Baggage & Boarding

9- the wizard in the fedora

Ben had thought very carefully about his outfit for today. It wasn't every day that a lowly Wizard such as himself got to see Supernatural Royalty (or what was as good as)!

After hours of rejecting various outfits, he had settled on a business casual. Khaki slacks, a light pink button-down, and a blazer with elbow patches. Oh, and a fedora, of course. The hat made the man, after all.

It was while he was adjusting his fedora in the mirrored wall of the large hotel foyer that Ben spotted Adam.

"Aaaadam!" He dramatically waved him over. "Where've you beeeeen? How's my favorite wolf-man?"

The man in question trudged over, hands in his pockets.

"What's got you looking so down? Are you and Dessy in a fight? Are you still mad at me for not bringing you with me through my portal? Baby, I told you I wanted to come here a couple of weeks early to get some sightseeing in. You're the one who insisted he couldn't leave his pack for so long!"

"It's nothing," Adam muttered. "Personal things."

"I can't even imagine what sort of 'personal things' would keep you away from all this drama! Did you know that the Faerie King got into a spat with the Vampire Chairman the other day? Right in the middle of an assembly! And then there's all the news of the attacks in Amer -"

"I've heard Ben. Not about the Faerie-Vampire drama, but the attacks." Adam rubbed his face. "That's the only reason that I'm fucking here."

Bed adjusted his hat, and dramatically gesturing with his hands, he continued, "you mean you wouldn't have attended otherwise? I've been wondering why you've been MIA! I mean, I barely know anyone here. Unsurprising, really, with the insane attendance. And you know, we're not even getting in on the good meetings. I mean, you might be able to, since you're Beta of one of the biggest packs in the US, I mean, but me, a humble no-rank Wizard, I'm not -"

"Ben, please, just tell me how I even find the meeting halls."

"Oh! Well, that's easy enough! You just take the invitation, and you just place your hand on it against that wall there," Ben pointed to the opposite wall in the foyer that appeared to be made of stone, "and viola! You're in! You have to use your personal invitation though, or else it won't work. You do have it, don't you?"

"Yea," Adam grumbled, "I have the damned thing." He gripped the small paper in his hand harder than necessary, crumpling it a bit.

"Oi! Someone has on his grumpy pants today! Watch out. Your sullenness might make you look even more handsome!"

Adam rolled his eyes and walked to the far wall. Doing as Ben had explained, he put his hand out to the wall, slipping the invitation between them. He applied some pressure and then stumbled forward as the wall seemed to dissolve before him. It quickly reconstructed itself as he fell through. Some real Harry Potter shit right there.

To Adam's disappointment, Ben followed quickly after.

The scene before them was the exact opposite of the quiet and sparsely populated lobby; Adam's werewolf senses took a while to adjust to the almost-overbearing assault. Ben, on the other hand, happily spun around in a comedic fashion with his arms stretched wide.

In front of them was a vast hall with a large pond smack dab in the middle. Around it in each direction was patchworked flooring: parts marbled and parts covered with grass. It looked like nature had somehow accidentally found its way inside and decided to make a home for itself among the majestic and dominating architecture.

Taking it all in once again, Ben couldn't quite put his finger on the type of architecture, and he was usually quite good at such things. It was a mix of all sorts of human and non-human elements: Russian onion domes mixed in with looming Roman ionic columns decorated with Dwarf metalcraft, Middle Eastern mosaic tiles on the walls with intricate spirals of Faerie woodwork woven through it.