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]

[ That's not an answer, he wants to say. But that's exactly what it is, and he realizes it when he meets Steve's eyes, when the truth is written in his face for him to see. He swallows hard, unable to help an instinctive coil of anger in his stomach.

A long buried anger, perhaps, something that twists uncomfortably in him; because he knows Bucky was more than willing to suffer for the chance that he didn't. But then again, if he didn't, they both wouldn't be here today.

They would be in their graves, side by side, perhaps; inseparable on the playground, inseparable in death. And without Steve, that end would have come a lot faster than predicted.

He exhales quietly, feeling a familiar headache coming on. ] I didn't want you to come.

[starspangled]

I know you didn't. We argued like cats and dogs about it, more than once.

[It frustrated him at the time, but Steve can't help but think back on it fondly know. He knows Bucky's reasons, what he was trying to do. If only he'd been half as good at protecting him.]

I kinda hope those days are behind us. Think they could be?

[The question makes him feel nervous, oddly vulnerable, because he's afraid of the answer. But no matter what it is, Steve's not giving up on him.]

[dislocked]

[ Bucky's silent for a long moment, not knowing what to think about that. It's strange, when the memories that stick to him are fragmented but powerful enough to break through the programming. Steve asks questions he doesn't know answers to, and he's not sure whether he should be angry at Steve or himself.

Steve Rogers, his oldest friend -- the man he couldn't let die when it came right down to it. Bucky will end up disappointing him, over and over again, in a hundred thousand little ways. But he still squares his shoulders, meets his eyes. They're both afraid and hurting, and he's not sure if there are right answers to anything. ]

I'm not the man you remember.