[Midnight Hotel] June catch-all

[gistful]

Characters: Anyone, everyone.
Date: Month of June, 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: Mark your threads if content warnings become applicable, please!

The Hotel’s numbers have dwindled slightly since last month, but there are some new additions of note – firstly, Jintou, an ex-Snake kedan brought there by Aqua and Akito’s Chihuelan mugger Marcil, the one with a noticeable scar on his cheek, who was recently bargained out of the Snakes’ imprisonment. Jintou, while still skittish, has relaxed enough to start getting bored by being limited to the Hotel, as he’s not allowed out unless escorted. Malcil, on the other hand, is lean and bruised like he came out the worst in a fight and has no desire to leave at all—he barely leaves his room, in fact. Any interrogation will make him clam up and back away.

For the most part both are given a decently wide berth by the other kedan in the Hotel, though the kedan are more likely to recognise Malcil as Chihuelan than Jintou as a Snake and he, therefore, bears the brunt of both dirty looks and intense curiosity.

Another notable newcomer is the unfairly gorgeous man who has been making himself known on the network recently. He can be seen around the Hotel, wearing a frilly maid’s apron and doing some cleaning, with varying degrees of skill but with a magical talent people may recognise as the same discipline as Skulduggery Pleasant – using air to lift furniture to vacuum underneath, conjuring water in his mopping bucket, and so on.

If anyone asks, Anton will just say he summoned a cleaning faerie.

It’s notable that this unfairly gorgeous man doesn’t have a room of his own – he can be seen coming in and out of Anton’s private bedroom. They obviously know each other well, since Erskine has a habit of stroking Anton’s hair given the opportunity. Several times throughout the month Anton will be slightly late for his shifts and emerge with his hair still damp and unbound, only for Erskine to come by a bit later and sheepishly plait it for him while he’s working at the desk.

While there isn’t much physically different about the Hotel this month, aside from the newly settled exit into Sky Sector, Anton himself is more protective. He’s more watchful, more inclined to look up even at minor signs of tension – though he’s no more likely to interfere than before. He will also regularly scout the Hotel's entrance for anyone who seems to be paying undue attention, thanks to Sokka's mugging right outside its door.

Anton's alert, and no wonder given the Hotel is now housing two essential fugitives.

[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.

[Both Jintou and Malcil can be threaded with by request to the mod account, though Jintou will be more open; however, any new information will need to be bought with reward requests.]

Comments

[edgeoftheknife]

Keep his emotions at a minimum. Right. As if he wouldn't already be doing so if he knew how. As if he'd wanted to start weeping in the kitchen in front of half the Hotel patrons not two days ago, or keep Shudder up half the night having to talk him down from screaming. "Yes, well," he replied, a little gruffly, "if you've managed to find the 'off' button I'd appreciate the heads-up."

The best he'd been able to do was compartmentalize, as he'd been doing since Hopeless had died. He'd been pretty proficient at it up until recently. Until Darquesse. The recent network posts had been an effort on his part to return to some form of normalcy.

...possibly it said something about him that he considered compartmentalization to be normal. Maybe he'd even stop to think about it one of these days. Maybe.

Back on your feet and don't stop moving.

Ravel shook his head. "I don't know how to tell you what sort of man I am--and I assume Anton told you at least the basics of why I did what I did. I don't know how much more I can add that you'll actually care about." He ran his hand through his hair again, then quickly brushed the hand back over it to make sure it wasn't standing up at all angles and looked up at Valdis.

"I don't enjoy killing--I prefer to avoid it whenever possible. There was no other way."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis raised a brow, not amused, "It is a called acceptance, Erskine, face the mess you made and quit fighting the emotions. The more you fight them, the more you deny them, the stronger they will become." Her eyes narrowed, but she managed to find a place between fury and peace and settled her mind there. "Quit trying to justify your mistake, Feige Løven. You chose a path of torment and loneliness. You thought you were alone, and thus refused to rely upon the people who cared about you.

"I did the same not long ago. I ignored the people who cared, because I believed that they could do nothing to help. I was so determined to fight the battle myself, to fight alone, that I almost lost everything." She took a breath before continuing. "For three days, I was forced to relive the deaths of every person I ever killed, from their point of view. I felt their pain, their terror, their agony." She had told no one what had occurred while she had been in the coma, but she had to make Erskine understand.

"Just as I was about to give up, just as I was ready to die, just as I wanted to die, Anton came to my rescue. He saved my life and he would have done the same for you, if you had given him the opportunity." Although her words were harsh, her voice was gentle, "So don't tell me that there wasn't another way, because that is only a lie that cowards tell to make themselves feel better."

[edgeoftheknife]

As she spoke, Erskine let his head fall into his hands, gripping at his skull beneath his hair as if it might fly apart otherwise.

His first instinct was to run. Anton's room wasn't far--he wasn't sure if he could make it before she caught him, if she were so inclined, but the spike of emotions by now ought to have been enough to set the wards tinkling. And if she did try to stop him, it might get ugly. That would certainly be enough to bring Anton running.

But he didn't run, not yet. She didn't understand. No one did. Not even the people who should have cared, as she'd mentioned. Because they hadn't. No one had cared.

"I didn't want to be saved," he snapped, the edge in his voice more an attempt at stifling a sob than at lashing out. "It wasn't about me. The deepest circle of Hell is reserved for traitors. I betrayed my brothers and I'll pay for it. I already have. But it was never about me. It was about saving the mortals from their own stupid selves while there was still something left to save. It was about making a world where we wouldn't have to hide.

"And don't tell me I chose to be alone. Do you think I chose to be forgotten in a dungeon while they replaced me and moved on?"

He grimaced, pushed himself out of the chair. Too much. He should've run when he'd first had the impulse.

[redlightgreenlight]

"Do not speak to me of Hell, Erskine Ravel," she snapped back, her eyes shifting from green to scarlet, "I have seen its depths, walked its dark plains and basked in its chaos. It was my home, my kingdom. I was a Queen of hell, a Goddess of Chaos and people feared and worshiped the ground I walked on."

She closed her eyes, fighting back the rage and pain, "Then I fell under a curse and it was decided that I was too dangerous to be allowed to live. For over three hundred years I had to hide, I had no allies, no friends. But you did and you chose to hide from them. Did you ever consider that they might have been able to help you find a better way?"

She stood, opening her still scarlet eyes, "I know what it is to live in a world that hates you, that anyone would willingly choose that is beyond comprehension."

[edgeoftheknife]

Because it's what I deserve.

He didn't say it aloud--as a matter of fact, what did come out instead was a laugh, harsh and mirthless. The Goddess of Chaos bit was entirely new to him, but when one found oneself living on the back of a giant turtle with a dead man it was easy to extend a little credulity where it was due.

"And you think I've got problems."

Ravel didn't care that she was trying to invalidate everything he felt by overshadowing his own problems. Fine. Fair enough. Maybe his issues weren't so bad in the grand scheme of things anyway. What's a little torture and heartbreak between friends? But he'd said too much himself, sunk too far into his own memory, and it was hard to dig himself out of that. Now his emotions were teetering dangerously between despair and mania--hence the laughter. He needed to get away. Now.

"I find," he said deliberately, making himself take the time to get the words out clearly, "that I am having difficulty keeping my emotions to a minimum. I'd like to respectfully withdraw from this conversation now."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis' eyes shifted back to green and she regarded him carefully, her emerald gaze sharp and oddly contemplative. Then she suddenly turned, picked up the vase next to her chair and an instant later, faster than most people could react, cold water was flung in his direction.

"Snap out of it, Erskine Ravel," she demanded, the flowers in one hand and the empty vase in the other, "Quit wallowing in self pity and accept that you have been forgiven. If your intentions were truly made out of a desire to make the world better, then, wrong as the path might have been to some eyes, you deserve another chance. That is what Keeliai is. Do not waste it by dwelling on the pain and misery of the past."

[edgeoftheknife]

And here he'd thought he was doing so well holding it all back until he could get safely away to break down somewhere in private. He barely saw her move before he was drenched in cold water, gasping, and he couldn't summon the focus to be able to evaporate the water off of his skin with magic. He'd never been terribly skilled at keeping his focus when emotions were high. Ordinarily by that point he resorted to punching something.

Not applicable in this circumstance, sadly.

The laughter had stopped but he still wasn't going to keep arguing with her about this. He didn't have anything left but his misery, anyway. Take that away and what was he? A sad little man with no future--he'd never bothered to plan for one. Never even imagined that there would be one. His plans had extended only to his eventual surrender and no farther.

This conversation was not happening. Not here, not now.

"I'm going to step away," he said. "We can finish this some other time if you like. Maybe try that coffee again."

[redlightgreenlight]

Considering that she had just dumped water all over him, his outward composure was impressive. She looked around, noticing that a few heads had turned their way, she put the flowers back in the vase and set it back on the table.

"Fine," she replied, "But this isn't over." Then she picked up her book and turned away, walking purposefully towards the stairs.

As she passed, one of the kedan inquired as to the reason for her dumping water on the Cleaning Faery. She paused and looked over at Ravel, her eyes narrowed, "Lover's quarrel," she replied, loudly enough for him to hear, "He flirts with too many other women." With a smirk in his direction, she disappeared up the stairs.