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

[checkingin]

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!

Comments

[roughup]

Generic power suit and all, Ressler's hands find his hips as he takes that stance of his, looking like he doesn't believe a word coming out of Reddington's mouth. Not right now at least. This had to be connected to him, some how. It always was.

"Funny how I don't believe that." Still, this isn't the time to get into a pissing contest over if Red was lying or not, with holding information, the usual. Instead his obvious frustration slides away some more into concern, eyes skittering around a bit, not catching anymore familiar faces.

"So you have no idea what's going on?" Not even a little?

"I haven't seen hide or hair of someone in charge of this place." No one else seemed to have either.

[suspense_kills_me]

"Believe me, if I had anything to do with this, I'd have at least picked a hotel with a staff."

Ressler had to remember the room Red picked when they were looking for Zamati. This hotel wasn't his scene either, especially with all the rain.

"I doubt we're going to anytime soon. It doesn't seem like the kind of place that's overly friendly to its guests."

[roughup]

"Besides the appalling lack of service, they haven't gagged and tied us up and thrown us into a dark dank cellar." Ressler only cracks a joke because he has no idea what else to do right now. The only person he can remotely trust here is a goddamn criminal, what has his life become?

And then a most important question comes up, because when it came to Reddington some how she was always involved.

"Keen?" Had he seen her at all?

[suspense_kills_me]

"Instead we were thrown in that hallway, which was admittedly not that much nicer than the number of dark, dank, cellars I've been in."

He sighed and looked around the lobby again before answering Ressler's question.

"No, I haven't seen Agent Keen since our last case."

When she left, angry. Though it did make him wonder, with both him and Donald here, who was looking out for Lizzie?

[roughup]

Ressler remembers things a tiny bit differently, but then when isn't Keen angry at Reddington for something? He'd just had a time trying to help Keen figure out where Alan Fitch was being kept, then the whole bomb thing which... ended very poorly. Plus finding out her 'husband' was still alive and she'd been harboring him.

It had been a rough time for sure. He also has to wonder if Red knows about Tom. He won't ask about it, just in case. He wanted to think no, if Keen had brought him into things, so probably best to keep it that way.

"Well hopefully whatever this is, she's outside of it where she and the others can possibly find us." Without getting in trouble themselves. Though Keen had a way of diving right into stuff and getting mixed up in it too.

"So far I haven't found a way to make contact, so seems we're fending for ourselves." Which means he'll be protecting Reddington of course.

[suspense_kills_me]

"Or, she'll end up here like the two of us."

Which in a way, would make Red feel a lot better about the situation. The three of them managed to get their way out of one impossible situation or another for the last two years. This wouldn't be much different.

[roughup]

Unlike Red, Ressler feels better with her not here. While she would be a valuable ally, as always, she'd saved his ass plenty of times now and vice versa, they needed her on the outside.

She'd find them.

"Prefer not. Need all the heads out there." Her and Navabi could put their heads together to track them down, along with help from Aram of course.

"Been to your room yet?" Because he'd been to his, tried to make sure there were no cameras in there, done a sweep of it, found nothing, but that doesn't mean there aren't throughout the rest of the hotel.

[suspense_kills_me]

Red just nodded. He'd keep his desire to have Liz there with him quiet. He only trusted that she was safe when he could personally keep an eye on her, especially with recent developments.

"I have and I took a brief look around."

His own bug sweep would happen later in the evening.

"Room 318."

[roughup]

It's not that Ressler wouldn't prefer to have her here by his side, because she was an amazing partner and would be a damn good help, but having another agent stuck here? No, no not a good idea.

His nose wrinkles a little at Red.

"Three twenty." He knows he doesn't have to say more than that.

Howdy neighbor.

[suspense_kills_me]

Red almost has to bite back a laugh. Of course Donald would be in 320, right next door.

Instead, Ressler gets a grin. That grin, the one that says Red is so overly amused at circumstances life presented him that all he can do is grin.

"I promise I'll be a completely respectful neighbor."

[roughup]

Oh don't do that. He doesn't like that look at all.

"Cause that's what I'm worried about here." Come on, Donald, cheer up. It's funny.

[suspense_kills_me]

"A terrible neighbor would make an unusual situation much more unbearable."

Red knows it's funny, that's why he still had the same look on his face, that impossibly amused smile that always meant some kind of trouble for the agents at the Post Office.

[roughup]

Which just ruffles Ressler's feathers more, as the situation was already more than enough to put him in a rotten mood. They had no control over what was going on, at all. They may as well be blindfolded and cuffed with what little they knew and could figure out at the moment.

"Why don't you try playing nice with people here, sure a guy like you could find some connections to the outside here some where. Hell, with some luck may even already be someone here you know." He waves his hands a bit, "Someone you did a job with once who owes you."

[suspense_kills_me]

"Oh, I'm sure I can. Though I doubt you'd want anyone I've done business with is someone you'd want in quarters as close as these."

In fact, the only reason Red was being so friendly with Ressler was because no one here knew who, and what either of them were.

[roughup]

Ressler was pretty sure none of the other 'guests' knew what he was, but he couldn't vouch for anyone not knowing Reddington. He had tons of connections. Someone had to know him from some vague connection down the pipeline. Who knows.

He was sure that this was some how related to Reddington, even if said criminal didn't know it. Otherwise this made no sense.

"Believe me, I don't doubt it for a second. Doesn't mean it couldn't benefit us in some way." Bad people or not, connections were connections and they could mean a way out.

"It's not like I want to rely on people like that, but we can't know what our options are gonna be till we find out a bit more."

[suspense_kills_me]

"Which I doubt the person or people who run this place is going to let us do right away. I'm sure they they think they're being perfectly hospitable."

If someone or something brought them here, there had to be a reason. Red was more concerned with finding out about that than he was with getting out of here. It could prove to be useful someday soon.

[roughup]

This is just a freakin' holiday isn't it?

"Who in their right mind would think that after kidnapping a ton of people and keeping them locked up in a hotel?" Besides criminals. Mad men. Probably a damn group of nutters with some crazy plan. Or a cult. Cults were the worst, they were hard to pin down, tell what they'd do, or even could do.

[suspense_kills_me]

In Red's book, it could be worse.

"I think we'll get a better handle on who brought us here once we figure out why we're here."

To Red it was a simple as that. One answer was usually the gateway to many more.

[roughup]

Of course. In Red's book there is always a worse.

"Only way we'll get any answers is if someone talks to us. Got to eventually."

[suspense_kills_me]

"You'd think that. It's amazing how long someone could hold on to what they know."

Or perhaps he wouldn't. His primary assignment was, after all, an agent in Red's taskforce, and he was positive Ressler knew Red hadn't even begun to tell them everything he knew.

[roughup]

Ressler wasn't stupid, he knew Red had a hell of a lot more than he'd ever give them. It was beyond naive to think he was their good pal that would just hand over anything they wanted. Would be nice though.

"There are ways to make people talk." He's done his fair share of making people talk after all. Not always the boy scout way either.

[suspense_kills_me]

Red knew that as much as Ressler did, in fact, he'd been subjected to many of those 'ways'.

"Which is all well and good, as long as you know who needs to do the talking."

[roughup]

"Well, I'm working on that." He looks away with a sigh.

"Doesn't seem like anyone has come around yet since we were brought here. Can't stay that way forever. Someone will slip up, we'll catch them doing something." And really, there are a lot of them here, hopefully for the ones keeping them here, they had ways to keep them under control. Shit could get pretty real, real fast if not.

[suspense_kills_me]

Ressler still approached everything like law enforcement, not that it surprised Red at all. Typically, if the person that kidnapped you decided not to show themselves right away, they most likely did not intend to show themselves in any sort of a timely manner.

"What have you been telling people you do back home?"

[roughup]

"Only one person asked, told them I did security. Figured it was a safe, but vague answer." He'll hush his voice a little, in case anyone is nearby. Security could mean a lot of things, but most people probably wouldn't assume that it meant cop or FBI.