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 looks taken aback by that, her mouth dropping in surprise for a moment.]

Three years? Oh my God. I can't imagine being away from my home for that long.

[For her ex Oliver, it had been five years which is why Laurel thought he had died.]

How did you manage it?

[shiro2hero]

[He winces, mostly in sympathy for that look on her face. For the shock there. It's... not an easy thing to accept. He'd only realized it belatedly, when things began to fall apart.]

It wasn't easy.

[Understatement of the century...]

We made friends, we did things that reminded us of home. Just - tried to take it one day at a time.

[lightinside]

[She wouldn't expect it to be easy for anyone.]

That sounds like a good way to keep yourself going, Shiro. I might have to borrow that idea for myself while I'm here.

[Her own personal struggles at one point in her life meant that Laurel had to take it one day at a time.]

One of things I'm hoping to do is to find a job. Do you know of anywhere that is looking?

[shiro2hero]

At least here, the locals are friendly. They're much more likely to give you a hand when you need it.

[Stark contrast to the townsfolk of Deerington. Who wanted nothing more than the Sleepers dead, or gone.]

I hear a lot of the local factions are always recruiting. Right now, I help out at Koz's Orphanage. And the Wakers, when I can. Both of them could always use more hands.

[lightinside]

Uh, factions? Haven't heard much about them. I also didn't know about an orphanage being here either, but I like to think I'm good with kids.

[So she had a couple of options to consider here.]

Can you tell me more about the 'Wakers'? Also, how would I get involved in helping out anything you've mentioned. Is there like a sign up sheet? [A beat.] Sorry for all of the questions by the way.

[shiro2hero]

So far, I've heard of Hunters, Night Walkers... and Disciples. I think the Night Walkers refer to anyone who performs or entertains. No idea why they're called that, though.

[Since yes, he is aware of how that name sounds. But Wu and his places here absolutely doesn't sound like ... that.]

No, it's fine. They're the people who meet us on the beach. Hand out robes, information, that kind of thing. No one's said anything about signing up, so it seems like you just... join.

[lightinside]

That's interesting. Thanks for the information about the factions; not sure if I'd want to join any of them until I find out a little more. But I know for sure I wouldn't fall under the performer or entertainment category.

[The name sounds very similar to a term back in Laurel's world, but she isn’t going to share that because it's not exactly PG-13.]

Someone did wake me up on the beach, but I didn't know they had an official title. [This is all very useful to her.] I think I'd like to start with the orphanage. Who do I speak to about that?

[shiro2hero]

Hey, no problem. It's about as much as I know. But maybe other people have figured more out.

[It's weird, being back at square one. After everything in Deerington, being one of the last ones standing... He shakes it off.]

Yeah, they're called "Wakers". That's about all they do, help new arrivals. Orphanage is pretty open. You just show up, and someone will point you at a job. Stay until it's done.

Or until the kids let you go.

[lightinside]

Just show up. Okay. That seems easy enough. [She smiles.] I have experience of little kids not wanting to let go.

[Feeling that she ought to explain further Laurel continues.]

I'm a lawyer back home. I had a case once where this boy's family was being targeted by a really nasty guy and I ended up having to protect him. It worked out okay in the end.

[shiro2hero]

Hah, yeah. Same here. [Not just because of these kids, either.]

A lawyer? That's impressive. And kind of you - to keep an eye on him like that. I'm glad to hear it ended all right...

[lightinside]

Thanks. I enjoy what I do. [Most of the time.] I didn't hesitate to look out for him, he didn't have anyone else.

[Even if he did have other people, Laurel would've still stepped up.]

My city can be a dangerous place.

[shiro2hero]

Ah... yeah. Yeah, I know that feeling.

[Somehow, Shiro keeps getting drawn to those types of people. Those types of teens. They're the ones he seems to keep adopting.]

Where are you from?

[lightinside]

I'm from a place called Star City in a country called America. [Deciding to give him more details.] In case America doesn't exist where you're from, I thought I'd include that.

[The variety of worlds that people came from was incredible to her.]

How about you? Where's home for you?

[shiro2hero]

Yeah, I was too. If we're talking Earth, anyway.

[He appreciates the elaboration, regardless. There really are a lot of people here who wouldn't know that place.]

I was in unexplored space before I got here. Places humans haven't explored. Before that, the Southwest.

[lightinside]

Space? [ Her eyes widen a little as she smiles. ] You're the second person I've spoken to who was in space before. I think it's really cool.

[ Kind of scary too if she was being honest. ]

The furthest I've been out of my state is Missouri when I was visiting some friends there. That's about it.

[shiro2hero]

Oh yeah? Who was the other astronaut you ran into?

[It's been so long since he could talk astronomy - please forgive him.]

And... now Trench. You could probably count that, if you wanted.

[lightinside]

Uh, he's not an astronaut. I asked him that and he told me he's a mechanic on a spaceship. Amos is his name.

[Most talk about astronomy would go over her head so it's all good.]

Guess I could count it? Even if I didn't exactly have a choice in coming here.

[shiro2hero]

Oh, yeah? I don't think I've run into him yet. Maybe he'd like to meet our team mechanic.

[On the other hand, Hunk could probably talk to anyone with ease.]

If you want to count it, I say do it.

[lightinside]

Maybe? I mean, no harm in introducing them if you get a chance.

[Even if Amos did come off a bit abrasive to her at first.]

Then I'll count it. [Laurel nods with a smile.] Do you enjoy what you do back home?

[shiro2hero]

I might have to. If I meet this Amos. Hunk would probably love to be able to talk shop with someone.

[He shakes his head, a bit bemused.]

It... space travel, exploration. It was my life. So - yeah. Yeah, you could say so.

[lightinside]

Good. It's nice to find something you enjoy doing. Might take you a while to get there, but I guess that's part of the journey.

[She's not going to get into the difficulties of her own journey.]

There was a time when I wanted to be a police officer. Like my dad. But he wouldn't have it.

[shiro2hero]

We'd got there, actually. Before Deerington happened, we were exploring out to Pluto...

[And you know. Before everything went to hell on that mission.]

No? Why not?

[lightinside]

We've only managed to send people to the moon back in my world.

[So they were really behind where she's from.]

Overprotective father of two daughters. He made us take self defense classes at a young age.

[shiro2hero]

Yeah? How far from the first landing are you?

[Listen, it's a little fuzzy - he knows the rough dates, because he's a nerd like that.]

Ah, that kind of person. Well, hey, at least you've got training.

[lightinside]

Almost fifty years now. It's 2016 for me back home.

[Look, Laurel is used to working with people who get nerdy about certain things.]

I don't regret doing the training at all. It's been useful. [A smile.] But my dad's proud of what I do so it worked out.