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

[dislocked]

[ Bucky almost smiles at her wit. She's quick, easygoing, and personable -- all traits that put his every sense on the alert. He hadn't survived this long by being careless; it's the one you least expect that will put a knife in your back.

He doesn't move a muscle as he contemplates her comment, and it's a few moments after that he responds. ] I hear he's brainwashed. [ And maybe, just maybe, he's testing her. ] Any chance of that?

[hacker]

I've heard of it happening before.

[ That much, she'll readily admit. Tilting her head to the side in thought. There's something distinctly agent-y about the way she sits, knees spread, shoulders loose. No one should be this comfortable after waking up kidnapped, and something about it is very deliberate. ]

Makes sense. They hole us up here, re-wire the staff to act all Stepford. It'd be a good plan, if it weren't appallingly evil.

[ With that little commentary made, she can't help but point out: ] I'll tell you one thing: if he is brainwashed, we're in even bigger trouble than we realize. That's not easy to do; it's the kind of thing you save for the people who are really worth it.

LMK IF THIS IS OKAY BABY ;-; I CAN ALWAYS CHANGE IT

[dislocked]

[ it's the kind of thing you save for the people who are really worth it.

Bucky tenses, the comment hitting far too close to home, chafing at still-raw nerves and sparking at impulses that are still so deeply ingrained, the violence that is barely restrained. And then it's too late, too late, because there's a world of noise in his mind, the anger that floods through, the hate for HYDRA, the memories and the things that they've made him do --

-- he moves faster than the eye can blink, swift and deadly, violent and strong, and in a clatter of plastic chairs he has Skye by the neck, cold metal digging into the skin of her throat. His eyes are almost black with anger, with rage, lips pulled back in a snarl that is entirely feral. ]

You're HYDRA.

[ You have three point seven seconds to convince him you're not, Agent. ]

ALWAYS OK i have icons exclusively for this moment

[hacker]

[ Okay. So here's a tip. When engaging potential unfriendlies, regurgitating information fed to you by your HYDRA asset is generally considered a Bad Idea. It happens before she can react, dragged onto her feet by the force of the grab.

Immediately, her hands reach up to grab the arm around her throat. Imagine her surprise in discovering that the hand gripping her throat is cool, hard metal in place of flesh. She doesn't have the frame of reference to know what it means, but she knows one thing for sure: it's nothing good.

The insult would be laughable if it didn't hit so close to home. He's HYDRA. Curled up in the bathroom of the Providence base, trying to smother her sobs. Sitting rigid in the bus cockpit beside him. Sitting across from him while he pretends nothing's wrong, repressing bile in her throat. And her father. Beside him on the couch, hearing him sift through what HYDRA had done to her mother, her family, her life.

Were they SHIELD agents or HYDRA agents who'd found her in the Hunan province? Did it matter? Was there a difference then? ]

I'm with SHIELD!

[ Please god, let him acknowledge a difference. Kicking out as he lifts her, prying at the grip of his hand, she strains the words out through cracking vocal cords, quite nearly out of breath. The struggled movements as they stand now are useless, and she can't wait on him to accept it.

Raising her arms across her body, she dips her chin and cuts one arm downward into his elbow to weaken his grip, then raises her other to twist around it and shove him back by the shoulder. It only works because she's not pinned.

It's all strength, no style. He carries himself like a tank, a weapon, but she's sparing herself the trouble of self-flagellation until she survives the encounter. Blood's pooling beneath the skin on her neck, mottled and purple. It aches, but she doesn't raise her hand to soothe it yet. Can't afford the movement when she's got all her attention on watching and anticipating his. ]

I know HYDRA because I hunt HYDRA: what's your excuse?!

[dislocked]

[ Bucky's surprised to hear that from her mouth, and it's by grace of that answer that he doesn't snap forward to finish the job. It doesn't hurt when she retaliates; but it's enough for him to loosen his grip, to be shoved back as he looks into her face, the similar anger, rage, everything written so clearly on her face.

SHIELD, he thinks; HYDRA's infiltrated SHIELD so long ago that they are almost the same entity, but he knows that there are many elements within that are resisting, fighting back; he'd seen it that fateful day, when plans unraveled completely and ended with the destruction of the Helicarriers.

And perhaps, in this girl, he's seeing it now.

She carries his wounds around her throat, and he's aware that if he'd only used a little more strength then, he could have broken her neck. Mercy, he thinks; it's a new thing to him these days. She watches him like a predator, not a killer, lean and quick on her feet in ways that tell him that she's not to be underestimated, and he looks back at her with dark, fathomless eyes.

What's his excuse, indeed. ]

I was theirs.

[ A thing. Dispensable, taken and worked on; it won't take much for them to throw him away, and Bucky's factually aware of this. Weapons, after all, have no need for their own autonomy. ]

SHIELD's fallen, it's a meaningless name now. [ Matter-of-fact; it's not something he'd mourn or celebrate, either way. He pauses, digesting what she tells him, regarding this girl that's out for their blood, too. Interesting. ] Why are you hunting HYDRA?

[hacker]

Because there are still people who think that name means something.

[ Searching him, she tries to make sense of it. He was with HYDRA, by his own admission. Why lash out at someone who he thought was on their side? Slowly, keeping her hands up between them, she steps closer, squinting through the filtering white light of the projector at his face.

It's not like she has some HYDRA employee catalogue, but maybe … ]

The news reports are lying. HYDRA isn't gone; they just went underground. [ Her head tilts slightly, reading him. ] … But you didn't. [ The question there is implicit, but apparent. It doesn't make sense. He doesn't make sense. People don't just tell HYDRA no and walk away. Donnie Gill tried. Raina tried. (Ward never even made an attempt, that bastard.) ]

[dislocked]

I know.

[ He'd been tracking them before he ended up here -- a weapon turned onto its former masters, vengeance seething in his blood; there is nothing that stays his hand when he discovers their hideouts and slaughters them all without question, the old places, the ones he'd been in, and the few that he hadn't, cutting a bloody swath across the country to start with.

Europe had been next, until... well, until this.

Bucky shifts, the light throwing more contrast, revealing just a few more details. He fixes her with a piercing stare, unrelenting, unforgiving. ] I'm not HYDRA.

[hacker]

Well, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but the whole choking thing really gives the wrong impression.

[ Seriously. Not a good way to greet new friends. Her hand raises to rub at her throat finally, for emphasis more than anything else. Put off and wary though she may be, it's pretty obvious he's an enemy of HYDRA at this point.

An enemy of my enemy.

But in her experience, former HYDRA never really means former. Pick a side, Ward. Her back teeth grate as her jaw clenches up, shadows casting across her cheeks as muscles tighten. ]

And you sure as hell aren't SHIELD.

[dislocked]

[ He's not on either side; not on SHIELD's, not on HYDRA's, he knows what they're capable of, how easily corrupted SHIELD can be. Bucky doesn't need to pick a side when he ferociously distrusts one and viciously detests the other; they make no discernible difference to him. ]

I don't care about SHIELD.

[ There we go. Bucky's eyes are dark, unforgiving as he steps forward. He's not here to make friends, and the mention of SHIELD has his hackles up. ] In the end, you're both not so different.

[ He tilts his head, briefly. Contemplating. ] Why are you so loyal?

[hacker]

Because they earned it.

[ Her bristling isn't the result of blind, unerring loyalty, the way it was before. Coulson and the others are her family, the only family she's ever had, and some of it may still be an element of that, but …

Then there's Cal, and the way they'd tried to keep it from her. Protect her from it, she knows. So she falls back on that. Relies on her hatred and hurt at finding out that was the family she'd been searching for all these years. ]

SHIELD protects people. I've seen the kind of difference they can make firsthand.

[dislocked]

[ He's quiet for a long, long moment -- she's a strange creature, this one. An agent who wears her heart on her sleeve, none of the subtle tells that betray the savvy of an advanced agent in the field.

No, she's genuine (and if she's pretending, she could very well be the most dangerous one of all), and he's listening. ]

Like what?

[hacker]

That's funny. No one told me there was gonna be a pop quiz.

[ It's a little defensive, bristling. But she loves her team enough that she could wax about them all day tbh, so here she goes anyway. ]

I could tell you about all the times they risked their lives to keep alien tech out of HYDRA's hands, or the agents who died because they refused to flip when HYDRA stepped into the light. But that's the job.

Their real strength is their compassion. Coulson was ready to throw everything away for a chance at saving me.

Fitz never gave up on trying to save his friend from HYDRA, hoping it was just a trick, hoping he was being controlled. And when he was wrong, and he had the chance—when he could have gotten revenge? He let the guy live.

This is the same Fitz who knew a student at the academy was ready to sell super-weapons to some evil arms dealer and you know what he did? He realized that kid just needed a friend. [ A kid that Skye went on to kill because he was brainwashed. That doesn't set well with her, not remotely, but she swallows her own moral decay down. ]

SHIELD—the real SHIELD? It's about people.

[dislocked]

[ Bucky listens silently, watching the emotions on her face, in her eyes, the pain that should be almost impossible to replicate. She carries too much too early, and there's something inside him that stirs, something he'd thought was long gone, wiped out so many times before.

He knows kindness when he sees it; this strange, alien thing that he's only beginning to understand again. However, more than that: ]

And you? What are you?

[hacker]

[ We finally get to find out what we become. Raina had sounded so excited (the crazy-eyes kind of excited, sure, but excited nonetheless) when she'd spoken of it in the temple. Then the mists released from the crystals, and they all—

What was it? What had they become? What was Skye becoming?

It's a bad time to be asking. There's no faking the uneasy look in her eyes, full to the brim with fear, doubt and uncertainty that she tries hard to repress. ]

I don't know.

[ She admits finally. Not alien, Raina had said. For all that Raina knew, of course, which was just stories about blue angels and fairytales. Angels, Skye was certain, didn't create weird metal death relics that turned people to stone, relics that HYDRA could try to weaponize. Whatever they are, it's not something good. ]