strangetrip | [GP/EP] Check-in Day

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[GP/EP] Check-in Day

Liz was starting to get better at the whole check-in day stuff. She knew she hadn't seen 'everything' yet, but she was learning from watching Kitty and Caroline and the others how to approach distressed, confused, and even angry people. It wasn't always perfect, but she was getting better.

With the help from the bakery, there were muffins on trays in the lobby - Mary had insisted. She insisted on coming in every once in a while to restock the trays too.

Liz had helped bring another tray to the front desk and then moved to sit at one of the couches that had a view of the front doors. She had a complicated science essay for Kitty due in a week and Liz was having trouble finding the right wording to express her thoughts.

Every once in a while, Liz would look up to see if there was someone knew approaching. There could be no one today or there could be a lot. Briefly, she wondered if someone else from home would show up. A part of her was curious who that would be, but she found a larger part of herself was hoping no one else would.

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Steve couldn't believe that he'd been here two weeks already. He'd spent most of that time exploring the boundaries of this place and trying not to hate chicken. The first few days were fine--he wandered off in every which direction trying to figure out a way out, but somehow always seemed to come back to the Madonna Inn. The food wasn't bad. Steve had had bad food back in the war, so this was actually pretty tasty, considering. But it started to get monotonous. And Steve started hiding. He didn't know how to act or what to say when he came into contact with the people here, so he stopped trying. Besides, he had a lot of things to work through on his own.

It was time to end his self-assigned hermitage, though. He came out on the day he knew new people would be arriving and lingered near the dining room area to people watch.

"Um... you're Mr. Roger's, right?" Liz had seen him around, of course. She had heard about him from Peter, but hadn't quite found the courage to approach yet. Liz offered him a friendly smile.

Steve turned at the gentle voice and caught sight of the brunette standing near. He hadn't spent much time outside of his room over the last couple of weeks--at least, not with many other people--so he didn't know the girl. Though, he thought he'd seen her around with some other young people--with the boy who introduced himself as the Spider-Man.

"I am," he put on a warm smile. "You can call me Steve, though. You're a friend of Peter's?"

She blushed a little, looking sheepish, but nodding. "Um, yeah." Somehow it felt strangely intimidating to correct him that Peter was more than a friend, but she didn't know why.

"I'm Liz. It's nice to meet you. Peter, um. He's said a lot of nice things about you."

"It's nice to meet you, Liz," Steve said, holding his large, warm hand out for her to shake. His grip was firm but comforting.

"Has he, now? That's... that's mighty kind of him. I wish I could say the same, only I'm just getting to know him here."

"I know" she nodded, then paused when she realized how that sounded. "I mean, it's sort of a the same with everyone from your world. Thor didn't know him either." She didn't know who else Steve didn't know so she didn't want to list people who might make him more confused.

"I think he's really happy to have all of you here though."

Steve nodded. There were a lot of reasons why the people from his world seemed to be the same. It was possible they came from similar places in their timeline. Steve hadn't put that much thought to it since he'd been here.

"Well, I'm certainly glad to get to know him, too." It was more than just a little glimpse into his future. Peter was a good kid, and Steve liked him.

She smiled at that. Steve was definitely nice - she could see why Peter liked him.

"Have you settled in okay? I know this place can be a lot to take it." Even with the sort of world they came from.

Steve was definitely nice. And he liked Peter, too, thuogh he was bound to grow even mroe attached as they spent time together here at the hotel.

"So far so good. How long have you been here?"

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Maria was on her way to wait tables when she practically ran into the tall drink of water that was Steve Rogers. Her eyes went wide and her mouth gaped open slightly.

"Woah." She said.

He is like, way too good looking to be real life right now

That was a common reaction when people bumped into Steve Rogers. The funny thing was Steve hadn't really put together why people--especially young women--reacted to him this way. It was probably something to do with the celebrity status that he had, right? Meeting Captain America was like meeting a hollywood movie star, or a MLB MVP.

He broke into a somewhat shy smile at the sight of the pretty girl who was gaping at him. "Hi, there."

Maria's mouth remained open for another second or two. She got a handle of herself and smiled.

"Hi." She said, trying to play it cool. "Sorry. I'm Maria. Are you new here? I'm new here."

"Hi, Maria." Steve couldn't help but smile. It was nice talking to people again after his self-imposed escape from public areas and crowds. "I'm Steve. It's been a couple of weeks, but I'm still relatively new. Are you--is this your first day?"

"Actually I got here on the first of September" She replied. "So I'm in the same boat.... wait! Did we show up here at the same time?"

Maria wondered if that meant anything. She knew Liz said people arrived on the 1st and the 15th, but other than that, there was no reason people knew of.

"Are you settling in okay?" She asked. "Which I guess is me basically asking you if how okay are you normally with crazy weird."

"Yes, it sounds like you and I have been here about the same amount of time." Steve said, nodding. It felt nice to know that he wasn't the only new arrival.

"So far so good," Steve replied. "I'm normally pretty okay with weird, so I've been settling in all right. What about you? Are you normally okay with weird?"

"Yeah, I'd say so." She said with a soft laugh. "Two years ago I found out aliens were real and some of them went to my school. So weird has been sort of my constant state since, you know?"

She missed Michael, but if she was being honest she didn't miss the others.

"Seriously." She continued. "I mean, I thought weird in Roswell were the tourists who showed up, but I guess I was proven wrong."

"Some of them go to your school?" Steve asked, eyebrows raised. That was definitely a change from what he remembered his own schooling to be like. Or even what he'd heard about in the more recent times--he'd done those videos that they were playing in schools not too long ago... but he thought he would have remembered something about aliens in schools...

"Well, I suppose anything can happen. Being here, in this place? This is as much proof as we need, isn't it?"

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"Ah, Captain." Loki, as was his usual pattern, seemingly appeared out of nowhere. That he'd done so with his actual self rather than an illusion was the only slightly unusual part, but he'd decided to stay unseen while he tried to work out whether the smarter move was to introduce himself or continue to allow himself and Rogers to go about their separate tracks.

In the end, the simple fact that both Stark and Thor knew very well that he was present in the Inn was the deciding factor. To associate with them while avoiding Captain Rogers could present an image of being up to something. Which in fairness he usually was! Just not at the moment, and he couldn't see how adding avoidable suspicion to the unavoidable would help him. "I'd heard you arrived."

Well, this was unexpected. Not entirely, of course, because Thor had mentioned that Loki was here... but Steve hadn't thought the god would seek him out. Then again, this place wasn't that big--Steve should have imagined they would come face to face eventually.

Steve's spine straightened just a little at the sight of the dark-haired man, and his chin lifted just a little.

"Hello, Loki. Your brother said you were here."

"Thor is very good about warning people," Loki agreed, noting the slight shift of body language. The difference between Captain Rogers and Captain America, perhaps? Or simply the difference between relaxed-ish and relaxed not at all. Both, possibly. Or neither.

Even new-ish people were fun. "But this is a small Inn, our paths would have crossed eventually. It seemed better to me that the crossing not be accidental."

"Indeed he is. Especially when he has reason to be." Steve cocked his head to the side just slightly as he considered the other man. It was almost the same move that a golden retriever would make after hearing a word it almost understood.

"Do you think there would be a problem with an accidental crossing?" Steve asked. He was almost teasing. Almost. One of his eyebrows arched gently.

That same question, in a slightly different tone, would have been akin to a small dog yapping and trying to be threatening. As Rogers said it, it was almost like play. "I expect that depends on context. Under ordinary circumstances, quite probably not." Clearly, neither of them were inclined to pick a fight with the other without a current reason. "Under less ordinary circumstances," such as the recent undead invasion that the Captain might or might not have heard about, "there might be some confusion regarding sides. Best avoided on the whole, I think."

These were very much not ordinary circumstances.

"Ah, I see. So you don't want me being confused on which side you're on?" Steve asked, folding his arms across his chest. "Is that it?"

"More or less. Here and now, for example, since we're being civilized to each other, I can repeat something I've said before," to Thor and Stark, not-so-oddly enough, "which is that I understand everyone here, including myself, to be in the same boat. Further, I understand there's a difference between occasionally trying to push someone overboard - probably Thor, he's used to it - and knocking holes in the hull." The one was an annoying inconvenience, the other could destroy things for everyone. "A situation where I'm already throwing knives, on the other hand, is not exactly conducive to conversation."

Steve's chin raised just slightly in curiosity, though it may have come off as defiance. Hopefully, it didn't come off the wrong way. His eyes were soft, though, as he watched the other man speak.

"I don't see any knives in your hands today," Steve said, hoping he was following the metaphor correctly. "Does that make today a good day for a conversation?"