strangetrip | [GP/EP] Check-In Day

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.

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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.

No matter how he looked at it, Alex was stuck here, and it would seem that there was nothing he could do about it. He ached, he was tired, and the after effect of the alcohol was wearing off, so there wasn't even that to help see him through.

Curiosity got the better of him though. He'd had it explained pretty thoroughly that while they didn't know where they were, it was on Earth, and to a Martian? There was something that he'd never seen. Cautiously he made his way outside, beginning to get used to the feel of how it was different (though he knew it would never feel right), and squinting against the light as he walked out of the main building. He'd spent his whole life either living under a dome, or on board ships or stations, so open sky, and horizon going on forever was something he'd never seen. He wasn't sure how it would be, and he knew damn well that he would struggle with it, but it didn't stop him.

Staring down at the ground as he walked up, he raised his head too quickly, and the information overload of what he saw become too much, and he gasped at the sensation, quickly dropping his head again, and breathing in deeply to calm himself. Maybe too much at first, but he was determined.

"It will be easier if you sit." Came a voice from off to one side. Matter of fact. "Orthostatic hypotension is common."

After space travel, and he was drunk.

He was a lot less drunk than he had been. It was amazingly how walking in 1g, and having several shocks thrown at you sobered you up. Later? He was making no promises. That gin would go down well later, as he tried to obliterate what he learned in order to get home. It might work.

"Orthostawhatsit?" he asked, though sitting down seemed like a really good idea, and he did just that, feeling a little less sick as he did so. It would take a while to get used to having nothing overhead.

"All the blood is in your legs," River sat up and gave the man sitting not far from her a considering look.

"It will make you dizzy."

"Already there, sweetheart," he said, closing his eyes for a minutes just to try and get control of his body again. Mars Navy sometimes played about with 1G, ready for a fight with Earth, and the Marine Corps routinely trained in it, but he was just a pilot. He could take higher gravity than this, but only for short periods of time, and only while juiced to the gills. Being here, straight after chasing Eros that pushed the crew of the Roci to almost 20G, meant that every part of him ached.

"It's more that everything feels really heavy right about now." An understatement. "And the sky... well, that's a sight, admittedly."

"An ocean of sky." River agreed laying back down to look at the clouds again, was it a horse? No, a boat. She smiled.

"You are thinking too hard." It was going to give her a headache. "Sky is for enjoying, not thinking."

Okay. Metaphysical crap was not what he needed to be thinking about when he was still trying to absorb all that had happened. The thought of combining oceans and sky was just making his head hurt.

"Yeah, I do that," he admitted. One of the side effects of having isolated himself for far too long was it left him too much time to think. "Just... never seen the sky like this before." Ever. Of course it was shown in pictures, but living under domes affected the whole horizon thing.

"It can be disconcerting," she agreed and and hand reached out to pat awkwardly at whatever part of him was within reach.

"But you will adjust."

[GP/EP] Check-In Day

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Re: Alex Kamal - Assigned threads