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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Merlin. Wormtail?

[This is just like old times, isn't it. Wandering around the castle in the middle of the night. Doing "research" for the map even after they created it because you never know what might need to be added. James is even having the air crushed out of him by Wormtail, a wonderful recreation of the time in third year when they found one of the passages to Hogsmeade and then proceeded to get trapped in said passage until morning when Remus finally came looking for them.

That was a laugh. This, this place, ending up here with a wand that doesn't work, it's not broken he just can't do any magic, this isn't a joke. But he's James Potter and he doesn't scare easily.

At least. He's not going to show it.]

I know that girly shriek anywhere. But please, get off me. You're crushing my spleen.

Prongs?

[ Sorry, he's not quite expecting that, and even more so to go tumbling into the ground. He shifts and rolls off of his friend, sitting up and staring at him with wide eyes. ]

You're... you're here. I didn't know if... well. I mean, I thought I was the only one. A bad prank or something, you know.

I don't think so, mate.

[That's better, thanks Pete. Now he can breathe and his spleen won't explode. He really appreciates that.]

You alright? Have you seen Lily or Sirius or Remus? Hey-- let me see you wand for a second. Mine's acting funny.

I'm okay. I... I haven't seen anyone I know. I mean there are other people, but --

[ His wand. He frowns almost immediately. ] You... still have your wand? mine's not been -- I can't find it.

[ If James had his wand, then where was his? Why didn't he see it in the room, in the suitcase? Everyone else has things like that, but not him. This really is a cruel joke. ]

Does... does it work?

Actually-- no. It doesn't. [James slips his wand out of his back pocket where he usually keeps it despite warnings that he's going to loose a buttock someday for it. It looks fine, intact and shiny but it doesn't thrum with magic like it used to. And he can't even cast a simple accio with it.]

Why would you ask that? What do you know that I don't?

I...

[ He hasn't always needed a wand to transform, to take the form of the rat he's often scurried around as. No less with James at his side, helping their friend. But now, he can't feel even the vaguest tinge of magic, not even the tickle up his spine he feels right before the transformation starts. ]

I can't, well, do it. I mean, transform. I tried, because I thought maybe I could get out, but. What's happening, Prongs? I'm...

[ He stops himself. He shouldn't tell anyone he's scared. ]

[Shit, James hasn't even tried to do that yet but he's going to hazard a guess that he can't either. If Peter can't, and his wand doesn't work here, there's a good chance no one will be running into Prongs in the near future.

This has to be seriously dark magic, to completely cut them off like this. He can't think of anything else it would be.]

I don't know. [His voice is quiet and small and for a moment he looks just as lost. And then he pushes that aside.]

But it's going to be alright. Promise.

[ It's never a good sign when even James seems a bit surprised. James is his unflappable, marvelously brave friend. Nothing could frighten him, right? ]

Yeah... yeah, of course it is.

[ He had to believe it for now -- they wouldn't be stuck here forever, surely. ]

I-- there aren't even any doors that lead out, Prongs. Er, not out out, anyway, and I haven't tried the windows. I'm afraid to.

What do you mean, there aren't any doors?

[James rights his glasses on his face. Okay. That's odd but it's time to work out a way out of here. He's not afraid of no windows.]

Come on, Wormtail, pull it together. Afraid of a window? I never heard of such a thing. Not from the likes of us.

[And that's James pulling him down the hall. Straight for the windows my good man! It's happening!]

I mean, there's... one that might lead somewhere outside, but it's locked. I mean, there are doors to rooms and stuff but...

[ Sorry, he doesn't quite realize he's being dragged along until he's tagging along after James. ]

We don't know if they open or... or if this place is hexed, you know, like... like the Shrieking Shack! Don't want to go... go trying anything er, dumb?

Dumb is our middle name!

[Like he's going to let go of Peter that easily. He's coming with him even if he probably won't force Pete to do anything he doesn't want to. Not strictly with force anyway. Perhaps with some guilting and needling and peer pressure.]

We won't know until we try. And I'm trying so you can either help or go stand there and be useless. Your call.

Er. I guess it is.

[ But it's easy to win Peter's compliance, certainly. He doesn't want to be useless, not to James of all people. ]

Okay, I'll help already, I will! Slow down won't you?

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

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