The Arms Hotel, Saturday

[gunslingerpose]

Nikolai was over last weekend's trauma, more or less. And really, why shouldn't he be? He'd been playing the superhero game on the mainland for a few months, and already he'd seen worse shit than those girls had done to him in the alley back there.

... Maybe less princess carrying, at least.

Anyway, today was shaping up to be a busy day, what with that high school kid's party going on upstairs. Nick was not looking forward to cleaning up whatever empty bottles and condoms or whatever were inevitably going to be sitting around the room by the time that lot all cleared out. Especially not with one arm still in a sling, though at least he was starting to get some mobility back in it.

Nick was going to be surprised and maybe a little disappointed in the youth of today when he went up to clean and found that the most questionable substance at the party had been an overabundance of chocolate. What the hell, guys? What the hell.

Welcome to the Arms Hotel!
Today's Specials:
Fried Walleye & Potato Cakes with Creamy Dill Sauce
Reuben Grilled Cheese
Grilled Pineapple with Nutella
Grilled French Toast with Strawberries and Rosemary

Yup. Going to be so disappointed in the youth of today. But the Reuben sandwich helped mitigate that. Slightly.

[OOC: Open! OCD-free!]

Comments

[kenselvren]

Jalian was heading out after Elsa's party when she caught sight of the male behind the counter, his arm in a sling. Curious, she detoured toward him. "Did your hand not heal?"

[gunslingerpose]

"Did my - Ah." Hey, look! Crazy knife-throwing girl! Nick gave her a bit of a wary look from behind his shades before shaking his head, no. "Nah, this is an older injury than that. My hand itself is just fine."

He even gave his fingers a little wiggle to demonstrate. The rest of his arm wasn't especially thrilled with that, but, fuck it, he was finally getting into exercises to get it back into form again, he was going to wiggle his damn fingers if he wanted to.

"Something about getting shit-kicked in dark streets seems to be the running theme for July."

[kenselvren]

Jalian frowned for a moment as she parsed the slang. "You were attacked before?"

[gunslingerpose]

"Sort of. More like I was out looking for trouble, and it found me first."

That, too, seemed to be a running theme for the month. Good job, Nikolai.

[kenselvren]

Jalian raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "If you want to find trouble, you should have someone to protect you."

[gunslingerpose]

Well, then. Nikolai was raising an eyebrow right on back.

"I usually come out on top," he noted. "Trouble doesn't generally get lucky the way trouble did a few weeks ago."

Plus having someone to protect him sort of defeated the purpose of being a superhero, going out to protect other people. Didn't it?

[kenselvren]

"Two times it has. How many times has it not?" Jalian asked.

[gunslingerpose]

"One of those times, I wasn't entirely myself," Nikolai pointed out, because yes, it was absolutely imperative that he defend his dignity to the high school kid. "And I go out every night. I have been for months. One night, someone else got the upper hand. And I still got myself out of there alive on my own."

So, he would thank you for your concern and all, but he probably didn't actually need a keeper when he wandered out alone.

[kenselvren]

Well, that wasn't bad, then, for a male. Jalian shrugged in acknowledgement. Then, because she was a mischievous little shit couldn't resist, she grinned and added, "I bet I could still take you."

[gunslingerpose]

"Right now, with one arm out of commission? It'd hardly be a fair fight," Nick pointed out, smirking faintly. "Or is that what you were hoping for?"

Look, he reserved the right to be a little shit right on back.

[kenselvren]

Jalian rolled her eyes. "That would be no fight at all. Can you even hold a knife? Or a gun, I suppose," she added reluctantly. Guns were so loud and messy!

[gunslingerpose]

"Neither," Nick replied with a shrug that was decidedly on the lopsided side. "Neither of them are really my weapon of choice, though. I have other tricks I rely on out there that don't involve blowing messy holes in people."

[kenselvren]

"Guns are very messy," Jalian agreed. "What is your weapon? Spear or bow?" She tried to remember what other weapons this timeline had. "Poison?"

[gunslingerpose]

"None of the above," Nick replied, shaking his head a little and maybe, just slightly enjoying the fact that he was keeping her guessing. "It's nothing so obvious, anyway."

Hell, he was on this insane damn island, surrounded by vampires - he was sort of like one himself, he supposed - and fuck knew what else. At this point, there hardly seemed like a reason to hold back everything.

"My weapon is me. The more time I spend out there each night fighting, the stronger, faster, and more agile I get for the rest of the night."

Mostly true.

[kenselvren]

Jalian cocked her head in curiosity. "Your entropy is different. Are you from this timeline?"

[gunslingerpose]

Nick leaned his head a little to the side, and then gave it a shake, no.

"Is anyone here actually from this timeline? I doubt I'm from the same reality as the Baltimore on the other side of the Causeway, if that's what you mean."

[kenselvren]

"I won't ask how you got here, as nobody seems to know," Jalian answered a bit acerbically. "Did your body function the same way in your own timeline, or is it because of your travel here?" Hopefully he at least knew that much.

[gunslingerpose]

"Pretty sure this is something that comes from my own timeline," Nikolai supplied, ever so helpfully. "It happened just before I wound up on the island, so close that I still had no damn clue what was going on when I arrived here. But it started before I ever set foot on the Causeway, and came from something in my own world."

Lucky guy.

[kenselvren]

"Not related to the timelines, then." Jalian nodded, her question answered at least. "What happened?"

This is what you got when you gave an inch to someone raised without concepts of privacy, Nick.

[gunslingerpose]

Apparently so!

"An accident in Greece and a bad blood transfusion," he replied. Simple enough. He was going to pass the transfusion off as the cause of his 'sensitive eyes' back in LA anyway. "Whatever was in her blood ended up changing mine. That's about all I know."

[kenselvren]

Jalian scrunched up her face. "Some virus or mutation, presumably." Which, okay, was still slightly interesting, but biology...eh. It wasn't temporal mechanics.

"Is it related to time? You get stronger and faster over time?" she asked. "Or is it exposure to something?"

[gunslingerpose]

Jeeze, this kid was nosy. But Nick found himself wondering what the hell the point even was to hiding it, here. Nobody gave two shits, did they? Oh no, one more person with powers on an island full of people with powers.

The horror.

"Exposure to something," he supplied, finally. "It takes energy from the people I target, just so long as they're actually alive. Makes my job a hell of a lot easier, so long as I get to them before they get to me."

[kenselvren]

"What happens if they're all faster?" Jalian asked logically.

[gunslingerpose]

"Depends where they're coming at me from. The shoulder is from someone who came at me from behind. But so long as I can see 'em coming, nah, I'm good."

Well, so long as he could see them coming, and they were actually alive. Allie could kick his ass ten ways to Sunday and there wasn't a hell of a lot he could do about it.

[kenselvren]

"So if they attack from behind, or move too fast, you lose." Jalian snorted in mixed derision and amusement. "And you don't think you need a protector? Or a hunting partner at least," she conceded. If males were going to fight for themselves, they ought to at least band together.

[gunslingerpose]

"I'm not really in the market for a protector, no," Nick replied, still vaguely amused, himself. "I go out there with somebody else from time to time, but that's less because I think I can't hack it, and more because I appreciate the company."

And two vampires tearing up the street crime in Baltimore was frigging awesome.

[kenselvren]

Jalian rolled her eyes. "I will never understand males." Honestly, if he was ending up like this, that should be a clue he did need help.

[gunslingerpose]

"Probably all for the best," Nick replied, smirking.

What? It wasn't like he was going to take any of this to heart, after all.

[kenselvren]

"You are very silly creatures," Jalian proclaimed. And, shaking her head, left.

[spin_kick_snap]

After breakfast was over and the party had finally broken up, Kathy'd gotten dressed in running attire. Since she was already in town, no reason to waste the opportunity to get a run in before she went back to Ingvar to shower, change, and listen to wailing ghosts.

Pulling up her hair into a ponytail, she stopped to check out the day's specials. Oooh, a Reuben. Maybe she should stop back here first and grab lunch.

[gunslingerpose]

Nick was busying himself with some of the hotel's paperwork as the students started dribbling out through the lobby. Now and again he'd glance up just to make sure none of them were burning the place down.

Which was where he noticed the one that had stopped to look at the specials board, her back to him. Huh. That was was going to break hearts someday, wasn't she? And shit, those thighs. Probably a dancer or a gymnast or something.

Not that he was looking too closely. Really. Just, you know. Casual observations, here.

[spin_kick_snap]

Feeling canonically ogled the weight of someone's eyes on hers, Kathy turned around to wave, figuring it was someone she'd just said goodbye to.

It wasn't. It was hard to say from behind the dark glasses, but it looked like the guy behind the counter was watching her. Blushing, she was about to turn around and pretend she hadn't seen him when she realized why he was probably doing that.

It was him. The guy from the weekend. The guy that she'd blinded. Among other things. Kathy tried not to look horrified, but ended up gaping like a fish.

[gunslingerpose]

Funny how the look she was making genuinely now was so familiar after a weekend of seeing her make it facetiously before. Nick blinked as he placed the face, momentarily taken aback, his mouth making an 'oh' shape.

And then, after a moment, he gave his one good arm a slight shrug and offered her a nod hello. She'd have a fun time trying to blind him this time around if she was a wicked psycho, anyway.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I--I--" Kathy stuttered, taking in his dark glasses and his arm sling and the wary surprise he was sporting now. "I'm so sorry! I'm not like that! I would never, ever, ever do any of the things--I mean, with the opium--and in your room--I wouldn't--!"

And at maximum flail, Kathy did the only thing that seemed intelligent at the time. She turned on her heel and fled.

[gunslingerpose]

"Hey, hold up!"

But of course she was gone, and, Nick couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn she had taken off at a velocity that would have made an Olympic sprinter wince. There was no way in hell he'd be able to catch up, and with his arm still bothering him, he wasn't terribly inclined to try.

Well, at least she'd apologized?

Weird girl.