strangetrip | [GP] Food for the soul

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[GP] Food for the soul

Carlos hated being back at the hotel. He had begun by trying to access the Nevernever but that had totally failed, then caught up with Buffy to go and visit both London and Edinburgh, for varying reasons, and the rest of the time he had headed to Spain - he may have been well travelled, but rarely got time to be a tourist - but his time relaxing and finding out about Spain had been unceremoniously cut short when he woke up and found himself back at the hotel. For a few moments he lay there, utterly fed up, and just feeling incredibly homesick.

That only lasted a few minutes; after that he was a man on a mission.

He hunted out Caroline, and had a long chat with her. Plans were set. Time to cook up a storm. They'd missed 4th July, this could serve as a belated celebration, as well as a 'things ain't all bad here' event. Posters went up throughout the hotel, giving notice of a cook out. Everyone was encouraged to attend. What could be bad about this?

Grills were set up outside to cook up as much meat as they could hold; non-meat options were there as well for variety; salads prepared... a vast array of food to try and cheer up anyone who needed it. Carlos took his place at the grills, brandishing tools, turning the meat over just at the right point.

All that was needed now was people to attend.

[ooc: Use as a general gathering post - if you want Carlos specifically, tag him in the subject line]

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Snow White had never been much of a person for milling and she'd accepted by now that she likely never would be. But there was food, and that was enough to pull her out of her shell and get her to come to this thing.

The gun remained on her hip, though. She'd had to leave Rose Red behind when she'd gone to Europe--something to do with significantly stricter gun laws than anywhere she'd ever been--and it was good to have it back where it was supposed to be. Most people around here were used to it by now, both the weapon and the unconventional grip set with red pearls. She didn't leave it behind, not unless she had no choice.

She'd settled near the boy because he seemed unlikely to bother her, nor be bothered by her quiet. Snow was unconcerned with silence. But she broke it to softly ask, "What's that?" about one of the pictures.

Edited 2018-07-16 00:53 (UTC)

Bradley had been okay with the silence. He thought the woman was really pretty, but also got the sense she could be deadly. The gun helped with that sort of feeling.

He looked over at her question.

"Oh, uh. This is my brother, Caleb, with Donald Duck at Disney World."

Snow frowned at the phone, squinting at the bizarre white... thing standing next to the boy. "I... guess it's a duck," she murmured, but she mostly sounded puzzled by the idea.

"It's a costume based off a cartoon," He said, managing a smile. "It's part of Disney World? My step dad brought us last year. He keeps trying to over-compensate for not being our biological dad."

The word 'Disney' registered something for Snow, who had seen a few of the movies in her time in Gotham. She'd seen Lilo and Stitch more times than she had bothered to count. She nodded. "I dunno Disney World. Film and all... that's after my time."

"Oh." He said, suddenly feeling bad. "... Sorry. If it makes you uncomfortable. I can put the phone away."

He began to pocket the iPhone.

Snow looked rather more puzzled than upset, though. In truth, being displaced from her time was something she'd had a few years to get used to, and it hadn't bothered her much beyond her initial disorientation. "Don't need to do that. Why're you apologizing?"

He looked at Snow.

"I just thought... Maybe it's weird me saying these things and you not knowing them." He explained. "I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable or something? I'm... Still getting used to people from different worlds and times and stuff."

Brad shrugged.

"I guess that's kind of dumb," he said.

Snow shrugged. She was starting to grasp that 'I guess that's dumb' was a search for validation or feedback of some sort, but she wasn't exactly sure how to respond to it, so she didn't. "I've been here for a year and a half. And in another place like this for two years before that. You get used to not knowing what the hell people are talking about."

He furrowed his brow.

"There are... other places like this?" He asked in quiet disbelief. "Other hotels that just bring people from different places here?"

He shook his head. He had a hard enough time grasping one place like this. The idea he could go from one to another was disconcerting.

"No," Snow shook her head. "Gotham was a city. Whole huge, broken city. Most of the people there were the original inhabitants. The rest of us... came in through the rifts."

Bradley tried to picture what that might look like and it was hard for him. Caleb would know all this, probably. He watches more sci-fi than me.

"Do you miss it?" He asked. "Or... do you miss your original home? I... don't know what I'd think if I went from one world to another and couldn't get back."

Snow didn't have to think about that even for a second. "In order, yes. And no." She missed people in Gotham terribly. The only thing she regretted about home was leaving her baby brother behind.

He nodded. He didn't understand, but he nodded. He thought maybe he could understand a little if he only had the cabin and his father to go back to, but they had escaped and his brother needed him and they had to find mom and Ted.

"Someone said places like this can grow on you," He said after a beat. "I guess they were right for some people."

Snow shrugged one shoulder. "Some people don't have anything back where they came from. Sure as shit ain't anything for me back there." Not strictly true. But everything she still loved was back at her father's house, and the only way she'd go back there was in a pine box, assuming he'd even care enough to bring her body back if she died.

"I'm sorry." He said.

Brad wasn't sure if he meant because he brought it up or because of what she said.

"You probably have some good friend here, then, huh?" Brad added, changing the subject.

Snow considered him in silence for a long moment, beats going by with no attempt from her to fill them. Then, finally, she said, "I think I'm the one making you uncomfortable."

Brad frowned in confusion. He was okay with silence. He had always been okay with it even though his dad and Caleb were much more used to noise and talking.

"Why do you say that?" He asked.

"'Cause I'm not the one who keeps assuming something's wrong," Snow said plainly. "I don't know you from Adam, anything I tell you ain't something that scars me."

I guess that makes sense. Bradley looked out in front of them.

"I keep thinking I'm going to say the wrong thing and offend someone," He admitted quietly. "I've met people from different countries before, but never from different worlds or different times. I don't have experience just being like 'oh, you have magic?' or 'you're a superhero back home, that's cool'. It all seems weird to me, you know? Like this is a dream, but one where if I make the wrong person angry I'll have to put up with the angry at me for a while."

Snow grunted, a non-committal noise. She could relate to some of that; after all she'd come from a world where magic was close to non-existent and she might have gone to her grave thinking it was a thing from stories if not for her stepmother's mirror. At the same time, she had never put much stock in making people angry unless it was going to lead to that person beating her or attempting to rape her.

"It takes getting used to. People can do some real weird shit."

"Yeah," He agreed, thinking of the music Sunny made come from him. "Can you... do anything like that?"

Brad's eyes moved to the gun, then back to her.

"Are you like, a sheriff or something, back home?" He asked.

Let me tell you something, kid. Magic's just a word for what's left to the powerless once everyone else has had their fill.

"No." And while Snow didn't smile, as she rarely did, there was a glint of sharp amusement in her eyes. She was a half-breed Indian bitch, who would let her have any kind of power like that? Or any kind of power at all. "And no, I wasn't any kind of lawman."

"But you have a gun," He observed, but with no judgement.

My dad had a gun, too... His lips formed a tight line as he tried to push away the thought of finding the gun under his dad's bed. It led to everything after that.

"I do," Snow acknowledged, though she didn't understand even now why that was a big deal for anybody. "I'm not the only one around here with a gun, either."

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