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_highpriestess]

"Bonjour," Henley sing-songs back. Then, rather than give her own name and risk someone noticing her (and never mind the fact that she knows enough about illusion to keep people from noticing her), she continues a little cryptically, "Votre trajet est ici!"

Seems she knew more French than she let on. Never mind the fact that Danny probably knew that from their time in Paris, before.

[the_star]

When she speaks again, it sounds like Alma's laughing. "Bonjour," she returns brightly. "Just a moment."

There's a pause - and then a buzz as the door into the building unlocks. Come on up, Henley.

[the_highpriestess]

"Merci," she chirps, regardless of whether or not Alma can still hear her and as she pulls the door open. She makes sure it closes again behind her, and from there, it's only a few minutes more before she's knocking on Alma's door properly. She waits, patient, for her answer.

[the_star]

Alma opens the door almost immediately after Henley knocks, only pausing long enough to make sure it is her. "Hi," she says when she sees her. "Come in."

The narration won't describe the apartment again, since it's mostly the same since the last time they did.

Alma closes the door behind Henley. "I'm almost ready. I just need a few more things."

[the_highpriestess]

"Take your time," she tells her, stepping a little further into the apartment and off to one side so she's not underfoot. Never mind the fact that her attentions are more focused on the rest of the apartment, interested in how Alma's chosen to decorate and what it says about her, her eyes on anything but the woman herself. It's almost jarring how much life is here, compared to Dylan's apartment, even if she knows the reason for it.

"It's not like we're in any hurry," she continues, absently. "We're on vacation."

[the_star]

Alma laughs softly as she heads for her bedroom, coming back out a moment later with a bag. "This is probably the least planning I've ever done for a vacation, but I get the feeling there wasn't much planning at all?"

[the_highpriestess]

"Not so much," Henley admits, "but can you honestly tell me you don't need a vacation?" She imagines, like Dylan, she's not really the type. She imagines, like Dylan, she deserves a chance to spend time with them, him, without being in the middle of a crisis and without that work getting in the way.

[the_star]

"Considering I haven't really had one since before I knew all of you? Absolutely." She smiles, teasing - but Henley really does have a point. She would love to just have some time with Dylan. Just because he can travel at will instead of having to figure out international flights and all the other issues doesn't mean their jobs don't still take up a lot of their time, and there are still time zones in the way.

[the_highpriestess]

"Yeah, well." She makes a broad gesture around them. Now she's getting her wish. "And wait until you see this place. It's kinda crazy. Like -- Jack did good."

She's pretty sure her excitement translates, even without being connected to Alma like she is the rest of the Horsemen.

[the_star]

"I'm actually very excited," she admits with a smile - like it's something that actually needs to be kept secret, like the fact that she was already basically packed didn't speak enough to that. "It's been a while since I've been to the beach - and of course the beaches here are different than the Mexican ones."

There are "traditional" beaches in France, but a lot of the shoreline is also rockier or more heavily forested.

[the_highpriestess]

"You know, I never really thought of France as having beaches," she admits, nodding towards the door to silently ask if Alma's ready. She's not trying to rush her, she just figures they can walk and talk, if she is ready, and that in mind, she continues, "And yeah, I know that, like, the whole west coast is coast, but you don't really get ads for, like, Visit French Beaches."

Not even when they were in France.

[the_star]

Alma follows the glance - and then turns to pick up the bags she's carried into the living room, extending the handle on her suitcase so she can roll it behind her and shouldering the smaller one. "I don't think people come here for our beaches. They're always more interested in the cities and where they can find the best wine."

That's not being entirely charitable to people who visit France, considering people do come for the gardens and other historic places, but those are the things that get the most advertising.

[the_highpriestess]

"Less tourists, at least?" Henley offers with a shrug and as she moves to get the door for Alma. If they're more interested in the cities, then the beaches must be much quieter. She can only imagine, for all that Los Angeles's beaches are anything but -- she'd like to see a French beach, someday, for all that they are.

[the_star]

Alma grabs her keys off their hook by the door before slipping past Henley into the hall. She turns back once Henley joins her to get the lock - and then gestures for Henley to lead the way. "True," she agrees. "It helps to be French, too, since people tend to know quieter ones to go to. Like any other locals know the good beaches where they're from, I guess."

Not that they don't still get crowded on busier weekends - and honestly, she's never really been much of a beach person.

[the_highpriestess]

"Sadly, I don't think there really are any good ones left in LA," she tells her as they head for the elevator.

She pauses when the reach it, calling up her magic before pushing the button to call it. The doors open almost immediately and she steps inside, waiting for Alma to join her before hitting a button for their floor, at random. It doesn't matter what she picks -- when the doors open again, they won't be in Alma's apartment building anymore, but in the lobby of the hotel.

[the_star]

"Too touristy?" she guesses. Alma has a feeling there aren't too many places in LA that aren't super touristy, even though she's never actually been there.

[the_highpriestess]

"People bring their friends from out of town to see this quiet, little beach they know about, and then they tell their friends, and then suddenly, it's not so quiet anymore," she agrees with a nod. "It kinda sucks, but ... "

That's the nature of the beast, she supposes.

"Jack's beach seems super quiet, though."

[the_star]

"It would stand to reason," she begins, "if it's just for the Eye. And friends of the Eye." Since she wouldn't count otherwise. "I don't think Jacob's ever told me how many of you there are, but I can't imagine all of them coming and bringing their friends at once."

[the_highpriestess]

"I think he said a few hundred thousand?" she guesses. She's pretty sure that's right; she second-guesses herself almost immediately despite that. A shrug follows, either way. "But yeah, I'm pretty sure not everyone's gonna show up at the same time, with company."

Intent on saying something else after that, it dies on her lips as the elevator slows to a stop. Suddenly vibrating again, she hurriedly tells Alma, "You go first," in the heartbeat before the doors slide open. She wants her to see the hotel, even if it is just the lobby.

[the_star]

Alma reaches for her suitcase's handle as the elevator stops. She offers Henley a smile, knowing what she's doing - and then steps out into the lobby. Immediately, her eyes widen, her mouth dropping open slightly. "Wow," she says simply, struck just by the lobby.

Yeah, she can understand Henley's excitement, now.

[the_highpriestess]

"It gets better," she promises her, gently.

A pause follows, a moment allowed for her to take at least a measure of it all in, and then, a little louder, she ventures, "You wanna go by the rooms, so you can drop your stuff, and then we'll do the five dollar tour? Or ... " Or does she want the tour now, her luggage left to the staff, like theirs had been?

[the_star]

Alma looks around for that long moment, struck - and then looks back to Henley. "We can drop off my things. I'd like to see where we're staying."

And yes, she would like to see more of the resort, but she assumes the Horsemen are already getting settled in, so she wouldn't mind to catch up in that regard.

[the_highpriestess]

"Fine by me," she agrees, brushing past her finally, to lead the way. They can still take their time, as they head in that direction, so Alma can at least take in some of the resort, if not the whole experience. "C'mmon."

[the_star]

Alma waits to let Henley lead the way, considering she doesn't even know the general direction they need to go. She will walk with her once they get outside, though.

"This is definitely the fanciest place I've ever stayed, even when we've taken vacations before," she says once they're outside.

[the_highpriestess]

"Same, honestly," she tells her. "I mean, the Aria was nice and everything, but it was still kind of just a hotel room, you know? This is way different."

Not that that was a vacation, per se, for all that they were working at the time, but still. That was probably the fanciest hotel she'd ever stayed in, at that point, and this definitely trumps that.