WEEK SEVEN: MINGLE

[guestservices]

W̴͍̎E̴̝̊E̸͚͝K̸͕̿ SEVEN: MINGLE

(18 ḡ̴̻u̷͌͜ê̴̯s̶̢͑t̵̻͝s̴̡̐ ̴c̴h̴e̶c̴k̷e̶d̸ ̶i̴n̴)

Good morning, esteemed guests.

Ha. Hahaha.

As you awaken on Monday, you’ll find that things are just as they were the night before. The kitchen will serve piping hot breakfast during the morning hours, the pool’s been stocked with fresh towels and the gardens are open for anyone who wishes to spend some time among nature. However, should you explore a bit, you’ll find that a few new changes have been made to the hotel itself.

Your room service menus are still on your desks if you wish to browse before leaving for the day.

The front door no longer spins endlessly, for one thing. Should you make an attempt to exit the hotel, you will find yourself entering a new location.

In addition, should you enter the elevator you will find...nothing? There are no new buttons. However, if you look on the Mezzanine you will find a few new areas to peruse. These rooms are still locked from the outside, but perhaps you may ask politely and be granted access. In addition, as you explore the hotel you will find that you have now lost access to certain rooms. How odd.

The portraits from the week before continue to hang in various parts of the hallways and in the rooms themselves, continuing to depict innocuous scenes. Like before, if you linger just a touch too long, you'll soon find that you and whomever you're with will be lost in a swirl of shadows and pulled directly into the portrait itself. You will have to find your way out just like before.

Strangely, however, you no longer have that connection with the person you are with. You're no longer in sync, unable to feel their thoughts or movement or really even have to cooperate. Instead, regardless of where you are in the hotel whether it's inside a portrait, a door, or even your own room, you will begin to experience a feeling of numbness. Perhaps it starts in your body, the inability to feel pain or the touch of someone's hand. Maybe it infiltrates your emotions, quieting everything you've been feeling lately to an even, neutral stance. After a while, you may become so numb you feel yourself fading away entirely, a limb slowly being erased, but you can quickly snap back if someone addresses you.

Try to keep yourselves grounded, everyone.

Finally, for those of you with a spare ticket in your pocket, feel free to visit the Starlight Gift Shop, stocked with new items for this week.

N̸A̵V̴I̶G̶A̶T̴I̴O̸N̷.̷

█ LOCATIONS █ STATUSES █ PROFILES █ AUDIENCES
█ REPORTING █ PRIVATE CONVOS █ MURDER

Comments

[wisterin]

I think it may be a shelf guy this time.

[ time to see if pulling books out will do anything.

as she walks past books that seem out of place or sticking out, she'll try to pull them out, if she can. ]

It would be a shame if we were trapped.

[unbested]

That's... a little less creepy, I guess...

[ at least you can just stop being a nerd and avoid libraries... you can't avoid floors!!! ...on that note, anything interesting about the books on the floor? is there more chuck tingle here?

he looks between the floor books and shelves as shinobu tries to pull a book out, like he's expecting arrows to start flying at them from somewhere. ]

What if pulling those out is the trap??

[guestservices]

[the books are a variety of genres including space, stars, medicine, romance novels, fairy tales, etc. as shinobu pulls out the books, she will notice that the shelves begin to swing slowly, changing their path. it almost seems like the more she does that, the more they seem to box them in. they're walking down and the path becomes more narrow. the books on the floor lower in amount.]

[wisterin]

If it's a trap, it's a trap.

[ she seems too blasé about that even as she notices the way their path goes down or changes direction and become more narrow. ]

It doesn't look like there's much room for traps, though. Be careful. I wonder if this library is going down to hell?

[ she's joking. ]

[unbested]

[ so no butt pounding, got it. ]

You told me not to get ahead of myself! Ugh... Is... are we supposed to be changing the path like that? It's getting kind of narrow...

[ does anything happen if he tries to push one that's sticking out back in?? ]

[guestservices]

[the path is narrow, leading downward still. but as Sebastian pushes a book in, something appears to click from the ceiling. there's a creak, as if hinges open.

the lights flicker a little. the path narrows so they have to walk side by side. they find themselves turning left three times.

where are they even going...?]

[wisterin]

... A ceiling guy?

[ they turn left three times.

she looks up, ready to throw a book if she has to. ]

[unbested]

Wha—!?

[ DID HIS SINGLE STUPID ACTION DO SOMETHING TERRIBLE??? ALSO LOOKS UP??

he's

got his baton out, which will surely be useful ]

[guestservices]

[


suddenly, several books fall out of the ceiling, covers flapping like wings to surround the two of them. they swarm, trying to corral them and blocking them further into the room. ]

[wisterin]

[ this hurts her

and me

but she unsheathes her sword and stabs every book that comes near her.

don't tell her what to do? ]

It looks like they want us to go somewhere, if you want to go along with it.

[unbested]

Oh my god, why!!!!

[ JUMPS BACK AWAY FROM THE SWORD and?? tries to bat any still-unstabbed books away with his STUPID BATON i guess... ]

Do you... think we shouldn't, or?

[ YOU JUST STABBED THEM ]

[guestservices]

[unfortunately, attacking the books just makes them more aggressive? they flap their covers more, a kick of wind as they circle the two of them and try to slam into them, pages attempting to leave papercuts. luckily, they're a little slow the closer to the ground they get.]

[wisterin]

I don't think they're giving us much choice.

[ love papercuts.

fine!!!

she will

go where they want her to go, still stabbing as she goes. she has a lot of aggression to get out after these past few weeks. ]

[unbested]

[ hahaha another bonus of always wearing gloves!!! you're not cutting his hands, paper!!!

they will probably get his face though and he will cry. as he follows like they want him to, STOP BEING MAD AT HIM ]

I-I really don't think stabbing them is helping very much??

[guestservices]

[stabbing does not help! stabbing just makes them more rude. as the books start to surround them, they crowd them up against the shelves where there appear to be a few open slots.... ]

[wisterin]

It helps me.

[ she sighs and sheathes her sword. ]

I'll treat your cuts later.

[ she is going to look at or through the open slots. is there anything to be seen on the other side? ]

[unbested]

Oh... um, thanks.

[ do the flying books... seem like they want to go into the slots...?? are they trying to go home? he will help shelve them if that's what they want......

but if it is not what they want he will leave them alone. ]

[guestservices]

[theres nothing to be seen inside the empty spaces. however, as Sebastian shelves one of the flying books it settles down and easily slots into place.

there's another click, this time from the shelf itself. ]

[wisterin]

[ where did it click....

is there a part where the shelf opens? shinobu will look for it. she's too angry to say anything. ]

[unbested]

[ aaah he has no idea if what he just did was a good thing or if he's about to release a swarm of something else on them... so while she is too angry to say anything, he is too nervous and also says nothing.

let's see what just happened... ]

[guestservices]

[it looks like a top portion of a shelf clicked and popped out. there are two more sections still locked though, and inside it appears to be...dark? dark, but there seems to be a lump inside.

time to unlock the other two portions, kids.]

[wisterin]

[ .... ]

I see we need to tidy up here, as if we created a mess in the first place?

[ she stabbed so many books.

anyway, she's just going to go along and see where else a book needs to be put away in its right place, etc. ]

Unless it'll be a different trigger. But maybe the other parts can be unlocked normally.

[unbested]

I... guess so?

[ does it just look like more books need to be shelved or is there anything else going on here? he will continue to help them as needed.

this lump is like, on the other side of the shelves where it can't be reached, right? ]

1/2

[guestservices]

[that's correct.

they begin to put the books back, eventually the shelf clicks twice more, and it swings open. it leads to what appears to be a small, cozy room. it's a little dark, but light from the library shines inside. there's a teacup on the floor. there's also a pillow, and a blanket...and a lump. ]

2/2

[worthyness]

[the lump appears to be...a man? grey hair falls into his face, maroon suit bunched up a little under the blanket and eyes closed. he appears to be completely asleep...though his hand is curled around something. ]