taxonomites | [holo] Arrival post

Penny's arms were still curved to hold the laundry basket that had disappeared the moment she stepped into the Coin Wash, and it was with a jolt that she stumbled forward. She did her best to ignore the sense of vertigo as she looked down at her empty arms, eyebrows crooking in earnest confusion at the empty space. “Um. What?” she asked out of sheer reflex, because she suddenly was very much not where she had been before. Belatedly and a bit dumbly, she relaxed her arms and spun in a half-circle, trying to gather her bearings. “Hello? Hey, where am I?” Silence. What had she expected, a grinning madman to pop out of the metallic walls and tell her she was on Candid Camera?

A room. Well, that much was obvious, at least. But -where-? And how had she gotten there?

“Don't panic, Penny. You're just in a .. strange room. And your laundry is gone,” she muttered to herself and rubbed her wrist, jolting a little again in surprise as her fingers bumped against the bracelet, and her eyebrows knit again in concern. “You'd think I'd remember having that done.”

A bit awkwardly, she inspected the bracelet, before she pressed her hand firmly against her mouth, biting her lower lip. Well, she was here, but how did she get -out?- “Maybe this..” She looked around again to verify that the place was still empty before cautiously picking up the tablet on the pedestal next to her. Some kind of phone, maybe? No, more complicated than that. “I probably shouldn't just take it, but there's no..”

She shut her eyes and exhaled a low sigh, shaking her head to clear it. She'd tackle obstacles as she came to them; the most important thing right then was figuring out where she was. Tablet in hand, she cast another cursory glance around the empty chamber before zeroing in on the steps descending from the platform. “Well,” she whispered, “might as well,” and inhaling another deep breath as if to steel her nerves, she took the steps out into the Sanctuary, knuckles white with the force of her grip on the Tablet at her side as she entered the Sanctuary.

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"You brought the laundromat?" Penny can't help but smile a little bit absurdly at that, looking slightly sheepish. "If I'd managed to bring my laundry with me, we'd be all set, wouldn't we?"

She does pause, though, when Billy mentions that people bring things with them, and she pats her pockets, before pulling a white paperback from her back pocket, a battered edition of Where the Sidewalk Ends. "I brought this to read at the laundromat. My basket and everything disappeared, though."

And another pause at this.

"Sorry, Billy, I just.. I guess I'm just a little overwhelmed." She smiles apologetically at him.

"Yeah, something like that," Billy agrees, smiling a little in return. He can't help it; her smile is infectious.

He does glance at the book, curious to know exactly what she brought. A book? He brought a laundromat and she brought a book? Taxon had a weird way of picking these things, Billy thought. Why not his lab? Or, y'know, his house. That would have been nice.

Penny's voice jolts him out of his personal grumbling.

"Oh, no, it's okay, I mean. I was too. When I got here. Look, we can... do something about that. We can find you somewhere to live."

Penny doesn't really have a lot of possessions that are incredibly important to her. Back in LA she had a small flat with a refrigerator that was empty most of the time - it only makes sense she'd bring the one book that she reads the most.

She shakes her head, snapping out of it. A place to live. That sounds great.

Like a good start, at least.

"So I just - um. Pick somewhere. Empty?" And absently she rubs at the bracelet on her wrist.

Nodding, Billy gestures to the hallway he'd come from.

"Yeah, there's rooms back there. They're all empty. Or, uh, I think they are, I haven't exactly looked."

Penny glances at Billy's face again, her fingers flexing out of habit on the book she's holding at her side.

"Alright, um. I'm - I'll find a place to look. And maybe - explore some. While I'm here, I might as well know.."

Pause, and Billy looks away a little, because he's self-conscious. Shifting awkwardly, Billy shoves his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, uh. Okay. I'll just. Uh. You can call me on the tablet things, if you need me. I mean, not that you have to, but if you do, I-- uh, yeah, right."

Penny pauses for a moment, before a thought seems to cross her mind. She leans forward, gently grasping Billy by the wrist, as if to catch his attention.

"Hey, Billy? You haven't - um, you haven't heard of Captain Hammer being pulled to this place, have you?"

Give the guy a heart attack, why don't you? Billy starts when she takes his wrist, and immediately he gets about ten times more nervous than before. Pretty redheads do this to him.

"U-uh, no, I..." Billy stutters, and then he shakes his head, blinking in the odd way that he does. "No, he's... he's not here. There's a guy who looks just like he does, but not... him."

"Oh. Alright." And in true Penny fashion, she doesn't notice the odd reaction, and instead just releases his wrist. She looks a little disappointed but mostly relieved when Billy announces that Captain Hammer isn't actually there. "Well," she says, then starts again, "Well.. that's alright. Thank you, Billy. I'll.. find you, when I need you again, okay?"

Her eyes linger on his face again, studying the scars, and she's going to slip down the hallway now, looking for a room of her own.

Billy might be a little disappointed. Well, once he was over the whole 'asdf she's touching me' reaction, anyway. But he doesn't say anything, just gives her a little smile, watching as she walks off.

He goes to his own room, but he might be watching Penny's dot on the tablets. What? He's just making sure she doesn't vanish.

[holo] Arrival post

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