sit yourself down, and meet the best inn keeper in town ( O P E N )

[checkingin]

Who: Everyone!
Where: The initial arrival rooms, the main lobby, all over the place.
When: February 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.

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 tall pull-down screen, a silent version of nosferatu 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 timey music.

along the curtained windows is another long table, with a large bowl that looked like it once would have held popcorn. but is now unfortunately empty. same for the large hot drink dispensers labeled "hot chocolate" and "coffee".

OTHER.

the ballroom and breakfast hall are currently closed, grand doors locked.

there is no main door leading to the outside, good luck trying to find one.

the door to the courtyard is locked.

ROOMS.

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

Comments

[gloriouscurse]

[Regina would probably, in all likelihood, be lying if she said she wasn't glad to see Emma. If only because that meant there was someone other than her here who should have magic. Except with her here, Henry's parent-less in Storybrooke.]

I have no idea what this is other than a mass kidnapping. And if we're both here, then our son is stuck with your parents to keep him alive.

[It's not that she doesn't think they're capable, it's just that she'd rather be there with him; being reunited with him for just a couple of weeks isn't enough after a year without him.]

I'm as fine as I can be with magic that doesn't work in a place with no windows and no doors. At least none that go anywhere useful.

[greenies]

[ this guy must not be working for WICKED--not that they ever answered any of thomas's questions, but they hardly ever asked them. he makes a confused face, brows furrowed. ] Of course they can do that, how the shuck do you think I'm in these stupid trials? Thomas isn't even my real name, because I don't know it.

[ makes it worse.png ]

Yes. [ he sounds a little frustrated. ] That's the whole point of this, they've been trying to kill all of us for so long to find the strongest, or whatever. Darwin. [ which makes him think of chuck, which, not good. ]

[1_truth]

The pleasure's mine.

[ He'd thought trapped as soon as he'd realized that there wasn't any real entrance but there had to be on somewhere or else how did they all get in? And what was the point of locking an empty drawer? without warning, he shoves his hand inside, trying to judge how far down it went. It could easily be a false bottom but his hand goes far enough down that it's highly unlikely and he lets out a frustrated sigh. ]

What was the point of locking it then? [ Maybe it's not in the drawers they need to look but the back of the desk? ]

Right now, I can only say for certain where we aren't.

[greenies]

That sounds like them. [ he laughs a little, a faint, bitter thing, but. thomas has started to figure out that this might not be WICKED. whether he believes it or not, well, that's a different story entirely, but he can at least flirt with the possibility that he's been captured by an entirely different evil overlord scientist society.

awesome. ] You said what was left of the Earth's population. Was it the solar flares that destroyed it, or the Flare? [ a beat. ] Or...something else, I guess. [ though it's hard to imagine anything like that. ]

[greenies]

[ thomas makes a series of facial expressions as minho tells him about the scorch and everything after it that he's apparently...forgotten. he feels sort of displaced, disgusted, and the fact that they've been brought to a new trial and had their memories wiped again? it screams WICKED. thomas can't even imagine a possibility of something else if he tried.

his heart lifts as he mentions teresa, but, just like that, it drops again, like a stone into his chest. the betrayer, he remembered, but he'd believed--he'd thought she'd never.

thomas takes a deep breath, looks at his clenched fists. ] Minho, what happened? Tell me.

[ minho could be biased, he thinks, maybe, he never liked teresa ]

[greenies]

[ the way this guy walks, the way he moves, thomas immediately thinks crank. as soon as the guy--who claims to know him--starts to approach him, thomas reaches into his harness and pulls out his knife, clutching skilled fingers around the handle tightly. unlike the nogitsune's former host, he'll meet a challenge in the boy who matches him--he's a little less than useless. ]

Get back. [ he says, clear as day, trying to remember. the guy--he looks just like him. just like him. is it possible for WICKED to make clones? they would, if they could. what if there are clones of all the boys who died out there somewhere, wandering around, infected by the flare and going mad?

though his head is spinning, thomas keeps his ground. ] Why do you look like me?

[engender]

Let me try.

[ he can only watch her practically shake for so long, before he comes forward, holding his hand out. the least he can do is open the door for her. or, find her door. he's pretty sure the door in front of her is his. ]

[engender]

[ little red. because cinderella talks to birds. apparently ]

You're from space. Outer space.

[amplified]

( lydia's hand withdraws about as quickly as the stilesalike's arm does. clearly she's made a terrible mistake, though she's not sure how. she could have sworn... he's the spitting image. bloodier. and maybe a little more like he's been hitting the gym. but... lydia shakes her head, pressing her lips into a firm line and averting eye contact. )

A friend. I could've sworn -- you look just like him. Sorry. ( she looks him over, and her lips turn downward. ) ... Are you hurt?

screening room.

[amplified]

( lydia finds herself wandering into the screening room with much the same thoughts at the movie playing. she recognizes it, vaguely, but only because she's had exposure to the weird and horrifying. and also nerds. she doesn't notice the other girl until she hears her speak, and in spite of herself, a breathy, scoffing laugh exits her throat. )

Tell me about it.

[engender]

What trials? [ wait - could this be stiles? he waits to get that answer before exploring the idea that this could be stiles. he doesn't know what happened after la iglesia. could they all have been gassed? knocked unconscious in one fell swoop? ]

Darwin. [ Fitting metaphor. ] How long is so long?

prays 4 teen wolves in dis game

[amplified]

( it doesn't take more than a couple seconds for his hand to register. her head snaps up and she whips around toward him, freaked out at the sudden contact. but the relief on her face is instantly visible, and her eyes are glassy enough already from the sheer exhausting nature of all of this. she smiles and breathes for what feels like the first time in ages. then she second-guesses herself and studies him with a quizzical quirk of her brow. )

Please tell me that you're actually Scott and I'm not hallucinating you.

dis gun b gud

[amplified]

( oh, it easily pulls her back. at first she feels a wave of relief because she hears stiles' voice. she turns with a smile on her face about to scold him for not finding her sooner, which is like thanking him in her own way, but then she hears the way he speaks. sees the way his eyes are sunken in, and her face fades into pure horror in no time at all.

unfortunately for him, she's seen you before, too much, too many times. but then there was the boy who she thought was stiles, and wasn't... she withdraws a foot or two, concern written all over her. )

No. There's no problem at all. ( her eyes narrow. perhaps she can bait him out. ) You don't sleep much, do you?

[larker]

[Oh Gabriel is taking note alright, everything that even comes out of the Nogitsune's mouth is being studied and mulled over. No need of a book a king wrote? It says a lot when someone who was wearing modern clothes knew nothing of a bible and it was definitely interesting to see. Sure some could argue that kids these days were ignorant, but even those who were atheists knew what they didn't believe in.

The archangel sighs, tapping his mouth with an index finger as he pretends to mull it over. If this being(?) doesn't come into the room then Gabriel can't get more info from him, there's already the idea that the other will run for the hills if sudden movements are made. It's plain enough to see in the way the other loiters by the doorway. Oddly enough they haven't run for it since being caught out, so who knew really what was going on? Curious indeed.]

Oh there's plenty of books around, that's always the case. Tell you what, you can take a look through this one as long as it doesn't leave my room. And a King didn't write it, that's just it's name. This thing? [Gabriel casts a quick, suspicious look around as if checking for anyone listening in before lowering his voice to a dramatic stage whisper.] This thing was written by prophets.

[mygame]

[The Nogitsune, on the other hand, seems completely at ease with the situation. Tonight has given it plenty of practice.]

I'm sure when it is returned, you'll be quite glad. The popcorn it makes is quite good.

The rest, however, I am sorry but the concierge has left for the night or he would be happy to answer your questions. I can have him contact you in the morning if you would care to leave your name and room number, ma'am.

[Bland smile in place, the Nogitsune looks up to her expectantly. And completely unhelpfully.]

[mygame]

[How odd. It has to spend a few seconds wondering if this is the result of some sort of mental trauma or a facet of this place that it hadn't considered. Surely this is Stiles, isn't it? Even no longer being 'them' instead of 'him' and 'it', the Nogitsune is sure of it. Instead, it pastes its polite smile back on its face and steps behind the front desk instead of towards Thomas.]

I do apologize, Sir. I thought you were one of our staff. My name is Stiles. Is there something I can help you with?

[The distress of the entire hotel is something the Nogitsune has come to love as much as it could be said to 'love' anything, but this one, this person, is especially interesting.]

[mygame]

[It had told Lydia before that it was insatiable, and that hasn't changed even in an environment glut with food such as this place. Distress and chaos is in the air itself, leaving the Nogitsune as happy as, well, a fox in a chicken coop.]

Sleep, ma'am? Not much of that to be found here at the Hotel California. While I thank you for your concern, we staff are here for your convenience, not ours. My name is Stiles. Is everything so far to your liking?

[That polite bland look remains, nothing more than a professional making sure the guests are comfortable. Then again, this is a creature that can cry on command.]

[mygame]

[Were the Nogitsune in a fox form, its ears would be perked forward with interest but tail down in readiness to turn and leave. Nothing has it upset or wary, this is simply a human conversation that it isn't ready for.]

[Still. Still, there is always that curiosity that draws it a few steps in Gabriel's room.]

Prophets? [Hear the disdain in its voice for something like that. The Nogitsune is a thousand year old fox spirit agent of chaos. It has whispered more than a few lies into the ears of humans.]

[Gabriel does become the subject of a good look up and down before the Nogitsune extends a hand for the book.] I am Stiles, part of the staff. I suppose management won't mind if I take a look. Is your room to your liking?

[larker]

[Oh Gabriel hears that disdain alright, quietly wondering what impact that was having in the other's mind right now. Not a religious one, but has disdain for those who spoke the words of others. There were millions of things in the universe that fell under that description, and so it's merely information stored away to pick at later. In a strange way Gabriel is enjoying the not knowing, though it will get tedious later on down the line.

There's no sudden movements when the other comes a few steps into the room, and when the other mentions being a member of the staff Gabriel can't help but grin. He hadn't brought the bibles which meant whoever ran the place had. Which puts the Nogitsune's lie right in the spotlight. He makes a movement as if to drop the book into the creature's hand before stopping and pulling it back. Nah.]

Oh I wouldn't want to get you in trouble with the higher ups. If they're not religious they would have you strung up. I mean this thing is written by prophets, they call it the word of God. [Gabriel scrunches his nose up in apparent distaste.] Person to person here, I think that whole idea is pretty gross.

[mygame]

[A flick of confusion crosses the Nogitsune's sickly face when Gabriel draws the book back. Humans are so weird. That's the only thing it can put such behavior off to.]

[That or this particular human feels brave enough to tease it. Well. The Nogitsune does have to keep up its game, but there is some room here for a side trip of sorts.]

A god? Strange. I hadn't thought so many followed any singular one. [A truly meant careless shrug follows. More than a few humans thought it a god before so the idea is a dull one to it. But, back to the role it is playing.] You may be right, Sir. I am just staff, and one never knows what whims of the Management tomorrow will bring. Do feel free to contact myself or Chris Argent should you need anything.

[hacker]

Hey, no judgment.

[ She moves up behind him, tilting her head to get a better look at the lock. Instead of hovering, she pops down to a squat beside him, elbows on her knees to look at it. Huh. Her eyebrows raise the raise of total lack of comprehension. This isn't her field. ]

Personally, if I'm trying to get away from a kidnapping, I'd rather have a bomb, or a gun, or a sledgehammer. [ Maybe because she would desperately like to bash in the head of her most consistent kidnappers. ] To each their own, though. Really makes people wonder where you learned to do this kind of thing.

[pajarita]

[rude -- just because she's sort of dirty.]

I was from space -- I lived in space. I'm not an alien, for the record.

[engender]

[ nope, it's more about the absurdity. ]

I didn't say you were.

[pajarita]

Just in case.

[engender]

How did you [ ... ] make it down? [ to earth? ]