tushanshu_logs | [Midnight Hotel] July catch-alll

Entry tags:

[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.]

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That last step was definitely an important one. Otherwise they were going to have some massive problems, and sooner rather than later.

But that was neither here nor there, because to Erskine's way of thinking a couple of fangs on the lower row of someone's teeth did not a vampire make--and he'd already moved past that part anyway, because as Klaus drew up to his full height Ravel had to actually adjust his posture to look the man in the face. The fact that Ravel was seated really didn't help, but even at his full height (of slightly less than six feet) he tended to look about throat-level at Anton... and this man dwarfed even Shudder. Erskine tried not to let his surprise show, other than that bit of movement and a slight widening of his eyes.

He'd met someone taller, but that was... an unpleasant association. Better not to think about that.

"Ah... you've talked with Shudder already?" he asked, keeping his voice even. Like Anton, Erskine had an Irish accent, somewhat muddied by travel but still recognizable. "And you're going to be doing the books?" A slow smile dawned across his face.

"Erskine Ravel." He held a hand out--angled upward--in an offer to shake. "And you've just made my night. One more day of those bloody books and I think I might've lost what little of my mind is left."

There was a low rumble from the upper slopes of Mt Reinherz as he gave a small chortle. Thankfully, he covered his mouth when he laughed. He didn't want to make a terrible impression.

"They're that bad, hm?"

He took the extended hand and gave it a careful shake.

"It's nice to meet you Mr Ravel. And I'm glad to help where I can."

Standing back, he gestures to the lobby. "The architecture here is different from what I've seen in the city. Was it built recently?"

"If they weren't that bad before I got to them, they certainly are now," Ravel said, grinning. In all fairness he hadn't done that poor of a job, despite having no training whatsoever as an accountant. Nowhere in his many job descriptions over the many long years had accounting come into the picture, but he had a fair, if somewhat basic, grasp of arithmetic.

The books might just be a little more... creative than when Anton had reluctantly handed them over. (Gaeilge footnotes, Klaus. Gaeilge footnotes.)

After the handshake he twisted in his spot on the desktop, pointed the first two fingers of his right hand at his mug of tea, and levitated it over to himself. He was just wrapping both hands around the mug again when Klaus asked about the Hotel.

"Mm? Oh no, the Hotel isn't originally from Keeliai." Ravel paused to take a sip of tea. "It's from our world. Anton built it just after the war, about... a hundred years ago, now?"

A feeling of dread washed over Klaus, and he wondered just what exactly he'd been roped into. He gave Ravel a worried look, his brow creased almost to the bridge of his nose.

"I doubt they can be that bad. It's just simple addition and subtraction."

Klaus had no idea. He truly had no idea.

He watched the mug levitate curiously. And he arched a brow.

"A hundred years ago... then that would mean..." He hesitated, and looked at Erskine more severely. None of the unearthly palour, nor the elongated and uncanny anatomy. Obviously no fangs either. And though Anton had seemed a bit gaunt, the man had looked entirely human. If they had the shapeshifting abilities of some of the older vampires, they were certainly very good at hiding their nature. But Klaus doubted that was the case. They weren't Blood Breeds.

The dark expression passed, replaced by a more benign curiosity. "Mr Shudder is looking well for being over a century old. I doubt he owes it to a particularly good moisturizer."

Ravel's face fell. "Oh. Was that all it was meant to be?"

He looked... concerned.

And then after the space of perhaps three or four heartbeats, he smiled slyly. Ravel, it should be stated, had the kind of sly smile that would have a fox sick with envy. "Joking, sorry, I'm joking. It's not that bad, I swear. Just ignore the little doodly bits and you'll be fine."

Erskine sipped at his tea again, watching the mood change roll over Klaus like a thunderstorm. For all that he'd been joking moments previous, the set of Erskine's jaw and his shoulders tightened almost imperceptibly in response to that mood shift. He tensed, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But it never did and he gradually relaxed, smiling a sunny smile at Klaus again over the brim of his mug. "He bathes in the blood of virgins," he said matter-of-factly.

"Provided he doesn't drink it out their necks, I suppose their shouldn't be a problem," Klaus replied as a means to explain his earlier suspicion. He was joking though.

Mostly.

Probably.

It was hard to tell with a face that looked like it ate nails for breakfast.

He gave a thoughtful tap of his chin.

"Have you been keeping the books long, Mr Ravel?" He wanted to get a picture of just how much work he had ahead of him.

Edited (i spelled a thing wrong) 2015-07-24 21:00 (UTC)

Technically, Ravel's expression didn't change. The smile was still fixed in place, though at the implication of vampire it became... less sunny. Almost sour.

"No, Shudder's no vampire," he replied, shaking his head. "Nothing to worry about there. I've not so much as heard of a single vampire since I came to Keeliai. Small blessings, eh?" And then the sour smile faded, which had the effect of making his expression infinitely more pleasant all around.

"He's a sorcerer--we both are. Sorcerers live longer than mortals in our world. Quite a bit longer, actually. Shudder's somewhere over five hundred, though I'll be damned if I know the exact number. Anton probably doesn't even know. It was a bit harder keeping track of that sort of thing back then."

"Mm? Oh, the books. It's been... hell, I don't even know what today is." Ravel carefully set his cup of tea back down on the desk and reached for the tablet propped up nearby, using an equal amount of care to hold the little electronic device as if it were precious--because it was. "I guess it's been about three weeks now since my hostile takeover."

The relief on Klaus's face was evident, though he felt a pang of guilt at Ravel's expression for his initial suspicions.

"My deepest apologies for any offense I caused," he said with a bow. He righted himself, and adjusted his tie which had been pulled a bit from his waistcoat. "The Blood Breed are a problem where I'm from. I was being over-cautious, however."

Klaus didn't have much in the ways of issues as far as sorcerers went. He'd never seen anyone that went by that title specifically, but Jerusalem's Lot was full of people with some unique talents that could only be described as 'magic'. Libra in particular was full of people with... unique circumstances. That was simply par for the course.

"Three weeks shouldn't be too difficult to remedy," Klaus said calmly. "You've kept track of all the expenditures and income, yes?"

An eyebrow arched at that. "'Blood Breed'? That's quite a fancy name for a monster." There was obvious contempt in his voice, though it was pretty clear that it was directed at the monsters he was talking about, and not at Klaus. Or at least he hoped it was obvious.

"No offense taken, though. I'm just... not much of a fan of vampires." Ravel smiled again, indicating that he was over the sour mood. He even chuckled a little, trying to make light of the whole thing.

At the question about the books he blanched ever so slightly. "Ah, yes, of course. Or at least as many of them as I could remember. I've got a stack of receipts around here somewhere, I think-" He finally placed the tablet down (carefully!) and hopped back down off of the desk to move to the other side, shuffling through drawers and papers. "Is this a bad time to mention I have... a bit of a memory thing, sometimes?"

"I'm not particularly keen on them either," he said, a little tense, but he seemed otherwise relieved that he caused no lasting offense.

And then Erskine went very pale, and Klaus knew what he was in for. "This is actually a very good time to mention it. Did you keep the receipts all in one place?"

He didn't sound annoyed. Just professional curiosity. He wondered if he was going to have to have long adventures scouring the hotel for a lost slip of paper just to reconcile the books.

Erskine disappeared behind the desk--or probably would have, were Klaus not so bloody tall. Ravel crouched behind the desk, shuffling through papers in the bottom drawer. "I... believe I did. I remember clipping a few of them together."

He fell silent for a minute, fighting with something in the desk, before a wad of receipts stuck together haphazardly in a binder clip was deposited on the desktop. "Aha!"

Ravel stood, a look of triumph on his face, and flipped through the receipts. "This is definitely-"

The look of triumph faded somewhat. "-definitely some of them." Erskine took another moment to examine the receipts, then quickly plastered a smile on his face and shoved the whole clip full of papers back into the top drawer of the desk. "Right, I'll find them before you start. We should get you a room, yes? Let's start with a room."

Klaus stifled a small chuckle by disguising it as a cough. He didn't want to offend Erskine, but the way the man frantically bustled over a bunch of receipts was, well. It was a bit funny.

"Take your time. I'm in no rush." And it was true. Most of his concerns about getting home were allayed, for now. "As for the room, I'll take whatever is available, though preferably one that's cheap."

He really didn't have much to be spending right now. He'd have to look into job prospects sooner, rather than later.

There was a separate system for keeping track of which patrons were assigned to what rooms, along with the rates they were charged and the accounting of who was paid up and who wasn't. Erskine didn't touch those records much, although he'd made sure to grill Anton on the particulars in case he needed to rent a room while Anton or the other front desk clerk--Tadashi, wasn't it?--were unavailable. He pulled the book out from the desk and flipped through.

"Cheap... I can do that." There were some of the nice private rooms available, but those of course were more expensive than the dormitories. "I'm sure you can always move up to one of the nicer rooms once you get your feet under you," he said as he scanned the list of rooms and occupants. "In the meantime, how about one of the dormitories? This one-"

This one had Shay in it, ugh. At least maybe Klaus could keep the pocket-sized Irishman in line. "This one should do, if you don't mind sharing a room?"

"I don't mind. I doubt they'll even notice they have a roommate." It was a rather silly thing to say, considering Klaus stood out like a sore thumb at the best of times, but it was true. He didn't sleep much. Maybe a handful of hours when he could spare, but he mostly catnapped. He really needed the space for a place to stow his few possessions and a place to go when he had no where else more important to be.

"Will the other occupant be alright with it?" That was more Klaus's concern. He didn't want needless conflict. He especially didn't want to trouble Anton - the man had been so gracious and accommodating.

Both of Ravel's eyebrows raised a bit at that. Not notice this guy? They'd have to be blind. Or dead.

In Wreath and Skulduggery's cases, even that might not be enough.

"You mean the other occupants, plural," he corrected gently. "This one sleeps eight, although there are currently only six assigned to it. Looks like four of them are kedan... I vaguely recognize the names, although I don't speak with them much. One of the Foreigners is a girl by the name of Tonks. Quite nice, very pretty. She's a witch, I think.

"The other is a pint-sized Irishman with an annoying streak a mile long. If you accidentally stepped on him you'd be doing us all a favor."

He's kidding.

...mostly.

"If that arrangement is acceptable?"

"A...ah. Yes. Though I think Mr Shudder would be a bit put out if I went around stepping on his tenants."

The fact that one of his roommates was a witch hardly seemed to faze him. There was a much more concerning factor.

"I'm fine with the arrangement, but is the young lady comfortable sharing quarters with another man?"

It was a legitimate concern. Some people liked their space, after all, and Klaus didn't want to barge in where he wasn't welcome.

"I won't tell if you won't."

At the question about Tonks, Erskine frowned down at the book. "There's nothing in here about any sort of accommodation requests," he said eventually, with a shrug. "But I can't imagine Shudder would place her somewhere that was going to make her uncomfortable--and she seems the type to speak up, if it were bothering her. I'm fairly certain she can handle herself, based on the few times we've spoken."

He means flirted. Erskine hadn't spoken to her a single time that hadn't involved flirting.

"So if there are no other objections, I'm penciling you in...?"

Klaus looked over at the entry for him and nodded.

"Everything seems in order. My thanks, Mr Ravel."

There was a brief moment of hesitation, and then Klaus decided it was best to ask.

"I'm somewhat of a night-owl. I don't want to disturb those upstairs. Would it be alright if I work a bit down here?"

Erskine looked up from the book, where he was making a few last notes, and quite visibly paused for a moment before laughing.

"Are you kidding? I've slept in the common room before. Several times. Sometimes whilst chained to a skeleton. No one will care."

Once the books were updated, he tucked them back in their place and pulled his tea over once again. Both hands firmly wrapped around the mug for stability, he'd just lifted the brim to his lips when he remembered-

"The rules! I almost forgot the rules. Did Anton mention any of that?"

This actually got a reaction from Klaus. And this was a man who spent three years working in proximity of Zapp Renfro- surprise did not come easily to Klaus.

"I'm sure the situation probably makes sense with some context."

Klaus tapped his chin.

"Mr Shudder mentioned no violence. However I have an inquiry. What about violence in defense of oneself or another, in the occasion that another patron should have an outburst?"

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[Midnight Hotel] July catch-alll

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