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

[facemyenemies]

She blinked behind sun glasses, surprised by not only his appearance but the fact that yes, apparently you can blow up eggs. She paused now, hand running over two or three eggs in her pocket, now reconsidering their value.

“I... see.” She spoke carefully, looking the sharp dressed man over. “And you found out the hard way.”

She glanced over an egg on the floor by a table leg and reached a foot out, tip of her boot nudging it and drawing back. “How quick a response do they have?”

[youcantransform]

Harry frowns and leans away slightly from the egg she goes to nudge, but nothing comes of her having done it.

"Very. The egg seemed like any other when I picked it up - couldn't tell it was going to explode before it did. Certainly no ticking or burning fuse."

Rather, he didn't really get enough of a warning to do anything about it, and that's as a man trained to react in an instant. If she's a civilian, that's instantaneous, and if she's not then it still isn't useful.

[facemyenemies]

“Oh. Great.” that made her want to touch these things even less than she already had. “So there’s little to no desire to pick these things up, why poke around with them now?” She asked, glancing down at the umbrella with a nod. She did however bend down and carefully pick the egg she nudged up, as it seemed okay.

“Unless you’re collecting as a source of food?” She hadn't been informed about the daily food tables. The once a day thing. Oh, great, that just hit her now. Were the kidnappers feeding people? She doubted it. Crap.

[youcantransform]

"Idle curiosity, I confess. They only just appeared. Some of them do seem to be a source of food, which at least gives us a bit of variety. Breakfast is served once a day but it's the only meal we're given."

He furls his umbrella for the time being.

"As for the poking, I'm just hoping I can trigger any further planted explosives before anyone else gets hurt."

[facemyenemies]

She glanced over at him as he said that Breakfast is the only meal given. Great. This was getting better and better as it goes. One meal a day. That's more then some people get at least, but it told her that stashing a few eggs, candy and real, might be a good idea. She'd just have to be careful.

"Good to know. I only just got here and haven't figured out where here is let alone food. Perhaps I should have considered that more. Why leave out Easter gifts like this and plant explosives? Who are our captors?"

She blinked her eye twice and changed faces before drawing up to take off her sunglasses, fold them, and push back the hood. Her dark hair down and brown eyes looking up to the man more. She ran a hand over her face to make sure it had indeed changed. "The name's Amelia Hunter, by the way."

[youcantransform]

The asymmetry is gone when she pushes her hood back. It could have been a trick of the light, just shadows playing tricks on his perception - maybe not. He doesn't remark on it, gives no impression of having noticed.

(To say he's not confident in the evidence of his eyes, currently, is a huge understatement.)

"It's a pleasure, Ms Hunter. Harry Hart." He offers a hand for her to shake. "Unfortunately we've yet to encounter the management."

[facemyenemies]

She plays on the shadows of her hood for that reason. She’s just glad it worked. It’s not working properly all the time. Taking on this face means no one here will know who she is, not even Ward. She could just be Amelia hunter for a while. Ms Hunter, as this man said. There was something comforting in being someone else actually.

Reaching out she took the offered hand in a light shake. “Nice meeting you as well, Mr Hart. Other than the most important meal of the day and no management, is there anything else I should know about my new cage? Because honestly, this kidnapping didn’t come with a survival guide.”

[youcantransform]

"There's much to be said about the nature of our being here," he offers. "I'm still reluctant to believe it myself, but the guest list seems to have been drawn from...parallel universes, I suppose you'd call them. Different moments of time, different histories, however unbelievable that might seem. It certainly did to me."