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

[starspangled]

[He wishes he had more to tell her. The simplicity of it all - the staff won't talk, the doors won't open, the walls are impenetrable - none of it makes sense. But it is what is, and Steve's determined to make the best of it until they manage to come up with some actual answers.]

Did all this come in your suitcase?

[He glances at the doll, the motorcycle, all the little things that personalize her room. Steve's torn between telling her to hide the peanut butter and asking for some when she presents him with his "gifts".

He snorts softly and pulls the hat on, unfolding the glasses next.]

My secret disguise. Now I'll find some answers.

[vdova]

Just remember, walk, don't run. [ She nods to the doll. ] It did, yeah. Along with clothes and toiletries. [ And one other thing she's basically thrown into the back of the closet. ] Whoever brought me here thinks they have a sense of humor.

[ It's clear Natasha doesn't share it. ]

[starspangled]

Yeah, they think that.

[Steve's tone and choice of words makes it clear that he agrees with her. But there's something else too.]

It also seems like they've either been watching us for a very long time, or they have some way of getting into our heads.

[He's not sure how else they would know about these little details. Or which one is more unsettling.]

[vdova]

[ Natasha narrows her eyes and crosses her arms, leaning against the dresser. ] Well, we know it's not hard to get into someone's head. Do we think HYDRA is behind this? Or something else?

[starspangled]

This is different.

[And he doesn't know how to explain it without startling her even more. Maybe there isn't a way. It's more than just digging into their pasts or knowing how they think.]

I haven't been able to rule them out. But I'm not sure why they'd have Bucky here, or one of their others.

[vdova]

[ Natasha considers this for a moment, tapping her fingers on her arm. ] It makes no sense to keep someone they consider their own here if it's meant to be a trap for us. [ Bucky she could understand. Their "Asset" had gone rogue. Although how they'd managed to find him when Natasha'd had to dig deep into her past in order to find any information on it— ] They wouldn't drag one of their own in here if it was meant for us. There's no way out for any of us, and they wouldn't be arrogant enough to assume that we were trapped in here with them.

[ The implication being 'they're trapped in here with me'. ]

[starspangled]

Right. It's also hard for me to believe that they'd just drop us here and leave us alone. I'd say we're pretty low on the list of Hydra's favorite people.

[Makes him smile. Just a little. But he would've expected torture by now, some of what they did to Bucky. If they didn't kill him outright.]

Whoever's behind it, they're going to mess up eventually. Just putting us together proves that.

[Have they not heard about this team?]

[vdova]

[ For all the mindreading, evidently not. ] So what's the plan, Cap? Think we can take out one of the walls outside? If I get the right parts, I can make a radio, something that I can send morse code out with. Someone has to be listening.

[starspangled]

Trust me, I've tried to go through every wall this place has. Right now I think we have a better shot at getting a message out than ourselves.

[He does worry about more being drawn, more being captured. But the hotel can't hold the entire world.]

You might wanna talk to Skye. She's an agent, and she knows more about the network that the tablets use than anybody.

[vdova]

[ Natasha nods. ] I'll ask her when I see her. In the mean time, I'll start looking for parts to make a radio. There are frequencies only a few people know about that they might be monitoring, especially if we've all vanished.

[ Although— ] You've been here three months, but I just saw you, at Fury's grave.

[starspangled]

Really.

[He looks a little surprised at that, but not alarmed. Being alarmed by any weird thing here would mean a constant state of it.]

Yeah, that's the last place I was before I got here. [He takes a deep breath.] Which means that anyone on the outside might not even realize that we're gone.

[vdova]

So they can pull us through time and space. Thor might know. He had that problem in London, remember? Something about ripping holes in reality?

[ HUFF. ] Too bad he isn't here.

[starspangled]

Yeah, it is.

[They're collecting Avengers like action figures, but Thor's exclusion might be deliberate. That said, Steve's not so sure that they won't see him sooner or later.]

Hey, you're gonna want to be careful with that peanut butter. There's a little bit of a food shortage going on.

[vdova]

[ A food shortage? Natasha glances from the peanut butter near her elbow and then back to Steve, clearly confused. ] You mean that wasn't a joke?

[starspangled]

It wasn't. And it's been going on long enough for people to start getting desperate.

[Desperate enough to try coming through her door if they know she has it. It would end badly for them, but Steve would still hate to see it happen.]

A bunch of people are pitching in to help distribute what we do have to where it's most needed.

[vdova]

[ She looks from Steve to the jar and then back again, before picking it up and moving to hand it to him. ] Take it. I'll survive without it, but others might not be able to.

[starspangled]

[Steve takes the jar and smiles at her, fond and admiring at the same time.]

You know I'm going to lead the 'thank you' letter writing campaign, don't you?

[vdova]

For what? [ She's genuinely confused, here. ]

[starspangled]

For being the best.

[Is he biased, maybe. Fight him.]

[vdova]

[ And she's surprised, visibly so, for a brief second. It lapses into a small smile. ] I'm really not.