(no subject)

[27_53]

[Following this post.]

They had been so kind (the shopkeepers) to send all of the purchases ahead to the hotel that they had recommended by the staff (and the citizens who had been drafted into the search-for-all-things-Russian army) that there was very little Skellig and Katya actually had to do, other than arrive at the hotel and ask for a room.

Skellig offers over a credit card (the plastic things can be useful it seems, especially when people neglect to shred their trash before putting it in the bin - this one is from three countries and two times over, so nobody will bother to check the details for a long time, if ever) and a winning smile to the clerk, who happily offers his congratulations and a pair of keycards.

(There's also a glance, he's sure of it - because it has been days since he's bathed and it's so not normal for this hotel, but they had the money so it does not matter what the clerk thinks.)

The elevator ride to the top floor is slightly dizzying; once Skellig slides the card into the lock (practice from Milliways - it only takes two tries before the light turns green) and opens the door into the room.

Their grocery bags are neatly stacked on the counter. He wonders how they knew which room, but perhaps it is better not to question fate.

"...wow," is all he manages.

Comments

[katyafeline]

She spent her first few seconds in the new room focused on the door - turning all the locks, then backing them up with a ward that would make most intelligent attackers think twice.

And then she turns.




"..." And blinks.

Twice, because once didn't make the room go back to something... reasonable.

Nope, still there.

She's flummoxed.

[27_53]

"That is more than I was expecting."

He moves to the window, wanting to see the view.

(It is habit.)

[katyafeline]

The bed is... the fluffy. All the fluffy. And huge! She understands this is some sort of honeymoon suite, but someone would have to be remarkably acrobatic and built for endurance to deal with all of it. And all of the... all of it! A family could live in here!

"Is there... others, here?" She finally asks, edging cautiously into the room. Surely you don't just rent a place like this on a whim. Not just... normally, like it's nothing.

[27_53]

"...others?"

Skellig pushes the curtains aside, ignoring the way the sheer fabric catches on the rough bits of skin on his fingers.

"Not sure I get it."

[katyafeline]

Alright, so he is crazy too. She makes a mental note of this.

"It is... all of this, it cannot be for two lodgers."

[27_53]

He turns around, and looks around the room.

"We have only keys, though. The only keys," he corrects himself.

(He is trying to get better.)

[katyafeline]

".........."

He has a point. But this is still madness

Finally, she shrugs. If they want to be crazy, no one said she had to go help them not be lunatics. She finally gives up on trying to make this all make sense, and goes to rummage through the grocery bags.

[27_53]

"Oh, I forgot--"

He moves for the door, pausing before he hits the wards.

"--this may itch a bit," he adds, apologetically, as he unlocks the door, and deposits the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the outside handle.

(He saw that at the bar, too. He had asked Bar why. He doesn't think they want the Loompas coming up to clean today.)

"There."

The deadbolt clicks back into place.

[katyafeline]

She makes a twitchy move like a cat who's fur is being rumpled backwards, pulling a face at him. It took her ages to learn how to set a ward that didn't go off every time Bear broke into her apartment.

But then she's found the vodka, and goes to address the freezer issues.

"... Tiny wine." She blinks at the mini bar. She hasn't encountered a stocked mini bar in any place she's inhabited in... ever. Who wastes money on a place with extra alcohol in, when you can go get a proper bottle elsewhere?

[27_53]

"The vodka is much more sensible."

Plus, they have more than one bottle, so there will be no need for sharing? And the tiny wine would not do any good with their metabolisms.

Skellig shucks off his coat, neatly folding it over the back of the retro-looking lounge chair, where it will be out of the way.

[katyafeline]

She ignores the twee bottles, storing the vodka in the small freezer unit. Those will be ready later - for right now, she has a different want.

In quick succession, she finds the black bread, and the caviar. She applies some of the latter to a hunk of the former, and wolfs down a salty, fishy, hearty bite.

Much better. And that grin is a bit hedonistic.

[27_53]

"...that is disgusting."

He makes a face (refraining, however, from sticking out his tongue) at the caviar. He can scent the fish from here.

Vile nasty creature.

"I will have bread, though."

[katyafeline]

She rolls her eyes at him, but cuts him a slice of the (proper) bread anyway. You just can't help some people.

"There is cheese." She points out - she thinks she's seen a couple varieties go in the bags, but mostly she's been craving her favorite morning snack.

[27_53]

"I saw cheese," he agrees.

He rummages into the bags, pulling out a few hunks.




"...it is so weird. Not in slices."

[katyafeline]

She eyes him.

Clearly, he has been somehow injured, in the head.

Bread that has about as much substance as Styrofoam and cheese that is an over-processed joke does not food make.

"This is what knives are for, da?" She retorts, taking another bite of her snack.

[27_53]

He did fall off a building, once. The tree did not entirely break his fall, either...

"Da," he replies with only the slightest hint of a smirk, reaching for the knife after unwrapping the cheese brick.

Thankfully the energy he'd picked up from the streets and the shop have helped his hands. The vodka will help more, later.

[katyafeline]

She frowns at him - the healer tendencies she spent a lifetime not honing are not helping her tendency to want to bleed any extra energy she picks up into his stores. She just doesn't know how to put it to much better use - not reliably, anyway.

She soothes the irritation with more bread and caviar.

"Your accent is atrocious."

[27_53]

"Wasn't taught," he offers by explanation. "Only heard it."

He cuts several slices of cheese - takes a few, and a piece of the bread - and then he settles onto a chair.




"...this is bread."

(No wonder she was so mad about the Wonderbread.)

[katyafeline]

Her smug radiates.

"Oh ye of little faith." She snorts, strolling to the window to get a gander at the view. It isn't as big as Moscow out there, for all it's sprawled attempt. This city is so young in comparison, almost an innocent.

Almost.

[27_53]

There is much less history here.

While her back is turned, Skellig is eyeing the caviar suspiciously - how could anyone enjoy such a slimy piece of a disgusting bottom dwelling creature.

(He has no real room to talk, what with the cockroaches and mice and beetles. But. Fish.)

"I have plenty of faith. Sometimes. When it is needed."

[katyafeline]

It is the purified essence of the sea, a perfectly briny crisp taste that offsets the earthiness of the bread the way little else can.

Cockroaches are just gross.

"Is this near where you stay? Usually?" Without the Watches, she isn't sure if she would have stayed in Moscow. Probably she would have.

Probably.

With a short interlude to stalk Freddy Mercury. But that is different.

[27_53]

"I...go where I am needed."

It is hard to explain why or how.

"Sometimes I am forced. Sometimes I get bored. Sometimes I am finished."

He breaks another piece of bread off into his hands.

"For now, I am here. It is nice. I like it...nests are tricky sometimes."

[katyafeline]

"More migratory?" She's not sure she could do that, though she supposes that she may have to learn. She's spent so long in one place, taking orders... wandering seems odd.



She goes to console herself with more bread and caviar.

[27_53]

"Yes. Migratory."

That is a good way to put it.

"It is nice to not have to work all the time."

[katyafeline]

"..." That earns a somewhat bemused look from Katya. She long ago earned a reputation for being an unrepentant workaholic, taking all the extra shifts no one else wanted.