it's getting hot in here

[happyheartsstaff]

SO (PLEASE DON'T) TAKE OFF ALL YOUR CLOTHES

Days are almost meaningless, here in Wonderland. With the eternal twilight outside the windows and many of the hotel's amenities open around the clock, it can be hard to keep track, can't it? But you must sleep, or at least return to your room, some time. It's on one of these times that you may begin to notice a faint sound coming from inside the walls. Or is it the ceiling? The floor? Something that sounds like scratching, or tapping, or the strained whir of machinery. Then it fades away. Whether it's moving on to another room or stopping entirely, it's hard to tell.

After a few nights, or days, of this happening, it suddenly stops. There's a brief period of peace, and perhaps you even get some rest. Then there's a series of thumps, sharp clicks and a loud stuttering sound that signals the hotel's air conditioning unit giving out.

At first it's not so bad. It's dark out, right, how hot can it really be outside? The air itself still seems to be circulating, albeit more slowly, but it's enough that you can breathe. But the heat seems to keep building, and building, the air hanging heavy and thick and leaving a lingering feeling that it's pressing down on you. Even sitting still no longer becomes enough to ease the suffocating heat.

The staff don't know what's happened to the air conditioner, when you ask. "Oh, that finicky thing", they say, as if it's a minor inconvenience. They assure you that the Queen's mechanics will have it fixed in no time — they always do. In the meantime, can they interest you in a refreshing iced tea? Perhaps a dip in the pool?

Is it your imagination, or do a few of the staff seem a little uncertain as they try to brush off your questions? A little less confident than they always have been before? Whatever their demeanor, it seems they still have no answers to give. The astute may notice that after a conversation with one of these staff, they can't seem to be found again.

As if that weren't enough, the scratching in the walls starts up again. With the oppressive heat, the rising tension and frayed nerves, is it any wonder that the staff might seem more apprehensive?

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT 06/11 - 06/13

Sleeping is probably hard enough, in a hotel where the activity never seems to cease. At least it's generally quiet in the upper floors, at least Oysters can turn out the lights in their own room and find some peace.

...usually, anyway.

At first it's only the faintest sounds, something only noticeable to those who sleep lightly. The staff, if asked, don't acknowledge hearing anything and seem politely concerned about anything disturbing the rest of their guests. Oysters may be offered ear plugs, or a device to listen to music, or a trip to the spa for relaxation.

Then it grows in both volume and frequency, disturbing even the heaviest of sleepers at night. Some staff still say they haven't heard anything, other staff acknowledge the sounds but brush them off, unconcerned. Every building has its quirks, after all! There does seem to be an increase in staff milling about, however, making it difficult for those who may want to look into things without being seen.

CLICK CLICK... THUMP

06/14 - 06/21

The fourth day of the event begins with a short period of blissful silence, quickly ruined by a loud, persistent clicking sound, audible in all parts of the hotel... And then an even louder THUMP as the air conditioning unit gives out.

At first, it's not terrible — the air is still circulating, and while the heat is uncomfortable it's not unbearable. As time goes on, though, the heat builds and builds, until not even staying in place will provide any relief.

The staff profess ignorance to whatever happened to the air conditioner, if asked — some more convincingly than others. They all offer iced teas for relief, and suggest a dip in the Pool of Tears, though those who seem uncertain when answering any questions will try to leave the conversation faster, and won't be easily found again.

While the iced teas are incredibly effective at helping to beat the heat, they once again seem to offer some strange effects — enough glasses, and Oysters will be overcome either with anger and irritation, or a sense of serene calm. Any little thing could set off an Oyster who's been affected by the anger-inducing tea; an Oyster who drank the calming tea is utterly unflappable. These effects persist for just as long as it takes for the cooling effects to wear off, at which point Oysters are left with a choice — deal with the heat, or take their chances with another tea?

And to top it all off, the scratching noise in the walls has started up again. The few staff remaining at this point are as unhelpful as ever, but they don't have the same infuriating calm to their answers — but who could blame them being a little nervous?

QUEEN'S ADDRESS

06/21

And finally, the tenth day brings relief in the form of a loud shuddering sound, and then the quiet whoosh of a working air conditioner. Over the course of the day, the Hotel gets progressively cooler, until it is once again at the comfortable, cool temperature Oysters had grown used to in their first month here in the Hotel.

It also brings an address from the Queen.

"Oh, my curious Oysters, when you try to play with that which you don't understand, you break things! Not to fear, all has been set to rights now that our dear Dormouse has fixed what some careless guest disrupted. If you wanted to play games, you should have simply said! I have a dear companion for you who is so eager to join in the fun."

The Queen will not respond to any messages sent back to her.

If you have any questions, please direct them to the OOC post here. RNG results for the off limits areas will be going out tomorrow, so if anyone would still like to sign up for those that hasn't yet please do so tonight!

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© tessisamess

Comments

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ See, now that's just going to make him more determined to keep up the effort at being friends - as long as she doesn't tell him to get lost, anyway, he's gonna keep at it.

His gaze focuses on the glowing vial for a moment, but he waits until he's murmured a thank you and ducked inside the room before pulling a very similar vial out of the pocket of his swim trunks.

She's definitely right, about conversations in the hallways. ]

I got one, too. They leave you some kind of cryptic note about being powerless?

[stargazed]

[Mikumo closes the door behind him before turning back to the inside. The design of her room is somewhat futuristic, with lots of white and lights that are more concealed and built into the ceiling than outstanding bulbs or hanging chandeliers. However, it's also very minimalistic - the only real frivolities visible are a large music player and what looks like a small dance studio at the far end of the room. Other than that, it purely has the necessary furniture to make it feel inhabited, comfortable enough but decidedly on the spartan side.]

They certainly did. I suppose it's nice to have confirmation that the incident last month was a psychological experiment, if they're taking that kind of attitude. [She'd had her suspicions, as much as her fairly small scope of personal experience contributed, but the note had solidified it to her mind that they were meant to feel out of control of the situation.] And now here we are again on the brink of something strange, and I wonder if these are going to as much use as they claim in making us feel less powerless.

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ Normally, he wouldn't pay any attention to the decoration in a hotel room - it's a hotel room, it's not going to say anything about the person who occupied it. But his own room had definitely been personalized, even if it was in a way that he really wasn't a fan of, so it makes him take just a little more notice.

Still, definitely not the reason he's here, and he gives a little nod of agreement at her assessment. ]

It's hard to imagine them doing anything to actually give us a leg up in dealing with whatever they're going to throw at us next, but then again... the last time a tea showed up in my room, it just made me pretty damn happy for a while, and I'd say that made things easier to deal with for a bit.

[ Frustrating after it wore off, sure, but it wasn't actually a bad experience, and the Queen does seem to want their active participation in whatever she's up to. It's not out of the realm of possibility that she might give them some power back as an incentive. ]

I ran into this guy when the hotel was switching all around, I'm pretty sure he was some kind of enforcer for the Queen. I think he ended up pretty irritated with me. You run into anything like that?

[ Because if so - he can't help but be a little paranoid, and think it might be something to keep them on edge after making a nuisance of themselves. But if she didn't, and they both got one, he's going to tentatively come down in favor of it actually being of some help. ]

[stargazed]

[Mikumo gives a slight, reminiscent hum of amusement when he mentions the happy tea, because she did try one of those soon after she arrived, and she can see how it would help in a certain way. Not necessarily with getting to the bottom of any problem, but with being able to handle it.

However, the mention of an enforcer takes her mind off that for the moment, and her brows draw, curious but also as if something she's been concerned about has been confirmed. She didn't particularly push any boundaries last time, just explored, having wanted to get a better read of the place.]

No, but I've been quite careful not to rock the boat so far. I wanted to know what the consequences would be before I made that decision. [She figured someone would - she's been around plenty enough people to know that there's always someone who'll step out of line if they think it's right.] Did he say much to you? Considering how much control the Queen seems to have over this place, I'm not sure I want to know what kind of powers an enforcer would have to punish someone if it went that far, but we're hardly going to stay "docile" for long.

[A somewhat dry stress on that word, since she imagines most of them are just biding their time more than anything. It would be useful to know what might be hanging over their heads if they move a little too boldly.]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

[ There's a little quirk of a wry smile when she comments on them being docile, dipping his head in agreement. He might not want to try anything until he knows more about what's going on here, but he knows damn well he won't be able to do that forever - and he also knows there's gonna be some of them a lot less patient. ]

I didn't get much talking out of him, unfortunately. He wasn't looking for me, he was just irritated that I wouldn't leave the kid he was looking for alone with him.

[ Which, well. Other people being in pretty clear potential danger is exactly one of the reasons that Sam knows he won't be able to avoid starting something long term. He hadn't wanted to escalate things this time, but he'd still gotten a little taste of what might be out there. ]

He's got - I don't know, he can teleport or walk through the walls or something, made him able to be there one minute and then gone the next. Even when I couldn't hear anyone else, I could still hear him. I'm pretty sure he could have taken both of us, if he wanted to, but it sounded like he just wanted to give a warning.

[stargazed]

[Mikumo listens to the description with a slight furrow of concern to her brow, as if trying to work out how to react to someone like that in the moment. It sounds like he would have had the advantage in all ways, and if he's the Queen's enforcer, then no doubt her influence has something to do with that.]

If he's a direct assistant to the Queen, I imagine he can take advantage of her control over the hotel. It may not be an innate power so much as the fact that this building seems to bend to the whims of its controller.

[Which seems to be the Queen, given what they've seen so far. There's little other explanation for the teleportation and shuffling around of rooms that took place last month.] Who was he trying to approach, and did he say why?

[She has a feeling he wouldn't have been that direct, but she still figures it's worth asking. If it was a warning, it implies that person might be in trouble if they bend any more rules.]

[sizeofyourbaggage]

Makes sense, yeah. It'd explain how he could selectively return our hearing and navigate through this place when it was all turned around. So either she's giving him some of her power - or there's a trick to controlling this place, and more than one person can use it.

[ And he's kind of hoping it's the latter - at least then, if they can figure this place out, they might stand a chance at fighting back. Not much he can do about it until they know more, though.

Then he gives a little bit of a grimace at her question. ]

The guy he wanted to get alone isn't here anymore. I saw him after that, so they might not be directly connected, but... [ But it doesn't look all that great, he knows. ]

[stargazed]

[Mikumo's brows arch at the mention of that person not being here anymore, but she supposes they can't judge too hastily when they know so little about how this place operates.] But we can't assume they're not connected this early on either. It's a frustrating situation to be in, to have very little idea of what we're dealing with.

[The enemies in her world generally had some sort of definable target or goal that made their actions predictable in some way. Even when spanners came into the works, there was a general idea of what their aim was. In this case, it's not even really clear why they were brought into the hotel.]

I have a feeling the only way we're going to learn more is by pushing the boundaries, but from what you've said, this enforcer of hers is set against that and definitely won't have trouble dealing with individual dissent. We'd benefit from finding new ways to coordinate.

[In other words, ones that can't easily be tracked or monitored.]