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

[hacker]

[ Once upon a time, Skye would bristle with righteous indignation and a desire to prove herself. That was when Ward was her S.O. Before May had taught her the importance of keeping her cool, of controlling her responses.

Instead of lashing out, she folds her hands in front of her, lifting her chin. The arch of her eyebrows is patient, waiting for him to get it all out. Then, when he's done snapping, she responds in clipped tones. ] Learning nothing and not learning the answers to your questions are not the same thing.

I've learned plenty: like that we're being surveilled right now. Constantly. Let me guess: tablet in your suitcase? Well, there's an extra access point. Unaccounted for.

If you'd like to make any other rash assumptions, I suggest you get them out now.

[advising]

[ Well, if she wanted to get his attention, she has. They idea of surveillance is one he is used to, but the fact that he's in a place like this and doesn't know exactly who is on the other side is worrying. It has to be the Capitol, has to be Snow, right? ]

They're not assumptions.

[ Very little of what he does isn't over calculated. In fact, he's already learned a great deal more about this place by offending her than not. ] Well, then. Since you know where to look and have some answers after all, who's watching us then? My guess is on the Capitol, but you probably already knew that, too.

[ The whole idea of different worlds still hasn't stuck yet, and he's not willing to go against his own immediate judgments that this place is inherently wrong. ]

[hacker]

Wish it were.

[ Reluctantly, Skye shakes her head. There's true lack of recognition in her face as she claims, ] Never heard of the Capitol. But by the sound of it, your guess jives with what the rest of us have been able to figure. The only thing we've got in common is that we've got powerful enemies. It wouldn't be hard to imagine them finding a way to help one another out, if they had the tech to reach one another.

[ And then she pulls herself up on the concierge desk, folding her hands in her lap and hunching her shoulders as she continues to explain. ] Which would make sense, given that they had the tech to get us here in the first place. Some kind of … trans-dimensional … [ As her brow scrunches, it occurs to her that she hasn't explained the most important part. Her distant gaze jerks back over to him, the searching expression gone, and she tacks on matter-of-factly, ] Yeah, we're not from the same world. No way, no how. By my count, we're dealing with at least five. Possibly six or more.

[advising]

Never heard of it?

[ Now that is laughable, really. How hasn't she heard of the Capitol. This certainly was some plot of theirs, right? Though the longer she talks, he suspects he's drunk, very, irredeemably drunk. What she's saying can't be right. ]

Trans-dimensional? Right. [ He's just trying to wrap his head around this. ] Then if you're not from Panem, which is doubtful, where are you from, sweetheart, because I think maybe I had more to drink that I thought.

[hacker]

[ Tough question: a little bit of all over is her real answer. But as for what she considers her home base … Skye shrugs. ]

Los Angeles, I guess. [ And then, since she's not familiar with his cities and government, she specifies. ] West Coast. But I wasn't there when I was taken: I was underground in San Juan, maybe two thousand miles Southeast and in a different freaking country.

[ Sobering, she raises her eyebrows. Imploring him. ]

… I'm not making this up. We are dealing with a very advanced, possibly alien kind of technology here.

[advising]

[ That's a name he hasn't heard since he was taught history as a young boy. That alone is concerning, and he knows he's being played. Maybe not by her (it's hard to tell), but definitely by whomever brought them all here. ]

Well.

[ He considers his words for a moment, running a hand over his face. ] I guess we'll just have to find a way out of this hell hole then won't we?

[hacker]

That's the idea. Not as easy as any of us were hoping.

[ She shrugs her shoulders, the kind that makes it look like she takes that failure quite personally. ]

[advising]

If it was easy it wouldn't be worth it. Wouldn't be fun. Whoever's put us here is going to make us fight for it.

[ He knows that shrug, but he's had to stop worrying about that kind of failure for years now. ] We'll get out opportunity.

[hacker]

I'd just rather our opportunity be sooner than later.

[ Not just because she's worried about the people back home. Right now, she's a time bomb, worried that it's only a matter of time before she brings the hotel down around them. ]