Rowan on the Wing (rowanonthwing) wrote in downfallrpg, @ 2010-03-26 19:53:00 |
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Entry tags: | # group, 2015-08-30, juan, pepper, rowan |
Watch Out for Anything That Slithers
Who: Juan, Pepper, Rowan
When: Late afternoon, 5ish
Where: The hotel, then a neighborhood a little ways away from the hotel
Juan was loitering in the Lobby. After playing in the dining hall for a little while, he was getting antsy. Teleportation made the act of putting his violin away and grab his empty backpack on the seventh floor feel like an afterthought and Juan was ready to go. His talk with Terry the day before about helping with outings really got him excited and any chance that he had to leave the hotel would be taken at a moments notice. SO what better way to go about this goal than by hanging out in the lobby. It was the only main exit to the building that he knew of so someone was bound to happen by with the intent on going out. He'd just be patient.
Pepper had gone out earlier in the day - on super-secret business, of course. But spending so much time inside with nothing to do but bother Dhaval and scribble on her walls left her rather restless. She'd initially wandered to the first floor in search of food, but on her way out of the kitchen, touting a rather impressive sandwich, she spotted Juan popping back into existence.
"Oh, wow! Can you do that again?" She bounded forward and crouched down to peer at him, grinning in what she presumed was a friendly fashion.
Juan eyes widened when the 8-foot tall… woman yeti ran at him. He instantly teleported a few feet away from her, putting a table between the two, before realizing… she had a sandwich. She… can’t be trying to eat me if she has THAT thing Juan thought trying to rationalize the very large person running at him. “Are… are you going to eat me?” he asked, half-joking, half-notsureifhe’sserious, with a less than confident smile.
Oh, he did it again! How neat. Pepper laughed a little, but stopped and put her hands up sheepishly. She hadn't meant to scare the kid, but sometimes she forgot how big and... monster-ish she looked now. Well, make that most times. "Of course I'm not going to eat you! That'd be mean. Don't worry, I'm not a monster-monster. I can still talk and everything. I'm Pepper! Who are you? Can you do the disappearing thing again, 'cause that's really cool." She gave him her best smile, genuinely just excited to meet him.
The woman started talking but Juan was barely hearing her. He'd... never seen something like her before. "Ah-I see... wow..." he was subconsciously fulfilling her request for repeat teleports as he bamfed right next to her and petted her arm absentmindedly. "Ah!" he pulled his hand away and held it with his other one, "I'm sorry... that must seem really rude..." She wasn't a monster or an animal... so why did Juan have that sudden urge to PET her?! To see if she was soft of course... Juan's brain rationalized at him, but it was probably still kinda weird of him to do that... and she was soft too. He blushed at the thought and grasped at the first subject change he could. "I'ma ahhhh teleporter! I was wanting to see if anyone would like to go outside with me so I can help get supplies and people back to the hotel really quickly... but I can't go by myself..." He let the last part hang since he was sort of rambling and wanted her to initiate the 'going outside' since she was older (he guessed) and all that jazz.
Pepper laughed a little as he popped over to her. "That is neat! Where do you go when you disappear?" She held out her arm for him, not seeming to mind the attention at all. "Isn't it weird? It feels more like... I dunno, a dog or something than my hair. I don't think it's rude at all!" Why would that be rude? Oh, she supposed some people didn't like being touched, but she'd never had that problem. "I think your... um... teleportering is cool and you think my fur is cool!" It was a fair exchange, wasn't it? "I could go outside with you! I'm real good at hitting things, but I should go get my crowbar first."
“Heh, okay. Still, I’m sorry for… not asking first I guess,” Juan smiled, “I’m Juan Valentino, it’s nice to meet you!” He stopped for a moment, “Y’know I never really thought about it… I think I just go to wherever I’m trying to go since the transport happens instantaneously.” Or he hoped at least. If he were going somewhere else that he didn’t know about… Juan shook his head. Comic books taught him all he knows about teleportation… and they never said anything about going somewhere else. “Crowbar! Okay! I’ll wait here,” this was exciting! It’d be the first time he’d left the Hotel since getting here and it was gonna be with a giant yeti woman! Juan was feelin’ better and better about this day!
"It's okay! I forget to ask things all the time. I'm Pepper! Did I say that already? I'll be right back Juan!" She turned around and started bounding up the stairs, taking them two or three at a time easily. She was only one floor up and the crowbar was just inside the door, so it didn't take her long to grab it and stomp back downstairs. "Okay, I've got it? Where're we going? I live around here, you know! Or I used to. Where did you live?" It didn't really occur to her that questions like that might be rather sensitive. She chose to believe that everything was right with the world and assumed everyone else felt the same.
“If you did I didn’t hear,” he called after her as she bounded away. He wasn’t trying to be impolite just… overwhelmed a bit. It was amazing really what happened to some people. The powers given to most people seemed so strange compared to others. Pepper’s was about the strangest looking one, but she took it in stride, which was quite admirable. Juan wasn’t sure how he would have reacted to the same… sudden growth spurt but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be as happy about it as she was. When Pepper returned from the upstairs Juan shrugged, “I lived across town from here… never actually been to this side of the city too often. I was thinking we could like… go through some smaller houses or somethin’? We’d be less likely to run into a lot of monsters that way.” That seemed reasonable, “We also shouldn’t go too terribly far. Far enough away to find stuff not already sorted through by our people, but not so far that I’d have to teleport us back if something too bad were to happen…” He laughed nervously, “I’m… not the best at teleporting others just yet.”
Pepper thought for a moment, frowning a little as she tried to think if the best route through town. "Oh, yes that would work! Well, some of the houses. I think most of 'em ran out of food and left." So long as they didn't go through her house, things would be just fine. "Are we looking for food and stuff? Dhav and I found lots of food when we looked a few days ago!" She'd slowly figured out exactly how she was supposed to say Dhaval's name. "I'm not sure how much is left..." shaking her head, she beamed at him cheerily, holding her crowbar tight. "I can take care of myself, even if you can't teleport lots! Don't worry."
“Hmm well, I guess whatever we can find,” Juan pondered. He really wasn’t sure what he wanted to go out to find… he just wanted to go out! “Oh! We should leave a note!” He quickly found a pad and paper, “Terry and everyone said it’d be good if we left messages when we were going out of the hotel.” After a quick scribbling, he looked to Pepper and smiled, “I can do that, but I warn you, you’ll be kinda tired afterwards.” He opened the door and looked out cautiously.
"I bet we can find something real nice. And then everyone will be real happy with us, huh? I like being helpful!" And she hadn't really been since she'd gone out on the run to the grocery store. And that had turned out... well. Not terribly good. But this would be different, surely! "Okay! So everyone knows where we're going now." She went over to the door with him and peered out over his head (quite easily), dropping her voice a little. "Over there! I don't think we checked that way when I last went out, but maybe someone else has by now."
Juan nodded at her suggestion and the pair headed out into the street. Though he’d seen the streets below from his room and the roof, it was still hard to take in all the now decayed destruction first-hand. Everything was so chaotic the first days he was out that he never really got a good look at the surroundings. The best/worst thing about this trip out was the lack of bodies. It was nice not having to see so many dead people… but at the same time… it was hard to wonder where they had all gone. The streaks of blood into buildings told a gruesome tale Juan would have rather not thought about. He shook those ideas from his head and forged onward. So far all the building were either burnt out husks or had shattered windows on them. He didn’t really want to risk going into one of those houses and being faced with a monster… he also thought he should have grabbed a weapon for surprises his teleportation couldn’t save him from, but it was a bit late for that. “Hmm… everything looks picked through around here…” he said in a low voice as he turned to look at Pepper, “We should keep going a little longer, might see something a little further.” He was worried about going so far, but he was confident in his ability to teleport.
Flying made a lot of things possible. After it seemed like it wasn't going to rain any more, Rowan had taken off in search of food, batteries, games for the kids, anything he could pick up. And after an hour he'd been further away from the hotel this afternoon than he could've possibly gotten on foot in the same amount of time.
Now he was on his way back. Sort of. Slowly but surely, and currently mostly on foot. His backpack had a lot of shit already stuffed in it, and was getting kind of heavy for flying with very far, but he was still checking houses for anything else he might find of use. Or just that he wanted. He came wandering out of one house, grinning at his find of a DNS and a couple games to go with it.
Keeping close to Juan, Pepper walked down the street, peering in windows and trying to spot somewhere that didn't appear too broken into. That would be where the best stuff would be, right? Because no one would have take it all... though she was beginning to wish she'd brought along her paints. There were a lot of blank walls out here that would just look so much better with something drawn on it. She stared at one for a moment, fidgeting, then hurried to catch up when she realized she was falling behind. "Maybe that house up there? I mean, we won't know until we look in one of them, right? So we might as well start with that one!"
Listening to Pepper’s suggestion, Juan continued up the street towards the house she pointed out. He searched the ground for a little while hoping to find a weapon of some sort, but to no avail. As they passed a husk of a car, Juan spotted movement. His eyes went wide with surprise for a moment before he realized he was looking at one of the other survivors. It’s not an angel, I’m not dead. It’s not an angel, I’m not dead. he mantra’d for a moment as Rowan came into view. Juan breathed a sigh of relief and signaled the older… slightly angelic looking boy. He didn’t want to call out as to not alert any monsters to their location.
Rowan noticed the two of them at about the same time, looking up from putting his find away in his backpack and stopping short at the sight of what, to him, looked like a rather large and furry-looking monster that just happened to walk on two legs. His wings flared open, ready to leap into the air the instant it attacked--
--except, hey, wasn't that, that boy from the meeting? Who teleported? If a monster was walking along right next to him-- did that mean he was in league with them, or something??
He didn't call out, either, but he did stand stock still, wings wide, and stared hard, trying to figure that out.
Pepper noticed Juan's reaction before she saw Rowan, and she looked up just in time to see him flare his wings in shock. Her eyes widened and she grinned like a kid who'd just been given free candy. "Wow, you've got feathers!" It seemed the most appropriate response to the winged man. She beamed amiably at Rowan, either ignoring or - more likely - completely missing his hostile intentions. "Are you from the hotel, too?" All the other people she'd met so far were, except for Dhaval who'd been stuck in his house.
Juan looked back and forth between Rowan and Pepper. He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, “Hey, hey! It’s okay. We’re from the hotel. I’m Juan and this is Pepper. She got… yeti-fied when the world changed. She’s cool.” He hoped Pepper didn’t mind his nonchalant explanation for her condition, but the way Rowan reacted to her appearance called for immediate chillaxation. “We just left the hotel a little while ago to look for stuff in houses… wanna help?” he noted Rowan’s bag, but thought that the more people they had the better! He pointed to the house they had been approaching for some time now and began to head in.
Monsters didn't talk. They certainly didn't tell you that you had feathers-- when hey, it was pretty obvious that he did. Rowan relaxed a little, and slung his backpack over his shoulder-- and under a wing, since there was no way he could get that strap around a wing-- a little possessively. Nobody was getting any of his stash. "Uh, yeah. From the hotel. I'm Rowan." And these were his houses to loot, fuckit.... He did follow, anyhow, though. Better helping than not being involved at all, right? "How long you guys been out?"
"Oh, yeah, I got real big and fuzzy and stuff but I don't eat people." And that was the important thing, Dhaval had assured her. Pepper hugged her crowbar and shrugged a little. "We just left a few minutes ago, I think. Did you find food or anything? Or paint?" Well, paint was really only important to her, but it was really important to her. "We're going to help people, and Juan can teleport and I can hit things, so I guess we're pretty good with dealing with monsters and things. Do you just fly away?"
Listening to the two converse quietly, Juan was glad Rowan wasn’t too freaked out, “Yea, just a few minutes… most of the houses and stuff around the hotel looked pretty well sorted through, so we through we’d come out further.” As he pushed the unlocked door open, Juan was surprised to find the smell of death absent in this house. He peeked in tentatively before entering further. They were entering a small living room area filled with a TV, couch, and the usually clutter of life. There were picture of a small family---looked white---and a dog lining the wall of the eerily silent house.
"I went even further," Rowan shrugged. "But I could fly, too." Pulling his gun from his pocket, safety flicked off, he went immediately to the bookshelf, first, looking for kids books or short, fun novels that he or Liah could get through. He'd never been a huge reader, but given the lack of computers and tvs, what else did they have? Besides, Juniper needed to work on reading, or else she'd forget what little she knew.
As the boys forayed into the house, Pepper hung back a little bit, glancing around to make sure there weren't any monsters following. Satisfied, she ducked into the house, looming a bit over Rowan and Juan. "Oh, this is nice. I bet this was a really nice family that lived here." She didn't seem bothered by the fact that they were probably dead now, but that just wasn't an important fact to her. "It must be nice to fly! I'm gonna look in the kitchen, okay?"
“Yea, you gave me a bit of a heart attack, Rowan. I thought I had died when I saw you!” Juan thought after his statement that Rowan’s probably been hearing that a lot of late, but it didn’t stop it from being true! Though his wings weren’t perfectly white, the image of an angelic figure was something Juan only saw at Mass and even then it was absolutely nothing like the real thing. Pushing forward through the living room, Juan found a coat closet, “Hmm, think we should grab some of these? It won’t be cold soon, but it’d be good to be prepared.” He pulled one tiny coat out that looked like it belonged to a little girl then was startled when he noticed the gun lock box. “Ahh! This’ll be good!” Picking up the box, he looked and frowned at the combination lock. He was never good at opening this sort of thing.
"Dude, just take the whole box, stop trying to figure out how to open it." It didn't look that big. Rowan stuffed a couple books, not kids books but they'd do in a pinch, he supposed, into his backpack, which was really getting a little over-stuffed. "Yeah, Pep, you do that... I'm gonna check bedrooms and shit." Maybe he could find a kid's room. Or another backpack-- another backpack sounded like a good idea, to him. He snatched one of the coats out on his way past Juan and the closet. It looked like it'd fit Liah, after all. All he really cared about was stuff for his own little family-- selfish? Why yes, yes he was.
"There's some soda in here!" Pepper poked her head back into the living room. "And some crackers and pasta and stuff, but everything else is kinda moldy and I don't think we'd really wanna eat it. What'd you find? Anything good?" She waved at Rowan as best she could with her arms full of over processed junk when he headed upstairs, going over to peer down at the box Juan found. "What's that for? Maybe I could open it, 'cause I'm kinda strong now. You think I could?"
If Juan had feathers of his own, he’d ruffle them because of Rowan’s curt attitude. Though… with how dangerous it was to be outside, he supposed it would be better to act quicker. Juan went back to rummaging through the closet and found a bag and an aluminum bat. He stuffed the jackets he could into the bag and shook his head when Pepper asked for the box, “Rowan is right, we just need to get all we can as quickly as we can.” He stuffed the box into the bag and moved on to a back room. He began gathering up blankets and also found two flashlights that still worked, “Oooo good find!”
"Crackers and pasta are good!" Rowan hollered from the top of the stairs, disappearing into a bedroom. He did, indeed, find a backpack after bounding up the stairs. Plus, some kids books, and even some school textbooks, which was awesome-- not because he liked school textbooks, but because Juniper and Jasper needed to keep learning shit. He stuffed those into the new backpack, ransacked a jewelry case, and grabbed some car keys that had a mini-flashlight attached. The bathroom even had a shit-ton of medicines, all of which he dumped into the new backpack without bothering to look at what it all was. He'd sort it all later. Too bad nobody had hidden snacks upstairs, that he could find.
Then, heading into the master bedroom, he found a room with what looked like a giant snake with fur in it, and he slammed the door in its hissing, fangy face with a yelp. He could hear it thumping against the door, trying to get to him, and he decided to was time to go, bolting for the stairs down.
Pepper nodded and left the lockbox alone, ducking back into the kitchen to grab a discarded grocery bag and filled it up as much as she could. It wasn't a half bad haul, but there were so few houses that hadn't been picked over already. She'd gotten it mostly filled when the yelp and thumping came from upstairs. She was out of the room and halfway up the stairs before she'd entirely registered the situation, thanks to her overlong legs. She nearly ran smack into Rowan as he raced down. "What's wrong? Do I need to hit something?" It sounded like there was still something moving around upstairs.
As Juan finished filling his bag he nearly ported away when Rowan’s voice rose from the next room. As he bolted down the stairs, Juan stood and secured the bag, “Okay, time to go!” Juan gripped his new weapon tightly and headed for the door and was greeted by a strange snake-like beast. “Aahh!” he hit it once and seemed to stun it, but strange hissing noises started to grow around the house. He quickly teleported back to Pepper since she seemed to be the one to go to for the beating up of strange animals. “I think you should be in front to clear a path!”
Apparently there were more than just the one in the bedroom, which was still battering itself against the master suite door. "Dude, c'mon, just get outside!" Rowan cried, and raced past the both of them, for the front door, planning to just jump over the currently inert body. Sticking around was a bad, bad, bad idea. He had his sister to worry about, dammit! He couldn't get himself killed out here, much less for two people too stupid to get out while they had the chance.
Even as he approached, he shot at the thing again. Maybe if he shot at it, it'd stay down.
This time Pepper jumped at the teleport, more startled than delighted. "Oh... oh, yeah, don't worry!" She slung the bag over her shoulder and held out her crowbar, leading the way down the stairs right on Rowan's heels. She took a swing as another snake-thing darted towards them from a side room. She hit its middle rather than its head, but the blow still made the creature coil up and leave them alone for a moment. That was all they needed. Rowan took care of the one at the door, so hopefully they could get out now. "Thank you!" She checked over her shoulders to make sure Juan was following - all of the snakes in the way were taken care of, right?
Juan was on Pepper’s heels as he ran out the door. Though he’d just gotten a “weapon” he really didn’t want to be the first one out of the building. He still really didn’t know how to protect himself so this seemed like a better cross of action. Just as he was passing the threshold of the door, a loud hissing and thudding made its way down the stairs. He teleported a few feet ahead of Pepper after that startling noise and looked back only to see about a dozen or so furry snake creatures swarming into and around the house they just left.
Rowan had an answer for that little problem. He slammed the front door on their furry, fanged faces. "Take that, motherfuckers!" A couple of them thudded into the door, and he jumped back a good foot. Okay, time to get out of here, now. "You guys in the mood for a run?" Because he was totally going to fly.
... if he could, with the heavy backpacks and the coat. He slung them around his chest, hugging the straps and coat, hopped off the porch, and spread his wings. Maybe he'd need a running start.
They were out of the house in only a matter of seconds, but Pepper's heart was still pounding. She turned only when Rowan slammed the door, holding the bag of edibles as close to her body as she could manage. "I-I can still run! Are you okay, Juan?" She kept losing track of him while he was popping around like that, but she hadn't seen any of the snakes attack him. "Let's get back to the hotel!" It didn't matter if Rowan wanted to fly or run to her, so long as they all got out safely.
Juan couldn’t help but laugh a bit under his breath at Rowan’s parting words to the snake creatures and kept huffing along. “I’m good for a run, yea,” he wasn’t the best runner, but his stupid height gave him long strides so it balanced itself out. He was at least keeping ahead of Pepper whom he’d initially gotten ahead of, “I’ll be okay. If we get in a spot, I can teleport the two of us, Pepper!” The hotel wasn’t too far from where they walked to so… the crashing and smashing glass behind them wasn’t TOO big a worry.
They were good. There was that whole teleporting thing, that Rowan kept forgetting about. He flashed them a quick, tight grin, and took off running, himself, wings spread stiffly at first to get some lift, and then starting to beat, as hard as he could. Getting off the ground took a whole lot more effort than usual, and he was flying low-- but, at least for now, he was flying. How long that would last, he had no idea. "Maybe you guys should-- do the teleport-- thing!" he shouted back. Why run when you could just jump it, after all?
Oh, wow, he really could fly... Pepper shook herself out of those thoughts and caught up with Juan in only a few long steps. "I think there's an ally over that way if we need to hide for a minute!" She wasn't sure if it took longer to teleport two people than it did one, but she was awfully big, and she didn't want to have any bits get left behind accidentally. Though the concept was certainly evocative. "We can get back if you teleport, right?"
Watching Rowan take flight was like a dream. Juan never thought he’d think something like that about another man, but it was kinda… heartening to see an angel. “Yea! Let’s hit the alley!” the noise from behind was really starting to terrify Juan so a quick teleport to the front of the hotel would be best. He (sorta) pulled Pepper into the alley and held onto her arm and squeezed his eyes shut. He’d only seen the front of the hotel twice, but it was a clear enough memory that stuck with him. The growling and hissing behind them was growing so he tried as best he could to block it out.
In an instant Juan and Pepper both disappeared and reappeared right in front of hotel. Juan promptly felt lightheaded. He hadn’t teleported that much weight before… This... is new... I don’t know if I like this... he thought as he suddenly fainted.
The two of them were gone, and now Rowan had to labor to get height-- enough height that the snake things after them couldn't get at him. It was hard, but he did finally manage it, skimming along about nine feet up. That was the highest he could get, though, no matter how much he clawed the air for more altitude. There was just too much weight. He'd be a little longer than Pepper and Juan, but he'd get there eventually. He hoped.
At least he was leaving the snake monsters behind. They didn't seem nearly as interested in airborne prey, and they didn't seem like they could quite figure out where Juan and Pepper had disappeared to.
Pepper willingly followed Juan into the ally, letting herself be pulled along (as much as she could be pulled anywhere, at least). She caught a glimpse of the snakes turning away from Rowan as he rose up, and then the world... blinked. That was the only way she could explain it, and it was the single most disorienting thing she'd experienced since she'd grown more than a foot in a matter of seconds. As they appeared in front of the hotel, she fell backwards with an 'oof!' and sat panting for a moment, feeling somewhat winded. It took a minute for her to realize that Juan had fallen, too. "Juan! Are you okay?" She pulled herself up and kneeled over the boy, shaking him a little. "Juan!"
His head lolled back and forth ragdollish as Pepper shook him. “Ahnn…” he sighed feeling weaker and more tired than he’d ever had before. “Inside…” was all he could muster to say before weakly clinging to Pepper’s shirt.
Oh, she hadn't hurt him, had she? Pepper bit her lip and lifted the boy up, carrying him into the hotel. Nobody seemed to be around at the moment, and she had no idea where Juan's room was, so she brought him over to one of the couches in the lobby and lay him down gently. For a moment she stood back and wrung her hands, trying to remember what her first aid courses had taught her to do with an unconscious person. After a moment she shook herself and ran to the kitchen, coming back quickly with a damp dishtowel to lay across the boy's forehead. Hopefully that would be enough to bring him around. She had no idea if teleporting-fainting was anything like passing out because of pain or needles or the sight of blood. And they'd very rarely had someone actually faint while getting tattooed back at her old job, anyhow.
There was a cold, wet feeling on his forehead that, while slightly strange, was a relief from the heat of the day. Juan’s eyes fluttered open and for a moment, he was scared again… but then he remember that it was Pepper. “P-Pepper? Where are we?” he began to sit up as he was speaking but laid back down as the light-headedness wasn’t going away just yet. He slipped the straps of the found backpack off his shoulders and slid it out from under so he could lay more comfortably. “Are… are you okay?” she looked okay, but he just wanted to make sure he hadn’t fucked anything up since he felt so awful. He propped himself up on one elbow and continued worrying about everyone else, “Rowan… where’s Rowan? With his flying he shouldn’t be too far away… but…”
At that moment Rowan was only visible if you peered through the boards protecting the windows from the outside, and even then only if you had good distance vision. He was still flying, laboriously and tiredly and dropping a few inches a minute, back towards the hotel. But he refused to lose any of his finds, even if they ploughed him into the concrete.
Not that they would. The hotel was in sight, he wasn't being chased anymore, and he'd make it back. As soon as he hit the parking lot he landed, his wings aching, and walked the rest of the way across.
Pepper let out a relieved sigh. "It's okay Juan! We're back at the hotel. You just fainted a little, but now you're awake so it's better. How do you feel?" She was speaking entirely too fast, but she was just so relieved that Juan was okay. She crouched down a little so he wouldn't have to look up so far. "I'm fine, and I don't think any snakes followed us. I bet Rowan will be here real soon, but he was flying away when I last saw him. I don't think the snakes could fly, so he should be all right too!" At least, she hoped so. But there was no reason to panic unless he didn't show up within a few minutes, right?
Juan relaxed back on the couch, “Good, okay…” He paused for a moment to reflect on his first trip out. It had went better than he expected. He thought he would freak out somewhere along the way, but he kept his cool for the most part. The teleport was rough though… “Sorry for scaring you…” Juan spoke slowly out of tiredness and a hope that he could calm Pepper down. “I’ve only teleported normal sized people before… and I was holdin’ a lot of stuff. I think it was a bit more than I could normally handle.” The power was still fairly new so more practice with heavier objects would be needed. “I’m okay… just need to rest” Juan looked towards the door worriedly, “I hope Rowan is too.”
Right about then was when Rowan tried the door, wings a little droopy though at least still folded, and a backpack over each shoulder, with the wings resting on top of them. To his relief, today it was unlocked, and he came inside with a sigh. "Hotel sweet hotel," he muttered, looking around.
Pepper was pretty obvious, and he waved, the hand not holding the coat he'd gotten for Liah.
"I'm sorry I'm so big! Don't worry, I won't ask you to teleport me again soon. I don't like hurting people, even on accident." And she might have really hurt him if they'd teleported farther than the hotel. At least she imagined it got harder the farther he did it, especially with such a heavy load! She set down the bag of foodstuffs, turning to look at the door with him.
And then Rowan walked in. She broke out in a big smile and waved at him. "Are you all right? The snake-things didn't hurt you, did they? We're okay, but Juan's a little tired 'cause I'm hard to teleport."
“It’s okay, Pepper. I’m really not hurt, just a bit… overextended I guess,” he gave her a hopeful smile. Juan stretched and sat up, propping his elbows on his knees then looked to Rowan as the older boy walked in, “Good to see you got back here okay.” Juan wanted to pop up and help him with all of the swag he was loaded down with, but his lack of energy, there wasn’t gonna be many sudden movements in his future.
"Same to you guys," Rowan answered tiredly, looking in the direction of the stairwell with dismay. He still had twelve flights of stairs to climb. There was no way he could get up into the air again. "And I'm fine. A little tired, too, and my wings fuckin' hurt.... You guys're fine, too?" He glanced between them, making sure nobody had bites or anything.
"This is great! So we're all fine and we got food and things. I mean, the snakes were bad but they didn't bite anyone." That was a 'win' in Pepper's book. Even if they were sore and tired. "I want to go out scouting more! Do you two need help with the things you got from the houses?" If there was one thing she was good for, it was carrying around heavy things.
Juan shook his head, “I’m okay. I’m gonna drop some of this stuff off in the supply room then bamf up to my room… I think I can handle just moving me right now.” He stood and stretched his body out and yawned. With how his day has gone, he kinda didn’t want to risk the teleport… but the prospect of goin’ up those stairs just seemed like too much after what he’d done to get home. “You guys have a good one!” he called as he slowly walked off to the supply room.
"I'm good, too," Rowan promised Pepper. His stuff was just coming upstairs with him-- nobody got to use it but him, Liah, Verity, and the kids. Selfish? You betcha. Pepper and Juan seemed like okay folks at least, though, so he shot them both a little grin and a, "Thanks, though," before he, too, started off, though he was going towards the stairs.