I USED TO DREAM THAT I WOULD MEET A PRINCE

[checkingin]

Who: Everyone!
Where: The initial arrival rooms, the main lobby, all over the place.
When: May 7th
What: Feed me, Seymour

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 richly crackling, rather excessively smoking 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 alice in wonderland 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 chipotle cheese popcorn corn and a large hot drink dispenser full of hot water, with a few cups and some old looking packages of apple cider mix.

DINING HALL.

is tragically, painfully empty.

OTHER.

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

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

the doors to the courtyard are unlocked.

ROOMS.

you've a room key with your assigned room number on it. all the new guest residences will be located on floors one and two. 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.

EXISTING GUESTS.

are you dreaming of omlettes and regretting complaining about the constant pancakes and weak ass coffee yet?

Comments

front desk

[avengeme]

[No one's good at reading May, not even Coulson but he likes to think they've been around each other long enough that there are certain things he can tell about her. And right now what he's seeing is confusing him a little. It almost seems like she's just arrived, which would be weird, so he approaches her]

Yeah. The only thing they do right is room service.

[busdriver]

[There's no mistaking that voice.]

Coulson.

[May leans her weight off the desk, turning in his direction. She didn't expect to see him again so soon, and particularly not here, wherever here is. A little momentary surprise works its way into her otherwise flat expression. She looks at him and then past him, scanning the lobby. It says something that she'll look away that easily; that she's automatic trusting of him and suspicious of their surroundings. He's familiar, but the hotel isn't.]

Did you order a map?

[It's a dry question. If he's serious about ordering room service (and she doubts it, judging from his tone) then a map probably isn't on the menu. From past experience, she thinks she might be able to gauge how much trouble they're in by the jokes he'll make about it.]

[avengeme]

Well it's more of an invisible one. And the focus is on cleaning. And they haven't given us food for the past twelve days.

[yeah if he looks a little faint, that would be why.]

And are you sure you haven't been here for the past month?

[best get all the questions out of the way first]

[busdriver]

A month? [She refocuses on him and blinks, brow furrowing.] Try half an hour.

[She almost wants to tell him that he hasn't been here for the past month, either. As far she's concerned, he hasn't. The fact that he does look faint and underfed is just about the only thing making his case. She can infer from his tone that they are a pretty significant food source, if not the only one. The new information rapidly changes the order of priority on the questions she wants to ask.]

When did you last eat? [Significantly less than all twelve days ago, right?]

[avengeme]

I had a piece of chocolate yesterday. But that's not the primary concern right now. You have to prove to me that you're you.

[because Agent 33 is here and he had nearly fallen for her not remembering anything about the team act]

[busdriver]

[She cants her head and gives him a hard look. What he's eaten might not be the primary concern, but she's wordlessly confirming that it's still a concern, and the conversation's going to circle back to that, at some point, whether he likes it or not.

It isn't a huge leap to figure out why Phil might not trust her on sight.]

Agent 33's here?

[And still using her face, apparently. May's jaw clenches in irritation. Agent 33 had a distinguishing feature, last she checked. She isn't sure if she's supposed to pick the proof, or he is. She shrugs permissively.]

[avengeme]

[Well, he really can't argue with the prospects of having food at this point. As it is, her identity needs to be confirmed with things neither Ward nor Agent 33 knows about. He nods and he looks solemn as he asks:]

I came to you for a plan once before. You had one. What was it?

[It was vague but she has to know what it was. He is looking at her with a kind of desperation that they felt back then, when his carving was only getting worse and no end was in sight. The plan that involved him ordering her to kill him should he lose control.]

[busdriver]

[They've made a lot of plans over the years. There's only one she tried to avoid making. That, coupled with the look on his face, means it isn't that vague after all. The plan she walked into the conversation with, and the plan she walked out with, are two different things. She'd been willing to take care of him, no matter what. If he hadn't echoed her words about nostalgia, she would've left it at that. The reminder softens her face and her lips press into a frown.]

Make the hard choice, for you. Put you down, if I had to.

[avengeme]

[he nods, satisfied]

Thank you.

[then he straightens. There's a lot she has to know]

There's quite a number of us here. Skye, Fitz, Ward, Agent 33, Cal, Steve Rogers, Sergeant Barnes, Clint Barton. Now there's you and Triplett.

[busdriver]

You gonna test me every time?

[She wouldn't resent him for it, but she'd prefer to work out a system, so that they won't have to reopen another old chapter whenever she steps out of the room. Between the two of them, she's sure they could come up with a password or a signal.

The tone he's using makes her not want to doubt him, and yet, she can't accept it without resistance. It isn't as though all those names are equally probable.]

Trip. He's alive?

[avengeme]

We'll need to come up with some kind of password and a signal.

[a password can easily be heard by others and, well, with Ward around, there's no telling he won't see it and give Kara the information.]

For now. Come on. We can talk in my room.

[it's as much privacy as they're going to get.]