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πππππππ π: ππππ
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This month's patron is Odin the Allfather. Outside the back entrance of the hotel, down a little path to the side, you'll find a narrow, hedge-lined path that leads to a small clearing among some of the forest trees. There are a few benches on either side, an invitation to sit and think, or even to sit and talk, because while you're here, it feels as if you're not alone — though there isn't anyone to see past the other hotel guests who might be wandering about. At the center of the clearing is a moderately sized altar carved out of stone. The table of the altar stands about waist high and is large enough to place a downed deer... or lay a person on. The stone itself looks old, the edges worn smooth and that light gray now darker from being exposed to the elements over the years. The spots on top of the table, well, it wasn't uncommon to leave sacrificial offerings to the gods in the past, but it's probably best not to ask what the darker stains are if you don't want to know. There's a large slab rising up from the back of the table to stand over it, which comes to a point at the top. On the slab are carvings of ravens, wolves, something that looks to be similar to that frustrating black tree that appears if you've been hiking; though on this carving there appears to be a man hanging by one leg from one of the branches with runes falling around him. There's also a large α¨ in the center of the slab and even if you don't know Norse mythology and any of its gods, you get the impression that it represents Odin. Why don't you try leaving an offering? β |
Εs byþ ordfruma Η£lcre sprΗ£ce, wΔ«sdΕmes wraþu and wΔ«tena frΕfur, and eorla gehwΔm Δadnys and tΕ hiht
(click to expand)
I. SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES (ARRIVALS)
double, double, toil and trouble β«βͺ
The hotel bus shows up just after dinner on Saturday, May 1st, impeded from its usual noontime arrival by of a flat tire and a delayed flight from the United States. A load of new guests disembark — along with a group of high school (NPC) students, but so many you'd wonder how they'd fit into their ride. They're loud and rowdy, clad in robes common to British boarding schools, and they fill up the place quickly, never seeming to run out of energy or just stop chattering.
They also interrupt what's supposed to be a chill barbecue bonfire that evening. The hotel staff do the best they can to get the new arrivals settled, and also apologize profusely to their valued guests, who'd checked in weeks or even months before.
For those staying on the eighth floor, what's incredibly strange is that the students seem to have the same rooms as some of the other guests. And yet there's been no discussion of being double booked where the students are concerned. Those that have rooms on the sixth floor will note that the students do seem to gravitate toward that floor like they are staying on it. They even have keys for the different rooms, getting off the elevators chatting rapidly to their friends like this is completely normal. But after unlocking and opening the door to the room, they simply vanish in the steps that take them over the threshold. Or did you walk past a room only to have the door seemingly open on its own but then suddenly a student is just magically walking out of it into you?
The sounds of chatter and students running up and down the hallway at all hours of the night will also be heard even when there doesn't seem to be a student in sight. Or, is that thump and sounds of someone walking around actually coming from the bathroom in your room? Does the bed seem to dip like someone's just gotten into bed with you despite no one being there? The students are here for the duration, so you might want to find a way to cohabitate with your invisible guest. Or find someone who's willing to share their room with you, because any calls to the front desk for a room change will be answered with apologies, but the hotel is full booked so there is no room to move you to.
The week's itinerary follows that of the TDM:Throughout the week, people just randomly show up in the different scenic areas outside the hotel, but when they arrive at the front desk they have a room waiting for them despite the place supposedly being full. Though some end up being double booked... and won't realize it until their roommate comes banging the door in the middle of the night, or steps out of the shower. (Lalala.) Please see the Arrivals tab of our directory for the complete list and details!
- May 2, Sunday - FREE DAY
- May 3, Monday - Massage and Yoga
- May 4, Tuesday - Hiking
- May 5, Wednesday - Pool Party
- May 6, Thursday - Spelunking
- May 7, Friday - Chocolate Demonstration
II. HOO-HOO! BIG SUMMER BLOWOUT! (BONFIRE)
hygge means sitting by the fire with your cheeks all rosy β«βͺ
The following Saturday, May 8th, the hotel bus is late again. Or so the guests assume, since everyone in the hotel is busy and occupied with the summer blót, a feast for the Norse god of war, Odin.
There's a bonfire and face painting and singing and dancing, teenage boys and girls in Viking-inspired costumes (yes, they're still there!), and of course, free-flowing booze and lots of good food. The mead is particularly popular, for it's not only really delicious, it's also extremely potent, able to get even the broodiest of brooders loosening up and those normally unaffected by alcohol inebriated.
That's perhaps why nobody remembers new people arriving that evening?
III. TAG, TAG, TAG, TAG (WAR GAMES)
baby, tag, you're it β«βͺ
The hotel bus still hasn't arrived. Or has it? Everyone's nursing a hangover on Sunday, May 9th — or at least, something that feels like a hangover. Even the students are affected, mostly keeping to their rooms and requesting room service instead of going down to the restaurant for meals.
The quiet doesn't last though, because there is a disturbance in the Force on the sixth floor, and porgs start appearing by the dozen well before the day is over. They're cute... until they start screaming. That's not going to help with everyone's hangover at all, no. And they especially seem to like calling out to one another in the wee hours of the night.
The week's itinerary reads:Those who go hiking during and after the night of the new moon will report sightings of an old, blackened tree — but once you turn and walk away from it, it disappears. The tree also never seems to be quite in the same place.
- May 10, Monday - Pilates and Zumba
- May 11, Tuesday - Stargazing (because it's the new moon)
- May 12, Wednesday - Norwegian Cakefest
- May 13, Thursday - Hiking
- May 14, Friday - Lakeside Barbeque
During the lakeside barbecue, the guests will be handed out flyers for a game of outdoor laser tag on Saturday, May 15th, to be held out in the forest. The hotel staff has even already formed the groups and appointed team captains to save everyone the trouble. So it's time to gather around and strategize!
... Aw c'mon, don't be a spoilsport. What could go wrong with a game of laser tag?
A lot, actually. If you refuse, your audience of NPC students (management says they're too young to play) will grow hostile and start a smear campaign against you. Because they're petty like that. Did you want caricature mugshots of you posted on the bulletin board? Called names and pranked? That's the fate that awaits you.
And if you play, well, there's a chance that you're walking away injured — and you're not finding that out until well into the game. When did laser tag hurt? Apparently it does now. What are they using for these laser guns, anyway?
The outcome of the match will be OOCly influenced by several factors:
1. who the team captain is (teams can stick with their staff-appointed leader, or choose a different person, or have someone declare themselves leader, or even not select a captain at all)
2. how many in your team are playing
3. who are playing
4. what runes were selected for those who are playing
5. your team's overall strategy
6. good ol' RNG
Check out the Laser Tag tab of directory for the team assignments, and the OOC post for more details as well as plotting and the check in. The game will also result to some characters getting injured and requiring medical attention (if they play), though it's to the players' discretion where and how they get injured. The game will likewise be a memory regain opportunity for the Afterlife arrivals (and Julia).
The members of the winning team will each receive a Viking drinking horn with their names carved on it.
IV. WITHOUT YOU IS HOW I DISAPPEAR (MYSTERIES)
drain all the blood and give the kids a show β«βͺ
The laser tag mishap isn't the only thing that causes a ruckus in the following week. On Sunday, May 16th, the bus that's supposed to take the students and some of the guests back to Oslo is nowhere to be found, and the hotel staff will insist that they're not supposed to check out yet. If you get angry and insist on speaking with a manager, you'll find that their records will match with what the staff's saying. You're not due to leave until... a very faraway date.
The hotel is also suddenly littered with missing posters. At first it starts in the business center, for someone named Chewie, but as the days pass you will find more posters and handwritten notes on the bulletin board at the front desk. They're people you don't know... or do you? Why do you have a vague recollection of who they are?
(Remember all those people who tagged around the TDM but didn't make it? Yup, they're the missing ones.)
The hotel management assures that the authorities have been alerted and efforts are being undertaken to find and bring back the missing individuals, but a week passes with no visible progress. Investigations initiated by the guests will not yield any results, and excursions into the forest and the surrounding areas will only result in the frustrating black tree experience on the TDM. Those who pay particular attention to the tree will even start dreaming of it — though it seems to be worse for one John Constantine of the tree carving fame. Others might just get a cute shadow bonsai dancing like Groot, or maybe the tree playfully shaking its booty, but John's is more of the creepy variety.
The daily activities will continue as scheduled, but they'll be exactly the same as the first week, and by Friday, May 21st, all activities will be restricted indoors. Not as fun, because even with the movie room and the karaoke room tensions are already higher than usual in the premises. The students' smear campaigns are getting worse, targeting those who didn't participate in laser tag, those who stole from the bar or the gift shop, those who have been snooping around, those who have pets or have brought in hordes of animals, heck even the winning laser tag team isn't safe from being blamed for the series of unfortunate events.
Thankfully, things haven't gotten violent... yet. But wait, what are these whispers of a ritual sacrifice?
TO BE CONTINUED...
no subject
That and this place had seen fit to drain him of his Asgardian strength and if he was to survive in it, he would have to grow accustomed to the pain of failure. It was a with a slow, limping gate that he finally found his way into the library. There would be no sneaking up on anyone, not in his current state, but it hadn't been his intention either way. Whether or not his brother remembered him, Loki would be found with the books, it was a constant from their childhood and he hardly saw that changing. His jaw was clenched against the pain in his bandaged knee and he willed his gait to be as smooth as possible, out of pride really, though there was still a thump and a slight drag as he walked, coming around the corner and coming up short as his gaze fell upon the sight before him.
Was Loki reading...books for children? Then a smile tugs at the corner of his mouth as he watched Loki as he, by all evidence at least, figured something out.
"Congratulations, brother. Do you mind if I have a seat? It was a long walk." Nevermind he tortured himself with it.
no subject
"Thor," he greeted, looking (and sounding) for all the world the child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Upon noticing the abnormal manner in which he held his gait, concern usurped surprise. His brows pinched together. "Of course not -- but you shouldn't be moving so."
In the chaotic aftermath of injuries both balked and tended to, Loki had noticed Thor's head among the wounded. With what, he hadn't the opportunity to observe or inquire as he'd received aid for his own lesions, and after that, well... A peculiar sort of shyness, perhaps, or simply a matter of respect for the injured -- or more likely both. Either way, he'd intended to check upon him before the sun had set today, but it seemed Thor had beat him to it.
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"It's nothing dire, Loki. I'll survive." And then the curious covers of the discarded tomes caught his eye and he frowned, grunting as he retrieved one from the pile.
"These are meant for children. Are you learning magic from children's tales?"
no subject
But with Thor present, Loki was of the mind to ask him about the ice that was now currently melting against his torso (unpleasantly). The attention to the books, however, prompted an immediate wave of defensiveness; Loki sat a little straighter in his seat and pressed his lips into a thin frown. "Not learning, no. I'm... trying to remember. Cause a spark, elicit recognition." He'd leaned forward as he spoke, flipping the book in his right hand to lie pages-down atop his thigh, attention shifted. "There is another who recognized me, told me I could perform magick."
Now, the refocus of his attention was obvious: Thor.
"But you know this," he said plainly, without accusation, but a quiet sort of excitement. Loki brought forth his left hand, holding it out loosely between them. The remnants of frost still glistened in the light, even as it continued to melt. The action of displaying it so freely stirred a slight, visceral nervousness in him that Loki couldn't place.
"It seems as if I can beckon winter itself. What else?"
no subject
Ice among them, though that was something different and he frowned slightly. "Loki, winter coming to your call isn't Asgardian magic...at least I don't think so. You," he breathed a sigh. "You don't remember anything. You're adopted, brother. You are a Jotun, a frost giant. From what I've seen of them, they can all summon a deep frost."
no subject
Thor's explanation, though, caused his brows to pinch together in mild confusion. The terms, jotun and frost giant stirred unease within his gut, but like so many other things he'd been discovering of himself, Loki had nothing in the way of a logical reason. "A frost... giant," he echoed, mulling over the answer. The obvious fallacy, first and foremost: "But I am no giant."
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"No, you aren't. But it doesn't matter, Loki. You are Asgardian, and you are my brother."
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"I gathered that much, brother," he replied, mostly to assure Thor that this new information did not change his stance on the matter. "But you do me a disservice holding back. What are the frost giants to the Asgardians?"
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"Some of our oldest and most bitter enemies." He breathed a sigh. "I understand they were attacking Earth. Father and his armies chased them back to Jotunheim, to their frozen throne, where he found a babe, an infant, small for a frost giant, left to die, and took him in. That was you, brother. They never told either of us." He cracked a sardonic grin at that. "In retrospect, perhaps they should have."
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"Perhaps. Perhaps not," he said, his tone thoughtful, distanced. "Odin may have been concerned about his subjects lashing out against that which they hated. If the Asgardians and the frost giants were as bitter enemies as you describe, I can't imagine them welcoming an enemy's kin into the royal family."
It was so much easier to look at the matter at an impersonal angle when he held little personal investment in it.
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"He should have told us. He likely forbade Mother from doing so. She kept her counsel on all his lies."
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"He sounds a complicated fellow at best," was his tactful reply, gaze lowering to the book that still remained open in his lap. His finger tapped a few times against the corner of the page before he closed the book and set it aside. "What of... our mother?"
Though he kept his voice relatively neutral, Thor was familiar enough with Loki such that it ought to be easy enough to pick up on the quiet trepidation behind the question. Thoughts of his -- their -- mother stirred a tragic sort of unease for which he almost did not want to find an answer.
no subject
"What of Mother? She was the greatest woman I've ever known, a woman of boundless compassion and...unconditional love. She...fell protecting a mortal I so arrogantly brought to her care. Jane, she...was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a weapon thought lost long ago took up refuge within her. It was killing her, and I thought if anyone in all the Realms could save her, it would be our healers. Those from which Father had taken that weapon long ago wanted it back, they stormed the palace to take it and Mother...laid down her life to protect it."