week 0 - arrival

[vicedirector]

seven vices arrival ♫ saturday & sunday 36 players remaining You remember happening upon something awful and nauseating. What it was, precisely, is lost to you, but you have the instinctive feeling that by escaping from it, you've avoided something terrible. When you open your eyes, you find yourself laying in bed in a dark, dusty room, facing a digital alarm clock. Its face, reading 12:01, is one of the only sources of light in the room. The other comes from the window, shadows flickering about. Opening the blinds will reveal that it is nighttime, and what looks to be a massive bonfire has been lit in the street at the front of the building. A wooden talisman hangs around your neck, with one of seven symbols carved on the back. Attempting to take off the talisman will result in a wave of intense dread, and the all-too-familiar nausea. A brass key engraved with a unique room number lays on the bedside table beside the clock, as well. But you won't get any answers just sitting in your room all night. >Investigate? This is an open mingle for arrival in the town. Waking up just after midnight on Saturday, characters will have the weekend to explore and socialize before the plot begins. The profiles and IC rulebooks (both the personal ones and the public one at the chapel) have not been revealed/given out yet. The kitchen will still 'prepare' breakfast on these days, and the bonfire will burn continuously into the daytime. Per items: smaller items that a character could easily carry with them will be in their rooms. Animals and larger objects will either be waiting outside or in the hotel lobby. cast setting

Comments

[takanome]

[Takao wakes up in his room with a hand on his head and groans. Is this what a hangover feels like? Did someone spike the punch at that birthday party? The situation is more complicated and sinister, as a glance out the blinds reveals - at least this creepy kidnapper didn't change his clothes, because he stands up dressed in modern hat, sweater, pants, and vest, the last of which includes pockets where he puts that key. Safe from locking himself out, Takao is ready to leave the room and start walking through the hallway of the first floor, where he woke up in 104, and then the ground floor. He's decently open to conversation, asking the others passing by:]

Hey, do you happen to have a phone on you?

---

[So upon leaving the hotel Takao successfully recovers his rickshaw. Because that's just what he needed. No, this is lousy, he's not the one who needs it. The discovery just leaves him crankier than before, combined with the lack of particularly satisfying explanations inside the hotel. It's not like he can leave it behind, though, so he's walking it along by the handlebars. Pacing through the city, he can be found whistling, his free hand fussing with that pesky Envy pendant in the same direction as the arrow symbol.

Before long, he reaches the void, and he stops walking, just sticks out his hand, squinting to see how far his arm extends before the darkness blurs it out.]

This is seriously freaky...

((These are both Saturday prompts!))

First Floor

[dhaosu]

What exactly do you mean by a 'phone'?

[ The blond is doing some exploration himself, hence why he himself is out. But seriously, he has never heard of such a thing in his entire life. ]

[takanome]

Uhhhh... cellular phone? Telephone? [He folds in his middle three fingers to make his hand into that "Y" shape and holds this up to his ear and mouth. Miming a phone conversation:] Blah blah blah, you know?

[He remains pretty cheery. The other guy appears to be from a different country tan Takao's own; maybe it's just a misunderstanding of words.]

[dhaosu]

...More of that blasted Magitech then?

[ A tiny frown, there, although his eyes are showing a hint of confusion as well. He is assuming it is some form of human technology. ]

I do not have such an item on my person. Perhaps you misplaced it, but in a place like this it is unlikely to do you any good either way.

[ He assumes it is something someone can attack things with or perhaps communicate with, but regardless they seem unable to leave, so... ]

[takanome]

...yeah, it's a technology thing. [Takao nods slowly. "Magitech". Close enough. Maybe Magi is a Spanish prefix or something. He's the last guy who'd start a linguistic squabble.]

I'm not the only guy without a way to communicate with the outside world... [If that girl across from him with the laptop was any indication. He shrugs.] You're probably right, there might not be much point in looking. It would be pretty weird if they took those from some of us but not all of us.

[fluorospar]

[Freaky indeed, and she's not sure she likes the look of a teenage boy sticking his hand out into the void like that. It makes her tense.]

... Be cautious. We have no way of knowing what could be lurking out there.

[It could be a fog of war map. There could be monsters.]

I laughed at the last bracket omfg

[takanome]

Right... I'm definitely not walking out there, ma'am.

[He steps back to see the woman a little better and take a vaguely respectful posture. Only his fingertips remain in the void.]

It doesn't feel like anything in particular, though, just so you know. Dark, that's all.

YOU NEVER KNOW

[fluorospar]

Good. We may not know much about this situation, but we do have our health. We must hold onto that.

[Especially teenage boys, that seems very wrong.]

It is a relief that it is nothing else than that, at least.

[for now.]

[takanome]

Glad to hear you're feeling well yourself. [He was a little tired when he first got up, having had a fairly late night at a party right before, but by now sufficient adolescent adrenaline has kicked in.]

Have you walked the other way yet, by any chance? Is it like this, too? [Seems pretty weird to have this on one side and then just a perfectly normal path on the other. Maybe there's a different boundary like Scylla and Charybdis.]

inside

[muties]

[ Roxy's coming down from the second floor to see what's up on the floors below and if they have any answers. ]

Nooope. That would be useful, wouldn't it? But my sylladex is gone. All I've got is this.

[ It's... a petrified cat, the bigger one. This is what she has. Totally normal, right. ]

[takanome]

[Things Takao has never seen in his life: Literally any type of dead body. (Might as well start with a cat, he will probably think, looking back at this moment, should he hypothetically see a dead body later on in his life.) He startles significantly, laughs in an unnerved way.]

Unless she died choking on a phone, I guess we're SOL?

[muties]

[ Gee, way to make a girl feel weird for collecting dead cats wait that is weird. Shit. ]

Tragically, she didn't. Sorry. [ Pocketing the cat again. ] Aren't there any corded phones-- uh, landlines-- around? This place is pretty outdated.

[ Those are things that used to exist right. ]

[takanome]

You're telling me. [She is not in fact telling him but Takao has no idea she is "from the future".] What kind of hotel doesn't provide free wi-fi?

[THIS ONE. HAHAHA.]

There wasn't one where I woke up, though. So without one in yours it seems pretty unlikely there are any in the bedrooms. Wanna go downstairs and look for an office with an emergency radio or something?

[sisumama]

[What a handsome and strangely dressed little boy! That's the first thing that Sisuca thinks as she watches Takao come forward. She's stepped out of her own room, 108, and though she looks a little tired, Sisuca still puts on a smile for the young man. Alright. She might be worried, but this is no time to panic!]

...A what? Did you ask me...for foam, maybe? I don't have any of that, no.

[What is "phone"? She's sure she doesn't have one.]

[takanome]

[Takao is determined to stay chipper even though the odds seem exceedingly stacked against him - like Dhaos, the woman doesn't seem to have prompt word-recognition for "phone". Okay. Making the "Y" gesture near his mouth and ear still can't work.]

A telephone, ma'am. To communicate with.

[sisumama]

[Hmm. What a curious gesture! Is it similar to a wave? She's not sure, but it's better to be safe and friendly than accidentally rude! Sisuca mimics the "y" hand gesture before putting her hand back down.]

Oh, I'm sorry! I'm afraid I haven't heard of one of those. I'm sure it'd be very...helpful if we had one!

[She assumes it's helpful.]

[takanome]

[He lets his hands fall to his hips and sighs.]

Yeah... guess someone doesn't want us to be helped. [Flat smile is a little too hard with that thought so Takao puts up a focused expression instead.] Seen anyone who isn't in the same boat? "What's this, where am I, how do I get home?"

1st floor

[brawlhalla]

[ He gets a completely baffled look for that question. ]

A what?

[ Considering how she's dressed, her confusion may be understandable. ]

[takanome]

[What kind of European dress-up holiday takes place in the middle of winter, Takao thinks, and his face falls even further at this point when he gets a confused response he jumps straight to the conclusion of outright ignorance.]

A telephone. I'm guessing not, so it doesn't matter. Do you have any idea what's going on...?

[brawlhalla]

...What's a telephone?

[ THAT DIDN'T CLARIFY. ]

As to what's going on, no. I felt sick, then I woke up here...not really a useful transition.

[takanome]

Same here. [So, no useful information. He blows hair out of his eyes. Might as well go back to the telelphone thing then.]

It's this machine for talking to people over long distances.

[clearasmud]

[ He's dressed weird, but if he's a native, then that'd only be fitting - right? Because who else but a native would be pushing a rickshaw around! Youko begins waving frantically as she tries to catch up to Takao.

...It'll take awhile, because she can't move very quickly in her unfamiliar borrowed boots. ]

Hey! Mr Rickshaw Driver!

[takanome]

[He stops and turns his head pretty quickly, though remaining the same significant distance from her and letting her approach. It's actually kind of sad, he thinks, how immediately he knows that Mr. Rickshaw Driver is him. He assumes immediately she's been kidnapped, maybe in the middle of a tea ceremony.]

Yo. You know, I only give rides that don't go into mysterious voids.

[clearasmud]

[ Youko manages to successfully catch up thanks to Takao's courtesy, even as his words lower her spirits. That... probably wasn't something someone who lived here would say, was it?

But gloom won't do anyone any good, so she makes sure to perk up and offer a wry smile. ]

I can't say I blame you - that's a bit above and beyond the call of duty. You can't let demanding customers push you around that far!

But you're not from here either, huh?

[takanome]

It's bad enough that union regulations mean the fare is just beating me at janken.

[He smiles wryly back. There was a time in his life when his "customer's" undefeated janken record seemed like the biggest problem he'd ever had. This first day, outdoors in the snow but after hours of wandering around indoors, that era is just now starting to feel far away. The kidnapping alone is already the scariest thing that has ever happened to Takao - he appreciates, aesthetically, that this woman comes from the same snarky school of thought but is a lot more world-weary and deliberate about coping.]

No, I'm not. [His eyebrows arch in a continued display of sympathy.] It must have been hella uncomfortable coming to, with your obi still all tied up over that bed, huh?