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.]

Comments

backdated; mid-Dec 2015, about a day after China's arrival; closed to Anton

[inkulcation]

Once Skulduggery had filled her in on the basics, and China had come to a better understanding of the situation in which she found herself, among other things, he'd shown her the way to the Midnight Hotel. She'd known of the place before, of course; it was her business to know things, and the Hotel's policies on neutrality were ones she could respect, keeping much the same herself. Not to mention that the proprietor was one of the Dead Men, and had made use of the sigils that were her domain in its construction.

Despite all that, however, China never had visited the Hotel, nor had she properly met Anton Shudder. Now she found both necessary.

The first evening she had missed Shudder somehow, handled the initial taking up of a room with one of his employees-- another Foreigner. She preferred it that way, honestly: her magic was returning, but slowly. Too slowly. It wasn't until the next morning, when China awoke, that she reached for the tattoos at the hinges of her jaw and they responded. Healing her lingering fractures and bruises hurt. It was, however, a sight better than healing bullet wounds.

When she had recovered herself from that, some time later, and made of her appearance the best she could given the absence of her closet and the damage Scorn had inflicted, China descended to the lobby in search of Shudder, picking the front desk first as the most immediately likely place to find him. It was only polite to introduce herself to her host, after all.

[gistful]

Anton was indeed at the front-desk. Dante was security but Anton had reviewed the ledger with him once or twice, in the unlikely event he was needed to check someone in or out, and the half-demon's scrawl was evident on the page. The name there was far less welcome than the untidy writing could ever be.

This ... could be a problem. Anton had never properly met China Sorrows--by design. They had frequently crossed paths during the war, but that was some distance from actively interacting, and the focus on the war had ensured Anton had never truly suffered the weight of her magic. He knew what that magic was, of course. Everyone knew China Sorrows.

The thing was that Anton couldn't guarantee his strength of will against the gist if China could subvert him. She could be wind up being a danger to everyone in the Hotel, by making him a danger to everyone in the Hotel.

So Anton was expecting her to make her move, and was even braced for her presence. It still didn't quite prepare him for looking up and seeing her at the foot of the stairs. Smiling at him. Looking like the vision of a goddess. Anton went very, very still, and watched her approach, and said nothing.

[inkulcation]

China had given the matter some thought, of course. In passing, in the past; in more seriousness, once she'd realized that taking up residence in the Hotel was the best option for the time being. Dangerous, toying with the emotions of a gist-user. However, a gist was composed of negative emotions, and love was -- for the most part -- positive. In theory, the effect she had on people might well be beneficial in his case.

Theory. She didn't and couldn't know for sure, and any books she might have had on the subject were long gone. Nor did she have firsthand knowledge of Shudder himself, beyond when she'd seen him during the war, and that hardly counted toward helping her predict his behavior. He might just as easily react poorly, or conclude her abilities constituted a threat to his patrons, and China would rather avoid triggering a homicidal rampage.

All these possibilities in mind, China was inclined to be something resembling cautious. She did not draw on her magic as she approached him, only smiled, and set one hand on the edge of the desk. "Of all the Dead Men to find here," she said, deliberately light. "Anton Shudder."

[gistful]

Anton watched her approach and couldn't be sure whether it was simply to watch or to warn; but he couldn't seem to move regardless. She was beautiful, and luring, and part of him wanted to give everything to her--a large enough part that he couldn't quite muster the need to move. Or the want to do so.

It occurred to him, dimly, that there was danger here; that he could give everything over to China Sorrows and it would probably work. Surely, in love with her, there would be no risk of despair. Surely he could give her the keys to the gist and perhaps even find some measure of peace in it.

Only until she gave you up for someone else.

"Miss Sorrows," he said roughly, even more roughly than was his voice's natural hoarseness, and still he couldn't move. He could only look at her--and talk. He could talk. "Are you consciously using your magic on me?"

[inkulcation]

The way his gaze tracked her, the roughness of his voice-- oh, dear, that was almost embarrassingly easy. Unfortunate. China allowed her smile to fade, met Shudder levelly. Entertaining as it might be to see how far he was willing to bend, the potential negative consequences far outweighed that. "I am not," she said. Not in the way he meant, that was, though of course she was conscious of the passive reach of her magic. "But the effect never completely goes away, as I'm sure you're aware."

China watched him carefully, seeing how he reacted, unsure what he might do, and it was the uncertainty that kept her still. "Tell me, what would you do if I was?" she asked at length.

[gistful]

For a moment the words were on his tongue to ask if she would, if she would save him from the influence of the gist, but Anton closed his lips against them and breathed evenly for a few moments before trying to speak again.

"I'd consider it a breach of Hotel rules," he said, still looking at her, still unmoving because he couldn't trust how he would react if he did. "And if I find you actively using it against anyone else in the Hotel, I would consider that a breach also." He didn't mind the use of magic in the Hotel--but the deliberate use of magic against another, without consent? Yes, that was violent, in its own way. Yet the threat was very nearly hollow; without actively being in the room at the same moment China brought her power to bear, there was almost no chance Anton would know she was doing so.

But he didn't take the warning back.

[inkulcation]

"If you find me," China pointed out, her demeanor shifting more toward her usual confidence. She let go of the desk, tapped one finger to her lips in mock-thoughtfulness. "Both you and I know you can't actually enforce that. Unless -- perhaps -- you happened to be in the right room at the right time." Presuming he could even find the will to harm her, but then he did take his Hotel very seriously, didn't he? It could well be enough to ignore her many, many charms.

China wasn't about to test the theory, given the circumstances, but her point stood. She tilted her head, and she smiled again, and it was the expression of a woman who's just had something very amusing occur to her. "In the interests of cooperation, I shall endeavor to restrain myself, but I don't think there's a single guarantee I could give that you'd believe. I'm afraid you're just going to have to trust me, Master Shudder." She did not sound very regretful about that at all.

[gistful]

"You could bind your magic while inside the Hotel," Anton pointed out, "yet I notice you didn't offer alternatives." Of course she didn't. China Sorrows worked for her own benefit. Anton didn't ban the use of magic or even the carrying of weapons in the Hotel, but most magic and most weapons didn't affect others just by existing.

"I suggest," he said evenly, "that you seek alternatives. The control of a patron's magic is on the patron. If you cannot assure me that others will not be unduly influenced by your presence, without their consent, I will have to ask you to leave."

[inkulcation]

"And yet your rules would still require observation to enforce." Magical bindings would not be so difficult for her to dismantle, even without her magic. Very deliberately, China pressed both hands flat against the desk, palms-down: one of the least threatening gestures she could make, and one that ensured Shudder would have seconds of warning should she reach for any tattoo. "Shall I go about in chains like a prisoner, then, and you my warden?" She'd take to the streets before she allowed that.

China took a breath, and black lines spread over her skin, intricate designs that alone of the people in Keeliai Shudder was qualified to derive meaning from. Not at her level, of course, but enough, judging by what he'd done with the Hotel.

The cut of her shirt and the damage it had sustained in the fight with Scorn were enough to reveal the majority of the tattoos across her collarbones. "The set at the base of my neck," China said, without moving an inch. Most people would be too distracted and too inexpert to make anything out of them, but Shudder's practice and general distaste for her meant he should be able to pick out not only meaning but the way that set interlocked with all those around it.

China Sorrows did not habitually use things she could not control. It would be possible, to remove the effect. Technically. It would simply require that she rework a good deal of her tattoos, and they were extensive and intricate: years of work.

"It is astonishing, the things people will do for love," China said, quite evenly, "but even I cannot force anyone to do something they're genuinely set against, especially not at this level. I ask you again, Shudder: even if I was the sort of woman who gave assurances, what could I possibly promise that you would believe? Should I swear on my brother's grave, perhaps?" She had tried to kill him herself multiple times; Shudder would know that. "Maybe you can believe this, at least: It would be exceedingly foolish for me to push your boundaries when there is an entire city open before me. If not because of how vastly outnumbered we are, then because it means crossing you and Skulduggery both. You don't think I'm that stupid, do you?"

[gistful]

"All my rules require observation to enforce," Anton said simply. "Those who do not wish to risk my enforcement are those who don't break them to begin with. You are not a prisoner while behaving in a manner which lends others their rightful autonomy, China. Do not pretend to me that you do not understand the difference."

But the fact that she was showing him the related sigils took him by surprise, and her magic fed a trickle of doubt into his mind. Would she truly offer him such, if she weren't in earnest?

Of course she would, he told himself sternly.

"I think you can be unwise in the pursuit of pleasure and pushing boundaries," Anton said evenly. "The sanctity of my patrons and their ability to choose is paramount here. Your mere presence contravenes that. See that you aren't unwise, China. If I have reason to believe otherwise, I will defend them."

[inkulcation]

Even if she was in a mood to take the moral high ground -- which she didn't have -- the sheer stubbornness would make it a moot point. Nor would China prefer Shudder was a less steadfast man; annoying as this was, that would be a recipe for disaster. She allowed her tattoos to fade, leaving her skin porcelain and immaculate again, and drew back. "Oh, I don't object to falling in line while I'm here. I anticipate we can co-exist quite peacefully, in fact, if you're willing to leave it at that. My objection is the idea that my magic should be bound to convince me to practice... moderation."

She turned away then, observing the lobby rather than Shudder, her posture the model of unconcerned again. "I'm proud, Shudder, not foolish. I won't be -- unwise, as you put it -- while within your walls. I'd offer my expertise for your sigilwork, if I thought you'd take it." Damn him, forcing her to compromise.

[gistful]

"A consequence of your perpetuating that magic with sigils," Anton pointed out evenly. He hadn't dedicated his life to sigils the way China had, but he was still among the more knowledgeable about them. He'd been able to identify how the sigils worked. "If you did not, you may have learned how to turn it off at will. As you chose otherwise, you will have to bear the consequences."

Were Anton a less even-handed man, he would have been smug about it. Certainly most of the Dead Men would have been. Minor though it was, the situation was entirely China's fault, and the fact that she yet expected to be accommodated was ... well, it was the mark of a person unused to being told 'no'.

At least China was wiser than most others who carried that expectation.

"I would not," Anton added. "You have not proven yourself trustworthy enough to hand you the very keys to the Hotel's existence." His eyes narrowed. "I should not need to say this, but I will consider it an act of violence to meddle in my wards without permission."

Somewhere, he wasn't sure where, China's magic had worn off. Anton could still feel it, to be sure, but he had regained his equilibrium, and that fact made him feel relieved and vaguely discombobulated in equal turns.

[inkulcation]

An eyeroll which he could not see but would definitely hear in her voice. "I will keep my grasping claws off your wards, your guests, and yourself," China said, and by the time she turned back to face him she was composed again, any evidence that he was -- quite successfully -- getting under her skin hidden behind her tiny, moderately sincere smile. He had all the bargaining power here right now, and he knew it. "While I'm here." Because he expected it from her, and because it was entirely true.

In lieu of any services to offer which he would actually accept, she'd arrange some form of monetary compensation, once she'd had a few days to get a feel for the city. And as soon as was reasonable, she would be living somewhere other than the Hotel. Respect for Shudder's workmanship or not, China did not intend to stay any longer than was necessary.

[gistful]

The fact that she had to remain turned away said all Anton needed it to say, though he didn't allow the little thread of vindication take hold. She'd discombobulated him in turn, if he was feeling even that much out of it.

"Thank you," said Anton calmly. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

[inkulcation]

A very many things, none of them currently fruitful or indeed worth the continued frustration that was talking to Anton Shudder. "Nothing at present," she said, almost brightly. "It seems we understand each other, then."

No other matters necessary at the moment, then, and Shudder certainly knew where to find her if he had other grievances to raise. "Good day," China added, with something of an air of finality, and turned for the stairs.