[Midnight Hotel] May catch-all

[gistful]

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

After the bustle of the last two weeks the Hotel seems oddly empty for a little while, with everything packed up and stored away. That feeling will be exacerbated by some of the Foreigner residents moving out over the course of the month, either to their own housing in Sky Sector or their own apartments elsewhere, and for the first time in quite a while the Hotel may have a few empty rooms.

It will, however, be full of flowers for a good part of May. Though originally provided by Xion in the public areas, Anton seems to be making sure every part of the Hotel, from public to private, has a bit of colour around unless specifically asked otherwise, such as for health reasons.

People may notice a bit of a glitch in the Hotel’s main doors. While ordinarily the exit sector can be chosen using sigils by the door, this month the pearl-white haze around its edges will putter every time someone changes it. Every now and then the glitch might cause someone to emerge in Sky Sector instead of their intended target—though the exit building will be different every time, as if the Hotel hasn’t quite decided yet where to settle its doors. Since it isn’t harmful Anton won’t bar people from using the switches, though he will recommend avoiding doing so; all this means is that the exit defaults into Central.

As a result, late at night when the doors aren’t being heavily used, Anton can be seen reviewing the wards around the entrance and trying to pin down exactly how the Hotel is, apparently, growing a new exit.

This month Anton will also be uncharacteristically emotional—though all this really means is that he alternates between being definably melancholic (prone to staring wistfully at sketches or a specific page in a dictionary) or unusually, and exasperatedly, entertained. The latter can be visibly attributed to the tablet newly propped up on the reception desk, displaying a picture of Anton, Skulduggery and that annoying bloke that was around last fortnight with his arms around their necks, pulling them down to his height. The tablet regularly announces times and tasks put into the tablet’s calendar for Anton’s convenience … and some of which aren’t to his convenience at all.

“Bing bing bing! This is your regular inspirational reminder of a delightfully important word: poop.”

“Boopity boop! Hey Anton, it’s two o’clock! You know what that means? That means it’s time to go be social. I know, it’s tough, be strong! You can do it!”

“Diddly do! Seven o’clock! Time to get laid!”

Though Anton will turn down these particular voiceovers so they at least don’t permeate the whole lobby, he still won't turn them off completely.

[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, JOB OR AREA IN THE GARAGE OR ARE MOVING OUT. Anton will manufacture means of payment until Foreigners are able to properly offer recompense or choose to move out.

Comments

[gistful]

That was the first time Anton had ever heard his situation called a 'symptom' before, and it made him frown--but thoughtfully, more than anything else. For such a long time the only way to move forward had been to only accept what was as it was. He'd never stopped, so he'd never reconsidered the truth of some of what he knew.

"One," he said. "But I thought she was a werewolf, haunting the woods near my village of birth. A group of us went out to find it and kill it, and I was one of them. When I found her she told me to kill her, because the gist was taking over." He spread his hands. "She lost her battle against it. We fulfilled her wish. I didn't find out that the gist was the name of the magic until later."

That had been a few months before he'd been taken his gist himself. Sometimes, when he was younger, he'd wondered what form his magic might have taken in those moments of extreme need if he hadn't had that example before him.

[ruinsprofessor]

"So you've never had an opportunity to establish what is and isn't 'normal,' for your magic." Raine's expression near mirrored his, a thinking frown, brows drawn down and fingers tapping absently. "Unless you sought out written records? It's difficult to say for sure, either way. How old were you, when your magic took that form?"

The gist was obviously a taxing thing. It could be just that. Possibly. But without data for comparison, Raine was inclined to err on the side of caution. Obviously Anton had survived this long, of course, and she wasn't especially concerned that he might keel over without warning in the near future, but if there was something underlying with the potential to worsen, it was better to know.

[gistful]

"There aren't many," Anton admitted. "The most I discovered about the gist was from Mevolent, when he tried to recruit me before the war began. I was nineteen when I took the gist and don't recall any use of magic before then, which means either I didn't or it was too subtle to be seen. I don't believe any recorded gist-user, myself aside, has lived to be much over three-hundred."

He wasn't sure whether or not that would be relevant, or whether Raine already knew it, but given a gist-user's usual lifespan and the fact he'd surpassed it, the unsteadiness in his hands could simply be a matter of age.

[ruinsprofessor]

Helpful in terms of context, profoundly unhelpful in all other manners. It meant nothing could be ruled out either way yet. Tap, tap-tap, till Raine noticed she was doing it and stopped herself. The little frown hadn't quite gone away, though: she had the thread of a puzzle and wanted to follow it as far as she could.

"That's relatively young," she noted. "Young enough, I'd judge, that it's entirely possible if there is a different cause than simply the gist, it might not have manifested. Some conditions take a while, or wait for the right environmental factors to manifest..." She spread her hands apart. "I don't know. But the possibility is worth considering."

[gistful]

"Not young for back then," Anton said. Now that he was thinking about it, which he hadn't in ... oh, centuries ... there were some details that might help Raine figure out the cause. "I was practically middle-aged at nineteen--the right environmental factors, yes?"

When had his hands last shaken? Strong emotion, yes, stress, yes, but usually only after he had stopped to rest. He had always attributed that to the gist or fading adrenaline. It did happen more frequently than it had during the war, but that was almost certainly a matter of age. Anything before nineteen was a long, long time ago, but in drawing on hazy memory Anton did seem to recall one or two instances even back then.

"There were a few times early on," he said slowly. "I might have been--perhaps seventeen? Both my parents had died before then and so I already worked complete hours, but I seem to recall a period of malaise which might have included some unsteadiness in my hands and in my balance."

He remembered it primarily because he remembered Betha begging him not to die, that she couldn't support the family alone; it had been so soon after her husband had died himself. But he did remember the unaccountable fatigue, the restfulness that wasn't, shaking in his hands, dizziness ...

Anton shook his head. "But that was a long time ago. Surely there would have been more symptoms if it was anything truly terrible."

[ruinsprofessor]

"That's likely, yes," Raine agreed. "The fact you've made it this far says that much. If something of this nature was going to kill or cripple you, it likely would have already, long before we met." Not an idea she liked, but he was here and had survived. That was the salient part. "Especially if you haven't noticed much worsening over the years. I personally prefer to know, rather than wonder, but it's also possible that knowing for sure will, practically, change little."

Anton had, evidently, been taking care of himself for several hundred years. As well as several others. "Pursuing that, therefore, should be your choice," Raine said, a little regretfully. She wanted to know; she wanted to see if she could help, even though the chronic nature she suspected would mean she herself could do little. She raised one finger. "However. It's also worth acknowledging that, right now, there are a lot of people depending on you. Intentionally or not, you've become a central figure for Foreigners. You're a pillar of the community, so to speak, trusted and relied upon by the majority, from everything I've observed. Therefore, there's a question you posed me once that I'd like to return: who is looking out for your well-being?"

[gistful]

"Apparently, you," said Anton with a small smile. He could have turned it back on her; Raine, after all, as a healer and because of her nature, was equally central in Keeliai. But Raine did have her brother and had, however much Anton didn't quite understand it, Wreath; they were people who would ensure she didn't overwork herself.

Larrikin and the Dead Men had been that, for Anton. With Skulduggery too much alike Anton in the need for activity, there wasn't much chance for anyone to watch Anton's wellbeing.

"If you would like to pursue this," Anton said, "you have my permission; though I can't imagine it would change much to know what it is. Still, I am not a young man and if something should worsen for whatever reason, it seems prudent to know what might be the cause of it beforehand."

[kreitech]

Krei nodded, waiting until Anton was focusing elsewhere before letting both of his eyebrows raise in surprise. Larrikin's death?

He decided to keep quiet on the subject for a moment, give Anton a chance to get back to what he was doing. Being around grieving people (no matter what stage of grief, or lack thereof) always made him uncomfortable anyway. He never knew how to act around them, what to say beyond the basic platitudes. Somehow Alistair doubted the act he usually put on for the cameras would do any good in this situation. As if it ever did any good anyway, for anything aside from his image.

No one in this city, he had come to realize some time ago, gave a good goddamn about his image.

He did, however, continue to trail along after Shudder so long as it wasn't being made clear that he was no longer welcome. After an appreciable length of silence he finally spoke up again. "He spoke highly of you," he began, before taking a sip of his rapidly cooling coffee. "In between flirting shamelessly and trying to get me into various kinds of trouble, of course."

[ruinsprofessor]

She returned the smile. Hadn't she said something very similar to him back then, too? An appropriate mirroring, she supposed. It did seem that Skulduggery might forget the concerns of the flesh, and Raine wouldn't be surprised if many of the rest of the Foreigners fell into assuming that Anton was a solid rock, unquestionable. Which he was, in many respects, but even stone was worn down with time.

"I would," Raine said with a nod, decisive. "Thank you. I'll do what more research I can, and I'll want to borrow you for an afternoon sometime in the next week or two, if that's acceptable."

[gistful]

It wasn't the first time Anton had had someone trailing after him, and in all honesty he rather enjoyed it; not having the interest, but having the simple company without any burden of expectation. So while Anton didn't speak, he also tacitly acknowledged Krei's presence.

When Krei spoke again he didn't look around, but he smiled. It was an indulgent smile, a melancholic smile. "Yes. He enjoys affection. Sometimes he mistakes attention for it, but I think most of all he simply wants people to be happy. The night we first met, he was paying for drinks for a tavern full of patrons, just to watch them smile."

[gistful]

"Certainly," said Anton. Although Anton hadn't seen a healer in a very long time, he did realise this hadn't exactly been a check-up; whatever magical methods Raine usually used to ascertain proper health, she hadn't brought them up at all on this occasion. "Let me know when you're prepared, and what you find. Thank you for your concern."

Though the last words were, perhaps, a typical backhanded dismissal coming from most people, from Anton they were even and sincere.

[kreitech]

It was a bit new for Alistair, honestly, the whole tagging along after someone else thing. Back in San Fransokyo he'd always been the one doing the leading, letting his assistant or the interns or whoever else trail after him. When he'd slowed down and stopped working long enough to socialize it had been at some function or another, always some secondary agenda in place. Taking time purely to enjoy the company of another person was something other people did.

Bereft of any real purpose outside of survival here in Keeliai, however, Krei found himself having to make all sorts of adjustments.

Anton's assessment of Larrikin sounded about right, given what Alistair had seen of the man. He chuckled. "He did seem rather concerned about your social life."

Ahem.

"The calendar reminders were a nice touch."

[ruinsprofessor]

All things considered, Raine had expected a little bit more resistance than she'd actually gotten. "All right," she said. She knew how to pick her battles; she'd see about convincing him to take actual breaks a little more often later. Besides, if he was grieving all over again, working, never sitting still, likely helped. "I will. In the mean time, please take care. There are some Foreigners you trust enough to delegate some things to, aren't there?" It was worth a try.

[gistful]

"Larrikin," Anton said with exasperation and resignation and indulgent affection, "is concerned for everyone's social life. I imagine he tried to set you up with someone who caught his eye as well?"

Larrikin had a habit of doing that. He had proclaimed Ghastly and Skulduggery's unrequited love, he had told Hopeless and Erskine to hurry up and get on with it, he had outright married Dexter--though that had been a 'front' for a party. A very good party it had been, too.

"I'm surprised he knew enough to fix the calender updates into the tablet," Anton observed, glancing over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow and an amused glint in his eyes to offset his impassive expression.

[gistful]

"I have some staff on hand, yes," said Anton, back to being rather amused. "Mister Hamada the elder is on the desk, and I have Master Aqua and Mister Lowell on staff also. In a pinch, I will threaten the Bentley to oblige Skulduggery to help."

[kreitech]

"Ah, you could say that," Krei laughed again, although this one was a touch forced. "Actually he somehow immediately latched onto the idea of setting me up with you. He was pretty persistent about it, too. Kept bouncing between trying to tell me how wonderful you are and how frightening your magic is. Kind of a novel tactic, I'll give him that."

And then it struck Alistair that here he was anyway, tagging along after Anton like a puppy.

...awkward.

"I tried to tell him it was a ridiculous idea, of course, but he wouldn't listen," he hastened to add. Wow, that sounded bad. Way to make things worse. "Not that, you know, it's that ridiculous. I mean, not because of you, there's nothing wrong with you. You're great."

Ah yes, that's so much better. Well done.

"The tablet? Right. I... may have been slightly responsible for that. And the pictures."

Anton | Early May | CW: None

[redlightgreenlight]

Since Larrikin had left, Valdis had tried to ignore Anton's uncharacteristic emotional state, but added to her own curiosity about the Dead Men that Larrikin had mentioned, she couldn't get her mind off it. There were so many things on her mind and talking to Anton seemed to be a good idea even without her curiosity over these 'suicide missions' he had gone on with Skulduggery and Larrikin.

She walked down from her room to the lobby just in time to hear the soft sound of Anton's tablet announcing that it was time for him to be social. The lobby was filled with flowers, most of which she didn't recognize, but they were lovely nonetheless. She leaned against the reception desk, briefly recalling how she had once destroyed it in a fight with Anton. That seemed like forever ago, and in a way it was almost a different lifetime.

[skeletonenigma]

"As a matter of fact," said Skulduggery, "yes. I was occasionally listening when Hopeless talked. Valdis was with you?"

Retrospectively, it was probably a good thing Valdis had the opportunity to meet a real version of Larrikin after the Dreaming fiasco. Valdis may not have seen it as a good thing, but Larrikin very rarely cared.

[gistful]

Anton watched Krei with amusement. People were never prepared for Larrikin. Even when they liked him, even when they didn't judge him, they were never prepared for his enthusiasm, his desire to help--especially in ways in which help wasn't wanted.

It was amusing. Even when Anton was the recipient himself, it was amusing. And he did appreciate that Krei was, in his own way, trying to cheer him up.

"He's been doing that for quite a while," Anton agreed, tactfully in case Larrikin had, somehow, managed to avoid telling Krei his age. "Larrikin was an orphan. He enjoys seeing people in love. Being able to fantasise ... if in a rather active manner ... is a way of reminding himself that it does exist, I think."

'May' have been slightly responsible for that. Rather an understatement. No wonder Larrikin had liked the man so much; that sheepish understatement, his looks--he was a little like Dexter. "Pictures?" Anton asked. "I only know of the one."

[gistful]

"Lady Valdis," Anton greeted her quietly, letting the tablet's alert fade without deactivating it manually. He looked up and smiled at her, and the smile was genuine but small and a touch melancholic. "How may I help you this afternoon?"

[gistful]

"She was," Anton acknowledged. "She stopped him from burning another of my books, a few days before he ... left. He'd overheard you and I talking about the lack of soul-gems and what they meant a couple of days beforehand."

Though Anton's expression was as deadpan as ever, there was something close to weariness in the way he held himself, quirk of a smile at the mention of Hopeless notwithstanding.

[redlightgreenlight]

He always called her that and she wasn't entirely certain why it suddenly bothered her, but it did. She shook her head, determined to stay on task, "I've had a lot on my mind." She quickly scanned the room, "Is there a place we can talk without being overheard?"

[gistful]

"Certainly," said Anton. He assumed it was something to do with the Void; he couldn't think what else was private enough to request moving to a separate room. "My office?"

He moved out from behind the desk and went to his office door, unlocking it and opening it to usher her in.

[redlightgreenlight]

She followed him over to his office and then passed him to enter it when he opened the door. She turned to face him, but would wait until he closed the door before speaking. She had so many questions and so many things she needed to tell him. But she wasn't entirely certain where to start.

"I trust you," she began, "I have walked in your soul, I have fought your Gist, I have an idea of your character, but I don't know how you became who you are...Larrikin said that you were part of a group called the Dead Men and that you went on missions that others would call suicidal. How does a hotel owner get caught up in such things? What exactly is your gist? How did those Remnants end up locked in that room?" She paused, thinking, "I don't need to know everything, but I would like to understand who you are."

[ruinsprofessor]

"Is that the secret to getting him to comply?" Raine inquired, with interest. There was humor in it, though; she didn't honestly think she'd need to resort to coercion if she truly needed something from Skulduggery. "Regardless, I'm glad you have backup."