checkingout | master of the house, quick to catch your eye (OPEN)

Who: Everyone!
Where: The initial arrival rooms, the main lobby, all over the place.
When: April 5rd
What: Welcome, newbies + happy Easter eggs.

ARRIVAL.

you wake up when you hit the floor in a dark room, and the air is knocked out of your lungs. the carpet is threadbare, worn with use, kind of dusty. and you're not the first person to endure this crash landing. nor will you be the last.

once your vision rights itself, you can see the well-lit hallway through the doorjam straight ahead of you. not to say there’s monsters in the shadows, but something propels you towards that door and out into the bright hallway beyond.

and once outside your room, you can hear it: the steady thrum of rain outside.

MAIN LOBBY.

there's a staircase at the end of the lengthy hallway you tumble out of. grab your suitcase and follow the dull green exit signs on the ceiling until you reach the disappointingly bland stairs that lead you down to the ornate old fashion hotel lobby.

to your left is an empty, ashy fireplace, to your right is a lobby desk. straight ahead are three large sets of doors, all three of them thrown wide open and welcoming. and outside the few (curtained, permanently dark) windows is the continually steady hiss of rain. once you leave the hallway you wake up in, you won't be able to return.

welcome to the hotel.

FRONT DESK.

though there is a bell and a plaque designating the desk to be the main desk, the customer service desk, there are currently no staff members behind it. none shall answer your calls, either. there is, however, a pad of paper and a pen neatly aligned with the desk edge. you know. for notes.

terribly sorry for the inconvenience.

SCREENING ROOM.

on a long pull-down screen, a silent version of the cabinet of dr. caligari will be playing on loop. at the back of the room, between the neat rows of fold out chairs, mounted on a wobbly table is the old-timey projector, and mounted on the walls are some rather old speakers that warble out "terrifying" old music.

along the curtained windows is another long table, with a large bowl of caramel corn and a large hot drink dispenser full of hot water, with a few cups and some old looking packages of hot chocolate mix.

BALLROOM.

the third set of grand doors have been thrown wide to reveal a brightly lit, festively decorated ball room. all across the polished wood floor, all over the tables and chairs around the edge of the room, under the curtains, in the corners, hiding in the shadows, and behind the doors, characters will find:

easter eggs.

plastic easter eggs filled with jellybeans and chocolates, real eggs dip dyed and rolled in glitter; foil wrapped chocolate eggs, sugar eggs with little diaramas in the middle. there will be novelty plastic easter bunny rings sprinkles about, and general little plastic childrens toys. there will be plastic and paper easter basket grass sprinkled all over, and upbeat ambiance music intended to excite.

by the front door will be basket for people to use in their quest to collect the hundreds of eggs scattered all over the room. a sign on the floor invites them to "take one" in curvy handwritted script.

but there's no sign to warn that — some of these eggs?

are going to explode in your face.

( event details. )

OTHER.

the ballroom is currently open, and the grand doors locked.

there is no main door leading to the outside, good luck trying to find one.

the doors to the courtyard and breakfast hall are unlocked, food is currently being served. a lot of it is candy.

ROOMS.

you've a room key with your assigned room number on it. all the new guest residences will be located on floors four. while there is an open elevator in the main lobby, and the buttons light up inside, the doors will not close. all in all, you'll be better off taking the stairs.

while they're the same stairs you undoubtedly came down to get to the lobby, the door to the endless hall everyone woke up in will not reappear between the main floor and the subsequent residential halls.

there are twenty rooms per floor. feel free to get to know your surroundings; or your neighbors as they trickle in around you.

EGGSISTING GUESTS.

happy easter, kids.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Neal's sort of gotten into the swing of things here. He knows that once a month, new people flood in like lost children, confused and angry and affronted by their new surroundings. He knows that the theater plays a new flick once a month, and that the popcorn's the only difference in their meals so he's quick to grab a couple handfulls just to break up the monotony. He knows it's always a pretty good time to snag a chair in the lobby and watch the sea of new people break the monotony, and it's pretty amusing to see some of 'em try to break down doors or whatever.

Plus, you know, he likes to answer a few questions if he can. Help calm some people down, get them oriented, let them know they're... more or less safe.

But there's a face he never expected to see here.

There's a person he never anticipated among the flood of new arrivals.

The first thing that he spots is a cane between the legs of passing bodies, and next to it a shoe, and that already has his hand freezing half way to his mouth, popcorn stalled in mid air.

It falls out of his hand when his father steps into view, and he's frozen for a second. Lips parted, eyebrows hitched, rooted to the spot in disbelief, conflicting emotions battling behind a wall of stunned. Part of him wants to bolt. Part of him, a childish, angry, bitter part, the part of him that was a thief, wants to just peel out of the room and dodge behind the passing bodies, cover his face, find a way to cohabitate without getting caught. He could do it. He knows he could do it. Long as Killian and Emma didn't spill the beans, he's pretty sure he could make it for months without his father ever knowing he was here.

But that part of him is silenced after a beat, grounded by the rest of him that grew up, that's an adult now, that lived and died and come to terms (more or less) with his father's history. The part of him that knows his father died for them once, that he died for his father once, that there may be something worth redeeming in there, tells him to face this head on.

And he knows it'll be safer for everyone involved if his father has a reason to keep a leash on his temper. He's the only legitimate reason in sight.

So slowly, carefully, he pushes himself up from his chair. Crosses the room with pursed lips, and settles his elbows on the clerk's side of the desk. ]

Bellhop's out of town on vacation.

[ He speaks up, hoping to catch the man's attention. ]

Not sure when he'll be back, but common consensus is never.

[It's the voice that catches his attention first. His head snaps up toward it, shock plan to see written over his face, brown eyes just a little wide. He'd never expected to hear that particular voice again. As the surprise leaves him, he slowly relaxes as he studies Bae from across the desk.

A small uncertain smile coming to grace his lips and warming the eyes above them.]

Bae.

[The name is more of a whisper of sound than anything else and it takes him a moment to actually concentrate on the words that had been said before he can respond to them.]

I see. Do you know how -- why we're here?

[He's still trying to figure out how he's managed to actually cheat death or rather how he's been brought here. Though perhaps he should be a little more worried about the why they've been brought here. Especially given that whatever brought him here has also brought his son as well.]

How long have you been here?

master of the house, quick to catch your eye (OPEN)

lobby;

no subject