the grand opening of the raccoon room

[royalfling]

Who: YOU AND YOUR BEST BUDS
What: The Grand Opening of the Raccoon Room
When: October 31st
Where: The Raccoon Room in Cellar Door

Content Warnings: N/A for now

Welcome to the Raccoon Room! Code

You find a green door on a townhouse nestled in the middle of a long, cute cobblestoned street. There's a raccoon logo emblazoned on the door. When you enter, you're greeted by sumptuous green velvet drapery, a marble statue of a familiar looking guy with devil horns on his head, and surly ticket taker (Mako, rather unhappily wearing a Victorian style vampire outfit, including vampire fangs) who will make sure that you're paying your fair share for your ticket. That's either a nice rock, a nice shell, or a beautiful feather. If you don't have anything that's worth the right amount, he'll ask for more, or give you drink tickets if you over paid. Does Mako know what makes a feather beautiful? Who knows. It's all subjective here.

You enter the venue through heavy velvet curtains. The light is dim, there are tables scattered everywhere with plush chairs and flickering candles. It's a large room, but it feels intimate. You find a seat, get a drink, or take a look around.

At 8:00pm sharp, the show begins, with Wu, dressed in his grown, flowering top hat, made by Fern, and an impeccable green tuxedo with tails, a gold cape and fake vampire teeth, takes the mic.

"Welcome, welcome to the Raccoon Room! I'm so, so, so glad that you're all here. Things are dreary and dangerous outside, but in here, sit back, relax, and enjoy yourselves."

And with that, he waves the first performer on.

Throughout the night, you'll see Scorpia and Zari Tarazi sing, Fritter (Wu's raccoon omen) and Pabu the fire ferret perform tricks, and the headliner, Ryan Akagi of Chicken Choice Judy, rock out. Wu comes up between the sets and vamps, makes jokes, and applauds the performers, adding plugs to come talk to him if you want to perform.

Over at the bar, Mako's moved on from taking tickets to making drinks. You can order any old beer, wine, or cocktail, or the Jade Dragon, a speciality absinthe cocktail Mako created for the Raccoon Room.

Feel free to top level, make your own night of it! Your esteemed host will be a bit preoccupied, but this space is for Sleepers to come, enjoy themselves, and mingle.

If your character wants to perform, let Wu know.

Comments

[lightinside]

[She beams at him, ducking her head a little at the compliment.]

Thanks! You'd be amazed at what you can do with a eyeliner and not much else.

[Laurel had to be very resourceful, given that she didn't have much in the way of belongings, apart from she arrived with.]

Oh, you know Varian? I've talked to him a few times and he's been so helpful. Nice guy.

[laminae]

Ha ha, I'm gonna trust you on that. I don't know how to use it.

[He's always been too much of a barbarian to bother with stuff like makeup.]

Oh - oh yeah, we're dating. [He grins widely at that, a few more cherry blossoms in his hair blooming.] He's the best.

[lightinside]

[She watches the cherry blossoms bloom with fascination before replying to him.]

You are? That's great! [The warmest of smiles because hearing that is so sweet.] What's your name? I'm Laurel, and I've only been here a couple of weeks.

[laminae]

[He does notice that, but the blooming is just part of his life and he knows he has to deal with it, so he tries to shrug it off. Sometimes you're made of grass and flower bloom on you, it's fine, no big deal.

He gives an awkward grin in return.]

Fern, I'm Fern. I uh, showed up here with the other Sleepers from Deerington. And I was there for a few years, so I guess I'm kind of an oldbie and a newbie at the same time?

[lightinside]

[Like the plant! Though she doesn't say anything. After all, she shares her name with a tree.]

It's nice to meet you, Fern. You’re another person I've spoken to who has come from the dream place; I don't think I have met anyone who is a newbie like me.

[Which made her a little sad.]

Where are you originally from?

[laminae]

[Nature name bros.!]

You too. [It's always nice to meet a fellow Sleeper, especially one who knows Varian.] There's a few of you guys around, so you aren't alone.

Oh, uh. I'm originally from Ooo, which is this... island... continent on Earth. No one around here has ever heard of it.

[lightinside]

Then I hope I get to meet them sometime.

[They could bond over being new and maybe help each other navigate this place to figure it out.]

I would be another one of those people who haven't heard of it. No one recognises the name of the place I come from either, except the people who are from my world. [A beat.] It's called Star City, in the United States. Which is on Earth.

[laminae]

I bet you will. We were a pretty close community in Deerington, dunno why that'd change here.

[It seems like it'd be even harder to get by on your own in a whole city.]

Yup, never heard of Star City. But Deerington had a United States, and I think a few other people I know are from there too? It's a country, right?

[lightinside]

Yep, the United States is a country. I've spoken to a couple of people from there already, but they also told me they come from different years. I'm guessing that's a common thing too.

[She remembers someone telling her there weren't a lot of people here who were from her time period.]

Can I ask you something?

[laminae]

Yeah! We learned about parts of it in school in Deerington. Um, when I went there, anyways.

[He wasn't particularly good at attending school. Anyways, he looks over curiously.]

Sure, shoot.

[lightinside]

How are you able to uh, grow things like that?

[Out of his body is what Laurel means but she isn't sure how to frame the question without wanting to cause offence.]

I've never seen anything like it before.

[laminae]

[He raises his eyebrows at the question. It's a reasonable one, albeit a bit of an awkward one, since it's about his plantiness and everything. He can't help looking a little embarrassed, though he starts working out how to respond.]

Oh, it's something my body has always done. I kind of - used to be a cursed sword made outta grass, and it could shapeshift and grow other plants, so I think I inherited it. I think it's got something to do with my feelings, when I'm really happy I grow flowers, stuff like that.

[lightinside]

[Which would explain why those flowers bloomed when she brought up Varian's name. Abilities being tied to a person's emotions isn't completely unheard of where she’s from.]

Wow. That's pretty cool. Before coming here, I probably would've thought it was impossible, but after hearing other people talk about their worlds, it doesn't seem that way.

Thanks for explaining it. Sorry if it was a weird question.

[laminae]

[It absolutely explains those flowers. Those ridiculous flowers are full of love and there's nothing Fern can do about it.]

It's cool, my whole deal is pretty weird. I don't mind questions.

So like, what's your world like? You don't got weird stuff going on there?

[lightinside]

[She has no problem sharing things about where she's from. Whether or not Fern will consider them weird is up to him.]

Let's see. Is time travel weird? I don't think everyone here has that. We also have people with special abilities - like super speed, shooting out energy blasts, being able to fly.

[laminae]

None of that's weird to me, but I don't think that kinda junk is common in most universes. [Time travel certainly isn't.]

But man! Being able to fly, that'd be sweet.

[lightinside]

Flying would be pretty neat. No need for public transport.

[She laughs softly, remembering how much she relied on public transport to get around back home.]

Probably be a lot of trial and error trying to get it right.

[laminae]

Right! No more buses and junk!

[Not that he took the bus often in Deerington, but it happened on occasion.]

Yeah, but it'd be fun.

/wraps

[lightinside]

Oh, definitely fun.

[Laurel agrees with a nod before her gaze falls on the stage.]

Dang. There's another performer coming. I'll catch you later, okay?

[She gives Fern a bright smile before heading back to her seat.]