[GP/EP] Check in Day - Feb 1

[st_raighttovampire]

Caroline waved to Kitty as she dropped into her table in the cafe. It was a banner day. A full month of living in a hotel without her mom or her friends, hungry literally all the time.

But at least there was coffee.

Caroline went through her notes - many people had already started to take on roles in the hotel. Snow and Lindsey ran the stables. Kitty ran the bar. The brothers tackled the ghosts that popped up now and then - Caroline held her tongue on how wrong it was to discriminate against the undead. The list went on.

Caroline knew very well - having a job kept the despair of being trapped away.

She hadn't expected today to be different than any other day, but then, she should learn to stop expecting things. Apparently, it was check-in day again.

Comments

Carlos Ramirez - Assigned threads and OTA

[st_illavirgin]

He shouldn't have been walking the Ways on his own, not with the injuries he was recovering from. But it was a short trip to head over to Texas to visit Bill Meyers to check on his fellow Warden, and he'd travelled it enough to feel confident enough that he'd almost switched off as he exited the Waypoint.

But it was wrong as soon as he saw it. This wasn't even close to Dallas. What the fuck had happened? He turned, intending to head back through, try and figure out where he went wrong, but as he tried to open the Way, it just wasn't there.

He could stand there and swear at it, and keep trying, but being out in the open in who knows where wasn't a wise move - frankly, he needed to sit down. Leaning heavily on his staff, he followed the path he found himself on, seeing a light in the distance. As he got closer... was that a cafe? Really? What the hell had he walked into?

Re: Carlos Ramirez - [AfterCaroline]

[st_eampunk]

Molly hadn't yet figured out the 'pattern' to new arrivals but she knew there had to be one. She was on her way to the cafe when she caught sight of a familiar figure. "Son of a bitch." She muttered and quickly veiled, the last thing that she needed was a Warden catching sight of her. Though she had to admit that Carlos wasn't as big of a dick as the others.

She watched him for a good half hour before making up her mind that he was just as lost and confused as everyone else that arrives in the hotel. Molly left the cafe, not wanting to be seen unveiling, and stepped into a shadowed alcove. One minute you could see the walls and the next a blonde was standing there.

It was tempting to leave, before Carlos knew that she was there, but Molly knew that it would only be a matter of time and frankly she'd rather the first meeting be public. So she re-entered the cafe and made her way over to where he was.

"Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?"

Re: Carlos Ramirez - [AfterCaroline]

[st_illavirgin]

Molly was good - so good that Carlos couldn't feel her veil at all, so he was not expecting her to appear from the shadows. He did a reasonable job of not jumping, he thought.

He raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. "Molly Carpenter. What the... what are you doing here?" Was this place gathering up wizards, because that would just be too weird, and would put him on edge even more than he was.

Re: Carlos Ramirez - [AfterCaroline]

[st_eampunk]

"Well that is a different response than I thought I'd get from a Warden." Which actually calmed Molly's nerves. It meant that this place wasn't connected to the Wizard's Council, not that she'd given that much thought. But Carlos showing up had made her wonder if they'd sent someone after her but his genuine surprise and rattled nerves helped to take care of that concern.

"Welcome to the Hotel of the Weird. I'd say Hotel Hell but except for the cook's extreme fondness for all things chicken it's not really hell. And how I got here, I'd say the same as you. Well maybe not the same, I was in Chicago, doing dark magic and making baby sacrifices. You know, normal shit for a Warlock."

Re: Carlos Ramirez - [AfterCaroline]

[st_illavirgin]

"What, did you think I was going to take you in on the spot to... where? As far as I can tell we're stuck here. It's a bit difficult to take anyone anywhere." But he relented a little.

"Last I heard you were kicking Fomor butt in Chicago," he pointed out, narrowly avoiding rolling his eyes. "Which frankly is good enough for me. I like to think I'm one of the good guys. You know, that rare but extremely good looking breed?" But he had done his bit to help her, by nixing several investigations into her, making sure Warden attention was elsewhere. Harry trusted her. That truly was enough for him.

He pulled a face. "Chicken? Really? Tedious. How does it work if you're vegetarian?" Which he wasn't, but hey, it was a valid question.

Re: Carlos Ramirez - Assigned threads and OTA

[st_raighttovampire]

Most people came in the front door. The man who appeared from nowhere in particular was a little surprising.

Caroline stood up when she noticed him, half-curious, half-defensive. What was he? A ghost like some of the rooms had? Or another hapless human ensnared by the hotel?

Caroline picked up a mug and filled it with coffee, then carried it over to him. The best way to find out was to ask. "Hi there."

Re: Carlos Ramirez - Assigned threads and OTA

[st_illavirgin]

Hey, he was used to arriving from unusual directions, he still managed to shock people who should be more used to it.

Oh hello there, pretty woman. He couldn't help but notice her, even before she came over to talk to him. He leaned on his staff, trying for a casual look, though his leaning was possibly heavier than it should have been. His back was killing him, and he needed to sit down at some point, but he was not going to show any weakness if he could help it. "Hello? Can I just ask - where is this place?"

Re: Carlos Ramirez - Assigned threads and OTA

[st_raighttovampire]

"This is the Madonna Inn. It's...probably in California and..." Caroline offered him the mug of coffee and gestured to one of the booths. "You're probably going to want to sit down for this. There's not a lot of good news heading your way in the next five minutes. But the coffee's fresh."

Re: Carlos Ramirez - Assigned threads and OTA

[st_illavirgin]

He frowned as he looked around. "I was in California," he said, trying to figure out just where in California it was, if indeed he was.

He took in a deep breath, then puffed it out. "That sounds like I'm really not going to like it. As long as there is plenty of coffee, lead on.2

[Tag Caroline]

[st_alksthroughwalls]

As soon as Caroline sat down, Kitty came over to bring her coffee. "Chicken cacciatore today," she said as she dropped into the seat opposite her. Not enough customers to keep her from sitting and talked to guests. Not today, not ever. "I would literally kill for wonton soup and a couple of egg rolls."

It wasn't hello, but they saw each other often enough that hello seemed superfluous. Why bother with hello when there was no such thing as goodbye. "I'm exactly sixteen hours closer to knowing I don't know anything about what's keeping us here than I did the last time you saw me." Which was in the neighborhood of twenty-four hours. "How go the plans for world domination?"

Re: [Tag Caroline]

[st_raighttovampire]

Caroline smiled and sighed. "About the same as your search for knowledge. Trying to figure out what we're supposed to be doing here is just as bad as how we got here in the first place. I don't understand why people are resistant to the idea that we're all in this together, so we may as well make it livable."

Re: [Tag Caroline]

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Because they feel pretty safe. There's plenty of food, alcohol, nice beds. It doesn't feel like an 'in this' yet." Smart, if they had an actual captor. But Kitty was starting to think it was more random, less intentional. No real reason. Her brain just couldn't make sense of it. "When it sinks in that they can't have everything they're used to having ever again, it'll get more real."

Kitty knew, because she'd been in situations like this before, but that begged the question. "It's actually weirder that so many people are already chipping in. Why are you?"

Re: [Tag Caroline]

[st_raighttovampire]

"Because I'm a control freak." Caroline smiled wryly. "Establishing a norm makes things easier. Plus...then you notice faster when things go weird. If everything weird...nothing is."

Re: [Tag Caroline]

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"Makes sense." Kitty knew plenty of people like Caroline. Scott and Warren both sprang to mind. "I try to understand the chaos, you try to control it." It always helped to have some of each on a team. "I'm hitting a wall my way. So, anything I can do to help?"

[Tag Caroline]

[st_illunsmeared]

"Hello, Kitty," Phryne offered cheerfully as she sailed into the cafe on the heels of a chance meeting with Jack.

"The usual, Miss Fisher?" Kitty held up a bottle of chilled gin.

"Champagne today, I think, Kitty. I'm celebrating." Phryne flashed her most charming smile.

"Are you? What?"

"Life. Isn't it glorious?" Phryne twirled around, grinning.

Kitty laughed and gestured to Caroline. "Maybe you ought to talk to her about that."

Phryne inclined her head in the direction of the blonde and gestured for Kitty to bring her champagne to the table. "Join me, Caroline?"

Re: [Tag Caroline]

[st_raighttovampire]

Caroline looked at her notebook, thought about the work she was going to do...and laughed. "Sure, why not?" She flipped the notebook closed and shifted over to sit with Phryne. "What's glorious today?"

Re: [Tag Caroline]

[st_illunsmeared]

"Life. It's rather an adventure, isn't it?" She swept both girls up in a conspiratorial smile even as she dropped herself into the seat she'd chosen.

As she beamed, Phryne glanced surreptitiously at herself in a gleaming copper pot hanging on a decorative post. Unsmeared and unmussed. Perfect.

"And handsome men, of course," she added and noted, after the fact, that she'd left out the customary 'young'. Jack wasn't, and she'd found she quite enjoyed that.

Re: [Tag Caroline]

[st_raighttovampire]

Caroline laughed. "I'll drink to that." Even if every relationship Caroline had had recently had ended badly (and yes, that mistake with Klaus counted as badly. Not as bad as Tyler breaking her heart or Elena murdering Jesse after Dr. Maxfield had made him an Augustine vampire. But still bad.

The point was, drinking to handsome men was totally okay. Drinking to true love or something like that would have been stupid.

Waldo Butters, assigned threads

[st_rutsthepolka]

It probably said something about Butters' life that he kept an EMT first aid kit in a go-bag right next to his apartment door, but honestly, he was living with a werewolf and a magical talking skull, emergency overpreparedness was the least weird thing about his life these days.

"I'll meet you at your place in fifteen, twenty minutes, traffic permitting, Karrin," he said into the phone as he grabbed the bag. "Try not to let him move around too much until then, or, you know, burn anything down. Right. See you... uh. What?"

This was not the hallway in his building. This was a driveway. In not Chicago.

Butters was going to have to re-evaluate the level of emergency preparedness that counted as "over."

Re: Waldo Butters, assigned threads

[st_oh_honestly]

Shell shocked, wide eyed and a more than a little confused. He looked like a new arrival. Dot approached with a plate of cookies and a pot of tea on a little trolley.

"You look like you could use a cup of tea, or if you want something stronger there's a full bar."

Re: Waldo Butters, assigned threads

[st_rutsthepolka]

"I'm not going to rule out the full bar eventually, but I think I want my entire brain online for this," Butters said with a shaky grin. At least the people seemed to be friendly so far. "Tea sounds great. Um. Unless this is one of those things where if you eat or drink anything you can't leave. I'm not sure how being kidnapped out of the world is supposed to work but there are a lot of unnerving options."

Re: Waldo Butters, assigned threads

[st_oh_honestly]

"You can't leave, at least so far no one seems to have found a way. But I don't think the food and drink are responsible." Her voice was warm, slightly accented, as she poured him a cup of tea and held it out. Also on the cart was sugar, cream and lemon.

"It was quite the shock to arrive here," she remembered it vividly. And she was still not completely convinced she wasn't dead and in some sort of purgatory or heaven holding area. "It's not home, but it's nice enough."

Re: Waldo Butters, assigned threads

[st_illcounts]

Johnny, being a new arrival himself not that long ago, hadn't realized how weird it was on the other end seeing someone just 'appear'. He had been on his way back to the hotel after some exploring when a guy just materialized on the driveway.

"Shit." He muttered to himself and rubbed his eyes. That was something he was sure that he'd never get used to seeing. "Hey." He raised his chin in greeting, "you okay?"

Re: Waldo Butters, assigned threads

[st_rutsthepolka]

"I'm pretty sure I'm not, actually," Butters said vaguely. "You're not one of the Fae, are you?" Between Harry being the Winter Knight now, and the whole thing with Bob, Butters was pretty sure he was on at least one Faerie shitlist these days.

At least Bob wasn't here. And also, shit, Bob wasn't here.

"Also, where are we and why am I not home?"

Re: Waldo Butters, assigned threads

[st_illcounts]

Johnny wasn't sure what Fae meant but he knew he wasn't one so he shook his head. "Sorry, not a Fae. I'm a Killjoy." He also knew the odds were pretty good this guy had no idea what one of those was either.

"The reason you're not home is the same I'm not home. Someone is bringing us all to this hotel." He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "Trust me, this goes down smoother with a drink. Want to come inside the hotel and I'll grab us a couple of beers?"