master of the house, quick to catch your eye (OPEN)

[checkingin]

Who: Everyone!
Where: The initial arrival rooms, the main lobby, all over the place.
When: April 5rd
What: Welcome, newbies + happy Easter eggs.

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 an empty, ashy fireplace, to your right is a lobby desk. straight ahead are three large sets of doors, all three of them thrown wide open and welcoming. and outside the few (curtained, permanently dark) windows is the continually steady hiss of rain. once you leave the hallway you wake up in, you won't be able to return.

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. there is, however, a pad of paper and a pen neatly aligned with the desk edge. you know. for notes.

terribly sorry for the inconvenience.

SCREENING ROOM.

on a long pull-down screen, a silent version of the cabinet of dr. caligari 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 music.

along the curtained windows is another long table, with a large bowl of caramel corn and a large hot drink dispenser full of hot water, with a few cups and some old looking packages of hot chocolate mix.

BALLROOM.

the third set of grand doors have been thrown wide to reveal a brightly lit, festively decorated ball room. all across the polished wood floor, all over the tables and chairs around the edge of the room, under the curtains, in the corners, hiding in the shadows, and behind the doors, characters will find:

easter eggs.

plastic easter eggs filled with jellybeans and chocolates, real eggs dip dyed and rolled in glitter; foil wrapped chocolate eggs, sugar eggs with little diaramas in the middle. there will be novelty plastic easter bunny rings sprinkles about, and general little plastic childrens toys. there will be plastic and paper easter basket grass sprinkled all over, and upbeat ambiance music intended to excite.

by the front door will be basket for people to use in their quest to collect the hundreds of eggs scattered all over the room. a sign on the floor invites them to "take one" in curvy handwritted script.

but there's no sign to warn that — some of these eggs?

are going to explode in your face.

( event details. )

OTHER.

the ballroom is currently open, and the grand doors locked.

there is no main door leading to the outside, good luck trying to find one.

the doors to the courtyard and breakfast hall are unlocked, food is currently being served. a lot of it is candy.

ROOMS.

you've a room key with your assigned room number on it. all the new guest residences will be located on floors four. 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'll 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.

EGGSISTING GUESTS.

happy easter, kids.

Comments

[avengeme]

"Not really," he lies. "This is a model of my favorite car though." he adds, truthfully.

[youcantransform]

"Chevrolet Corvette - early Sixties? I was rather partial to the Aston Martins of that era," Harry says amiably. He knows he's a terrible cliche but he'll forgive himself the odd private joke. "DB4 Vantage - simply terrific. Outside my pay bracket, sadly."

[avengeme]

"Good eye. It's 1962." Coulson praises. "And I know the feeling. I inherited this one from my dad and its modifications have been paid for by the agency."

[youcantransform]

Harry glances up from the car to Coulson's face, curious.

"Modifications?"

[avengeme]

Okay. Now he can't help but look a little smug. "It flies."

[youcantransform]

It takes a moment for him to conclude in his own mind that this is, in fact, not a joke.

(Anyone applying for the funding for that kind of R&D at Kingsman would be denied and quite possibly pulled up in front of a disciplinary board of some kind, of course. Even the self-driving cabs had to be argued for. SHIELD apparently operates at a very different level.)

"Impressive," is his conclusion - because it is, on a technical level if nothing else. A Corvette is not a naturally aerodynamic shape. "And it must save you an awful lot of time at rush hour."

[avengeme]

Coulson smiles, willing to wait for it to sink in. It's evident he's proud of the car. (It helps that he had a position as the director's right hand man. It tends to allow him to get away with some things.)

"It does. I can't use it all the time since it's not exactly covert but it has its moments. Anyway, since you know about what I do," more or less. "What do you do for a living?"

[youcantransform]

"It seems that I've been retired," Harry says wryly, "but previous to that I was a tailor. Kingsman, on Savile Row."

The temptation to identify the place, to watch discreetly for any signs of recognition, is irresistible. Though he could just have had a suit made there, of course, if they have any trace of the organisation in his world at all.

[avengeme]

Coulson perks up at that. "I've been to Savile Row. They make excellent suits there." Yep, it doesn't look like he recognizes the name of the organization.

[youcantransform]

Or he's too canny to let on, which Harry would credit him with simply as a point of caution. Not that it really matters, in the context of where they are; being cagey about who and what he really is is simply too long-lived a habit to let die. He's well aware that the beans will get spilled eventually; it's too small an environment, really, to keep secrets.

"The finest in the world, if it's not too self-congratulatory to say so." It is, but it's also true, as far as he's concerned.

[avengeme]

It's why Coulson isn't too strict about maintaining SHIELD's cover here. Not that he's about to go spilling all the secrets but with all the people in play, it's going to get unwieldy real fast.

"I had a suit made there. It's still my favorite one. Cost me a year's worth of salary but totally worth it."