leave her behind with the kids —

[happyheartsstaff]

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

Does anything in this hotel ever stay put? Those who go looking for the gym, the hotel spa, or the nightclub are out of luck one day, as they're simply no longer there. The hallways themselves go topsy-turvy, only staying put when one looks directly at them. For those who've been here long enough to have seen the last time the hotel shifted like this and remember how unhelpful the hotel staff were — it seems little there has changed. The only difference is the manner in which they are useless. They will acknowledge the shifting hallways, of course, and even provide direction back to the lobby, but profess they are much too busy to provide an escort.

Eventually, the hallways settle. Gone are The Caucus-Race, the Pearls Within, and the Rabbit Hole in favor of new amenities. Where once there was a gym, there's now an indoor playground. The nightclub has been replaced with an arcade, and the spa is now a massive movie theater. Were there always quite so many kids items on the restaurant menus? When did This Elegant Thimble get such a large children's section?

If asked, the hotel staff will shrug. Some will insist things have been this way for as long as they've been working there. Others will state that, like their wonderful Queen, the hotel will always know what's needed for any occasion and make suitable preparations.

ARCADE

9/11 - 9/23

The arcade, if possible, seems even larger than the nightclub that once stood in its place. There are rows of pinball, action games, shooting games, driving games. An entire room of air hockey, and another of dancing games. Clusters of skee-ball, whack-a-mole, and claw machines. The floors seem to be eternally sticky with spilled soda, and the smell of pizza and sugar permeates the air. No matter how many patrons are within sight, the sound of laughter and excited shrieking somehow seems to echo throughout the arcade.

Token dispensers are scattered amongst the games. Hotel staff will be stationed at the snack bar and the prize counter, ready to hand out tokens or trade tickets won from the games for small prizes.

Occasionally, one of the games will spark and short out. If asked, hotel staff will say it's out of order and put up a sign proclaiming it so. They don't seem all that concerned about fixing it. Soon enough, it will seem to fix itself and switch back on. It will still spark every so often, and something about the music will seem off. Anyone who decides to play one of these games anyway will find themselves feeling slightly dizzy. Is the arcade spinning around them, or is that just them?

When the spinning stops, they will no longer be where they were before. They will find themselves in the middle of the game they had previously been playing, regardless of what it was. Welcome to the other side of the arcade — where the game play is more realistic than ever! Hopefully they had a partner brought in with them, or someone else comes along to try to play who can help them win the game to get back out.

MOVIE NIGHT

9/11 - 9/23

The entrance to the movie theater is lined with concession stands. Snacks and drinks of every kind can be picked up here before going into one of the theater's two auditoriums. Films will be playing round the clock in both, a different one on each screen. Oysters may find the same movies they would have seen on their own world, movies one might find on modern day Earth, or even movies about old folktales or traditional stories that might have been told where they were from. The only thing that will not be showing is any version of Alice in Wonderland, or any story set in Wonderland itself.

At times, particular showings may be billed as interactive. These will be of all genres: musicals, adventures, mysteries, romance, comedies, even horror. Oysters who attend these will be encouraged to dress up, and will even be shown to a dressing room with a selection of suitable clothes. It will only be after they've been seated and the film starts that what is meant by interactive will become clear.

The musicals will have sing alongs, with people from the audience being pulled up to participate in the dance numbers. The adventures and mysteries will have characters on the screen turn to the audience as though they are part of the story, inviting them along in the investigation or interrogating them as a suspect. Protagonists and antagonists alike will walk off the screen of horror movies, seeking help from or looking to torment the audience until their story is completed and they are sent back to their film world. Comedies and romances will find those in the audience being pulled up to act out parts of the story — and may find themselves transported into the setting until they do.

DAYCARE AND PLAYGROUND

9/11 - 9/23

The front of the daycare is small, with a place to check in and drop off or pick up kids. This is the only area that Oysters who are not either helping out at the daycare or being dropped off themselves will be able to easily access. Behind this are sectioned off areas for quieter activities, with materials such as books, art supplies, toys, etc. There's a small kitchen that will be off limits to the kids, and an area for snack time and nap time. Hotel staff are very present and interactive in these areas — reading to children, making crafts with them, telling stories, fixing snacks. Some will be taking a quiet break for themselves in the kitchen, and may be willing to talk to Oysters helping out at the daycare.

The back of the daycare is an expansive indoor playground. Here, the children are mostly left to their own devices. There are some hotel staff out there to keep an eye on the children as they play, but they tend to cluster together for conversation. Oysters helping out at the daycare will be somewhat warily included in this if they approach. These hotel staff will mostly be dismissive of any children coming to them unless they are injured or crying. There are multiple parts of the playground that can be used to sneak in and out to the hotel area at large, if one is looking carefully! Any children who are not supposed to be there have a low risk of being caught unless they draw attention to themselves or try to enter the other area of the daycare.

The other children in the daycare fall mostly between the ages of 6-11, with three or four outliers who appear to be toddlers or in the 12-13 age range. Astute Oysters likely to observe the behavior of the children will notice that there are clear social groups among them, as though they have known each other long enough to have friends they're accustomed to playing with. There are some who seem friendly and popular, some who seem to keep to themselves, some who seem to have good relationships with the hotel staff and others who seem determined to cause trouble, those who are bullies and those who are picked on. Their willingness to play with or answer questions from Oyster children or adults is equally as varied.

There will be a posted list of Oysters banned from helping out at the daycare. It will not be easily seen from the front of the daycare, but hotel staff will identify who is on it if asked. It will include the below names:

• Lan Wangji (novel)
• Wu Xie
• Wei Wuxian (novel)
• Crowley
• Commander Shepard
• Matthew Murdock
• Lan Wangji (TV)
• Sam Wilson

Characters on this list who have been de-aged will also find that hotel staff are reluctant to accept them into the daycare. They will be allowed only if someone not on the list vouches for them, and otherwise will have to sneak in through the playground.

If you have any questions, please leave them over here! For those interested in asking questions or interacting with the daycare staff, please reply to the first comment on this page, and the second comment for the other children!

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

© tessisamess

Comments

Itty Bitty

[shootthesun]

If there's one sound that Nie Ju's gotten really used to, it's the sound of crying. As soon as he hears those tears, he goes from walking to running down the hall. Maybe that's -

"A-Sang?"

But when he goes to an open room, it's not his little brother he sees, but a different boy, just as small, and crying as hard as that tiny body can manage. He scurries right over, and crouches down next to him.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, don't worry! Let me see what happened," he says briskly. Huaisang always bawled and bawled for ages if anyone showed him too much sympathy, and so his a-die was always saying he had to be calm when a baby was crying.

[scaredofdogs]

Wei Wuxian looks up when he hears someone approach and pushes himself up so he is sitting on his butt. With a lot of sniffling and tears still streaming down his face he points to his scuffed knees. It's just the tip of the problems he has had since waking up this morning and it is all just too overwhelming for him to handle.

His lower lip quivers as if he is going to start bawling again but is fighting it will all the effort his little body can put out.

[shootthesun]

The kid is crying a lot, and there don't seem to be any parents in sight. That's no good - someone ought to be responsible for a kid so small, and it looks like it's up to him!

Starting with those scraped little knees. It's nothing too bad, but it has to sting for such a little guy. He crouches down right beside him, looking closely.

"You scraped your knees up? Okay, let's take care of that then, okay? How about I pick you up, and we go clean your knees all up? I bet somebody's got to have bandages."

And then, oh, right.

"Do you know where your parents are? A-die and a-niang?"

[scaredofdogs]

At the mention of parents he bursts into tears again and shakes his head. He doesn't know where his parents are and that is really scary. But he holds out his arms to the one who promises to fix his knees. He doesn't seem to be too scary and maybe he can help find his parents.

Snot starts to flow down his face along with the tears, unable to stop either one now that he has been reminded that he has been left all alone.

[shootthesun]

That was not supposed to make him start crying even more! Nie Mingjue can feel his calm starting to fracture, but he firms up, pretending this unknown little one is just Huaisang, and reminding himself that he knows how to be a good big brother.

The first thing he does is answer those beckoning arms by scooping him up and settling him on his hip, careful not to bump those scraped knees.

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out okay? But first, we'll go get you all fixed up."

[scaredofdogs]

He clings to the older brother and buries his face against him as he tries to make his tears stop. But everything is just so painful right now and he doesn't know what to do other then cry. It's been such a bad day and he has only been awake for a few minutes!

He wants his parents and he just hopes they didn't abandon him but he needs to be brave so that he can find them. His little shoulders tremble still but he appears to be regaining some of his composure in those arms.

[shootthesun]

Nie Ju pats the little boy's back gently, bouncing him lightly the way he would his own little brother, hoping to calm him down enough that he stops crying, at least.

"Hey, don't worry okay? I'll take care of you until we find a grown up you know. I can't find my parents either."

[scaredofdogs]

He lifts his head up and looks at the older brother who is apparently also missing loved ones. Maybe all their parents are together somewhere. At least the crying has stopped. "Lost.." Either they are lost or their parents are. They clearly need to find all the lost people.

[shootthesun]

"Yeah, we're a little lost, but we're going to be okay. We'll go back to the room I was in, we'll get your knees all fixed, and then we'll find our parents and go home."

He nods confidently at this strategy, utterly sure it will work. The walls are pretty identical in this place, but he's been carefully keeping track of all the turns he took, so he knows how to get back to where he was.

[scaredofdogs]

He nods his head, agreeing to this plan and believing that it will go exactly as he says. He doesn't know why his parents left him alone in that room but he wants to believe that they will find them since this older brother says that they will.

He holds on tightly so that he knows he won't fall, watching the halls as they travel through them. Even if he is scared about being alone, he is curious about this place he has woken up in.

[shootthesun]

The room they go back to is the one he woke up in, stylized like one of the standalone rooms in the Unclean Realm, all dark wood and white walls, with plenty of paper windows to let in the light. There's a bed at one end of the room, the far end, under a paper-screen window. It lets in plenty of light, filling the rest of the space. The wood of the floors is dark, and the walls white, but paper windows make up most of the wall-space - the room is flooded with light, the ceilings high above, also dark wood.

There's other furniture besides the bed - a heavy wooden table with incense and paper and a thick rug under it, a privacy screen and large tub for bathing, a chest for clothes -

and a little chest, with some medical supplies.

Nie Ju walks over to the bed, and sets the little boy down.

"Let's see what I can do to fix your knees up, okay?"

[scaredofdogs]

He nods as he looks up at the older brother. He is going to be happy to have his knees fixed up. They don't hurt as bad as when it first happened but they are still very scraped up. He has since been distracted from them with everything else to be worried about.

As he sits on the bed, he looks around the room. It's a lot different from the one he woke up in.

[shootthesun]

The little chest is carried to the bed as well as a little bowl of water - inside the chest are rolls of bandages and other supplies, and he pulls one out. It can't be that hard to deal with scraped knees, right?

"Did you just wake up in there?" He asks the little kid, mostly as a distraction from the scrap of bandage he's wetting to touch up his knees.

[scaredofdogs]

He nods, watching what he is doing. "Woke up..not my room." He doesn't know whose room it was but he didn't look like this bedroom at home. It looked nicer..more like the Lotus Pier that he has visited before. But he didn't remember a donkey at Lotus Pier.

Which reminds him.."Donkey in room." Because that was important. Donkey's shouldn't be living in an inn.

[shootthesun]

"Yeah, I woke up in here, but this isn't my room either. It looks a lot like home, but it's not -

"Did you say there's a donkey in the room you were in?" How did a donkey get in there? And also, while he's distract - he gently presses the wet scrap of bandage to his scraped knees, cleaning them.

[scaredofdogs]

Wei Wuxian makes a soft sound when that bandage gets pressed against the would but he tries very hard to be brave. His lower lip quivers a little but he has to try and ignore it.

"Donkey behind door. Couldn't reach." He did try to pet the donkey but the door was just too tall and his little fingers couldn't reach.

[shootthesun]

"It's almost over," he promises, noticing that wobbling lip. "I just have to clean these and put some bandages on, and then... I guess we'll figure out what to do about the donkey too?"

On the one hand, releasing a donkey in an inn was unspeakably rude. On the other hand, these people kidnapped them, so -

He puts the scrap of bandage aside, examining those little knees carefully.

"Okay, I can bandage you up now. Tell me if it hurts?" And he starts doing just that.

[scaredofdogs]

He sits very still while his knees get bandaged up. He knows that this older brother will definitely be able to reach the door that the donkey is behind.

"No pain.." There is pain but he is being the bravest little soul he can be and pretending that there isn't.

[shootthesun]

"You sure? It's okay to say if it hurts - it can be even worse when it doesn't hurt." When wounds didn't hurt, that was when things were really bad, that was what his shixiongs said. Being hurt wasn't any fun, but it would heal. If you couldn't even hurt anymore...

But he doesn't want to scare this little kid, so he's not going to say all that, especially since it's just scraped knees. He's just going to tie those bandages up, a little clumsily because he hasn't done this too often, and then sits back.

"We're done!"

[scaredofdogs]

Wei Wuxian looks down at this knees and there is a small smile that is trying to form but it is like he keeps trying to push it away. His knees look funny but he doesn't want to laugh because big brother was so nice to fix them.

"All better."

[shootthesun]

"Your scrapes should be all better soon, so we can take them off later, but just so they don't get any dirt or anything, we'll leave it, okay?"

Usually his a-niang told him when it was time to take his bandages off, or they just came off while he wasn't paying attention. Hopefully it will be fine to take them off by tonight - hopefully they'll be home or with their parents, by tonight.

"Do you want to go see about that donkey now?"

[scaredofdogs]

He nods and holds out his arms so that he can be picked up again. He wants to make sure the donkey is okay even if he doesn't know who it belongs to or why it is inside.

[shootthesun]

He's scooped up easily once more, settled on his hip. Really, he has no idea what they're going to do with a donkey, but the chaos alone should make someone come to give them answers.

"Let's go. You point the way, okay?"

And out of the room - his room - they go, back into the endless halls.

[scaredofdogs]

He holds on and looks around at all the rooms. They all look the same so he can't remember which one he came out of. But as they get close there is a keycard on the floor that had fallen out of his robes when he stumbled out of the room.

He spots it and points as they get close, "What that?"

[shootthesun]

"What's - " but he spots it before he can finish the question, the shiny material on the floor. "Oh! It must be the key. I had to use one to get us in the room I was in - here, I've gotta put you down to pick it up, and we'll see if it works okay?"

Which is why the little one is carefully placed down on the ground, so the card can be picked up, and swiped.