checkingout | a gent of good intent who's content to be ( OPEN )

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a gent of good intent who's content to be ( OPEN )

Who: Everyone!
Where: The initial arrival rooms, the main lobby, all over the place.
When: March 3rd
What: Welcome, newbies.

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 a warmly crackling fireplace, to your right is a lobby desk. straight ahead are three large sets of doors, though only one of them is open to the public. 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.

terribly sorry for the inconvenience.

SCREENING ROOM.

on a long pull-down screen, a silent version of the phantom carriage 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 popcorn and a large hot drink dispenser full of hot water, but without any tea or hot chocolate packets around.

OTHER.

the ballroom is currently closed, 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, but looks like you've missed the morning meal. sucks for you.

ROOMS.

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

EXISTING GUESTS.

it's late when the newcomers arrive, there's a good chance you'd been about to go to sleep (or just waking up, who knows, your mom's not here to tell you when to go to bed or get up). but if you're paying attention, you might hear the hustle and bustle in the lobby below; or maybe you're just drawn there because your gut told you to go join the commotion. whatever the case may be, go mingle!

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"I've been on a ship for a long time. Anything resembling earth is a novelty. And the rain...that's something special." He was encouraged by the fact that she didn't slap him down right away. He could have a conversation with her, which was something he was searching for.

"Good, then you will not tire of it easily," Leela said. "I, too, shall not. It is fresh and if it is all the outside I get, I will take it. When there is a little hope, you must grasp what you can and hold fast to it."

Capa managed a nod. She was certainly right at that, but he didn't want to think of how that had been what he had repeated to himself for the last eighteen hours, locked in a broken ship in space.

"I don't know about hope," he muttered. "Not here. This isn't a hopeless situation. Not yet."

"No, it is not, but I think we could all use a little bit of it anyway," she said quietly. Leela eased the door open and stepped inside, dripping as she held it open. "We have sky and rain, it is a good thing when we cannot leave. I would like a field and trees, but this is good."

Capa stepped through the door, wringing out his hair and lamenting the fact that he'd have to go change, again, after this. Thankfully, there was a fireplace, and he gravitated towards it, and the warmth it provided.

"It's good enough," he agreed. "I just wonder what we're supposed to do here."

Leela made a face as she worked water out of her own hair and moved to sit by the fire, crossing her legs as she sat on the hearth.

"That is a wonder I am sure we all share. I do not think it a good thing, my experiences with these sort of things leads me to believe they are rarely for our own benefit."

"Whatever it is," he started, settling down cross-legged in front of the warmth, "it's the reality I have. Home, whatever the concept, is not an option for me. At all."

He sat quietly, back straight, but the heat of the fire on his face made him wince. He moved away, setting the tablet he held in his lap. He suddenly didn't feel like being too close to the heat and the flames.

"But whatever happened saved me from death...I can't be too upset."

"I am pleased that it did." She was quiet for awhile, thinking. Yes, it was good that he did not have to die, there was no point in thinking anything else. For some, it would be an afterlife, surely. After a long silence, she spoke.

"Then, we have a mystery to solve," Leela said, rubbing at her hair, moving so that she blocked most of the flames. Heat would go around her, it was like that, but she took in as much as she could until her hair was damp and not sopping, before she found her way back to sit beside Capa.

"Why us?" she said after awhile. "That is the question."

"I haven't found a pattern in it yet. The nature of my arrival, at least, might fit. And you, if you are familiar with these...portals. But the others...I don't know their stories." He toyed with the tablet before he simply gave up on trying to find answers there. It wasn't going to give up its secrets that easily.

"We'd need the information from the others in order to form a hypothesis."

"That is sound," Leela said with a nod. "If we wish to find a reason why we are here we must see what we all have in common. That is the way of science. It is better, right now, than my own way. I have nothing to fight. No enemy to slay. We shall ask the others."

He had to smile. Just a lIttle. Her nature was much like Mace, only she was quite a bit more forward about it. He didn't know 8f that made him feel more comfortable, but he realized that he was putting her into a category that he understood.

He folded his hands together. "Seems the most logical way right now." A breath. "Have you been to Earth? The one from your universe?"

"Many times and in many different years, it was the Doctor's most favorite place. It was good to learn about my ancestors, though strange." Leela shifted a little, turning so her hair could dry a little more in the heat of the fire. "They are often like my tribe, warriors, but too, explorers. It seems right that they would not stay confined to one planet."

"We hadn't gotten to space travel. Not really. Maybe if things had been different. But my research had a singular purpose, which was to save what we had. It would have been a long time before we recovered."

He realized then just how far he had slipped in these few hours. He was accepting her truth, simply because she said it. She had offered no proof and yet...Capa knew it was because he was holding onto something that made sense. And that could be dangerous.

"One day," she said. "One day your people will leave their planet and go out into the stars. I am from far, far in the future, this I have seen in my own. I cannot imagine two peoples are so different."

She carefully worked the knots out of her hair, her expression thoughtful.

"It may take a long time from where your people are now, but they will leave eventually. Humans, by their very nature, they are explorers and thinkers, engineers, and scientists. And in truth, warriors, too. But they are a curious people. By their own need and eagerness, they cannot sit content once they have found the means to travel the stars. It may not happen for many, many years, but what are those years in the lifetime of a people?"

"Nothing. Those years are nothing," he concluded before he stretched his arms in front of him. "This is...a lot to think about." He picked up the tablet. "And I've already been through one pair of wet clothes. I should go dry off and...try to sleep." He knew that it was a lie, that he would not sleep for a while, but it was the only way he could excuse himself without seeming as...off...as he felt.

"I am in the room numbered 407," Leela said with a nod, "if you wish to find me. I, too, should find something dry." She rose carefully and rolled her shoulder to work the kinks out of it. She had thought to rest, herself, but knew she would wander. Sleep would only come when she had worn herself out completely.

"You will not bother me if you wish to come by."

And then she smiled.

"I am pleased to have met you."

He nodded to her, encouraged by how the meeting had gone. He was left with more questions, but what did that matter? He was a scientist, which meant he had dedicated himself to asking questions that might not have answers yet. But he was determined to figure it out.

He stood up, memorizing her room number. "I'm in 314," he told her. "Same goes for you." He glanced to the stairs and headed towards them. "I'll see you around, Leela. 'Night."

She lifted a hand to wave and stayed by the fire just a little longer before heading back to change. There were places she had not been or explored yet and she wanted to keep moving. Maybe she would find something more than disused rooms or rain.

Leela could hope.

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