[Midnight Hotel] Fourth-wall catch-all; 15-30 April

[gistful]

Characters: Anyone, everyone.
Date: 15-30th April, ‘2016’.
Location: The Midnight Hotel.
Situation: It’s the fourth-wall event and there’s a sudden influx of patrons! Feel free to use this post for anything that happens within the Midnight Hotel during the two weeks of the fourth-wall event, using the subject header to label specific rooms or for specific people. Regulars should feel free to continue using the non-fourth-wall Hotel post for pre-fourth-wall threads! See also the OOC note at the bottom.
Warnings/Rating: Mark your threads if content warnings become applicable, please!

The Midnight Hotel is a magical place—which is fortunate, because Keeliai has magically doubled the number of patrons the Hotel is capable of holding. Where else is capable of catering to an extra fifty Foreigners? the kedan say. Where else would want to?

Unfortunately, for all the Hotel’s many qualities and all the proprietor’s many skills, he can’t conjure up enough rooms for fifty extra people on no notice.

The solution: giant slumber party.

For the next two weeks the ground-floor common-area and the dining-area beside the garage have been repurposed as sleeping areas. Blankets, sheets, pillows, bean-bags, sleeping-bags—Mr Anton Shudder has gone, quite literally, to town in order to cater to the new arrivals. No one is going to be uncomfortable, except by the prospect of sleeping so close to strangers—but there isn’t much to be done about that. The very few rooms still available have been reserved for those who well and truly require the privacy.

Catering is a little more difficult. Suffice to say Mr Shudder is outsourcing for a good part of the fortnight.

On the plus side, Mr Shudder is gracious enough to let those without a soul-gem stay for free. As long as, of course, they Follow The Rules, which are told to every newcomer nearly as soon as they’re welcomed through the door.

Although Anton does attend the festival, he can be regularly found throughout the Hotel for anyone who has questions or concerns. He will, most of the time, be dogged by a bouncy fellow with an indefatigable grin, and it won’t be uncommon to hear variations of the following conversation:

“Hey, Anton—”

“No.”

“You didn’t even—”

“No.”

“Excuse me, I was just going to say—”

“Absolutely not.”

“Anton, hey Anton, hey hey Anton?”

“No.”

And so it goes.

[ooc: The Midnight Hotel’s status page is available here, with the rules at the top and ongoing status at the bottom. PLEASE PM ME IF YOUR CHARACTER WILL PERFORM A VIOLENT ACT. The Hotel is a neutral-zone and the proprietor is very strict as to acts of violence, and it will receive a response.

It will not be necessary for fourth-wall characters to officially check into the Hotel during the event.]

Comments

Garage | 22nd-23rd, closed to Callaghan

[skeletonenigma]

It was stunningly difficult to find any single person in the Hotel these days, what with every single spare room on the ground floor taken up by thin mattresses and blankets and sleeping bags of every shape and colour - some, Skulduggery knew, probably hand-made by Anton. But it remained one of the easier places for Foreigners to meet, which was why Skulduggery left Robert Callaghan a message saying he'd found the stolen ring and would be in the Hotel's garage for the rest of the day.

The garage, at least, was relatively empty of people. When Callaghan arrived, Skulduggery would be one of the only ones there, holding a pale blue stone in one hand and watching a back corner of the space the Bentley was stored in.

[pushtheboundaries]

It's been a rough few days. He'd just gotten home when he'd received the message, and barely gotten himself cleaned up before coming over. A change of clothes, a quick splash, resecuring his soul gem in its temporary setting- all the important things, the only one missing being, well, the ring itself.

Soon.

As quickly as he can, he makes his way over from Metal, slipping in to the garage and taking a look around. Where was...

"Skulduggery?"

[skeletonenigma]

"Can you imagine what a right terror she's going to be when she grows up? Takes after her - "

The voice is a woman's, unmistakeably Irish and as clear as if the owner is standing in the garage right there with Skulduggery. It vanishes the moment Callaghan appears, cut off mid-sentence, and Skulduggery - who's undeniably alone in the space - puts the pale blue stone aside.

"I found it," is the first thing he says. "It fell into the hands of a struggling couple who were trying to pawn it off. More than happy to sell to me, fortunately."

Raiding Stork's workshop set-up whoop

[tntina]

The warning to not try anything funny at this Hotel place almost sounds like a challenge, really. What happens if she does pull something, huh? But the fact is, her little grenade episode out in the fields has reduced her armory by one, and unlike the Vault Hunters, Tiny Tina does not have a personal Digistruct pack to carry spares upon spares of explosives.

So she's quite gleeful upon discovering a small workshop tucked away in a garage, lacking in tools, but more than enough odds and ends for her to work with. And there's an engine, too! Well, not a complete one, but hey, she's not picky. Her backpack is off and open in a moment, a half-finished detonator, small wrench, and battered and worn bunny plush all laid out on the table. She's holding a screwdriver, and proceeds to go at the engine with it, beginning to disassemble it with surprising skill for one of her age.

The whole time she chatters aimlessly to the bunny plush. "Why yes, Miss Fancilicious, I would like to hear your latest composition. Please, prrrroceed. You know how much I enjoy your singing voice."

[merb]

Stork hadn't been in Keeliai long enough to really understand the significance of such a flood of people, and was far more concerned with how many communicable diseases they were probably bringing with them. As such, he had no startling drive to interact with any of them, and was perfectly happy to retreat to the work space area in the Hotel's garage for some quiet time with his machines.

Coming down from his room with his toolkit and crystals under one arm, he discovered however that said work space was already being occupied.

Someone was working on his engine.

Someone small was working on his engine and, as the merb crept closer with as little sound as he could, he was very, very torn between watching the knowledgeable disassembly, and was that dynamite??

"What are you doing?" he blurted, though the end word trending higher into an eep sound.

[tntina]

The sound startled Tina from her work, and she whirled, hand flying to the pack with her three remaining grenades. "Sneaking up on an artist is DANGERO-" she cut off when she saw exactly who - or what - was standing behind her, seemingly appalled about something. Not sure what, though, and it wasn't important because-

"OHMYGODYOU'REAGIANTGREENBUNNY!" She loved bunnies! Sure he was a weird looking bunny but he was there and he was talking and this was a fantastic day.

Early-ish | OPEN

[whatparenting]

The Hotel is by no means ideal, but all things considered Cass is extremely grateful to Mr. Shudder for the place, and certainly for allowing so many new people to invade all at once. It's a lovely building, it's just... it's not home. They should be home, all of them, but if being here is what it takes to have Tadashi back, she'll get used to it. She'll get used to just about anything.

...except maybe the cooking. And the coffee.

And so she's decided to make herself useful, cheerfully intruding on the kitchen space and the coffee bar in equal measure. Find her in either place, maybe making the closest thing to a real mocha you've smelled in ages, or throwing something together in the kitchen--complete with the little apron and everything. She'll act like she owns the place but she's just so darn nice about it.

(She'll even try to keep Mochi out of the kitchen, but no promises.)

[larrikinism]

"Aww, aren't you a fat, adorable kitty," Larrikin crooned, cradling Mochi and scratching his ears and sitting cross-legged on one of the spare counters. There were people around--there were nearly always people around--but most of them looked glad he was paying more attention to the cat than anyone else.

Anton had a Hotel. Anton had a job. A permanent one! He was a businessman! It was amazing!

But not one pet, unless he counted the patrons, which Larrikin did but Anton didn't. So Larrikin was quite happy to see a furry friend, and quite prepared to sit there on the kitchen counter for as long as he possibly could.

"Aren't you the most adorable and fattest kitty ever? Yes you are. Seriously, where do you get food? I want food like that. I want food that will make me blow up like a balloon. Anton's too busy making food for everyone to make me enough food to blow up like a balloon. You'd think he didn't love me or something."

While babbling. At the cat.

[whatparenting]

Sitting on a counter is a major no-no when it comes to food safety and regulations, but this isn't Cass's cafe, and she's not about to go yelling at someone she doesn't know in a kitchen that's not her own unless they're really threatening the safety of others. Besides, somehow she doubts the public health inspectors are going to pop in unannounced. If ever.

So she leaves him be for a time. When Mochi starts taking an interest in the man she decides to keep one eye on the pair of them; she's halfway across the kitchen, sauteeing a large batch of peppers and onions--or the closest thing that passes for them here in Keeliai. Apparently she needn't worry, however. The man seems pretty content to give Mochi the adoration the cat seems to think he deserves.

Mochi accepts this adoration gladly, grinning as only a fat, happy cat can grin.

Removing the pan from the heated burner for the moment, Cass wanders over to Larrikin's side of the kitchen on the pretense of locating a particular spice. "Looks like Mochi has a new best friend," she says, giving the man a friendly smile.

[pushtheboundaries]

Thanks to Anton, Callaghan's got used to having coffee again; perhaps not for every morning, but enough as a pick-me-up when he needs it. It's not the same as home, but it's certainly a welcome part thereof. Arguably, though, what he thinks of as 'home' is starting to change; that small apartment he has, at this point, is about as welcoming as his old condo.

(It doesn't feel nearly as empty, anyway.)

He does drop by the hotel every once in a while, though, and finds himself here now- and not only that. He finds a small, round, and fuzzy creature bumping up against leg?

"Where'd you come from?" he can't help but ask, reaching down and offering his fingers for examination. Pets are so rare in keeliai - Akito's 'Bird' is one of the few he's seen - that a cat is immediately noteworthy.

[whatparenting]

The cat sniffs at the man's fingers, finds him satisfactory, and thrusts his face into said hand. This means you pet me now. There's no reticence whatsoever. This cat has been loved and pampered and spoiled, and seems to think he's entitled to every second of it.

While Cass has been pretty strict about keeping Mochi out of the kitchen purely for sanitary reasons, she's not overly concerned about him tagging along with her to the coffee nook. The children that filter in and out of the Hotel every now and then seem to like him, and even some of the adults find him fascinating. So when an older man stops to offer a hand to Mochi, Cass doesn't worry.

Except he does seem a bit familiar, now that she thinks about it. She hasn't had a good look at him though, preoccupied with Mochi as he is, but it's probably just one of those weird feelings.

"He likes you," she offers, finishing up the mocha she's been making for herself.

[akito]

Akito can't recall ever seeing a proper cat on Tu Vishan. Strange hybrids in the much wilder parts of the shell, sure, but not a clearly domesticated, fluffy, fat cat. Bird hasn't either, which is evident by the way he completely ignores Agito ('Thank fuck') and chooses to fly over and perch himself on the cat's head, twittering down at the feline inquisitively and preening its fur.

It's a good distraction for him, which is why Agito had brought his 'twin' to the hotel today in the first place. With Akito so preoccupied, remembering to cook for either of them is not high on their daily to-do lists, leaving Agito to find inventive ways to be the responsible one of the two of them.

Which could generally just be summed up as: visit the hotel at least once a day to pilfer food and give Akito a distraction.

It's been tricky since that announcement over the console network - Akito hasn't wanted to go out much at all (out of fear of ruining more lives, no matter how much reassurance Agito gives him that no, it wasn't your fault) and aside from regular courier jobs he hasn't gone further away than the nearest market. So getting Akito to agree to it, Agito happily pushes away his own discomfort and dislike of being around people in order to help his most precious person.

But neither of them had expected a cat on their daily food run.

"That is the fattest fucking cat I've ever seen," Agito comments helpfully as Akito stares at it, eye wide with wonder and excitement (something Agito hasn't seen in over a week now, so thank you, ridiculously fat cat). "Is it even a cat?"

He means it as a joke, but in this weird place it's actually a legitimate question. Akito stifles a giggle, which Agito counts as another win.

"It sounds and smells like a cat, Agito."

"Then why the fuck isn't it attacking your winged menace?"

"Maybe because it's very fat? If you get to be that size it isn't from a lot of hunting, ne?"

The two of them continue watching the cat and the bird, neither making any move to pick it up or touch it. It's just too weird. So weird. Seriously weird.

CLOSED to TINY TINA; about the 18TH

[gistful]

The evening of the, ah, 'miscommunication' in the garage, Anton kept a keen eye out for the young lady who had, intentionally or not, caused Stork some mild strife. There were any number of people worth keeping an eye on, given how many patrons Anton currently had; but Tina, in particular, was a concern.

That was why, when Anton spotted Tina apparently without much with which to occupy herself, he approached. “Miss Tina,” he said with a slight bow. “I apologise I have not been able to welcome you to the Hotel before now. May I offer you a hot drink in recompense?”

Most children, as Anton recalled, liked hot chocolate, and if Tina’s attitude was any indication she might come from a war-torn nation for which such treats were rarities.

[tntina]

Again Tina found herself called by that title - 'Miss Tina' - and again she found it surprising. This time, though, her composure did not fail, and she responded with a little more poshness than one would expect from a girl of her demeanor and age.

"Why, mister Anton, I would be simply delighted to partake in a beverage of the heated variety." She could almost be taken for a proper lady in her tone and speech right then, elegant and sophisticated. A guise which promptly vanished when she spoke again.

"Whatcha got?"

unworthyyy orz

[gistful]

"Hot chocolate," Anton suggested with a smile, turning toward the kitchen door and holding out his arm to indicate she could go first--or if not first then should walk beside him. In a way the poshness reminded him of Larrikin; not because of itself, though that did too, but because of the easy swing between mannerisms. "Would you like marshmallows with it as well?"

All fortnight; everywhere; request either Anton or Rover or both; OPEN

[larrikinism]

The bouncy fellow with the indefatigable grin was, as it turned out, insatiably curious and lacking most inhibitions. He bounced around the Hotel quite willing to ask questions and make babbling conversation, usually getting well inside personal space to do it. Or without even seeming to care if anyone was around to listen.

It wasn't infrequent for someone to complain and Anton to emerge, longsufferingly, and pull Larrikin away to loud but ineffectual protests.

One day patrons would witness an explosion in the kitchen. Anyone looking in would see a sooty-faced man with a shit-eating grin peering down at what was left of a toaster.

On other occasions he can be found in the laundry taking the washing-machines for a ride. Or standing in front of one of the fridges in awe. Or poking at the tablet Anton had gotten from Krei. Or trying to see what happened if someone put a book into an oven turned up by degrees. Or just trying to cook a meal which resulted in the pans scorched and food all over the ceiling.

This was not a man familiar with modern appliances, or who seemed to care what their actual purposes were beyond what else they could be made to do.

Moreover, for all Larrikin's chattering, mistakes and general inability to lend any sort of privacy, Anton Shudder didn't seem to care. People familiar with the man would notice that although Shudder pulled Larrikin away from anyone he was bugging too much and never gave Larrikin permission--for anything--anytime Larrikin was out of the room Shudder was liable to be tense until Larrikin reappeared again.

The number of smiles Anton wore actually increased.

Wherever one of them happened to be, ten to one the other wasn't far away, even in the course of Anton's usual duties of laundry and ledger-keeping, cooking and cleaning and checking patrons in. And, of course, the addition of standing over Larrikin to make sure he cleaned up his messes.

[ooc: Larrikin is pretty invasive of personal space and compulsively talks in innuendo, so don't hesitate to toss me a note or PM if he gets to be too much and I'll tone him down. Otherwise, if anyone wants the goods on Keeliai's most mysterious Hotel-keeper, here's your chance! Larrikin would tell all the stories.]

[kreitech]

Krei not only sleeps in the Hotel, but aside from the hours he spends in the Metal sector working, he's forced out of a certain amount of necessity (or cowardice, one might say) to spend most of his waking hours in the Hotel as well. And given that he shares a room with three other people, most of those waking hours are spent either wandering around the premises or camped in the lobby. Which means that when strange things begin happening he can't help but notice. He's seen Larrikin a few times in passing, has gathered that the man knows Anton somehow, but that's about it. Whoever the man is, he seems to be having a hell of a time here so far.

Today's adventure seems to be a book. In an oven.

Krei stands back, idly sipping a cup of coffee, and stares for a moment with his head tilted slightly to one side.

"Just a thought," he interjects mildly, "but generally those two things aren't meant to go together."

[larrikinism]

Larrikin glanced over his shoulder with a grin, looking Krei up, looking him down, looking him up again. "Well, hel-lo, Mr Handsome Man," he said. "This place is just full of you. Not that I don't appreciate the input of a gorgeous vision of loveliness such as yourself, but therein begs the question: If they aren't 'meant' to go together, what happens if they do?"

Happily Larrikin let the oven door clunk shut and, with unnecessary concentration, turned the dials. "I mean, if I really wanted to set a book on fire I could do it just like that--" He snapped his fingers and flames burst around his hand, but only a moment later he made them dissipate with a wave. "--but that's so easy. Where's the fun?"

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine wandered into the kitchen on one of those occasions -- not to cook anything, thank you, she'd received enough helpful feedback from the men in her life that she was holding off on further experimentation for a few weeks at least. No, she'd been looking for her brother, and the kitchen was usually one of the safer places to find him, but instead she found-- food on the ceiling.

This could not be blamed on her, and she would direct anyone who tried to this stranger. A stranger who knew Anton, at least, she'd seen them near each other in the lobby in passing and the behavioral dynamics were pretty clear. "Have you recently seen a boy about this tall, with roughly my coloration?" she inquired, indicating roughly shoulder-height. Then Raine tipped her head back, squinted at the ceiling, and added, "And what were you trying to make? I don't think I've ever made something explode with quite that much force."

[larrikinism]

"You know, I don't even know," said Larrikin thoughtfully, tapping his chin and gazing up at the ceiling. Some of it was pretty burned, and that made it really hard to tell, especially since he hadn't been paying that much attention to what he'd been putting into the pot.

Primarily, it had to be said, just to make it explode.

He threw her a massive grin. "But it's an awesome reaction, innit?" Larrikin snapped up a hand and a chunk of the food scraped off the ceiling and plopped to the floor, or would have if Larrikin's other hand hadn't snapped up to catch it on the air. Bit by bit he proceeded to scrape it all off, making a face as he did so. "It's just too bad Anton doesn't appreciate my scientific endeavours."

Both

[redlightgreenlight]

From their earlier conversation, she knew that Larrikin had been a friend of Skulduggery and Anton's, but she never would have expected this kind of reaction from Anton. However, the more she watched their interactions, the more curious she became. Larrikin always seemed to be up to some sort of mischief, but it was without malice, closer to childlike curiosity. She was content to just observe how the man's presence affected Anton, that is, until Larrikin decided to test out how long it took for a book to catch fire in the kitchen oven.

"I don't know what it is like in your world," she said, pulling the quite warm book out of the oven, "But burning books is considered to be quite rude in my world."

[larrikinism]

It was nearing the end of the fortnight and for the last few days Larrikin's mischief had contained an edge of desperation. What he was desperate for was difficult to tell, but it made him more stubborn and argumentative than usual. This time around he let out a whine almost exactly like a wounded dog and reached out to snatch the book back.

"But Mr Handsome Man Krei stopped me from burning the other one! I need to see how long it takes for an oven to cook a book! Can't be any more efficient than a summoned flame!"

April 15, late evening, locked to callaghan

[makesright]

[ continued from here ]

I'll make sure you aren't bothered.

The entire day had been a whirlwind of emotions and experiences, but by far that encounter was sticking out the most in his mind. Even thinking back to meeting a true, free-thinking AI couldn't keep his thoughts occupied for long; He kept thinking about that masked man and his army of robots.

Even now, as he made his way toward the hotel, Thomas' heart was still pounding as he remembered the encounter -- the man on the wave of miniature machines, standing atop them framed by the night sky, coming from the shadows to knock Thomas' attackers out cold and rescue him. His nerves were racing as he played it over in his mind.

His pounding heart was likely his body's adrenaline output, he was certain of it. Even now he was on high alert, his fight-or-flight response in full swing, as every small sound on his trip to the hotel startled him and nearly sent him running.

But somewhere in the distance -- Tom couldn't see where -- he could hear the sound of flowing metal, rattling as small machines endlessly restructured themselves on such a complex scale. At that, he could almost instantly feel the fear ebbing away, and he spent most of the trip to the Hotel feeling -- knowing -- he would be safe.

[pushtheboundaries]

The trip to the hotel is - as promised - uneventful. Yokai doesn't make his reappearance, but if Thomas is sensing is presence...well, it's not imagined. There doesn't seem to be anyone else trying to take advantage of a lost Foreigner, but it's not a bad way to consider his own thoughts, including the ones that involve the earlier events.

Some hours later, he returns to the hotel. This time, without mask or coat- this time, seemingly only to take a look around at those 'for' the festival...

...but he is keeping his eyes and ears out for any sight or sound of an elder Foreigner. One newer than he is, at least, though he doesn't really consider himself an 'elder' despite most of the others being half his age or younger.

[makesright]

Tom is keeping to himself for the most part. It wasn't that he didn't like people -- quite the opposite, really! But that certainly didn't mean he wanted to camp out in a lobby full of strangers. But it was a roof over his head, and more importantly, there was safety in numbers.

Safety and efficiency, his thoughts added, thinking back to the masked hero with those thousands of machines. His stomach churned with excitement at thought of possibly running into him again -- imagine what he could learn!

At present, he's quietly apologizing as he weaves through the crowd with a pillow and a blanket bundled awkwardly in his arms, setting about to try and make a space for himself to sleep for the night. As his gaze spans the room, he catches sight of a gentleman about his age -- perhaps a little younger, but certainly older than Mikhail or Pedro. For a moment, he locks eyes with the stranger, freezing in his tracks before offering the man a friendly smile.

Still, Thomas is both physically and emotionally exhausted, and this bundle's getting heavier by the second. He shifts the weight in his arms, glancing around the floor for an open space.