resume his report.

But Sisko wasn't next to him. Or more accurately, he wasn't next to Sisko. This was definitively not DS9 command bridge. It wasn't any part of the station either, nor any ship, but a planet. Strange, considering that the station was orbiting the Gamma Quadrant wormhole way too far from any M-class world to directly teleport over. And this was no holodeck simulation either, Odo's senses were much too accurate to be fooled by that technology like the humanoids were.

He tapped his combadge. "Odo to ops". No answer. "Odo to Sisko or Major Kira". No answer. "Broadcast security override, authorization Odo Alpha-2 - Odo to any Federation ship or structure." Yes, that was a big step up, but something didn't felt right. The fact that there was no answer to such a wide call was particularly strange. He quickly checked his transmitter but it seemed in working condition. Maybe some dampening field then? More likely something else entirely. Gloomily remembering some weird past mission report he'd read, and since he had nothing better to do right now, Odo set out down the road towards the very old-looking building he glimpsed over there. Maybe there would be people with answers, or at least a functioning mean of communication.

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Kitty had opted not to be in the bar for Check-In today. She knew she'd spend the day staring at the front doors, waiting for Lara to come back and announce she'd been on some adventure and smile and tell Kitty she should've been there. And since she knew that wasn't going to happen--her life didn't work that way; if Lara came back, it'd be years from now and she wouldn't want to be with Kitty anymore--she just...declined.

Which meant that she was outside working on the second hover drone when the newcomer arrived. The small circular drone rose a few feet from the ground and then dropped back down. "Dang. Where am I going to get you more power, little guy?"

Sitting cross-legged on the ground she tipped her head up when his shadow fell toward her. "Hi. If that's a transmissions device, it isn't going to reach the people you're looking for." If he had a badge sized transmitter, chances were he'd understand if she said it straight, so she did, and said, "You've been instantaneously site to site transported to another dimension that does not currently have a connection to your home dimension."

[st_ereoscopic]

Abby knew how confusing it could be to find yourself in new surroundings. Even if you've gone through the 'welcome' speeches like this latest group of newcomers had. They were still getting their bearings in unfamiliar territory and figuring things out. Which was why Abby usually tried to be the friendly face that people could approach and if anyone had questions with a science/forensic nature they could also find her with her homemade lab kit of (McGyvered) microscope, computer and her notes.

locked to Percy, Vax, eventually Kash

[st_ubby]

Worry-bitten lips shaped the first word they'd ever uttered, but no sound came out, sound and breath completely stolen by her brother's voice in her ear, and the broom dipped alarmingly where Vex's legs would have slid out from under her if she'd been standing.

"You're..." a whisper so soft with hope and relief, the alive dying on her lips before it could speak the opposite she'd seen to be true. Anger and fear flared in the wake of softer emotions, "What are you- where the fuck are you! We promised!"

She surged forward, like a half-broken horse, calling out to Dot left behind, "I have to..." Never mind she had no idea where she was going. She was the best tracker they knew, and he was her brother. She'd find him.

Or he'd find her.

Just like always.

Re: locked to Percy, Vax, eventually Kash

[st_ockandbarrel]

Vax was doing an admirable job of the talking part. Percy, for his part when he heard her voice, he didn't reach for his earring. He yanked his latest experiment out of the fire and ran for the door. It slammed open with a blast of hot air. Percy gave a brief moment's thought to hoping nothing exploded, but didn't pause.

Down the hill, across the garden and into the main building. He stumbled, the switch from dark to light to dark disorienting but after bouncing off a table, he regained his balance. Vex had said innkeeper and that meant the front desk.

"Vex'ahlia!"

For Regina

[st_arknaked]

Dyson wasn't in the bar for the newcomers, he wasn't even in the bar for a drink though he had a beer in his hand. He'd been walking past on his way to the gym when he'd seen Regina in full official mode. He hadn't really seen her like that before so he'd taken a detour into the bar and found a place to watch.

He was trying to decide if he liked her like this, competent and approachable, but also more than likely predisposed to snark at him. It was a puzzle.

Re: For Regina

[st_oriedqueen]

Naturally Regina had seen him enter. That was the point of sitting where she had: seeing people arrive. She still didn't know how to talk to him by daylight, which unsettled her briefly, but the feeling passed when he took a seat with a drink--and left a vague annoyance in its wake.

Their entire arrangement annoyed her at the moment. She could no longer deny the attraction. Nor could he. By night--and, she supposed, in privacy during the day--they needn't and didn't. But it wasn't a relationship. He wouldn't come take a place by her side, or call her 'love', or kiss her in greeting. Most of the time she appreciated the distinction but when it came to 'how do we act in public?' it left her uncertain and if there was anything Regina didn't like, it was not being sure of herself.

She let out a breath of a sigh, deliberately caught his gaze and lifted a brow, then equally deliberately pushed her hair behind her ear and went back to her paperwork.