[Midnight Hotel] July catch-alll

[gistful]

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.]

Comments

[seismometrics]

[The girl grins openly, wiping a bit of frosting from the edge of her mouth and licking it off.]

Look, you want cake? You get there fast. Or take your chances. Those are the rules.

[And . . . there's something about that voice. Nothing anyone else would recognize. And nothing she can really put a finger on. It's not exactly known to her. But for a girl who "sees" partly with her ears? There's just something in it.]

[It itches at her brain.]

[She cleans off another finger, idle and thoughtful. Casual.] Nice party, huh?

[pushtheboundaries]

I hadn't realized there were rules.

[he should go. but - how to without making her confused as to why he'd go so quickly? he could feign some sort of offense, but...

he looks back out at the crowd, forcing a small smile on to his face]

I suppose. Especially since, after all, there's not that many of them.

[seismometrics]

Of course there's rules. [The answer isn't quite as glib this time, keeping that casual tone.] Actually, only one that's important: Everyone for themselves when it comes to cake.

[A pause, and her bouncing foot comes to rest on the earth.] I don't think we've met. I'm Toph.

[pushtheboundaries]

Duly noted. I'll remember it in the future.

[and while he does start to move away - well, there that goes. he looks back at her, arching his brow. probably best to keep some distance, even namewise...though at least now he knows hers.]

...you can call me Professor Callaghan. [after all - he is teaching again.]

[seismometrics]

[Kind of a neat sidestep to that question there. Avoidant. And the distance of his title -- something society adults did to keep everyone else at arm's length.]

[Of course, both of these things could just be his mannerisms. But Toph wouldn't have gotten nearly as far as she had without her instincts. And for a man who'd spoken first, avoidant behavior was . . . off.]

[Her eyebrows shifted upward, though, at the name -- because it was one that was even more familiar.] You know Hiro and Tadashi?

[pushtheboundaries]

[well, he shouldn't be surprised, all told, but even so, he tilts his head] I am. We're all from the same place- I actually taught Tadashi, and his brother, well...

[...he would have liked to. especially once he's gotten to know him.]

...I hadn't really gotten the chance. You're friends with them?

[seismometrics]

[Her eyebrows stayed firmly up.] I work with them. In the shop they just opened up.

I'm a metalbender -- I can make tools and pieces they can't do too easily.

[pushtheboundaries]

[at that, he smiles, very thinly not that she can see it] You can work with someone and not be friends. But I'm glad to hear they're getting to know the people their age.

[beat]

And one with such a useful...talent.

[seismometrics]

[Smiles can actually be heard in the voice if he's not careful . . . and the tension in his body has already been noted by her feet. She can't place it -- can't find a reason for it. But it's definitely worth noting.]

[She lets a smirk slide up. Dealing with this man is like dealing with the high society her parents used to entertain -- keep a confident face and the cards to your chest.] Actually, I invented it. This should be good practice.

Are you going to be there too? Since it sounds like you're an expert?

[Careless accentuation of the last word. Two can play at the game.]

[pushtheboundaries]

Most of my time is taken up by the university. But I help out. [rude, small child. but then, he already knew that about her. still, he keeps his tone light- no reason to lie.] They're able to accomplish quite a bit on their own. The main thing they lack is experience.

Unfortunately, that's not something that can be taught.

[seismometrics]

They're pretty smart.

[And from Toph, this is high compliment. But it's honest. She likes Hiro and Tadashi. They've got some brains on them -- if some lacking of common sense on Hiro's part.]

Actually, though, experience can -- just takes enough rocks hitting you in the head.

[An idle grin.] Guess I'll find you lurking around, then?

[pushtheboundaries]

[he does not like a child playing games with him. he gets the distinct feeling Toph knows something; generally, he doesn't care for such, but when he knows that she is, in fact, capable of being a threat...

he makes a little 'hmh' noise, turning away.]

No more than you, I suppose; the university's open to all who care to learn. If you'll excuse me.

[and exit stage left, unless she's got something up her sleeve to try and interrogate him further]

[seismometrics]

[She won't. She doesn't know anything, really -- only that his heartbeat and breath had shifted. This man has something he's anxious about around her . . . though her attempts at poking him haven't yielded anything but the fact that he's a little stuffy.]

[But he's a mystery she'll be encountering again . . . and stuffy people can be fun to mess with in their own way.]

[Toph bites into a glob of her cake again, watching him head off with seismic sense until he fades off her range entirely.]