[Alfie hates the ice tunnels. Oh sure, they're a relief in some ways - the lack of snow makes for easier, faster travel, and not having to deal with the chill from the wind is nice. But they're also too quiet and too dark, and just all-around eerie. He's not really what one would call an outdoorsy guy, but he likes to be able to see the sky when he wants to.

Because of this, and because his back is acting up a little more than usual today, he's in a grumpy mood. They've just gotten into their house for the evening - one of the shittier houses in the tunnels, no less - and he's about ready to drop. He tosses his things on the floor, heads over to collapse on the couch, and says to Royce:]

Anything worthwhile on the network?

[He honestly cannot be bothered to check for himself right now.]

[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.

[If twenty-first century London had been overwhelming, twenty-first century New York City is even more so. The buildings are taller, the crowds are more dense, and the streets feel claustrophobic - in some places it feels like you can barely see the sky. It's dizzying when he looks up, but it's hard not to look up, because the sight is breathtaking. He isn't actually sure how much he likes it, but he can't look away.]

Here, can we get to the top of one of these?

[It's a creepy thought. He's never been so high in his life. But he knows that if she says yes, he's going to want to try it, because the curiosity will burn if he doesn't.]

[For two long years, Alfie has been adamant that he's never leaving his world again. He accepts visitors to his own occasionally, but he insists on staying put there himself, refusing to make an exception even for the briefest of trips. He doesn't need to go anywhere else. He doesn't want to go anywhere else. He has his entire life right here in Camden Town (London, England, UK, Europe, Earth), and he's perfectly content to have it stay that way.

This lasts until he gets influenza. It's a particularly bad case even by 1920s standards, and he's heading for hospitalization and isolation. Watson convinces him to come do it in the 21st century.

He's admitted for a week to a hospital in London in the year 2015, where he's pumped full of modern medicine that quickly puts him back on the path to wellness. By the time he's discharged, he's still a little unsteady on his feet, but that has more to do with all the time spend lying around in bed than anything else. Finally, he can go home (to nearly the same point that he had left from - he'd made Watson swear up and down that that was how it worked before he agreed to go). But first, Watson had convinced him to spend a day seeing the sights of the city. Alfie hadn't been too hard to convince. He might as well. He was already here.]

I can't get over the sight of the cars.

[They're walking through the hospital lobby now, towards the front doors. Alfie is leaning on his cane.]

I could see them from the window of my room - it's unbelievable, how fast they go.

[Ever since everyone in Norfinbury had taken control of the town's dimension-hopping technology, Alfie has stayed on his own world, never visiting anybody else. At first, he'd even been a little leery about the idea of anybody - close friends included - coming to visit him. But by now he's much more accustomed to the idea, and the Riyria duo has an open invitation to pop over whenever they want to.

When Royce and Hadrian come by for visits, Alfie allows them more reign to wander around the bakery than most. There are times - usually during his meetings - when it's "workers only" and off-limits even for them, but for the rest of the time, he trusts them not to do or say anything stupid. They know how this sort of business works. They don't need his constant supervision. And when they show up today, Ollie doesn't hesitate to usher them in.]

Are you looking for Alfie? He's in the back.

[It's been a long, full day of walking, and by the time they reach the house, Alfie is ready to be inside. There's rarely heat in any of these buildings, and the cold permeates them enough that it's never fully warm even behind closed doors - but it's at least warmer, and without the biting wind. He sheds his coat and kicks off his boots, and turns to Fiona.]

I'll check the upstairs if you check downstairs.

[It's a system they've developed, for the nights that they're together - they split the search of the house so that it'll go quicker. Each has learned what items, tidbits, and clues the other might be interested in, and they'll take note of them for each other, to share when the search is done. Over time, they've both come to trust each other not to keep things hidden - and not to steal from each other. Alfie never thinks twice anymore about swinging his pack off his shoulder and leaving it unattended with her downstairs.]

Looks like a big house. Could save some of the searching for tomorrow.

[He always likes to do a once-over to look for any dangers or unexpected surprises, but in-depth supply searches are better done when they've had some rest - especially on the days like today, when his back has been bothering him for miles.]

Tired, Fiona?