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]

[ Arguably, there might not be a whole hell of a lot of difference between the way he'd been yelling around the check-in desk and the way she's yelling now, and yet hers still somehow manages to catch a lot more attention than his. It's not the words but rather the voice that has him turning, though, a furrow of disbelief etched into his brow and lips parted. If this is the afterlife, what the hell is Regina doing here? She can't be dead, no, no way, Neal refuses to believe that his son could lose two out of three parents in such a short span.

She's throwing a wrench into his gears, short circuiting the part of him that had been convinced he knew what this was.

He shoves away from the desk with determination, leaves his briefcase behind in favor of weaving through the people milling around them. ]

Kinda harsh way to make friends.

[ He comments dryly when he's close enough to catch her attention, shoves his hands deep into his coat pockets. It's not the best preface to hey I don't know if you knew I probably died but I'm apparently not dead, but, you know. Bigger issues at hand or whatever, right? ]

[gloriouscurse]

[At his voice, and worse, at visual confirmation, Regina isn't sure she isn't dead, and any anger she had or tirade she was about to go on disappears completely. Her mouth is slightly agape, and admittedly, it's impressive that she's speechless for a moment. The last thing she'd done in regards to Neal, was toss dirt on his grave, and it hurt - not because they were particularly close, but because Henry's lost his father before he even had the chance to know him.]

You're...this is...

[She pauses, straightening her back.]

Where are we? What is this?

[She wants him to have the answer, she really does.]

[carjacked]

[ Despite the situation, it's kinda hard not to be at least a little amused that he managed to render her speechless. Not an easy feat to accomplish considering the stories he's heard about her, so, you know, he'll take it. That amusement drains out pretty quickly, though, because they're still both trapped and kidnapped, and he's got no idea what this means for his son right now.

His head shakes slowly when she straightens, hands reemerging from his pockets so he can hold his palms up and just shrug. ]

I- honestly, I got no idea. I just woke up here a couple minutes ago, and-

[ He glances behind him, absently points a thumb toward the desk back there. ]

Nobody's pickin' up out front, there's no... books, no phones, no- anything. Frankly, I don't even know how this is... possible.

[gloriouscurse]

Magic.

[There's the 'duh' head tilt when she says it, but really, she doesn't look that sure about it.]

Except mine doesn't work. Which means we've been kidnapped somehow and taken to a land without magic, or it's like the original curse without the memory taking.

[Regina looks at him as if she's sorry for what she's about to say.]

Or I'm dead.

[She has no idea if he knows he's dead though, so she leaves it at that. Either he'll get it or he won't. Either way, she'll find out soon, she guesses.]

[carjacked]

[ His brow wrinkles a little at the duh in her tone, because he may not be as apt as his father or her at the whole magic thing, but even he knows magic has limits. It can't raise the dead, otherwise half the people who went bad never would've gone bad in the first place. It can't bring him back any more than it can take Regina over to the afterlife.

Well, apart from by outright killing her or something. Either way, he's not going to bring that up. No sense arguing it and striking up her temper on him.

It doesn't explain why she can't seem to use her magic, though, not that Neal's complaining. Nothing personal, he's just not a fan. He shrugs unhelpfully. ]

Considering I haven't actually been keepin' tabs on your vital signs, I don't know. Couldn't tell you. All I know is I was dying, then I fell through a ceiling upstairs.

[ Dying is a mild word for feeling yourself literally die, but whatever. Nobody likes a downer, right? ]

There's no paperwork, no staff, no exit. Beyond that...

[gloriouscurse]

[Zelena and your baby mama certainly managed to screw some things up there, Neal. All to be explained when Regina feels like it, though. At least he knows he died, at least she doesn't have to tiptoe around that.]

I landed up there, too. Whoever brought us here didn't do it very gracefully.

[Her features change a little, switching to worried as she looks at him.]

You haven't seen Henry here, have you?

[carjacked]

[ His expression turns instantly solemn at the mention of his son, a dark sort of determination crossing his features. He shakes his head. ]

No. Not since I got here, no, I was about to ask you the same question.

[ Because if Regina's here, if he's here, there are bound to be others. Curses, spells, kidnappings, whatever, they don't ever hit that town by halves. Which is what it's gotta be, if Regina isn't dead. She can't be dead, right? There's no way. There's no way their son could-

No. She's fine. ]

[gloriouscurse]

I don't know if I'm relieved he's not here, or upset that I've left him.

[Does anyone know she's gone? Does anyone know what's happened to her? She's just disappeared, vanished without a trace with a suitcase someone had to pack for her. And, for as little as she truly knows Neal, she has to admit that there's at least a familiar face here.]

I have no idea what to do next. Nothing here makes sense.

[carjacked]

[ There's a sympathetic lilt to his brow, because yeah, he can get that. As much as Neal would love to see his son, he couldn't wish Henry here. Not without knowing what this place was, whether or not it was dangerous. Not if this really was the afterlife.

He scratches absently at the back of his neck, then shrugs. Gestures out vaguely. ]

Look, it's gonna be alright, right? We just gotta stick together, see what we can dig up about this place. Not like we haven't had to deal with worse than a... crappy motel, right?

[ There's a little optimism for you, Regina. On the house. ]

We figure out who brought us here, you put the fear of god in 'em, we'll get you back to Henry in no time. Just keep it together.

[ All with a forced sort of reassuring smile. ]

[gloriouscurse]

[He's right, and Regina takes a breath, letting it out slowly. She didn't know Neal well enough to know if she should hate that he's right, she's just glad someone else familiar to her is here.]

Have you explored this place? I came straight down here from wherever the hell it was I landed. But apparently we already have rooms. Whatever brought us here knows our names, at least.

[carjacked]

[ She can learn to hate him later, once they've figured everything out and they don't need each other to figure everything out. For right now, it's probably best that she's too conflicted to get pissed at him. He'll take that. ]

Not a lot. Most of the doors are closed off down here, doesn't seem like there's any real way out.

[ Shrug. Sorry, Regina. Captain Answers is falling short over here. ]

[gloriouscurse]

[She needs a drink. She needs a very large, very strong drink, but she's not sure she's going to have that any time soon.]

I'm going to...unpack. Whatever the hell it is I can do here that's not restrictive.

[Not that she wants to unpack and give this place any ideas about her staying, but she has to do something.]

[carjacked]

[ His lips tug into something sympathetic, but he nods. ]

No kidding. If I find anything out I'll let you know, okay?

[ In the meantime, he's got a suitcase of his own he hasn't explored yet. ]

[gloriouscurse]

Thank you.

[She says it sincerely, then turns to go, just trying to make sense of something, anything.]