Intro Post - No Event {Mild Aphro}

[healsforjustice]

As the girl slipped slowly back to consciousness, something was off. It took a moment for her to fully register what exactly seemed out of place, but it soon became obvious when she tried to shift her weight in order to roll over, the many layers of the long skirt of her gown limiting her movement.

Her gown? Why was she still in her clothes if she

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[onlysanechimera]

Zelgadiss was just walking, that was all. He didn't really have a particular destination in mind; even though he knew how that usually ended in the hotel, it wasn't as if anything else ended much differently, and there really wasn't as much to do here as it seemed.

He might have expected a door to swing open as he passed; that wasn't at all unusual. The hotel really liked causing "coincidences". What he very much wasn't expecting was for said door to reveal what was probably the person he wanted least to ever see here. "Amelia?"

[healsforjustice]

The princess almost didn't catch sight of him as she exited the room. She was struggling to prevent the fabric of her gown from getting caught in the door and ripping as she shut it behind her, so was rather oblivious.

Of course, hearing her name being called by an all too familiar voice made her turn sharply. Her eyes widened briefly, before a bright smile formed on her lips. Thank goodness, someone she knew!

"Mr Zelgadiss! You're here too!" she exclaimed as she hurried over as quickly as she could manage without tripping.

[onlysanechimera]

Familiar faces were nice, but they would have been nicer if they weren't here. In fact, finding Amelia here was honestly probably the one thing that could have shaken him at this point short of large amounts of physical violence (or related incidents).

"I think it's probably more accurate to say that you're here, too. I've been here for... a while now." He sighed, leaning against the wall. This was just perfect.

[healsforjustice]

As she stood near him, she blinked curiously at his reaction. Her frined seemed rather tense. That wasn't usual for him, but it wasn't the reaction she expected.

"Huh, but I saw you a few months ago, did you really just disappear after that?" she asked. Granted it next to impossible to know where Zelgadiss was when he went on one of his excursions, but thinking he had been abducted to such a place in that space of time was bewildering.

[onlysanechimera]

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to figure out how to explain the vagaries of interdimensional abduction to Amelia. "Time here... doesn't quite work the same way as it does at home. If I ever get back home, I wouldn't be surprised to find that no time had passed at all. Though to be honest, that's only one of many things that don't work the same way here."

Explaining things was going to be fun. But at least he could probably avoid telling her that he'd been here for something like two years from his point of view.

[healsforjustice]

"Oh. So you were still traveling and ended up here." the girl stated. She was about to ask if he had found anything before he was spirited to the hotel, but stopped herself short. This was not the right time for small talk, and she didn't want to put him more on edge than he was already by bringing up the sensitive subject.

"I can see that, this isn't like any place back home at all." she mused, one hand cradling her head. Everything was still a little foggy for her, and the aroma from the room she had just left hadn't helped much.

[onlysanechimera]

"Yes, that's about right." He shrugged a little. "'Ended up' is really the closest I can come to describing how I got here, anyway, since I think it pulled me here while I was asleep."

He paused, looking concerned at the way she was holding her head. "Are you alright?" He was fairly certain he could guess what was causing it, but it would be nice to hold onto his illusions a little while longer. There was another possibility, too, of course, but he didn't think Amelia tended to get headaches when things didn't make sense.

[healsforjustice]

"Me too, I dozed off at home and I woke up here." she replied. She truly hoped he was right about time standing still while she was gone. Her father wouldn't take well if he noticed she was missing. He already had one daughter disappear like that, he didn't need another.

Turning her gaze towards him, Amelia waved her hand in dismissal. "I'm fine, just a little dizzy that's all." she insisted, doing her best to focus on balancing in her high heels.

[onlysanechimera]

He bit his lip, trying to figure out how to explain things. Occasionally he still had trouble predicting Amelia's reactions, and he was pretty sure the current situation was completely outside her frame of reference. "All right, um. This is going to sound unbelievable, but... we're in another world. Which happens to be some sort of brothel. If it doesn't have a mind of its own it's got something very close, and it wants to... fulfill its purpose, which is why it kidnaps people from other worlds. At least, that's my best guess."

[healsforjustice]

She listened, unsure of whether her face was heating up or draining of colour in reaction. Her gaze soon dropped to the floor however, so Zelgadiss wouldn't been able to tell.

"So there's a lot of people here?" she asked, voice surprisingly unwavering.

[onlysanechimera]

"Yes, there are. And I'm guessing you've seen the problem beyond just being trapped here." He sighed; his gaze had already been drifting away from her, because he didn't really want to see the look on her face as she realized. It was a blessing, in a way, since he didn't have to spell it out, but that didn't mean he felt any better about breaking the news to her.

Quietly, he added, "The hotel has a... a thing it does. There's a sort of thing it puts in the air, it's... more or less an aphrodisiac." His cheeks flushed a little and he glanced down, sighing.

[healsforjustice]

"That's..." she began, her voice growing in volume as she suddenly punched the air, ready to launch an attack. "Completely, undoubtably UNJ-" she began to proclaim, only for the rest of the impending speech to be lost in a warbled cry. Amelia soon remembered trying to dramatically pose for a declaration of justice in a weighty dress and high heels did not help her already shaky balance.

Needless to say, she was fortunate enough to brace the nearby wall in time, hand unclenched and holding her head again.

"Maybe I shouldn't try that when I feel so unsteady..." she muttered, more to herself than her friend, but he could no doubt hear her.

[onlysanechimera]

"Probably not." He moved over, resting a hand on her shoulder. He knew it was probably a bad idea under the circumstances, but still. "And for what it's worth, I think you're right, but it's a bit hard to do anything about it. I mean, how do you fight a building, much less one that's a whole world?"

It was probably a bad sign that he was already thinking about this, but he found himself hoping that if things got that far she wouldn't notice the long, several-month-old scars along his arms. He didn't much like recalling the incident that led to them, and it really wouldn't be any help keeping her calm.

[healsforjustice]

On feeling the touch, she glanced up at Zelgadiss, and managed to smile despite still feeling rather dizzy. It might have been for the best, she would probably only exhaust herself trying to turn the building upside down in order to vanquish something they couldn't fight.

"I guess I just don't like the idea of not being able to do anything." she murmured. If there was one thing that really could dent Amelia's often unshakable beliefs, this was it. Being helpless, being useless, she never wanted to endure that. Sadly, on the few occassions she was, even though there was no blame on her, it still hurt.

That hurt was shining through the cracks of her smile, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

[onlysanechimera]

"Amelia..." He squeezed her shoulder gently, giving her a shaky smile in return. "I know how you feel." And he did; he hated not being able to do anything, especially when it left him trapped, but they were both at the mercy of the hotel, and it didn't often seem to have any.

His hand trailed down to take hers gently. "Here... maybe we should get you back into the room so you can sit down."

[healsforjustice]

It was so strange to see him that relaxed, trying so hard to offer comfort to her. The whole thing seemed like a bizarre role reversal in Amelia's eyes, him being the one to try and cheer her up. He must have endured all this for a while if he was so calm about it. She was grateful nonetheless, her smile more genuine now as she held his hand, nodding at the suggestion.

Once she had someone scooted through the door again without catching her skirts on anything, something that was tricky with only one hand to grip the material, she felt the fog inside her mind thicken as the strong scent that was lingering washed over her again. She did her best to shake the odd sensation off, though found herself squeezing Zelgadiss' hand unconsciously as she did so.