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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[ 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.]

[ Cloak safe, Royce makes his way back over to the beds. He sits and stares at the phone like it'll tell him all of its secrets. Royce wrinkles his nose at the sound of the dialtone - it hurts his ears a bit - and then grabs for the menu. ]

Hm. [ No instructions here... ] There's a number on this page. Numbers on that thing. [ The tablets were way easier to use, god. ] Try putting in this number.

[ Or - you know, Royce will do it, but he'll do it slowly, because he's unused to dialing, which means it tries to dial a half-dialed number and then makes angry noises at Alfie. ]

No, that doesn't work. There's supposed to be a person on the other end. Or a robot, I suppose.

[It's the twentieth century. Everything is robots.

He sighs.]

Try hitting the numbers faster.

[ Royce scowls at the mention of robots. He has had enough of robots forever, also. ]

And here I thought you were the expert. [ It's ribbing, but he's not mean about it. He does, in fact, try hitting the numbers faster, and this time, he manages to make the call go through. A person picks up after a ring, with a cheerful hello, how may I help you? ]

Yeah, just send us up one of everything on the menu, please. And a bottle of Irish rum, and a bottle of--

[He looks at Royce for the wine order.]

The Merlot. [ Royce absolutely says that wrong but he doesn't care. He sprawls out on the bed, closing his eyes. ]

[Alfie grins at the mispronunciation, but the order taker knows what he means. She doesn't blink an eye at the outlandish order, and says that they'll have it up as soon as possible, "but please allow for some delays due to the amount of food you've ordered".

Alfie hangs up the receiver - and spotting Royce's cloak hanging up on the door, he decides to follow suit by pulling his shirt off entirely, just because he can. The simplest things are a novelty now, including not having to worry about freezing to death.]

[ Royce looks amused at this. ]

What are you doing? [ He doesn't bother asking what she said - he heard. ]

It's fucking warm in here, mate.

[He sounds very pleased about this.]

Mm. [ Royce says, resting back down on the bed, closing his eyes. ] It's good. Almost hard to believe this isn't a dream.

Do you worry it is?

[He kind of does.]

Of course I do. [ Royce sighs, sinking into the mattress. ] If it is, I'll take as much advantage as I can.

This all feels real. But so did so much in Norfinbury.

Mm. I think these sheets are silk.

[He approves.]

[ Royce laughs a little. ]

I've never been in a place this high class. I'm looking forward to sleeping in one of these beds. Or bathing. Did you see the small bottles of shampoo and conditioner?

Mm. We did have the shampoo and conditioner in Norfinbury.

[So that's nothing special to him. The hot water, on the other hand...]

[ YEAH BUT ] Not so readily, and not in those tiny bottles. [ Look, don't ruin this for him. ]

I do want to test the tub.