[Day 5, Late Afternoon- Calico's Room] Low-Key Celebration (Open)

[Calico Carter]

Orlok was absolutely no help, the little jerk, and she wasn't sure who'd even show up, given the short notice.

But Calico wanted to relax and celebrate their win a little, now that she knew they had won, and as a result, she was frantically cleaning and rearranging furniture. There was a job that was going to eat most of the evening, so the fact that she couldn't afford a lot of booze for any sort of party was less hassle than it might have been, but she had put in a call to room service for a snack tray and some bottled water, which was no-doubt inbound.

The empty blood packs left over from feeding Orlok were binned,her meager collection of clothes had been hastily jammed into her backpack and tossed into the bedroom, she shoved the couch a little further back to the wall, re-oriented the TV, and then... had a seat, her feet propped up on an ottoman to see who might turn up...

[Felix Lang]

Felix wouldn't miss this for the world, he and suramu walked up to Calico's room as soon as they got the message that she was having a little get together. "OK bud there might be a few people here and they might bring their monsters but you gotta behave alright?"

The little ape like monster gave a serious nod and a little salute as they neared her door.

Pretty soon after she was ready there would be a knock on the door.

[Calico Carter]

Right, right, can't just say "come in," hotel doors.

"Just a sec!"

She darted over to the door.

"Hey, Felix! Not sure who else is gonna turn up, if anyone, but figured, what the hell, right? Come on in..."

As she said this, she also set the deadbolt to keep the door propped open.

[Felix Lang]

Felix was looking down and talking with Suramu as she opened the door.

She would would probably have time to notice something brightly colored in one of his hands before he rushed up excitedly "OH MY GOD YOU DID IT!!!" The six and a half foot tall slab of pure positive energy swept her up with one arm raising her into the air and spinning around "That was amazing! You were amazing! The dragon didn't even know what hit it!"

[Calico Carter]

After her initial startled yelp died down, she started laughing.

"I guess we did, didn't we?"

Orlok... chittered.

[Felix Lang]

Felix held her aloft for a few moment smiling "Yeah you did!" After a couple of seconds standing there smiling like an idiot a small blush came over his cheeks as he set her down "sorry I got a little excited is all." He said a little sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

Suramu looked at him with a look that seemed to say "and you thought i would be the problem?"

He cleared his throat and lifted a bundle of flowers wrapped in what appeared to be a newspaper. They seemed to be wild flowers but had been cleaned thoroughly. In colors of purple and yellow with some reds thrown in "I uh just wanted to get you something to say congrats."

[Calico Carter]

Several conflicting emotions arose in Calico.

Wariness, well, she was used to that, and it was actually a kind of feeble specimen of wariness, since Felix had proven trustworthy and not all that pushy about his interest, no matter how clear he'd made it.

Childlike glee (it had been six years since anyone had given her flowers of any kind).

A bit of guilt, since she knew her own kneejerk interest in him was probably milder than his interest in her.

A dash of panic as a mental voice that was a precise copy of her mother's shrieked that accepting bouquets alone in hotel rooms from men was exactly the kind of thing that tarnished a performer's reputation.

A less childlike joy that the flowers had clearly been picked with such care.

"They're gorgeous."

Orlok fluttered over to have a looksee, his antennae waving.

Quickly discerning that there was no tasty blood, he still reached out and collected a blossom and flew away with it.

"Oh, what, you think Blitz likes flowers?"

Pause.

"Actually, she might, come to think of it..."

[Felix Lang]

"I'm glad you like them." He smiled to her, he wasn't terribly good at reading people so he likely didn't catch the maelstrom of emotions coming off her.

He chuckled a little bit at Orlok's antics as the bud was extracted "Well I suppose thats only fair as I forgot to get Orlok anything. Little guy was brave as hell getting so close to the dragon."

Suramu sort of shuffled around the room watching Orlok flit about curiously.

[Calico Carter]

"Well, in fairness, Riki tried to run after the first dose, and if I hadn't figured out how to motivate him to move like I did, might have gotten a chance to recover."

[Felix Lang]

"Yeah I saw that! Orlok responded to you like that" He snapped his fingers "had you guys been practicing or something cause that seems like a super useful move in a battle."

[Calico Carter]

"It was more me figuring out that maybe telling him to move could be more useful then telling him to use a technique he was gonna use anyhow..."

She chuckled.

"But the way he took to it... I tell you what, that first fight with Killbot Rex would have been a lot less stressful, and tangling with Lucy would have been less of a hassle if I'd figured it out sooner..."

[Felix Lang]

"Well hey better late than never I suppose and it helped out when it counted the most."

"I finally started thinking like a trainer to actually direct my little guy here" he ruffled Suramu's fur "was mostly letting him do his own thing in there but we never really seemed to connect when it counted. Hopefully might change with some help."

"So big winner now, give you any ideas for what's next?"

[Calico Carter]

"Gonna pay off my debts, and then Mara and I are gonna do some traveling, try to earn some scratch, and save up for some land..."

She glanced at him.

"Maybe some other partners, too. Y'know. If you know anybody who might want in."

[Felix Lang]

He grinned "Well if ya'll are gonna need any dumb muscle around I got no plans around here. My own plan was to hit the road sooner or later anyway."

[Calico Carter]

"I dunno about dumb, but muscle's always useful. And Mara's a monster breeder, so... long term, there are gonna be a lot of monsters who need training."

[Felix Lang]

He nodded "only meaning I've got little to no experience in anything but moving heavy stuff and fighting. Guess I'm working on the training monsters part. I'd be happy to help out, should probably at least meet this Mara if we might be traveling together." He laughs.

[Calico Carter]

"I could probably set it up. See how it goes."

[Felix Lang]

He let out a little laugh behind his hand "sounds like a play date."

"I'm sure if you guys get along there shouldn't be issues. I'm usually at least ok with most people unless they find my energy annoying or something."

[Calico Carter]

"She's a great cook,a total sweetheart, and... lost her taichen recently, so she might be a bit delicate at the moment."

[Felix Lang]

"Oh damn, that is rough. Hope she's doing ok, I'd be a wreck if anything happened to this little guy."

"But hey travelling with a wonderful cook sure beats eating trail rations."