A Portalocity Station Just Out of Port-Au-Prince and Beyond, Thursday

[lockestheway]

Peter had been sent elsewhere for the past two days, to meet with some people who both preferred to remain anonymous, and preferred not to be found. He didn't mind it: for one, talks had been beneficial to all parties involved, and he wasn't exactly looking for the most conspicuous places to be himself these days

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[whenshewasnice]

Natalie wasn't exactly out to impress anyone, either, though she'd put some thought into her appearance, for once. Just minor things - neater pants, a button up blouse instead of the usual t-shirt. The bag at her feet didn't look like a teenagers book bag, either.

She didn't mind the wait, either. She was one to see the value of standing put and just watching and listening, to get acclimated in a new place. Hell, she tended to do that in places she already knew.

When she spotted Peter, she raised an eyebrow first (for how he looked), and then her hand. It was less a wave and more the idea of one.

[lockestheway]

"And good morning to you too," Peter said, sounding fairly jovial for his standards. "Try not to be too excited to see me."

[whenshewasnice]

"Well, I thought a hug would be a bit much," Natalie drawled in reply. "Hello, Peter. You look different."

[lockestheway]

"We get more sun here," Peter said. "And I imagine the eight-thousand-dollar suit doesn't hurt."

He didn't take payment, no. But some gifts were hard to turn down without causing an international incident.

[whenshewasnice]

"And yet still no time for a barber."

What? Look, Natalie wasn't here to tell him he looked good (though he did). He had to have expected that.

[lockestheway]

"It's the style here right now," Peter told her. "I can't turn my ethnicity around, but I can try to look a little less like a foreign invader."

There was always a method to his madness. Speaking of which-- he gestured towards one of the other doors leading towards the outside.

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie picked up her bag again, and nothing about her betrayed how curious she was to actually see... just about anything that wasn't a Portalocity station, when she'd travelled this far. "Well, I suppose it kind of suits you."

[lockestheway]

"I'm glad to hear it," he said. "Anyway, I've been given to understand there's no way my security detail will let you within a hundred feet of my apartment, just in case you're a security risk. I can offer you a place near the Canadian embassy, though."

He strolled through the doors. Outside, a car was waiting, and the sun was shining hot down on the buildings. The Portalocity station was out of the way, and visibly new; it featured all the hallmarks of late 22nd century architecture.

Not that Natalie was likely to be well-versed in that.

[whenshewasnice]

Not particularly. Whatever information she'd skimmed on the multiversal internet, none of it had been on architecture. She gave the building an idly interested glance as she followed him.

"Well, it's not the first time Peter Wiggin's security personnel have thought me a potential risk," she said, a little dryly. Thanks, older Peter's crew. "Near Canadian embassy is just fine. Familiar."

[lockestheway]

Peter shot her a mildly confused look - what, had Topher been giving her a hard time? - but brushed it off.

His bodyguard took a step forward and opened up the back door of the car for them. "Ladies first."

[whenshewasnice]

Oh, poor Topher had merely pouted at the fact that he wasn't the only one who knew where Peter was and why.

Natalie rolled her eyes, as was her way, but moved past him to slide onto the back seat. Blissfully unaware that somewhere far far away, there was the ding of points for foreshadowing.

[lockestheway]

Peter sat down next to her, while his bodyguard shut the door and then slid into the shotgun seat up front.

"We'll head over to your place so you can drop off your things," he said, "Then we'll head into town - unless you have some portal lag to sleep off."

[whenshewasnice]

She shook her head. "I'm fine." And thankful that Sam's ghosts had left them alone last night. Wailing spirits of the restless dead weren't a thing you wanted to deal with right before doing multiversal travel. "Ready to go, so to speak. Just need a little while to get acclimated."

[lockestheway]

"Well, feel free to look out the window and see what two hundred years has wrought," Peter said, tapping against the window in question. "Haiti isn't quite the mess it is in your time, but sometimes it's close."

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie brushed her bangs away from her eyes as she glanced outside. "Well, that doesn't surprise me." For any number of reasons she was keeping to herself. A lot of it was a certain baseline cynicism. "I feel like the gap of a few centuries should freak me out, but it's not really doing that."

[lockestheway]

"You did just miss the aliens with ray guns," Peter joked. "Might've thought otherwise if you'd gotten here, oh, fifty years earlier."