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

[hacker]

The United States.

[ Her brow furrows, confusion apparent. Why wouldn't she know that? They were speaking English. Sure, Tauriel's was a little accented, but— All the same. ]

[taurohtar]

[Well, at least it would appear that Tauriel isn't the only one confused here. For a moment, she weighs the idea of pretending she knows what on earth this human is talking about against admitting her ignorance; the desire for knowledge wins, and she shakes her head slightly, spreading her hands.]

And where is that?

[hacker]

[ Unsure of how to even contextualize that, Skye furrows her brow, searching around with a steadily discomfited expression. ]

Uh ... Earth?

[taurohtar]

[Tauriel's patience, never the best to begin with, is wearing thin as of late, stress and strain making her more prone to snap where before she might bite her tongue. It has her frowning sharply and huffing a sigh through her nose.]

I have traipsed all across Middle Earth in my six centuries, child, and not once in all my travels have I ever seen anything like this. [One pale hand lifts and flutters gently in the air, indicating the view out the window, the hotel, the people who inhabit it.]

[hacker]

Six— Did you say six centuries?

[ no fuCKIN WAY. An incredulous beat passes. ]

Okay, is this some kind of weird LARPing thing? Not that I'm judging! [ She holds her hands up in a passive move of surrender, an innocuous enough expression capturing her features in the downward turn of her mouth and the arch of her eyebrows. ] But given that everyone I've talked to seems to have no freaking clue how they got here, it might be time to. You know. Drop out of character.

[taurohtar]

[Tauriel's expression grows even stormier, and were she human, she might even cross her arms across her chest.]

I am ill-used to mockery. [She doesn't have time for this right now. (Actually, it seems she has all the time in the world, if nobody here can figure out how to get out of this place.) She's tired, her whole body is sore, she's still mourning for all the people she could not save. She doesn't need to have some human girl look at her as if she is some kind of simpleton.] If you intend to continue, I will take my leave.

[hacker]

[ Her brow furrows as Tauriel still doesn't drop what Skye can only assume to be an act, and Skye shakes her head just slightly, searching for a way to make sense of that. ]

… Sorry, where did you say you were from?

[ Let's double back. She drums up some more civility, backing off her assumptions to take a moment and really try to figure this out. ]

[taurohtar]

[Well, it's not an apology, but at least the girl has ceased to sound so much like she is judging her and finding her lacking, and so Tauriel can feel her ruffled feathers smooth out slightly.]

I did not say. [She has a sinking feeling this girl will not know at all where she is from, but she will tell her nonetheless.] I am from Mirkwood Forest.

[hacker]

[ So here's the thing:

Skye believes that this woman totally believes that she's from the middle of a forest of some kind. In fact, maybe she even thinks she's some fantasy character. But why? IT's not like it could be real. Unlike … alien cities, and DNA injections, and ancient artifacts that turn people to stone just by touching them.

Okay. So maybe the weird level in her life does allow room for elven forest rangers. ]

You know what? You're right. We got off on the wrong foot. [ Stepping forward, she holds out one hand to shake. ] I'm Skye.

[ And presently, she wants to figure out just what kind of weird she's dealing with, and Tauriel seems like the best candidate to help her. Mirkwood is obviously nothing like Earth, but that begs the question of how they both got here. ]

[taurohtar]

[Tauriel watches as the girl collects herself and feels slightly mollified; as she said, she is not used to being mocked by anyone, least of all a human she has never met before, but she isn't so unreasonable not to know that a situation like this does not necessarily bring out the best in people. With tensions high and no answers to be found, it is hardly surprising that tempers are burning and feathers get ruffled.

The girl sticks out her hand to her, not in a fashion Tauriel is familiar with, but she feels compelled to return the gesture.

Instead of clasping her palm, however, Tauriel reaches slightly further in and curls her fingers around her forearm instead, a strong clasp of her hand that is belied by the delicacy of her fingers.]

I am Tauriel. [Letting go of the girl's arm, Tauriel presses her hand to her chest, her head inclining slightly in a barest hint of a bow.] Mae g'ovannen, Skye.

[hacker]

Yeah. Sure, that.

[ Twitching her fingers, Skye shakes her hand out once Tauriel releases it. That has to be the weirdest hand-shake she's ever gotten, but she doesn't comment on it. Glances down briefly, but keeps her opinions to herself. There's an air of what the hell did you just say? in her complicit return of the phrase. ]

I'm beginning to get the feeling that the U.S. isn't the kind of place you could have traveled to, even if you wanted to.

[ She'll at least share that much. For now, it's all she knows. No how. No why. ]

Totally weird follow-up: you ever heard of a place called Asgard?

[taurohtar]

[Instead of asking for yet more clarification — Tauriel doesn't know what the U.S. is, unless perhaps she is referring to the United States she mentioned of before, although she did fail to specify which states had united, or even why they did so — she simply quirks her brow slightly and continues to watch silently. Skye knows the answer to her question, there is no point in Tauriel confirming it for her.

She tilts her head slightly, her brows drawing together once more.]

Will you describe it to me? [It is possible that she simply knows this place by another name, although she doubts it. Still, it does not hurt to ask.] Who dwells there?

[hacker]

Uh, humans. For starters.

[ Gifted or not, otherwise super-powered or not, that was always true. Except for whoever'd built that city below San Juan. ]

It's mostly big cities. You know. Cars, skyscrapers, that kind of thing. You saw the tablet in your room, right? Lots of that.

[taurohtar]

I gathered it was a realm of Men, yes.

[Although most of the things she lists mean nothing to her, except for cities. Tauriel is familiar enough with cities, but cars, skyscrapers, those things mean nothing to her. Even tablet doesn't really register, until she realizes that Skye is most likely referring to the mirror that allowed her to speak to others in the building.]

You are from Asgard, then?

[hacker]

[ The temptation is there to agree. Take the opportunity for some self-indulgence and call herself an Asgardian princess or something. But that'd hamper the actual investigation of what's going on here, so she holds it back. ]

No. No, I'm from Los Angeles. Asgard's a different realm. It's—They live in a different universe, but they found a way to visit Earth. That must be what's going on here.

[taurohtar]

[Tauriel would not believe Skye was a princess, even if she told her so. She has known her fair share of princesses, and none of them are remotely like this human girl in front of her.]

Ah, I see. [She doesn't bother asking where Los Angeles is, she has a feeling it will simply be a similar answer as before: nowhere Tauriel knows.] How strange. Is it magic that they use? Are there any humans here from Asgard? I would much desire to speak with them.

[hacker]

People from Asgard aren't human: they're Asgardian. And if they are here, I haven't run into them.

[ She shakes her head. ]

Chances are, though, they'll look, uh. Well, they'll dress like you. [ Awkward gesture towards Tauriel. ] We used to call what they did magic, but now that we know more, we know it's science. Technology. Really advanced stuff, even I don't know how most of it works.

[taurohtar]

[...Had she not just been talking about Asgard? Tauriel is confused. However, she's distracted enough by what she says next to let it slide. If they dress like her, does that mean they are probably some race of elves? Or is it just that they dress in a fashion suited to traveling, to hunting, to serving as a guard for their king, instead of...whatever it is Skye is wearing.

She makes a soft noise of understanding in the back of her throat, even though she is just as lost as she has been this whole conversation.] I am familiar with magic.

[hacker]

Well, that makes one of us. I've never seen the real deal. Things that some people might call magic, but there was always a reasonable explanation for it, in the end.

[ She's still working on the reasonable explanation for what the hell happened in the temple. ]

[taurohtar]

Yes, the reasonable explanation is magic. [Seriously, what more reasonable explanation do you need? Tauriel has known magic all her life. She hasn't been able to create any of it, no, her skills with such things are incredibly limited, but that is not the case with others. Her King has been able to cast magics on their homeland, and the wizards, of course, are great conjurers.

Magic it is.]

...I wonder if there is some way to contact the wizards.

[hacker]

Not in my realm.

[ Or in Asgard, even if the humans had believed Asgardian tech to be magic. She's splitting hairs at this point, though, because she has no problem entertaining the notion of magic, she's just trying to convey that she's never encountered it. So she drops it. ]

Who are the wizards? I mean, you know, other than ... the obvious. Users of magic, right? Could they get us out of here?