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The Other Side

He was right. It was actually chilly here. The sky was overcast, and the wind that was blowing through seemed to cut right to the bone, and felt like it was coming straight off of the mountains, though he had done his research and knew that the closest of those were nearly two hundred kilometers away. They were in his home province of Alberta, but much further North of where he had been raised, and hopefully in no risk of exposure to anybody who might have ever known him.

Though with the scars, the shorter hair, the neat yet stubbly beard and the eye patch....Chances were that wasn't going to happen anyways. He doubted his own god damn mother wouldn't have recognized him now.

"Welcome to Grande Prairie." He held his arms out to his side and gestured around to the place he had never been before in his life, but had at least heard of considering it was a small city that was surrounded by flat countryside used predominantly as farm land.

The portal techs had actually dropped them off in some back alley that appeared to be located behind an adult video store in what Finn assumed was likely in the center of downtown. It had been empty when they arrived, but the back door to the X-rated business soon opened as a shady looking customer with a hat pulled down low to shield his eyes came strolling on out, a black, unmarked plastic bag in hand.

Finn nudged his companion with an elbow and hissed. "I bet he's here for the gay porn." Before giving Ripley a smirk. "Look, I swear it's better then this. Let's get out of here."

With his bag slung over his shoulder, he made his way towards what looked like it would be the quickest way out of the alley and onto the main street.

The Other Side

The cold hit him, and quickly wormed its way right into his bones; the shiver it produced was the most welcome feeling he had the pleasure to feel in a long time. Despite the overcast skies and the howling wind, he was already in a good mood; it was cold, and everything he wanted in a trip.

"Thanks." He offered a small smile to the welcome. "I always wanted to visit here, never found the time." Until now, he assumed, when the life he led before was long over and quite literally buried. Except, he realized, that this probably wasn't the best representation imaginable: in fact, it looked downright skeevy. He almost, almost had a comment about it, when Finn nudged him instead.

"We are not giving him a show." He warned quietly, though only half-hearted, and more sarcastic at best. Still, he moved dutifully after Finn, looking at his surroundings with a mild interest.

"How far are we from where you lived?"

The Other Side

After becoming so well conditioned to the heat of the island, it seemed that cold weather, while welcome, was no longer as well tolerated by Finn's body as it once had been. Of course, the solution to this would be to move around more, so Finn, shrugging the strap of his duffle bag strap over his shoulder better, began to walk faster, knowing that Ripley would undoubtedly keep up with him. "Wow we just got here and already you're trying to suck the fun out of everything." Finn joked with a half smile, giving Ripley another side glance while they turned around a corner and began to head out towards the street.

"I think it's about a nine or ten hour drive from here to where I grew up." Which was just slightly south of Calgary, though he had moved into the city by himself at a fairly young age. "I imagine this is pretty much just a miniature version of what we had down there. Redneck assholes, country bars, hockey....." They began to approach the main street, and as they reached the side walk, Finn stopped, taking a look both ways down the one way. Many of the buildings looked fairly recently renovated, while others appeared rather aged. One lone building stood out tall among the rest, though as far as sky scrapers went, it left little to the imagination. Still, it was clean, and quaint in it's own way. Only one single drunken looking bum was meandering along the sidewalk, at least! The overcast sky did create a bit of a gloomy and grey effect on everything, however.

"Jesus, it feels like it might actually snow!" He began to rub his hands together, his gloves tucked away in his bag which he wasn't in the mood to dig through just yet. "Cab to find a hotel or a bit of shopping first?" He had been eyeing up a few of the shops, and his gaze had landed on one in particular that was nearby.

The Other Side

"I'm selfish." He explained with a grin, easily stepping up his stride to keep up with Finn. The corner he rounded a little sharply, but thankfully there was nothing to walk into immediately - and Finn hadn't stopped suddenly, which helped. His gaze was on his surroundings as they walked, taking in the sights as he could. Funny thing about seeing the back alleys of a city first: it took some of the mystery away from the actual highlights, while simultaneously making them that much more.

"So, safe." Which was good. He wasn't about to risk one of them being spotted a second time. His last trip was enough of a close call for him, for a long while. Like Finn, he looked both ways down what looked like the main street. Seemed clean enough, as far as cities went. "Good, I miss snow."

"Hotel first." Ripley replied without a single hesitation. "No point in hauling luggage." He had his bag, and Finn had one, and it would only hinder them if they went shopping now, or so he thought.

The Royal Suite

The room was huge.

Finn dropped his bag just a few feet inside the door to the room that they had gotten at the Holiday Inn.

"Holy s**t." He suppressed an urge to whistle as he stepped further inside and had a look around at what was just the sitting room/office area. Further beyond behind a wall that only stretched across half of the expanse of space, he could see the edge of the bed, and a jacuzzi tub.

A jacuzzi tub. Right next to the bed.

Finn was grinning by the time he finished his tour of the room, his bag long forgotten by the entrance. Too long he had been subject to the cramped confines of his Deus dorm room. In comparison, this place was an absolute palace.

"We need to stock up the bar." Was the first thing he said when he finished having a good look around, approaching Ripley with a smirk on his lips.

"Also,did you see that it even has a two person shower?"

The Other Side

His forward motion was brought to an abrupt halt as a firm hand grabbed his jacket and pulled him back. A blur of movement later and he felt something cold and unforgiving behind his back while something cold, but a lot more forgiving kept him there. He realized what was happening the moment before cold lips pressed against his, and without hesitation he leaned into the cold kiss, holding it as long as he could as his hands curled into the front of Finn's jacket, pulling him close.

"Thanks for inviting me." He offered a lazy half-smile, his grip loosening in the wake of the second kiss. When he was let up, he moved away from the wall and arched his back a bit, easing the dull ache. As he settled, he looked over to see Finn on his phone, calling a taxi for them.

"Is this a new tradition?" Not that he would greatly object.

The Other Side

Finn was soon getting a hold of the the first taxi company that the call assistance operator offered him, letting them know that they could be picked up in front of the Adult Source Video store. He was still smiling, a slight feeling of giddiness at actually having time away from deus setting in the longer he stood out in the cold autumn air. It would only be two days, he knew, but it was two days well needed.

He hung up the phone and turned back to Ripley, taking a step closer to him, hands lifting to rest on either side of his arms as if he might pull him in. Instead he just continued to smirk.

"Could be." It really depended on if they made a habit out of taking leave off together, which probably depended on how well these two days ended up going.

"I guess we'll see." The smirk widened.