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

late but OTA! no fight necessary, she'll back right off 'em.

[warring]

[ as if awakening in an unfamiliar motel isn't quite alarming enough for one day, somebody's afternoon is quite possibly about to get that much worse. because without even the sound of footsteps to serve as warning, anyone who passes by the open door into the dim and seemingly-empty room 220 finds themselves promptly assaulted from behind. a forearm snakes sharply around their neck, and a foot connects from behind with each knee in rapid succession to buckle them so they're pinned to the floor by a shin across their calves.

then comes the sharp voice in their ear: ]

Chon yu bilaik? [ what, you didn't understand that? it's okay, she doesn't give pause for an answer either way. ] Yu na tel bilaik disha lokop ste o ai na frag yu op!

[ somebody's apparently not screwing around. ]

[oceanborne]

[ Failed prison break, abrupt awakening in a strange exit-less hotel... why yes, a sneak attack is precisely what Annie's day has been missing. Though really, she's kind of been expecting violence of some sort. She's still halfway convinced that this is an arena of some kind, a new Hunger Games, and where's the fun in the Games if people aren't trying to kill each other?

Sadly for whomever might be watching on their hidden cameras (just because she hasn't found any doesn't mean they aren't there), Annie goes down without a fight. She hits the ground hard, hands coming up to grab instinctively at the arm around her throat, but otherwise she's completely still. ]

...What? [ Are those even words? She'll just have to make an educated guess as to what her attacker could possibly mean. ] I don't understand you, I'm not... I just woke up here, I didn't cause this.

[warring]

[ english. this, she can work with.

her next words are deliberate, enunciated just slightly stronger than a native speaker. ] Who are you, and where is this place?

[oceanborne]

I'm Annie Cresta. [ She leaves off where she's from -- she's met too many people today who seem to have never heard of Panem, let alone its victors.

That, at least, was an easy answer to give. The second part requires more thought, and she tries to shake her head. ] I don't know where we are. It's a hotel, but there's no staff. Just us. Everyone who's been... [ Kidnapped? Captured? Not words she's too keen on using when someone's got her in a chokehold. ] Well, everyone who woke up here.

[warring]

[ this 'annie cresta' is proving quite cooperative. a moment's pause, and then lexa releases her holds on both annie's throat and limbs. instead, she's standing now and casting a tense glance down the hallway. ]

What is a 'hotel'? [ that seems like the next pressing question at hand. ]

[oceanborne]

[ Cooperative and completely harmless, that's Annie. At least, that's the image she's trying to project, and when the strange woman lets her go it seems like she's succeeding. She climbs slowly to her feet, turning to get a good look at her attacker -- and it doesn't surprise her, seeing that the woman is more like a girl. Teenagers are the central part of the Games, after all, and it makes more sense to see a young woman like this than some of the adults she saw in the lobby. ]

A hotel is... When someone travels away from home, it's where they stay. They'll get a room to sleep in, and some of the fancier hotels offer more services, and there's a staff to clean and cook and run the place.

[warring]

[ like a homestay, then, but far more impersonal. lexa nods in acceptance of that answer, though it brings up more questions than it solves. ]

We aren't underground. [ is it a statement? is it a question? who knows. but she's taking a step toward the window now, eyes narrowed off into the fog. the implications of 'not underground' come a moment later. ] These walls are flimsy. No structures built so poorly survived the war.

[ivolunteer]

( oh hell no, she did not blow up a dome and escape the games for this.

given it takes her a rather long time to respond by katniss everdeen standards. the first thing she notices is that the sudden jerk of her head as someone slings their arm around her neck and she tries to jump away makes lights erupt behind her eyelids again. the throbbing in her temples redoubles and she wheezes in pain as her bruised, burned knees hit the carpeted hallways floor with a solid thunk.

this is it, isn't it. if the capitol hadn't brought her here, they'd certainly found her here, and now they were going to kill her. her, and then peeta, which is — not going to happen. it's some herculean effort she summons to throw her elbow back at her attackers gut. and if it connects, it's with significantly less force than she would have liked. )

[warring]

[ the elbow connects because lexa allows it, offering only a sharp and frustrated exhale in response before she tries again, this time in the slow, tense, and slightly over-enunciated english of someone who is both 0% thrilled and not a native speaker. ]

You will tell me your name and where this place is found.

[ivolunteer]

( struggling, and maybe trying to hit her again, harder this time katniss come on. )

I'll tell you to get — off of me.

[warring]

[ in a less pressing circumstance, she'd exhale an impatient sigh through her nose. as it is, the arm around this girl's neck slides down to restrain her arms while lexa drops her harshly forward onto her face on the floor, a palm solidly on her back. ]

You will tell me, or you will die.

[ it's as simple as that, in lexa's eyes. her tone drops to tack on: ]

Slowly.

[ivolunteer]

( that is no less infuriating and awful when she's on the ground and squirming against the dusty carpet and an angry lady that doesn't seem like she's about to give up. so while she refuses to say ow, there's some intense teeth gnashing and some aggravated wheezing. )

I don't know where we are any more than I have any idea what you said when you jumped me.

[warring]

[ lexa wants to seethe a sharp 'did I not translate?' but it's not worth the wasted words. her jaw sets, and then she's releasing the girl less-than-gently, rising to her feet. ]

Your name is useless to me either way, [ she dismisses. ]

[pronged]

[It's the third time that James has ended up on the ground, with the rough landing and Peter knocking him on his arse and how is this his life. James groans in something like defeat before he realizes he doesn't understand a word she's saying. It sounds like nothing he's heard before and he has heard a lot from mermaids to goblins to Sirius' drunken blabbering.]

What in Merlin's name are you even saying? Get off me, you crazy bird!

[warring]

[ english. she can work with this. lexa does not, however, get off him as requested. instead, he gets a tense and threatening jostle before she speaks, slow and tense and most importantly in english - albeit the barely over-enunciated english of someone who isn't quite a native speaker. ]

You will tell me your name and where this place is found.

[pronged]

[Where she's sitting on him, he can't get to his wand. Not that it would do him a lot of good, since the few times he's tried to use it, he hasn't been able to produce even a feeble wisp of smoke. But he could fake it long enough to threaten her back if he had it in his hand. So yeah. James keeps on struggling, trying to spring loose.]

Like I have any bloody idea!

[warring]

Of your name? [ that tone is quite nearly calling bullshit, and when lexa calls bullshit she does so with quite a bit of pain attached. ]

[pronged]

[Ow that's his kidney.]

Oh that. Right, it's Potter. James Potter. The pleasure's all mine, really.

[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.

[carjacked]

[ Neal's been mugged before. You live your life wandering quasi-homelessly in New York City, you're bound to get mugged at least once or twice in your life. He never been mugged in a hotel before, though, definitely not in a possible-afterlife hotel by what sounds like an angry Portuguese woman.

His hands come up automatically like one does when there's a gun to their back, head jerking backward to try and relieve some of the pressure off of his larynx. ]

I don't understand- hold on, I don't understand what you're saying-

[ He throws out, enunciating clearly, voice raising a couple octaves because if he's going to get re-murdered for not following directions, he wants to make it abundantly clear it's because he doesn't understand those directions. ]

[warring]

[ english. she recognizes it at once, and she changes tactics to match. ]

You will tell me your name and where I've been taken. [ while not an outright threat, her tone is low with warning. it's quite possible that his 'unarmed' gesture is his saving grace in this particular instance. ]

[carjacked]

[ Jesus, thank god, she speaks English. He's perfectly still during her threat, head pulled back, muscles rigid. Despite that, he still sounds respectably calm (if a bit loud) when he answers: ]

Neal Cassidy.

[ And... his head moves a little, just an inch, to try and get a look at the person that seems perfectly capable of putting him in a sleeper hold if she wanted to. No really, it's impressive. Terrifying, but you know. Impressive. ]

This is a hotel- at least, I'm pretty sure it is. I- honestly, I swear to god- I got no idea where or how, I died and I just- woke up here. Same as you.

[ It's a reasonable, rational tone. Something as placating as it is obedient. ]

[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.

[carjacked]

[ The pressure is gone as suddenly as it appeared, and he steadies himself quickly, hands still most of the way up. If she changes her mind on that whole wanting to kill him business, he strongly suspects she doesn't need him on his knees to do it. Better to make sure it's clear he's not gonna lash out when he stands back up. As soon as he's on his feet a few steps away, those hands start to lower. ]

I got no reason to lie to you. [ He corrects, a subtle shrug tugging at his chin and shoulders. ] I don't know you, I got nothing to gain from it. I'm just telling you what I know.

[ Pretty calm for a man who was just assaulted, but it's not like he's not already dead. Whatever magic this is won't sustain forever, and there's always a cost. This is borrowed time, and besides, he lived mostly-homeless in New York for like two decades. He's been mugged like a hundred and fifty times. You get used to it. ]

[warring]

What I know is that death has yet to find me. [ and this neal as well, as far as she's concerned - because if he were dead, he wouldn't be here to speak with her. ]