The Midnight Hotel January catch-all

[gistful]

Characters: Anyone, everyone.
Date: Month of January, 2016
Location: The Midnight Hotel
Situation: Catch-all post! Feel free to use this post for anything that happens within the Midnight Hotel over the month of January, using the subject header to label specific rooms or for specific people. Please also see the OOC note at the bottom.
Warnings/Rating: None thus far.

The Midnight Hotel was among the few buildings which showed no sign of having been damaged by the invasion six months ago. That followed, of course; the Hotel hadn't even been present. But either way it stood out, and many of the kedan knew by now that the building, so different from the architecture of the rest of the city, was a safe-haven. Too many mistook it as a Foreigner safe-haven alone, but not all; even now there was usually one or two kedan present.

Some of them were gang-members, ones with whom Anton had forged closer relationships before the Foreigners' year-long disappearance or simply those who chose to visit in defiance of the general public's opinion.

Anton had taken great pains to give the Foreigners structure and normalcy. While the means of payment were, in some cases, not much more than an illusion, he gave as much in the way of purpose as he could. As a result there were now many Foreigners on staff at the Hotel, though of course the rules were still in strict effect. Anton himself was readily available at most given moments if needed for assistance, questions or otherwise.

There was also an oddity in the lobby: a construction in one of the corners where a long bank of three public consoles was being built. The Metalworkers responsible for its construction were generally taciturn and more concerned with their work than with interactions, but they didn't seem worried about being observed or by the close proximity of the Foreigners.


[ooc: The Midnight Hotel's status page is available here, with the rules at the top and ongoing status at the bottom. PLEASE POST TO THE STATUS PAGE IF YOUR CHARACTER WOULD LIKE A ROOM. Anton will manufacture means of payment until Foreigners are able to properly offer recompense or choose to move out, so you can assume they're 'paying' in some method.

If you have a specific job for your character to do around the Hotel (eg working the kitchen, security, house chores) please also note that so I can keep track of Anton's casual staff.]

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Backdated to Christmas 2015 | Anton

[skeletonenigma]

Once upon a time, about sixty years ago or so - before Skulduggery was talked into buying the Bentley he now treasures - he'd woken up on a Christmas morning to discover a small model of a Bentley sitting on his coffee table. It didn't take a detective to know it was a present from one of the surviving Dead Men, most likely Ghastly Bespoke, but not a one of them admitted to being the guilty party. The following year, it happened again - another small car model, sitting innocently on a different table in the living room.

Every year, there was another one, uninterrupted even after Skulduggery finally bought the car. This year was apparently not going to be an exception, thanks to the presence of a Dead Man in Keeliai.

The miniature wooden Bentley Skulduggery left on a corner of the reception desk, mainly because he didn't have a place of his own in which to display it. The Santa hat he'd found it inside, however, was quick to find its way onto one of the empty room key hooks, and if Anton didn't bring it up while Skulduggery went about the few daily Hotel chores he'd picked up, then neither was he.

[gistful]

When Anton found the hat on the keys, like a defiant, indignant refusal, he wasn't terribly surprised. Skulduggery liked hats--loved hats, even; he had a single room dedicated to nothing but hats in his house--but those were hats with style. Well, most of them. Anton happened to know he had a few less dignified hats hidden on those shelves.

The Bentley was somewhat more of a surprise, if only because it was small enough for Skulduggery to carry it with him. Leaving it there made little sense ... and was just like Skulduggery. The man was allergic to sentimentality.

When Skulduggery came past on one of his errands, Anton happened to be updating the ledger. Without looking up he said, "It hardly counts as a gift when you leave it where it is instead of taking it away with you."

[skeletonenigma]

Apparently, he was going to bring it up.

Skulduggery paused, and nodded once. "You're right." He walked back behind the desk, plucked the Santa hat off the room key hook, and planted it on Anton's head. "There. Now it's a gift being used. That fulfills one of your conditions." He turned to leave, then stopped once again and looked back over his shoulder. "For the other condition, you'll just have to follow me wherever I go."

[gistful]

Calmly Anton flicked the bobble up and out of his face so it draped across his shoulders instead. He didn't, however, take off the hat. "I was actually referring to the Bentley," he pointed out, "since, as I recall, you haven't recovered the life-sized version yet."

[skeletonenigma]

And the reminder was, as always, appreciated. Skulduggery chose to ignore it in the spirit of Christmas, and looked back at the small model version of his Bentley instead. "That's not where I found it," he argued. "I'm choosing to display your gift where the greatest amount of people possible can enjoy it."

He didn't have a room or suite of his own in which to display it anymore.

[gistful]

"It's small enough to fit in your pocket, Skulduggery," Anton said, correcting some notes and turning the page. "In this circumstance, there is absolutely no need to be so uncharacteristically ..." He paused, tapping his pencil against the ledger. "... generous. One might even call the gesture imbued with Christmas spirit."

[skeletonenigma]

Skulduggery had long since lost his face, but the expression he gave Anton was one easily recognised by anyone who had known him longer than a day.

"You're baiting me," he said. "You're expecting my dislike of Christmas to run so deep as to be offended if someone implies I have any Christmas spirit whatsoever. You're hoping that my offence will be strong enough to override my practicality, thus forcing me to accept your gift and carry it around with me as though it had any use at all."

Skulduggery stepped back, snatched up the small Bentley model, and stuck it in his pocket. "Ghastly was the first, wasn't he?"

[gistful]

"Knowing what I'm doing doesn't exclude its success," Anton pointed out with a smile even as Skulduggery put the Bentley in his pocket. It increased the chance of being contrary for the sake of contrariness, but even Skulduggery had his moments when he was willing to play along--for whatever reason that might be.

For a moment Anton didn't intend to answer Skulduggery's question, purely out of the tradition of never mentioning it, and then changed his mind. "Yes and no," he said. "Dexter was the one who made it, but that was because we had been talking about Larrikin's puppets and precious objects. Ghastly went on to tell us about the car you had been eyeing covetously and that Larrikin would have built you a prop if he'd been there."

[skeletonenigma]

Of course he would have. Larrikin lived by embarrassing others. It was only fitting surviving members of the Dead Men would carry on that tradition.

Certain bouts of sentimentality, however, Skulduggery had never felt the need to object to.

"A group effort, then." He patted his pocket and turned to leave. "Thank you, Anton."

[gistful]

"There's nothing to thank me for," Anton said simply, but he didn't stop Skulduggery from leaving. Except to say, of course, with blithe innocence: "Merry Christmas, Skulduggery."