hotelcaelum | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Magical items... it's not something she's thought very deeply about existing — not in the way Sumina's gloves seem to function, anyway. But it's very obvious this is an important distinction for her, given the way she grips on to her hand more tightly, as if adamant about not being mistaken for someone capable of magic. Perhaps it has to do with persecution? Or embarrassment or shame, at being mistaken for someone who could do such a thing...?

It's not the time to ask for a clarification, but it does certainly color her perception of Sumina differently, a new shade adding to the palette of her image in Giselle's mind. As does her continued insistence that despite the maid's own unaffected state, she's still deserving of care and worry.

She's such a caring girl, isn't she? Even to someone (something?) like her. She dearly hopes that part of her never changes, that it never rots or decays away. The maid smiles, quietly, placing her free hand over the one she's already holding, sandwiching her companion's palm in her cold grip. ]

Thank you, for expressing such concern for me.

[ The words feel more sincere than the usual cool distance she keeps, a sliver of something close to affection bleeding in. ]

I would hate to ask such a grotesque task of you... but removing the knife will swiftly "take care of" this unsavory ordeal.

[ Inside, she's ashamed for Sumina to see the state of her so openly, and moreover, for her to have to physically interact with it. But if she keeps the polite act up... then however she reacts, it's not towards me, is it?, she reminds herself. She can't be hurt by words or anything else, so long as she keeps everything — even that glimmer of affection she'd felt — buried in the dark. ]

[ That echo of something warmer and more sincere doesn't escape Sumina's notice even in her fear-struck state, and in fact it is something of a boon, something soothing that she finds herself latching onto. Subdued as Giselle's emotions always seem, if she has managed to reach the other woman with her words and eased any sort of ill feelings she might have at all by expressing her genuine concern, then that would be enough.

Giselle's request further steels Sumina's nerves by pulling her into a more familiar mindset: that of an innkeeper, and in particular one who more often than not finds herself greeting guests who walk in fresh out of harrowing battles or trials, who sometimes must assist in the stabilizing or healing of people, even if she cannot herself cast healing spells. She recalls what she and the maid had spoken of, too, when they were passing through the Haunted House attraction: keep your composure. ]

It's alright. It's necessary. I can do it.

[ And so Sumina nods, her gaze sliding to fix upon the handle of the knife protruding from Giselle's back, drawing her hands away from the maid's grasp so that she can press one hand flat against the other woman's back, as the other's grasp curls tentatively around the knife. ]

I'll be pulling the knife out now, Miss Giselle.

[ And presuming Giselle permits her to do so and expresses her readiness, Sumina does exactly as she says. With a decisive tug, the knife is pulled out. ]

[ She's more than thankful for Sumina's calmness and efficiency regarding the task. In a funny way.... yes, she supposes it did put her more at ease. Inwardly, deep within the hard shell that Giselle has cast around herself, her true heart had been fearful that she might see a sliver of disgust or horror in the other woman's eyes directed at her. Even if just for a moment. But none comes — there's only the sure focus of her gaze, and the steady movement of her hands.

The knife comes out with little resistance, and with accompanying little reaction from the maid herself — she merely looks over her shoulder to see the size of the knife, heart sinking a bit when she sees that a weapon of that size could not cause even a shiver of sensation to her. She quickly averts her gaze (maybe a little too quickly?) back forward, not wishing to look at the weapon for even another second. ]

There we are... good as new.

[ It's almost darkly comedic, the serene way with which she wraps this whole ordeal up with a bow. If Sumina looks at where the wound should be — she'll find that there's strangely no evidence that the knife was ever there at all, aside from the remaining tear in her maid uniform. No, the skin underneath remains unmarred, even if dull and pale as a corpse's. The blade shines, clean as a whistle. ]

Thank you, my dear. I am in your debt... truly.

[ For much, much more than just helping her escape that room. ]

[ There isn't horror in Sumina's gaze at the way the knife seems to just slip out - as though it is nothing more than a kitchen knife slotted into a proper block - as much as there is a certain confusion around it, at how there's not even a trace of blood to be found on the blade, at how what little she can see of Giselle's wound - or where there might have been a wound - is utterly unmarred.

But... Yet again, hasn't her life prepared her for such peculiar sights? Hasn't she triaged someone whose blood looked like molten rock, and the like? Her grip tightens around the knife's handle as that hand lowers and falls at rest beside her hip. She realizes then that this is different - because Miss Giselle is someone whom she has now known for longer than she normally has a guest for, and someone she likes to consider a friend. ]

Miss Giselle, there's - there's no need for such talk. We're friends, aren't we? So... We don't need to think of it like balancing a ledger. I know you would have done the same, if not more for me if our roles had been reversed.

[ We're friends, aren't we?

She says that with such ease, and with such little time for her to prepare or expect to hear it. She can't remember the last time anyone referred to her as a friend... or if anyone ever did. The maid was prepared to be thankful enough if the other woman simply helped her and then politely excused herself, should she feel unnerved by her curse. This, though, is like an unexpected salve for a wound she forgot she even had. Unwittingly, her expression softens — an opening into the depths of her soul. There's quiet astonishment there, more reflected in the glimmer of her eyes than in any notable movement of her features. ]

Yes... of course, I would.

[ Do you really feel that way about me?, she wants to ask instead. The part of her desperate for even a threadbare connection wants nothing more than to seek a little more reassurance. But that yearning feels so at odds with "the maid," with everything she's built herself up to be, that she keeps the feeling from escaping with a relentless grip on a short, tight leash. ]

I could hardly allow harm to come to you. [ Which is strange on her tongue enough. How often has she sat idly, while harm came to others? But being here in the hotel, she feels more different each day. Sumina, and the others... perhaps they could be people she could care for outside of her station. ] That is why I attempted to protect you, you know.

[ There's a soft ding, as their elevator finally reaches their destined floor. ]

Event Log #002

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