The Stumble Inn

Elena shivered softly and curled in on herself a bit, reaching across the bed for Kiya's warmth. When she found nothing, she opened her eyes and looked around. "Kiya?" She murmured, sitting up. Seeing that Kiya was not in the room, Elena got up, put her belt on, and tiptoed downstairs. She lloked around at the others, then spotted Kiya in the corner.

She wasn't alone. Sitting across the table from her was a young man that Elena knew all too well.

She froze. There was no mistaking him, and he was one person that she did not want to run into right now....or ever, for that matter.

Taban shifted a bit uncomfortably. "Um, I'll. . . I gotta go put Wesa to bed. I'm pretty tired myself, I think I'll go as well. . . There's a nice patch of sun on the bed this time of day. . . "

Melanie shifted her weight to her left leg and looked up at the ceiling while she mentally counted. "Five. There are five shower stalls. . . not usually that many guests, you see. Come with me if you want to take one."

Little hackles rose on Kasei-La's neck, and she growled, before taking a deep breath. "Alright, Taban... Go ahead to bed..." She gritted her teeth, looking around. "Hungry..."

Molodi smiled at her, and nodded. "Alright... I would like that." She followed Mel, whistling "Farewell of Slavianka" to herself.

Kiya looked up when she heard Taban get up to go put Wesa to bed and a gasp escaped her lips. She had spotted Elena, and the look on her face was not a good one.

Hawk spotted the look of shock on Kiya's face and turned around, "Oh" he said under his breath.

Kiya just remained quiet and seated, while Hawk stared at Elena with a smug look on his face. He started to say something sarcastic but thought better of it and kept his mouth shut. Kiya just stared at her boots.

Melanie walked past the pirates' table and grimaced. Looks like there was going to be another showdown. Well, whatever. She was going to have her shower come hell or high water.

Molodi followed after Melanie, looking at the pirates and blinking. "...This place is very strange." She sighed, and figured she'd strike up her conversation. "...This town kind of looks like the one I grew up in... Well, with less police officers and strange looking people... I was an overweight little girl growing up... Not that I ate much at all. I was just... Naturally that way, I guess. Mama called me her... How to say it in English... Erm... Chubby Bunny, I suppose is the closest to what she called me."

"Mmm. It can be a strange place, that's for sure. Sometimes it feels like there's really only two people here." Melanie shrugged and opened the door to the floor's bathroom which was lined with showers on one side and toilet stalls on the other. "Ahhh, glorious sanctuary. I don't know what I ever did without running water."

"Well, good to know I've made a friend here, then." She smiled at Melanie, before starting to get undressed behind the stall. "So, how long have you been here, Melanie?"

Hal sighed, and sat up in bed. He couldn't get back to sleep, what with all the people moving around. He took a deep breath, and got up. He looked at his jumpsuit, and shook his head. When he looked in the mirror, he blinked. He looked... Different. More like someone from Mel's world. Well, he couldn't say they all looked like that, but he definitely didn't look like he used to. Shrugging, he went over to the closet in the room, and found a discarded suit, figuring it to be a nice change, he put it on, and grabbed his tool kit, going back to where he placed all his gadgets. "Alright, then. Best get to work..." He found a device that was chrome, and orb-shaped. It was familiar, but he couldn't remember what it was. Still, it was obviously broken, so he started to work on it.

Kasei-La rushed to the kitchen and ripped open the fridge door, quickly shovelling any source of protein she could find in her mouth. Now like a dog in appetite, she would keep eating until she was stopped, had exhaused the supply of food, or vomited.

Melanie took a while considering her answer, filling the silence with the quiet creak of the faucet as she turned it on, letting the water heat while she stripped down. "A while. A long while. Long enough that I should be older, but I'm not. I'm not certain that there really is time here. I suppose it would be a nice place to disappear to, if you were dying and wanted more time. But somehow it feels like the same day, over and over. Monotonous in a peculiar fashion. Not one that you notice with any of the tangible senses, but something that lingers in the back of your mind, telling you that you are trapped. . . " She trailed off, letting the last of her clothing fall to the floor, her silence filled only by the soft shhp of them hitting the floor and the splattering of the shower. "This place will consume you if you stay too long. You forget yourself. And others. I don't know the color of his eyes. . . " Her voice did not waver but her words carried a certain tone of pain for having forgotten such a basic detail of someone who's visage was once burned into her mind.


every once in a while, i feel poetic. So sue me. i miss writing.

Molodi smiled sadly to herself. "Thank God I don't have anyone to forget, then..." She sighed, turning on the shower. "Not that I don't feel for you, Melanie. I do. It's just... I don't know." She looked down at her arm, the deep, arcing scar on the forearm going all the way to her elbow. "Well, you've got a lot of new people now, correct? Чи не вважаєте турбуватися, хоча, I am here now, to keep you company. Not like I have any real reason to go back... My writing isn't that good anyway." She started to lather herself up, and smiled. It was the first time she hadn't used gritty, cheap soap. Instead, it was sweet-smelling, creamy soap that didn't hurt to rub on her skin.

Melanie said nothing, instead focusing on her shower. It was a luxury that she had never had before and one that never lost its appeal, no matter how long it was that she had been trapped here in Wayside. The showers themselves almost made it worth it. She lathered herself up and stood still and closed her eyes. She let the waters wash away the foam, making her feel like she was melting and smiled a bit to herself.

Molodi hummed to herself, brushing at the scar. She started at it for a few moments. People thought she had did it to herself, if they ever got a chance to see it. Then again, in a way, she supposed she had. She still remembered the nights of screaming and shouting as the man she thought loved her came home drunk with another woman, his hands beating down on her... and then the bottle. He broke the bottle and... She tried to defend herself. Molodi glared at the scar, and kept washing. But still, after all two years of it, that blood, her blood, wouldn't scrub from her vision. Some things I really would like to forget.

R'ioth walked into the Inn, his head low in a monk-ish fashion. As he entered, he let his hood fall off of his head, revealing his nordic face. He looked around the main room and mumbled something incomprehensible to all, save himself. This place was so foreign...nothing seemed right. Hoping they understood him, R'ioth spoke up. "Sva ni dsa te noft. Ulv s noft sa?"

Hal blinked, looking up as he heard the man. "Urm, one moment!" He picked up his universal translator, and walked over to him. He flicked on the universal translator, and spoke into it. "Sorry, could you repeat that? I don't speak whatever language you are speaking." He grinned at the man. "I am Hal Buckley, hero of the stars."

Kasei-La snarled as she started gnawing on the plastic of the fridge's edges, before a stomach ache temporarily brought her to her senses. She looked up, and then looked at what she had done. "Oh, gosh... I gotta clean this up or Mel is gonna be mad at me!" She scrambled to her feet, and started to look frantically for something to clean up the mess she made, holding her stomach in pain at the same time. "Owww-owww... Why did I do thiiissss...."

Denton walked down to the showers, and stripped naked. "Mornin', ladies. Hope you slept well." He walked into the shower, and blinked. "...A personal shower? As in one for... Oooh, ritzy. I'm lovin' this place." He chuckled to himself "So, any of you interested in the Dentmeister? He said as he prepared for insults!" He laughed heartily at his self-narration, before turning on the water. "Woah! Hot water! Awesome!"

Molodi looked up, and sighed, not able to even muster up a "go fuck yourself". "Did you hear anything, Melanie? I mean, besides jackass trying to hit on us?"

R'ioth stared at the man quizzically, but then nodded. "I need a place to stay. Can I stay here?" The robed man was understood by the translator. "I am R'ioth, my family's name is not important."

The quizzical look on R'ioth's face changed to one of curiosity as he examined the room. He spoke again, coming through the translator as: "What is this place? It is wondrous, yet so strange..."

Hal shrugged. "It's called the Stumble-Inn, apparently. I've only been here for about a day, so I can't say much about it. The owner is in the shower, so you will have to give her some time." He handed R'ioth a piece of the translator. "Here, put this in your ear." It looked like a bluetooth headphone, only much more glowy and chrome. "This will allow you to understand everyone." He smiled "So, where did you come from, then, sir?"

Kasei-La sighed in relief as she found a mop, and started to clean up the kitchen. "Hurry, hurry, can't let Mel seeee thisssss!"

R'ioth examined the piece carefully, wondering what magical powers it might have. It was clear that, based on the movements of the other's mouth, he wasn't speaking the same language. Yet, magically, the two understood each other. Crafty.

After making sure the piece wouldn't damage him in any way, R'ioth placed it on his ear and looked around the room. "I hail from Grov'lare. Though...your witchcraft is not Niztic in origin...so it must be that I am somewhere else?" R'ioth concluded, half-asking the strange man. "I was wandering in the wastelands...and now I have arrived in this strange place..."

"What I understand is that you get here when you become lost. I'm actually working on fixing something at the moment. I can't quite remember what it is, but it might be useful to have around." He grinned, and led him to where he was working. "Now, do whatever you please, as long as that isn't burning things or harassing the ladies."

Melanie ignored them both, quietly singing a Korean folk song under her breath as she continued washing up. "꿈에서라도 만난다면
가지 말라고 하겠어요. 마지막 인사도 없이 떠나간 내 사랑. 이별길 넘어가시다. 발병이라도 나신다면. 못난 내 품에서 잠시 쉬어가세요. . . "

"That would make sense...I have heard lore of such a magical realm, though it is a wonder how not many people have arrived here..." R'ioth mused, clearly still uneasy about the whole situation. "I am in need of some blood, do you happen to have an apothecary in this...area?"

Taban walked back down the stairs, stretching. His hair was a mess and so was his outfit, but he seemed to neither notice nor mind, wearing a bright smile on his face as he walked towards a sunny patch on the floor and sat down. "Alimore." he said with a wave to the others. It looked like someone new had decided to show up.

Hal blinked, and shook his head. "No apothecaries, sorry. There's a clinic near here, but I haven't visited there yet... And this isn't magic. It's science. Machines. Moving pieces working together to make a whole work." He shrugged "But I guess it's advanced enough to seem like magic, isn't it? Tell me, can you travel past the sun in your world?"

Denton grinned "By the way, girls, I'm not interested. Don't really get attracted to women unless I've known em for long, and with the casualty rates in the 'Purg, that rarely happens... On a completely unrelated note: I think I'm bigger than I used to be! This is awesome! Hooray for me!" He stopped goofing around and smiled as he listened to the song Mel sang, suddenly becoming completely quiet for a few momentsw. "Arirang. Nice. Lived next to some people descended from the United Korean Republic's citizens. The daughter liked to sing that stuff. Sweet girl. Tell me, Ms: 당신은 당신 좋은 음성이 있고, 또는 나는 당신을 납득시킨ㄴ다는 것을 하기 위하여 가는 다는 것을 알고 있는가?"

Molodi sighed, feeling a bit out of the loop, now. "...Huh?"

Kasei-La kept sweeping, panicked. "Oh, she's gonna get mad and yell and she'll never forgive me eveeeerrrr!"

Melanie ignored him and continued singing softly. What did it matter if she had a good voice? She was singing for herself, not him. He was messing up her quiet time. . . "혹시나 내게 찾아오시는 길, 못찾을까 걱정돼. 달님에게 나 부탁해 그댈 비춰드릴께요. 사람아 내 사람아. 불러도 대답없는 내 사람아. 같은 하늘 아래 살아도. 다시는 못 볼 사람. . ."

"Past Sol? No...we cannot leave the planet. What...what working parts? Is this some sort of enhanced witchcraft?" R'ioth responded, taking a step back and pulling out what looked like a canteen as a defensive mechanism. "You are strange, but that does not mean my summons are ineffective versus you, sir!"

It was then that it hit him, what if this sorcery was meant to control his mind? R'ioth ripped the thing on his ear off, threw it at the man, and took another step backward. "S var shaj ha!" He shouted, seeming confused and panicked. "Reva nar'min!"

Denton, being a tad oblivious, decided to sing an old song that went around the dirtier parts of the mess halls. "Vulcanize the whoopee stick in the ham wallet. Cattle prod the oyster ditch with the lap rocket. Batter dip the cranny ax in the gut locker. Retrofit the pudding hatch -- Ooh la la -- With the boink swatter. If I get you in the loop when I make a point to be straight with you then in lieu of the innuendo in the end know my intent though I brazillian wax poetic so hypothetically-- I don't wanna beat around the bush! Foxtrot! Uniform! Charlie! Kilo!" To him, it was all good fun.

Getting fed up, Molodi turned off the shower, and went to get a towel. "Blyat." She picked up her old clothes, and went through the hall in only a towel, passing by Taban. "Move it, girly boy." She walked up the stairs, and to her room, to get dressed.

Kasei-La slipped on the wet shine she had made of the floor, hitting her rear hard, and setting off the water works. She started to bawl, and ran out to her room, before also bumping into Taban. "Taaaabbbbaaaaan! I made a hu-u-uge me-e-ess be-cause I wa-as hun-gry-y and M-el-el will be ma-a-a-ad at me if I d-o-on't clean it uuup and I-I fell and h-u-urt myself!"

Hal looked absolutely befuddled, and talked into the device. "Um, what's wrong?" With the strange man's outburst, he could not pay attention to Kasei-La's sobbing. "...Did I offend you, or something? Do you not like working parts? Surely, you must have seen a catapult, or a clock, or even something with wheels, right?"