T - Jenn, Nako, Xenon, Bee, Lucca

[Bee]

The prospect of wandering about such a subtly off-putting, though lovely, place gave her more than a few misgivings. Part of her wanted to retreat to the room and try not to leave, but she had a sense that staying still was going to be even more difficult than moving about. And what was the point of being on an adventure if she wasn't going to do any adventuring? Besides, she was much more able to ignore the things that unnerved her when she had much more pleasant things to do and think about.

"Oh yes," she said. She debated whether she wanted to stay close enough to rest of the group or not, but that really wasn't the point of adventuring either, was it? This was about doing something exciting. And she felt safe with Sophie around. She pointed down a random hallway. "That direction looks as good as any."

[The Jenn]

Duty to her host concluded, Donnie debated her next action. She could go and catch dinner at a reasonably normal hour, but she wasn't finding herself overly hungry. She could go and relax in her room for a few hours, but then she would probably fall asleep and be up for most of the night. She could...

She could take a bath. The thought made something in her perk right up. An establishment such as this should be set up to cater fully to its guests. That would include excellent bathing facilities, if the general decor and quality of the building seemed to be any indication. Something classy, with a big tub she could sink her biped form into... oh yes. That seemed exactly what a full day of traveling called for.

An inquiry at the front desk directed her to the second floor, where she was delighted to discover a series of baths suited to various shapes and sizes. And numbers, from the looks of some of them. She missed her King for all of two seconds before heading towards the biggest tub she could find. The antique handles for the faucet felt cool in her hand and she closed the partition behind her, shedding her human form for comfortable fur.

Then she went to rummage around in all of the bottles in a nearby cabinet. There were bubbles, oils, salts, powders... fucking gorgeous. She even recognized one of them as distinctly Yarrow, and there was a warning on the damn thing. Hah. She grinned and debated with herself before digging around a bit more.

[carcinoGeneticist]

If Sophie knew what a big step this was for the Canine, she would have beamed with pride. As it was, she beamed with excitement. Relative excitement, of course, as her levels of energy were not quite the same as most children her age. All the same, there was an extra bounce in her step and a glimmer in her eye as she whirled to make her way deeper into the building.

The bottom floor would certainly house a restaurant, some rooms, maybe even a conference room. The second floor... Sophie's ear twitched, and she heard her mother discussing something with the woman at the desk - ah, yes. Baths. "Maybe later we can look at the baths?" Sophie offered, glancing at Lyr curiously. She placed one paw on the stairwell, glancing up.

Second floor, baths. But there was another landing that she could see. Her ears perked up. "Third floor...?"

[Lucca]

Finished with the letter and his idle searching of the desk (which, sure enough, had yielded nothing of merit other than an outdated tourist book, more parchment, and a few candles), Graeme got up, still feeling uneasiness gnaw at him. He crossed to the bed and it felt like it took far longer than it should have to do so, the large areas of empty carpet messing with his head. He frowned and shook it fiercely, sitting on the edge of the bed. The only question was, what now? The same weird feeling that had compelled him to look in the desk soon had him poking around the bed, lifting up pillows and looking underneath up at the wooden slats.

Oh, that was it! He needed to get out of this room before he drove himself nuts. "What sort o'second rate place is this to begin with?" he muttered unhappily to himself, fuming silently and kicking the pillow back into place. "Why make a room so big when there's nae but a wee bit o'furniture in it?" He frowned, not really feeling any better now that he'd yelled into the silence. He was only making himself into a fool. Rubbing at his temples he took one last, angry look around the room and stomped out.

[Nathalia]

Donnie seems to have unearthed something...strange in with the bath things...
Huh, odd.

Old Dusty Vial: This old vial is corked with lead and seems to contain some off-grey powder...wonder what it is or what it could do?
The entire jar tingles a little to the touch and it smells a little like dried ink...strange.
Why is that in with the bath salts?


~Nathalia

[Nathalia]

((Something near Sophie's foot seems to slowly fade into existence...a small mask made of twigs cleverly woven together.
It's actually quite pretty. Doesn't seem to do anything though, it would look very nice on a small-boned, tiny girl.

The night after their searching will be uncomfortable and awkward, though the morning; steel-grey and chilly, will come fast enough.
Another carriage awaits to take them to the house of the Mayor...good luck.))


~Nathalia

[The Jenn]

That didn't look like a bath salt. Donnie raised the little vial curiously, noting the dust caked around its stopper and smeared with the faint grime of age across its glass. It looked old. And it felt...

Well. It felt interesting. Magical, certainly. She wouldn't have opened it if someone paid her, but she was of half a mind to take it with her and have someone else investigate the thing at a later date. Debating with herself, she lightly sniffed it and couldn't place the smell for a moment. Then it came to her, ink, just like she had used a few moments ago. Bizarre. She set the little thing on a nearby marble counter and found herself a far less enigmatic salt for her bath.

Roughly an hour and a half later, the Queen felt sufficiently pampered, pruned, and almost pickled from the delicious-smelling salts. She removed herself from the tub with some reluctance and half-heartedly patted at her fur with towels. Then she resumed her human form, shed her clothes, dried off more thoroughly, changed to biped, and then changed back. Immaculate again. Hah. Magic was novel, sometimes. No wonder this form was such a good conductor for so many spells. So convenient. Just odd-feeling sometimes.

She regarded her little find from before and decided to tuck it in a skirt pocket. If the inn had placed any real value on it, or even known of its existence, it wouldn't have been mixed in with the bath salts. And she was a curious sort of woman.

Time for dinner, most definitely. She strode through the eerily silent halls, repressing feelings of unease, and returned to the main floor. There she proceeded to patronize the establishment, asking for and receiving a lovely little cocktail and some fresh Selkie rockfish. Mmm. She didn't like the feelings she was getting from this place, not at all, but there wasn't really anything she could fault them for. Just the general atmosphere. It made her skin prickle.

[Lucca]

Graeme spent a bit of time wandering around the (almost empty) Inn, poking his bill (or, more usually, the end of his cane) into whatever corners and nooks he could find. He found nothing of interest, to his mind, mostly just a lot of cloths and misplaced pens and things left behind by previous guests. Oh, and a lot of dust and lint. But at least it passed the time before dinner and kept the odd, prickling feeling away. It really was strange that there were so few staff. Almost eerie. He was inclined to yell at someone about it, but he couldn't even find the manager of the place.

His office (or what Graeme assumed to be his office) seemed as dark and empty as the rest of the building. "Utterly ridiculous," he muttered to himself as he gave up and went down to dinner. He sourly ordered something, and when it came back luke-warm he finally snapped and gave his poor waitress an earful. "And just where IS everyone? Nae a single person i'th'whole place!" He shouted furiously, waving his cane at the poor woman. Of course, partway through the tirade, the Queen entered the room, and Graeme apologized and resumed eating the replacement meal that was almost too hot, his wariness around nobles letting him get a handle on his temper. Much better.

[Nathalia]

((McDuck seems to have stumbled upon something wrapped in cloth and hidden in the top shelf of the dresser...

White Jade Lamp: This lamp lights at once when so much as
brushed with an odd light that sucks the definition out of the area 20
feet around it. Everything becomes oddly blurred and things closest to
it almost seem to vanish into the background.
The lamp itself is carved from a nearly translucent material that
feels like cold stone, but shines like an opalescent stone. About the
size of a Human hand and shaped like a Beta fish, it's really quite
beautiful.
The lamp does not need to be plugged in to function and will light
once a week at its owner's command.
When lit, the area 20 feet around it loses its distinction and becomes
unreal and faded looking.
Anything directly touching the lamp becomes, not invisible, but almost
impossible to notice with how well it blends into the background.
The lamp will remain lit for a full 5 minutes each week.


~Nathalia

[Nako]

Well, Mikael had -attempted- to sleep. He hadn't exactly been prone to wandering as he'd wanted to, and rather kept to himself for at least most of the evening. He'd sent the paint brushes that needed cleaning discreetly to the girl's rooms.. just in case Sophie had any ideas that she was off the hook.

That eerie feeling. Ugh. He was feeling paranoid. He was sure he was starting to psych himself out. Or.. maybe he had a hole in his mask. Worriedly, he decided to set out to look for perhaps some wax or sealant, to go over the seams of his mask just to be on the safe side. If there were any drawers in his room, he'd be sure to rummage around in those before setting out in search of -something- to use. Huh. There probably wouldn't be anything in the bathroom. The kitchen? Probably not. Such things for upkeep could probably be found... in the attic.

There just didn't seem to be much staff available. Huh. Well, maybe if he just didn't mess with anything that looked expensive, they wouldn't mind if he looked for a sealant on his own, especially if the door to the attic wasn't locked. Upkeep supplies would be what he'd look for.

((Bleeearrgh school ate my soul D8))