Surprise! Elephant!

[npcz]

{Conrad Hotel Basement party thread!}The headwaitress at the Conrad hotel has seen an awful lot in her time working there. Angels, demons, shapeshifters, elementals who weren't aware they were elementals, and, on one particularly notorious occasion, an elemental who seemed to only be able to work with balsamic vinaigrette

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[magelet_daine]

Something had happened upstairs. Daine knew this, because she suddenly felt a very distinct People presence. But upstairs was the nice hotel, the area where all the "normal" people were, and unless there was obviously something wrong (there didn't seem to be), she thought it was probably best if she stayed downstairs.

And then the waiters came. And said there was an elephant in their restaurant, which meant People, it had to, so she was in the elevator in a flash, bare feet and all.

Daine doesn't want free food. Well, she will, eventually, but the elephant will be much more interesting. Whatever an elephant is.

When she reaches the restaurant, she just gapes for a moment, and completely ignores the headwaitress and any other staff who might be trying to shoo people along. "Oh, but you're beautiful," she says, walking up to her.

Unless someone comes up to get her and drag her back to the party, she'll probably be up here for a while.

[howmuchisfate]

Shilo is somewhat bemused over the sudden appearance of food in the basement lobby. Even more so by the explanation for the food. "Did they say elephant?" she asks the squirrel that's been following her around more or less since she met him in the park with Daine. She doesn't really expect an answer, not that she can hear, but it's better than talking to herself.

After poking at the food for a bit, she notices that Daine's not there, and... well, it's not too hard to guess where she might be. So Shilo heads upstairs to find this restaurant where the elephant appeared, Leapsfar on her shoulder.

It takes her a little exploration, but eventually she hits on the right room, and... "Whoa." They were not kidding. She barely notices Daine at first, her eyes fixed on the not at all metaphorical elephant in the room.

Leapsfar, making good on his name, tumbles off Shilo's shoulder and runs across the floor toward Daine and the elephant, before Shilo can catch him. Shilo squeaks a little. "Be careful! It might... step on you..."

[magelet_daine]

The elephant shifts a little, her gaze moving from Daine to Shilo, and obviously intelligent even without Daine's influence.

You may tell the small one that I do not make it a habit of stepping on creatures smaller than myself, she says politely. You should perhaps teach your herd to be more intelligent.

Daine blushes a bit, and looks over to see Shilo, which prompts a grin. "Oh! It's you!" Leapsfar clambers up her pants leg and settles happily on her shoulder. "And how are you finding two-legger living?" she asks him.

It's very nice, he replies. She gives me lots of food. And it's warm. I like it here.

Daine giggles a bit, and glances back to Shilo. "She wanted you to know that she won't step on anyone."

[howmuchisfate]

"It's a she?" Shilo asks, moving cautiously closer to the elephant with obvious fascination and no little bit of awe. It's a white elephant. It's nothing if not impressive.

She stops just a step or two behind Daine, and smiles a little. "What's- what's her name?"

[ducttapewarrior]

Michael's made a habit of moving back and forth between the Conrad and the Kashtta depending on circumstances, the mood of the locals in either place, the phase of the moon... He happens to be in the Conrad basement when an elephant decides to appear upstairs.

After watching the hapless kitchen staff deliver their surprise lunch - standing, all the while, in an out of the way corner of the lobby - Michael saunters over to the tables, glancing over the contents with a bemused smile.

"Are we sure the elephant isn't just a confused person?" Hey, he came from a place where there was a pretty good chance that wanderers got turned into shapeshifters when they came through. It's a valid question.

[mustardwithat]

"Fuck. That would be hilarious." Fritz picks through some stuffed mushrooms, plucking one out of the pile and popping it in her mouth. "Noffo mucher poo bahstuh."

Do you speak rude angel, Michael?

[ducttapewarrior]

Michael quirks an eyebrow at her. That's about the only change in his expression. ...He's not very expressive.

"You know, I speak about twelve different languages with varying degrees of fluency. That's not one of them."

[mustardwithat]

She swallows and licks her fingers. "Only twelve? Well, I s'pose that's impressive and shit for a human. You're human, right? Fuck, that would be embarrassing."

She likes you, Michael! ...be afraid.

[changingtheodds]

Ruvin doesn't much feel like a party. She watches from the hall that leads to the rooms, her expression closed, almost vacant. She's tired--three nights out of four she wakes up from nightmares about the CLF. The fourth night she wakes up when she turns fuzzy by accident. She hasn't been talking much, to anyone, and has been trying to avoid people in general. Particularly Dusty and Robin.

Her stomach growls, demanding that she take a portion of the food. Ruvin rubs her eyes and drifts over to the nearest table to see what's there.

[findaconstant]

Dan, as always, is fashionably late. Of course, had he not been scanning the area in the first place from the comforts of his room, he wouldn't have noticed the elephant and probably wouldn't have known about the food.

This new power of his sure is coming in handy, he thinks, while casually leaning against a nearby wall with a small plate of food that he's only really been nibbling on. To him, this is more of an opportunity to meet the people (and, uh, creatures) he's been watching for the past few weeks.

When did he turn in to such a social butterfly?

Since Ruvin is the person closest to him, Dan flashes her a friendly smile.

[changingtheodds]

It takes a second for her to recognize Dan from this angle, but when she does a smile breaks across her face before she even realizes it. Embarrassed, she looks down at her plate, half-full of unfamiliar looking dishes. Of course, she thinks, he wouldn't recognize her. This is an opportunity to ask him what he was practicing in the common room, but...

That requires talking. She picks at a the raisins resting atop some pile of goop that is, in turn, resting on a slice of bread.

[findaconstant]

That -

That's the kind of reaction that makes Dan get all awkward and blushy, so it's really a good thing they're not talking. There would be a lot of stammering.

So he clears his throat and focuses his attention back on his plate.

[clockwork_doc]

Doc was just passing through, intending on maybe finding someone who had something to do with the hotel and tell them about the possibility of problems with the locks. Hey, if it happened to Ricky, it could happen to someone else. He wasn't expecting to find a full buffet in the middle of the lobby. He stops for a moment and stares. Then, slowly, he makes his way over to see what they have. He's been living off sandwiches for the past few days, more or less. Some variety would be nice.

[rickynotmickey]

Ricky isn't about to turn down free food. He'd gotten his shower, which meant he was in a much more chipper mood. Relaxed, one could say. Which was quite a lot, saying what he'd been through lately. Although, really, the chipper tended to be a defense mechanism. Jokes to deflect

[clockwork_doc]

Doc looks over and grins. He wasn't expecting to see Ricky again so soon either, but hey, he's not complaining. "Oh, hi, Ricky. Finally got that shower, hmm?"

He continues looking over what was brought down, before grabbing a plate and some chicken. It smells absolutely delicious. "I know," he agrees, finding some veggies. "Apparently an elephant just appeared upstairs, so we get the food they already prepared." He shrugs, wondering when he got so blase to Chicago's weirdness that an elephant appearing in the hotel doesn't even faze him. "I was looking for someone to warn about the locks myself. You've got me wondering if yours was the only one that was broken." His still works, at least, but he has no real way of testing any of the other rooms.

[rickynotmickey]

"An elephant?" Ricky says, raising his eyebrows. With everything that's gone on, it's not the most unlikely thing he can think of. "Well, at least it didn't appear on top of the food, right?" His manners leave something to be desired as he digs in, but he'd never really been one to consider table manners to be the most important thing in the world. One could say that his manner-manners in general leave something to be desired.

"You'd fink," he mumbles, food still in his mouth. At least he manages to cover his mouth while talking. He swallows, continuing. "That it can't just be one. It just doesn't sense."

[clanoftheswords]

Farley does a double-take when Bernard mentions the elephant. Well, it looks like he hasn't seen everything after all...

On the other hand, food is food, especially when it comes from the restaurant - and it definitely looks like quality stuff. He moves towards the table, and begins examining the pasta.

[soldatceryi]

Ivan is appreciating this place more and more as the days go by. Not only free food, but occasionally, free very good food.

He's plating up some chicken and rice for himself, examining the steamed vegetables, and when he finishes with that he glances over at the pasta Farley is looking at.

"I think I should thanks this elephant," he remarks idly, stepping with his slight limp around to the fruit salad. "At least, it seems to have good taste."

[clanoftheswords]

"Indeed."

Farley glances over at Ivan, curious about what he is - Wanderer? Angel? Something else entirely?

The accent seems easier to guess - Russian, probably, something east European...

He goes back to the pasta - he'll start with a little, and if he wants something else, he'll come back for more.

"At any rate, it makes for an interesting change of pace..."

[soldatceryi]

Ivan nods. The man is a wanderer - he knows that without letting his wings out. And he's heard about the trouble wanderers are having with the outside world these days. ...really, it seems like they've had their share of trouble since the first ones stepped through. And as convenient as the basement is, he's not about to style it exciting.

"We live in interesting times," he says, sniffing at one of the pasta sauces. Then, as if to explain himself, he adds "but not the sort of interesting which is also, I think, something to be..." He pauses, hunting for a word. "Joined into."