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

[dullshooter]

I’ve been threatened with it many times.

[don’t sound proud of that, misfire.]

[bootyhunter]

I can see why.

[Dandy hastily bangs on the wall. The nerve of this doofy space-man... He is the one who started this awful conversation.]

Try not to sound so damn chipper about it.

It makes ya seem like a freak! And I don't mean the smexy kind.

[dullshooter]

What? Do you want me to be sad and miserable about it instead? That’s what you want. Me to feel bad.

[bootyhunter]

[Dandy takes pause, squinting hard. He suddenly feels the urge to rub his temples, massaging the skin on either side of his head to get some very necessary blood to flow. He doesn't understand why he's doing this on a conscious level, but beneath the surface, his body is trying to get a hold of something.

A memory, a whisper. A thought that used to be shrouded in fog, drifting betwixt the memories of the others.

At present, it isn't really there anymore.]

But don't you?

[Dandy experiences a pang of guilt within him. Is this how Meow felt?

He does his best to stifle it immediately.]

Why're you lyin' about it?

[dullshooter]

What? [Pff-] No! No way. It’s just what we do. We’re the kind of lads that hit each other with chairs.

[Or tell each other to die, routinely insult each other, punch each other in the face...]

It’s a testament to our friendship that he hasn’t done it yet, really.

[and the last he remembers…they were fighting. Right.]

[bootyhunter]

Done it with you, or kicked your cold, hard, metal keister into an asteroid belt?

[Dandy huffs, the corners his lips upturning slightly. That relationship sounds a lot like the one he shares with Meow, right down to the airlock-threatening bit. Seriously, Dandy has been there, he almost shuttled the cat right out into space one time...]

I hope you make it back to your world and so you're able to challenge him to another one of those chair duels again, one day.

[He hopes they all can, but that's yet to be determined.]

[dullshooter]

I’m sure we will. They’ll probably bust through here any minute, very angry that I wasted all this time talking about wetness with you.

[Smash cut to: one week later]

[bootyhunter]

Yeah, yeah, yeah! Whaaaaatever.

[Dandy plops back onto his bed.]

I'm gonna go back to gettin' some booty-

[cough cough]

Beauty sleep, baby. If your friends come and getcha, can they bust me outta here too? Tell them to drop me of at the nearest BooBies and I'll just ET-phone home sweet floaty home!

[If this conversation continues any further, please note that loud snoring can probably be heard from Dandy's room.]