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

[stargazed]

Mikumo gives a slight, amused but noncommittal hum at the mention of needing hearing to find her pitch, because being literally engineered to sing meant she was pretty good at nailing that from other details - the feeling in her chest and throat, how familiar it was to other times she'd sung something. It didn't make the experience any more pleasant regardless, because that engineering also meant she's not that used to parts of her randomly deciding to stop functioning.

The snake eyes are a bit more of a giveaway, and Mikumo tilts her head with a curious sort of smile. "I'll admit I'm not as familiar with my world's lore as I could be, but the only thing I can think of with black wings and eyes like that would be a demon. If you hadn't made the comparison against mortals, I might've thought you were just a particularly interesting Protoculture descendant."

There's some weird humanoid species where Mikumo comes from.

[inlovewithmycar]

"Got it in one. I'd offer you a prize like, dunno, gift certificate or something, but that sort of think doesn't really matter here."

Crowley massages his thumbs over his temples again, the ache and drowsiness leaving his thoughts cloudy and puzzled.

"Never heard of a Protoculture wotsit. What does that mean exactly?"

[stargazed]

Mikumo gives a slight laugh at the gift card remark, but it's a bit dry, as if to say that he's probably right about that part. She imagines if she wanted one, they could find a way to conjure something like it up at the casino.

As for his question, Mikumo leans against the chair across from him, one hand against her chin, considering her explanation. She's not particularly used to being the one having to explain this sort of thing to people. "The universe I come from has a lot of humanoid species spread across the galaxy. Humans are obviously one, but there are others on other planets that share the same form but have adapted in their own ways to their planets. All of those species are descended from an ancient progenitor culture we call the Protoculture, who spread their creations far across space after the first species they created rebelled. But that first creation still ultimately ended up wiping them out several hundred thousand years ago."

[inlovewithmycar]

"Right. Aliens. 'Course she couldn't resist making them 'in Her image'. Big sky, full of viable planets and humans itching to go exploring. And then She's got the nerve to get on humans for vanity and conceit. Blimey."

Crowley takes a deep breath.

"Sorry, bit of a rant there. It's been - well, it's sure been a week, that's for sure. You want one of these?"

He holds up his steaming mug of hot water, honey, and lemon.

"Helps with the headache."

[stargazed]

"It was a few more people than just one 'she' in my universe, but yes, they do seem to have been quite conceited," Mikumo admits, with an enigmatic smile. Being that she's a clone of a Protoculture priestess, she's literally the closest thing to them remaining in her universe. She's aware of the concept of a singular God, she was just never very attached to it considering her origins.

Taking the offer of a drink as a sign that her presence isn't unwanted, Mikumo finally sits down across from him.

"The worst that can happen is it doesn't work, so I'll try it out. I've seen people I work with drink that same sort of thing when they were sick, though I can't say I've ever had it myself."

Considering she's never been sick. Engineered humanity has its perks, though she wishes she could say this was the worst headache she's ever had. It's bad, but she's had some very bad experiences on that front.

[inlovewithmycar]

"Never actually been sick," Crowley says. "Hungover though? Plenty of times."

He orders up another steaming mug of the stuff once the waitstaff passes them, and then turns his attention back to the young lady.

"So how far have the humans made it in your universe? M'guessing if there's aliens, they've gone beyond their solar system at least. Unless there was something actually fishy going on with Mars and Europa...?"

[stargazed]

"I've never been either, so you've got one more experience than me there," Mikumo says, tone tinged faintly with amusement. While the staff prepare her drink, she sits with her fingers laced together, looking in control but not quite comfortable, exactly, despite her smile.

The comment about Mars and Europa gets a laugh out of her, and she shakes her head. "Not as far as I've heard. But we've gone far enough that I've never travelled to Earth myself, even with fold technology to cross huge distances of space in a short time. After an incident in the early 2000s, most of the remaining human population left Earth on colony ships to find new places to settle, so there's a lot of groups and not all of the colonies have much contact. But I believe the closest colony to Earth itself that I've heard of is Eden, which is ten lightyears out of Earth's solar system. And that was established a little over fifty years ago, barely after the colonies left Earth."

[inlovewithmycar]

"Then speaking from experience, being drunk is brilliant, being hungover is terrible. Don't recommend the latter at all."

He grins broadly in a way that might be considered rather devious. Though with how exhausted he looks, his hearts probably not in it.

"That being said, if you know someone who is hungover, it's always a laugh to try new hangover cures on them."

There is a certain sense of professional pride Crowley gets from hearing that the humans he got kicked out of the original Eden had fucked off into the stars he'd helped build and made their own. His dour mood has certainly lifted somewhat.

"So this fold technology - does it link what amounts to two black holes together to get from place to place?"

[stargazed]

"I'm sure some of the soldiers I knew back home would be interested to know how you get drunk without getting hungover afterwards," Mikumo notes, a smile playing around her mouth. Drinking to forget one's problems is something she's plenty familiar with even if she's never done it herself, but that means she's familiar with the ramifications too.

As for the question of fold technology, Mikumo rests a hand under her chin thoughtfully. "I usually see it framed as more of a compression of the space between two points to pierce through minimal distance, but I'm not a scientist, so it could just as likely be more like what you're talking about. There used to be significant time delays - you couldn't fold somewhere to send backup because you'd likely turn up there a few days or a week later from the perspective of whoever you were trying to help - but ways to fix that were in development for some time, so now it's less of an issue. It still uses an incredible amount of power, though, so smaller vessels can fold multiple times easily enough, but a colony-sized one needs to space it out a little more."

As she's trying to explain, one of the waitstaff drops back through to set her drink on the table in front of her, and she initially just warms her hands on the cup for a few moments.