wickedchouette | (no subject)

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[The good news: they get out. They escape Norfinbury, and once they're out of the town's iron grip, all of its effects on them disappear - no more MN poisoning, no more radiation sickness. They're still malnourished and underfed, and the dead among them are still dead, but they're out.

The bad news? They can't go home yet.

It's some sort of time- and universe-travel issue, which Alfie honestly isn't even trying to understand in full. Using the town's power, they'd opened up a portal, but they hadn't had time to fine-tune it. When they'd all jumped through, they hadn't even been sure it would work - but with the town collapsing around them, they'd all been desperate enough to try anyway. It had ended up dumping them all at random into New York City - or some version of it, anyway - in the early twentieth century. Stark and the other tech wizards are working hard on the issue, pooling their knowledge and using this world's resources to figure out how to safely repair and direct the portal to send them all back home, or wherever else they want to go. The ones who can't help with that are, essentially, left to their own devices. Tony the billionaire sets them up in a nice hotel in a decent neighborhood, and provides them with enough money to live comfortably on as long as they don't go too crazy with spending. For Alfie, Royce, Emily, and Tifa, he's able to find a two-bedroom suite that's available to be rented by the month. Nobody knows how long they're going to be stuck, and nobody wants to take the chance of being left without lodging.

After all the trauma of the past few months and the chaos of the past few days, their little group isn't wild about splitting up even just for a few hours. But Emily desperately needs a doctor's checkup, and Tifa convinces Alfie and Royce to go ahead and scope out the room while she (with help and advice from the more modern doctors) takes her to a pediatrician. And so they go.

The hotel is towering, and looking up at it makes Alfie feel dizzy, so he focuses straight ahead as they approach the front entrance and its automatic revolving door. He has the envelope with their room number and key, and as they walk, he hands it to Royce.]

We're on the sixty-first floor - larger rooms at the top only. Fucking hell, I hope they've got a lift.

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[Of course he looked under them. Alfie grins, and turns off the jets before he gets up to follow Royce.]

Yeah. Might want to do that.

[It's late spring here in New York, and the weather is very mild, but old habits die hard. Alfie has a feeling the four of them are going to end up piled in a single bed more often than not, huddling together for safety and to guard against an imagined chill.]

[ Old habits definitely die hard. After months of being stuck in a harsh place like Norfinbury, Royce has almost trained himself to be a guard dog. He'll be happy to get his own place to sleep here and there, but he's gotten so used to having them all close that he's not sure he can give it up just yet.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that he couldn't stand to be in the same room as any of them. And now he doesn't know what he's going to do when he goes home. ]

He called it room service, right? [ Royce asks, sitting on one of the beds experimentally. ]

Yeah. Supposed to be a menu around here somewhere-- ah, here it is.

[Alfie pulls it out of one of the bedside drawers.]

Hungry?

You can order food, too? [ whaaaat... ] I am hungry, yes.

Room service is the food. The extra blankets are maid service. They'll come by every day to clean and pick up after us, unless we tell them to fuck off.

[Royce gets a significant look here. Alfie doubts he'll like the idea of some stranger coming into the suite.]

[ Royce does not like that idea, no, he's with Alfie. He's also uncomfortable with someone picking up after them or serving them, honestly. ]

They won't be coming in here. [ He's just making that decision right now. ] Unless it's to bring food. We've the money to go out and get it ourselves, as well.

I'd like to take Emily to a restaurant. Anywhere she wants; no expense spared.

[Alfie sits down on the bed finally, and... okay, wow, these are really nice beds. He sinks into the mattress with a heavy sigh, letting his eyes fall shut.]

And a bit of a walkaround outside before it gets dark. But food first, eh? Room service.

Yeah. [ Royce likes the sound of that. He'd like to see both Tifa and Emily smile more than they have for the past few months. ] I'm sure we'll have time to do it.

[ Stark gave them a month by month stay - Royce expects it to be at least for a while. ]

What are the options for food? Anything recognizable?

[Alfie grunts.]

What do you want? Meat, vegetables--?

Meat. [ Gods above, that's immediate. Royce pushes his hood back and down, comfortable enough to do so. ] Vegetables too, but - chicken, beef, whatever they have. Anything that isn't made by Hostess or Frito Lay.

[ He will never eat another snack cake as long as he lives. ]

No. Not even Cheez-Its.

[Just wait until they discover the minibar. They'd probably throw it all out the window, if the windows opened.]

Is steak on the menu? Have you got steak where you're from?

I've never had it. But yes. [ Rich people food! A beat. ] Do they have wine?

You've got the menu; you tell me. I'm sure they do.

[ Royce goes quiet for a moment, searching through the items. They won't have his wine, he knows, because he's gathered it's specific to his world, but. He'd really like a glass after everything. ]

They have steak. [ He confirms. He reads off a few options. ] Pasta. Spring rolls? Fresh bread. Salad - pizza. [ The fuck is pizza. ] They've got what they're calling a kid's menu, as well.

There's a full page of alcohol.

There's an icebox in the kitchen. What say we order whatever sounds good and store it ourselves? Pasta'll heat up on the stove. Spring rolls, those must be bread. And steak and pizza - one of each of those, as well.

Have they got beer? Rum?

[ Royce snorts. ] Might as well. Stark is paying. [ And if they store everything, they don't have to talk to people as much. ] As long as we've got the ability to warm it up. I'm sick of cold food.

They've got beer and rum, it looks like. [ Royce leans to hand Alfie the alcohol menu. ] Might want to save some of the tenents for new clothing.

[He runs a finger down the list, looking for familiar brand names.]

Are you planning to give up the cloak?

No. [ The cloak is staying, thanks. ] I've had this since before Norfinbury. Are you giving up your hat?

Of course not. No. I'll find new clothes that look just like this.

[ He glances up at Alfie with a bit of a grin. ]

Against trying new fashions, are we? [ Teasing, teasing. ]

I'm gonna buy you a pair of the blue denim pants.

You'll find them in the trash if you do.

Yeah. Denim pants and a t-shirt. Very modern.

[ Royce rolls his eyes, taking his cloak off and moving to hang it on the back of the door. ]

Order us food, Solomons, I'm not using the damn phones.

I don't know what the fucking telephones look like here.

[He grumbles. But there's an electronic contraption on the same nightstand where he'd found the menu, so he makes an educated guess. He's used to telephones with separate parts for listening and speaking, but luckily, this one isn't impossible to figure out.]

Operator, hello, I'd like-- fucking hell, I think it's broken.

[He's basing this on the dialtone, which is unfamiliar to him.]