tushanshu_logs | [Midnight Hotel] July catch-alll

Characters: Anyone, everyone.
Date: Month of JULY, 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!

Though the attack on Anton and Jintou occurred outside of the Hotel, its effects can nevertheless be seen on the Hotel’s runnings during July. Jintou is absent, in the first place, though Anton keeps his room in the event he’s found.

For the last few days of June and the first couple days of July Anton is preoccupied with rebuilding the shops he damaged in his attempt to stop Jintou from being taken, and therefore a good deal of the Hotel’s daily running is in the hands of his staff and a handful of trusted ex-gang kedan.

Within the first few days of the month Anton’s health takes a nosedive. Though the chronic condition discovered by Raine and Tony wasn’t previously active, the poisoning attempt apparently changed that and for the rest of this month Anton is under enforced bed-rest—or if not bed-rest then an enforced holiday. For that reason, any and all offers to help out with maintenance, cleaning, cooking, accounting and other daily chores at the Hotel will be welcomed.

Provided, that is, that no one minds the Hotel proprietor hovering over their shoulders—when he isn’t being sat on by a giant wolf to make sure he doesn’t overtax himself.

Hotel rules are, obviously, still in effect.

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She watched as Erskine's lack of balance caused the chair to shift and unseat him, emerald eyes bright with amusement. She chuffed at him as he lay on the ground trying to get his bearings, half laughing and half scolding, before walking around the desk to stand over him. Her tail hung limp, nonthreatening, and she lowered her head to look him in the eyes.

Hello, Erskine.

At first he was torn how to react, caught somewhere between the urge to snap his fingers and summon fire, the urge to pick himself up off the floor and bolt, put some distance between himself and the beast...and the simple need to catch his breath after smacking down onto the floor like that. In the end it was the last that won out. The voice may have been coming from an altogether unexpected source, but it was unmistakable.

"Valdis?"

She raised her tail and chuffed again, taking a step back so he could sit up if he wanted to. She hadn't spooked anyone with her hound form in some time and it was quite entertaining to watch Erskine flail around in his surprise.

Aren't you a smart one. She teased, the laughter evident in her tone. She sat down, tail over her paws and tipped her head to the side.

It took a long moment of hesitation before Erskine raised himself to his elbows, still eyeing the hound warily, and then lifted one hand to rub gingerly at the back of his head where he'd cracked his skull on the floor. Good thing he'd only been a couple of feet off the ground. Either way, this was probably going to be another one of those "hot bath and aspirin" kind of nights.

Those were becoming distressingly familiar, since the fight with Skulduggery.

"Do I... do I dare ask the obvious?"

Why are you a giant wolf... hound... thing? Or have I finally gone off the deep end?

She yawned, still pleased with the result of her action, but glad that he hadn't actually gotten hurt. She meant to surprise him, not injure him.

Don't worry, she said, You haven't gone off the deep end.

She didn't want to cause another panic attack by telling him what kind. She didn't think he would take well to the idea that she was a hellhound. Most people didn't.

I am a shapeshifter.

Oh good. Because a giant hound telling me that in my head is just the reassurance I needed.

He was smiling as he thought it, though. Once the initial surprise of her form had passed, the telepathy was hardly enough to even consider a hurdle. He'd of course had experience with mind-readers before, although back then it had been a one-way method of communication.

The memory made his heart lurch painfully for a moment, and then he nodded. I suppose that makes sense, he thought, making a conscious effort not to reply aloud. Wouldn't that look odd to anyone passing by. Not that a man sitting on the floor talking to a giant hound would look normal.

The alternative was werewolf, and I was really hoping it wasn't that one.

She tipped her head the other way, observing him with a skeptical eye, but surprised by how quickly he caught on to the mental link. She laughed at his question, pleased by his smile. It meant that he was getting more stable.

What kind of reassurance were you looking for?

To be honest, there wasn't much reassurance she could offer, other than the fact that she was not, in fact, a werewolf.

At this point I really think it's going to take some sort of certificate to prove I've not lost it altogether. Maybe more than one. With official stamps and everything.

He chuckled, and then realized belatedly that no matter what tack this conversation took, it was just going to look weird to anyone passing by. So he may as well stop trying.

So instead he reached up for the edge of the desk and used it to haul himself to his feet, stopping briefly partway through the effort to wince in pain. Not his head--that one was rapidly fading. His shoulder. The one that was attached to the arm he was using to pull himself up. His leg, as he tucked it under himself to push back up to his feet. Older aches, a quick flash like an aftershock that stole his breath and wiped the smile away.

And then he was on his feet, and the smile was back. A tad forced, perhaps, but present and accounted for.

"Did you come over here just to make me mess myself, then?"

I can get you one of those if you like.

She teased, but concern drifted through her eyes when Erskine tried to stand, sensing his pain and hesitation. Besides that, the smile on his face was false. Few could hide anything from her, but part of her wished that she didn't have the power of empathy, it was useful at times, but not now. She stood and stepped toward him, poking him gently with her nose.

No, she replied, I was simply trying to lighten the mood.

Would you? I'd be grateful.

At the poke he laughed quietly, but it was a little more genuine than the smile had been a moment previous.

"Well, you've succeeded. I don't know of anything that makes people laugh harder than somebody falling out of his chair onto his arse--unless it's being hit by something in the groin, and I'd really appreciate it if we steered clear of that. If it's all the same." As he said it he moved one hand to protect the area jokingly, only for a moment.

Now that he was standing and more or less pain-free again, he pulled the wayward chair back toward the desk and worked on straightening up the few things that had been ruffled by his sudden departure from said chair.

"So if you're a shapeshifter, can you do other animals?"

She laughed with him, pleased by his more genuine smile. She swished her tail, watching him as he resettled himself, before lowering herself to the ground so that she was more on his level.

No, she replied, shying away from the question, My kind can only shift into hounds.

He lifted his gaze upward momentarily, considering, and then shrugged. "Still useful. It's more than I can change into, unless you count 'drunken prat' as a separate thing." Between everything that had been happening since his arrival in Keeliai and Anton's rule about alcohol, Erskine hadn't actually had a drop to drink in months. Not that he was much of a drunkard anyway, short of special occasions. He'd always had too much to do, too many plates spinning, to bother with getting shitfaced on a regular basis. Still, it sounded better this way.

"...you know, I think this may be the most normal conversation we've ever had?" Erskine paused in the middle of shuffling a stack of papers together. "I think that probably says something about us."

She would have laughed out loud, but her eerie, warbling cackle was probably not good for Erskine's nerves, so she merely chuffed instead.

We aren't exactly normal people, she pointed out, her tail sweeping across the floor, then she rolled onto her side, her head resting near his feet. She had often rested like this when Anton was sitting in that chair, keeping him company as he worked. Not unlike a loyal dog, but god forbid she admit that anywhere but within her own mind. She sighed, closing her eyes, But normal is boring.

[Midnight Hotel] July catch-alll

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject