Happy February, folks! The hotel is chugging along as it always does and nothing really seems that out of the ordinary, actually. Mr Bennet is at the front desk as per usual, greeting new guests, checking out old ones, generally being mediocre at his job but there's something a little... off about him this morning. A little more Springtime focused. Is it the suit? No, no, that's the same as it always is. Is it the face? No, Mr Bennet's face is unable to be perceived by eyes as per usual. No, it's the —
The bunny ears?
HOP TO IT
It seems Mr Bennet has developed a pair of bunny ears and a tail overnight, but he's not the only one. Every staff member and guest of the hotel will find that they have grown a pair of animal ears and a matching tail when they wake up that morning. It's nekomimi time, y'all! But not just neko, characters will find themselves with all categories of ears and tails. Cats, dogs, rabbit, deer, fish. Whatever animal best suits the characters are what they'll find themselves sporting.
For all intents and purposes, these will be part of your characters bodies and real additional limbs. It will hurt if someone hurts them and they will bleed if someone cuts them. There will be some added bonuses as well as characters will also take on the traits of the animals they become. However players want to interpret this is up to them — it can be light like a cat person just being more aloof or heavy like a spider person having multiple eyes and limbs. Whatever is most fun for the player and most hectic for the character, of course.
This effect will last till the end of the month.
Of course, an additional note: For characters who already have animal ears and/or tails — they will either keep those ears and tails and develop more traits of that animal. Or they can become something entirely different for the month. Player preference!
ANIMAL CRACKERS
Mr Bennet has found this to be hysterical though so he has set up a stall in the main lounge that's advertising animal crackers. They're a little less cracker and more cookie though, and larger than the traditional animal cracker. They also come in all shapes and sizes. If you can think of the animal, you can have an animal cracker with it. There is a dog cracker. There is a whale cracker. There is a spider cracker. All kinds of things. Even fictional animals, like gryphons and dragons!
The only catch is — once your character eats the cracker they will become that animal entirely. This is probably tipped off by the bunny rabbit hopping around the lounge in a little hotel jacket, huh. Thanks Mr Bennet. The effect of these crackers will last as long as the player prefers and characters are free to eat another cracker and become another animal afterwards.
One thing though, as the animal, characters will still be able to speak in animal form. So there's that!
The animal crackers will also be available till the end of the month.
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caelumstaff) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
hotelcaelum2024-02-02 08:06 am
i
Even so, his catlike instincts leave him even more aloof than normal, and he gives her a wide berth, remaining withdrawn back on the pier, away from her. The distance makes him feel safer, more assured.
Even if it doesn't allow him to escape a question like that. Seriously... ]
Can't help you with that one. They say curiosity killed the cat, y'know.
[ His ears flick atop his head, his smile just a tad playful, though he remains on edge, as if he's expecting her to strike at any moment. ]
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Oh yeah? [Her chin slumps onto the heel of her hand as she watches him hesitate.] What happened to all that stuff about pushing beyond your limits? You only take gambles on stuff where you know the outcome? Kinda wasteful when you've got nine lives to burn through, give or take.
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No offense, but I do already know the outcome. If I decided to make you into sushi, you wouldn't have a prayer, so be grateful.
[ It's for her own good that he holds back, or something. He does still have his powers, though, so she can't lay finger or fin on him even if she wants to, so...okay.
Gingerly, he steps closer, before catboy-squatting down next to her. ]
I didn't know you missed my company that bad.
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It's illegal to hunt killer whales most places, you know. [She's got a bit of distaste in her for poachers, but it doesn't change the truth that banning something paints it with fresh allure for many people.
Even if he is being a mouthy little bitch, a little bit, she can only shrug at the accusation of missing his company.] Neither of us is the getting close type, so it makes sense our best option's just bumping into each other.
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Tail flicking back and forth, he watches her curiously for a moment, like he’s deciding whether to pounce or retreat, before answering instead. ]
How about when we bump into each other while we’re part animal? Pretty sure that qualifies us for friendship, you know.
[ He’s mostly just gauging her, to see how she responds. ]
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[Odette doesn't dismiss the proposal immediately, giving it a temperate response.
It's the kind of thing she might say to bait a companion's walls down or make someone trying to pull off a tough-guy act make a more tender slip. Just another chance for some dumbass to expose himself. Her tone remains mostly even as she responds, one hand lifted in a partial shrug.]
Sure. You know, past a certain point, go through enough out-of-the-ordinary shit and it makes a bond, right? That must be the kind of circumstance even a cat can tolerate.
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[ That is patently not true, and yet here he is. It's certainly the curiosity part of his feline instincts that keeps him here, engaging her, but there are other ways he could be exploring his curiosity, too. That it's funneled into trying to learn more about her stems from his own heart only.
...Which is gross and he would never admit it, but still. ]
That's about how it goes back in my world. [ There's no better time to bond than over extraordinary, nonsensical circumstances. ]
So how about we test that theory and you start by telling me why you're half fish?
[ Not as in, how she transformed, he assumes it was the same for everyone, but rather why that makes sense for her. Everyone's animal forms have kind of...tracked. ]
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Gonna save you the boring-ass pedantry, but whales ain't fish. And judging by the markings, these are the fins of what some countries call a killer whale. [Her teeth catch the fake-sun coming off of the water's surface, glinting in a smile. Doesn't he think it's fitting? There aren't many people who question what killer whales have done to earn their name.]
... Anyway, I've lived on the sea ever since leaving home. Easy as. Are you thinking there's something more going on than that? [It's an honest retelling, even if it's a superficial one, rewarding his curiosity with truth. And she isn't about to insult his intelligence by believing for a second that he doesn't think there might be even more similarities there.]
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Oh, sure. And I'm a cat because I like tuna and taking naps in the sun. [ ...Both of those things are true, yes, but again — it's not as simple as that, and it's as clear to her as it is to him. Perhaps it's their similarities that make that so obvious. ] Sooo, killer whale, huh? You sound kinda proud of that. What do you usually hunt? Schools of little fish at the bottom of the food chain? Or something bigger?
[ She's free to take the analogy where she will, if she even takes it anywhere at all. He remains poised curiously with a hand tucked under his chin, gaze watchful and wary. ]
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interesting he should think that because dolphins are actually incredibly cruel]And 'cause you like licking your ass, sure. [Said ribbingly, but with just as much perceived truth as sunshine and tuna.
The thing about most predators - and the thing about Odette, it would seem, given the way she seems to operate as some monstrous force of nature, is that they exist as they are. As intimidating as they may be, they act as they are. It would be understandable for anyone to see Odette in the same way: someone that blinked into existence exactly as she is, too.]
Small fry ain't worth the effort, and you know it. I'll go after whatever I gotta, but I'm not the kind who talks a big game about beating up something that can't fight back. [He should understand the difference between not gloating about beating the week and flat-out refusing to do so.] Been dealing in some precious cargo, so I made a lot of enemies.
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What he’s more keen to ask about right now, though, is: ]
“Precious cargo”? Ah – don’t tell me. Are you a pirate? I could totally see you being a pirate. And not just because of the “killer whale” thing.
[ She has the air of someone who probably has some shady dealings, but that doesn’t bother him. Whatever her line of work is is her own business, and everyone has their reasons. ]
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Swing and a miss, but you're lucky I ain't so easily insulted. I'm captain for a shipping gig: I kill pirates.
Most of 'em, anyway. [Big-voiced, but not overly boastful. Like most of Odette's determination, this probably doesn't come across as bluster. If she has a reputation, then it's one she doesn't feel any need to defend. In short: Purely earned and up to anyone's opinion.]
[The business itself was always on the up-and-up, but the cargo stored in the hold had far more varied origins. Maybe "smuggler" fit better, but it isn't a word she's mapping onto herself any time soon.]
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Sooo, what, you're a cop? Pretty sure the opposite of a pirate is a cop. [ no it isn't ] Or some kind of vigilante, but most of the time that sort of thing is kinda frowned up. I can't imagine your work ethic being anything but upstanding and moral.
[ His words are so dry they're practically flaking away. Someone trying to stop piracy would probably just arrest them, but killing them means she's probably less of an enemy and more of a rival. ]
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Not a moral or upstanding thing about me, but I won't hear shit about my work ethic. I didn't start out a snot-nosed scared kid for nothing.
[It's normally a little difficult to tell just how much Odette is bullshitting. She's breezy and laughs off plenty of the things she says, then can be disarmingly guileless the next moment - almost like she orchestrated the fall of her own barriers, if only for a moment. This, however, might be something she's put no bullshit into at all.]
Pirates bark at our ships, they're gonna get bitten. That's just how it is.
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A scared kid, huh...? He knows a few of those, and how they turn out without the right kind of guidance in their life. Given his unique perspective, that tells her more about herself than she might realize. ]
So, you're the type who looks out for yourself first and foremost...that's a relief. I'd be pretty disappointed if you were the type to throw your life away for any old thing. [ That's just a waste. ] But if you have a ship, you must have a crew too, eh?
[ Honestly, they could be either purely professional employer and employees, or forged-in-fire found family. Either seems entirely possible, with her. ]
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Hah... well. Any worthwhile sailor's got a crew. I'm kinda in between voyages right now - why else do you think I could afford a vacation like this? When I get back to it, I'm sure I'll find a group to rival my original guys. [It's difficult to lament lives that were lost fighting a good battle by men doing something they loved, but it still feels a shame that only so much of fate's hand can twist.]
You gotta have nerves of steel out there, especially when you've got enemies. Think you could cut it, meow mix? [She thinks his nerves are certainly something; that much has been proven time and again. Besides, cats are incredibly useful for hunting down vermin.]