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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...
Iris "cosmos" Alfel | OC
Iris is also on Team Tyr for Lazer Tag]
no subject
Arrival, Evening of the 7th
11th May - Stargazing
14th May - Barbecue
Wildcard or laser tag things
11th - Stargazing (on the roof, or just outside? door is supposed to be locked but Isn't. xD)
... Maybe? I normally see them from a different country; I think New York counts as south of here still.
[She'd have to double-check on an accurate map of the globe, or even just her Manual once she went back to her room.]
Either works for me! If they're just outside, there'd be a large birb sitting nearby
Where I'm from looks like it'd be south of here too, if the way these look is right.
[Wait, did he hear her correctly, New York? Hadn't that area been submerged and blown to bits in the past according to the history books?]
Did you just say "New York"?
... I vote birb. \o/
... Yeah?
[But then, if this guy is from a different Earth-
oh, the irony of ALREADY being aware of parallel Earths.]I know other people - peoples - have different names for it; do you use a different one?
Birb it is then!
[There's a pause as his head turns towards Aika, who's preening nearby, before looking back to Nita, wondering how she could be from somewhere uninhabitable.]
Most of that area has been underwater and what's not underwater is in ruins.
Re: Birb it is then!
... What year is it, for you? Last I knew it was 2010 by the local calendar-
[That might be a misslip; she'll notice it later.]
How'd it all get sunk?
[Because while entropy's running, it sure is possible - it's just not clear how, exactly, it would have happened.]
Gonna place a blanket warning for war and all it entails
By the count of world clocks it's year 4501. I guess that means you're from the past, or I'm in it somehow.
[He scratches the back of his head, letting all the wandering thoughts quiet themselves to focus on details.]
It ahh.. got destroyed during wartime. If you said you're from 2010, then that was around five years after everything on that coast was being thrown into chaos. No one could agree on anything according to the historical texts, and the major powers of the planet went to war. Then Terra's-- err, Earth at the time, global temperatures rose and the coastline began to submerge.
[At least there was an importance of recording history so that those that survived would learn from it.]
(cw continues for... probably most of the rest of this thread?)
4501...
[Even with that interesting bird - Iris', Nita can only assume - nearby, by now she is entirely sucked into this new, disturbing discovery.
There's a whole slew of expressions visible on her face as he describes the war and destruction - shock, anger, disbelief shading into an utter lack of actual surprise.
She gets some of her composure back, a wry look overtaking her as she responds,]
The good news is, either those texts are wrong or we're from different Earths; climate change is definitely a thing, but not the war.
[She thinks back to the Pullulus War in particular, which had been fought on a different kind of scale; the threat the Lone Power had held over the heads of those humans who had come to Rashah... nothing left but mushroom clouds.
Thankfully they had managed to avert that - but that didn't mean all Earths were safe, or would keep being safe.
She shudders, burying that thought for the moment.]
But- we could still be from the present, for both of our worlds. Does the term 'multiverse theory' sound familiar to you?
I'd say that's fair! Especially if they start comparing notes
Video footage exists of what happened from drones, historians made sure to record evidence of it and protect that footage. So I guess we must be from other worlds.
[Iris scrunches his face to remember his classes. The term is familiar enough at least.
He's taking this in all surprisingly well, outwardly at least. If cities can fly and be sustained, surely it's not unbelievable that the multiverse could exist, somehow.]
I know of the term, it's been discussed among scientists, but no one has ever confirmed it to exist. Not until now it seems, if what you're saying is true about that possibility of us both being from our own times.
no subject
That's... good and bad, I'd say? It'd be a whole other level of bizarre if our timelines were overwriting one another or something.
[HOPEFULLY THIS HOTEL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT CONCEPT.]
Though, uh, speaking of time - did any of those clocks inside look familiar to you?
[Hell, what do clocks even look like in Iris' time? The things you don't realize could be different from world to world until you think about them...]
They have a wall with names for a whole bunch of different places; no reason a city you know couldn't be on there, right?
[A city from his point in time, would probably be more accurate.]
no subject
I would hope that nothing from where I'm from over-wrote another's history...
But yes, some. If you're meaning how they work? I can read the times on them.
[If one thing was a constant of the past, it was digital and analogue clocks.]
I might recognize some of the cities but I don't think any currently existing places I'd definitely know would be on the walls, unless places like Borea and Caelum are on there.
no subject
I've heard of things like that happening... they can be prevented, though.
[With the right people, in the right place... at the right 'time'.]
And- yeah, that's more what I was thinking. It'd be one way to check if we're being pulled from separate worlds, if there's a city in there for each of us to recognize.
[Her gaze finally drifts back up to the sky, then, as well as to Aika.]
It doesn't have to be right now, though. Can't imagine the people at this hotel want us in a rush.
[There's an uptick in sarcasm as Nita says that last bit.]
Imagine a huge eagle with horns, having a silly moment in the gif
I'd be surprised if either Borea or Caelum were on that wall, though I wouldn't need to know their times. Not Caelum, but Borea's time would be nice to see.
[There's a chuckle at his words, loosening up just a bit. He's curious about Nita and where she came from, but he could wait to bombard her with questions about her timeline and what New York was like.]
I don't think they want us rushing around with anything, not with those things they have planned out for us as guests.
[Aika, however, stops her preening to give Nita a curious look. As well as be silly about how she does it. She's comfortable where she is at least, somewhere to preen and observe made her a happy bird]
If you're curious about her, Aika won't peck you. Ah-- Name's Iris, though I also respond to Cosmos.
it is a Very good gif, I like it. ^^
Not for some time yet, anyway.]Borea's home for you, then?
[And a name for a name is nice, as things go.
Aika's over-headtilt makes Nita smile and fail to suppress a snort herself.]
And I'm Nita Callahan, Iris, though just Nita's fine.
[And then, briefly slipping into pure Speech out of habit she adds:]
/Greetings to you as well, Aika. How are you finding the skies, here?/
[It seems a polite enough question to ask, given what they were previously doing.]
14th
Wrench only catches the last bit, squinting in frustration that this person is even bothering him at all. His lip curls up in annoyance and he'll motion with one hand near his head in a sign for 'what' questioning what they want from him.]
gasp, a maus appears <3 also laughs at iris being referred to as a kid (he's 24)
This [He taps the words that read Laser Tag.] Do you know what "Laser Tag" is?
Iris, he could be your dad. Also he's a giant, everyone is baby to him :)
... then again. He's seen this kid around a little since coming here with their big fuck off bird. Nothing makes complete sense so maybe beyond having a crazy mutant bird they lived under a rock all their life. Looking dead pan serious, Wrench will sign at Iris, nodding at the end.]
Fight to the death with killer lights. Very bloody. Very painful.
arrival | moody with an eagle as requested!
He stops as he sees a new face sitting nearby. While he likes to keep to himself, Yugi is always friendly. It can't hurt to say hello at least.
He approaches the new face with a bit of a smile. Is that an eagle? ]
Did you just arrive?