strangetrip | [GP/EP] Check-In Day

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[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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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."

"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."

"Just a short stretch of the legs," Vax assured him, leading them back outside and angling them in the direction of the building in question. "In my experience, most dragons are like that first kind, burning and killing and scheming. Not nice."

"Mushu did like burning things, but he was pretty little. A family guardian spirit for another friend of mine." Sora wondered how Mulan was doing. He'd had to leave pretty quick and hadn't had a chance to visit again. "If anybody else I know is a dragon, they haven't told me. And I mostly fight Heartless, so it's a lot of ghosty demon things. Behemoths. Weird invisible geckoes."

"I'm not sold on a 'guardian spirit' being the same as a dragon," Vax turned it around. "But what's a 'heartless'? And what kind of fighting is involved?"

Sora certainly didn't look threatening, but Vax more than most knew better than to assume. He'd been killing men for coin by the time he was this boy's age.

"Heartless are... they're Heartless." Sora waved a hand in the air, trying to illustrate a point he hadn't had to explain in a long time. "They come from the darkness in people's hearts, and they want to... eat hearts, I guess. It's a little more complicated than that but I don't think much." Nobodies were the complicated part. And boy, were they. "What they really want is to consume the hearts of worlds. They want everything to be dark."

And that was as good a time as any to call the Keyblade, in its swirl of light, as Oathkeeper, one of its more impressive forms. And a nice reminder that he had to see Kairi again, to return the keychain she'd lent him so long ago. "I use this to destroy them, free the hearts they take, and lock them out of worlds. It's called the Keyblade."

The Keyblade as Sora called it hardly even looked like a weapon at all. Art, more like, and it was hard to see how it would be practical. Magic, must be.

"Don't take this the wrong way, lad, but all of that sounds super weird to me," he finally admitted. "You lost me back at the dragons. ...Are any of your Heartless here, do you think? I'm fond of keeping my organs where they are."

"It's okay." It was weird, until you got used to it. Which Sora had had to do very quickly, since he'd gone straight from island boy to prospective savior of worlds in a matter of minutes. The Keyblade disappeared again in its swirl of light. No point keeping it out unless there was going to be a fight. "And no, I don't think so. They'd've shown up by now if there were any here, they're kind of drawn to the Keyblade. Sometimes, anyway."

"Maybe this will be a bit of a vacation for you then."

As they worked their way round the winding path, giving Sora a better understanding of what buildings were where and the garish charm of the Inn's outdoors, they chanced to pass another man with ridiculously good posture, white hair surprising on someone so young, and a custom set of spectacles. He had his nose buried in a book on approach, but glanced over the pages at them when he noted there were people headed his way. "Don't even, Percy," Vax held up a hand as if to signal for safe passage, even as the fellow seemed to purse his lips to say something. "Check-in day." 'Looking for a young boy,' indeed. Percy thought better of it, and continued off in the opposite direction.

"That's Percival. He's alright. A bit too smart. You can meet him later," Vax promised. "Better not to get sidetracked first thing."

Sora turned to walk backwards a few steps, watching Percival moving farther away, then nodded and spun back around. "Yeah, I'll never learn where things are if I get distracted. Good plan. This isn't a very big world, is it?"

"It's very small," Vax agreed as they walked past a quaint garden. "You can walk in any direction for a few hours - but you'll just end up back here at the end of it. This fact makes some people rather cranky."

"Every once in a great while," he struggled a bit with weighing out how much hope he thought he ought give in his mild tone, "one of the rooms will... Change a bit, to let us visit some other world for a time. But once the door shuts, things are back to being small and closed-off like before. We all come back to the Inn."

"So it's connected sometimes," Sora mused. "That's weird. Most worlds're either connected or they're not." So would there be a Keyhole or wouldn't there? It was worth looking, anyway. "Hey, by the way, thank you for helping me out here. I appreciate it." New friends were always better than more enemies, after all.

"We're neighbors now, so we should at least try to be neighborly," Vax gave him a bit of a smile, reaching carefully to pat the boy's shoulder. The kid was really being very brave about this. It made him think of Kynan - with less beating him and breaking his tender heart. But Sora wasn't trying to throw himself into the fray with Vox Machina, either.

He nodded at the three buildings that rose up ahead. "This is where the private rooms are. Most of us end up in the largest building, over there. There's also an artificial pool beyond, if you like to swim." He flashed an impish grin. "Or toss your friends in."

If Donald was here, he'd probably enjoy that. Being a duck and all. "Okay, got it. Private rooms, pool, over there." After a moment, Sora jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Do you throw that guy in the pool much?"

That startled a genuine chuckle out of Vax, his dark eyes brightening. "He's stuffy enough for it," Vax had to admit. "But he might surprise you. He helped me chuck in one of our other friends. A very grumpy one." Not that he was going to elaborate for the boy that they had been sloppy drunk and trying to distract from his own heartache.

"Our building is back this way," he waved them on. "...I know this is all a lot to take in. But is there anything special you're wanting to know already?"

"No, I'm good." Sora was looking around with interest rather than any sign that strangeness was catching up with him at all. "It's not really as much as you think, you know? Remember, I'm used to going to different worlds." He was also used to being able to leave again, but... eh, it'd be okay. Everything would always be okay.

He wasn't sure it was strictly healthy for someone to be so flip about their predicament, but he wasn't going to try and force the issue either - so Vax led him around to the farthest residential building and showed Sora inside. "Okay, well - should you need anything, most people here are friendly. And the ones that aren't might growl at you, but it's safe enough. The spirit staff like Darryl there at the front desk mostly waver about at their chores. They'll keep you in towels and cook you chicken, but they're not much more useful than that."

"I'm a vegetarian, I don't eat chicken." Too close to duck for him to be comfortable. And then a lot of his other friends... well, there were too many animals for meat to ever be appetizing to Sora anymore. "But the towels are good! And hey, if you want to catch up with your friend or anything I'm sure I can find my way from here?"

"You seem used to taking care of yourself," Vax noted at that. He glanced over at the stairs - it was just a couple of flights up, and the rooms were neatly marked, so Sora should be able to make his way alright.

"Those key cards from the front desk can be a bit of a trick," he thought to mention. For people from a world like his, at any rate. "Have you ever used such a thing?"

"Keycards? Oh, yeah." And even if he hadn't, he could probably use the Keyblade to lock and unlock the door, so it was all good. "I'm fine. I'm sure of it."

The boy was clearly dying to explore, and Vax couldn't say he blamed him, if he wasn't going to let his current circumstances dampen his spirit.

Vax'ildan just shook his head at him incredulously, a bit of an amused smile at his lips. "You'd better get on with it, then," he excused Sora, turning to leave in kind. "But should you need anything... Bother a grown-up."

Sora just laughed and waved on his way (almost a dead run) up the stairs. Whether it was acknowledgement or laughing at what he thought was a joke was impossible to tell.

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