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

Earlier

[kninja]

Bwah--!

[Obi is not used to being the one startled like this. He is the one who suddenly appears from a strange direction, not the other way around.]

--Where'd you come from?!

[pairtner]

I walked, of course.

[This lie is not going to work after a few hours of she being around, haha. As if to prove it, Aiba walks in front of him. Her steps make absolutely no sound at all]

See?

[kninja]

[Listen. He's a ninja. He knows that ain't right.]

...

[But it also isn't important right now.]

Fine, sure. Whatever you say. What was it you were asking about? A foam?

[pairtner]

A telephone. A mobile phone would be acceptable too. Anything as long as it could allow me to contact another location.

[kninja]

Uh-huh.





I don't know what that is.

[pairtner]

You don't?

[Half of Aiba's job is to explain stuff to her partner, but usually it's esoteric concepts or things he wouldn't understand too well from looking at it. To have to explain a basic concept such as a phone...it's something she never expected!

Or maybe she can indicate it some other way? Hmmmm...]

How about...something you would use to communicate with someone a long distance away? Does that definition help?

[kninja]

...I hear there are trained birds we could use to pass notes faster than couriers on horse, but I have a feeling they couldn't get to us at the bottom of the ocean. Well, not that a horseman could, either.

[Ganbatte, Aiba.]

[pairtner]

This is not how I predicted this conversation would go.

[Welp, time to try]

A 'phone' is a device that allows you to communicate with a location far away from where you are. By picking the device up and...writing the number assigned to who you want to contact, you can talk to them in real time.

[At times like these she also would be showing an image to aid her explanation, but she's hesitating to do that]

[kninja]

...Ah, like the... There was something playing music next to the bed where I woke up. Is that what you mean?

[They are both trying so hard.]

[pairtner]

That's not exactly right! Those are radios. The one you saw is only one-way!

[But hey, it's...not completely wrong! Aiba seems surprised about the response, and a bit relieved.

But it's still not a phone, haha]

[kninja]

No good, huh? Sorry, but I don't think I've seen anything else like that so far. There were other devices I didn't recognize in the dorms' outer room and kitchen, but no voices coming out of those.

[pairtner]

I...see...

[...alright, she has taken a decision. Doing this may call undue attention at herself -- as if literally everything about her wasn't eye-catching already, hah -- but she decides doing this is necessary for the sake of escaping this place.

To the side of Aiba, the image of a smartphone appears, overlaid on a solid color background]

It most likely will look like this. Please stay attentive for any devices that resemble this object.

[The image stays visible for as long as she thinks it will take for Obi to memorize how a mobile phone looks like, before disappearing into thin air, erased away]

[kninja]

Wha--how'd you do that?!

[Obi leans one way and then the other, raising and lowering his head to see if he can catch some sort of trick of mirrors and light she might have used.]

You just made it appear, and... you're doing the same thing with your body, right? That's why I can't hear or sense you move, you're some kind of illusion, too!

[pairtner]

[This really was a mistake, she thinks. She had gambled on Obi's ignorance of technology meaning he wouldn't figure anything out, but she had underestimated how much a person can just...connect the dots and realize what's up with her.

Denying what's plainly obvious would be futile, wouldn't it? The course of action she sees...]

I would rather you don't call attention to that.

[...is to pretty much admit it and request him to not tell anyone -- as if others wouldn't figure it out too eventually, haha]

[kninja]

I mean... fine. But where are you if you aren't there?

[Is it rude if he tries to wave his hand through her "body"? Oops, he's doing it.]

[pairtner]

[His hand touches absolutely nothing! The image doesn't even warp, and indeed, all there is, is air. At least she doesn't seem to take offense to that]

My physical being is in this room right now, hiding. Talking to anybody directly could turn out very dangerous for me, which is why I'm projecting this form into your eyes.

[kninja]

[Of course, when told she's here in the room (the call is coming from inside the house), Obi looks around to see if he can spot her. As honed as his skills are, though, he doesn't know to be looking for something less than three inches tall. He gives up and meets her avatar's holographic gaze again for something to focus on while they talk.]

Fair 'nuff. So you want me to look for something like that... weird tablet you showed me, right? You'll use it to talk to someone who can help us?

[See, he's following the narrative!]

[pairtner]

Correct. I work with people who would make finding me and helping us all a priority. If I can get in touch with them, our odds of survival increase.

[Or that's how it would be if they were in her world, haha. Alas, she'll figure out later she's worlds away from them all, all by her lonesome]

[kninja]

[He nods. That makes perfect sense to him, after all; he knows about people with priorities.]

No prob. I'll keep an eye out, then. Anything else I can help with, O Hidden One?

[pairtner]

O Hidden One...? [Aiba blinks] I like it.

[If others figure out she's hiding in the room she's so asking them to call her O Hidden One]

Nothing else for now. Thank you for your cooperation. If at any point you wish to ask for my help... [Well, it's not like he can approach and find her if she doesn't want to be found, she supposes] ...please leave a message in my room. Suite 2, Room 5.

[kninja]

Oh! That's the suite I woke up in, but the other end of the row. Room 1. Heh, that'll be convenient if we're here long enough to keep needing each other's help.

[He hopes they aren't, but, y'know.]

I'm Obi, by the way. Guess you oughta know that if we're hallmates.

[pairtner]

It's a pleasure to meet you.

[She likes this one. Cooperative people are a welcome change of pace]

I'll leave now and continue my search. Stay safe, Obi.

[And just as it had appeared before, she's just...gone. Vanished into thin air. Leaving the area unnoticed is...very difficult, but by taking advantage of her diminutive size she manages to flee.

Be seeing you during the next two months, Obi! Or less, if either of them die, who knows]

[kninja]

[Admiringly:]

How does she do that?

[Yeah, girl, you go on being your tiny, mystifying self.]