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

[carjacked]

[ Wow, that's handy. He blinks in surprise, weaving away from the lock a little and nods his head toward the hole. ]

Yeah, I think it's perfect. Shine it in there, let me see if maybe there's a keyguard, or somethin' jammed in there.

[carjacked]

[ The set of Hook's jaw has Neal ducking his eyes awkwardly, scratching absently at his cheek with curled fingers. It had been a joke, something light to break the tension and break the ice, but judging by that reaction Neal figures maybe he didn't think it all the way through. It must've taken magic to get that hook swapped out for his actual hand, and by extra Killian probably means there's a price he had to pay for it. Magic always, well, you know the saying.

Whatever the cost, Neal hopes it was worth it. Usually it ain't.

The rest he already knows, though- he's met people that couldn't possibly be from Storybrooke, he's seen the lack of exits and the lack of answers firsthand, so he lets Emma process that new information with only the slightest touch of a concerned wrinkle to his brow. Emma takes point just as he figured she would, the strongest and most capable of any of them if he had to pick one, and he's prepared for just about anything she lays down.

Just about, except for what she actually says.

His lips part slowly in disbelief, in awe and wonderment. ]

He remembers me?

[ He echoes dumbly, that rush of happiness that hits him square in the chest is quickly followed by pain, because Henry misses him. Misses him because he's dead, gone, another kid stuck with an absent father. He won't get to see his son grow up, become a teenager, go to prom, graduate, become a man.

It rings through him like a tolling bell, a wave of ache so strong he has to tug his eyes away from Emma and Hook for a second. Has to pass a hand over his mouth and fight back the tide of regret rolling through him. ]

Emma, that's- that's great.

[ He says finally, voice a little husky, a few syllables cracking in a few places, and he might not sound as genuine or as enthusiastic about it as he probably could have to sell it, but...

He misses his son. Damn is he gonna miss his son. ]

Re: [A. Because why not.]

[notafraidofyou]

Yeah. [And now have a long look, because he's pretty sure the answer to this is going to be no, but he has to check anyway.]

...Does the name Justice Lords mean anything to you?

[hacker]

[ She lifts the tablet, aiming it over his shoulder to shine the light into the lock. There's not a lot of room, but it does a little good at least. ]

What if the tumblers are weighted? They do that on safes, right?

[64th]

[ One hasn't been affected. Cashmere's not sure how she feels about that. They earned favor with the government by not rebelling during the Dark Days, and that favoritism is safety. still, she knows that unrest exists in One. even if they are too afraid or too smart to speak out and act on it. she doesn't know if she should be proud of her District for knowing how to survive or ashamed that they'd continue to kneel before the Capitol and forever surrender their independence to Snow.

Cashmere watches Johanna move. she's never seen her look so broken or weak, not even during the Games. so it's true that Johanna was tortured. Cashmere believes that. while they've never seen eye to eye, the two women don't typically lie to one another. honesty stings harder than anything they could make up. so she also believes that she's dead.

and when Johanna says she doesn't have to worry about Gloss, she believes that too, taking it at face value. ] Yeah? Okay. I- Okay.

[ she folds her arms across her chest. this weird, kind of nice mostly neutral is new territory and she's not sure what to do. ] I already tore my room apart. There's nothing.

Re: [A. Because why not.]

[cisskabob]

No. [She raises an eyebrow. Justice Lords? That's certainly different. But she can play this game.] Justice League, sure. Teen Titans. ...Young Justice doesn't ring a bell for you, does it?

[carjacked]

[ The beauty of these old, enormous locks is that you could really see up into them. They're made for massive keys, made for their ornate display for ballroom doors and stuff like that, and when she shines that light up into the hole, he can almost even see out the back through the other side.

That's not what he's interested in, though. His lips part in disbelief and he can't stop himself from turning the knob, from giving the door a tug just to double check. ]

That's-

[ He says, stunned, dropping back away from the lock again. ]

The tumblers aren't weighted. Doesn't look like there are any tumblers. That whole thing is empty.

[ Can't pick a lock if there's no lock to pick. ]

[hacker]

So this lock ... There's no way to unlock it.

[ It's set in the lock position. The guy at the desk lied. No one's coming back. They can't figure out who brought them because somehow, the hotel staff is in on it. ]

[carjacked]

[ He shakes his head, shoving himself up from the ground and onto his feet finally. ]

There's nothing to unlock. It's- there's not even a lock there, it's just--

[ There's an obvious annoyance in his tone, a little disbelief, but mostly he almost seems offended. It's magic, it has to be. ]

[hacker]

We're trapped.

[ Reaching one hand up, she rubs it across her forehead, pacing away. Her hand drops to shut off the tablet light, a way to ground herself. ]

No phone or wifi, either. I've been trying to tap us into any network around, to get word out, reach out to someone, even get a lock on our location, but there's nothing.

Someone really wants to keep us.

[wickedlyable]

Fuck. ((She laughs a little quietly, kicking at the white dress on the floor. It's the one Snow had her dress up in, when they'd caked makeup over her bruises, fixed a wig over her head, and had her sit still while they took pictures of her as a glorious Victor.

Even here, where she's beginning to become sure he has no influence, he's still following her.)) So I'll have to clean this up, then.

Later. I'm... tired. ((She doesn't like saying it out loud. She hasn't really felt tired outside of the Games in a long while.)) That's such a weird thing to have to say.

[carjacked]

[ He puffs out an unhappy breath. He's not as technologically literate as her or most people her age, but he figured that whole network thing would be the case. You don't competently kidnap fifty people and then forget to take their cellphones or turn the router off.

He shakes his head slowly, turning all of this over in his mind. ]

What I don't understand is why?

[ What good's a dead guy, a couple dozen young adults and a magic-less queen from another realm? Is it some kind of spell, what is it?

It's not like she's gonna know, though, so he drags his hand along the back of his neck and doesn't wait for an answer. ]

Neal. By the way.

[hacker]

Skye.

[ She gives him a nod in return for that, just a little grim. Turning back to look at the lobby proper, she purses her lips. ]

And I can almost guarantee, the fact that they kept us alive means it's nothing good.

[ Whatever HYDRA (and she's still assuming it's HYDRA) needs this many people for, including Skye and Fitz, it has to be something big. And ugly. Possibly world-devastating, and they'll do whatever it takes to get compliance.

There's a reason, that is to say, that Skye hasn't touched the screening room yet. ]

[carjacked]

[ She says HYDRA, he says AFTERLIFE, together they can swim in the sea of being wrong. Either way, he huffs and shrugs. ]

Think you're prob'ly right about that, but there's not a whole lot else we can do.

[ Apart from go through their briefcases, unpack in their rooms, and wait for some answers to start tumbling out. Not like he's a huge fan of the idea, but he's literally exhausted all other options. ]

Thanks for the flashlight. Hey- Skye- listen, if you find out anything, will you let me know? If we're stuck here, might as well work together, right?

[villainously]

It's more likely something has happened to my memory than someone jumping through time again. [ considering all the bits and pieces required for time travel, complete with a baby and a brain made of gold... adversely, memories being affected is quite commonplace in magic, though he can't quite say why someone would want him to forget defeating the Snow Queen.

at least the last bit he can agree with without question. all of this feels like a curse, the suffocating rooms and the confusion and the lack of answers. ] If someone cast it, there's got to be clues somewhere. Can you manage some manner of locating spell? [ he'd seen Rumplestiltskin wave a hand and separate the snow queen's magic from something it had touched, why not the evil queen?

so, maybe he hasn't heard about the lack of magic around yet. ]

[villainously]

The back of my head looked suspicious? [ he's dressed in quite a bit of black and leather, but honestly, he's not buying. she was just hoping to get answers and didn't care who she got them from. sadly he's got none to share, he wouldn't have withheld them if he did.

he's used to snarling, though. he's kept company with all sorts of characters, so it doesn't work on him. snarling usually comes paired with magic, maybe he's desensitized to it all now. ] I don't know what's going on, wish I did. From what I can tell, we're all suffering the same condition.

[ or someone is very good at pretending not to know what is going on. ]

[hacker]

You might wanna think about upping the bar for allies.

[ Not to get all cynical (but she's a little cynical). Skye's got good reason not to trust every charming, capable guy she meets. Miles was garbage. Ward was a scumbag. Seems like more and more, you can't trust anyone these days. ]

We might be stuck here, but we don't know who else is in with us.

[ Wouldn't be the first time she found a wolf in the herd. ]

I doubt they'd go to all this effort locking us up just to leave us unsupervised.

[villainously]

[ pirates that have never been introduced to states talk like that, Kirk. there has not been time in all the magical shenanigans of Storybrooke to give Hook a geography lesson.

and wait, did he say planet? now, planets were a fairly foreign concept in the Enchanted Forest, but what little was known was discovered by astronomers. and a former navigator? they tend to know a bit about astronomy. ]

You were on a different planet? How could you possibly get there? [ dull name or not, that sounds fascinating to Hook. he's sailed seas before, never stars. ]

[pajarita]

Kidnapped. [as simple as that; and also --] Preferably by someone who can bleed and give us the keys.

[pajarita]

Doppleganger-like?

[pajarita]

It's okay...strangely a lot amount of people here have never heard about it. [didn't someone say something about portals? and there's people here from 2012, which is like a century ago or so.]

lobby>>somewhere else (locked to octavia blake)

[pajarita]

[it's probably the best idea to pull raven away while her temper boils, because she has a dull knife in her pocket and enough of rage to let loose on someone with it. blood calls for blood and whatnot. if clarke's gone all-grounder princess on them now, considering her having commander bitchface coming to her rescue, then why not just adopt all the gruesome traditions?

she doesn't want to see her face right now anyway. she doesn't want to see her face or handle the truth, and she keeps an admirable straight face for a while. while they're climbing the stairs up to the first floor, because raven's just going to hole up in there and clarke can wait a million years before following. they're her stairs now.

halfway to the first floor, with her hand gripping octavia's for balance, she starts shaking. it feels like a convulsion, her whole body rejecting the idea that finn is dead like it's cancer. she opens her mouth to say something like i'm fine, but what happens is another one of those dying animal sounds come out, and she just crashes down, knees hitting the edge of the stairs.]

[warring]

[ kwel goufa she's hardly touched you, let alone made any advances against your internal organs.

and though he's still highly suspect in her eyes - he has the mountain man cordiality about him, overly friendly to those who have yet to deserve it as a mask for brutal intent - she's standing up off him now, effectively releasing the pin. ]

Potter, [ lexa echoes, rolling the name over in her head. her eyes drift down the hallway, almost as if searching vaguely for someone else to hold responsible now that he's off the hook. ] Whether this will be a pleasure has yet to be seen.

[warring]

[ 'i died and i just- woke up here. same as you.' this provokes two simultaneous and equally strong reactions, and fortunately her urge to snap his neck for those words is outweighed just slightly by the urge to expel him from her personal space. she releases her hold on his throat without a terrible amount of care, standing to unpin his legs and backing up a good-sized step. ]

Impossible. [ impossible enough that it's an insult that he expected her to believe it, so she's fixing him with steely eyes now. ] You're lying.

[villainously]

[ is having his hand back worth the violent tendencies that it tends to inspire? no, probably not, but the Crocodile who was going to take it off (at a price, of course, isn't that how Rumpelstiltskin always worked?) is notably absent. this is not a good situation to be lacking control, crammed in a small space with tensions high. there's not much option, though, and he'll focus on getting out and worry about his hand on his own.

it's nobody's mistake but his, after all. he can manage it, can't he? just keep his distance and mind himself and when he gets back to Storybrooke, he'll get rid of the thing once and for all.

Hook might have answered Emma's inquiry, but she shifts into something else entirely and yes, this is a conversation built for two. there is a great deal more between these two that deserves consideration, and it's good that Neal knows his son misses him and mourns him, but it's a moment Killian doesn't feel a part of. it's familial, after all, and he hasn't felt a part of a family in centuries. not since Neverland, and that was a very long time ago. ]

He won't have to miss you once we get out of here. [ it's the only comfort he can offer. he knows how much Henry misses his father, hell, wasn't he the one who told the boy practically everything he knew? it's still a lacking comfort, though. like a stranger offering sympathies at a funeral. he doesn't linger on it, he can't. Hook has come to the conclusion there's nothing he can tell them they don't already know. usually when they sort out the newest problem or threat, he's always with Emma, but as much as he wants to be there for her? she doesn't need him half as much as he needs her. (never has.)

he'll keep looking, keep asking questions, give her this moment with Baelfire. that he can do for her. might be all he can do. ]

I haven't seen them, but I'll take a gander. They might be around somewhere. [ he rubs at a spot behind his ear, the widest hint of his discomfort, before looking at Neal again. seeing Milah's son again brings up all sorts of conflicting emotions, but no matter how it changes things... he's not enough of a monster to be unhappy to see him alive. he reaches out, not hostile, but a touch to the shoulder that says he's happy to see him again. Baelfire had given him the capacity to bring Emma back to her family, he'd died far too soon. the price for bringing him back would surely be great but he deserved to live. deserved to be with his family.

and then he let go, hand flinching back to his side. ] I'll keep asking around. If I find anything, I'll let you know.

[ it's as graceful an exit he can manage, and with that he turns to leave them to their conversation. he's of more use asking and searching, instead of standing by as a broken third wheel. ]