to lose all my senses —

[happyheartsstaff]

THAT IS JUST SO TYPICALLY ME

It's not clear how many days it's been since you arrived in Wonderland. With it stuck in perpetual twilight, it could have been days, perhaps longer — everything starts to blur together, in this artificially joyful place. Maybe you've started to feel like you you're getting used to it, maybe not...

But eventually, something happens to break the monotony. Your ears begin to ring, and ring, and ring and then — stop. The lights become blinding, forcing you to squeeze your eyes shut and try to rub the afterimage of all that light from them — but when you open your eyes, you still can't see.

The staff don't understand when you ask them what's happened to you. "You've always been like this", they insist. They sign at you, or try to hand you papers written in braille — if you insist you've never signed in your life, or that you can't read braille, they laugh at your funny joke. You begin to wonder — have you always been this way? You were so sure... But everyone around you is equally sure of their truth, and their voices are so much louder.

As if that weren't enough, nothing in the hotel can be found in the same place twice. All the shops keep switching places, once you enter one area it's as though everything shifts in the minutes before you leave again. Getting back to your room is a struggle — where are the elevators? Finding food is nearly impossible — the Pig & Pepper was there, but now it's not. The staff are equally useless here — they have no idea what you mean about moving shops. Where would you want to move to when all your needs are accounted for right here?

What is going on?

SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL — 5/11

The day starts like any other has in the Hotel — unsure if a new day has started at all. Perpetual twilight and lack of clocks makes it difficult to tell time here in the Hotel, but on this particular day, something breaks up the monotony. It begins slowly — or else it happens all at once. Over the course of the day, all Oysters find themselves losing a sense. Staff don't understand their complaints — you've always been like this, they say, gentle, as though to a person in the middle of a break with reality.

Losing your temper won't help, either. Oysters who shout and yell will find staff remaining frustrating calm and compassionate, insisting that they cannot fix what has always been and murmuring about Mad March before taking their leave. Physical aggression may result in a spike of fear, but staff will quickly make their exit and may avoid that Oyster for a while.

If that wasn't enough, nothing in the Hotel is staying put.

IT'S LIKE A MAZE IN HERE — 5/11

The interior of the Hotel has ceased to remain stationary. Beginning at the same time as the loss of senses, the establishments of the Hotel begin to jump around, never staying in the same place twice. An Oyster may have entered the Pool of Tears from the lobby, but exit it into the middle of the casino. The Pig & Pepper Buffet is never in the same place twice, and always seems to move right when Oysters desperately need a meal.

Even as the old shops move, new establishments seem to be being added, but they aren't easy to find — Oysters will see a new sign across the building from where they are, only to see it's moved again by the time they get there. If you take your eyes off an establishment as you head toward it, it disappears and reappears elsewhere. Making it to the new establishments will take some time and dedication (or perhaps plain stubbornness), but there are rewards in it for any Oyster that can manage the feat!

Back To Rights — 5/15

A few days after the effects of the event begin, they just as suddenly end. Sight, hearing, speech — they all return in a rush, possibly overwhelmingly so, and when one tries to make their way to a shop, it stays exactly where it was when they first saw it, and they exit the exact same place they entered. Staff will react much the same way as they did when they were questioned after the loss of senses — you've always been like this.

You made it through, Oysters. You've completed your first event in the Hotel.

We hope you enjoy this first event, Oysters! If you have any questions, please leave them on the first comment to this page. Happy playing!

PREMISE RULES FAQ TAKEN RESERVES APPLICATION MOD CONTACT HIATUS & DROPS WORLD INFO NPCS CALENDAR AC REWARDS

© tessisamess

Comments

[scaredofdogs]

"Well in this place you don't have to worry about your power at all, right? So might as well enjoy singing while you can!"

He considers that word. It's one that people around here seem to be putting with him and it does kind of fit. "Yes..I guess in a way I am a necromancer. My ability involves spirits, ghosts, corpses..but I don't really raise them as much as I control the ones that are already around."

It's all good. Sorry I'm a bit slower than usual, as well. Been a rough week.

[spoilers]

"Hi, Richie, nice to meet you." Her tone is friendly, almost cheerful even. "No, it isn't just you."

She shifts with a soft sigh, apparently making herself more comfortable. "I expect whoever is responsible for bringing us here is behind this as well. Though to what purpose, I couldn't say."

A test? An experiment? Good old-fashioned fun?

[stargazed]

"It's difficult when the rest of my group isn't here, but I think they'd want me to try anyway," Mikumo admits, though her voice is more gently amused than anything, the emotion the words imply not quite seeming to carry through. She tends to have a slightly odd way of expressing things, given her short history.

"I suppose people still consider it death magic either way. I can see why people would be opposed to it if you're actually forcing people to live again when they shouldn't be or don't want to, but if it's more a case of moving them to do something and then returning them to rest, that sounds more like people are just being precious about it."

[scaredofdogs]

"Maybe there are others here that would enjoy singing with you." He hasn't ever really tried to sing, but he is musically inclined.

"Well, I've done some bad things with it so I'm not surprised that people don't like it. War is like that though..You always tend to do things you regret."

[stargazed]

"I don't think it would be the same, but then, it can't hurt to try something new," is her answer to that - she doesn't exactly sound reluctant, but it does sound like trying new things is something she doesn't do very often.

She gives a hum of agreement to his remark about war, though. "There doesn't tend to be much of a choice, when it comes down to it. You either do something you'll be thinking about long into the future or stand by and let something just as scarring happen to the people around you."

Her gaze finally catches on something that looks out-of-place. She's not completely sure it's the restaurant, but it looks like one of the businesses and it definitely isn't there normally, so she turns their trajectory a bit down the hall it's lurking at the end of.

[scaredofdogs]

He notices a little hesitation in her step and a slight change in their direction. "Is something wrong?" He doesn't sense or hear anything out of the ordinary but that isn't saying a lot. He has to rely on her if there is some sort of trouble. He doesn't expect any in this place but that doesn't mean it won't happen.

[thotsandprayers]

True. I don't think any of us are familiar enough with our surroundings to navigate blindly. Less so with this going on.

[She can't help but think about what that must be like. Maybe things'll rotate and she'll get to experience it. Or maybe they won't. It's not like she has any idea about these things.]

[stargazed]

"Just noticed something that wasn't there when I came through earlier. I can't tell if it's the restaurant from this distance, though," she says, though she sounds a little thrown off by that second thing. She knew from the moment she arrived her that her senses had been dulled a bit to bring her in line with a normal human, but it's only now she's had to apply those muted senses to anything particularly pressing.

That said, while she managed to catch that short question in her peripherals, she's not sure she'd be able to get anything longer right now. "I might not be able to answer you for a little bit, the last time I tried to catch one of these places it disappeared when I took my eyes off it."

Can't watch a doorway and watch someone's lips at the same time, so she's going to set the latter aside until she's caught the doorway and can tell him what it is.

[stargazed]

Right. I've been trying to get the lay of the place since I got here, but there's a lot inaccessible to us still and even then, I'm not sure I have the rest memorised yet.

[She's usually in and out of places fairly quickly when it comes to covert operations back home, so she doesn't usually need to map out somewhere thoroughly in her mind. The only other place she has that good of a mental map of is the Macross Elysion, and that's because she spends most of her time there back home.

For the moment, she gestures in the opposite direction of where she came from, which would normally be the direction of the casino.] This way, then?

[thotsandprayers]

Seems as good a choice as any. Let's hope things haven't changed too much.

[She'll follow along, also not having really gotten too much lay of the land here. She knows where her room is and the other establishments, but if she'd lost her sight, she doesn't think she'd be able to find her way without help. In Chaldea, it wouldn't be a problem, but here, she's at much more of a disadvantage.]

[stargazed]

[Mikumo looks fairly confident in her current knowledge of the layout, and yet, the corridor that would normally lead from here to the casino seems to go on for an oddly long time. It's about when they've gone the normal length one and a half times over that Mikumo pulls out her Empathy again.]

I'm quite sure this isn't usually so long.

[Almost as soon as she shows that message, they reach a part of the corridor that looks a little bit different.

Actually, it looks an awful lot like the corridors everyone's rooms are in, despite them having walked in the literal opposite direction.]

[scaredofdogs]

Wei Wuxian just nods to show he understands and moves a little closer to her just so if they have to move quickly that he can sense the urgency to do so. He closes his eyes as if that actually will do anything, but it almost makes him feel like he can concentrate better as he listens to her and waits for her to figure out what might be going on.

[thotsandprayers]

[Yeah, no. This definitely isn't right. With a frown on her face, Kiara'll start working on a reply.]

This is the way to our rooms. That's not right.

[stargazed]

Mikumo does start to move a little faster after a moment, but it's only so she's sure she can catch the door before she has to blink. Once she does...

...unfortunately, the sound of water will become audible to her companion at that point, and Mikumo lets out a sigh of discontent.

"The pool. It was worth a shot, I suppose. At least we didn't land in it somehow."

Considering the weird issues that have come up with the pool previously, she'll take that victory.

[stargazed]

[Mikumo has come to the same conclusion quite quickly, and she nods with a bit of a grimace on her face. If things have been turned around to that extent, then it begs a follow-up question.]

Should we keep going this way, or turn back?

[They know it's different now, but it's hard to tell whether going back is going to get them what going back from this location would usually get them, actually get them back to where they came from, or something else entirely.]

[scaredofdogs]

This place really was strange.."The pool shouldn't be before the bar..this place really is just trying to frustrate us."

He usually really likes the pool but he thinks that maybe visiting that when he can't see anything would be a bad combination.

"What should we do?"

[stargazed]

"It's been mixing itself up since this whole sensory strangeness started. I'd be shocked if it wasn't intentional," Mikumo says, sounding a little dour about the whole thing. She initially compared it to an experiment when it started, that sort of thing being her nearest comparison point, but what's gone on since then definitely hasn't done anything to do away with that initial take.

"There's not much of an option but to try other doorways and see where we get. I've found the restaurant to be particularly evasive, but if we've both been looking for it for a while maybe we'll have better luck actually catching it. Odds in our favour, or something along those lines."

[scaredofdogs]

"not going able to actually look makes things a little more difficult.." It's not like they have two sets of eyes keeping close watch on the rooms. He wishes he wasn't so useless in this trial.

"I wish I could help more."

[thotsandprayers]

[Kiara starts to say “I wonder” then stops, remembering it's pointless and typing a quick message instead.]

Let me check something.

[She'll head back down the corridor and take a look around the corner before motioning Mikumo over. Sure enough, instead of the way they came, it appears to the be the entrance to the buffet now.]

I thought it would be different, but I didn't expect this.

[stargazed]

[Mikumo draws back slightly in confusion at the sight - she's certainly seen some unusual things in her life, but this is new. Perhaps someone could make something like this as a trick with holographic technology, but not actually switch out entire rooms at the speed with which it seems to be happening here.]

This place must obey its own set of rules. There's no reasonable explanation for them to be able to change things so quickly. Unless it was some kind of strange take on warp technology.

[She almost writes "fold technology" before remembering that "fold" hasn't seemed to be recognised by anyone else she's talked to here.]

[stargazed]

"That's true, but I have a feeling it's not in their interests to let us outright starve to death," Mikumo guesses, taking a look around the Pool of Tears and what exit options they have. If they were going to let people die this quickly, why even take them in the first place?

"It's no matter, anyway. I suggest we take a few more doors and see how it turns out."

She begins to guide him over towards the other side of the pool, before pausing and instead turning back the way they came. Perhaps the less traditional route might help them more here.

[scaredofdogs]

"I'd say you should leave me somewhere so you could travel faster..but we'd probably never see each other again..uh..feel each other?" Can't see, can't hear..what terminology does one even use? He's only half teasing about getting left behind, not that she can hear any sort of teasing tone.

He continues to follow along, not wanting to say too much so that she can focus on where she wants to go.

[thotsandprayers]

That or some sort of magic.

[That's more or less the same reason she's sticking to vague terms and not saying it could be a reality marble. She hasn't run into anyone familiar with that sort of thing and that's actually fine with her for the time being.]

Though technology might be an easier explanation.

[She doesn't know for sure, but magic and magecraft can be complicated sometimes.]

[stargazed]

[Mikumo hums a bit at that. Magic wasn't nonexistent in her world, but there were often complex technological or biological explanations for things that seemed like magic, so she could see a half-and-half situation too.]

Could be a bit of both. I can't say I've ever seen technology used to do something like this, but I feel like it'd be a niche need.

[As in nobody in any other circumstances would really need to be rearranging rooms randomly like this.] At least we know for sure it's more than one problem now.

[stargazed]

"There's a good chance I wouldn't be able to find my way back, yes," Mikumo remarks. She imagines the other man would find it just about impossible to track her down when he isn't used to having lost his sight, so she feels she doesn't even need to point that out.

They pass through the door, and it leads out to one side of the casino, where there shouldn't even be a doorway normally. There's nothing to turn back to, so Mikumo proceeds to the next door, which spits them out near the end of a corridor that looks somewhat familiar.

Mikumo turns around so they're not facing the hall side, and realises why it looks familiar. "Ah. We might have something, give me a few more seconds."

She's usually more pragmatic about this sort of thing, but honestly, the sensory loss has been jarring enough for her that she doesn't mind taking the extra moment or two to clarify that they're making progress. Her steps down the hall are faster and more determined, like she wants to catch something before it goes away.