tushanshu_logs | [Midnight Hotel] May catch-all

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[Midnight Hotel] May catch-all

Characters: Anyone, everyone.
Date: Month of MAY, 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!

The overtone in the Hotel this month is rather melancholy. Anton is back on full-time duty with his usual courtesy after the visitors have left, though he rarely smiles, unless looking at some particular pictures. There have been a few other notable changes.

For one thing, Anton will not wear his usual funeral-director’s suit this whole month. He will, in fact, wear colour. For the most part he wears a three-piece suit of understated purple, accompanied by various complementary shades in shirts and waistcoats. (It was a gift.) Occasionally he breaks out, grudgingly, a kedanese variant of a traditional three-piece suit, though admittedly still dark in tones.

For another thing, the tablet at the desk which habitually chimes with a perky voice is gone, but there are a multiple of photographs pinned to various places at reception (to say nothing of his private office). All of these photographs are of the same group of eight men—Anton included, as well as Erskine Ravel and Skulduggery Pleasant—in various states of handymanship, craftsmanship, and physical labour as they renovate a building (in various states of completion). None of the images are posed, and some of them have an air of wistful uncertainty, but others an air of unthinking camaraderie, where the laughter is free.

The third and possibly most noticeable change is that the resident janitorial cleaning faery, Erskine, has apparently moved out. It is for that reason that Anton is regularly not available in the late evenings, since someone has to check up on Erskine now he’s living on his own.

Other than that, the actual Hotel’s workings remain as normal. The restaurant begun in April is continuing with reasonable popularity, running a little more smoothly than it did in the beginning. There is slight tension in the kitchen, as some of the kedanese cooks work out the hierarchy, but it never reaches a point where Anton has to step in. Still, there are some jaundiced glares being thrown around the kitchen and dining hall.

Meanwhile, the sleeping-bags are packed up and stowed away, and the commons are returned to their usual states after having been appropriated for the giant slumber-party.

[ooc: The Midnight Hotel’s status page is available here, with the rules at the top. 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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Luke nodded, then grinned wryly; he thought he understood what she was asking.

"No one's figured out how to use hyperspace travel to cross any greater distance between two galaxies. We have two smaller companion galaxies, but they aren't visited much either."

That would be something, really... and then there was the nearly whole half of their galaxy that still remained mostly or completely unexplored by the majority of the galaxy (aside from, undoubtedly, the beings who made said unexplored part their home), which often featured in fictional adventures and tickled the interest of every child in the galaxy.

"No really. I lived on Tatooine for nineteen years of my life... though now that I think about it, I probably wasn't born there. And if things would've been different, I'd have been born on another planet, I think..." Rubbing his neck, Luke thought back to what his mother had said, and about her home planet.

He'd have to make sure to go there.

"I've been to more than ten planets and moons, but that's not a lot," he said with a grin, "my friend... and sister, have been to a lot more."

Luke brightened at the thought of being able to say 'my sister' about Leia; it felt so right, despite him not having known about it long.

"Your sister?" She's an only child. Forgive her. "Is she here?" Brigid asks, then blushes. "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that." Because it had been rudely inappropriate.

"But ten planets? I've barely been to ten countries on one planet!" So, don't downplay it too much, Luke. She braces her chin on her hand, listening to everything he has to say. "I don't think I'm quite cut out for the adventure thing. I had a hard enough time being on the other side of the world from my family." Pack, whatever.

"No, it's fine," Luke said with a chuckle, shaking his head, "she isn't." And by now, Luke both wishes Leia was here, and that she continued to be where she should be; at home.

"I just found out about it recently, actually... I've only known her a few years." He shrugged, and then laughed, though as he sobered up again there was a slight edge to his expression.

"I wanted to leave Tatooine for years. It's a desert planet, you see, and only the northern hemisphere is really inhabitable... and it's basically a criminal hole," Luke said, snorting, determinedly not thinking of all the other reasons that he would now prefer to stay away from his home planet.

At least for a while longer...

"And most of those visits were never long; we haven't stayed for long on any of the bases. Certainly not as long as I'd have wanted to in some cases... It's fun to explore. I don't have much family left, anyway, and I only found out about Leia recently."

And since she was right there with him usually, it wasn't like he had to choose between planet-hopping and Leia.

She grins. "So you're not the Indiana Jones exploring type?" She teases. "Meaning, dashing here and there, saving the girl, and finding something new and interesting to take to the museum back home?" Maybe she should see if she could find the Indiana Jones movies. They're good fun sometimes.

Now she's just teasing him.

"But bases? So you're military?" Her Da had been military.

"I'm not gonna lie and say that wasn't what I imagined when I thought about leaving the farm," Luke said with a laugh, shaking his head. "And while I did sort of leave to try and save a girl, it ended up a bit more complicated than that."

A lot more complicated and a lot less fun than such adventures usually were portrayed. But it wasn't all bad, and he wouldn't give up Leia, Han or the droids and Chewie for anything.

"Sort of." What else was he supposed to say about it? But Luke was well-aware that the sort of 'military' the Alliance was wasn't particularly... legal. However necessary and right it otherwise was.

"What about you?" Luke smiled; it wasn't exactly meant as a redirection, he was honestly interested.

She laughs, as she's probably meant to. "Saving the girl is the important part." Talking to Luke is simple and easy, like talking to one of the other pack members. That's something to be grateful for.

"Me?" She shakes her head. "I just got out of higher education, and was packing to head home when I arrived here." She shrugs. "I'm the daughter of a military man and a stay at home mom. My uncle raised me when my mom died, and Da was still on a tour of duty. Then again, when my Da died in the line of duty. I went to higher education young, and am finally done with it. Bit boring, really."

"In that case it certainly was," Luke agreed with a grin, "though she wasn't very impressed with the attempt. That was when I met Leia." She was, after all 'the girl' in question.

"I guess there's some irony in being about to travel and ending up elsewhere than you planned to," he shook his head, smiling wryly, "I was raised by my aunt and uncle... and at least you're done and can use it however you want, now, right? Might be less boring, then."

He had to take a slightly deeper breath when mentioning his aunt and uncle, but otherwise it wasn't so bad... Three years later.

She smiles,a bit sadly. "Unfortunately, I doubt that being able to translate three languages here with a different language entirely will be of much use." Well, except to a couple people. Maybe.

"I was planning on going home and looking for a teaching position. Here? That might not be a viable option." Though, she's willing to teach hand to hand.

She doesn't say anything about the deeper breath, though she could hear it, along with Luke's heartbeat. No reason to frighten him.

"Well, maybe if there's other people from your planet, they might be interested in the languages you know, if you still want to teach, in some way," he said thoughtfully, frowning a little.

"But if that won't work out, hopefully there's something else you can do?" He'd had some trouble himself, since what he wanted to do and was best at wasn't exactly something that was available here... But he was used to both some variety of farm work and was a good hand with mechanics, and while they didn't have much of the latter here, there was still some.

"Several people spoke up on the network about being interested in having things translated into Gaelic, one of the languages I speak." She says, tentatively. "I'm not sure why, but I'll take it." Because she wants her degree to be useful.

"And I was a medical secretary for a while back home. Just not in several years. There might be some call for that." She shrugs. "God will provide."

Curious saying. Luke cocked his head but didn't ask, only nodding thoughtfully.

"You've got a place to start, then, and I know there's a medical facility in the... ah, Water district so maybe you could check with them if they need you?" rubbing his chin, Luke frowned. "Maybe you can even help them arrange things better, who knows?"

And even if not, surely there would be something; Luke wasn't doing what he might want to, or was best at, but it worked out well enough and gave some sort of income.

"In the Water district?" She supposes that makes sense, in some way. She really doesn't want to go back to medical coding, but she will, if that's what it takes to survive.

"I'll have to look. And I doubt I'll rearrange anything. I'm much better in an established system, than coming up with one of my own." Unless it's about translations. Then, she'll do her own thing.

"What do you do here?"

"I think I saw something about a hospital as well, so you may want to look about that too," he said with a shrug, "nothing too exciting yet, but I found some places that needed some maintenance done, so that gets me a little money at least."

Technically, he could probably have found something that paid a bit more, but a lot of them were still side-eyeing him for not being kedan and the rest couldn't afford much... so he couldn't help but want to help as much as he could. It wasn't as if he was starving and homeless, after all.

"While some parts of the city is little closer to what I'm used to, and I'm adjusting to the technology, it's not... really the same," Luke said with a grimace, running a hand through his hair. It wasn't so hard to learn it, but he still needed to do that.

She chinhands at him. "Super high tech, with teleportation, and people with powers?" She asks. She's only partially kidding, really. She expects him to be something out of a science fiction novel.

"Honestly, this is about what I'm used to. To find people with powers is... unusual." She is not going to mention her own powers. "People from my world are rather boring."

Blinking at her, Luke laughed quietly and shook his head.

"Not teleportation, no, but I guess the other two things apply if I'm at least comparing the level of most technology here to what we have. Though there's quite a bit of people with powers here I hadn't ever thought were possible."

Like the healing he's heard about, if not having had the chance (which was good) to see yet.

"Though I didn't know 'people with powers' was something that existed in the galaxy three years ago, unless you count what other species are capable of compared to Humans," Luke said, amused. He would really have no problem mentioning the Force and what he could do with it, if it came down to that.

"So, aliens have things humans would consider superpowers?" She asks. "Things like telepathy and telekinesis?" She's probably being horribly invasive, but she can't help but ask.

"I'm sorry, I just never thought to meet someone who knew things that we could only speculate about in fiction." She explains. "To know that there's someone out among the stars is... almost comforting?"

"Well, sometimes," Luke hedged, grinning, "usually they might be far stronger than humans... or have some way to communicate that makes it impossible to understand them and it'll seem like a special power. I'm pretty sure that's what people thought about Twi'leks before we learned about how they use their lekku... um, sort of fleshy tails they have on their heads, to communicate."

Shrugging, Luke considered it for a moment, but well. He didn't see any issue mentioning it since they were talking about it and this woman was in no position to really make use of it."

But there are some people that do straight up have those abilities, and it's got nothing do to with them being aliens," he said after a moment, meeting Brigid's gaze, "I found out I can basically do that myself a few years ago."

He hadn't known about the telepathy, no, and he would rather not think too deeply on it, but he now knew it was possible. The fact that he'd been able to contact Leia in that way as well as hearing Vader was reassuring. It wasn't restricted to just one person.

She listens with interest as he talks about other races of beings that she has no chance of meeting. She wants to know all the stories. All of them.

But then, he admits to having those abilities. Her hearing picks up no deception in his heartbeat. "You have telekinesis and telepathy?" She asks, curious and not at all judging.

She reaches for a pen and a piece of paper. "How did you find out you had it?" She asks, curious. 'If you don't mind telling me."

"Oh, it took a while, even after I was told about what makes it possible to do those things," Luke smiled faintly, shaking his head, feeling a lump in the pit of his stomach. It came from thinking about Ben and his first few lessons, about a few weeks ago, both Leia and Vader...

"I'd barely realised I could use the Force to sense the world and other beings around me, but it sort of got suggested, the telekinesis. I can lift pretty large things, now."

Letting out a soft breath, Luke's gaze went a little distant.

"As for the telepathy... only a few weeks ago. I needed help, and no one was close enough. I didn't really think about it. My sister heard me."

Brigid isn't an idiot. She knows that sometimes, she gets super invasive. She can't help it. This is history - even if it's personal - in the making. Maybe she can take some of her thoughts home with her?

But she realizes that she's pushing too hard.

"I'm sorry. That couldn't be easy for you to recount." She's not trying to bring up bad memories. "You can tell me I'm being too nosy, if you wish."

"It's all right," Luke said, shaking his head as he sort of refocused and looked back to Brigid, "if I really wouldn't want to tell you, I wouldn't. It's getting easier to think about it."

And it was, even if it also still was a bit of an aching spot and probably would be for a good while yet.

"But no, it wasn't easy either." Of course, he hadn't really told Brigid what had happened at all, which was probably obvious. Frowning thoughtfully, he shifted off the bed.

"How long did you work with your translations, anyway? Dinner?" Offering a hand up, Luke smiled; it was around the time dinner would be available for the Hotel's residents, he was rather sure.

"Is it dinner time?" Brigid asks, blinking a bit. "I didn't think -" She glances at the clock between the beds. "Oh." Apparently, she had worked that long.

She takes his hand. "I'd love dinner. You'll find I get lost in translations a lot." She scoots off the bed and follows him to the door.

"Honestly, you'll probably find that I translate more than is humanly possible."

"There's worse things to be doing with your time," Luke says, amused, letting her exit the room before him and closing it behind them. "And it's important to you and your family."

Hardly a bad thing to be focused on, and even if they've only had one conversation so far, Luke feels like this is going to work out rather well.

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[Midnight Hotel] May catch-all

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