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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Eggs? No, no that had nothing to do with me. I found them the same as everyone else.

[He's going to leave out Ward's name for the moment, just until he has a better grasp on her current state of mind.

The doctor's head tilts slightly as he stares at her, studying her. He hadn't gotten a chance to be this close to her without someone interrupting for quite some time.]

Are you doing alright? Have your powers been getting stronger?

My pow—

[ She stops, a beat for breath. Disbelief floods the silence as she blinks twice. Her stomach turns. ]

God, you actually sound excited about this. Don't you get it? I never wanted any of this. I don't want them to get stronger, I want to get rid of it.

[Oh Skye.

Shaking his head, Calvin gives her an almost sympathetic look but he's smiling still, unable to hide how pleased he is over all of this.]

This is who you're meant to be, Daisy. It was always your destiny; there's no going back now!

Wrong. It's who you wanted me to be.

[ She scoffs. ]

You can't honestly think I'm gonna believe a word that comes out of your mouth about it. After you manipulated me into going down there in the first place.

I just guided you towards the place I knew you needed to go, Daisy, that's all.

[Cal's expression falls and a sigh slips past his lips.]

I know. I know this is all hard to believe and I'm hardly the person to be telling you any of it. [His frustration mounts, twisting his expression suddenly.] This would be so much easier if she was here.

… My mother.

[ That seems to disarm her. Mention of the woman she'd never met, the one answer she'd never gotten before things inside the San Juan HYDRA base had gone to hell. Some of the fight drains out of her and she shakes her head. ]

Is that what happened to her? Some alien weapon turned her into a monster?

Your mother is not a monster!

[The words come out sharp, a protective edge to them as he outright sneers at Skye, fists clenching as a burst of anger takes over him.

But this is Daisy--this is his daughter--and it's that fact that makes him suck in a breath and step back, shaking his head.]

Neither of you are monsters, Daisy.

That is exactly what we are. You think anything human could have done that?

[ She doesn't feel the need to specify San Juan. If he knows she's changed, he must know. ]

Humans have their own means of destroying things, Daisy. Even without powers, they can tear things apart.

[He frowns, shaking his head.]

What sets people like you and your mother apart is your potential to control and harness your powers for so much more than destruction.

I make earthquakes. [ She reiterates, like maybe he missed that part. ] What's not destructive about that? [ This question brought to you by Skye's desperation for answers being bigger than her hatred for her crazy dad (and the letter q #SesameStreet). ]

Earthquakes is only one part of a bigger and smaller scale of things you can do! There's always more to it, Daisy, you just have to learn!

[Come on now, Skye! Don't be like that! You aren't just a mere earthquake making weapon of mass destruction!

Think of what you could do to a single person on a smaller scale! BD]

[ well in the event she thought for even a moment that he was less crazy, there's this moment to correct her. accordingly, she looks disgusted and horrified. ]

I don't want to learn; I want it to stop!

It's not..Daisy, it's not something you can just turn off!

[He laughs a bit but his expression is a sad one.]

...If your mother was here, she'd know what to do. I'm not the best person for this.

But she's not. She's dead. They killed her because of what she could do. [ And she doesn't want to think about what they'll try to do to her, if they find out. HYDRA. SHIELD. She knows what happens to people on the Index; she's done it to them. She doesn't understand a lot about what's happening, but she understands enough to know she doesn't want that. ]

They had no idea what she was capable of. She is different, that's why they took her. That's why that--that monster did what he did!

[There's anger boiling below the surface but Cal's doing his best to keep it in check, the mere mention of Whitehall, even with the man dead, still grating his nerves.

So much so that he didn't notice his slip with tenses.]

Okay. [ She holds her hands up, a slightly urgent sort of surrender as she notices his anger snapping behind its muzzle. She takes a step in closer, glancing around to make sure no one heard, then drops her voice. ] Okay, I know. I know, and that's why I need you to listen to me. I don't know how you found out about what happened to me down there, and I don't care. The only thing that matters now is making sure no one else does, or they're gonna come after me too. [ There's no reason to believe HYDRA is here beyond Ward's presence, but she has no particular desire to wind up on SHIELD's Index, either. ]

[Calvin is outright surprised when she steps closer, his expression softening some as the more fatherly side of him comes out.

But there's also a lot of confusion there as he laughs a bit.]

I saw you use your powers, on that football field, remember?

[Silly Daisy.]

And no one is going to harm you, Daisy. Not while I'm here.

[ "What football field" takes a backseat when his reassurance sounds an awful lot like a threat. Her voice sharpens. ]

No. No, listen to me. I don't need you to tear through anyone, okay? Just don't say anything. To anyone. About any of it. [ She raises her hands, a placating gesture. ]

[That makes him pause, Cal staring at his daughter for a quiet moment. She needs him to protect him. That's what this was translating to.]

..Has someone tried to hurt you, Daisy?

Not yet. [ She shrugs her shoulders, admitting awkwardly, ] But they also don't know what I did to San Juan. [ But she doesn't want to do this. Not with him. So she clams up, holding up a hand to backtrack the conversation and grimacing. ] Look, I'm not— This isn't share time. All I'm asking is if you're going to keep it to yourself or not.

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

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