[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_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.

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

"I don't think so." At least, he couldn't remember swelling up or being sick or anything. And it was a good idea to limit pickiness as much as possible, especially when you were turning down a whole food group. "It's just I have a lot of friends who're animals. So I can't eat them. Everything else is fine."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

"Okay." Regina shared a kind-eyed smile with the boy. "I'll be right back."

Possibly not right back, since Regina was plausibly the world's worst cook. (Not quite that bad. Henry had survived his childhood, but that's what frozen food was for.) She'd need to find Ignis to see what might suit a skinny energetic vegetarian kid of indeterminate age.

"Ignis?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_eadfast]

Ignis was, as usual, found in the kitchen. Sometimes he ventured out of it, on arrival days, but this time he had not. "Ms. Mills. What can I help with?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

Although she had't stood on ceremony since the Forest, Regina found a certain comfort in Ignis's formality with her. It meant she didn't have to try to negotiate the awkward social space between service staff and friend.

"Thank you, Ignis. We've had a young boy arrive, vegetarian, but extremely energetic. He's hungry, and I'm hoping you'll have some good idea what to feed him."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_eadfast]

Ignis considered for a moment, then asked, "Do you know his feelings on eggs and dairy? If both are fine, I have a mushroom quiche that may suit?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

"I don't, but he did say one of his friends was a duck. So perhaps not eggs this time. I'll ask for his next meal." She really should have thought to ask. Henry had had food phases, so she knew better.

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_eadfast]

"A duck," Ignis echoed, a little nonplussed. "Very well. There's a fruit salad in the refrigerator there," he gestured, only slightly off, "and I imagine grilled cheese will do well enough until we know all the rules?"

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

"Grilled cheese." Regina's voice had the distinctive ring of 'why didn't I think of that?' "Yes. I think that will do. Do we have any vegetarian soup? Tomato maybe? He looks a little on the thin side."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_eadfast]

"As it happens, yes." Ignis started to move around the kitchen, fetching bowls, a plate, the fruit salad, cheese, bread, et cetera, and then returning to the center island to start slicing cheese. "The leftmost pot on the stove is a tomato bisque. I made it intending to use it as a base for other things, but I expect it will suit your purposes."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

"Perfect, Ignis. Thank you." Her gratitude sounded regal, even tinged as it was, with relief from rising panic.

She paced off some of the energy while he prepared the meal, and after a moment words spilled out. "It's just that he's alone. Without parents. Or any adults. And we know some people in common." Or versions of them. "My son's about his age and I know he'd act like everything was fine and under control, but he'd be able to because he'd know his mother and I would come for him. But if he were here, we wouldn't be able to and--" She realized what she was doing even as the words tumbled free and put the brakes on her prattling tongue. "I want Sora to feel welcome and safe before it hits him that he may never see his family again."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_eadfast]

"I understand." And while Ignis's only experience with children had been with Noctis when he'd been a child himself, he had very sharp memories of how clingy Noct had been and how desperate he'd been to fill in as much of the gap as possible after the Queen had been killed.

He'd arranged bowl of (probably) brightly-colored fruit salad, a bowl of hot soup, the freshly-grilled cheese sandwich, and a glass of juice on a tray - a solid enough meal to soothe both the child and the worried Ms. Mills. "Unlike we adults, he can't get drunk and pass out somewhere as a method of coping."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

"Thank you, Ignis," she said with unusual softness as she took the tray from him.

Sora couldn't drink until he passed out, but Regina could use magic to soothe him to sleep if it became necessary. She hoped it wouldn't, but resolved to do what was needful to help the boy become acclimated, and made a note to explain to Snow so she wouldn't feel replaced.

When she emerged from the kitchen, it was only a few minutes later, but she half-expected Sora to have disappeared rather than wait. In a new place, Henry or Roland might well have.

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

Sora, however, was still sitting where Regina had left him, idly kicking his feet and looking around with interest. It wasn't that he felt the need to obey grownups, or anything, because he truly didn't. It was more that he didn't really have a reason to run around at the moment.

He was stuck. There'd be plenty of time to explore. But right now, he thought it'd probably help both of them if he let Regina look after him. And okay, maybe there was a little loneliness from missing all his friends instead of just some of them.

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

Mildly surprised to find Sora where she'd left him, Regina relaxed back into a smile as she brought him the tray of everything Ignis had put together for him. She set it down in front of him, then joined him at the table.

"We weren't sure if eggs and cheese were okay. I went with yes on cheese and no on eggs. Everything else is strictly vegetarian," she explained in a vaguely maternal tone. "I hope that's all right."

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_rongheart]

"It's great!" Sora beamed at her. He hadn't thought about eggs, but... well, they were probably still OK. Eggs were in basically everything, like bread. And everybody ate bread. But he hadn't thought about it, and it was really thoughtful of Regina to worry about it. "Thank you!"

Perhaps predictably, the grilled cheese was where he started eating.

Re: Sora - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

She smiled, one part relief and one part amusement. "You're welcome."

For a little while, she just watched him eat and tried not to be creepy about it. But there was only so long you could distance-mom without looking creepy. She'd watched Emma (and herself) do it often enough to know. "Why don't you tell me where you're from that you know Pan?" she suggested, gently, without her usual imperative.