Well...

[delphi_bat]

Who: Babs, Roy, Any
When: Arrival
What: So a teacher and a librarian get lost in the darkness...

It had seemed like such a simple plan really, she'd left a series of home made monitoring systems about the size of her palm in an arc from the Penrose bridge and extending out into the darkness. They were just data collectors, measuring everything from ambient temperature to vibrational intensities, and they all emitted a soft little beeping sound out in the Darkness.

She hoped that would have made them easier to hone in on, for both Finders and newly lost people alike...but to be certain, well, she'd asked Roy if he wanted to lend a hand. Nothing like taking a stroll for science, right?

They'd worked like a charm until it came to about the halfway point of her test arc, then the world had slipped sideways and all she'd managed to do was grab Roy's hand and hold tight. When reality decided to realign itself, well, best not to get separated.

She still had his wrist in a death grip when she came to, jerking from unconscious to awake and scanning the new environment in a blink. "Well, we're not in Kansas any more," she muttered softly, grumpy. A quick check and..."Elos are gone too."

They were in a park, buildings looming up above the untamed tree line and her chair parked beside a sculpted bench and Roy sitting on the end nearest her. He was breathing, that was good, though it took her a minute or two longer to convince herself to unwrap her fingers. Hopefully his hand wasn't too numb? In the dim glow from a street lamp a bit further down she couldn't tell if Merlin had arrived safely with them or not.

Here was to hoping?

"At least this world looks a bit more to scale," she sighed, reaching out to shake Roy's shoulder gently. "But if this keeps up I'm going to get really sick of the world shifting." Just saying.

Comments

[delphi_bat]

She reached back to squeeze his hand gently, there wasn't anything else she could say to that really. They'd talked a lot about being missed after all. "Looks like a hotel up ahead if the various doors behind the windows is any clue. Temporary kind of place may be best for now?"

[p_51]

He squeezed back and sighed, "Hotel sounds like a plan. I already hate this place. Deeply."

[delphi_bat]

"Hotel it is," she agreed easily. A place to hole up and do some thinking? Exactly what they needed. "At least if this place is more tech than magic based I can maybe make some headway into figuring things out. Penrose was...illogical." And, well, a cube world.

[p_51]

"Cube." he said, giving the short-hand for every discussion-slash-bitching session they'd had regarding it. "Well, I'll be happy to give you whatever support I can."

[delphi_bat]

"Cube," she agreed. "If I end up having to crawl off to access an obscure panel and don't come back soon enough track me down? Don't want to disappear." Disappearing was bad quite honestly.

[p_51]

After a moment he said, "Hold up...I want to..." try something he didn't say; instead he clapped his hands and pulled them apart as he twisted the dirt and debris in the streets out of it's current form and into a rope. "Ah ah hahah haaaaa ha!" spinning in a circle he grabbed her shoulders and dropped a kiss off-centre on her forehead. "My alchemy works again!"

[delphi_bat]

Well that was certainly something wasn't it? She couldn't help but laugh and catch one of his hands, "well about damn time we got some good news. Full power Flame Alchemist or just fully back to the power paths you know?" Best to find out now, right?

"Not that I think anything needs to be spot nuked, just if you're all the way back to what you were we may be closer to your reality than Penrose and it's systems."

[p_51]

"I'm not sure." he said, happily touching the rope, "Alchemy taps into the power of the earth, but for little things like this," yes, making a rope out of leaves, dust, and pebbles was little, "it's more about how you use it than what you've got to work with. Unless we get into a two-man-and-a-dog battle with an army, or into a fight with any number of people and a god, I'm not going to try the upper limits of my powers. Too destructive."

[delphi_bat]

"Fair!" she laughed. "But I'll find it reassuring regardless." Because she was skilled but until she had systems online and a handle on things she wasn't as effective as she could be. Having someone who could pack a punch at need? Reassuring.

[p_51]

"Can't blame you. I find it rather reassuring myself." he admitted, "I feel much more comfortable tackling pretty much anything right now than I did the entire time I was on Penrose." He liked having a partner, someone to take care of the things that he couldn't. He liked his powers even more.

[delphi_bat]

Self reliance was kind of important. She understood that. Oh gods did she understand that. "I wonder if the Penrosian council will panic when they go to clean out my apartment and trigger the self delete..." that was enough to cheer her up honestly?

"They didn't really approve of Drifters accessing their core systems. I never liked that term, Drifter. Let's not use it here or anywhere alright?" How was that for changing the subject on a high note?

[p_51]

"Damn straight." he agreed, "I hated it. It was like forcing us to be reduced to outsiders. As though it wasn't bad enough to be taller than everyone, which even I could tell," so many times his head banged on the door lintels, "but we also had to be called by a name that might as well have been refugees. Except that even that has connotations of humanity, as opposed to being like debris."

[delphi_bat]

"Between you and me? I didn't really like them much," she admitted. "Granted, they unwound a bit in the bars, but my world would have eaten the Penrosians alive." Utterly and completely.

"And you'll be glad to know the door frames here seem a little higher than standard I'm used to." So there was that at least? "Left, we're here at a hotel it seems."

[p_51]

"Really? I didn't spend much time around them. Care to give your thoughts?" he was always interested in her thoughts.

[delphi_bat]

"Gathering information is one of the defaults for me," she admitted. "That and I was considering buying a good portion of their planet." Best to know what all was around, people wise.

"...I also get bored. You knew that." She hadn't actually hacked the money system and purchased property on the sly? Yet?

"They were deliberately niave while being immensely stuck up at the same time. That's a bad combo and likely to get them all killed. Somehow being the world where the powerful lantern whatever was made them assume they were the best and brightest and pulling people from the darkness was a favor they did, and altruistic, community service deal. They didn't like learning, they didn't wish to integrate and use diverse technologies and methods because they were special and therefore they didn't need to change anything." Okay, so maybe she was a little ranty as well. She hadn't cared for the people at all. Most, the common civilian types were at least decent people though.

"There's a world in my universe that houses a lantern of great power. The holders of that world are immensely old and tired, and constantly under attack. It's a responsibility, not a prize, and I think that's what irked me the most about them."

[p_51]

"Gotcha. I'm glad that I spent most of my time around the rest of the non-natives. Obviously I taught them when I taught classes..."

He was cut off by "YOU HAVE NOW BEEN EMPLOYED BY THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. CLASSES BEGIN AT NINE IN THE MORNING."

and the blind man dropped his face into his palm.

[delphi_bat]

"New plan, let's go find alcohol. A lot of alcohol. Hotels have bars right?" THIS WAS THE BEST PLAN YES.

[p_51]

"Yes. Bar. Hotel with a bar. Huh, I wonder..." he pondered how to phrase it, then asked the city, "Will my disability pension from the military transfer here?" couldn't hurt...

[delphi_bat]

"We here are sensitive to the needs of our veterans and accept all forms of compensation allowed to them after proper conversion rates! Would you like to discuss investment options?"

"Door, eight feet ahead. We book in, get a room, then hit the bar?"

[p_51]

"We can discuss investment options later." he told the city, "Well. That should give us a bit of padding, at least. Disability from wartime injuries is pretty decent at home." he made it the eight feet, entered the doors, and waited for Babs to tell him what was up.

[delphi_bat]

"Well, let's sign in, get some keys..." she mused, wheeling slightly past him so he could hear the way to the desk. "Lobby has main desk as a round island in the middle of a forty by forty room. Potted plants and benches are alternated on the walls, door we came in through is south, elevators in north wall, hallways off east and west."

"In House dining and drinking can be found in the starlight lounge to the left! Pool and gym facilities to the right!"

"Thank you. We'll need a suite with two beds located on the ground floor with access to a garden or lawn."

[p_51]

He nodded slowly and directed Merlin to follow Babs. "I also require food and water bowls for my guide dog." Roy said firmly to the hotel. This was less surreal than it could be based entirely on the fact that he couldn't see anyone who talked to him.

[delphi_bat]

"...please register, guests."

"Is it me or did that sound like it was trying to buy time?" she mused, wheeling to the desk and looking at...a light screen. "Useful, it's high tech instead of a guest book" she noted. "It's flat and featureless, you'll need an audio option unless you want to give me permission to sign you in I guess...unless...give me a moment." The fun thing about light boards was that if one knew enough advanced computing and light variances it could be hard light.

"Guests should refrain from-"

"I'm increasing accessibility, consider it a service call," she snapped. "Come put a hand on the board, it's just over my left shoulder, about three feet ahead. Tell me when you can read the writing? May as well find out now if you'd prefer methods like this to having audio services." She was going to start with about a fifteen percent embossing from screen flatness and work from there!

"...thank you Technician Gordon. Please wait while a repair file is created for this hotel. There will also be a slight delay in providing all requests for a first floor room. Thank you for your patience!" Then? Then music turned on above them.

[p_51]

Roy kept having her fiddle with it until he was happy, at around 21%. "That will do." he said, adding his information into the system as directed by the city. "Lets find food. I always think better when I'm fed."

[delphi_bat]

"Settings will be saved for Citizen Mustang!" the city chirped before...spitting a menu on to the screen.

"Food is a great idea," Babs sighed. "Ignore the screen, let's hit the restaurant. I don't want to see what this place decided is 'room service', which could very well be the result of ordering from a menu not in the restaurant.

" We excel at providing discreet and satisfactory service in suite for those wishing to spend time together without a crowd!"

"...this way. Before the place tells you to romance me," she snorted.