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xp_logs2012-05-23 11:14 pm
x-tarot.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2012-05-23 11:14 pm
Genosha - The Unwritten Alliance: Infiltration
Callisto and Amanda check into a hostel. Cal hates planes and is hungry, and Amanda is not looking forward to talking to the city.
The hostel was typical of its type - rundown, small and crammed into a small side street. Almost impossible to find if you didn't have a map or a GPS and even then it took a couple of tries to find the actual door, jammed in between a second hand book shop that looked like it hadn't been open in a long time and a seedy looking netcafe/printing place that was so dimly lit that the computer screens cast ghoulish shadows over the faces of those using them.
It was, in a word, perfect for them.
Amanda heaved her pack up further onto her shoulders as they approached the front desk. The person working reception was a typical backpacker, a thirty-something woman with blond hair in dreads and a t-shirt from a beach somewhere in Bali. Working off her room and board, probably.
"Heya," Amanda said, laying on her accent as thick as when she had been at the school. "Any chance yer got a couple of beds for the week?"
The woman nodded, looking bored as she glanced from one to the other. "We might have some in the women's dorm. Is that all right?" Her accent was just as thick as Amanda's, only Australian.
Callisto shrugged her slim shoulders, looking idly around herself - or at least, it appeared idle if you didn't know that her sharp eyes and ears missed nothing.
The woman behind the counter shrugged as well, mimicking Callisto's movement. "I'll take that as a yes, then," she said. "Beds're $20 a night and you get to use the facilities, such as they are. What brings you to sunny Genosha?"
"The usual," Amanda replied. "It's somewhere I haven't been before an' the weather's better than at home, innit?" She glanced at Callisto. "I met up with this one at a hostel in Madagascar an' we decided since we were both headed this way, we'd stick together. Ain't that right?"
"Huh?" Callisto murmured, finally drawing her gaze back to her travelling companion, her full lips settling into that characteristic mouth-slightly-open 'whu' pout. Callisto had 'pretty vacant' down to an art form. Or maybe she just was. "Oh. Yeah. Beats travelling alone," she murmured, smirking at Amanda. To the receptionist she probably just seemed quiet-spoken but to Amanda it sounded a little as though her low voice was strangely deliberate. Still, she turned and nodded to the woman behind the desk. "Up-front?" she asked then, plunging into one pocket for some notes which she apparently just kept loose in there.
"You'll need to fill these out. Just the basics, name, date of birth, address if you have one. Emergency contact number in case you're eaten by a shark on the beach. And I'll need to see some ID." The Australian woman shoved a couple of pieces of paper at them.
"Yer jokin' 'bout the sharks, I hope," Amanda replied, taking the form and one of the pens that were stuck in a jam jar on the weather-beaten desk. A moment later she was grabbing a second pen, as the first proved to be out of ink. "Here's the passport," she said, hauling the document out before starting on the form. It was creased and bent and had the look of being shoved in and out of pockets a lot.
"Lucy Skye?" The woman snorted. "Cute."
"Me parents're big Beatles fans," Amanda replied, sounding like she was repeating something she had to say a lot. Inwardly she was cursing Remy's sense of humour, yet again.
"And... Ursa Masters," the receptionist went on as the other woman passed across her passport, barely glancing up at Callisto, who barely glanced back, scribbling the carefully practiced signature down on the form. It was pretty shaky, but then, Callisto's real signature was pretty shaky. If Callisto 'got' the joke in her own fake ID, it certainly didn't show.
Forms completed, ID processed and money paid, the woman tossed them a couple of keys with plastic tags. "One's for the front door after hours, one's for the dorm. If you've got any valuables, you should probably keep them on you or rent a locker. Management doesn't take any responsibility for loss."
"Got it." Amanda picked up her pack again with a small grunt. "Where to?"
"Top floor." The woman indicated a rickety set of stairs. "Watch your step."
Immediately they entered the low-ceilinged, cramped dorm with its scattering of mismatched bunk beds, Callisto chucked her rucksack down on the nearest empty berth and flopped down onto it heavily, ancient springs crying out beneath her.
"Fuck me, just cut my head off," she groaned, lifting her hands to cover her face. "So many fuckin' planes..."
Amanda snorted a brief laugh, but gave Callisto a sympathetic look as she dumped her pack. "Yeah, too bad we weren't posing as wealthy jet setters. They get the direct flights," she replied, keeping her voice down to a near-murmur. Callisto would be able to hear her. "Then again, neither of us would fit the part."
"Mph. Not really. Stick out more that way, anyway. But..." Callisto's utterance deteriorated into another melodramatic groan and she turned onto her side, curling into a ball.
"Anything I can do? You want a soft drink or something?" Amanda asked, looking concerned. It wasn't often Cal was anything but laconic.
"Mph. Actually..." Callisto pulled her head out from under her hands briefly. "Do you have anything to eat?"
"You're talking to the Bottomless Pit of Brighton, I always have food." Amanda's magic didn't use as much of her own energy as it used to, but she still kept food on her as a habit. Or in case she had to pull a rabbit out of her arse in the middle of nowhere. She rummaged through the top pocket of her pack and came up with a bag of jelly beans. "These ought to do - they're the sort diabetics keep on them in case they need it."
"Hrm... for now, yeah, thanks," Callisto said, finally pushing into a sitting position and taking the proffered candy, immediately tearing into it and scoffing a handful. "I'll need to get something heavier sometime soon," she said. "You know me, I eat like... well, like four mes. Vanessa's started just ordering like twice as much Chinese when she gets it in without even asking."
"We'll head out and get something. I want to get a feel for this place any way." Amanda sat down on the bed next to the older woman, sneaking a jelly bean before they all disappeared. "We're on the clock, so we'll have to get cracking."
"Yeah... yeah, sorry. Planes. Seriously. Fuck 'em."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get to work off the plane blah with some theraputic violence." Amanda grinned again. "Since you're going to be the one doing the legwork in whatever this place has for a criminal underworld."
"Mm." Callisto wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. Guess we should start sniffing around."
"Literally in your case," Amanda teased. "While I get to paddle around in whatever passes for a consciousness in this place." She seemed doubtful - Hammer Bay wasn't exactly huge, or old. "Still, hopefully we'll get an idea of where they'd be keeping a bunch of mutant kids."
"And then we can find some of 'they'... 'them'... and kick their asses," Callisto said darkly, pushing to her feet swaying just slightly where she stood and closing her eyes for a moment. "But yaknow. After I've had like six of whatever they have instead of hot dogs here."
The hostel was typical of its type - rundown, small and crammed into a small side street. Almost impossible to find if you didn't have a map or a GPS and even then it took a couple of tries to find the actual door, jammed in between a second hand book shop that looked like it hadn't been open in a long time and a seedy looking netcafe/printing place that was so dimly lit that the computer screens cast ghoulish shadows over the faces of those using them.
It was, in a word, perfect for them.
Amanda heaved her pack up further onto her shoulders as they approached the front desk. The person working reception was a typical backpacker, a thirty-something woman with blond hair in dreads and a t-shirt from a beach somewhere in Bali. Working off her room and board, probably.
"Heya," Amanda said, laying on her accent as thick as when she had been at the school. "Any chance yer got a couple of beds for the week?"
The woman nodded, looking bored as she glanced from one to the other. "We might have some in the women's dorm. Is that all right?" Her accent was just as thick as Amanda's, only Australian.
Callisto shrugged her slim shoulders, looking idly around herself - or at least, it appeared idle if you didn't know that her sharp eyes and ears missed nothing.
The woman behind the counter shrugged as well, mimicking Callisto's movement. "I'll take that as a yes, then," she said. "Beds're $20 a night and you get to use the facilities, such as they are. What brings you to sunny Genosha?"
"The usual," Amanda replied. "It's somewhere I haven't been before an' the weather's better than at home, innit?" She glanced at Callisto. "I met up with this one at a hostel in Madagascar an' we decided since we were both headed this way, we'd stick together. Ain't that right?"
"Huh?" Callisto murmured, finally drawing her gaze back to her travelling companion, her full lips settling into that characteristic mouth-slightly-open 'whu' pout. Callisto had 'pretty vacant' down to an art form. Or maybe she just was. "Oh. Yeah. Beats travelling alone," she murmured, smirking at Amanda. To the receptionist she probably just seemed quiet-spoken but to Amanda it sounded a little as though her low voice was strangely deliberate. Still, she turned and nodded to the woman behind the desk. "Up-front?" she asked then, plunging into one pocket for some notes which she apparently just kept loose in there.
"You'll need to fill these out. Just the basics, name, date of birth, address if you have one. Emergency contact number in case you're eaten by a shark on the beach. And I'll need to see some ID." The Australian woman shoved a couple of pieces of paper at them.
"Yer jokin' 'bout the sharks, I hope," Amanda replied, taking the form and one of the pens that were stuck in a jam jar on the weather-beaten desk. A moment later she was grabbing a second pen, as the first proved to be out of ink. "Here's the passport," she said, hauling the document out before starting on the form. It was creased and bent and had the look of being shoved in and out of pockets a lot.
"Lucy Skye?" The woman snorted. "Cute."
"Me parents're big Beatles fans," Amanda replied, sounding like she was repeating something she had to say a lot. Inwardly she was cursing Remy's sense of humour, yet again.
"And... Ursa Masters," the receptionist went on as the other woman passed across her passport, barely glancing up at Callisto, who barely glanced back, scribbling the carefully practiced signature down on the form. It was pretty shaky, but then, Callisto's real signature was pretty shaky. If Callisto 'got' the joke in her own fake ID, it certainly didn't show.
Forms completed, ID processed and money paid, the woman tossed them a couple of keys with plastic tags. "One's for the front door after hours, one's for the dorm. If you've got any valuables, you should probably keep them on you or rent a locker. Management doesn't take any responsibility for loss."
"Got it." Amanda picked up her pack again with a small grunt. "Where to?"
"Top floor." The woman indicated a rickety set of stairs. "Watch your step."
Immediately they entered the low-ceilinged, cramped dorm with its scattering of mismatched bunk beds, Callisto chucked her rucksack down on the nearest empty berth and flopped down onto it heavily, ancient springs crying out beneath her.
"Fuck me, just cut my head off," she groaned, lifting her hands to cover her face. "So many fuckin' planes..."
Amanda snorted a brief laugh, but gave Callisto a sympathetic look as she dumped her pack. "Yeah, too bad we weren't posing as wealthy jet setters. They get the direct flights," she replied, keeping her voice down to a near-murmur. Callisto would be able to hear her. "Then again, neither of us would fit the part."
"Mph. Not really. Stick out more that way, anyway. But..." Callisto's utterance deteriorated into another melodramatic groan and she turned onto her side, curling into a ball.
"Anything I can do? You want a soft drink or something?" Amanda asked, looking concerned. It wasn't often Cal was anything but laconic.
"Mph. Actually..." Callisto pulled her head out from under her hands briefly. "Do you have anything to eat?"
"You're talking to the Bottomless Pit of Brighton, I always have food." Amanda's magic didn't use as much of her own energy as it used to, but she still kept food on her as a habit. Or in case she had to pull a rabbit out of her arse in the middle of nowhere. She rummaged through the top pocket of her pack and came up with a bag of jelly beans. "These ought to do - they're the sort diabetics keep on them in case they need it."
"Hrm... for now, yeah, thanks," Callisto said, finally pushing into a sitting position and taking the proffered candy, immediately tearing into it and scoffing a handful. "I'll need to get something heavier sometime soon," she said. "You know me, I eat like... well, like four mes. Vanessa's started just ordering like twice as much Chinese when she gets it in without even asking."
"We'll head out and get something. I want to get a feel for this place any way." Amanda sat down on the bed next to the older woman, sneaking a jelly bean before they all disappeared. "We're on the clock, so we'll have to get cracking."
"Yeah... yeah, sorry. Planes. Seriously. Fuck 'em."
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get to work off the plane blah with some theraputic violence." Amanda grinned again. "Since you're going to be the one doing the legwork in whatever this place has for a criminal underworld."
"Mm." Callisto wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. Guess we should start sniffing around."
"Literally in your case," Amanda teased. "While I get to paddle around in whatever passes for a consciousness in this place." She seemed doubtful - Hammer Bay wasn't exactly huge, or old. "Still, hopefully we'll get an idea of where they'd be keeping a bunch of mutant kids."
"And then we can find some of 'they'... 'them'... and kick their asses," Callisto said darkly, pushing to her feet swaying just slightly where she stood and closing her eyes for a moment. "But yaknow. After I've had like six of whatever they have instead of hot dogs here."