(no subject)

[ladyfirestarter]

About half of the fourteenth floor of the Dolphin Hotel -- it's the thirteenth floor, of course, but numbered 14 -- is closed for renovations.

Charlie's room is on the ninth floor.

She holds open the door of room 928, slipping the card-key back into her pocket.

Comments

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

Prometheus ventures in, both hands in his pockets. After a moment's appraisal, he plants his feet in the middle of the room, facing her.

"So, unrelenting evil in a place just like this, huh?"

It's a nice room. The monster must have had a taste for good digs.

[ladyfirestarter]

"Pretty much, yeah."

Absently she reaches out a hand and runs her fingers lightly down the wallpaper.

"Even before it actually attacked us -- even before anything really obvious happened -- it just felt wrong. You know?"

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." He watches the trace of her fingertips. "Malevolence like that plays hell with ambience. Glad they're getting themselves up and running again, though."

[ladyfirestarter]

"So'm I." She smiles at him. "The concierge recognized me, when I first checked in last night. Made a point of saying hello. Almost bowed."

Her smile widens. "By which I judge they're still doing okay."

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

"I should hope so!" And there's that grin again, as he saunters close to her. "I bet they've got your picture pinned up behind the front desk. Like the inverse of being a check forger. That's much more convenient than infamy."

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie laughs, and covers her mouth with the fingers of one hand. "Oh god, I hope not. Can you imagine?"

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

"We could always check."

Very innocent.

"Or I could provide them with one. Just in case there's some doofy new kid who needs impressing with the facts."

[ladyfirestarter]

"...That's right, they'll probably be taking on new staff more often now."

She seems more struck by this idea than amused.

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

"How about that? You've added to the American workforce."

He turns his head to examine the art hanging over the two beds. "They really are doing okay." A pause. "There's somebody whose job it is to buy those paintings for every single room in every single hotel out there."

This seems unfathomable in its own right.

[ladyfirestarter]

"Like whoever it is whose job it is to write the descriptions on the side of the Celestial Seasonings tea boxes. Those worry me."

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

"Oh man!" His eyes go big. "The poetry... the life lessons... oh, the humanity! That's somebody with an English degree out there. It makes you wonder."

[ladyfirestarter]

"Seriously."

A beat.

"They make good tea, though."

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

"Point conceded. That Red Zinger can totally redeem a bad day, if you're having one."

He shifts his weight, glances at the beds. One of them has Charlie's open suitcase spread over it.

"My feet are killing me," he announces, somewhat apologetically. "D'you mind if I...?"

[ladyfirestarter]

"No, go ahead."

She seats herself on the other bed a moment after he sits.

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

He steps out of his shoes and nudges them more or less out of the way. His ankles crack when he rolls them.

"Oh, that feels good." A half-smile. "Lot of walking today. But very fine sights."

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie leans back, smiling.

"Welcome to New York," she says cheerfully.

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

"These vagabond shoes are longing to stray," he agrees with a full grin. "I won't trouble the ghost of Sinatra by going any further, but, the point remains."

[ladyfirestarter]

"If Sinatra had a ghost, wouldn't it be hanging around Las Vegas?"

She toes off one sneaker, and stretches her foot out a little before working on the other.

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

He tilts his head. "I don't know. That's a question for the sages. Would they know at Celestial Seasonings, d'you think?"

They are purveyors of metaphysical wisdom, after all.

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie throws a pillow at him.

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

Thwap!

"Hey! Honest question!"

Punctuated, naturally, by another pillow lobbed at Charlie.

[ladyfirestarter]

Who is laughing by now, as she grabs a larger pillow to fend off the smaller, ideal-for-throwing ones.

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

Lucky for both of them the Dolphin has invested in such superlative fighting pillows!

They're still a little ungainly, though. This necessitates a plan of attack that requires launching oneself at one's opponent. Prometheus is duty-bound to proceed!

[ladyfirestarter]

Charlie's laughter cuts off in a yelp as they tumble across the bed, the big pillow wedged awkwardly between them.

A twist and a half-roll, and she's out from under him and off the other side of the bed, half-crouched in the narrow aisle between the bed and the wall. She's still grinning, but not laughing anymore.

[notboundnow.livejournal.com]

"Whoa!"

The leap left him sprawled across the foot of the bed; he props himself on his forearms for a moment. "In answer to your question," he says calmly, "I think Hoboken is also a likely option."