hotelcaelum | Event Log #004

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Event Log #004

EVENT LOG
number 004

Happy New Year, folks! The Hotel is settling into the New Year with little fanfare. Mr Bennet remains at his post behind the hotel desk and helps check guests in and out daily. The Hotel continues to hustle and bustle and nothing seems to be going too awry beyond the usual shenanigans. In fact, one might even call this the slow season for the Hotel.

THE FLOOR IS LAVA

That is until the second week of the month where the intercoms start with Mr Bennet's pleasant voice coming through.

"Hello, hello! This is just a small warning that one of our floors, the current 79th floor to be exact, has had a small... malfunction, I suppose, and will be affecting the other floors of the Hotel. No word yet from maintenance when this will be over, so stay on your toes, my dear guests!"

And that's it. No indication of what the problem is, or anything like that. It's up to you to figure out what's going on! And what is going on? Well, it'll become obvious very quickly when wherever characters happen to be in the Hotel, they'll soon start feeling a very obvious warmth on the floor below them. It'll increase the longer they stay standing in one spot until it's almost burning their feet.

The only salve for this will be hopping onto a nearby piece of furniture and getting their feet off the floor. It'll soon become obvious that the entire Hotel has been wrapped in a game of The Floor is Lava, including the floor turning into actual lava on some of the floors.

SAFETY SLEEPOVER

Of course, the Hotel is not cruel enough to make the entire Hotel unsafe and soon enough Mr Bennet's voice will come through on the intercom again.

"For those looking for respite from our current Hotel wide game," because clearly it's a game now. "We'll be serving tea and cake in the lounge on the ground floor. Maintenance has been able to fix the lounge for now so feel free to come by when you can if you'd like to rest. We have sleeping bags!"

As folks enter the lounge, they'll find that Mr Bennet is true to his word. The lounge has been converted into a giant sleepover, with sleeping bags lining the floor and a long table off to the side where people can eat their tea and cakes. Mr Bennet is near the food table, handing out pajamas, toothbrushes, and sleep masks to those who request them. There's some new doors off to the side leading to some restrooms, at least, so guests can change in private.

Though, one thing to point out is when Mr Bennet says there's tea and cakes, the cakes happen to be lava cakes. He thinks he's funny.

THE FLOOR IS ICE

It'll take about two days for hotel maintenance to fix the Hotel and return it to normal. So that's two days of living out of the lounge or hopping around the Hotel to get places. What a headache. Mr Bennet will make another lively announcement on the intercom.

"We are back in business, folks! I've just been given word that everything should have return to normal now. Though, there is a warning to make sure not to walk around barefoot for at least another day or so while the Hotel settles. Thank you for your patience!"

What that means becomes obvious soon as anyone walking around now will feel that the floor is especially cold. That's a bit better than the heat, at least, but still kind of a pain in the ass. Anyone who tries to walk around barefoot will find that their feet quickly start to freeze but any permanent damage is easily avoidable by putting on some socks or getting off the floor entirely.

Though that said, the ice does lead to some furniture sliding around and even with shoes on, characters might find themselves sliding too.

What a lovely end to the holidays.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Her fear is exactly the reason why he should be unserious! Or so he thinks. She won't think it's as big of a deal if he's unconcerned, right?

...And also, he can't resist the opportunity to flaunt just how useful his power is in a situation like this. He is, at his heart, a shameless showoff. ]

This is my serious face! [ He says with a toothy grin. ] You look like you could use an assist.

[ He hovers nearer so he can step onto her desk to stand next to her. Here he is, her savior.... ]

[ He's a shameless showoff, and she's straight up stressed out~~, can I make it anymore obvious~~. ]

Hah, what gave you that idea?

[ Maybe she's coming off as a little snippy, but can anyone really blame her? This whole situation is too much, and though she knows this isn't really her office at the Elderflower and that the real thing is safely tucked away in some other corner of the cosmos, there's still something heartbreaking about watching even replicas of her ancestors' adventuring journals and the collection of books they'd collected over centuries slowly being consumed by magma.

Tipping her head down, Sumina lifts her hands and presses her face against her palms. With a quivering voice, she mumbles: ]

It's not real. These aren't the real things. Everything is at home, safe...

[ Ahh…this is really getting to her, isn’t it? Maybe Gojo should be a little more concerned himself, but his abilities sort of grant him the luxury of being flippant about these kinds of things. His easy grin falls from his features, replaced instead with worry, as he reaches over to gently grasp her shoulders between his hands. ]

But it still looks real.

[ So she’s not silly for feeling this way, or anything. She doesn’t have inviolability to fall back on…although now she kind of does, considering he wouldn’t let any harm befall her without intervening himself. ]

Let’s skedaddle. Need me to grab anything first?

[ He’s done playing around! For now. ]

[ The reassuring weight of his hands on her shoulders bids her to draw her hands away from her face to instead meet his gaze; so readily does he drop his flippancy before her, and even now, it catches her by surprise when he meets her bare earnestness with his own.

Her line of sight slides away from him and to the shelves in their periphery; if all of this molten rock behaved as she might imagine real lava would, the office would have been ashes by now. But as it is, things actually seem relatively alright, even if it's still unsettling and upsetting to watch two thousand years of work and documented, lived experiences get submerged in the stuff. It still looks real. And feels real. And— it's alright for her to be shaken up about this.

At his question, she looks down at her bare hands, realizing something. ]

M-My gloves. The ones that let me cast those Mage Hands— and there's a magic ring next to them, on my vanity. They might be useful—

[ But before he blinks away, she reaches up and squeezes his hand on her shoulder. ]

Be careful.

[ Not only would her office be in ashes, but they would be, too, and Satoru suspects that if he slipped into the lava, it wouldn't feel like more than a very hot bath. Not that he's going to test that, mind you, and it's enough that Sumina is worried. With a nod, his hands slide away and he steps backwards off the desk —

— and onto thin air, offering her a salute. ]

I will. Don't worry — I've dealt with lava before.

[ A whole fire and lava cursed spirit, and he was small potatoes, compared to what Gojo is capable of. Crossing over to her vanity with his mid-air walk, he scoops the ring and gloves into his hands, before teleporting right back to her side. ]

Your hand, Heartleaf-san?

[ He extends one of his own to take hers if she offers it, because yes, he is making this a thing. ]

[ He's dealt with lava before, yet even the reassurance isn't quite enough to prevent her from watching attentively as he walks over the lava as if on an invisible platform. And as stressed and preoccupied as she is in her thoughts, when he teleports back in an instant and asks for her hand, Sumina... bless her heart - offers it facing up in thinking that he means to deposit her gloves and ring into her palm. ]

My thanks, Satoru.

[ maybe don't thank him just yet.... ]

[ Definitely don't thank him just yet. He does deposit the gloves into her palm so he doesn't have to hold onto those anymore, but the ring...

Should he be doing this right now? No, but his earlier mischief hasn't fully abated, and with the ring poised between his thumb and forefinger, he kneels down in front of her, knee fully off the desk, just kneeling mid-air like an asshole. ]

Will you do me the honor, Momo-chan...?

[ He says as he coyly slides the ring onto her finger. You know which one. His gaze flickers up to her face, expectant. ]

[ why is he getting down on one knee. wHY IS HE GETTING DOWN ON ONE KNEE? ]

We are in the middle of a room full of lava, Satoru Gojo!! S—Stop joking around, you idiot!!

[ she curls her fingers into the gloves in her palm and tries to slap him with them!!! ]

[ NOT THE GLOVE SLAP...you know what, he could whip out Limitless and block her, but he deserves this, so he'll let it slide. He's so out of practice keeping it up around her, anyway... ]

Whaaaaa, I was just asking if I could put your ring on and rescue you! Heheh...

[ Rising once again to stand on the desk before her, he lifts a hand to poke a finger into his cheek where she hit him with the gloves. ]

Well? Shall we?

[ He offers her his other hand, in a gesture that is no doubt growing familiar to her at this point. ]

Ugh...

[ She knows that he knows that she knows that he knows what he was doing. Dummy! Give her a moment to soon-dairily slip her gloves on while looking pointedly away from him... Though he's drawn her annoyance, it certainly has distracted her from the distraught feelings she'd been having leading up to that moment... Though she's not entirely mindful of the fact, for the time being. ]

...One more thing.

[ With her gloves now securely on, she conjures a Mage Hand with a flick of her wrist to have it carefully pull on one of her desk's top drawers and pull out the journal he'd gifted her. Once it's safely deposited into her hand, she holds it fast to herself with one arm, while with the other she reaches for his hand. ]

Alright. I'm ready...

[ Oh...

She's found his critical weakness, genuine sentimentality...and once he realizes what it is that she's retrieving with her Mage Hand, his eyes go wide and shiny, touched that of all the things she would think to take with her, it's something that he gave her, something that represents her own story. ]

Aww, Mina-chan...

[ He murmurs affectionately as her hand slips into his own, and then he offers it a gentle squeeze before teleporting them away to the lobby. Off they go!

...To a slumber party...? ]

[ Don't "Aww, Mina-chan..." her!!

But yes, off they go, hand-in-hand to a slumber party, where they are soon handed their government-assigned PJs, toothbrushes, and sleep masks, which Sumina receives by (regrettably) letting go of Gojo's hand.

With a sigh of relief: ]

Thank gods. For a moment, I thought your powers might end up being nullified again...

[ smash cut to your other threads-- ]

[ In this timeline, he is spared the ignominy of power nullification. He looks stricken by the very suggestion, though he may be playing it up now that he can say for certain that they made it here safely. ]

Ugh, don't give the hotel any ideas! It's listening. [ He says in a stage whisper. ] If the lava shows up here and my powers go on the fritz, it's on you!

[ Then he holds up his PJs to size them up — a pretty standard affair, though it should be comfy enough. He did get a sleep mask with some big moe anime eyes on it, which he now holds up to his face for Sumina to appreciate. ]

Hey, Mina-chan! Check it out! I'm a shoujo heroine! Iyaaaa, all the boys at school are trying to win my affection, but I only have eyes for the reserved and aloof senpai!

[ He's truly in rare form today. ]

Edited 2024-01-23 05:56 (UTC)

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]

My thanks for getting me here. Goodnight.

[ she turns around and walks away... ]

[ She can't get away from him that easily!!! In this thread. This is a sleepover, the night has only just begun!

That being the case, he's going to just trail after her like a needy cat, nudging an elbow against her own. ]

Hey, heyyy! Do you want to be the shoujo heroine, instead? We can trade!

[ Was that the problem... ]

[ This needy cat following her... She sighs. That was not the problem... ]

I don't even know what that is, but if it's anything like an "otome protagonist," then no thank you.

[ She stops in her tracks and glances up at him skeptically while she holds up her government-assigned pajamas. ]

I'm going to go change into this.

[ Wait!!! Before she goes, he has to ask— ]

Wait! You know what an otome protagonist is?!

[ And she remembers that he called her one??? ]

[ Yes, and yes, she remembers. ]

I do. One of the younger guests told me...

[ Though Ryuji had also told her that the comparison was likely meant to be a flattering one... now, after everything, she's not sure what to think!! ]

Sooo now you must get what I mean about you being one! Actually, come to think of it, an otome protagonist is just a subset of shoujo heroine, so you've got them both covered.

[ For what it's worth, he meant it as a compliment, both back then and especially so now! Particularly given that she did kind of have a few people vying for her attention... ]

I—

[ Well. She can't deny it now, after everything, certainly... And perhaps returning home recently also brought to light that she was very much in the same sort of role at home, just completely oblivious and blind to it. (Sorry Vaer.)

Her voice drops into a hushed tone as she turns to face him. ]

If that's the case, shouldn't you be worried?

[ ...

Winter did tell him he stepped back, but... ]

[ Then, leaning in verrrry close to her face: ]

You tell me. Should I?

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