( ehm I know that IC means in character, but i'm going to ask who's going to start all I know that it's not me. no rush to start but I wanna know so I can get ready to do whatever )

The hotel's lobby was tranquil, dust hanging in the air as a light clacking sound could be heard echoing through the halls. Claws on vinyl wood flooring. Light streamed from the opulent multicolored glass window high above like a chapel, threads of light spin into intricate patterns along the walls as splinters of glowing radiance shine off of the chandelier's crystals...

A black-scaled dragon woman walked into the vacant lobby, a small collection of papers in her clawed hands, eyes looking intently at them through her half-moon glasses. She was grateful she didn't have many guests at this time, tourism season hadn't rolled around yet... Luckily, she had a good selection of employees, although freshly hired... Things also needed to be fixed up here and there around the hotel proper, her magic, as versatile as it was, wasn't within that realm of expertise... The hotel had quite a few problems, but nothing that she couldn't fix with time...

For now, she had to meet her new employees. Ensure they are ready for when customers start trickling in, before the floodgates open...

She came to a stop just outside a door marked 'Staff Only' and turned the handle, drifting into the room with a small smile.

"Good afternoon everyone! I hope I haven't kept you all waiting too long..." The dragon greeted the group awaiting her in the Staff Room.

A slime, A pair of humans, A pair of Half-elves, A Were-Panther, and a Lich.

Quite the employ thus far.

She briefly shuffled around the papers in her grip, bringing up a hand to adjust her glasses as her eyes scanned the page, before looking back up.

"Well then, why don't we start with a brief introduction? That should help up all break the ice, no? I am Cythena, your boss as it were, though I'm sure you already knew that bit. So, who would like to go next?"

@Sunny Suzuki@Girlie Go Boom@Zer0Solution@cyberhead@shagranoz

Rebecca stood up first. "I'm Rebecca Van Zant, necromancer and chef. I'm very experienced, cooked every style you can think of and a few you can't. It helps being undead and immortal. Also, if we have any guests of a spiritual nature, let me know. I've dealt a lot with ghosts in my magical studies." The lich felt something shift in her abdominal cavity and looked down to find that a loop of her intestines had become, well, outtestines, for lack of better phrasing. She quickly shoved the wayward organ back into place.

"Don't pay any attention to that. I'm used to it, happens more often than you'd think."

Sunny starts to write on a piece of paper and shows it it reads " My name is Sunny Omori Suzuki. I am applying as a chef and security, and if you need me to play violin or piano I can play it for you..." Sunny has a sad impression on his face it was almost noticeable. He flips to the next page and starts writing again. Again it reads " I am 19 years old, and I have a sister named Mari..." he completely stops writing and holds the notebook tight against his chest. " I-I'm done introducing myself " Sunny says in a faint whisper

Josiah clapped his hands together, a mischievous grin on his face. "Wonderful! Simply wonderful from the both of you. Now, it's my turn." The pale skinned human stood up, his fingers carefully dancing across the handle of his silver cane. "I am Josiah, I am here to be both entertainment and security. Although, I do enjoy watching the occasional fight; I find it hilarious." He snapped his fingers and made a tarot card appear in his hand. He looked at it before making it vanish.

Fang raised his hand solemly, his eyes scannning the room. "I'll go next, then." He replied with a huff. His voice was low and had a slight rumble to it. "My name is Fang Li, though you can just call me Fang. I'm happy to help in this kitchen, but my expertise is as a bartender." He nodded to Rebecca, attempting at a silent commradery for being in the kitchen. Though his face failed to give off any of the warmth he was intending. "And this here is Hua Li." He stepped to the side. Behind him was a shorter girl, his sister. Although from afar they looked like complete opposites, upclose there were definitely similarties. The half elf smiled sweetly and waved, clearly feeling shy. "Oh, yes! Nice to meet you all... I'll be working her as a waitress and a maid." She bowed her head respectfully, hiding her hands behind her back.

As the dust waffed in the beams of sunlight shining through the grand windows of the lobby, a far, high corner near the ceiling began to shift. Unseen, though perhaps not missed by other senses, a new veil was taking form. Where a cloud of soot had been lingering, a hazy mass seeped through from the floor above. Steadily and swiftly, the gathered mist drifted downward like a vaporous snake. It rushed towards the prospective staff and their soon-to-be-boss.

Reaching the party, the mist hovered around and about the new faces in a circling movement; the cloud would, to some (or most if they had not the eyes for it) seem to spiral around an unseen center mass. "Ooooh." A disembodied voice cooed from next to the dragonic hotel manager. ”Is this a new staff I see coming together?”

In smooth transition, the figure behind the voice manifested into visibility. The visage of a light-haired woman floated before the group, her white clad, semi-transparent body gleaming in the light passing through it. The ghostly Anna Rochelle DuBois beamed from one new-comer to another. The longtime, century-deceased haunter of the Nova Hotel threw a wide smile around. “I’m Anna,” she said. “Cythena already knows that of course. I live here, for obvious reasons, hopefully. But I help with what I can.[/color]

As the others introduced themselves, the lavender-colored slime's gaze shifted to his soon-to-be coworkers as they introduced themselves, his form dripping a little bit from his nervousness, the small drops of goo scattered on the floor beneath him. Once the cat lady stepped back into place, whom he thought would be a good idea to stay a bit away from despite the fact they have a common area of work, he stepped up to introduce himself.

"Hello... My name's Sora! Uhm... I'm also in cleaning, but mainly the rooms and laundry..." He nervously glances at Miss DeeDee as he says/gurgles this, his voice still clear through the fluid filter, if not soft and quiet, dripping a little as time flows on. "I-I know I'm really goopy, but I'm really good at hugs! " He decided to leave it at that, stepping back before falling backward with the sudden appearance of the disembodied voice.

---

Cythena chuckles lightly at the appearance of the ghost, turning to the insubstantial form of the woman. "Come on, you don't have to scare the hatchlings, Anna... But yes, this lot will be helping us from now on. I feel they'll do wonderfully in getting this place back on its feet." She then turned to her new employees, eyes sparking as if she were looking deep into a hoard of brilliant gems and piles of gold.

Her new hoard, even if it wasn't by material wealth or knowledge, she looked forward to the path that lay unwritten before them...

The shrill ringing sound of a bell came from the lobby beyond the door of the staff room, the first customer in a while."Well then, looks like we get to see you in action sooner than I thought! We have your first customer, Anna could you do me a favor and play receptionist for this one?"

@Wayward@Girlie Go Boom@cyberhead@Zer0Solution@Sunny Suzuki@shagranoz

Rebecca nodded politely as each of the other new employees introduced themselves to the rest of the group. She'd always been more of a listener than a talker. That said, she noticed DeeDee take a few rather large steps backward and groaned. Even among the supernatural community, the living dead got a rather bad rap. She hadn't even eaten anyone's brains! As Cythena mentioned that they had a customer, the lich turned towards the kitchen to get to work. As she did so, however, she stopped to ask Anna a question- ghostly invisibility was no challenge to a necromancer, after all.

"Um, excuse me? Anna, wasn't it? I apologize if this is a sensitive subject for you, but... how did you die?"

Sunny is staring at the floor listening to the others talk to each other. He sits down, and he hums a familiar tune to him that his sister, Mari would play on the piano. He starts drawing in the notebook and stops humming when he hears somebody coming closer to him. He closes the notebook and holds it close to his chest.

Anna paid little mind to Cythena’s comment on her animated entrance. She wrapped herself up in eyeing the new staff; she was particularly drawn to the Lich, who had just finished securing her innards. She wondered how such a person was to fare as a chef; surely she'd have to keep herself together to avoid spoiling meals. The others were all seemingly fit for their roles, though the spirit noted the young boy who seemed more interested in his notebook than his new coworkers. The catfolk seemed to eye her suspiciously, though Anna brushed that aside for the moment.

The chiming of a bell outside the staff room caught her attention. Cythena requested that Anna greet the guests. The ghost woman gave the boss a curtsy, and drifted casually to the wall leading out to the lobby.

"Um, excuse me? Anna, wasn't it?”

Anna, slowing but not stopping, turned full-body. Still floating off backwards she laid eyes on the Lich. A wide, bright smile overtook her face.

”I apologize if this is a sensitive subject for you, but... how did you die?”

A wide, bright smile overtook the ghost's face. ”Ooh.” She spoke in a reminiscing fashion, half singing as she started. ”It was quite the tragic end. The hands of an inebriated, jealous passion and lust caught me from behind. Here, she pointed a finger up to the ceiling, ”in this very lodging. The fall from my seventh floor balcony was quite the way to go.” The sound of the service bell ringing again pulled her back toward the front desk. ”The details will have to wait, I'm afraid.”

She evaporated back into a mist-form as she passed through the door and out to the front desk on the other side. Becoming visible again as she crossed into the lobby, making a few less-suspecting guests flinch, she approached the first in line. Flicking and flourishing her hand, she slid a thick, heavy ledger book towards her and flipped through pages until she found the current set of bookings. She bowed her head, smiled, and spoke. ”Welcome to The Nova Hotel. Do you have a reservation?”

Before the front desk stood two people, a tall and well-dressed male elf of a more contemporary vanity, and a younger tigerkin woman of a more rustic style of dress. The elf appeared to have more eyes for getting on with his day, the tiger woman's eyes were light ablaze at the sight of the hotel, the light streaming in from the windows like thread through a needle as it shined down onto the vinyl wood flooring and various sitting areas near the hotel bar.

Colors shined through bottles as they blended in a spectrum of light, the vessels of firewater creating a kaleidoscope of refractions on the floor below. The tigerkin's gaze was transfixed upon the sighs, her tail flicking gently from side to side as she started drifting off before the elf looked over and saw his companion being led astray...

"Selphie, let's not go wandering off now." He stated in a stern voice, turning back to the ghostly apparition. "Yes, I do have a reservation, now where did I put that damn paper..." The elf dug into the pockets of his coat and pants, before producing a small card with a seven-digit number and a symbol. The number glowed with soft light, the ledger book's pages shifting a little as if in a breeze as the inked writing of a reservation started to change, the color going from black to green, and a small bit of writing appeared next to the indicated reservation.



@Wayward

---

Another shrill ringing sound of a bell echoed through the staff room, this time closer. On a plain wall, a sticky note appeared in a burst of ethereal lavender flame, as if someone, or something, had stuck it there. On the sticky note, in neat handwriting, read "Cleaning: Room 394 requires freshening up, the customer is on hold until action is taken." Beneath the writing was a small line of icons, a chibi art style depicting the faces of Hua Li, Sora, and Miss DeeDee, a representation of those fit to take the job.

---

The lavender slime got up from the floor as the second bell rang, fixing his bandanna as he walked closer to the wall with the newly placed sticky note, tilting his head slightly with curiosity. He noticed the small version of his face on the piece of paper stuck to the wall, and turned with a puzzled look to Cythena...

"Uhm... Miss Cythena? What's this?"

---

The dragon directed her gaze to the slime, giving a small smile. "That's the job board, it's the hotel's way of letting it's workers know about things that need to be done within its grounds, as well as making sure it's outward needs are known as well, like supply runs and the like. Requests from customers might appear on there as well. Any other questions?"

@Girlie Go Boom@Sunny Suzuki@Zer0Solution@cyberhead@shagranoz

"Ah, I see. A tragic romance- the Bard would be proud. You know, I saw the premiere of Romeo and Juliet," Rebecca commented. "Not one of his better works, in my opinion- gods alone know how it became so popular. Be that as it may, Anna, I will leave you to your duties. I have mine as well."

As Anna phased through the doorway, Rebecca headed into the kitchen. It was small for a commercial affair, but it seemed that much of the equipment was enchanted, which helped. Ovens and stoves turned on of their own accord, while pots and pans flew where they were needed and spice racks refilled themselves. The lich blinked a fair few times in surprise- half the work was seemingly done for her. She'd have to be more of an overseer than a chef, which admittedly did take some of the fun out of it all.

A brisk wind whipped around the Business Square of Alengras, the hustle and bustle of the city just beyond the hotel grounds, a few people, presumably guests, were loitering around the front lawn overlooking the street, some simply enjoying the afternoon sun, others talking amongst each other. The people seemed to be minding their own business... However, someone seemed rather lost in the crowd... a fish out of water.

@Girlie Go Boom@Wayward

---

The seemingly automated kitchen around Rebecca seemed to slow in its clamor, the hotel sensing that this wasn't exactly what its new cook was hoping for... a receipt was conjured on the counter nearby, words scrawled in neat writing...

We apologize, we assumed as a caster you would rather oversee... However, if you wish for things to be more in your control, we will gladly comply. - The Kitchen

@shagranoz

---

The slime considered the dragon's words, before plucking the sticky not from the wall, the writing on in changing to direction to the room that needed cleaning... Sora's face lit up, looking over to Cythena before going to the door to the staff room, toward where the note directed, the first day on the job...

For Jamesson Beltran to say things had gotten weird since he had left home would have been the understatement of the century.

Since he had ventured out from his humble corner of the world, not even a month prior, "weird" had only been the tip of the iceberg. As soon as he had set foot beyond the borders of his province, he felt the odd sensation of passing through a fall of cold water; it was as though he had passed through a veil, a massive cold spot that he couldn't explain with what rationale he had; he had never felt anything quite like it before. And things only seemed to get stranger as he ventured further out along the road. It started relatively tame... a few shadows amid the trees that seemed to shift in the corner of eyes; strange lights that flew about in the night that he couldn't pin as mere fireflies; the sounds of creatures in the distance that didn't match with anything of Earthly origin that he knew of. On a few ocassions he thought he had seen something like a bug-sized human fluttering about with wings on its back, though at the time, he dismissed it as fatigue from his travels causing him to hallucinate.

Things only escalted once he finally arrived at some bastion of society. He had stopped by a small town a couple of weeks ago, only to find the locals peculiarly taken aback by his arrival. He might have thought it normal for a small town if not for the fact that he wasn't the only travelers passing through, yet was the only being eyed with suspcion; even the others wayfaring souls seemd to be dissecting him with caution and scrutiny. It was only when he bought some foot and drinks at a shop that he noticed that the people there were different. The shopkeep, otherwise human in every visible sense, had a pair of short, curved horns protruding from either side of his head. Others in the town had their own strange features, such as pointed ears like the elves from fairytales, and the short, stubby gnomes of the same origins. That afternoon had prompted a stay at a local inn, hoping that a good-night's sleep in an actual bed would ease him out of the dreamlike experience.

But that hadn't worked out so well for him; he awoke to much the same, and more. It wasn't long until he was forced to resign himself to the fact that he was in a different land, with different people. He reminded himself that there was a reason so few people left where he had come from, and just as much reason why none of the ones that did ever seemed to come back. Not that it made him any more comfortable, of course; he was committed to his venture from home though, foolish and unnerving as it was.

Even as unsettling as the brief layover had been, he couldn't be too put off by it, as it was there that he had come upon the job posting for The Nova Hotel. The Inn Keeper had even promised to send word along that Jamesson was on his way.

Now, the young man stood at the front steps leading up to The Nova. It was a massive, castle-like monolith that stood over most of the city, such that it was clearly distinguishable as a center of activity and commerce.

As he stood, stone still just outside of a large set of double doors, he looked down at the flyer, gripped tightly in his hand. Alright Jimmy. It's simple. Just walk in, ask for Cythena, and tell them you're here about the Porter position. But was it really that simple? He looked around him, seeing more and more odd types of people clamoring by him up the steps and into the hotel. He thought of the words on the flyer, which stuck out to him just as much as anything else he had experienced.



That had been an uncommon way of phrasing it, Jimmy had thought when he first read it.



Jimmy hadn't been sure what was meant by "otherwise."



The last part had really left Jamesson scratching his head... but if it meant he was about to be hired on by a lenient and patient employer, who was he to argue? Besides, he couldn't say no to a job that would pay, room, and board him on site.

He took in a deep, yet apprehensive breath, and proceded up the steps.

Crossing through the doors was like passing through another veil; the same sensation of being doused in cold water reiterated itself as he entered the front lobby.

Yet it was eerily empty. For all of the people he had seen entering, there was no one around at the moment; he wondered how long he had really been standing outside stressing about his decision.

"Hellooooo! Are you lost?"

Jimmy jumped at the sound of a voice that seemed to come from nowhere, yet everywhere. He looked around himself in a full circle, but saw no one else nearby.

"Oh! Up here, silly!"

He looked up, and immediately fell to the floor. Floating upside down above him was the visage of a young woman, playfully smiling as she looked straight down at him. Seeing someone suspended in middair was shocking enough for Jimmy's mind; doubly so when he realized that he could partially see through the woman and up to the ceiling. "JESUS!" he excalimed, recoiling lower to the floor.

"Noooo." The woman pivoted downward until her feet were below her head. She waved a hand as if to say "oh you!" and chuckled. "I'm Anna," the transparent woman stated, more matter-of-factly.

"N-n-never mind who you are!" Jimmy shakily rose to his feet. "W-WHAT are you?"

The woman's gaze sharpened slightly upon him. "You're kidding, right? Pull the other one.

"No. Really." Jimmy's tone grew louder. "What are you?"

"Hmmmmm..."

The woman hovered a trio of short circles around him; he was filled with the feeling that he was being dissected like an animal in a science experiment.

"Oooh." Anna spoke after a long moment of deliberation. "I see. YOU'RE one of THOSE people. It's been a while since we've seen one of your kind.

"I'm sorry..." Jimmy grappled with his thoughts to find the right response. "What kind of person am I to you, exactly?"

"Huh" Anna fave a half-fake sigh. "Uninitiated. Unfamiliar. You're mind's eye, she poked a ghostly finger through Jimmy's head, creating a sensation akin to brain freeze until she removed it. "Is only just opening up to like OUR world... MY world. So tell me. What brings a young boy like you to these parts?"

Jimmy dusted himself off. Finally, he began gaining a fleeting sense of composure. "I'm here about a job posting." He waved the flyer in front of Anna's face. "For the Porter position. I'm looking to speak with Cythena... Voidscale. Are they around? Someone a few towns over said he'd send word about me."

"Ah. Yes. She is around. She's in her office; that's behind the front desk." Anna drifted towards the reception desk. "Follow me. I'll let her know you're here."

---

Anna didn't wait to see that the boy was following her. She simply floated through the desk and then through the door back into Cythena's office. "Hey boss. There's a straggler for work out in the lobby. He looks absolutely out of his element. I'm pretty sure he's one of THOSE humans.