Character Hotel

'Naw, see, that's still an easy problem.' the boy-ish looking creature says as he slips a hand into his pocket. 'Can't be more dangerous'n I am, after all.'

Tag and Johnson look at each other.

"What kind of armed?" asks Tag in a flat tone.

"And how dangerous is dangerous, no offense to you sir?" Johnson pitches in carefully, scooting away from the creepy boyish-looking one. "How much danger are those who can't defend themselves in? Is it a find-a-hiding-nook situation for them or a blockade-building one?"

"Or an 'oh god we might die in a fire' one?" Tag has a thoughful look. "That one might take a little brainstorming."

edited 17th Sep '10 5:25:44 AM by voiderofwarranties

Is this foe magical? If so, Violet might actually be of use - she doesn't realize it, but she has Anti-Magic powers. Oh, and she missed seeing Zaran come in.

As Violet arrived downstairs, she spotted Zaran and stopped. Horns, tail, hooves, glowing eyes - oh, no! The hallucinations had started up. She'd never seen a demon - or whatever that was - before, but people no one else could see, people with fangs who she could turn to dust by touching them, and once even a person turning into a cat.

Pretend you don't see it, Violet told herself, and came up to the others. "What's going on?"

Dealan, summary. It's the middle of the night. We were awoken by Noriko screaming, due to some sort of nightmare or hallucination. Now, it appears that some kind of foe is lurking in the hotel.

edited 17th Sep '10 8:22:24 AM by Ettina

Due to a time paradox, Fester never got caught in traffic and was only 7 kilometers from the last city when the storm got serious. He went back.

edited 19th Sep '10 4:24:02 AM by Dealan

"What kind of dangerous? You seem to misunderstand me."

Sassello could feel himself slipping but he couldn't stop. He had to warn them.

"This man is likely a trained killer, highly skilled. Don't ask me how I know this, I just do. If he catches you, he'll gut you and wear your organs like a hat. Trust me, he's more dangerous than you think!"

He finishes, vision wavering, breath ragged. "Please."

"I believe you." pipes up Tag. "It's just important to know what to do, right? Dealing with somebody with a gun is, like, different than dealing with somebody with a chainsaw or something."

Johnson, meanwhile, is somewhat suspicious. "How do you know all this, anyway?"

Zephyr had been watching for a while, just standing in one of the doorways, leaning against the frame with crossed arms. Not really trying to hide, but not seeing any reason to draw attention to himself either. He had just been up for a midnight snack, driven out of bed by the gnawing hunger that always seemed to walk hand in hand with alcohol. But as the man's comment reached his ears, he couldn't hold back a huff of skepticism.

"Now excuse me for interrupting this little chit-chat, but from experience I would say that our friend over here is on the right track," he made a wavy gesture towards Johnson "because when somebody says "don't ask how I know this", then from experience I'd say that it's time to do exactly that." He pushed himself away from the doorframe and strolled towards the group of people, allowing his eyes to sweep briefly over them before he turned his attention to the man who had first spoken of the alleged intruder. "Excuse me if I find myself just a tiny winy bit skeptical towards the entire situation, but it seems like you're very eager to sweep loads of questions under the carpet. How could you even see the man outside, let alone judge that he was armed - I can't even see three feet when looking out the window! And how do you know he's a killer... are you his target or what?"

Zephyr accompanied his questions with slightly exaggerated hand gestures, that looked quite comical coming from a man whose blond hair bristled out in all directions like an angry porcupine. Not that he cared that much, he hadn't signed any contract that said he'd look presentable when moving around during ungodly hours of the night.

edited 17th Sep '10 10:05:35 AM by Tachi

Wait a moment how did it get dark all of the sudden? Noriko's wrist watch said 2:11 PM, which unless it is still on Japanese time it shouldn't be dark enough for people to go to bed.

Rainar looks around at those in the room. To him most of these people would not put up much of a fight, except maybe the woman with the bandages. The man standing in the middle of the room seems like a normal person, but something about this man makes Rainar want to go and grab his dagger. Secrets kept in the dark only breed death.

"Pardon me for asking, but who are you exactly? Why should I believe there is a trained killer outside if the man telling me is a complete stranger? Why don't you sit down and tell us who you are and why you are here?" Rainar motions to an empty seat next to him. "I may be from the mountains, but I am not cold as ice."

Rainar tries to give smile but part of him is afraid. He has wandered in the wilderness for five years alone, but he has always been vigilant for predators. His fiery eyes were sharp as steel.

edited 17th Sep '10 11:04:59 AM by EldritchBlueRose

"That's not what I meant, but yeah, sure, let's go with that." the dour teen muttered.

"So to recap." Zaran said.

"Somebody seens somebody else outside, in the middle of all the darkness and snow, and seems to have a pretty clear idea about who or what it was and that it's somebody dangerous, but won't share the details. The whole thing seems a bit odd. Unless, ofcourse, the person outside was following him and he knew he'd appear here."

Still, she had to wonder, how did he know that there was somebody outside. Was he awake and just happened to be looking out of the window, or did he expect somebody to show up at a particular time?

While thinking about the matter she noticed a young-looking girl looking at her with a rather odd expression. Most of the time people tended to ignore things that didn't fit their worldview (the effect of which was easily enchanced with simple spells), but she seemed to have immediately noticed Zaran's true nature. Furthermore, while looking at the girl, Zaran felt something very strange. Demons are more sensitive to magic than humans (as they're naturally adapt at using it), and she could sense something unusual about this girl. It was not that she had an aura of magic, infact she seemed entirely non-magical. But not in the way normal people are non-magical. She seemed to be downright un-magical. Zaran tried to form this thought into something coherrent but couldn't quite grasp it. The bottom line was that this girl was odd.

There is a deafening THUMP against the entrance doors, shuddering throughout the lobby. Wooden splinters explode from the weaker facets of the frames — the doors themselves looking like they're going to cave in.

That irrationally primal fear grips Noriko, as she finds herself in cold sweat and her heart fearing to beat another beat. All her instincts tell her to run. But curiosity holds her in repose, and she just hides behind the the shoulders of the nearest person who can protect, Rainar.

The doors SLAM again — this time a battered black hand breaking through the door panel entirely.

Violet thought the hand crashing through the door was a hallucination, until she glanced around and saw that everyone else seemed shocked and afraid as well. So it must be real.

Surprisingly, she wasn't afraid. Something about that hand looked familiar. She remembered, as a kid, before she started taking her meds, sometimes her hand would feel like it was at two places at once. And when she looked at it, she'd see two overlapping hands - her normal one and a black one that looked like it was made out of shadow.

But then, that wasn't real. So what was going on here? Whoever was barging in must have a black outfit on, and be incredibly strong. She carefully backed away, ducking behind the front desk, out of sight.

Everyone went to bed, and were unexpectedly awoken. So it's middle of the night.

edited 17th Sep '10 12:43:35 PM by Ettina

The immortal boy was up from where he'd been sitting at the first slam, moving like water through a riverbed, or a snake through grass. From the confines of the bandages that covered his scrawny chest, he produced a small dagger, with a plain brass hilt and a leather-wrapped grip. He slipped over to the door faster than a normal eye would have been able to follow (but there wasn't exactly an abundance of those here, it seemed), and stabbed down at the wrist the hand was attached to. 'Hyarr!'

The hand writhed and flapped through the door's gap in pain, the knife jabbed onto it a motion blur. Its grotesque motion like a perversion of hummingbird's wings, trying to carve out more of the gap. Finally, it gives up, only to break down the entire doorway from its hinges.

As the doors toppled over onto the linoleum, there is the lone figure standing in the dark. Its obsidian, cracked, pus-filled skin contrasting with its white hair. The navy uniform it wears, faintly reminiscent of the military, covered in white snow and tattered with dirt, grime and blood.

And most of all its face, bent low with its white gaze far beyond Eternity's gate. The mouth froths, like a rabid dog who hasn't gotten a proper wash in months.

The knife protruding from its hand only serves to accentuate its inhumanity.

It bounds onto Tag, lightning fast almost like it had instantly teleported the distance, and thrashes the man over and over again with its mouth and hands.

Eos also has an anti-magic quality to her blood, just so you know.

Some sort of eldritch abomination opens the door, gets stabbed, and promptly tackles the person who'd attacked it. The fact that it clearly isn't a yeti or a human murderer of some sort makes Eos very, very tetchy, which bleeds into her sharp command: "If you are not a trained, confident fighter, go back to your rooms now. If you are, turn on the lights and close the door so I can shoot that bastard!"

edited 17th Sep '10 1:53:37 PM by Leradny

Biting out a curse, Johnson leaps forward to grab Tag (who's logically curled himself into a small ball, good) and drag him away.

"Run!" he hears himself scream just before a strong hit catches him on the side of the head. He goes down hard, and it's Tag's turn to attempt shakily rolling him behind an overturned table. Blood drips out the side of his mouth.

Zaran has no idea what that thing is, but it's clear that a) it is probably the thing that was lurking outside and b) it's clearly something very dangerous. She charges towards the creatures and delivers a jumping kick to it's side. It falls to the ground but immediately gets up. It turns towards her, looking straight at her, it's face twisted in an expression of boundless anger, and charges rigth towards her. Zaran extends her hands towards the attacker and channels the chaotic magical energies through her body. A glowing orb appears into the air between her hands.

"Chaos blast!"

The orb explodes outwards in a cone-shaped blast of fire, hitting the creature straight in the chest with enough force to send it flying backwards into the wall.

However, before she even has time to regain her composure, the being rises again, it's clothes scorched and body smoldering but with seemingly no injuries.

"Romanth! What is that!?"

Eos sighs and goes to the fireplace, which is closer, and throws a few logs onto the fire (just in case the lights go out again) before running over to the light switch and flicking it on. Now that she gets a better look at it, it actually looks more like a zombie.

She steals over to the side and aims for the head, hoping she won't need silver or iron to get rid of this. The iron-edged silver dagger is all the way up in her room. Then someone causes a magical explosion, which throws her off a lot.

"WARN US BEFORE YOU FUCKING DO THAT AGAIN!" Eos runs over to Johnson and Tag, who were the closest to the blast with unknown levels of magical resistance. Hopefully they haven't gotten burned too badly. Her first aid kit is also in her room. "Are you two all right?"

edited 17th Sep '10 2:20:37 PM by Leradny

There's a whisper of moving air, and Itou is there. The creature has almost reached this newcomer, and she had no time to calculate alliances. There was a dull thump as Itou caught its arm, the nanomechanical array that had been hidden under her shirt slid up her arm, sheathing it in a coat of dull gray.

Not that she needed it, of course. Her skin concealed a lot of machine besides the flesh. Things like enhanced muscles, strengthened bones and ligaments, the standard packet for a very rich mercenary. Adrenaline was coursing through her system as she tossed its arm back, smiling as a blade coalesced into her hand. It was straight-spined, razor-sharp, with a curving tip that gleamed from the light.

Dancing back and forth with it, she caught its blunt punches with ease, turning aside and slashing it with ease. There was a pistol back in her coat, but getting it while fencing would be too hard. It caught her shoulder with a dull thud, and Itou stumbled, kicking it under the chin as she rolled back.

edited 17th Sep '10 2:28:06 PM by Morgulion

"Uh, 'm 'kay." says Tag. Ow. Did he have to crash-dock the Abidance again?

Wait, no. Hotel, freak snowstorm, zombie attack, Johnson— wait, Johnson!

He doesn't look too good. He's reeling and his eyes are dull, and he's bleeding from his mouth. Uh oh.

"Johnson. Buddy. You okay?"

"I'm good!" Johnson replies. His eyes start to water. "Uh, did I hit on that guy's girlfriend or something?"

"No, we're in a hotel and that's a zombie attack." Tag replies patiently.

"It's all cool." He shakes and tears start dripping down his face. "I don' feel right."

"Okay, I'm fine, he's not." concludes Tag, voice cracking. "Er, don't tough his blood unless you've been immunized for somnus."

Panic broke loose. Rainar immediately grabbed his sword and faced the door. Be ready to throw the stone, the proverb reminded him. Rainar felt a warm breath on his neck, so he turned and saw Noriko. At first Rainar was amused that someone so tall would hide behind him. Then he noticed a single tear on her cheek.

Rainar remembered when he begun his journey that he was as scared as Noriko. However five years of wandering have hardened him. Rainar stood ready to fight if the creature came too close to Noriko, like the one time his sister was attacked. I must keep Noriko safe at all costs, thought Rainar as he stood with his back to the fire. I'd rather die so Noriko may one day see her family.

Damn lost track of time and plot ensued!

EDIT: fixed Italics! Edit2: Nevermind leave it bold EDIT 3: Why do I have to be a perfectionist?

edited 17th Sep '10 2:52:59 PM by EldritchBlueRose

Eos sighs, takes out a bandanna, and wipes off most of the blood on Johnson, being careful not to touch it with her bare skin. Then she hauls them up by their shoulders. "Come on, I'm getting you two upstairs. I need to get some things anyway."

"Thank you." replies Tag.

"I gotta stop getting rescued by awesome girls before mom starts yelling at me." Johnson murmurs, head lolling. "Wonder if Aunt Meg's somewhere around? Seems like her kinda party."

Eos sighs at the barely coherent babbling before she drags them both to her room and gives them each a potion. "Drink all of that, I'm pretty sure at least one of you has a concussion."

She gets out her shotgun, assembling and loading it in a few minutes, then grabs her silver-cored knife, the rest of her ammo, and what remains of her first aid kid before finally heading out the door. "Stay here until I or someone else comes to tell you it's safe down there."

edited 17th Sep '10 3:46:44 PM by Leradny

Damn, this is what happens when you actually get your shit together and do assignments and laundry. Plot happens.

Things happened way too fast for Zephyr to follow - from cozy tea party to a full developed attack by some creature that seemed to have escaped from some poor child's nightmare. The blond man dove sideways as soon as the door swung open the first time, instinctively seeking to get out of the way of whatever was on the other side. He watched the different guests of the hotel attack the dark creature one by one, though no one seemed capable of truly wounding it. In his mind he did a quick calculation of the situation, weighting the different factors to see which would be the heaviest. On one side it was obvious that the creature was way stronger than him, for Zephyr had no illusions about his own skills - he knew he was good for a human, but when it came to the paranormal then he was just that... a human. It seemed like there were plenty of people willing to throw themselves into the suicide mission of attacking the creature, and he decided that he would let them. He was just a tad bit too happy about his life to fight a battle with such bad odds. For a moment he considered simply slipping out of the room, finding Nettle, and then getting the hell out of there. But then a little voice at the back of his head, that sounded awfully a lot like Scarlett's, scolded him for his egocentric thoughts. If nothing else, then he could at least help the injured to safety.

Being careful not to attract the attention of the monster, he managed to dart along the periphery of the room until he reached the trio headed for the stairs. He moved up behind them, and slipped under Johnson's arm to support him with an arm around the waist. "Woah, easy buddy. Let's get you to safety."

Yeah, let's get the guy to safety. Somewhere faaar away from the fighting. It was their duty, right?

Nyargh too slow, ninja'ed. Damn you Leradny, for forcing me to write more!

Zephyr followed after the woman (the one Nettle had robbed - he still didn't know her name, come to think of it) up the stairs and to her room, where he watched from the door how she gave them each a potion. He wondered if she was a herbalist? He made a mental note to hook her up with Tan if the occasion ever rose. As she turned around he gave her a wry smile.

"You got any toys to lend to a weapon-deprived child? Sharing is caring y'know."

edited 17th Sep '10 3:46:21 PM by Tachi