[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

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!

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_abby]

"That's a long list of names," the man in black armor pointed out in his unusual accent. "Very thorough. Sorry, but I don't recognize any of them out of hand. Did you try asking Darryl there?" He nodded at the person-shaped spirit attendant with the little nametag. It seemed a pretty slim fucking chance that they'd be here without Vax having at least heard of them, but he'd try not to crush the child's hopes and tear up his sense of what was real and knowable all at once.

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

"Yeah, he'd never heard of them either." Sora sighed and shook his head. But it wasn't like he wasn't used to looking for people he'd lost. It was just four now instead of two, and he was sure Donald and Goofy would do their own looking for him in turn.

It would all be okay, because of course it would be. "Thanks anyway. Hey, can you tell me what this world is called at least?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_abby]

The thin, dark eyebrows hitched upward a bit. Not at the question itself. But at this kid and how wholly well he was taking things so far. ...It was actually a little unsettling, given the circumstances. It would be more natural to flail or growl or sob or at least deny all of this was even happening. Especially so for one this young.

Maybe it hadn't quite hit him yet.

"I'm not from here, but I've been told this world is 'Earth,' and the kingdom called 'Kal-eh-forniah,' in a country made up of United States. Does that mean anything to you?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

"Nope!" It was a little more complicated than most world-names that Sora knew, sure, but maybe it was bigger. Worlds weren't all the same size, after all. And they had areas and things. So.... "Earth, huh? Thanks, I'll remember." He wondered what other worlds it was connected to, what pathway Maleficent had found. "How about Maleficent? Do you know her at all?" This guy, despite wearing black and having a kind of Captain-Hook-ish accent, didn't seem like her type, but sometimes it was hard to tell.

And then something else in the guy's answer grabbed Sora's attention. "Wait, you're not from here? You came from a different world too? Neat! Which one? Maybe I know it!"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_abby]

"I don't know any Maleficent," he kept first things first, though it did sound vaguely elven. "But the world I came from is called Exandria. ...Are you saying this travelling between worlds you've just got done doing is familiar to you?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

Huh. Exandria was another world he hadn't heard of... but there were probably a lot of those. "Sure, I do it all the time. I mean, not usually by a witch's dark portal..." Or was Maleficent an evil fairy? Sora wasn't sure. "Anyway! Usually I travel on a ship with my friends Donald and Goofy. But yeah, I've been to lots of worlds. Not Exandria, though, sorry."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_abby]

Even as a seasoned inter-planar traveller who found himself transported to a new world entirely some months ago now, Vax was finding that a bit difficult to believe. He considered the boy critically, but he didn't get a sense that the child was lying to him. As mad as it may seem, he believed that the boy believed it.

Maybe he was just a little... You know. Touched.

But for the moment, the half-elf extended him the benefit of the doubt. (People here still looked askance at him about dragons and the rest.) "If you have a way of contacting your friends with their ship, there are a lot of people here who would be very much interested in the possibility of travel to other worlds. We're in what's known as the Madonna Inn, you see, and we don't seem able to leave."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

For a moment - just a moment! - Sora looked crestfallen, then he smiled again and shrugged. "Sorry. They're usually right with me, we've never really needed a way to talk to the ship. It's just like 'Hey Donald, Goofy, come over here!'" And he hadn't seen any of the glowy spots on the ground that usually meant 'gummi ship transporter', either. "And I didn't come here by ship anyway, Maleficent sent me here."

Was it possible that this world wasn't connected? It would explain no one being able to go anywhere, and no Heartless, but... how did people from different worlds all end up here, if there was no connection? Maybe... maybe it was like Traverse Town, way back in the beginning? People with strong hearts and wills ending up someplace else when their worlds were consumed by the Heartless. Like Sora himself had done, and Simba, and Bambi....

Sora decided, immediately, not to mention this possibility to the man in black, who was being friendly and helpful. It wasn't like Sora was sure, or it was anything but a mean thing to say. "I'm sure this world will get connected sooner or later. It'll all be fine."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_abby]

"You are... Indomitably chipper," the fellow informed him, quirking a smile in spite of the strangeness. (Maybe even because of.) "What's your name, lad?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

"I'm Sora." Sora held out a hand to shake, and decided to also not mention that he'd introduced himself in his first flood of commentary and questions. There had been a lot of names in there, it was probably understandable that the only one not belonging to a lost friend had gotten missed. "And this isn't so bad. Nobody's tried to steal anybody's heart, or turned into a dragon and tried to kill anyone, or started and had to run away from an avalanche... anyway, this is a pretty nice world actually. Plus I still have hands."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_abby]

Sora seemed to have a habit of talking at a speed of about 30, and Vax - particularly as he was only now recovering from the Worst Hangover - was really only keeping up at about 25. Old people problems.

"Hands are super useful for introductions," he put out a black-gloved hand for a smooth, friendly shake. "Welcome to you, Sora. I'm Vax'ildan. And I know a thing or two about dragons," he confided. ...Killing them, at least. "I can show you where to find your room if you'd like."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

"Nice to meet you, Vax'ildan! And yeah, please, I don't have a map yet. It's... 174?" He was pretty sure that was right. "I've only met two dragons. Maleficent was one, she's the one who tried to kill and burn everybody. The other was a friend."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

As it turned out, looking sufficiently mayoral and arranging for food and drink had meant Regina didn't actually have to talk to any of the newcomers beyond a polite hello and exchange of names, unless she wanted to. Which meant she spent most of the afternoon doing what she usually did, minus the lunch-break. She did duck out to visit Snow when Miss Pryde came in with a newcomer and waved her off for a bit.

It was when she came back that she spotted a boy running in the lobby and her heart lurched. Oh, she knew. She knew he wasn't Henry, face was the wrong shape, and too old to be Roland unless he came from another time, but tell that to her broken heart who saw the boy and immediately wanted to wrap him up in a hug. So she stopped as he drew near and smiled and offered a warm, "Hello. I'm Regina. Have you just arrived?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

Something in the back of Sora's head itched familiar, but he stopped and smiled back at the woman. Regina. She had a nice smile, and whatever the itch was trying to remember wasn't major, or he'd have remembered already. Plus, whoever she was she pretty obviously didn't know him. "Hi! Yeah, I just got here... not long ago." He didn't have a watch or anything. Ooops. "I'm Sora. It's nice to meet you."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

"Sora. That's an unusual name." It sounded familiar, like something Henry might have tried to tell her about once, but she couldn't place it. "Where are you from, Sora? Did you arrive alone?"

Poor darling. Although he did seem to be taking it suspiciously well. Then again, Henry always did.

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

"From?" Somehow, that was the question that threw him. Not the world travel, or trying to work out how much to explain, or wondering what Maleficent was up to, or missing all his friends. Where are you from was... complicated. "Do you mean like originally, or recently, or...? But, um. Yeah. I'm here alone. For now anyway."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

"Are you one of the Lost Boys?" she asked, keeping the suspicion out of her voice. They hadn't all been lying little cheats. And he didn't have that lean, feral look. Instead, he seemed sweet and eager to please.

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

"Lost... Boys?" Sora blinked. Another familiar thing, from further back, what was it- "Oh, do you mean Peter's gang? No, I don't really have anything to do with them." After a moment, he added, "Actually I try and avoid'em. Peter's kind of a pain, so." He could be a helpful pain, sure, but on reflection someone who was okay with letting the Heartless stay loose in his world as long as it wasn't inconveniencing him personally was probably worthy of being labeled a pain. And he was WAY too amused by people getting eaten by ticking crocodiles even if said people were pirate captains.

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

Now it was Regina's turn to blink. Apparently he knew Pan, but was neither a Lost Boy, nor one of her people, nor... well, perhaps. "You're from Neverland, or you've been there, then." She supposed it hardly mattered, except that he might know who she'd been. "It seems we know so people in common. Pan is, definitely, a pain."

If her smile had faded, her expression was no less friendly when she gestured toward the cafe. "Are you hungry? We could have something to eat and you could tell me about yourself."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

"I think I was there... I dunno, it was a while." At least a year, but he'd been asleep or something a while. For some reason he didn't remember. And... yeah, that was complicated.

Food was a lot less complicated, so Regina got a radiant smile. "Sure! I was actually gonna look for food, so that works out great!"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

"Well, then. Shall we?" She restrained herself from offering her hand, because although he looked young, he didn't act it, and he was certainly older than Roland. Instead she turned and walked at a companionable pace until they'd reached her table.

Her paperwork had been gathered before she left to visit Snow, so the table was tidy when she offered him a seat. "What can I get you to eat?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

Sora blinked, but took the offered seat. He wanted to say that he could get his own food, but something told him to settle. Regina wanted to be helpful, and it had king of been a long day. "Um... fruit, maybe some bread? I don't eat meat, just so you know. You know, ahead of time."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

"Is there anything besides meat that you don't like or are allergic to?" Ignis did fantastic things with vegetables. But there was always peanut butter and jelly, bagels and cream cheese. Cereal, and the like. Plus no one would object to him having dessert for lunch and dinner the next few days, if he wanted it.