-viola OOC: I guess I'll start? Also totally forgot that Andrea has a tattoo Watercolor phoenix on her back, a watercolor harley quinn tattoo on the side of her left thigh anda watercolor compass on her right wrist

It was lightly raining outside as Andrea was walking Riley. Mara wasn't home yet when she woke up but she knew that she would see the redhead sooner or later. With the light rain came humidity and Andrea planned on staying inside for the rest of the afternoon. Andrea's hair was up in a messy bun and she picked up a grey tank top, black shorts and her black keds. The motel was slowly coming into view and Riley desperately needed a bath since he walked into a muddy puddle. Good thing today was her day off and she hadn't planned out her day entirely yet. She turned her head around as she could feel eyes on her. The car that was pulling into the motel's was Mara's. Andrea watched Mara park next to her dad's hand me down of a dark red camry.

Andrea smiled and waved as the redhead got out of the car. "Did you just get out of work?" Andrea called as she started to close the distance between the two.

Mara looked over to her roommate. She shook her head as she went over to the trunk. "No. I left at two and I couldn't get back to sleep." Mara opened her trunk to reveal groceries, "So I bought food." She finished as Andrea reached her. Mara looked down to the muddy puppy and then back up to Mara. "Couldn't resist playing?" She asked as she looked back up at Andrea. She nodded, "Can you hold his leash while I go get a towel?" Andrea asked. Mara took the leash and stood near the door as Andrea took some of the groceries and let herself inside their room. Mara had worn what she wore to go into work, a dark green crop top paired with dark jeans, black combat boots and a black leather jacket. Mara looked around as Riley sat in front of her.

Their room had beige walls and had many bookshelves built by Andrea. Most of the books were Andrea's with Mara's few novels. Around the room there were white Christmas lights that they had on to add a warm feeling. In the corner there was a vintage screen that separated Andrea's filming area from the room. The screen was still used as a changing screen from time to time but for the most part it was a room divider. There were nerdy things around the room such as Pop vinyl's that Andrea collected. Their room was a vintage-esq type room and Mara didn't mind how the room was decorated. Andrea often had encouraged her to place anything she liked and she did but it wasn't much. Anything that had personal value to her was hidden away. As much as she was grateful to her roommate, she wanted to forget about her past and didn't want anyone to know either.

Andrea came back outside with a towel to wrap Riley in to give him a bath. She wasn't going to let him dirty the carpet.

The rain pattered lightly on the window as Jervis looked out, one hand planted on the glass as he stared through; on first glance you may think he was watching the sky, or gazing out across the landscape, but closer inspection would reveal his eyes were completed glazed and unfocused. He was miles and miles away, somewhere far different from the beaten-up old motel he'd found himself in. Somewhere with bright blue skies, a shining golden sun, and happy, friendly people who actually liked him. Jervis was an incurable daydreamer, losing himself in fantasy for hours on end sometimes, and now was one of those times. He was dreaming of a wedding, of leading his wife by the hand to a cosy little cottage that would just be theirs to share. The woman may be real but cottage - and the scenario - definitely were not. A small smile eased onto his lips and he blinked slowly.

Under the dreaming, he could still hear the buzz and whisper of other people's thoughts, a constant noise that never escaped him - a sort of psychic tinnitus. Food - dog - work - camry. The words slipped through his mind and vanished again unheard. They weren't important to him. Dirt - bath - carpet - towel.

The rain fell on and and he dreamed on, slowly leaning closer to the window until his entire weight was balanced on his one hand, a rather precarious position. It wasn't anything but inevitable when Jervis' hand slipped off the glass and he almost fell face first onto the floor before he managed to catch himself. He let out a yelp of surprise and then an 'oh no!' his sudden burst of shock activated his powers, sending something skidding off some surface to shatter on the floor. Not again. Jervis closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose, exhaling slowly. He really needed to get a handle on this telekewhatsit of his; he couldn't afford to keep replacing teacups or glasses or whatever it was he'd broken now.

Jervis turned on his heel and surveyed his room, searching for the broken item. Thankfully his room was rather neat, with a place for everything and everything in its place. There was two shelves full of books along the longest wall: some science and psychology books but mostly classics and fantasy, along with seven different editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel. Another shelf held a range of knick-knacks, mostly china ornaments clearly found in charity shops and some stuffed animals. There was a wardrobe, a dressing table with Tea and Cake's cage on top, a neatly-made bed (the covers were white with blue flowers, a lucky find at a yard sale), and the round table that held his tea-making set and a colourful array of teacups. And finally the bedside table with his lamp, glass of water, and copy of Lord of the Rings.

He eventually located the item - a small and rather ugly china dog had been thrown off his ornament shelf and now lay in pieces by his bedside table. Thankfully it wasn't one he was especially fond of. The paint job of that one was poor by cheap knick-knack standards, the sloppily applied colours combining with the blobby molding give the impression of melting ice-cream. If it were alive, Jervis wouldn't hesitate to give the wonky-eyed creature a mercy kill. No, he wouldn't be shedding any tears over its loss. The remains were scooped up and deposited in the bin without hesitation.

After that was done, Jervis looked around his room and sighed despondently. He was glad it was a day off for him, since he never enjoyed his work, but the bad weather had put a literal dampener on any plans he may have had for the day. And now here he was. How many hours had he lost to dreaming today? Two? Three? How much time had he spent skulking in his room alone, reading or just lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, instead of doing something productive? What a waste of a day. He really should get out more, maybe try and get to know the people he had found himself living amongst. It wasn't as if he was going anywhere else any time soon, after all.

Yes, he was going to leave his room and stay out. Jervis adjusted his favourite light green shirt and squared his shoulders, summoning up his courage, then headed towards the door with determined strides. Socialisation, meet Jervis Dodgson and prepare to be conquered.

By the time he reached the corridor and looked around some of his enthusiasm had already evaporated. Jervis looked up and down, left and right; he could hear the thoughts of his motel-mates like the songs of crickets outside, too faint and too many to make out anything meaningful. Maybe he should go back inside and read another chapter of his book... No! Jervis caught himself and shook his head. He couldn't go running back to his room like a dormouse into a teapot when he'd only just got outside. He at least had to try and talk to somebody before he wimped out and hid.

With fresh determination, Jervis headed down the corridor, aimed for who knows where.

OOC// - hello friend! I'll post now. sorry, life got hella hella busy.

BIC//

The second that Coventina had sensed impending rain, she had pulled off the light coverall that she wore around the motel and stepped outside. She didn't bother to lock her door - anyone foolish enough to go into a goddesses' room was either powerful enough to get through locks or too dumb to know not mess with her stuff, and therefore, easy to find and punish. Her bathing suit was simply there for the sake of modesty - she had gotten in trouble with the law a few times, before, and explaining that she didn't have a birthday, or social security number, or anything that would prove that she was a real person was... difficult.

(If she had had to break out of jail a few times, well, no one had to know. Everyone survived. There were only minor injuries.)

So she pulled on the straps of her bikini and rolled her shoulders back. She loved the rain; it made her feel like she was back home in the moors, with perpetual rain and fog rolling over her to fill her lungs with watery air. On days like this, where the clouds hung heavy in the sky with the promise of life-giving water, she tried to avoid ever going inside. Usually, she tried to go out to her pond, but it was getting dark, and she knew that if she wasn't back by nightfall that Nixie and those that actually knew her at the motel would worry. She was an indeterminately old being, for the sake of the Seelie court, with a ridiculous amount of power, which was only amplified with rain. She could take care of herself. But it did feel good to have someone care.

Instead of leaving the motel property and exploring in the woods, then, she climbed the ladder and reached the small pool she had placed on top of the roof for situations just like this. She overturned it, readying it to catch the now-falling rain and fill with clear, fresh water. She let her skin loosen, allowing the small scales that she usually held back for sake of appearances come out to the surface, dropping their camouflage entirely, and scratched the side of her neck, remembering phantom pains of gills and gasping for air, before she had learned how to transition between lungs and gills, in the early days.

She moved to put the flag up, signaling the motel owner that someone was on the roof and not a roc, or phoenix, or whatever was drawn to the motel that day. After everything was set up, she turned back to her kiddie pool - finally full, she lowered herself into it, and smiled.

Covie loved the rain.

OOC: I hope that's everyone. :)

BIC:

Diana woke up to a car pulling up and voices a few rooms down. She sat up and stretched before pushing back her blankets revealing her white tank top and grey pajama shorts. She hopped out of bed and hummed some random tune as she made her way to the sky blue restroom. Grabbing a towel and robe, she took a quick shower. Fifteen minutes later, she leaves the bathroom and changes into a soft yellow pair of jeans with a floral blouse and silver convers. She moved around the room and stopped in front of the window and watched the rain fall. A smiled crept on Diana 's face as she watched it before turning around to grab some of her plants to move outside.

She set down the pots in the rain before returning to her room, leaving the door open in case anyone wanted to come in. She grabbed [I]The Doomsday Book[/I] off of her bedside and curling up on her chair while glancing at her basket of yarn.

"I'll do that later," Diana muttered to herself before draping a blanket on her lap and opening the book. Sometime later, she set down her book to put her hair in a pony tail before returning to the story.

The rift closed behind the two with a pop as Chevelle lurched forward into a new space. Lee was thrown into the steering wheel with a slight protest, hanging on for dear life. Her growl died down to a slight rumble as they hit a new slice of blacktop. He took a second to lean back in the leather of the driver's seat, picking his sketchbook and pencils off the floorboard. Here we are. "Damn, warn me next time, girl." What you want? Fanfare? I can honk real loud next time. Like this. Her horn blared out. "Alright, alright, chill. Shit that still bugs me out." He rubbed his face. "What a fry, and I ain't even take a hit." She softened a bit. He was still new to this whole deal, after all. Yeah, yeah. But here's a garage for you. Check your oil, change your fluids, you know, whatever humans do when they go in buildings. A neon motel sign, half the letters blinking apparently at random, was just in view up the street. Chevelle flipped her wipers on to ward off the light rain. "Awww man. That looks so shady." At least you got a roof. She quipped. "You know I gotta pay for this." I got you. The glove box made a thunk. Lee eyed it suspiciously. You just gonna sit there and stare off into la la land, or are you gonna open it? He popped it open, and out came a wallet filled with cash. "Holy shit! You didn't kipe this from no one, did you?" No thumbs, pa. "I mean, you didn't, like, magic this out of someone's pockets or anything-?" Listen, you wanna turn off in a real garage or not? Lee counted the stack; it was more bread than he had ever seen in his whole life. "Wish I had you earlier. Maybe I could'a bought a lawyer for dad..." Doesn't work that way, kid... "Yeah, I know..." He put her in gear and pulled her into the motel's lot. The cars were strange, and Chevelle made her disdain clear when she passed the red Toyota. Ugh, fried rice. "What?" Nevermind. Here's the plan. You go in and tell the desk-jockey you need a room. Use that fake ID in the wallet and pretend like you're driving home from a week-long car show out in the next county or something. I mean, that'll explain your threads. "What's wrong with my threads?" 'Bout as out-of-place as I am. Look at these cars. They look different to you? It was true. None of the other cars even looked metallic. Almost plastic, actually, and very rounded. "Can't you, you know, blend in?" I was only in production until 1977. Waaaay before these cars existed. "What? What year are we in?" 2000...something I guess. "What holy shit we are? There's no flying cars and robots or aliens or-" Nope. "Awww, man." Maybe aliens. "This time-travel shit got me fried, man..." You know your slang-talk? Try not to use it. Or I dunno, maybe they'll just think you're really in character. The residents appeared to still be out and about despite the rain. Was that someone climbing to the roof in a bathing suit? Talk about dedication. The future was just about the same as the present he had left. A few people had hurried inside with their dog, and another pulled the pots out of her room to set them in the rain. This place seemed like a long-haul residence, not a one-night-stay motel. "You sure this is a good place?" Good as any. Not a whole lotta questions asked. Just make sure you count me as a guest. Dunno if I'll need to do talking or not. Abruptly she patted his cheek with one of her hands, scaring the everloving shit out of the poor boy. Now in her human form, she merely cackled. "Jesus-shit! Don't do that!" "Go get a room you dork!" Appearing from the back seat, she yawned and stretched as if she'd been there the whole time, sleeping. "I'm goin', I'm goin'!" He popped the driver's door and headed into the office, smiling and nodding at a passing patron. Chevelle could sense the proximity of another goddess. The one Lee had noticed on the roof was very old, much older than she. There were other powers at work here. Including a few that could prove very nosy. She'd tell Lee to be careful, but the kid was honestly already there. The car goddess wasn't worried about herself; it took a certain someone to be able to read metal, and whoever she was picking up on seemed preoccupied in human affairs. She had no doubt that they would register her presence, but most of the time they seemed to write her off as some kind of artifact once they recognized the source. A little embarrassing, yeah, but better than being found out. Neither her nor her driver needed any stray pings out into the ether to alert the big nasties to their location.

Ahhhh...it was so nice and dark in her room. The soft pitter patter of rain made Selphy want to roll over and go back to sleep, but that would mean passing up this opportunity to savor waking up early for once, and that just wouldn't do. She yawned and rolled over, sliding her violet eyes lazily over to the digital clock on her bedside table.

Noon.

Selphy pushed herself up abruptly, black hair sticking up at all angles and sticking to the side of her face. Seriously?! Her eyes went to the window, to the rain, and it clicked. No sun. Dark room. Cool.

She groaned as she stood, using the floppy sleeve of her over-sized sweatshirt to wipe a spot of drool from her cheek. This was getting ridiculous...all her life, she'd been such an early riser. But ever since she'd come to this hotel, it'd been early to bed, all night to lie awake, and late to rise. Ever since she'd met--

"Selphy! Good mooorning~!"

"AUGH," she shrieked, backing up so fast that she smacked the back of her head on her shelf. Before her stood--er, floated--a small, spectral figure, who was looking at her in concern. Or, at least, she supposed he was. It was tough to discern expressions when you were looking at a sheet with holes in it.

"Oh no, oh nooo! Selpy, are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah, totally am! Toootally fine. So, uh...maybe back up little," she said, trying to smile at the tiny ghost and managing only a grimace. Back up like...all the way out of my room, she thought, eye twitching slightly.

"Oh, good! I was so wooorried..." the ghost moaned. Selphy shivered.

"D'you have to talk like that? It's cre--um, odd."

"Like whaaaat?"

"Nevermind," she muttered, suppressing the urge to shudder again. "Uh, look. Buttons. I have stuff I've gotta do today, so I'm gonna be out. But I also have to change, so can you...?"

"Of cooourse~! How ruuuude of me..." Buttons started to ascend towards the ceiling of Room 14, which was, according to him, where he was from. "Have a good daaaaay..."

Selphy gave a small, half-hearted wave, then launched across the room to her suitcase the second he was out of sight. Oh, man...of all the places she could have stopped, she had to pick the one that was haunted! She kept telling herself it was time to bail, but something just...didn't feel right. Like something was drawing her here. She shivered again; now that was a terrifying thought.

She got dressed in record speed, another too-big sweater and a knee-length skirt, then crossed to the door, stopping with her hand on the knob. This was it; the thing she hated most about living here. With Buttons in here scaring the shit out of her, she really had no choice but to go out there, where they were...the other guests. Some were long-term like she was, some only stayed for a night or two, but just about every single one of them had one thing in common: they were magical, they were scary, and being around them made Selphy feel like she was going to die of fright. And considering that the place she generally went when she ventured from her room was down to loiter in the lobby, she definitely saw more than enough of them for her taste.

She took a deep breath; if she stayed here in this position too long, Buttons was going to come back and ask what was wrong (this she'd learned from experience), and then she might have a heart attack, with the poor sleep she'd been getting. She gulped, gripped the doorknob, then forced herself to turn it and open the door.

Just stepping into the hall felt like walking a thousand miles to her, but she made it. She was smiling gently to herself, already feeling the relief of being alone, when movement down the hall made her freeze. A man, short, blond, had also left his room and was wandering the hall. While running into someone was probably a foregone conclusion at this point, this was too abrupt for poor Selphy, who thought she'd have until she reached the lobby at least to give herself a pep talk. A fight-or-flight panic took over, and she moved swiftly down the hall the opposite way from the man, where she then threw open a window.

Then she stuck one leg out, then two, and swung herself out into the rain.

If she'd actually been thinking at this point, she would have realized how much more attention she was potentially drawing to herself than just walking behind the blond man like a normal person, but all thought had gone out the window when she had. She slid skillfully down the vines covering the side of the building (after all, this was, regrettably, not the first time she'd done this), then landed in the bushes along the side of the building. She hurried around to the front entrance, desperate to get to her usual spot in the lobby and then do her best potted plant impression.

She was in such a hurry that she didn't give much of a glance to the car parked out front. Neither did she see the man in the lobby, since by that time she was soaking wet from head to toe...and raindrops had completely covered the lenses of her thick glasses.

She stumbled through the lobby, finding the corner sofa she'd been frequenting lately by muscle memory rather than sight. She thought she was almost there, and she was, as she found out when her foot caught on the rug, causing her to fall forward right into it.

WHAM.

This time it was the front of her head hitting the wall, and she quickly righted herself and slid low in her seat, praying silently that the room was devoid of any guests. After several seconds of struggling to clear her lenses with her soggy sleeve, she pushed her glasses back on and glanced up.

Annnd there was a scary man with a scary afro and really retro, scary clothes.

Selphy slid further down in her seat, whipping out her phone and trying to look busy. Maybe if she just spent some time Googling pie recipes, she'd calm down enough to get through the whole "everyday socialization" thing...yeeeah...

Jervis had only just left his room he heard the sound of a door opening and closing behind him. He glanced around to see how had emerged from their room, partly through instinct and partly curiosity, and caught a glimpse of a young girl swiftly heading in the general direction of away. She looked rather frightened even from the back and what he could pick up of her thoughts were panicked babble.

"Poor thing." he muttered under his breath. Some part of him wanted to go and comfort her, to see what had frightened her so, but he suppressed the urge. Playing white knight to women never worked out for him. At the very best they were perfectly capable of looking after themselves, thank you very much, and merely got very annoyed at his attempts to 'protect' them. Like they needed a wimpy little nerd appointing himself as their guardian.

That and there was a good chance it was him, the strange man, that had scared her. Jervis may be a very untalented, uncontrolled telepath but he was still a telepath and living in a big city had taught him some things about women he didn't really like to know. Or rather, how his sex tended to treat women. He had overheard a lot of sad, scared thoughts and a lot of angry ones from the women he lived and worked around. It had given him a lot of food for thought, especially in the light of... recent unfortunate events.

Though not many women would go so far as to to climb out of a window to avoid strolling down a corridor with him. He blinked confusedly at her actions, choosing not to comment. It wasn't exactly the strangest thing he'd seen since coming to his motel, after all. There was a fish man and a mermaid wandering around from what he could tell, not to mention some of the character who had only passed through. Jervis was pretty sure that one of them had been a werewolf. He'd avoided that particular guest like the plague, just in case they suddenly turned and decided to gobble him up as werewolves in stories were wont to do. So in light of that, a young women deciding to take a little air in a slightly odd way didn't stand out at all.

So he pushed the other guest's behaviour out of his mind and carried on down the hall, glancing out of the windows as he did so. He hoped he might spot something to act as an interesting conversation topic with his fellow guests. Jervis paused at the sight of a rather old-fashioned looking car - a Chevrolet of some sort? He wasn't a car person - parked outside. That was new. He stared at the car for a few beats, something about it catching his eye. And it wasn't just the fact that it was old, either; there was something... off about that car, something that sent his abilities buzzing like a swarm of angry wasps. Maybe it's a haunted car, like Christine!, he thought, Or just like the haunted room down the - ah, no wonder the poor girl was so scared! Living with a ghost! I wonder if the Ghostbusters are real? Can you do an exorcism without being a priest? I'll look that up later. The car's owner will be just arrived, I think. A good chance to say hello!

Jervis headed towards the stairs, descending them in the sort of inelegant tap dance that one does when hurrying down stairs. He arrived in the lobby to see the girl who had avoided him sitting on one of the sofas, looking soaked the bone and rather miserable. Jervis gave her a nod and his most non-threatening smile before turning his attention to the newcomer.

He was an interesting sort, his fashions some thirty years out of date by Jervis' estimation. He hadn't seen clothes or such large afro hair like that since he was a very young boy. That immediately caught his interest and he wondered how he could break the ice, so to speak. "I-is that your car outside?" he asked, immediately realising that was rather a silly question. Who else's car would it be? "It's very nice." he added lamely.

OOC; ATTENTION EVERYONE! The original post now has roleplay news inside the top spoiler. Please be sure to check it from time to time. I've also created a ping group, , for roleplay updates. It'd really help if everyone joined it.

I'm sorry I got back so late. I didn't realise that I'd have work today. (I'm in Australia, so my time is different to everybody else's time.) I've not read any replies yet, but I'll be posting my own within the next few hours. Cheers!

Please do join us! You're more than welcome! The motel has plenty of room.

Thank you for starting the roleplay! I might sketch the motel very roughly later, so that everybody has a visual. In my head, it's one story and kind of in two J shapes, with the shorter ends closest together and the reception between them.

[-viola]

IC; Barbara had just checked in a new client. Young, lost, and with a good many more teeth than she was used to. That was really saying something. As the young man left and another entered, looking as though he'd stepped right out of the 70's, Barbara slipped into the back room to slide the new file into her combination filing cabinet/bedside table. Her room was a cluttered mess. Shelves lined the walls, covered in papers and knick knacks that had been given to her over the years. The amount of floor space amounted to a whopping three square meters. Her bed, crammed into a corner, was piled high with moth-eaten blankets. Despite all of this, it was home.

Before exiting to the reception, which was more than ten times the size of her miniscule room, she grabbed a new client form. In the span on two minutes, three people had entered the lobby. A girl, Selphy, who Barbara had regretfully roomed with "the ghost"; Jervis, who she knew very little about, but he always seemed to know plenty about what she was thinking; and the newcomer. Jervis was asking about the newcomers car. Babs heaved herself out from behind the counter and waddled to the window not covered in wood. She let out a low whistle, smiled at Selphy, then joined the two men in conversation. She placed a friendly hand on the strangers' shoulder.

"Boy, you best have an alarm on that beaut," she drawled. "Kids like throwin' stones 'round here."

Meanwhile, near the the shallow green-watered pool of the motel, a scaly humanoid stood beneath a tall, overgrown birch tree. Tim waved one arm wildly in greeting, head thrown back, as chipper as ever. The leaves above him trembled as Ahua, disguised as a small squirrel, attempted to climb higher. The Marshman burbled, trying to get her attention, but Ahua continued to climb until she reached the top. Here, she easily took the form of a pigeon and escaped, flying through the air and landing gracelessly on the rooftop, a good distance from Coventina. Her small heart beat wildly in her chest. Tim was always trying to speak to her and every time they interacted, she needed to find somewhere quiet to calm down. This was not the spot. Beneath her, the sound of someone shrieking and then hitting their head caused her to whirl into the air again, in a flurry of grey-green feathers.

Tim, heartbroken once more by his efforts to befriend the squirrel-lady, skulked back towards the motel. He'd seen two women arrive home, and a dog, and what appeared to be a very old car. Humans were interesting. Their culture was still new and shiny to the Marshman. Cars especially. Although his kind had had tools, they did not have vehicles in the swamp. The thick, muddy ground had made it impossible to travel across. He stopped before the beautiful Chevrolet, admiring the paint job. He burbled quietly to himself and allowed his hand to hover over the hood, not quite touching the paint, just in case his thick skin damaged it somehow.

Once Mara brought in all of the groceries she placed the puppy gate in their doorway to let the fresh air in. Also to let any of the motel guest to come in and chat with Andrea if they wanted to. Mara wasn't too keen on getting to know any of the residents as she would have to share her past with them. A loud car horn broke her from her thoughts. She furrowed her brows as she went to look outside. "Really?" She asked aloud. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the girl from room 14 walking in the direction of the lobby. Mara went back inside so she wouldn't have to interact with anyone.

"Maybe they didn't want to run over a squirrel." Andrea spoke through the bathroom door as she was trying to calm Riley down. He started barking as soon as the car horn blared. She tried shooshing the pup as she was getting him out of the bath. Andrea was happy that Riley was already trying to protect the girls. Andrea had opened the door to the bathroom as she was drying him. She figured that Mara would probably want to get back to bed with the few hours that she got. Andrea had learned little things about her roommate due to little actions she did. The sound of rain seemed to calm the girl or maybe it reminded her of something. As she got up she saw her roommate open a bottle of some random IPA. "You want me to see what the noise is about?" Andrea asked as she plopped down on her bed with Riley in her arms.

"Only if it persists." Mara said as she settled onto her bed with one of Andrea's books. She wasn't much of a drinker but it helped her get back to sleep if she couldn't. Mara then noticed Andrea get up with Riley. Mara knew that she would go and see who's car that was. "It'd be good to let Babs know so Riley doesn't get worked up. Watch him." Andrea smiled as she placed him on the floor before leaving for the lobby.

Andrea made her way to the lobby to see Selphy and a man who she believed his name was Jervis. Then there was a man in vintage clothes. She did her best to not scare the girl due to how jumpy she was, "Hi Selphy." She smiled before looking to Babs, "Hey could you possibly tell the owner of the car that just blared it's horn to not do it as much? I don't want Riley to get worked up." She smiled to Babs.

Diana jumped when the car horn went off and set down her book to investigate. She poked her head out and saw an old looking Chevrolet parked near the lobby. Excitement ran through her veins as she flew inside to grab her basket on crocheted blankets. She called out a hello to Time as she flew under awnings and made it to the lobby. She opened the door and land on her feet as she let her hair down to cover her small wings. She had a small smile and waved at Selphy before looking at the group in front of her. Babs, Andrea, the guy who lived a few doors down, and the newcomer who looked as if he stepped out of the '70s. She smiled brightly as she walked over to the four.

"Good morning you guys," she said a little sing-song like. "I saw that we have a new guest and thought I would bring some blankets, if that's okay with you." She looked up at the boy who towered over her and let her smile soften slightly so she wouldn't frighten him.

The first person Lee met upon entering tripped and faceplanted into the wall. Obviously embarrassed, she scrambled back to a standing position before scooting into the couch there. Lee could see her glasses were dripping wet and fogged up.

"Hey, hey you alright?" He asked, even though she was now more concerned with a little square box that lit up in her hands. Probably something he should ask Chevelle about. Maybe there were some weird space-y things she hadn't mentioned about this era. It looked like it had writing and images on it, so maybe it was some kind of future book?

Someone else had followed them into the office, a short blond man, who apparently must have just missed the woman taking a bit of a tumble.

"Uh, yeah that Chevelle? She's mine-" Ha! The car snorted from outside. "I try to keep her nice, but man, all this rain, you know? Swear the rain followed me here."

The woman didn't seem too interested in responding, but he kept an eye on her just in case. Probably just shook up she had made a fool of herself in front of a stranger, but man, Lee was cool with that. Accidents happened. She seemed okay though; didn't even break her specs.

"Hey guy, you know where the owner's at? Or the front desk chick?" Just as he said it, a woman appeared from the back with a whistle. "Oh boy, yeah, she's got one, alright." He replied. Just who he was looking for.

Chevelle noticed the Marshman's piqued interest in her as he approached. She was flattered, really. He even got so close as to nearly touch her paint. She crawled into the passenger's seat and popped the door. "Hey, hey, I don't mind you lookin', just be careful, alright?"

The man, was it a man? Looked rather scaly. But honestly, considering the things he had been through up until this point, he probably was. He'd already seen some weird shit. What was one more thing to add to the list? No one seemed unfriendly.

"That'd be my, uh, big sis out there. Best alarm I got." He shrugged. Chevelle was snorting laughter in his head again. Boy, you gettin' yourself in trouble. "I'm lookin' for a room with two beds. Just for a few days, anyway. We're tired out from the show over in the next county, and we still got a long ways to go 'til home." Lee plucked at his shirt. "Couldn't even change my th-clothes right yet because-well, I mean...Let's just say I 'overslept' a little in the backseat of the car, and when I woke up it was two minutes to checkout time, heh. I mean, I couldn't pass up doing burnouts at the bar all night, now could I?" Lee grinned.

Another woman entered, and Lee scratched his neck, embarrassed. "Oh, uh, that was me, sorry. Someone pulled out on us and my sister is like a shotgun driver, reached over and layed on the horn." Ass. Chevelle commented, but he could tell she was amused. You're askin' for it. I'll really ham it up if you don't quit.

There were so many people coming into the lobby that it seemed like the whole motel was there. Did they just not see newcomers too often? It was a little unnerving, like some Twilight Zone shit. The car goddess didn't help as she started singing the theme song in his head, but if she was so willing to make jokes about it, it must be okay.

"Room for two! Not a problem!" Babs said, leaning back on her heels and then slowly tilting forward onto the balls of her feet again. She moved away from her newest client, gave the boy's sister a wave, then moved to the reception desk. Just in time too, since Diana promptly filled her space. They were different sizes, but Diana's energy was enough to fill even the largest room. Babs shook her head, amused, and began filling out the paperwork for room fifty. "Y'all're gonna suffocate that boy before he even gets to his room," she murmured goodheartedly.

Room fifty was a good size and located deep inside the motel grounds, which would allow some protection for the car from passersby. It had two single beds, which would do the two strangers well, and a newer television, which Babs was sure the teenage boy would appreciate. The previous tenant had left two days prior; a large slug creature who'd spent most of his time in the bathtub. It'd taken hours to get the stains from the carpet, but the room smelled heavenly as a result.

At the appearance of the woman, Tim had jumped slightly. He'd not seen her there prior, despite his usually excellent vision. The shock passed quickly and, soon, he burbled appreciatively and let his hand glide over the paint. It was smooth and cool, wet from the rain, and he loved it. The car was amazing. Humans truly were incredible. He cleared his throat and bowed his head quickly in thanks, preparing himself to speak to the human girl. Communication was often an issue.

"Very metal," he said confidently, as though it made sense, as though he was the greatest English speaker to ever walk the Earth. Tim could attempt to bluff his way through anything. "Metal with hand on cold. Very rain. Your name?"

Jervis nodded at the man's comments, smiling slightly. The weather, yes, that was good; he could talk about the weather. He was English so naturally he knew how to talk about the weather, especially rain. "Yes, nasty weather, isn't it? It shouldn't last too long, I shouldn't think though. I imagine it will clear up by sundown." he said, silently hoping that the stranger would have something more interesting to say than he did or this conversation promised to be very awkward and boring. Just like him, he supposed.

He was slightly relieved then by the appearance of Barbera coming to check the young man in, as he correctly guessed. Jervis stood slightly lamely as the two of them talked, looking from one speaker to another as if he were watching a tennis match and feeling rather like a spare wheel. More people arrived as they talked, as if answering some inaudible call to congregate, and the room became far more packed than he'd ever seen it before. In fact, the sheer business and constant arrival people was a little overwhelming for him. One of them, a woman with many tattoos, talked about the blaring car horn he'd vaguely registered hearing earlier; apparently that was the newcomer's sister's fault. Another (Dianah, was it?) popped in offering blankets. It was a good thing that Jervis hadn't had such a reception when he arrived, or he would have run screaming out of the door and into the night.

As Barbera bustled off to prepare the newcomer's room, Jervis looked at the stranger again and cleared his throat. "Not staying long, then?" he asked quietly, smiling a little. "I said that once. That was, uh... A month ago, maybe? A month and a half? I'm not too sure... My name's Jervis Dodgeson, by the way."

-viola

"Hey, hey you alright?"

Selphy slooowly looked up over her phone, hands trembling slightly, as the scary afro-man addressed her. Then what he'd said registered, and she blinked. ...maybe he wasn't as scary as she thought? And--she gave him a good look for the first time--maybe not as old, either. Huh. Afro-boy, then?

Just as it was dawning on her that she ought to reply to him (maybe something like "Yes, I'm fine, thank you," or "What do you mean? You imagined the whole thing," probably), someone else entered the lobby and the not-scary afro-boy's attention shifted. Selphy slid her eyes over to the newcomer, only to clench her phone in terror when she saw who it was: the short blond man from the hallway. Had he seen her go through the window?! He nodded at her and gave her a terrifying smile before turning to the new guest. Ohhh, he definitely saw you. What had that nod meant?! Was she to be his next victim?! Was it a warning?! Then he began making small talk, and she relaxed slightly. She'd met a lot of killers, and that was not the small talk of a killer. ...probably.

The entrance of Barbara relaxed Selphy significantly; she even managed a small smile in return for the one the woman gave her before going to check in her new guest. Though a bit overwhelming at times, the woman had been nothing but nice to Selphy, who had slowly gotten the impression that nothing bad could happen while she was present. After all, she ran a motel for monsters and crazy people. She could definitely handle anything.

Wow, the lobby sure was busy today! Now another woman entered, who Selphy vaguely recalled was named...Andy? Hm, no. ...An...drea? Oh yeeeah, it was definitely Andrea! Selphy actually liked her fairly well, considering how gently she always seemed to speak to her. She worked up the effort for another smile. "Oh, hello..." Her voice was quiet and hoarse, probably half from terror and half from lack of use. Oh, well; at least she'd tried.

Before she could get over that slight social interaction, another new face entered the lobby. Well, new for that day; Selphy had definitely seen Diana before. After all, there was no way she would forget meeting a...fairy? Pixie? She hadn't really asked. Nor did she know if there was really a difference; her magical education could use some work. She returned the girl's wave, then stowed her phone back into her pocket. With so many people here now, she wasn't so worried...their attention was liable to be focused on each other, rather than her. That ought to give her ample time to work up the courage to actually say things.

She quietly observed Diana's offer of blankets (she really was quite nice), and the conversation that followed. She felt a little dizzied by the afro-boy's speech; it was a little...different? Kind of fun to listen to, actually, even if it took her a few seconds to register his meaning. Everything seemed peaceful in here right now...she actually felt herself relaxing slightly.

"That was, uh... A month ago, maybe? A month and a half?"

Selphy froze as the short man ('Jervis,' it seemed) began speaking to the new guest again. Ohhh...riiight...she had seen him before! In fact, he...oh wow, he was in the room right next to her, wasn't he? Whoops. It seemed the lack of sleep was having way more impact on her than she thought, and while she was still a bit nervous, she also felt guilty.

She leaned forward and gave a small cough; maybe she should join into the conversation? Show that there were no hard feelings? But thinking of something to say proved to be a bit too difficult, and she slumped back into her seat, slightly embarrassed.

Ahh...why can't I just talk like a normal person? Her eyes flicked around to the various people in the lobby, and she wondered if she should just go back and face Buttons instead. She shuddered; no, the lobby would do.

At'ula wasn't exactly living at the hotel like some were, but it wasn't just a day or two excursion, either; really, more of a month-long vacation. She had heard this place had plenty of humans, AND had an owner who knew about non-human races, so she figured it would be the perfect place to hang out and pretend to be human, enjoying all there was in human experience.

Or, problems, as the case was today. It was raining. She hated, HATED rain. It made everything cold, and she even planned things out so she would be in for warm summer. But, as it was, the hotel was much too cold for her, and it was making her miserable. She would have stayed in her bed all day, if not for the usual needs, such as food. Which is why she finally got up and got ready to head out of her room as "Ashley" to deal with her loud, grumbling stomach. She didn't have an earth communicator, which meant going down to the lobby and borrowing the lobby's... "phone", she believes the earth word for it was.

Today, she decided to set her disguise to have her hair down, to show how cold it was (havinging the hair to hold in the heat someone endothermic would be putting out) plush blue pajamas with pink hearts on them (for the same reason), and, for the kicker, she brought her robe (which did have some heat from the night before still in it) to keep her actual form warm. Though, it ended up looking like she was wearing a robe much too big for her, covering her head somewhat and dragging along behind her. Still, she didn't want to leave her room without it. She got out of her room, and walked towards the lobby... quite slowly. The cold was affecting her metabolism, and it was to the point she was feeling somewhat ill. Although she saw the humans around, and she still wanted to talk with them, she was too concentrated on the goal of getting some grub. Not, literal grub, anyway. Humans don't really eat those, as far as she knew.

When she finally got to the lobby, it looked like Babs (the name of the human owner) was busy... Dang. She still didn't know the place around the hotel well enough to know where to call to eat. Or... honestly, how to use this type of communicator. Looks like she'll have to wait... Until them, time to find someplace warm, and heat up and wait. Ah, that bunch of metal seems to be blowing out warm air. Perfect! She slowly trudges her way to the heater, and more collapses than sits next to it, leaning against it. Ahh, much better!

[edit] (( OOC: @ Would Tim and At'ula know each other's native languages, both being aliens, or would they be as indecipherable to each other as they would be for humans? Probably not relevant now, but it'd be good for future planning.))

Diana let out a laugh when Babs mentioned that they were going to suffocate the boy. She paid half attention to the conversation going on around her while she noticed the height difference between her and everyone else. She did tune in when Jervis said that he's been here for a while now and smiled. She was about to open her mouth to say something when she heard a small cough coming from Selphy's direction. She looked over at her and smiled slightly before setting down the basket she held.

"My name is Diana by the way. Feel free to take as many as you and your sister needs," she said to the boy with the afro. She then made her way to the couch and sat on in with Selphy, keeping her distance so the girl isn't uncomfortable. "Hi Selphy." Diana then noted that the girl was quite wet and frowned ever so slightly. "Do you need a blanket to warm you up at all? I can grab one right now," she offered while getting ready to stand up.

[-viola]

Selphy jumped ever so slightly as Diana sat next to her, but relaxed quickly; after all, Diana was quite short, and wasn't too close...and she was nice. This was fine. "Hello..." she replied quietly, trying to match the the fae's usually-smiling face with a small smile of her own.

However, the track of conversation changed rather quickly (at least for Selphy to keep up with). "Oh. Uh... No, that's fine. I don't feel that...that...achoo." She sneezed louder than she would have liked, but thankfully covered her mouth just in time with her soggy sleeve. She sniffed, looking back at Diana rather sheepishly. "Well...maybe it would be a good idea..." She scratched her cheek awkwardly. "Sorry...thank you." Thank god she already knew Diana on sight, otherwise she'd be dying of embarrassment right now.

OOC; A literal heater or Chevelle? :)

There are way too many people in the reception, lmao. I've got Babs out of the fray, but feel free to branch off to interact with other characters. Other characters that aren't chatting to anyone right now: Mara, Coventina, Selphy, and Ashley. Tim and Chevelle are outside at the moment too.

Also, I did up some rough blueprints of the motel and one of the generic motel rooms. Nowhere near what I had in my head initially, because I realised that the motel grounds would be far to big otherwise.

The red X's mean that the room is out of commission. Probably a stray fireball or a mysterious death. (Notice that the room above Selphy's is out of commission. Could explain Buttons.)

Just to give you a size estimate of the room and stuff.

I need to go to bed now, but don't worry if the roleplay moves on without me. Babs can keep doing her paperwork and stuff. Tim, however, is a secondary character, and can be manipulated to move the story along if it needs to. Just keep him in character. :)

(( and, uh, everyone else I guess. Ignore the spontaneously appearing and vanishing stairs in my post, then. >_>; Just assume that Jervis imagined them or something. Heh.))

OOC; Oh no! I'm sorry! I knew I'd break something that's already happened in the roleplay! Hopefully we can all get the same mental image now when we're writing about their surroundings though. :)