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Hotel Caelum Staff ([personal profile] caelumstaff) wrote in [community profile] hotelcaelum2023-11-05 09:00 am

Event Log #002



EVENT LOG
number 002




The hotel humbly hopes that you're settling in well and are taking advantage of the various pleasures on offer for your stay. In Mr Bennet's opinion, things have been going quite well and he doesn't think that the guests are unhappy at all. New guests have arrived, some have left, it's all going along perfectly. So, of course, this is when the next troublesome thing pops up.

SHADOWS

One morning, characters will find the hotel to be a little dimmer than usual, a little more shadowy. Yet if anyone asks Mr Bennet about it, he will claim to not have noticed anything different than usual. Either way, as the characters move on with their day, they'll start to notice a few odd things start to happen.

PHASE ONE: Initially, characters will notice their shadow beginning to move a little out of sync with them. Discreetly at first until eventually, their shadow takes on a life of its own, mischievously playing with characters and enjoying their newfound freedom. Very Peter Pan, and completely harmless.

PHASE TWO: Now, shadows might disappear entirely, roaming the hotel to their own discretion and ignoring the characters they belong to. As the shadow takes on this free will, characters will begin to feel slightly off balance and have a hard time feeling whole without their shadow around. The shadow may become slightly aggressive as well if told they should return to their characters, fighting back in their own way from knocking things over to outright attacking other characters. It's a little hard to fight back though when your opponent is a shadow, isn't it?

PHASE THREE: The shadows have become fully aggressive now, fighting anyone who tries to get them to return to their original person. Characters will find themselves feeling weak and low energy as a result of losing their shadow. Eventually, the shadows will come back to their owners but the characters will find themselves sinking into their shadow, eventually changing places entirely with their shadow. The only way to rescue a character from this fate is for another character to pull them out of their shadow forcibly. The bright side is once a character is pulled out of their shadow, it all returns to normal and their shadow is no longer sentient.
These phases will last over the course of the week and it is quite alright to stay in phase one/two/three. Not all shadows will become aggressive, not all shadows will be playful. Feel free to manipulate your character's shadow in the way that's most fun for you.




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luciole: PB Icons by <user name="honeyspider" site="insanejournal.com"> (Default)

[personal profile] luciole 2023-11-15 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
[She gives Ryuji a sharp and strong tug out of the shadow. It seems like he's quite stuck but she manages to do more than he was able to do by himself.]

You're welcome. I'm sorry you're having such an awful day with all these shadows running around.

[She gives another pull, pull, annnd he's out?]

Can you stand now?
cardsharked: (13)

[personal profile] cardsharked 2023-11-15 04:45 am (UTC)(link)
Barghest, huh? The name's Odette. You came in clutch.

[She sure could use a seat on the floor right about now...but it's not like she's about to just squat down here. She'll go until she hits the floor, which might not be too far off.]

New here? Hell of a time. [One can't keep tabs on all 100 floors of this hotel, but Odette is fairly confident in her ability to recognize a new face regardless. Maybe she is keeping a rotating mental roster of all the guests.]
velluminous: (mighty leviathan)

[personal profile] velluminous 2023-11-15 04:50 am (UTC)(link)
[ already laying her head back down on his shoulder, with a noted lack of self-consciousness. ]

I do not drool.
velluminous: (you'll never meet another me)

[personal profile] velluminous 2023-11-15 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ this is the first time in days she's managed to get a good, long look at herself. her skin sallow, her eyes shadowed. hair limp and tangled from the fight. all her clothes are rumpled in a way that isn't even cutely bookish; she just looks run ragged. her lip is swollen where she bit it when she fell—hadn't even realized it had happened.

when the flickering fluorescent lights cause her shadows to jitter, she jumps with a scratchy-sounding gasp.
]

Blyat.
vecna: (pic#16608160)

[personal profile] vecna 2023-11-15 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
[Don't worry, he looks about as bad as her and perhaps even less flattering with his pale complexion in these bright lights. Henry looks like he hasn't slept in a week, bags under his eyes. His hair, usually so perfectly styled, has practically fallen out of its coiffed curls, hanging limply across his forehead, loose at his temples.

And a very, very wrinkled shirt. Untenable.

He scoffs. "Blyat?"]


I don't know what to do, except stand here and keep my nose pinched.

[The buzzing lights just annoy him. He raises a hand and they buzz even more angrily, shining bright-- Then quit, their illumination now steady.]
unfastens: ('cause you're the only refuge now)

[personal profile] unfastens 2023-11-15 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
If it was that easy, you wouldn't have tripped just now.

[ he's been trying to get the stupid thing to behave all morning! he steps aside for the staff member to clean up the spill. ]

As for the nature of the hotel, the man I spoke to made it sound like it was acting independently. But I don't know.
unfastens: (even when it cuts?)

[personal profile] unfastens 2023-11-15 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah... I owe you.

[ he shakes his head slightly, trying to get his bearings. The exhaustion is still present, but he can feel it starting to ebb away - or he thinks he can, anyway. He's usually running on some level of tired to begin with. Finally, he lifts his head, and without the shadow both distracting him and sapping his energy, he gets a better look at his savior. ]

... You're the kid who was sleeping in his curry.

[ that first impression is permanent, apparently...... meanwhile, his Stand finally lets go of the support beam, its arm reeling back into its socket with the sound of a jacket being zipped up. It still doesn't fade away. Bruno's not fully convinced the shadow's gone for good. ]
likesitruff: (That's awfully high for me)

[personal profile] likesitruff 2023-11-15 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ Why does he sound so unsure-- ]

Elaborate, please.
velluminous: (my only view the narrow lens)

[personal profile] velluminous 2023-11-15 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ if she looks sallow, he looks practically jaundiced. such a complete change from the man she stepped into an elevator with, as though he really has changed places with someone else. even his voice sounds ... different.

her eyes flick up as the light thrown from the fixtures swells and hum threateningly—
]

You are bleeding from using too much energy, and you are standing here using more? Stop that. Sit on counter top.
vecna: (pic#15832674)

[personal profile] vecna 2023-11-15 01:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[He sure is. He's stubborn like that.

And from the look he tosses her from his reflection in the mirror, it also seems like he doesn't like being told what to do. His instinctual reaction, while in a mood like this, is always to perform the opposite, to be contrary -- who does she think she is? His mother? Papa?

But when that instinct recedes, rational thought takes it place more easily, knowing she's trying to help him for some unwieldy reason that must be shaped like concern(???), so Henry straightens and hops up to the space between the sinks, sitting there and tilting his head... up.]


Yes, mother.

[Sorry, he had to.]
likesitruff: (And there's nothing you can't do)

[personal profile] likesitruff 2023-11-15 01:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, that's right. Is it normally much more peaceful? I can't say I have a basis for comparison, currently.

[ Which. A shame. But she always liked to feel prepared, so she hadn't exactly lowered her guard completely upon arrival in the first place. ]
likesitruff: (Til the end of your song)

[personal profile] likesitruff 2023-11-15 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
... I'm not certain that makes a difference in how I choose to approach this, but I suppose it isn't inaccurate to follow.

By profit, do you mean "subduing the shadows to suppress their level of irritation"?
airdnd: (015)

[personal profile] airdnd 2023-11-15 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
W-Well, shoving someone aside would certainly be rude, but on the light end of what could be considered dishonorable, I feel...

[ But still, it feels like ser knight really adheres to knightly conduct. It's a bit refreshing, considering the sort of hooligans she's often hosted at home... ]

I know it's hardly the time for it, but out of curiosity... Are you from the Feywild, by any chance?
airdnd: (105)

IT IS NOT TOO LATE i am just slow this week!!

[personal profile] airdnd 2023-11-15 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Listen!! It would have been one thing if it had only been Sumina in trouble, but knowing that everyone had been having their own troubles with their shadows... She just couldn't bring herself to call on anyone. She'd hoped to solve her conundrum quietly on her own; how troublesome could her shadow really be anyway, when she's such a plain person herself? Yet instead, she'd been a burden on others...

Though its very nature and its appearance might suggest otherwise, Sumina feels... warm, and comfortable as cosmic plasma trails over her body and begins to pull her in. To be pulled into a starry sea is familiar to her, somehow, its apparent peacefulness reminding her of home—

Until suddenly it is no longer peaceful, as a zipper quite literally zips past her, pulling Bruno with it - and soon, Sumina too. Dazed as she is, it all feels too sudden for her to even really register what is taking place, too swift for her to spiral into the thoughts that might tighten the shadow's hold on her, Bruno's element of surprise indeed working to his favor - but that doesn't mean it won't give up without a fight.

As Bruno's grip snags around her waist and attempts to pull her out, the shadow redoubles its efforts, lashing out with more plasma to try and ensnare her once more, but Sumina seems to snap into awareness, too, her starry eyes fluttering open and widening. ]


M-Mister Bruno—!

[ In a sheer sort of panic, she tries to wind her own arms around him, too. It won't take much to free her of the shadow's remaining grip on her, but one last attempt must be made! ]
astarion: (213)

[personal profile] astarion 2023-11-15 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
There very well could be.

[Though without knowing which floor that would be, they might as well start from the bottom and work their way up.

He sighs, and follows.]
airdnd: (070)

[personal profile] airdnd 2023-11-15 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[ NOT AN 🍳 EGG ATTACK 🍳!?

Sumina is only too happy to follow suit like a good NPC, staying close and as quiet as she can while she and Giselle move from cover to cover. Slow and steady they go, while Sumina tries very hard to still and slow her breathing and also to not stare at the knife still embedded in Giselle's back...

Her shadow, meanwhile, seems much the same way, too, happily following the other shadow's lead in rummaging through and then dispersing the mess aimlessly, kicking up veggies and ramekins and measuring spoons and whatnot.

It's honestly so jarring to watch them both - even shadowy as they are, they do still resemble their owners, neither of whom would ever be caught inciting such chaos and disorder.

But soon eggs are flying towards them, and before Sumina can really think, she is biting down on her lip to keep herself from yelping and moving out of its trajectory, even if it might place her in very close quarters with Giselle! ]
velluminous: (desire for destruction)

[personal profile] velluminous 2023-11-15 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she does catch that look, unsteady and exhausted though she is. he's viewing her with pure disdain, even after she put herself out there to help him. even though she's helping him still, now.

her own lip curls slightly; she turns on the faucet with more force than she needs to.

over the hiss of water:
] What is wrong with you? Stand, then. Sit on floor for all I care.
vecna: (pic#15832388)

[personal profile] vecna 2023-11-15 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[What is wrong with you? Henry bristles, a muscle quivering in his jaw. He remains sitting.]

Don't ask me that. [There's nothing wrong with him-] My head is going to explode. My chin hurts. There's blood running down the back of my throat.

[From tilting his head up; if the blood doesn't drain out, it drains... in and down.]
velluminous: (loot plot armor from NPCs)

[personal profile] velluminous 2023-11-15 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Stop tipping your head back!

[ instinctively, she reaches up to take his chin and pull it down a bit, then steadies herself on the lip of the counter ]

Mammon. Don't be angry with me. Would you rather we both be wherever those shadows were taking us?
icyspicy: (✨ 081)

[personal profile] icyspicy 2023-11-15 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She can probably feel the soft "mm-hm" rumbling in his chest more than she hears it. ]

Don't snore either, then.
velluminous: (step into my own skin)

[personal profile] velluminous 2023-11-15 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[ it's... nice. this blasted thief is... nice. she should care more of the ramifications, why he would be kind to Sprezzatura Vaux, what value does he see that she hasn't realized yet...

but she is so exhausted that all she feels is the gratitude to not have to hold up her own limbs.

murmured,
] I will not sleep.
vecna: (pic#15832692)

[personal profile] vecna 2023-11-15 06:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Did she just catch him by the chin-

And tilt his head down, like he was a child.]


...

[He just looks at her, eyes widened a little. Well and truly surprised that someone would have the gall to do that to him. But it's also shut him up. This is so derailing that he just says, like the way a scolded teen might reply sourly-]

No.
icyspicy: (✨ 003)

[personal profile] icyspicy 2023-11-15 06:46 pm (UTC)(link)
You're halfway there already.

[ Mildly. She wouldn't be the first person he hauled off to their room while they were dead asleep. He and Astarion got to know each other much the same way. (Don't ask what force managed to put an elf to sleep.) ]
ohthehumanities: ggelus_ @ twitter (atrovirens)

[personal profile] ohthehumanities 2023-11-15 07:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[Surprise, Astarion, some people's hearts (metaphorically) bleed too damn much for their own good!!!

Anyway, for now, he just plants a hand on his hip and points at the shadow with the other. He doesn't look very menacing, but he doesn't seem particularly intimidated, either? So either he has some kind of experience dealing with aggressive things, or he's just stupid, or both.

To the shadow, firmly--]


Be nice.
ohthehumanities: anna_drw01 @ twitter (cinnabar)

[personal profile] ohthehumanities 2023-11-15 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
[Stares back at it!!! He ain't scared of you, shadow.]

Mm. It's difficult... we've had a few incidents here already, but as far as I'm aware, no one has been seriously hurt by them. [He's considering them akin to weird leyline effects for his own sanity, really.] So I hesitate to assign malice to this, but... I can't say it's not a little concerning, nonetheless.

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