Velvet came in from their earpieces. "Hey, guys, slight change of plans. We don't think we'll be able to execute our... intended strategy until maybe a day or two from now." Mako chimed in. "What's the issue?" "I'm having trouble wrangling the tech department. Toby has been very useful, but nobody else has, so really, it's just been him there, while everyone else is bickering. So, you two have some time for yourselves. You did pack some funds, right?" Ika answered this time. "Never leave <font color="#e64539"><u>Home</u></font> without my wallet." Mako chuckled to herself. "Not even when you left in the middle of the night for your weird escapades?" Ika immediately went on the defensive. "H-hey, I was more broken then than I am now!" Velvet sidestepped the issue. "Look, if you two need a place to stay, there should be a hotel just around the corner. Great reviews, I'm told." The duo nodded, hopping onto the sidewalk and taking in the sights. Mako was extremely enamored by the dazzling lights all around her - various shades of neon yellow, cyan, and magenta, some of them flowing through the streets and up the walls of the buildings, like some kind of liquid. The passerby chatter was frequent, more so than either of them were used to. Ika couldn't help but overhear a strange conversation in passing. "Did you hear about the new book they put out?" "*Silver Linings and Gay Fiction*, right?" "Yeah! I read it, and it's an alright read, but it's not cool enough!" They were talking more, but by then the two of them had already passed. Ika looked over at her partner. "You remember this place at all?" "Only in magazines. Why?" "I would swear that the people here are obsessed with being 'cool'. Very trendy type, I'm pretty sure, not really interested in any politics." "You know that for sure?" "Best guess, honestly." They soon arrived at the front of another tall building - the outside was filled with windows from rooms, whereas the walls were something like the sidewalk they were already walking on, though in a stark shade of grey - darker than light. Upon the front were the words "Four Star Hotel!" in gold lettering, and underneath, "Rated 5 stars by most patrons". Pushing past a rotating glass door, the two entered into the main lobby - the floor was a pristine marble, with some red mats dotted about the place. On the right was an area with various clerks, most of them just chatting amongst themselves at this hour. On the left was an elevator, and to the immediate left was a small shop for various items. Mako went over to the shop eagerly, but Ika took the more rational route and went to book a room. Mako looked over all the various items on display - potions, runes, as well as a couple of other items. The store clerk came up - a tall, lanky man in a suit and tie. Mako pointed at a rune. "I thought magic was incompatible with Synths?" The man spoke in what Ika would later faintly identify as a 'British' accent, though it would be more correct to say he had a Salesman's accent - "You're not wrong, but the spells are great for the occasional Human tourist. That one you're pointing at? That's a ward against bad luck." Mako thought about it for a minute. "I dunno, I kinda like my life unpredictable." She looked over to Ika, who was having a pleasant conversation with one of the clerks there. When she turned back, the man was gone, though the store was still there. As for when Ika stepped up to bat, she was going to greet the clerk with kindness, but they started first, in a just barely robotic voice. "Hiya! Welcome to Four Star, how are you today?" Ika surveyed the clerk - they looked human enough, though their orange-ish hair was styled a bit long... In her opinion, at least. she'd never seen anyone with that large of a headpiece, and certainly not that drab of a lab coat. Their eyes seemed to glaze over, as if only processing and not actually engaging. "I'm alright, thanks. I just need a room for me and my partner over here?" The clerk smirked a bit. "Partner? Sounds serious, aha. You planning on putting a ring on that?" Ika raised an eyebrow. "Pardon me? I don't know if I'd want to put a band around her waist, if that's what you're getting at." "Oh, sorry, no, I mean like soul sealing, you know?" Ika shook her head. "Never heard of it." "Not *once*?" "I have what you call, uh, 'I don't know things' syndrome." The two of them laughed while Mako came up beside Ika. "Everything alright?" The clerk nodded. "Just getting you checked in. Looks like... yep! We have a room for two, room 423 - that's floor 42, room 3." Mako crossed her arms. "Floor 42?" "They built the hotel sideways, so it's pretty tall." Ika got it. "Fair enough. How much do I owe you?" Ika and the clerk talked out the pricing - it was a little cheaper than they expected, but still something decent to where neither Ika nor Mako bat an eye. Ika gave the clerk the money, in exchange, they gave her a set of key cards, Ika and Mako boarded the elevator, Ika pressing the button for the 42nd floor. They stood in relative silence, Ika appreciating the design of the lift - some kind of earthy wood on the bottom half of the walls, and metal on the top half, with some kind of carpet used on the floor - it had an atypical design, ornate, but still legible. Her thought process was interrupted by her partner, though. "You weren't flirting with her, were you?" "What? Mako, what are you talking about?" "I just..." She looked to the side. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that." "If there's something on your mind, you can tell me. I know how to keep secrets, you know that much." Mako sighed. "It's... Ika, while we have time here, can we, y'know, do something together that isn't adventuring? Like maybe going to a [[Restaurant]] or something? I mean, travelling with you is nice, but I wanna pick something that we do every once in a while, you know?" Ika looked a bit concerned. "You know, if it was irking you that badly, you could have told me. I said a few times that you didn't have to tag along with my... to be quite frank, forgetful nonsense. I mean, come on, would this even make a good book?!" An awkward silence. "Sorry, sorry. Yeah, if there's time tomorrow, we can go somewhere. I know neither of us know the area, but, it's your choice. I'll pay. That seems fair." Mako was going to say something, but by then, the elevator reached the 42nd floor. "Third room, alright." The duo got to the third room from the elevator. The hallway was lined with several doors - leading them to wonder exactly how they could have built the hotel sideways, but it was no matter. Ika swiped the card in front of the door, and it unlocked with a digital beep, allowing them into the room. The inside was strangely fancy - the walls were a pure white, with a couple of sub-rooms attached to the main room - treating the entrance like a hallway, to the right was a bathroom, and to the left, a closet. Further ahead, there was a bed to the right, and to the left, a microwave, a coffee maker, and a large screen. Beyond that was a couch, facing a window that overlooked onto the city. Mako damn near dived head first towards the window, pressing her hands against the glass before Ika could get a third step into the door. She looked out in awe, at all the various buildings that she had already seen from ground level some time ago. "Woah! We're *really* high up, sweetie! Come look, come look!" Ika laughed a tad. "Just a sec, gosh..." She put down her bag on the couch, joining Mako at the window. "It's so pretty out there..." "You didn't think it was so pretty when we were in the Dwarves' town, and that's way higher than here, I'm pretty sure." "True, *but*, the tops of the mountains don't have crazy colors, do they?" "I'd say they have a couple. White, grey, brown. You'd be crazy to use those colors." Mako felt a bit cheeky, chuckling to herself. "Gramps has grey hair, though, what do you make of that?" "He's got an eye for holograms, and a hologram for an eye. He's probably up there, I'm guessing." Mako tilted her head. "Ika, did Velvet tell you what a hologram is?" Ika realized the implication in her partner's question. "No, she didn't... I guess I must have known about holograms before I, you know."