By and by we'll defy a little bit of gravity

[the_death_card]

While Jack knows it's good for him, doing a lot to stretch how far his magic will go before he's exhausted, playing with the door trick is also fun. He's been picking locks for so long now that it's almost boring, especially when his actual magic has progressed to the point that, increasingly frequently, doors will unlock themselves before he even knows they were locked to begin with.

Using the Eye's network is something different. It's a constantly moving lock that, if he hits a slightly different pin in a slightly different way, will open a door to somewhere completely different. He's already found a dozen different places across the United States and a half-dozen more outside of it that have all led to some fascinating afternoons. Every time he finds somewhere new, he thinks to ask Jacob or Max or Andrew for a list of connected places, but so far, he's forgotten to actually do it. Finding them randomly is more fun anyway.

Things have mostly calmed down around the suite, now. He knows most of them have returned to their normal sleeping habits, helped along by their brand new connection. That's still new and something he's getting used to, but like someone said, it feels like a natural next step after the year they spent living on top of each other and how close they've all become since then. It is still something they're all figuring out, though, which means that they're still taking it easy on rehearsals. Normally, that's not something he would mind, but today, it's lead to some restlessness that he knows no jog or trip downstairs to the gym will do anything to help.

When he catches himself rereading the same paragraph in his book for the third time in a row, he groans and levers himself into a sit, setting his book to the side and leaning down to grab his boots where he kicked them off earlier. There's an inquisitive ping at the back of his mind that he brushes off as he stands and grabs his jacket, heading out of his room and toward the stairs.

"I'm going out for a while," he calls to the suite at large on his way downstairs. "I've got my phone."

Merritt doesn't look up from behind his book but he does wave a hand at Jack in acknowledgement, and there's an accepting nudge from someone through the connection. Jack flips a wave back at Merritt as he slips out of the suite, closing the door behind him and heading for the elevator. He pauses once he gets there to run his thumb over his middle and index fingers, calling up a spark and touching it to the keyhole set between the standard call buttons. He can immediately feel the pins that make up the Eye's network, and he drifts over a few of them before settling on one. He nudges it into place with his magic and then pulls his hand away and hits the down button to call the elevator. It comes almost immediately, and Jack steps inside, hitting a button at random and leaning back against the wall to watch the numbers drop - and then stands straight again when it slows to a stop with the usual quiet ding.

For everywhere he's been so far, what he finds is entirely unexpected. If he didn't know better, if he hadn't already seen the Peninsula's lobby dozens of times, he would think something had gone wrong with the magic and he had just been taken downstairs. Ahead of him is another hotel lobby, and he stops just outside the elevator, trying to figure out where he is. Just ahead of him is a small desk bearing a stylized sun - and when he looks at it for more than a moment, the paint seems to shimmer, revealing an equally stylized eye set into the paint. The desk is attended by a dark-haired woman in a blue shirt with a name badge pinned to it, and she looks up at him after a moment, smiling immediately. "Good afternoon, Mister Wilder. Checking in?"

"Uh..." Jack begins intelligently, and her smile turns a little less polished and a little more truly amused as she stands up, smoothing her shirt out automatically.

"Or did you just happen by?"

"That one," Jack returns, a little relieved, and she laughs.

"You aren't the first," she assures him, "but welcome to the Sun Veil Resort. We're located on the Yucatan Peninsula with access to the amenities of Cancun with our own specific brand of privacy for our members and their guests." It's clearly a standard speech, but Jack gets well enough what she's saying - or, rather, very carefully not saying.

"You mean this is for the Eye."

"Of course," she returns before her smile fades into something more solicitous. "Would you like a tour? We do have open rooms at the moment, and I'm sure you and the other Horsemen would enjoy a visit."

Even if this isn't where Jack intended to end up, Jack doesn't even need to think about it before he nods. "Yeah, that'd be great." Saying they would all use a vacation and change of scenery after everything that's been going on is puttting it really mildly.

"Give me just a moment, then," she returns with another smile. She turns her attention back to her desk, hits a few keys on her ocmputer, sets a small bell on the desk, and then rounds it, gesturing for him to accompany her. "Right this way."

Comments

[the_star]

"Well of course," she agrees easily - and maybe a little too seriously. "We can absolutely chicken proof your office." She pauses a beat. "Keep it on the other side of the road."

You are surrounded by smartasses, Dylan.

[onebehind]

Dylan groans and starts to pull away from her as if to turn, apparently intent on leaving. He gives up on it after a second or two, and turns back to her, frowning deeply, though the expression doesn't quite reach his eyes. "I dunno why I put up with you assholes."

He is indeed.

[the_star]

Alma reaches out to grab at his arm as he starts to pull away, laughing. She loops her arm through his, pulling him a little closer. "It's because you love us. Obviously."

[onebehind]

"For some fucking reason," he grumbles, though he lets her pull him back to her side. The lady doth protest too much, really. He does love all of them and he could think of a thousand reasons why.

[the_star]

Alma just laughs a little more, readjusting her hold on his arm to a more comfortable position and then patting him gently. "Just one of the wonders of the world," she teases.

She pauses a beat and, slightly more seriously, asks, "So where are we going first?"

[onebehind]

He keeps up the teasing for a second more, if only to ask, "Oh, I'm supposed to have a plan, now?"

When he sobers finally, it's with a shake of his head. "Seriously, though. I don't know. I was just kind of wandering." If she has something in mind, he wouldn't be opposed.

[the_star]

She nudges him a little. "No?" she admits - and then nods. "That's fine? I wasn't sure if you were especially curious about anything."

As she's mentioned, it's not like she's ever stayed anywhere like this before, so she just wants to see all of it.

[onebehind]

"Does all of it count?"

He's not entirely teasing -- he, too, wants to see everything the resort has to offer. He's not sure he's ever been anywhere so fancy, despite his connections, for all that he hasn't taken a vacation in as long as he can remember. His revenge and his more mundane work with the FBI has consumed everything.

[the_star]

"That's what I was thinking, so we'll claim it does," she returns decisively. "This is absolutely the fanciest place I think I've ever seen, let alone the fanciest place I've stayed."

[onebehind]

"You mean Interpol didn't put you up in the Venetian, when you came to Vegas?" he teases, as they drift towards a building in the distance. He has no idea what it is, but they need to start somewhere, even if they plan on seeing everywhere.

[the_star]

Alma snorts. "Even if I had been in Vegas long enough to sleep, I would have been lucky to get the cheapest thing in the area. Especially because it was my first time in the field."

If there had been anything good about her days of leave while they sorted out who to blame for the debacle that had been the Horsemen, it had given her a chance to catch up on sleep and get over her not-insignificant jet lag.

[onebehind]

"We oughta do that, sometime," Dylan decides after a beat, all at once more serious. "Do the whole tourist thing, in Vegas. I mean, I don't think I've ever stayed at the Venetian."

Never mind the fact that he could probably do better, taking her to Italy for a gondola ride, if that was something she wanted to do.

[the_star]

She smiles at that. "Absolutely. And I don't know why you would have unless you made a point of it. I never stay in Parisian hotels, after all."

Considering she lives there. She doesn't really do much in the touristy areas in Paris, either, considering her favorite bakeries and restaurants are more ones that only the locals know.

[onebehind]

"Yeah, well, you ever wanna ... "

He shrugs. He wouldn't be opposed to playing tourist in Paris, too, even if he knows that all the quiet, local places are probably better. He'll probably take her to some of the local places in Vegas while they're there. Lunch in one of the casinos on the Strip is great and all, but there are some real gems off the Strip, too.

[the_star]

"I absolutely want to," she agrees immediately and with a smile.

"You might actually know enough French now to not immediately get pegged as américain," she teases, considering they have been working on his French.

[onebehind]

"Oh, good," he teases back, "I always wanted to be mistaken for français."

In all seriousness, though, he's glad she judges his French to be passable, at least, now. He can't say he didn't wonder how he'd do, speaking the language to someone who had no reason to go easy on him.

[the_star]

"I mean, you had the rudeness down as soon as I met you," she teases, the smile turning more impish.

She knows at least some of that was an act - and she doesn't blame him for being tetchy about some random Interpol agent getting thrown at him - but it's still fun to tease him about it all.

[onebehind]

"Alright, no one asked you," Dylan grumbles, amusement nosediving into feigned sourness. He knows she's busting his balls -- he can play along.

[the_star]

Alma nudges him again with a grin. She sounds less teasing when she goes on, though she is still smiling. "But yes. We should do touristy things. Or not... touristy things. Show each other our favorite places and that kind of thing."

[onebehind]

"Yeah, I think I got a few of those," he answers, his expression softening in earnest, now. He can think of a dozen places he'd like to take her; he can think of a dozen more he'd like to take the Horsemen, too. This, here, is a nice start for the both of them, even if he wouldn't have thought of bringing them to Mexico.

"You been anywhere besides France and the States?" he asks, thinking of Macau, now. He doubts she's been that far east, but he also doubts she's never left France. Europe is close enough together that she could take a trip several countries over, and still be home in time for dinner.

[the_star]

She returns the smile. "You'll have to make a list."

"Not for long enough to really see anything," she answers. "I've been through some airports, maybe had a layover here and there long enough to get something to eat, but nowhere really to sight-see."

[onebehind]

"I can do that," he confirms. And after a beat, he adds, "Maybe we should make one together, too. Places we'd like to see or whatever." Since clearly she's not as well travelled as he would have thought.

[the_star]

She wishes she was more well-traveled, honestly, but it all comes back around to her being a desk agent until the Horsemen.

"Definitely." She pauses, smirking a little. "We all know research is my favorite thing."

He probably doesn't realize what a can of worms he's opening in asking her to look into places she'd like to travel.

[onebehind]

"You say that like you think I'm gonna have a problem with it." He realizes -- or thinks he does, anyway. Either way, he's not particularly bothered by that fact. Between the two of them, they should be able to come up with some pretty spectacular places to check out.

[the_star]

She was mostly joking anyway, considering the fact that she filled the apartment in New Orleans in books for the whole twelve hours they were there.

"I'd hope not," she returns, smiling up at him.

She doesn't say anything beyond that, though, turning her attention to their surroundings as they make their way through the resort. "I have a feeling I'm going to have a hard time deciding between getting room service and actually going to one of those places," she eventually comments as a sign points toward one of the restaurants.