[Midnight Hotel] January catch-all

[gistful]

Characters: Anyone, everyone.
Date: Month of January, 2016 (2017 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!

As with last month, the Hotel’s wards are under stress owing to the fog. The effects are more pronounced in January; water temperature, in particular, fluctuates, and the staff will find it necessary to find a different way of disposing of the Hotel’s rubbish due to the incinerator being put out of commission. The doors still only exit onto Central.

Likewise, Anton is off his feet making sure the wards don’t fail altogether, but at least the work has made him too busy to dwell on the things that had been eating at him for the past few months. Even after the swell takes the turtle off the reef, most of Anton’s time will be spent repairing damage to the wards and making sure utilities are up to snuff as soon as possible.

Even still, the doors’ ability to access multiple sectors will remain offline for the remainder of the month, making it two months in a row that the Hotel’s access has been limited to Central.

[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

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis sighed. That was the question that had been lingering in the back of her mind since she had claimed the sword.

"If you believe certain parties, it is because I used to be one. But the sword called to me at Evidet and is tied to my soul in some way."

[edgeoftheknife]

He wasn't sure if the name Evidet meant anything. Probably someone had mentioned the word somewhere along the line--maybe when he'd been over at the Welcome Center and Jack had been trying to explain things, not so long ago. Erskine couldn't keep any of that stuff straight.

That wasn't the important part, anyway. The important part was--

"You were an angel?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis' eyes narrowed for a few heartbeats, "According to certain parties, yes, I used to be an angel before my soul was shattered and..." she stopped, her hesitation clearly evident as her features softened.

"I suppose there isn't much use denying it, no matter the injury to my pride." She sighed, looking down and crossing her arms. "Once upon a time my name was Meira, I know that, but I don't remember a life before becoming Valdis."

[edgeoftheknife]

Meira. God, that hadn't been all that long ago and he'd nearly forgotten. The memory slid neatly into place now that Valdis had jogged it, and recognition flared briefly on Erskine's face. "So you used to be Meira, and Meira was an angel? But you don't remember being Meira." He paused, thinking back a moment. "How does a soul get 'shattered'? And what do you mean, 'certain parties'?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis sighed, "Right before I was summoned here from my own world, I was in the midst of a battle with the Archdemon Lord Amos. He claimed that he was my creator, that it was he who had broken my soul. Then he said he wanted to help, an offer which he followed up with the claim that my power had diminished over the years. Naturally, I tried to kill him for such outrageous insults."

That was perhaps a bit more information than Erskine needed, but she hadn't shared these facts with anyone before.

"He was perhaps correct about my power, but he was lying about having been the creator of my species."

Hopefully he wouldn't notice her deliberate avoidence of the first question.

[edgeoftheknife]

The extra information actually helped, insofar as it distracted Erskine from the initial question he'd asked. He still wasn't used to the idea of Valdis withholding information from him, anyway, and it didn't occur to him right away that she would be avoiding certain parts of the conversation--or at least not for any reason other than because the answers might be painful. That he could certainly understand.

Valdis, it seemed, had come to occupy something of a blind spot in Erskine's mind. At least it was a pleasant one.

"Your species?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis looked at him, her eyes wide for an instant before she relaxed and raised a brow.

"You mean you don't know?"

She tipped her head, decided that she had asked a stupid question since he obviously did not, in fact, know.

"People have had many names for my kind over the years. Bargest, Grim, Black Shuck," she continued, "But the most common term is Hellhound."

massive spoilers for the SP series through book 8

[edgeoftheknife]

For a handful of heartbeats after the question Erskine froze, wondering if he'd forgotten something so important. Valdis was his best friend on the turtle, aside from Anton. Had she told him all of this already? First Meira, now this--

No. Surely he would have remembered Valdis being a Hellhound. He knew she was a shapeshifter of some sort, and the Queen of Hell bit had stuck in his head for months now--possibly because it had come along during the same conversation in which Valdis had tossed water at him like an ornery cat. He hadn't forgotten this. They simply hadn't ever talked about it before.

Some friend he was, right?

"So you're a former angel, now a Hellhound, and you have a sword forged by angels that repels darkness." A pause, and then Erskine smiled wryly. "Erskine Ravel. Sorcerer, politician, former soldier, and traitor. Nice to meet you."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis sighed, hiding her frustration. She understood that he had been broken, but it felt as if no matter what she did, Erskine would never get any better. But she smiled when he did.

"You forgot Queen," she quipped and then tipped her head, "Although I kind of quit that job."

After a pause, she giggled and held out her hand, "That's quite a few titles, can I just call you friend?"