L'Enfant Plaza Hotel - Washington, DC, 2009

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Yesterday's journey from California to Washington, for all that most of it was spent in a cramped metal tube sitting still, was still a dickens of an experience. Between one thing and another, Ellen was all but exhausted by the time they'd checked in. She scarcely noticed the condition of the hotel around her on the way up to the room.

This morning is another story. Ellen sits up, blinking, as the light begins to stream into the room. That much light in her house in Megaton would mean something had gone disastrously wrong with one of the walls, after all. It takes her several minutes to cudgel her brain into accepting the room before her as real, and not an extension of some dream or other. Cautiously, she braces both hands on the mattress (there is nothing this soft in her experience!), swings her legs over the side (there were carpets in the Vault but they were little area rugs, threadbare from hundreds of years of use), and pads across the floor to peek out through the gap in the curtains.

She's going to be standing there, staring, for a good little while. The sky beyond is blue, dotted here and there with cloud. The buildings, all of them as far as the eye can see, are whole and entire. Green patches of ground and tufts of high vegetation she can't identify dot the spaces between the buildings in the places where cars aren't puttering through the streets. A virtually pristine, marble-clad Washington Monument rises to the sky startlingly close at hand. And the-

It may be a while before it really sinks in that she's looking at blossoming cherry trees far below. The only blooming plants she's seen before this have all been farmed vegetation, pea plants and tomatoes grown under indoor lighting and the like. Certainly nothing that big, or that massively effusive in the amount of flowers put forth- and it's a dead certainty that she's never even seen a cherry tree, anyway, so there you are.

Like we said, she'll be staring for a while.

Comments

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

Mills wraps quietly on her door. Their flight got in rather late, and by the time they got to the hotel, they were both pretty exhausted.

But it's 8am and time to get a move on, if they want to see everything and still have time for dinner.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen jumps a little at the sound, but turns about quickly. "I'm up," she calls. "I was just looking..."

She's going to have to get clean and dressed quickly, she realizes. She's wasted a good bit of time staring.

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

"No worries," he calls through the door. "I'll wait for you down stairs in the lobby."

And that's where she'll find him, sipping on a cup of his beloved black coffee, nose in a newspaper.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

If it weren't for Milliways, the experience of getting from the room to the lobby alone would be more than a little overwhelming. Everything in the hotel is so new. It's a conscious effort not to trail her hand over every clean surface and intact bit of brass on the way down, but she manages.

"I'm sorry that took so long," she says when she arrives, although she really wasn't all that slow to begin with. "I'll be faster next time."

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

Mills gives her a warm smile. "It's not a drill, Ellen. It's a holiday. You're supposed to relax and enjoy yourself a bit.

"Come on, you must be starving."

Cue mother hen Mills.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Force of habit, I guess," says Ellen, ducking her head. "At home you're up pretty much with the sun on the surface and whenever the lights come on if you're below... anyway. I could use some breakfast, sure."

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

He unfolds his long legs and stands, tossing aside the paper, but bringing his coffee.

"Protein? Or carbs? They have an excellent bakery."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh- carbs, I think. Most of what people in Megaton eat is meat and I think I should probably try to balance that out some," Ellen says. "Let's see what they have."

She's used to the rolls and breads of the Vault, and to the concept of cake or sweet rolls on special occasions. The meat-heavy diet of Megaton's people hasn't entirely sat well with her.

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

It's just a small café, enough for a business person to stop in and grab a bite to go with their obligatory caffeine infusion. But the pastries are fresh, and range from plain croissants, to cheese Danishes, to bearclaws and tigertails.

"Mmm," Mills peers through the glass. "I'm going to have one of those." He points to a croissant. "And whatever the lady likes."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Um..."

Rolls, Ellen knows. These other things? No freakin' clue whatsoever.

She eventually points to something at random (it's a cheese Danish, not that she knows that). "One of those, please. And some juice, if you have it?"

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

The clerk smiles and nods, taking out the Danish with a piece a parchment paper, and getting her a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.

Mills pays at the counter and gets them a seat near the window, where they can watch the Plaza coming to life. There are men and women in business suits and tourists in tshirts and jeans, as well as the odd dignitary in foreign garb and street people in ragged clothes that are muddy from head to toe.

Mills takes out the tour guide and a little map. "We should be able to see everything we want to see on foot, or by cab if necessary."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Foot is good," says Ellen a little distantly. The window has her distracted. It's kind of disconcerting, seeing so many unfamiliar people who don't have the excuse of being from the end of the universe. At least the street people look more or less like they could've walked out of her world. "I'm used to walking. You see a lot that way."

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

"I agree. Plus we can duck into some place interesting if the fancy takes us."

He ducks his head a little, trying to catch her gaze. "So? Are you enjoying it so far?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I'm still kind of processing all of this," Ellen confesses. "It's so... it's just... it was really all like this before? It's just sort of starting to sink in now, you know?"

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

He nods, his eyebrows drawing down a bit in concern.

"It's not going to make it too difficult to go home again, is it?"

He'd anticipated some culture shock, but he hoped in the long run it would be better for her to understand.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"No, I think it should be all right," says Ellen. "It's kind of overwhelming. I'm just going to need a bit to adapt, that's all."

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

"All right. You be sure to tell me if you need a break. That's what the hotel room is for. Never underestimate the power of a good nap."

"Now, we're right here by the monuments, so I thought we'd start there. Besides, the cherry trees are in bloom and they're -- wow. You'll see when we get there."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I'll let you know," Ellen promises. And then: "Which monuments?"

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

"Jefferson, Roosevelt, and the Lincoln Memorial, if we're feeling ambitious."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"All right," says Ellen readily. "I kind of wish I had a camera for all of this, even if I can't show anyone at home the pictures."

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

Mills blinks for a moment and then holds out his hand. "I think the phone I got you has one. But if not, you can use mine."

He flips the phone open and peers at it. "Yes, see this little icon?" It's a tiny image of an old fashioned camera. "This is the lens here." He indicates the tiny window in the back of the phone.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh!" says Ellen, startled. "Like that tiny camera the man at Milliways showed me? From Japan, with no film?"

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

Mills grins and nods. "Images stored as data. We may have to get you another data card, but this should work. Here."

He holds it up a few feet away from her and says, "Smile." And then there's a little click like a shutter closing and opening.

He turns the phone back around to show her the image.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen obeys, and then leans over to look at the picture. "Good Lord," she says. "No matter how many times people show me, I don't think I'll ever quite get used to dealing with transistor- wait, that's not even transistors, is it? That's ... what was it? Integrated circuits?"

[particularskill.livejournal.com]

He hands her the camera back. "I have no idea. I'm not much of a techie person. Sam could tell you."

He remembers an era when cameras like these were considered classified equipment. It's still kind of astonishing to him too.