[Midnight Hotel] November catch-all

[gistful]

Characters: Anyone, everyone.
Date: Month of November, 2015 (2016 in-game).
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 processes are chugging along in November. Some absences due to Foreigners leaving means that the Hotel employees are fewer, and while nothing changes in terms of services, things are a little bit hectic. For this reason, some of the kedanese part-timers will be more prominent—particularly at the desk and in the lobby, and keeping the peace.

There’s also that incident with Ravel becoming a bunny rabbit, which puts a little extra strain on the staff, having lost one of their own … temporarily.

The kedan who know Anton well are tiptoeing around him a bit this month. Some of them witnessed him with China at the masquerade and there are some rumours going around the Hotel that the proprietor has a squeeze on the side. Those who actually mention it inside his hearing find out quickly not to do it again, and even on good days he’s tense and almost grumpy. The only times his mood lightens at all this month are when he has the care of the tiny white bunny Erskine’s become.

[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

[skeletonenigma]

A test. Hm. Did that mean Bakura would be more likely to take advantage of the favour in the future, or less? Skulduggery wasn't sure. It was, of course, always better to be safe than sorry, but he liked to think he was something of an optimist. A practical optimist, but an optimist nonetheless.

Skulduggery stopped alongside Anton. "Does China know about the deal?" he asked.

[gistful]

"Not as far as I know," Anton said grimly. "I imagine I would, if she did. No--the exchange with Bakura opened a crack China has unknowingly exploited."

Now Anton had to look away, studying the buildings across from him. "I went to her regarding her knowledge of you," he said quietly. "I made her understand what would happen if she used it against you. And she--she enthralled me, Skulduggery. She had me on my knees. ... She had the gist on our knees."

The worst part was the sensation of the gist raging almost free--save the tangles of China's magic.

[skeletonenigma]

They stood silent and still in the street, Skulduggery stiller than most - and not solely because of his lack of muscle. China. China Sorrows, the most beautiful woman in the world, a seductress, a manipulator, and a massive pain in the neck for anyone trying to deal with her.

She wasn't, however, stupid. Her self-preservation instinct was - usually - in full attendance. Gleefully enthralling someone she knew wasn't able to fight back was one thing, but she must have known Anton might tell Skulduggery. Had she become that complacent? Did Skulduggery's half-apology from when he was living take her guard down that far? Was she that sure she'd be able to get away with it?

Skulduggery forced himself to take a breath. Then another, and another one after that. Then, for good measure, a fourth. Only when the immediate red flare of rage had subsided did he bow his head.

"What did you tell her?" he asked, his voice quieter than it might otherwise have been in the midst of city bustle.

[gistful]

"I told her," said Anton with precise evenness, the sort he used just to make sure, "that if she used anything she knew against any Dead Man, ones here currently or in future, I'd kill her. And then I'd kill her again when she came back. She knows about Erskine, too."

He hesitated, and didn't quite duck his head but quite obviously didn't look Skulduggery's way. "I broke her wrist."

He'd threatened her. Hurt her. But he'd gotten his point across, and found out more than he'd expected.

[skeletonenigma]

Ordinarily the inability to die in Keeliai wasn't something Skulduggery thought about very often. After all, he couldn't die anyway - or at least not very easily - so something that leveled the playing field didn't matter very much in the grand scheme of things.

Right now, the idea that someone wouldn't actually die when killed irritated him.

"You broke her wrist," Skulduggery repeated. The thought mysteriously made him want to laugh, which was why he lingered on it. It helped. "What has she done since then?"

[gistful]

"She danced with me," said Anton, aware as he spoke how mundane it sounded. "She claimed she hadn't done anything--that she wasn't doing anything, at the time--but I could not tell whether her magic was in effect or not. And she--"

Kissed me.

Barely even a kiss. A taunt, more than anything else. For a moment Anton floundered, unsure even as he did why he should do so; but knowing that the words sounded indescribably petty compared to the actual event.