And with the sweat of your brow...

[bathymetric]

Fun Fact: Did you know that if the multiverse is real, there could be an almost infinite square mileage of completely unexplored ocean out there?

No reason.

...

You wake in one of 25 rooms with a sense of unease that doesn't quite track with how nice the accommodations are. Maybe it has something to do with the giant window leading out to the sea. The temperature is low, which might make you wish you had woken up under the luxurious covers instead of atop them. The lights, too, are low. But next to your bed is a small personal radio, and it's playing a song for you. There's also a small note printed on folded cardstock next to it.

Dear Prospective Citizen,

Welcome to the Helios Suites at New Rapture. The time should currently be 12:00 PM. Please take a moment to get your bearings and become acquainted with your new environment, then meet in the hotel lobby at 1:30 PM sharp for an orientation with Mayor Fontaine.

With only that for guidance, there's only the one thing to do: get out there and start exploring... well, it's hardly a full city, but it's something! And in the halls (or on the wall of your suite or the lobby), you very well may find up to 24 other captives.

What you do until your meeting with Mayor Fontaine, well... that's up to you. Every room certainly gives you something to talk about.

Comments

[fuckingguy]

[ Low or not, the lights are the very first thing a vampire awakening from unexpected slumber is bound to notice. He hisses like someone's just dropped butter in a hot skillet, sits up in an unfamiliar bed, and throws his arms out like Nosferatu before literally anything else registers. Once it does, he's even more confused, and far angrier. He touches his face, he stares at the window, and he attempts to process the fact that he isn't burning to death where he sits.

About five minutes later, the door to room B gets slammed open and a very tired-looking, very irritable, very pale (considering the not being white and all) man storms into Suite 1 like a fur-trimmed hurricane. It kind of sounds like he's already been yelling at someone and has simply decided to take it outside of his own room? ]

Enough of this shit! Guillermo! Stop goofing around and come out of the vents so I can yell at you.

[ Are there even vents here? Irrelevant! He glares up at the ceiling and around the room as if expecting someone to pop out. ]

Did Nadja put you up to this?! If this is some kind of fucking surprise party...

[ Is it perhaps one of those escape rooms Colin Robinson has occasionally mentioned? He wouldn't know if it was, since of course anything Colin Robinson says is designed to bore the listener to stupefaction, and also he wasn't listening. Still, this is definitely a room, and he definitely wants to escape it, all the better to go home, sit in an empty room, and stare at the walls for the rest of eternity. Anyone else in the living area doesn't even register at first. He's just here, yelling!

And after whatever godforsaken nightmare happens in the disaster suite, he does venture outside! The man is a lot less shouty, but he still seems on edge. His mind, such as it is, is racing, and nothing going through it right now is good. For some internal Nandor reason, he looks almost surprised to run across other people? But after looking perturbed and, like, mentally buffering for a few seconds, he gives an awkward little wave at whoever's in front of him. He might as well ask... ]

Hi. [ When he speaks, anyone with basic observation skills can notice fangs winking in and out of sight. ] Am I speaking to Jan?

[ Eventually, he gets to the ground floor! He walks purposefully into the restaurant and the gym, then just as purposefully out, but doesn't leave the lobby of Helios Suites in the same way. Instead, he stands around, transfixed by all the profiles on display. He gravitates to his own first, because duh, and if you're close enough you can hear him reading aloud under his breath. ]

Title -- that's not very nice. Age: seven hundred and fifty nine...

[ ruh-roh ]

Ah, shit.

[ Also, he has no reflection in any mirrors that may or may not be around. That's happening. ]

profiles

[capreelcious]

[ The eel's eyes follow Nandor's to his profile, and after a moment, he lets out a raspy laugh. ]

Hahaha, wow, you're old!

[ FLOYD??? ]

[fuckingguy]

[ He startles a bit, then looks mad about having been startled! He should be able to smell these people coming! He should be able to hear them from a football field's length away! What's the point of being mired in eternal malaise despite your indescribable power without the actual powers?! ]

Okay, obviously I am not actually that old, someone is bullshitting you.

[capreelcious]

[ Floyd snickers, his own sharp grin widening as Nandor denies his age. ]

Uh-huh, suuure~. Don't worry about it- I'm pretty sure I've met people older than you.

[ Lilia never lets anyone in on his actual age, but he definitely talks as if he's been around for hundreds of years. ]

Profiles

[pairtner]

Would you say such an age is accurate?

[Ah, a voice behind Nandor! When he turns around, there's Aiba's human form, some distance away from him. She has covertly been observing him for a while, her tangible, real form small enough to follow others undetected. The lack of reflection has been noteworthy. Intrigued, she couldn't stop herself from talking to him]

[fuckingguy]

[ This is yet another presence he doesn't see coming! But he can't get indignant about it, because now he has to do the exact thing he just cursed over: make a believable human excuse. ]

Nnnnnno. [ fuckin nailed it ] No, this is a complete fabrication. There should be no seven here.

[ Nandor has forgotten what a 59 year old looks like. ]

[pairtner]

[Hah, Aiba's projection doesn't have a reflection either. Who knows if there's a mirror in this area, but if there's one, her lack of reflection happens too.

Later she will sympathize with Nandor, because she has to pretend to be human, and she's terrible at it too]

I assume the number about your descendants also had five zeroes mistakenly added to it, too.

profile

[giddyundertaker]

[ The age thing gets this fellow to chuckle. ]

Not too good with hiding yer age, are we?

[ Just Nandor's luck, the man happens to be standing real close to his own profile. He's off to one side now, so you could clearly see his age is simply listed as "Old" or something if you look. There isn't even a real name here, just "The Undertaker." ]

[fuckingguy]

Shh!

[ This, Nandor decides with no real basis but vibes, is definitely a vampire. As such, he's the first one who doesn't get an outright denial! ]

No, I'm fine at concealing my age when it's not up on every fucking wall. Does it not bother you that our dark secrets are just being plastered all over the place for anyone to see?!

[giddyundertaker]

[ Hm... Pale skin, long nails, really creepy? This guy sure does pass for a vampire doesn't he?

He's not gonna correct him, though. ]

It does, but it seems some of us might have been luckier than others in that regard.

[ Easy for him to say! ]

Either way, if they're able to put this much out there, it means they've done quite a bit of research on us. How do you suppose they got all that information on you there?

outside but before the lobby

[withagun]

N- no. You're speaking to Hodaka.

[ Says the awkward kid that appears to be more wet fabric than boy who Nandor's come face to face with. ]

Uh- s- sir!

[fuckingguy]

Oh. [ He has... absolutely nowhere to go conversationally from here, does he... ] Well, that is alright, then.

[ ... ]

Um, have you perhaps seen a Jan?

[withagun]

[ It's okay. Hodaka doesn't know either. ]

Nnno. [ Shakes his head. ] I mean. Who's Jan?

profiles

[specialyellthing]

They did ya dirty too, eh big guy? [Zinda's peering at her profile too--]

Think it'll be any easier to get a senior discount around here?

[fuckingguy]

[ He squints at Zinda's profile for a second before responding. Solidarity (also her being pretty) keep him from lying his ass off at this particular moment! ]

It appears so. [ But, like, she's clearly not deathly pale and befanged, so what's the deal there? Is she a witch or something? And oh yeah, she said something else-- ] ... Wait, can you actually do that?

[ why the FUCK has Guillermo not signed him up for this ]

[specialyellthing]

Hell yeah! Though I have the darndest time usin' it, no one ever believes my ID. Had to get myself a fake and everything. And the fake doesn't get me any discounts.

Might go over better with a disguise.

Suite 1

[visiblepattern]

[Oh, goodness, that sure is yelling coming from outside -

Forrest stops whatever messing about he was doing in his room (trying to unflatten his hair, honestly, his curls aren't meant to be slept on...) and comes outside to see. This. All of this? This is so fucking much, oh my god.

So he just kind of witnesses whatever is happening for a moment, hesitates just briefly, before raising his voice well out of the usual soft-and-delicate range he tries to maintain. Like, well out of. We're both yelling now.]

Ah... Who is Guillermo?!

[fuckingguy]

[ LOUD NOISES ]

A really shit excuse for a bodyguard, apparently!

[ But being yelled at does, in fact, get him to pay attention to the fact that other people exist in this room, so maybe that's a start. He blinks more than a little owlishly, registering the face and the fact that he has absolutely no idea who this is. ]

Where did you come from?

[ probably one of the four other fucking doors, Nandor ]

[visiblepattern]

[HONESTLY HE WAS WILLING TO BUY THAT WE'RE JUST GOING TO SCREAM NOW this volume is much preferred]

...That room right there.

[gestures!]

Unless you're asking how I got here, just in general, in which case I don't know. I'm not supposed to be here and would quite like to return home, however, so if your bodyguard knows how to do that that would be nice.

suite 1

[howveryglib]

[...Gaius does tense up a bit because he feels like he was not quite as aware of someone barging out of their door as he should have been, but.

...

he's probably fine he's still armored up he can deal with whatever the fuck this is.]

...

Just... how often does this sort of thing happen to you, precisely...

[fuckingguy]

[ That is One Tall Guy in some very cool armor! And while that's, like, not necessarily super intimidating (because it's going to take Nandor bare minimum 48 hours to realize all his powers are gone), it does mean he has to kind of, sort of reevaluate the situation. If this were a surprise party, wouldn't there be people here he recognized? And wouldn't the vents have to be a bit bigger for Guillermo to be crawling around in them? ]

... It depends on the sort of thing.

[howveryglib]

...I am primarily concerned with the thing involving waking up in an unfamiliar room malms under the sea.

[it is perhaps a bit deadpan.]

Suite 1

[hotpaprika]

[Jonathan lets out a cry of horror when he witnesses Nandor, a man who looks strikingly similar to his captor, yelling, and slams his door. He immediately regrets this choice because this certainly drew attention to him but what can he do but wait and hope he ignores him?]

[fuckingguy]

[ That is definitely not the scream of anyone he recognizes, but it is a sign that someone might have answers to whatever generalized grievances he's been yelling about! Or, you know, that someone just doesn't want to deal with his shit. Either way, there's no earthly chance that this is going to pass unremarked on. ]

Hey hey hey hey hey! What do you think you're doing?

[ Or... un-Nandor-just-running-over-to-the-door-and-hammering-on-it on... ]

Is this a fucking escape room?! Reveal your secrets to me!

[hotpaprika]

[Jonathan is quietly begging for anyone to save him from this stranger's wrath, and is absolutely certain that he wants him dead.]

I don't have any! Please don't hurt me, I am completely defenseless!

[He's quietly kicking himself for saying that. Surely, this man will take this as encouragement to harm him since he knwos he can't fight back.]