[GP/EP] You're not clear of story out here

[st_arkcrowblack]

Even before she knew for certain that it was the first of a month, Snow’s body had started bracing for it. She was wary and tense, preparing to cope with yet more people in the space of the hotel. It seemed that no sooner had she adjusted to whoever had showed up the last time, there was someone new again.

She didn’t want anything to do with the lot of it. That was what those busy women on the welcome committee were for. She didn’t think the committee was a stupid thing, not at all. Focusing on settling new people in kept the lot of them busy and away from her, and that was where she wanted them. They terrified her.

Snow White had only come into the main building to forage for food. The original plan was of course to turn right back around and escape before the expected rush (small or large) of new people to flood in.

But that was of course not what happened. When a universe was a pocket, it had less to focus on and fewer people to fuck with, and so Snow was entirely certain it was fucking with her when she was the one in the lobby when a new face came through the door.

Comments

Dyson - Assigned Threads

[st_arknaked]

There were some who would say he was running away from the truths Acher had forced on him. Certainly Hale would.

Hale would likely have any number of things to say to him, but right now what Dyson needed was solitude, and silence. He needed to consider what he'd told the underfae about living with the great gaping hole inside him that was his love for Bo. It would never heal, would never close or be filled.

What was left? The fight? His promise to Trick? Was it enough? He didn't know, and as he road his motorcycle away from the city he wasn't sure what he was running from, or where he was running to. Until he saw the sign: The Madonna Inn.

He hadn't expected to stay in a hotel, but something drew him down the drive and found him walking into the garish lobby. When the man behind the desk (who smelled strangely neutral) handed him a key card and indicated the bar he decided a drink before getting back on the road sounded good, plus he was curious, so he made his way into the Cafe.

Re: Dyson - Assigned Threads

[st_arkcrowblack]

Shit shit shit shit shit

Snow would have given anything in that moment for Kitty or Phryne or even fucking Caroline to be here instead of her, but she wasn't so badly mannered that she didn't force out a mumbled greeting anyway. Only it was so badly mushed that the 'hello' was barely anything intelligible.

Re: Dyson - Assigned Threads

[st_arknaked]

He nodded at the mumbled greeting, surveying the cafe, eyes flicking over the bar which seemed deserted from his POV.

"The bar open?"

Dot - OTA

[st_oh_honestly]

Arrival day! Dot, unlike Snow (though she had no way of knowing this), enjoyed arrival day. She was deep down, and not so deep down, a motherly homey young woman and she liked meeting the new arrivals, helping them get settled.

Dot remembered vividly her own arrival, and how confused and scared she had been, it felt a bit like a calling to be bustling around the bakery with a fresh pot of tea and an assortment of cookies and pie, and yes little cakes (even if she blushed every time she looked at them).

Actually nothing but good Christian kindness would have gotten Dot back in the bakery after what had happened on Valentines Day, so it was probably a good thing for everyone who liked fresh baked cookies that her sense of duty overrode her embarrassment.

Re: Dot - OTA

[st_artingpoint]

Jane was still experimenting in what she liked and didn't like which was why she'd decided to make a stop in the bakery and try one of the cookies that smelled really good. She bypassed the tea because she knew she didn't like that but she did stand in front of the cookie display trying to make up her mind of what to try.

Re: Dot - OTA

[st_oh_honestly]

Dot noticed the movement before turning to greet the person who was looking at the baked goods. She cause sight of the edge of a tattoo, here and there and her eyes might have widened slightly - she didn't know anyone with a tattoo.

Certainly no women.

But she quickly found her tongue and smiled, "There's only three kinds today, but they seem to be the favorites. Oatmeal, peanut butter and chocolate chunk."

There was also pie, cherry and peach, and chocolate cake. She couldn't make herself make strawberry ones again.

Re: Dot - OTA

[st_andingfast]

The cake chick was back!

Dean had noticed that the bakery area had been absent one sweet-faced girl since Valentine's, and he was pretty sure that was his doing. Or, actually, that dumbass spell-whatever's doing. Either way, Dean hadn't gone looking for her - her running away had been upset, not 'chase me!'

But now she was back, and he had no problem whatsoever with wandering up to the bakery case. "Hey. Probably I should tell you I'm Dean. Since we didn't get around to that before."

Re: Dot - OTA

[st_oh_honestly]

"Oh!" Dot startled, squeaking out the word as she blushed crimson and resisted the urge to hide behind her flour covered apron. "I.. I'm Dot.."

Her voice wasn't particularly loud, or forceful when she said it but at least she didn't squeak. She knew what Miss Phryne would do in this situation, but she knew she wouldn't ever be able to pull of nonchalance.

"I'm so sorry... for well..." She bit her lip as the words trailed off.

Regina - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

Not up for another night of Co-op paperwork and listening to the silence for the sounds of little feet that wouldn't come, Regina accepted Emma's invitation to meet her for dinner and drinks. More drinks than dinner, since she'd lost her appetite with her love, her son and her daughter, but saying that to Emma would turn into the Hope Speech v. 2.0: the Pep Talk. And if there was anything she wanted less than staring at shadows, it was a Charming Pep Talk.

So she shut up the mansion and flipped her long brown scarf around her neck, tugged her jacket straight, and struck out for The Red Pony Too--and found herself somewhere she had never been. The smell of the sea had receded into the distance, replaced by unfamiliar musky green scents and dry dusty dirt. Ahead of her on an empty road an ostentatious resort property beckoned.

Regina never looked back, and she felt her lips curve into a smile for the first time since the night Snow had disappeared. She strode forward on high heeled boots that clacked efficiently on first stone and then the tiled floor. Maybe she'd been good enough, long enough, that her family would be here.

Re: Regina - Assigned Threads

[st_raighttovampire]

Caroline looked up from her table and noticed an attractive woman marching with purpose toward the inn. It was a fairly busy morning, and most people were already in conversation. So Caroline stood and went to meet the woman as she came in. "Hey, new arrival?"

Re: Regina - Assigned Threads

[st_oriedqueen]

Regina slowed and her smile brightened, even at the strange greeting from the young woman she recognized as a friend of both Rebekah and Sam Winchester. "Caroline." She inclined her head regally in acknowledgment. "You haven't seen Roland and Robin, have you? Or Snow?" Caroline hadn't been around the mansion often, but she ought to be able to identify them by sight, at last.

MacCready - OTA

[st_rontium]

Almost like clockwork, new people were showing up on the first of the month. At least this place seemed to have some kind of method to its madness. Shitty method, yeah, but still a method. A pattern so sure that it'd be obvious when it got disrupted.

He'd gotten what seeds he could started, but those were hidden up on the roof under enough of a makeshift structure to keep too much rain off of them while making sure they still got maximum sunlight. It wasn't much. Maybe they'd grow. Maybe they wouldn't. It was worth a shot. At least by this point, he didn't think anyone would suspect him going up on the roof to be anything out of the ordinary.

That wasn't what was on his mind anyway. At least not directly. The roof was there in his mind, but only because part of him thought he should be up there just in case anyone showed up in the same state Percy had been in when he'd arrived.

Still... Still, he told himself he needed to at least try and be more social or at least more visible. So he sat in the cafe cleaning his 10mm. Maybe that still qualified as threatening, but it was something he needed to do and he may as well be doing it out in the open so no one thought he was hiding shit. Hell, he was even wearing the rocketsuit to try to make himself look more approachable (though he'd wisely left the stupid fake jetpack and helmet in his inventory,) and less like some kind of mess.

He just hoped he didn't have to bear witness to another happy reunion this time. He couldn't handle another deep blow like that. He was happy for his friends, of course he just- Fuck, could he even call them friends? It wasn't like he actually knew either of them. No, probably not. Closest thing he felt like he had to a friend was the non-chicken dude and even then he didn't know the guy's name.

He could focus on his work. Focus on cleaning his weapons to make sure that he could protect these people if he had to whether they knew he was doing it or liked him even a little bit or not. And maybe the seed starts would grow and he could sneak them downstairs with a note or something and no one would even have to know that it was him who planted them in the first place.

He smiled a little to himself, a tiny, sad thing. That was acceptable.

Re: MacCready - OTA

[st_makemeastone]

River would know, but she wouldn't tell anyone since it seemed like he didn't want anyone to know.

Still she wandered over, he was... interesting, and without asking she picked up one of the guns. She had a memory then, a memory of home.

"Guns are not toys." She said softly turning the gun over in her hands.

Re: MacCready - OTA

[st_rontium]

"No, they're not," he said, reaching out his hand for her to put it in it. "Which is why you really shouldn't be walking up to a guy tending to his tools and picking them up without asking if it's okay first."

Re: MacCready - OTA

[st_ockandbarrel]

Percy came in looking for coffee, but saw MacCready cleaning his gun. Excellent. Someone to talk to who had some kind of knowledge about firearms. He'd been investigating the gun MacCready had given him for days and had any number of questions.

After collecting some food and the requisite coffee, he brought them over to where MacCready was sitting. "Mind if I join you?"

Henry Winchester - OTA

[st_udious]

Henry, meanwhile, was completely oblivious to what time of the month it was. He'd been a bit flustered after discovering that all this talk about some rooms having ghosts in them also included his own. He hadn't tried to exorcise the thing. It'd already been implied to him that there was hardly any point in it and if he could've gotten on this far without actually noticing the spirit, well, they could probably peacefully co-exist. They did seem to be in a bit of a huff though at not having been noticed for so long. One day, Henry hoped that he might get a name out of them. Perhaps even make friends. He was sure any spirit tied to this place might know more than the rest of them did. Surely that would be useful.

Today he was working diligently at mixing his dried flowers into small metal tins that had previously contained breathmints but now very much didn't. He'd washed them out thoroughly several times. His desk would most likely smell of spear and peppermint for a good long while since there was one particular drawer where he'd stored them all in an envelope. There hadn't been anything else in the gift shop that would do for this.

Tea, he'd decided, was the best way to make amends to the women he'd been...uncontrollable around. He had yet to meet a woman who didn't care for it, nor one who didn't appreciate a handmade gift. He only hoped that they'd forgive him for the tardiness of it. It'd taken quite a while to dry things out, you see. He made a mental note to include an apology for the delay in whatever the accompanying explanation would say. He...well, he still hadn't worked out exactly what that would be. He hoped somehow the inspiration would strike as ardently as the urge had in the first place.

Re: Henry Winchester - OTA

[st_everybodylives]

"Should I ask what you're concocting?" River had come up on silent feet and watched him idly for a long moment before speaking. He'd been a pleasant interlude, but more than that he'd been one trying to figure things out despite the urges he'd been feeling.

That intrigued her and as such, so did he.

Alcuin - OTA

[st_unning]

In the time Alcuin had been in the hotel, he had come to accept in a general sense his current situation. However, he still felt lost, and there were still times when his grief threatened to overwhelm him. Though he had become better at controlling it, letting it come out at night when he was alone in his (large, empty) bed, and not when he was meeting new people. For the most part.

And so, he was trying to come out of his room more. As confusing as this world seemed to him, he also knew that he could not stand to be so lonely for long. D'Angelines were not built for loneliness.

He had found paper and something to write with in the hotel gift shop, and he was documenting new knowledge he gained, questions he had, things he did not understand. The extent to his ignorance about the world bothered him a great deal.

Today he lounged in the lobby, the same place he'd arrived (though it seemed that someone, at some point, had cleaned his blood off the floor, now as if he'd never been there). He sat in a large chair, writing in the notebook. And when he looked up and saw someone standing nearby, something about them sparked another question for him.

"Pardon me," he said politely. "May I ask you something?" He had, at least, after several embarrassing encounters, mostly trained himself out of referring to people as 'my lord' or 'my lady.'

Re: Alcuin - OTA

[st_arkcrowblack]

Snow jumped at the question, and then almost jumped again when she saw who asked it. He was almost prettier than her stepmother had been, and his hair was so pale that it was almost snow white. But his eyes were black, like hers.

Then she remembered what he said, shrugged, and said, "I guess."

Re: Alcuin (and then Jack)

[st_illunsmeared]

"Of course, darling," Phryne replied warmly, arrested in the process of sailing past toward the peculiar but interesting music coming from the cafe. "You may always ask me anything you like." She flashed Alcuin a playful smile. "I may even answer."

Re: Alcuin - OTA

[captaincorsair]

Had he been a whit less polite, Yasmeen wouldn't have stopped, but the polish of his manners caught her attention. One didn't speak so, nor sit with such grace even when relaxing, without special training, as Yasmeen had cause to know. The gai tsetsang exuded more predation in their grace, but it still seemed familiar.

Yasmeen herself moved like one of those steel flowers, though she'd escaped before the training had completed and her grace had more of a swagger to it. It matched the leathers and boots, the daggers strapped to her thigh, and the sapphire scarf tied around a headful of tiny braids. Gold glinted at her ears and around her wrists, and if one looked very closely, her fingernails seemed oddly curved and her teeth too sharp. When she turned to look at him, her eyes were a very pale and feline shade of green with narrow, vertical pupils. "Go ahead."

Re: Alcuin - OTA

[st_udious]

"Of course," Henry said, looking down at the very striking looking young man. No one should be that beautiful in real life. He looked like he'd walked out of one of the terribly strange and overwhelming commercials he'd seen during his brief time with Dean and Sam back in Illinois. Or perhaps a magazine advertisement. There was definitely something oddly ethereal about the young man.

"What can I help you with?"

Lindsey - OT3, then by arrangement

[st_ableandbar]

Yes, Lindsey knew what day it was. Yes, he'd spent most of the day out at the stables. Like hell did he want to be the one giving the 'welcome to Madonna Inn, we're all fucked' speech or be expected to handhold anybody who couldn't deal. But that didn't stop him from wanting to know more about who, if anyone, showed up.

So that evening, after a much-needed shower, he grabbed his guitar and headed down to the bar. He asked for and got a beer, thanking Lara with a flash of a grin, and sipped on it as he got himself situated. Once he was, he began to play. Music, playing and singing and with an audience, that was for him. The set list, though, was planned out for effect, what he other people might expect to hear from him. And it all put him in the right spot to watch and even listen, to learn what he could about the other enforced residents. Anything else that came of it would be a bonus.

He didn't make himself scarce when he took a break to get another round, or when he wrapped things up for the night. It wouldn't be the first time his music made him more approachable, and he was curious enough to see who might respond to that.

Re: Lindsey - OT3, then by arrangement

[st_unning]

Alcuin had come into the parlor in hopes of learning more about this world and the people here. He continued to feel foolish for how much confused him, but this would not be remedied by staying in his room.

He had been in the corner of the room, but when the man came in and began to play a stringed instrument and sing, he moved closer. Sitting in a chair nearby and listening. He had never heard music like this.

Re: Lindsey - OT3, then by arrangement

[st_raighttovampire]

Caroline was still feeling out of sorts by the end of the day. Her brief encounter with the woman who'd recognized her had shaken her more than she wanted to admit. She'd stayed in the cafe, but it wasn't until Lindsey started to play that she felt a little more settled. For the first time, it felt like being back in the Grill, like being at home.

When he looked like he was about to leave, Caroline got up and went over to him. "One more?"