If my world is moving

[shadowed_scales]

Who: Gul Dukat and Sookie Stackhouse, closed
What: Dukat wants to make up for a broken appointment and at the same time discover something for himself.
Where: Hallways, Hotel Rooms, and Rooftop
When: Directly after this and before this.  Late evening.

Comments

[bontempsbarmaid]

Sookie had been curled up on her couch for hours with a book and a warm, fuzzy blanket. When it had begun to get dark outside, she'd gone through the rooms and turned on all the lights, illuminating every potentially dark corner; it was hard work fighting against nightmares that could be brought back to life by a magical hotel, but she was going to do her damnedest.

The knock on her door was completely unexpected. She actually had to pause and ponder at the sound for a moment before confirming it wasn't in her imagination. Tugging on the hoodie draped over the arm of the couch, she padded in bare feet across the room to peer into the little peep hole. The locked door didn't stand a chance once she saw who it was on the other side.

"Hello, again!" she said with her brightest smile. It was always nice to see a familiar, friendly face.

(OOC: Sorry it's taken me so long! Things piled up this week.)

[shadowed_scales]

Dukat found himself smiling in return. This was a good sign. She didn't seem angry, yet he still felt the need to apologize for not being where he said he would be when he said he would be there. "Hello," he said, inclining his head in greeting. "I owe you an apology about the other afternoon. Our captors decided to play a little game. It distracted me, and I'm sorry." He held the folded papers toward her. "This is for you."

(OOC: No problem! Life happens.)

[bontempsbarmaid]

"Oh, it's no problem, really," she said with a shake of her head, smile still in place. "That sort of thing happens a lot in this place, I wasn't offended or anything." The folded papers earned a curious frown as she took them; there was no real way to see what was written on the pages without undoing the very careful arrangement. "And just what might this be? I'm not used to getting a lot of presents, so this is kind of exciting."

[shadowed_scales]

"Well," he said, his smile widening further, "that is my way of failsafing the problem of making arrangements in this place, as much as any of us can." Now that his good hand was free, he took the kanar bottle from its precarious perch and held it in a casual dangle against his outer thigh. "The twenty titles correspond to twenty folk tales in a book in my possession. Pick any one or as many as you like that grab your interest; slide the paper under my door, and you will receive a translation to read at your leisure in the same fashion. When we're done with one book, if you enjoy them, I'll find another for you."

[bontempsbarmaid]

Sookie's eyes got big and her jaw dropped a little. "That's...," she struggled to find the words, feeling like she'd just won the lottery and she hadn't even known she'd gotten a ticket. "This is amazing. I can't... It's so kind of you to do this!" She also felt a bit like it was Christmas in July. She'd always loved hearing the stories of other cultures.

[shadowed_scales]

"It's my pleasure, truly," he said. It always pleased him deeply when his gestures were appreciated; now was no exception. "Our own cultural exchange." He felt much better, his anxiety at having broken their arrangement eased by her reaction. It had reminded him too much of other promises broken through the years.

"I have something else I'd like to propose. I don't want you to feel obligated if it's something you don't wish to do. I've been told the stars don't move in the night sky here. I want to take a trip to the roof and see for myself." He paused for a moment, considering his next words more carefully. "It's...disturbing...to me, unnatural. I would...like...a friendly face to witness it with me." His words slowed with his obvious discomfort at asking a favor and worse admitting what he saw as weakness.

"It will probably be cold," here he raised the bottle of kanar for emphasis, "and uncomfortable." He then indicated the blanket. "I can mitigate both somewhat. Will you join me?"

[bontempsbarmaid]

The way he spoke reminded Sookie of the way Eric or Pam might be if they were asking someone else for help. Almost loathe to do it, but unwilling to unwilling to be too stubborn for their own good. Being Sookie Stackhouse, she was always too stubborn for her own good, but the overly pragmatic people in her life had shown her that sometimes you had to bend a little to get what was best for you.

And she wasn't about to let him do this alone, even if he hadn't asked her she'd have followed him up there. "Of course I will," she assured him with a smile. "I used to spend a lot of time up at all hours of the night, but I never did get to really appreciate things like the stars. This will be a nice change of pace. Just let me grab my shoes."

[shadowed_scales]

"That's very generous of you," he said, inwardly relaxing a bit. It rarely went well in his life when he revealed any need. Even knowing that she was less like the people he knew and more like his daughter, he could never know exactly when he might push too far and hit a wall. "Thank you." He waited for her to fetch what she wished. "If you think you might need a second blanket, bring that as well."

[bontempsbarmaid]

She slipped on a pair of tennis shoes and grabbed her Gran's old quilt off the back of the couch. "I'm from a really warm place," she explained with a smile, "so these chilly nights and crazy snowstorms are more than I can handle. I put on half a dozen layers the second frost starts sticking to the grass. Southern girls don't do cold very well."

[shadowed_scales]

"Temperatures on Cardassia average 43 to 45 degrees Celcius during the day, although it can get much hotter in the height of summer. Needless to say, we don't enjoy the cold, either." He wondered what he would do for clothing if it became much colder than it was currently but kept those thoughts to himself.

"All right, it's a bit of exploring for us, I believe. I've never tried to go higher than this floor in the hotel. Have you?" He stepped back into the hallway and waited for her.

[bontempsbarmaid]

"Nope," Sookie answered cheerfully as she followed him into the hall and locked her door behind her. She'd been in a good mood all day, and it was pretty easy to tell. "I explored the building a lot when I first got here, but it was during one of those crazy snowstorms, I swear that thing lasted months, so I mostly stuck to the warm, cozy areas after a while."

[shadowed_scales]

"I'm sure it's too much to hope that such a thing won't happen again," he said a bit dryly. The thought of months of snow was enough to make his scales tighten. He stood in the hallway, looking for possible new doors. Not seeing any, he decided the best thing to do would be to head to the stairwell first. Perhaps there was another door he hadn't paid much heed before.

[bontempsbarmaid]

She smiled slightly to herself. "It's been pretty warm and dry for a while now," she told her companion. "But if it does get cold again, you and I will just have to hide from it together, won't we? At least there will be good company." Not that she really thought he would hide from anything. He was the soldier sort, all brave and unwilling to admit any weakness (she knew more than a few people like that), so hopefully he wasn't offended by her comment.

[shadowed_scales]

"We will find a way," he agreed. He believed he had smiled more in the past fifteen minutes or so than he had since his arrival. It felt good. He held the door for her to the stairwell and followed behind. There was indeed a door he hadn't seen before to their right. "That will either lead us to the roof or the garage with the way things have been going lately," he said. "Perhaps you should open the door. Our captors may like you better." He was still smiling, really not too worried about where the door might lead.

[bontempsbarmaid]

Sookie laughed at the idea that the creepy hotel liked any of them to any degree. It certainly didn't show it if that was the case. "Or it could be the attic," she suggested playfully, setting her hand on the handle. "Which is pretty interesting, there's all sorts of stuff up there. But I'm really hoping it's the roof, I don't feel like getting all dusty and gross tonight."

[shadowed_scales]

"No dust or grotesquery," he said solemnly, suddenly wondering if that was even the correct word, or a real word, for that matter. "If it's the wrong door, we'll just keep looking. If I have to climb to the roof from the outside and pull you up with me, we will get that view tonight." A determined light shone in his blue-gray eyes.