[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

[unetrustworthy]

Surprised by the sound of her own name, Midii jumped.

Any other time, and it would have been a nonissue. But, loaded as her arms were at the moment, that final jostle was enough to send...just about everything crashing to the floor. Including Midii herself.

"Ah!"

[jinzhong]

Aw, jeez.

Jackie scrambled to help her, first going to help Midii up off the ground. "Are you okay?"

[unetrustworthy]

Fortunately, she landed on her rear.

Unfortunately, said rear then had to slide down another two hard steps before reaching the bottom of the stairs. She winced in pain, reaching around in an effort to sooth the bruised area, as she glanced up at Jackie.

"I...think so?" A weak smile appeared. Within seconds, most of the shock had dissipated, and even some of the pain had already faded. "You startled me, is all."

[jinzhong]

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said with a weak smile. "Come on, let me help you get your stuff all up off the ground."

[unetrustworthy]

She shook her head in return, and moved to stand. Jackie was already collecting some of her things by the time she made it to her feet.

"It's alright. I should have been paying more attention to my surroundings. I guess...I was a little lost in thought."

Something particularly notable because it didn't happen often.

[jinzhong]

"Heh, it's okay. Everything all right?" he asked, handing the remote back to her.

[unetrustworthy]

A nod this time, as she examined the remote for any signs of damage. None could be found at a glance. Fortunately. If she were to break it now, she would have no way of knowing how to fix it.

"I was just thinking about how long I've been here. How many birthdays I've celebrated since then."

[jinzhong]

"Oh yeah?" he asked. "How many? You've been here longer than me, right?"

[unetrustworthy]

She tried to remember when she first met Jackie. Almost certain that he was right in claiming he'd arrived long after she did.

"Well...when I was brought here, I was still eleven. And I turned fifteen today. But then there was the year we all spent in Dreaming, so...I'm not sure if that one counts or not."

[jinzhong]

Jackie blinked then. "You came here when you were eleven?" That was insane to him. He'd only been here a couple of years, after all. Midii had been here for four years!

"Are you counting that year, too? I'm counting mine." He made a face. "God. That means I'm gonna be thirty."

[unetrustworthy]

Literally twice as old as she. Not that it mattered much; most of her friends were much older. In fact, there had only been a fair few over those last four years that had been close to her age at all....

"I suppose I should. It didn't feel like a whole year at the time, but you can't argue with the calendar." It was the closest thing to irrefutable proof of her age she had, given the minor time discrepancies between her world and this one. "And, yes, I was eleven at the time. But I wasn't the only one. There used to be more kids around."

[jinzhong]

"Yeah, I remember," Jackie said. "I mean, when I came here, there were more kids. But, uh, there's still some people your age around here, right?"

[unetrustworthy]

Her eyes lowered. A sheepish shrug followed.

"Kedan children, maybe. But I don't talk to them that often."

[jinzhong]

"Really? I thought I saw some kids here, like, foreigner kids." He shrugged. "Anyway. What'd I make you drop? Hope it's not broken."

[unetrustworthy]

Another shrug. She wasn't saying there weren't any, necessarily. Just that she hadn't seen any for a while.

(Plus, ages were often difficult to discern. Even she, at fifteen, was still small enough to pass for younger.)

"No, I don't think so. It was a gift. A friend who was here for a short time and left. There was a note he must have written before, and it said he wanted me to have it if he ever disappeared."

[jinzhong]

"Oh." He looked at it askance.

"So what is it? Sorry about your friend disappearing, I mean."

[unetrustworthy]

"It's alright. I'm used to people leaving by now."

Surprisingly, she didn't sound all that sad by it, either. More like resigned. One of the many realities of living in this world was the constant coming and going of faces. If she hadn't been so good at remembering the important ones, she would have claimed they'd blurred in her mind after the first couple of years.

But they hadn't, and she could still picture them. Even now.

"It's a ship. Sort of. The controls here help me to fly it. I was just taking outside for another test run."

[jinzhong]

Jackie frowned, but he knew what she meant. People seemed to leave here, a lot. He wasn't sure if one day he'd wake up and not be here anymore.

Or, realistically, he'd just be dead.

"Cool. Can you show me?"

[unetrustworthy]

She could empathize with that train of thought.

"Sure. I was on my way to the park now. It's safer to try and fly it outside. You can come with me, if you like."

[jinzhong]

"That sounds like fun. You sure you don't mind?" he asked.

[unetrustworthy]

"Why would I mind?"

The words were already out of her mouth before it dawned on her. Jackie might not have known her as well as some...but he knew her well enough to ask. Because, once upon a time, she would have minded. That little girl who pretended to blend into the wall at social events. Who would sooner spend hours locked in her room, or hidden away. Both because of her introversion nature and, for a long time, because it was too hard for her to gain trust.

But no more.

"I'll only be a little while, anyway. I have some things I need to do later this afternoon."

[jinzhong]

Jackie shrugged. "Hey, if you're cool with it, I'd love to see the flying thing."

Jackie had been keeping to himself too often; he needed to start getting out of his shell, too.

[unetrustworthy]

With that settled, Midii did one last check to make sure she'd recovered everything before heading towards the main hotel exit once more.

"I hope this isn't keeping you from any plans of your own you might have had."

[jinzhong]

"What, me? Nah," Jackie said. "I was just gonna go out and run some errands, but they can wait. This sounds more interesting."

[unetrustworthy]

"I hope I don't disappoint, then." She let out a weak, self-conscious chuckle. "It's...not so amazing as it might sound. I'm still learning how to get it up in the air with enough control to fly it around."