August Midnight Hotel post

[gistful]

Characters: Anton Shudder and OPEN
Date: Month of August from about the 3rd onward
Location: Midnight Hotel and various shopping areas around the city
Situation: Anton retakes the Hotel and opens it to the public
Warnings/Rating: Possible violence

A: Reclaiming the Hotel
A wise man scouted his new area before committing to anything within it, and Anton was if not wise then at least practical. It was during his second day exploring that he found the entrance to the Midnight Hotel. It was, frankly, quite unexpected and Anton entertained the possibility that it was an illusion before entering.

The interior was in the newly-repaired condition as he recalled three days ago, if still unfurnished. It was also full of kedan with what Anton recognised as gang tattoos. Several different gangs, in fact, taking cover from the heat and arguing over who owned the Hotel.

He told them he owned the Hotel and asked them all, politely, to leave so he could clear up the mess. They refused.

Ten minutes later they all left anyway, some of them bearing their unconscious comrades and all bearing bruises or broken limbs of some manner. The odd thing was that when he went to the door, it was as though they had all exited into different, unseen areas of the city.


B: Heatwave
Once it became clear that the heat was going to persist, Anton started double-booking the rooms and offered linens and mats to anyone who wished to bed in the common areas. It was almost just as well that he’d lost all his furniture.

There were, of course, strict stipulations dividing the lines between any gang-members who chose to retire from the heat in the Hotel’s rooms. Word had gotten around about the first brawl, and although there were one or two idiots who insisted on pushing the boundaries they were put down quite smartly and evicted. Within a few days all gang-kedan present were on their best behaviour, treating Anton with utmost courtesy and always with the appellation ‘Mr Shudder’.

The same offer was made to the rest of the public, naturally. Anton didn’t make a habit of hiring staff, but he might well have to do so on this occasion.

Either way during the heatwave the Hotel is a hive of activity. The gangs behave and even interact politely with others, and one or two enterprising kedan have requested permission to make stalls by the door for ice and cold water. In general it's like an extended family reunion, with friends meeting everywhere, playing games, exchanging stories, using the facilities.

Within a few days part of the front-wall has been removed to make space for the turtle hatchlings through the door.


C: General tagging
After the heatwave was over Anton had more time to do some needed shopping for the Hotel. Many of the kedan had donated sleeping mats and sleeping bags, and other odds and ends (the library had gotten bigger) but what he really needed was furniture.

He also needed to go back to his other accommodation every three days, which was a nuisance, but one he could put up with for a six-hour rest before returning.

[ooc: The Hotel is sort-of stuck between sectors. It’s accessible from all five sectors, but someone entering from one sector will, at this stage, only be able to exit onto the same sector. Information about the Hotel can be found here. Feel free to ask questions in that post; just identify them as OOC. Please note that if you’d like your characters to have an argument, even a verbal one, because Anton will get involved.]

Comments

[ruinsprofessor]

While oblivious to specifics, Raine could catch on to the fact there was something personal attached to Anton's words. It wasn't particularly surprising, nor was it something she was going to remark on -- that was hardly introductory material -- so instead she inclined her head toward him in thanks for fielding the question.

"It is, however, also the reason I've learned as much as I have." The need to know everything she could had driven inquisitive habits in every single place she'd been. It also meant she could answer many of the inevitable questions Ryder asked, and she did enjoy having such a genuinely interested student.

In the quiet of a contented turtle receiving excellent attention, Raine let her focus wander, from food to architecture and finally back to the sigils burnt into the walls. Something about the shape of them reminded her of a conversation from a few days past-- they were not the same shapes she'd seen then, but had some similar structures, and she would be comfortable with assuming they were of the same language.

And Skulduggery had said he might know the new parent. Raine rested her chin in one hand, amused. "Do you happen to know Skulduggery Pleasant?" she asked, almost idly.

[gistful]

"As a matter of fact, I do," said Anton with a nod, letting the previous topic fade in light of the obvious discomfort associated with it. He did not, however, let the movement of his fingers on Ryder's head stop.

His gaze had been following where Raine's was going, more out of quiet observation than censure or suspicion, and he'd noticed her staring at the walls. "You've seen the sigils before?" he asked, inclining his head toward them. "I am surprised he showed them to you. He uses them more than most sorcerers, but only with a purpose."

For all his words, he didn't look very surprised.

[ruinsprofessor]

"Not these, specifically, but they do bear a certain resemblance to the ones that generate his façade." The principles of identifying scripts remained the same whether it was familiar or foreign. Raine could no longer resist, and got to her feet to go and take a closer look, mindful of where Ryder was as she did. "I take it such sigils are a common foundation, and can be used regardless of discipline?"

Any remaining wistfulness had by now subsided into interest, and some little amusement at just how many of the foreigners she knew in Keeliai had a world in common.

[gistful]

"I was not aware he had one." Though it was certainly a practical thing to do, the skeleton had always either delighted in his awful disguises or felt the extra effort expended to keep himself hidden was only his due. He most likely commissioned it from China Sorrows.

"They are," Anton confirmed, rising to follow her over with one last pat to Ryder's head. Ryder grunted his complaint, but put his head down on the table to watch them from where he lay. "Many sorcerers use simple sigils, but more complex results require an understanding of the language that most sorcerers do not bother to attain. Some sorcerers have chosen sigils as their discipline, due to their complexity and strength as a magical tool. I simply use them as such a tool."

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine hadn't been aware he'd had one, either, until a stranger greeted her like they should be familiar, but somehow she thought Anton meant it a little more long-term. "Perhaps it's something new, then," she said absently. Were they from different time periods? It could happen.

The sigils on the walls didn't mean much to her, but she could at least try to follow the way they were put together, and she was more certain now she'd be able to recognize the language if she saw it again in another context. "You said you'd been working at this for quite a while-- but it's not what you chose for your discipline?" That much she was pretty sure of, or he'd have counted himself among 'some sorcerers,' but if she asked outright perhaps he would elaborate.

[gistful]

"Quite possibly." Anton hadn't spoken to Skulduggery overly much, for all that they were good friends; there hadn't been much of a need. It hadn't occurred to him that differing timelines might be a factor, but he couldn't say it was a surprise.

"That is so," he said. "Magic from my and Skulduggery's world settles in a person upon their age of majority. Mine settled long ago, before I knew there was such a thing as a language of magic. When I later discovered it, it seemed the most practical way to create a building with the features I required. The research took a great deal of time."

[ruinsprofessor]

"As in, sometime between eighteen and twenty-one? That seems rather early to make a decision, if sorcerers are so long-lived." That wasn't said without some self-awareness; she was, after all, more or less a mature adult at roughly 2.5% of her maximum lifespan.

Raine could only assume the research had taken at least a century. He'd already said he'd began work on the Hotel in excess of a hundred and thirty years ago, at least, and while research could presumably be conducted as he went, he'd likely have needed a solid foundation of knowledge from which to start. Certainly he'd put in hundreds of years of effort, all for this place. Not insignificant, even for the functionally immortal. Why?

The answer was probably some kind of personal, but at that point she could hardly not ask. "What drove you to build this place?"

[gistful]

"It's necessary," said Anton quietly. "Sometime within those ages every sorcerer undergoes what we call a Surge. It's very painful and lasts a number of hours, and is a side-effect of our magic permeating our bodies and souls. If we haven't already chosen our magic, then we won't know what it is when the Surge comes."

For those who could choose. Most could. Natural-born sorcerers were rare, but they were usually too talented to be anything other than their inherent magic. Anton was one of the few who wasn't natural-born and yet hadn't had a choice; a geas like he had with his gist couldn't be broken, even before the Surge.

Anton glanced around the Hotel, and answered at last, "A war that lasted centuries. People sacrificed and suffered for it, and when it was over, politics ruled. Principles were compromised. Evil men went free in exchange for an end to the fighting. Allies were condemned for prejudices. I wanted nothing to do with such politics. So I created this place, a sanctuary unbound by any of our governments, where anyone might be safe for a time."

As long, of course, as they were as honourable as Anton's policies demanded, which was no more or less than to entertain a basic respect of others.

[ruinsprofessor]

"Ah," Raine said, and, "I see." There was little more she could say to that. Necessary evils had a way of stifling conversation, and this particular one reminded her of unnecessary evils as well. Power too often came at the price of suffering.

She was silent for some time, listening, watching Anton with a thoughtful eye. He sounded, if not neutral, then certainly calm. It was impressive, that control, for surely this was not something impersonal to him. If he had not been involved in that war directly then someone he cared for had been lost to it; centuries were not devoted to a single effort on a mere whim.

Many things might differ between worlds, but evidently war remained the same: foolish and wasteful, even in the aftermath.

"It's a noble idea," she said finally. Her thoughts were wandering in directions she usually kept them from, drawing unbidden now the similarity to Exire. "There's a place in my world-- not so different from this in spirit, now that I think of it. A sanctuary, created in the wake of a war. It's... thousands of years old, now, but still a place of peace."

It was perhaps the most peaceful place she'd ever been. In that, at least, Mithos had not gone astray.

[gistful]

"Thank you," said Anton, but he regarded her as he did. It was clear from her silence that his description had struck a cord. He wouldn't have asked, in spite of the curiosity, but she chose to answer regardless.

"It sounds like a place worth visiting," he answered, and glanced around again. "Unfortunately nobility is in high demand these days. I would not claim to be so myself; but lacking nobility and striving for it are two very different things. I would rather perform the latter than be informed by the former."

It was one of the reasons he'd managed to hold on against the gist for so long.

[ruinsprofessor]

"It's beautiful," she said. "A floating city, impossible for any government to contest." Worth visiting, certainly. It was also one of the saddest places she had ever been, but that didn't bear mentioning now.

And she smiled, just a little, despite the general atmosphere. As hectic as Ryder's lack of a rapid decision had made her life, she couldn't fault his choice to wait for Anton. "It's that state of striving that has the most value, though, isn't it? Continuing to stand up, even when it's impractical or difficult."

[gistful]

Anton looked at Raine, and while he wasn't a man particularly prone to submitting to first impressions, he had to acknowledge that he was impressed with her. She was thoughtful but practical, and with an understanding of what was important in life.

"Yes," he said with quiet understanding. "That is how men and women of valour are made." It was the only way he was able to exist at all, let alone for as long as he had. "Would you like dessert?"

[ruinsprofessor]

"So it is," Raine agreed, and blinked at the new topic. As conversational shifts went, that one was a little jarring, but she supposed philosophy had about run its course by now. And they had been eating, hadn't they, before the lengthy digression. "Yes, I'd like that."

She forgot herself, sometimes, in curiosity, and both his indulgence of that and the reminder of the present moment were appreciated.

[gistful]

"Good," said Anton, and he smiled, and it was an oddly gentle smile for a man so controlled. "I have some raspberry pudding, I believe, and of course some ice-cream ... provided the kedan did not finish it. What is your preference?"

[ruinsprofessor]

"...the pudding, I think," she said, after a brief pause to think on it. "Thank you."

It was probably for the best that at least one of Ryder's parents had a good grasp of cooking. Raine glanced back toward the turtle under the table. He'd been quiet, and that wasn't always the best of signs with curious children, but for the moment he still seemed content enough to watch them.

She'd tell him he'd been right later.

[gistful]

"Of course. I will return shortly." Anton turned toward the kitchen, his knuckles brushing the top of Ryder's head as he passed, and the turtle leaned into the touch. Ryder glanced at Raine, and though he was far too polite to say 'I told you so' there was a definite air of satisfaction as he put his head down again. Mission accomplished!