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

[greenarrowed]

[Oliver's actual superpower is the way his eyebrow can convey 95% of what he's thinking without him actually having to say a word and oh boy look at the sass on that boy.]

I wasn't. But thanks anyway. I guess.

[paauuuuuuse]

Hotel California?

[cisskabob]

[Cissie is unaffected by your sassy eyebrows, stranger. She just spent enough time in her first days here throwing a useless baseball at windows to make her arm sore, that's all. She shrugs.]

That's what I call it, anyway. You know, like the song? [She hums a bit of the chorus--the only thing she's ever failed at other than baseball are voice lessons, so she's not about to sing it. But humming, sure. Unless he's from the future or another planet or a really depressing alternate reality without the Eagles, she can't fathom him not recognizing it.

Unless her humming is that bad, too.] If you figure out how to leave, let the rest of us know. What did the curtain do to you?

[greenarrowed]

[He knows the song. But he doesn't really have the interest in it right now and just lets the humming thing fade to silence.]

I'm making something.

[cisskabob]

[Well. There aren't very many things Cissie can imagine someone wanting to make with a heavy curtain rod, especially without any tools. It's enough to make her very suspicious. There's already at least one dangerous being here in the hotel, who likes to string teenage boys up by their ankles in staircases. She really doesn't want to worry about grown, overly muscled men carrying around homemade pikes.

She knows she's not intimidating to.... anyone, but she's always kind of used that to her advantage. And it's never stopped her from standing up to bullies or aliens or Indian Goddesses before, so why should it stop her now? Cissie crosses her arms over her chest, eyeing him suspiciously.]

...Making what, exactly?

[greenarrowed]

[Don't worry, Cissie. He won't hit anyone that doesn't deserve it.

Oliver eyes her back, sensing the way that her posture tightens and how she clearly doesn't trust him and that's fine. His entire plan is to just feed her stuff that isn't a lie but is preposterous to normal people.]

A bow and arrow.

[cisskabob]

[And watch as Cissie's posture completely changes, because oh my god does she miss archery. Does she miss archery like breathing. There's a flash of something like HOPE and then confusion and WHY DIDN'T SHE THINK OF THAT followed quickly by the practicalities of the situation, and sorry Oliver. Her attention is almost wholey on that metal rod you're holding, while tries to parse out how you're going to accomplish this miracle. ...Makeshift is probably better than nothing at all, but it just doesn't seem very feasible. And besides--where will he shoot it?]

...Really? You're an archer too?

[greenarrowed]

[Everyone here is insane or reminds him of Barry Allen.

Oliver stares at her response, more than just a little annoyed because usually that trick works. Only it had literally the opposite effect on her and usually he's better at predicting people than that.]

I've dabbled.

[cisskabob]

[Cissie's expression turns the most skeptical.]

Dabbled, huh? Enough to learn how to make your own bow and arrow out of a curtain rod?

[greenarrowed]

[The most casual of casual shrugs.]

I watch a lot of youtube videos.

[cisskabob]

[...Youtube videos. Cissie's expression makes it clear what she thinks of that, which is not much. At all. But she sighs.]

Well--good luck with that. Why a bow? We're stuck indoors. It's not the easiest weapon to try to make. And definitely not the easiest to use, despite what the movies would have us think.

[greenarrowed]

[She can't prove shit.]

I've always thought they were cooler. I'm sure you agree.

[cisskabob]

[Well, she does. Because they are. DUH. So she shrugs a shoulder, sort-of smiling.]

Well, yeah. But I might be biased, since I got my first bow when I was two. [She grins, and holds out a hand to introduce herself. Every time she's done this, her hopes that the person she's introducing herself to will recognize her name die a little more. By this point, she'll be surprised if someone does know of her.

This does not stop her from trying.] I'm Cissie King-Jones.

[greenarrowed]

[He's got a blank face and he'll write your name. Sorry Cissie but apparently he also is besties with Bruce Wayne in someone else's life and that's not a thing he's aware of either.

But he's not going to shake her hand. Sorry.]

Oliver Queen.

[cisskabob]

[Cissie doesn't even notice that he's not shaking her hand. She's too stunned by the name he just said. Which can't be right, for so many reasons. He's too young, he doesn't have a beard, he's.... Okay, he's just as rude and probably stubborn and self-centered and full of himself as her mother always described him, and he does have more than enough scars to make the Green Arrow thing believable and.....

Oh GOD this is probably what he looked like when he was dating her mother why did she ever have to think a thing like that

Wait. He's still staring at her and she still has her hand out like an idiot. She drops her hand immediately and can't help the first thing that pops out of her mouth.]

You're too young, though.

[greenarrowed]

[That it's the second time someone has said more or less the same thing to him in one day that makes him frown like that. Honestly.]

Friends with Tim are you?

[cisskabob]

[That makes her open and close her mouth, because okay. She was terribly rude to Tim when he showed up and she should be better than that. But she can't help feeling hurt and kind of betrayed, and none of that is this man's fault.... He's just the messenger.

Cissie's never been very good at not lashing out when her feelings are hurt. Even when she doesn't realize that's what she's doing.

She takes a deep breath and crosses her arms defeneively over her chest.]

Yes. But not the Tim who's here, which is the Tim I guess you mean? Apparently whoever runs this place is having fun just.... grabbing people I know, but grabbing versions of them who don't know me.

[If she sounds bitter, SHE IS. Nevermind that Oliver Queen in her world doesn't know her except as a celebrity either, but.... details. There are genetics, not that she's sure he even knows that either.]

You know you're not going to be able to make a useful bow out of that stuff. Not even one Oliver Queen can use.

[...Lashing out? Maybe. Possibly. Definitely.

Probably not a thing she should have said, she realizes. In retrospect.]

[greenarrowed]

[That's interesting. Oliver raises an eyebrow at her outburst and the way she clearly seems to hate him for something he doesn't remember or might do in the future. In Tim's future, which is still something that he is having trouble believing in.

Super soldiers, speedsters, metahumans-- yes but time travel? Alternate universes? Ehhh.]

I guess we'll see who's right and who's wrong, won't we?

[It won't be him. He's done this before.]