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]

[Do not engage, Ward said, but this face was easier to manage then others. It actually came on clearly. No tinny robot voice like she was broken, just May's face and a stabilized voice. At least most the time it was stabilized. Still...]

[When someone spoke up and suddenly hugged her she went stiff. For one, she's not used to hugs anymore, though she does love them. For another, if she's going to pull this off right and be the pre-May-on-the-damn-bus then stiff is in character, if she remembers right.]

[Thus, the clear and confused glance to Skye was given, because Kara can pull off a time line discrepancy in this place and it will help]

Do I know you? [she asked bluntly (words that might hurt, whoops), drawing back and looking the girl over.]

[hacker]

[ A little uncertain but hopeful smile, one that ardently seeks approval, flickers over Skye's lips as she draws back. Her eyes search May's face for some symbol of recognition, assurance that whatever is provoking this cold attitude has nothing to do with Skye.

But it's hard to hide her insecurity when this is everything she'd feared. Skye has changed. What if the team doesn't want anything to do with her anymore? She can hardly blame them. She got Trip killed. ]

May, it's me. [ She insists, unable to understand why she might need more than that. ] Skye. Come on; I know I screwed up, but you're still my S.O.

[facemyenemies]

[even if there wasn't a timeline discrepancy this would be interesting to pull off. She knew enough about Skye from reports to pull it off, but not the details. The confusion helped though.]

Skye... [she said calmly, then shook her head, speaking evenly and with caution.] I can't say I know a Skye, or that I'm an S.O. to anyone. [she stepped back a bit, as if mildly on the defense, as Kara figured May would be if surprised with someone pretending they knew her. There were so many levels of inception going on here, thanks. Should be fun.]

[hacker]

May, what the hell?

[ She throws one hand out at her side, incredulous. Her jaw sets to try and taper off some of the hurt, teeth grinding a moment before she tacks on defensively, ] We've been working on the same team for, like, a year. Coulson's team. You're telling me you don't remember any of that.

[facemyenemies]

[She watched the girl, like May was studying her. Her brow raised a bit more at that comment, eyes narrowed a bit as if this new information was queer to her.]

Coulson? He doesn't have a team...

[hacker]

Yeah. He does. And when you're not suffering head trauma, you're part of it. [ Because this amnesia shit has to have some kind of explanation, right? ] May, what the hell happened?

[facemyenemies]

[Suffering from trauma. Ha, cute. She stepped back to rest on her heel, arms crossing as she looked over the girl. The Skye. The one Ward was so into before...]

[Her head tilted a bit, as if May was critically looking over this unknown stranger. Agent May wouldn't just give up information, or so Agent 33 supposed, but she would try to get info, right?]

I woke up in a hall way with a suit case. Just before that I was at home. You tell me, what's going on?

[hacker]

[ She bristles. ]

Agent May, I need you to tell me exactly where you were when you were taken.

[ Lack of specifics might be a strategy, but it might also be head trauma. Or worse, brainwashing. And Skye with no gun to reach for. ]

[facemyenemies]

[Her eyes sharpen, like she doesn't care for the others tone, but she is going to humor her in this. Because it's "clear" that something is wrong, right? At least that's what she wants her May face to read as.]

SHIELD headquarters. At my desk. [she quotes the year and month and day, jsut to be clear.]

[Kara, finds it mildly amusing that the girl is reacting as she is. What a way to learn about different timelines. If she were honest, when Ward told her about the difference, she felt really disoriented as well.]

[hacker]

[ It takes her a moment, eyes darting around, to calculate what's going on. The revelation occurs right before Kara's very eyes, and a beat later, she whispers more to herself than May, ] ... Before Coulson built the team.

[facemyenemies]

[It was almost comical to see it hit her. 'May' how ever did not look amused. at all.]

You want to fill me in on what I'm missing and what's going on?

[Honestly, she doesn't think she can keep the May thing up for too long. She's no actress, but while she can, she will.]

[hacker]

[ Skye draws herself up to stand straighter, folding her arms over her chest like she's ready to bear bad news as she says: ] Welcome back to the field, Agent May. I'm Skye, and we're in bad shape. Someone's been kidnapping SHIELD agents and known associates to this place for months.

[facemyenemies]

[Here we go. Information time. Let’s see how much of this will fit in with what she’s already heard from others.]

[When she is told she’s back in the field, from what she knows of May that shouldn’t be. the Cavalry was desk bound at this point. So these narrowed eyes are looking at Skye darkly. Clearly not amused]

‘Months’. And we’re still here?

[hacker]

All of our intel suggests we're dealing with HYDRA tech. So yeah. The handful of us, with no resources, are still here.

[facemyenemies]

How many people are trapped here? How many are with SHIELD? With HYDRA?

[was Skye one to look at the bigger numbers or just a small amount of people?]

[hacker]

Until today, we've had five operatives: Fitz, Rogers, Barton, and I. Two additional assets, barring risk assessment. [ She doesn't name Barnes and Ward. That's a can of worms she's not going to be the one to open. ]

You and Coulson make seven. HYDRA hasn't shown its face; my bet is we're in a close facility somewhere. We could be looking at hundreds staffing something like this. They'd need scientists, security, oversight. Whatever they're trying to do here, it's big.