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

switches formats and tenses because whoops

[highprofilerichkid]

"I can do phones and phone things," Tony said, with a small grin. "I can get it charged, sure. You're right that there's not much to connect to, though. Except my Pod, if you want me as your one and only IM buddy. Can I take a look at it?"

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Yeah." She handed it over to him. It was obviously a smartphone, but with an unfamiliar brand and operating system. The charging port was an unfamiliar proprietary thing (or at least, a standard of literally another world).

"The charger I left behind was for 5 volts. I think that's the one that's important? I don't remember the amps or the watts." Sonja wondered if the mystical language thing in Tu Shanshu translated technical jargon too.

Up close she could get a better view of the armor. She'd never seen something so involved; powered armor was definitely something she'd only seen in the realm of sci-fi. She wouldn't have put it past Lash's ability to make something similar though.

"If I'd known you could bring something like this with you, I'd have packed a bit heavier leaving the dorm." She actually couldn't remember the exact thing she'd been doing before being brought to Tu Shanshu. Was it class? "Of course, I'd probably have done a lot of things differently if I'd been able to control when and where I was abducted."

This was all assuming that Tony hadn't built this here, but Sonja felt safe assuming that the alloy alone was beyond what this world was capable of.

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony nodded. "That's enough." The info was helpful, but not necessary. Figuring out the charging specs for the battery wouldn't take him long. "I can have something wired up for you in a couple hours."

He chuckled at her comment about the armor. "It's been pretty useful to have here." He didn't know what he'd do without it. "Though I wouldn't have minded getting pulled from a less... apocalyptic point in my timestream. It would've sucked not having the armor, but getting pulled from a walk around Central Park or something would have been a lot less jarring."

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Thanks, there's no rush or anything though," Sonja said, secretly thinking yes please, as fast as possible, I don't like not having my phone.

"That's a very cryptic segue," Sonja said, smiling impishly. "Anything besides a request for elaboration becomes effectively impossible. A startlingly effective tactic, considering I'm wholly aware of it, and yet I cannot resist.

"Unless by 'apocalyptic' you mean like... you got rejected by a crush at your prom or something. That would be simultaneously mundane and anticlimactic."

Actually that was pretty mean, Sonja. What if that was what he meant? Dammit did we just futz up another encounter?

[highprofilerichkid]

"Nope, it was an actual apocalypse," he says lightly, while disassembling the phone. "With supervillains and aliens and everything. That's why I was wearing my armor. I'm not planning on taking the armor to prom - it would look pretty ridiculous with a tuxedo paint job."

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

Well that's certainly interesting. The casual disregard for otherwise serious topics was something that vaguely reminded Sonja of Jake, but Tony managed to do it without sounding like a huge tool. Irreverence was also one of Lash's quirks, but Tony seemed to be a stable and contributing member of society.

"Confirmed aliens? We've had some brushes with strange foreign supernatural-powered invasions in the past, but their exact origins have remained kind of shrouded in mystery... they leave before we can sufficiently study them." Should it really be so difficult to capture enemy officers that you were just talking to face to face? It doesn't sound like it should, but in practice its very difficult.

"So is that like, a defense mechanism? You don't want to think about how bad off you are so you joke about it?"

Seriously, are you like trying to piss him off?

[highprofilerichkid]

Tony opens his mouth to elaborate, when— oof. Jeez, didn't take her long to move in for the kill.

Tony gapes like a stunned fish for a second. "What? Um, no—" His brain helpfully supplies several humorous comebacks, but no: the window of opportunity has already passed. Making another joke now will only make it more awkward.

Tony shrugs helplessly. "...I guess I'd rather make a joke while doing something about it, than sit on my ass and mope about it."

He's not pissed off, just disconcerted. You're still doing better than Pepper on the first introductions, Sonja, so you're probably okay.

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" Well I did, but I regret it. "I don't think I ever actually told you my name, did I?" She paused for a second to mentally and literally scroll back through the conversation to see if she had. "My name is Sonja. Obviously I had to wait to tell you my name until I had given you a good impression of the kind of person I am, so now you'll associate me with uncomfortable questions and inconvenient favors. Admittedly I prefer that to awkward blather and fragmented sentences, so go me."

"I'm staying on the third floor, for now," although Sonja couldn't think of where she would stay in the city besides the hotel, given the local hostility.

...FUCK ME. im just. Gonna stick with present tense. Because I'm a hopeless idiot. I'm so sorry. orz

[highprofilerichkid]

"Don't worry about it, it's okay." Her attempt to save (or steamroll over?) the awkward moment by rattling on nonstop is actually putting him more at ease - it reminds him a lot of Pepper, and his smile returns.

"You already know who I am, apparently, but nice to meet you, Sonja. So, you got here pretty recently? I don't think I've seen you around."

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Yeah, I've been staying in my room the last few days mostly. No one seems to know why I'm here, since the war with the archdemon is over, and the person in charge of summoning is apparently dead.

"Coordinating a force that counts among its ranks a power-armored engineer and a talking skeleton against some unfathomably powerful being would have been fun, I think. Too bad I missed it."

[highprofilerichkid]

"Guess she set up the Magical Hero Claw Machine to run on its own in case something put her out of commission during the war. And now that she's gone, no one knows how to shut it off. Or reverse it.

"But 'fun' is not exactly how I would describe it," he says wryly. "Maybe if there had been a lot more actual fighting and a lot less dream fighting and weird psychic battles of will. I hardly even needed to use the armor."

He can't deny it: a good old-fashioned knock-down-drag-out firefight can be fun. What can he say? He's an adrenaline junkie. But battles that take place in the mind, or in dreams, or in really any realm other than the physical? Nah. No thanks. Pass. Tony would rather have his ass kicked into next week in a physical fight than have someone messing around in his head.

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Hmm," Sonja replied. The thought didn't particularly appeal to her either. The moment got a bit quiet, and Sonja sensed that it might be time to end the conversation.

"So, I should leave you to it then. Thanks." She bowed awkwardly and started to turn away.

[highprofilerichkid]

"Oh. Uh, okay?" That was all rather abrupt. "I can bring it up to you when I'm done - or you can hang out, if you want. You're not going to be distracting; this is pretty simple stuff."

She may not want to stay, but Tony doesn't want to chase her out or anything. He doesn't usually mind having company while he's working. If he needed privacy, he'd work up in his and Gene's room.

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

Sonja stopped short. "Are- are you sure? I just thought-" I thought I sufficiently proved how terrible I am and thought to remove myself from the vicinity.

She half turned, and took an awkward half-step back. "I-if you're sure, I mean I can just leave you alone." He didn't seem to be irritated or anything, but maybe he was just really good at hiding it. He seemed really polite. She was kind of interested in the armor.

"Where should I-" she half-asked, looking around the room at everywhere but the bench across from Tony.

[highprofilerichkid]

"Hey, if I can work with Pepper in the room, nothing can distract me," he jokes. "You're fine."

He doesn't seem to notice her indecision over seating because he's already turned his attention to the phone. He opens the back and pops out the battery, peers at it for a second, then sets it aside and starts working on the tiny screws holding the rest of the phone together.

"So where are you from? Some version of Earth? That seems to be the most common place people get pulled from - though mostly from alternate universes."

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

Sonja finally picks a spot on an adjacent bench and sits down.

"Ah, I come from Wars World, but 'earth' would probably not be incorrect. I'd wager that earth is such a basic nondescript word that most people would identify it as their native plane, given the automatic translation property of this place." That is, unless that home plane was primarily composed of some other element such as water, or they were birthed in the sun, or perhaps the world was composed of heavy metals? Unlikely, but possible.

"The same way that a culture generally just refers to others by that foreign nations word for 'people' or how you might categorize foreign methods of baking water and flour by that place's word for 'bread'."

[highprofilerichkid]

"Well, yeah, I guess so, but a lot of people come from an 'Earth' with a similar history. It's definitely the same world, but in different variations. Stuff like, uh, the Roman Empire and the French Revolution and colonizing the Americas and the World Wars... The big events are the same, but the details are different. And then there's people like Sokka and Katara and Zuko: they're all from the same world, and it's not the usual 'Earth.'"

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"None of those things sounds familiar to me, well, besides the 'world wars' part, but I think that might fall into the generic title thing again," Sonja said. She also silently noted this 'Zuko', whom she hadn't met before, was from the same world as Katara and Sokka.

"Zuko. Another 'bender'?"

[highprofilerichkid]

"That probably means you're not from any recognizable version of my Earth, then."

Though he hasn't been keeping a precise score, Tony's pretty sure that puts her in the minority. Not that that's a bad thing: in a lot of ways, it seems like it might be less jarring and confusing when you're the only one from your world. It can be seriously uncanny when you're talking to someone from another version of your world and you stumble across one of the differences.

"Yep. Fire." Tony's seen Zuko's firebending in action. It's very awesome. "Have you met Katara already?"

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"I've seen her practicing down by the river. She always looks busy, so I haven't had a chance to say 'hi' or anything. I have met Sokka though, the strange multidimensional jack-of-all trades."

Being some type of multidimensional being was the only way Sonja could figure out how you can be 'half' of six different things.

"He's nice. I don't think I made a very good impression on him."

[highprofilerichkid]

"He probably didn't take it personally. He's a chill guy," Tony assures her.

"I don't know Katara all that well either, but Sokka hangs out with me in the lab a lot. Or, used to." Ouch.

Now she's piqued his curiosity, though, and after a slight pause, he asks, "what did you do, anyway?"

He's got to know how the newbie managed to make a bad impression on one of the most easygoing guys on the turtle.

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

"Well I was kind of... spying. On Katara. When we met. It was very innocent! As far as spying goes, I mean. There was nothing nefarious planned, I just like having forward intelligence, you see. It makes it easier to meet new people when you have the upper hand. I mean, you know- when there are fewer unknowns."

Oh dear, that sounded much better in her head.

"Magic powers make me kind of uneasy."

Yes good, that one was kind of true and was more socially acceptable to justify deviant behavior.

[highprofilerichkid]

"...Okay, I won't lie, that's a little weird." And sounds, again, exactly like something Pepper would do. (For some reason, he finds himself thinking that a lot around here. Probably because many of the foreigners, like Pepper, are strange and alarming people.)

"But I know what you mean about the magic. It took me a while to get used to it, too. And Skul was one of the first people I met on the network, so... that was interesting."

Then he glances over at her and smirks. "How much reconnaissance did you do on me?"

[sonjaofyellowcomet]

Sonja tilted her head a bit at imagining a fedorah-wearing skeleton sitting at a computer, blogging.

"Skulduggery was the second foreigner I met, so I suppose that was a bit like pulling the bandaid off. After that its just been unsettling."

"As for you... well not too much," Sonja admitted. "Necessity and all." She gestured at the phone.

Skul blogging is a beautiful image that I will treasure forever

[highprofilerichkid]

"Yeah, the responses to my first network message were, uh... unsettling in just about every way possible. Better to get it all over with at once, huh?" He chuckles, and adds, "Though this place is pretty good at dishing out new surprises."

His smirk widens. "Oh, really? It felt like everybody knew who I was when I got here - it's nice to be mysterious for once. Unless 'obtuse' is the same thing as mysterious. Because I get that a lot." He's joking. Sort of.