Kyrie was aware of two things when she woke up. One was that her neck and head were sore as hell as she opened her eyes. The second was that looking her right in the face as she blinked away the exhaustion was that a short man that at his full height was only able to look down at her while she was sitting there. His slicked back hair, pale turquoise shirt, and the grass skirt with black pants didn't really exude a feeling of danger as she looked him up and down. He was a bit chubby in the face, but seemed to be a wiry kid if she was to take him at face value.
"Oh look, she's awake," he sneered as he leaned in a bit with a bend from the hip, "About time you woke up, girlie."
'That voice sounds familiar,' she vaguely registered, though when trying to pull her head back from his closer proximity she smacked her head against the elevator getting a chuckle out of him. Groaning a bit, she reached up and rubbed the back of her head while narrowing her eyes at him, "Dude, back up. Personal space, respect it."
He blinked and leaned back with a laugh, "You guys hear her? She thinks she can just give orders when she's the one who was asleep in an elevator. She should be thanking us for letting her sleep peacefully!"
'Haughty little shit, aren't you?' she thought sullenly as she looked up at the other people who were in the elevator. All significantly taller than their mobster hair style sporting companion, by at least twice as a rough estimate, but significantly different looking. From the left there was a large giant of a man with dark skin, spiked hair, what appeared to be a knock of sumo wrestler's belt and a red bib on his chest. After that was an older gentleman, somewhat hunched with a black cap sporting two red stripes along the lower edge, long hair and a matching eyebrow and mustache combo. His hair touched at his shoulders from what she could see and he had on a casual green shirt with redish orange vest and darker green pants. Moving on to the next individual, the sported lavender hair tied back in a ponytail, red eyes, and was dressed in what appeared to be a proper kimono for men. There was also a katana by his side, though it appeared that his arms may have been in his sleeves at the moment. And finally, on the far right was a tall blonde who sported a light purple vest and red pants, a belt that had molds in them to hold round objects, chewing at something. When he gave a smirk, he followed it up by blowing a bright pink bubble until it popped, pulling the gum back in.
"I'm sure that she's just surprised that she's not alone at the moment," the old man said calmly while her eyes made the rounds over everyone.
"That's certainly one way to put it," she agreed amicably, giving the elder of the group a short smile, looking up and grabbing onto the thin almost railings that lined the car at average hip height and hefted herself up bags and all, messenger bag on one side, primary back pack and miniature back pack, then leaned against the wall. It was that point that she realized that they were moving upwards, and with a look over at the buttons saw that floor 5 was pressed. She wasn't all that surprised that they were going up further, hell she may have even hit that button in her panic, but isn't normal procedure when someone is unconscious on an elevator to get medical help?
She guessed it didn't matter at this point as the elevator was creeping up and barely touched the third floor before there was a shudder and it stopped. She white knuckled the railing for a moment before releasing it, displeasure obvious on her race as she looked up at the display. 'Great, stuck on an elevator with a mini creep, and his four buddies, two of whom could clearly kick my backside ten ways from Sunday and a third who probably has a high dexterity score…added that face, tack on a high charisma too.'
"Well this in inconvenient," the elder male of the group said, looking at the elevator door then over to her. "I'm sure you want to hide in your room at this point, huh little missy?"
"Eh, a smoke and a hard drink wouldn't be a miss," she said honestly, giving a shrug in return. "Besides, I'm in no rush."
"Even with your burdens? That bag at your hip looks mighty heavy for a frail little girl like you," the old man pointed out, while the tone was kind and concerned on the surface, there was an underhanded insult there. And while in the frame of 'old fashioned verbage' she would have let go, the specific phrase had her lips press in a thin line. The old man gave a snicker in response, not apologizing at all. His companions had their own smirks on their faces, apparent that they were looking down on her.
She wasn't expecting it, though a smirk crossed her face in response as she realized just why these guys looked familiar. Dead to rights, they could be dead ringers for one of the Dark Tournament teams in Yu Yu Hakosho. The detail was superb though, with a few additional details to make their persona's more lifelike it would have almost passed her notice that they were cosplaying.
"You wound me kind sir," she replied, "It may not look it, but I have seen the world and beheld it's wonders. For the cruelty of man is as wonderous as the power of Raizen."
The demon cosplayers blinked at her, though she tried her best to put an innocent face on and gave a shrug, with the follow up, "Carrying my own bags is no burden in comparison."
The old man chuckled, "Rather bold of you to insinuate as such. I wouldn't go around making such proclamations myself."
The warning was there, almost as if daring her to do it again or something similar. She casually raised her hands up, conceding for the moment, "My apologies if I've offended, or have done him little credit. Been quite the day already."
She put her hands down, back to the half functional banister there, cocking her head to the side. Recalling the gaming schedule, most of the full on physical larps were going to be the next day. So that would be interesting to observe as she watched the elder man for a moment, "Besides, tomorrow's the day to be getting into fights, wouldn't you agree?"
The old man chuckled, "You are quite right miss, tomorrow will be the better time for throwing our hats into the ring. Which team will you be rooting for?"
"I'll see who's there first," she said, confusion coming over her face at the idea of already choosing sides in a pick up game. The elevator gave another shudder and proceeded to go back up on it's way to the designated floor. She squeezed the banister again, letting up only when the progress of the elevator was steady.
"Don't like elevators?" the man with the lavender colored hair asked, his tone mocking. The Shishiwakimaaru double had what looked to be a friendly smile on his face but at didn't quite reach his eyes.
"I've been dropped in a small container before. Elevator is not much bigger," she replied simply, giving another shrug as she barely spared a glance to the man then looked at the board.
"Hopefully you don't frighten so easily during the tournament. Especially since I don't think you'll be able to sit in the box seats like the human sponsors," he said smoothly, smirking a little.
"If you're going to a show, why get the seats where you can't see anything?" she asked, just as the elevator came to another halt at floor five. The doors opened, and she stayed put as the five moved to depart. More space to breathe and at least there was no coming to blows.
Lavender hair stopped, the two bangs sticking straight up like antenna more perceivable now as he left the door, as he turned his head to face her, "I best see you tomorrow in the crowd."
"Sure thing, I'll see you then." she said, not sure if that was an actual request from him or a threat if she didn't appear. He seemed satisfied with her answer as he departed, and the doors closed in his wake. She reached over and pressed the button for the ground floor, waiting until the elevator shuddered to life and began its descent before letting out a heavy sigh. "First day at a con and you're already making friends…good job." She muttered sarcastically to herself.
The rest of the ride down was peaceful, thankfully, and her mind moved to her actual plan, which was: get a room, drop her stuff off and find a game. That's what she came for, after all. But when the doors opened and she stepped out, what met her eyes was a variety of various people, dressed in their finest off to the side and sipping on what she assumed was champagne. Confusion colored her face for a moment before she shrugged, the immediate determination being that some people apparently decided to larp and hit the sauce early at once. Everyone has done that at least once in some fashion, not something she would judge for. But as she looked around, the lighting and design of the place didn't seem to be the same sweeping area that she was used to seeing, nor was the hotel front desk where she remembered. She didn't hear about any remodeling that the hotel did in recent years so now her heart started to sink. She had been to this con, at this location, several times. Was it possible she had actually somehow gone to the wrong place?
Only one way to find out, she decided, walking up to the front desk with a determined look on her face. The front desk attendant smiled and gave a small bow, "How may I help you?"
"Uh, checking in? Should be under Johnson, Valerie," she said, smiling back. He tapped a few times at the keyboard, the smile becoming more fixed, and tapped a few more entries.
"I'm sorry, but we don't have a reservation for you," they told her, an apologetic look on her face.
"That's…not possible?" she said in a staggering voice, shaking her head, "Try again?"
The attendant indulged her, trying again and giving a reluctant shake of their head slowly. "Is there another name it would have been under?"
"No, I was the one that made the reservation…." She said biting her bottom lip, then looked around again with a sigh. "I suppose it would be stupid to see if there are any vacancies?"
The attendant chuckled, "Those won't be available until tomorrow, and those will more than likely be more than you would want. Too much space if it's just yourself."
"…You mean I probably couldn't afford it," she said with an understanding nod, and even as the attendant tried to correct that she held up a hand, "No, it's fine, I understand."
"Is there a problem?" came a male voice behind her. When she turned around, she was greeted by a tall gentleman who was about two heads taller than her, lean in a blue suit with long flowing black hair down his back. His blue eyes were sharp, and had an air of intimidation that was emphasized by the scar that ran over his right eye. He had spared a glance to her, with her bags, jeans and black tee shirt that sported a series of characters, then his gaze went to the clerk.
"Oh no sir, just trying to locate the young lady's reservation is all," the attendant said, tone pleasant and apologetic.
"Technology sometimes eats those," she added, more to make a joke out of the situation as she looked over at the attendant with a 'roll with it' glance then back up to the man who was inquiring. "I'm sure we'll locate it soon."
'Man, everyone seems to have gone all out with the cosplay this year. This guy could be a dead ringer for Sakyo,' she thought nervously as the man's eyes shifted to look at her. A pit opened in her stomach under that gaze though, because that look did not sit well even with the easy going smile on his face.
"Unlikely, since if you aren't in the system then you aren't supposed to be here," he said in a factual manner, then looked at the attendant who froze for a moment then bowed their head, reaching for the keyboard and typing something in. Probably an incident report to keep her from setting foot again inside.
"I paid for my reservation months back," she contested, wiggling to sling the smaller pack off of her shoulders and opening the top. Reaching in, she shuffled past some costume pieces she had in there for safe keeping and pulled out a few papers, looking through them before irritatedly folding them and shoving them in her back pocket. She repeated the motion,pulling her hand back with a hiss when something pricked her. Pulling out the offending item, it was a laminated card that she hadn't seen in over a year with her face on it, with the designation 'Research' written on it in thick print. Above it was her name, a photograph, and the number 2501-195 along the side. Flipping it over was in impressive text "SHIN-RA" designation that glared back in an unapologetic fashion. "Huh, thought I got rid of that.."
She absently put it on the counter, moving to shuffle in her bag more. More papers came out, gas receipts and other miscellaneous things that she put back into her pocket after the next three or four pulls. Despite the cold pit in her stomach from seeing the ID card with the sharp edge, she had a more urgent matter of where was her registration for her room.
"Looks as if that goes pretty deep," the gentleman said when she put her hand in a fifth time.
"Running joke is that it's a Bag of Holding," she said absently, then looked up as she saw that the ID card was in his hand. "Oh, uh…you can do what you want with that, I'm not going to need it."
"I have a feeling you will," the Sakyo player said, putting it back on the counter and sliding it towards the attendant. The attendant nodded, taking the card and looking it over before tapping something in on the computer.
Kyrie gave a disbelieving eye raise as she crossed her arms and opened her mouth, "Unlikely, I can't see it being of use-"
"It looks like we found it Miss Johnson," the attendant interrupted, a look of triumph on their face.
Kyrie nearly gave herself whiplash as her head turned to the attendant. "You're kidding; it worked? Let me see that," she leaned over the counter as the attendant turned the screen to her. Her face in a state of confusion that was as equally childish as her inquiry. "How…is that even possible?"
A chuckle from the man behind her, clearly amused. When she turned to face him a carefree smile was there on his lips, his hands casually in his pockets, "Apparently you were expected to come."
"The registration was made over 50 years ago," she pointed out, not sure what was happening as she looked at the date of the establishment of the reservation. Adding in her own mind, 'By a man who by all logic shouldn't exist here.'
"Yes, even if the original intended reservation wasn't for yourself, a stipulation was made in case another representative would be here for the tournament in the original's absence," the Sakyo look alike said patiently, with the clerk nodding before turning the screen back to it's proper position to process her check in. Of course, the man in the luxury suit made the rather obvious observation, "It looks like luck is on your side."
"Luck be a lady indeed," she said absently as she stared at the counter then looked up at him. At his light eyebrow quirk she shook her head, "Nothing, just a musical reference. But I really do thank you, I appreciate the help with this."
"Just make sure that you return the favor at some point," he said casually, starting to walk off.
"No problem…but sir?" she asked, watching him pause to look over his shoulder at her. "You know my name now, but what's yours?"
He chuckled, "Coming all this way and you don't know who I am? How quaint." He turned to face her properly while seeming amused at the situation. He did answer her question though, stating in a factual manner, "My name is Sakyo."
That pit in her stomach suddenly felt twice as heavy as a chill went down her spine. She gave him a smile, trying to make it reach her eyes while nodding, "Nice to meet you. I'll be sure to pay you back in some fashion."
He nodded, turned and walked away towards the direction of the fancy people with the bubbly that was in the long stemmed glasses. Chances are he was joining them, but this also gave Kyrie a chance to actually think. As much as she didn't want to jump to conclusions, because for all she knew it could be a coincidence with the man cosplaying a character with his same name, the fact her stomach dropped as hard and as fast as it did from hearing his name was not something she was going to disregard so easily. As it was, she suddenly felt very exposed in the lobby at that moment. She turned back to the attendant, who was handing her the ID card and a room key. "You'll be in one of the suites on the sixth floor."
"Thanks," she took the key, putting it in another jean pocket while redepositing the papers she took out previously back into her bag. "By the way, since I didn't see it on the screen before, do you mind if I ask who made that reservation?"
"We wouldn't be able to provide that information, Miss Johnson," the attendant said apologetically, the customer service tone in their voice thick and unreadable as to whether they were genuine or not. Though it didn't matter since she doubted she would be interacting with them all that much that she would need to be able to have a proficiency on using Sense Motive on them.
"Right, client security, no worries," she said in a chipper tone, situating her mini pack back in place between her shoulders. "Well, thank you for the help you gave. You did awesome."
"Enjoy your stay," was the attendant's response as she left towards the elevator.