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

[River seems to retreat into himself, and if not that, at least grow quiet and know that the better route is to entertain himself for a moment. Henry often has a tight leash on his anger--he's the one who lets it loose when he desires it--but there are circumstances when it uncoils itself and strikes without him meaning to. Usually when he's lost some semblance of control over the situation.

The measured silence allows him to reel it back in, in the wake of it flaring a second time. Though, despite himself, he can't help but watch what River's doing, caught between indignant and baffled.]

What are you doing?

[His answer is simple.]

Hanging out.

[River considers his shuffled deck for a moment before taking out a red card with the number '1' on it.]

Giving you space, but keeping you company. While you sort things out in your head. [He taps the card on his head giving Henry a small grin.]

[River's gifted at what Henry pretends to be gifted in, and admittedly succeeds at most of the time: emotional intelligence. Still, he wants to be indignant at the very thought, as though this man would have any actual clue about what he wants, but even he realizes it isn't worth the effort. It's better to have a quiet River than one nattering on and on if he has to deal with him.

...So, finally, he sits. A frown still mars his face, but he actually does take a sip of his tea, eying the "1" on River's card.

Moments pass, the harsh spike of irritation returning to its low boil.]

Do you worry about anything?

[legit q]

Y'know, you're not the first person to ask me that.

[The red "1" is slipped back into the deck.]

I'm "too optimistic"— [He makes some very exaggerated air quotes before dropping his hands.]

—According to a lot of other espers I know or met growing up. But yeah, I got worries. Who doesn't? I just deal with it differently even if it doesn't look obvious.

Edited 2024-01-17 19:31 (UTC)

There's a line between optimism and naivety. Or willful ignorance.

[And though that sounds like a villain about to fall off the cliff of a monologue, he doesn't continue. He just looks at River critically, ignoring the colorful flash of Uno cards.]

What worries do you have, then? If lava that could kill a man doesn't so much as make you blink.

[River shrugs!]

Well, while the lava happened, I was like, "Oh fuck!" But now it's done and over with, I'm mostly ok and in no need of skin grafts... I don't have to be in a state of, "Oh fuck," that long, do I?

But to answer your question, I worry about other people mostly. Like, my grandma getting on in age, my cousins when they face a problem at school and won't talk about it with me, or if I'm helping enough people as a doctor.

[Look Henry, you asked...]

I worry a lot about Lulu too. She's strong but she tries to carry a heavier load than she can handle at times.

[He did ask, and he's receiving an open answer, as he always does. This isn't surprising. Even River's actual worries, amid such a carefree mind, are not earth-shattering revelations for Henry; it seems the esper worries about the mundane as much as the rest of anyone else often does.]

Interpersonal woes. That's nothing new.

[Even when he was younger, when his powers were new and a little frightening and when he could hear everyone's thoughts even when he didn't mean to, it was always the same. Someone hating someone, someone afraid to tell someone something, the web of relationships and how their ever-fluctuating dynamics changed daily. To think about it now is utterly tiring, and he's glad he can shut his mind off to them as he desires.]

As for the lava, you're missing the point. It's the fact that it shouldn't have happened at all; the fact that this is starting to feel a little like someone's practical joke.

At our expense. [And that's agitating.

Plus the lava sucked.]

Edited 2024-01-18 18:43 (UTC)

So what I'm hearing is that you hate getting your chain yanked around and not having control over situations.

[River, for all his faults, can somehow get the gist of things quickly.]

[Well.

Yeah,]

Yes.

[Not embarrassed to admit it.]

You would, too, if you were an "esper" in my world.

[River lets out a puff of breath as he shuffles the Uno deck]

Everyone goes through it, esper or not. No one likes not being in control. Not that I'm doubting you. Grass doesn't sound that green on your side.

["Everyone goes through it." What would he know about what he's been through?]

Everyone? [indignant] Why don't you tell me what training was like for you when you were younger, River.

[Because he can assure him that his experience was worse. No, the grass wasn't very green at all.]

[And surprisingly, River readily admits:]

I had it way easier than my peers.

[Because his powers do not pertain to gathering unseen information with the mind. His esper ability is holistic in comparison; it's the stuff of miracles. And for that reason, he knows any pain or exhaustion he's been through is not comparable to that of someone like his best friend.]

Other healers taught me. You're better off asking people with mindreading, psychometry, or other empaths what their training was like cause they had it a whole lot harder than me especially if they experienced exploitation before the Collective found them.

[Leans in, darkly, a dangerous edge to his tone-]

I was stolen away. Trapped. Manipulated to think of my captor as "family." Screamed at and told I was doing well in the same conversation. I was drugged within an inch of my life; sedatives, hallucinogenics, psychostimulants. Some days I couldn't even stand on my own two feet, and they kept me in a wheelchair when I wasn't in a straitjacket. Vials and vials and vials of my blood drawn. Days spent in the pitch-black room of solitary confinement. And if that wasn't enough punishment for not being on "good behavior", I was electrocuted, instead.

[He lifts his arm, rolling up his left sleeve, revealing to River a little 001 tattoo inked into his wrist. Even outside of his human form, this still mars his skin.]

I was government property.

[So much discontent churns in him. It roils back up, like bile. He drops his hand.]

So don't pretend you know what it's like. Don't tell me "everyone goes through it" when you're sitting there, telling me that you had it easier.

[Is it any wonder Henry doesn't like feeling not in control.]

Edited 2024-01-18 20:15 (UTC)

[River's normally expressive face is oddly passive as Henry explains to him in no uncertain terms, that his life as a psychic was hell. His dark eyes move to the tattoo of 001 on his wrist, the proof of the suffering he's been through. Henry Creel is a living example of what the Esper Collective warns its members would happen if they were taken advantage of by those greedy for their powers.

He thinks of the dark-haired girl who sat by herself in the corner, ignoring him and the others in the facility. He remembers approaching her persistently, always trying to get to know her and reassure her that everything would be alright. One day, for his efforts she pushed him away and pushed him to the floor, angry at the very gall of him trying to understand her pain.

The pain of being used.

The pain of being treated like a dangerous animal, to live in darkness, to think of escape as just a dream.

She was able to escape. She was able to live in the light, but her mind and heart remained in that dark place still.

All he could do was push himself to stand and approach her again.

When Henry withdraws his hand, River is silent for a long discomforting moment. And then he speaks.]

I can't pretend.

[He sets down the deck and takes the card at the top. It's the red "1" again.]

And that's precisely why I told you I've had it easier because I know that I don't know. I only know that you're not the only psychic who's been exploited beyond belief in body and mind. And even when you're able to make it out, you'll be stuck for a long while still.

[It's a one-sided account, of course, but it encompasses the section of his life that isn't as susceptible to Henry being an unreliable narrator of his own tale. Twenty years in HNL was indeed a prison, and he was treated like a tool more than a person. And it shaped him into so much of the man he is today, which mostly... isn't a good thing. All the empathy wrung out of him; his nihilistic tendencies amped up tenfold. The darkness he tried to keep at bay when he was younger, now let off its leash. Engulfing him fully, and he willingly allows it.

That's why he doesn't know what to do with empathy when he's met with it, not with someone who can't know what it was like. Who isn't like him.

Easier to balk at it. He glances at the Uno card, the "1" practically burning in his vision.]

Who says I'm stuck? [A laughable question. Is he rooted down by his past, by the lab, by the failure of his family, by the loss of his only friend, all those years ago? Yes. But will he see it in that light now? No.] I told you - I'm angry. And anger is the perfect emotion to bolster action. And change. I'm never going to be under anyone's thumb like that, ever again.

[Trapped. Even though... he still is.]

Edited 2024-01-19 18:01 (UTC)

["An angry psychic, is a dangerous psychic."

It's the stripped-down basics, one of the first things every young esper learns when it comes to controlling whatever ability they were born with. To be angry and overly emotional is to be a danger to not just others, but to themselves.

Henry isn't from River's world. He wouldn't comprehend those principles, not when his life was unquestionably violated by the government and espers in that world were rare and had no overarching community. To bring that up would be condescension and not even River is that shortsighted.

He slips the card back into the deck.]

It can be both. Stuck and angry. And believe it or not, I agree with you. Some of it anyway.

[The deck is split in half and it makes a rustling sound as he shuffles it between his thumbs.]

When we first met, you didn't like me on principle because I told you that I was a doctor, right? Cause doctors were probably one of the many assholes that made your life hell.

[He sure is a danger to others. Just ask the poor people from his world. But that's neither here nor there (right now, anyway), and it's best that River doesn't try to argue the point but rather adjust it to "not only one, but both."

Still, Henry frowns, straightening. But he doesn't figuratively bite back.]

Doctors, scientists, researchers.

[There's an irony, then, that one of his "closest" here is an academic with a love for magical study... But that's fine, don't worry about it.]

One in particular, the head of that lab.

Head Jackass, I take it.

[He stops shuffling long enough to look at Henry with a slight quirk on his lips.]

I can confidently guess that those doctors broke the Hippocratic Oath. I'd bet money on it.

["Head Jackass" is both painfully accurate and, in Henry's (really fair, actually) assessment, a huge understatement.]

"Papa", as he'd have all the test subjects call him.

[Perhaps that clarifies the part where Henry had said there was a certain degree of manipulation to treat their circumstances as one big family. (And it worked, too, to a certain degree.)]

Why would something as small as an oath stop their pursuit of science? Knowledge? Moreover, power? Just one more thing for humanity to pretend at.

[River's nose wrinkles dramatically when Henry tells him about calling the head of the lab "Papa."]

Ugh. That's creepy as shit. Easy to manipulate and coerce younger minds to do that though.

Anyways, joking about that oath part, but I take it seriously on principle.

[He IS a real doctor. River keeps the conversation going, sharing something in return for Henry's small revelations.]

I think I told you that I'd talk about what training was like in my case, right? Well, ideally you're born into a family that has a history of it already, like mine. Mom's an esper, Grandma's one, and so was my dad. Pretty inevitable when I popped out. The family's prepared in any case. If you're not, there's usually at least one other person who's sending out a mind signal so that the single esper can catch on. It's like being able to sign into a wifi network after you find it.

From there, you're signed up to train in one of the facilities in your area.

Edited 2024-01-23 20:09 (UTC)

[He was a "young mind", too, when he was first kept prisoner in the lab. Thirteen years old. Twenty years stuck underground, trapped and with nowhere to go, no one who cared enough to try to save him.

But he doesn't say that much. If it comes up, then it comes up.]

The difference a "community" makes.

[More and more, after arriving in this hotel, he has begun to wonder if he was born in the wrong world. If he would have been (happier) more suited to one where psionics existed in a larger number, or one with magic and fantastical things that would not so much as blink at his abilities. Or might have dealt with the darkness inside of him... differently.]

That's the difference between your world and mine. Psionics numbered in the teens at their highest.

[He lets out a low whistle at the low number.]

And they all belonged to the US and nowhere else? Yeesh.

[Though espers are found globally, there is a high concentration of them in East and Southeast Asia. River truly was fortunate; born into a family of espers and an ability that wouldn't hinder him mentally, he had all the support he could ever ask for and the exposure to the world's mysteries and supernatural to just accept it as a way of life.

He knows he's a lucky fool of a man, so at the very least, he can help in any way he can.]

Well, with our facilities, on the surface, they looked like after-school or community programs. So no conditioning-cult BS; we had teachers, we were students, and then we split off into groups based on our specializations. As you can imagine, I worked with our healers the most.

As far as I know. [He hasn't a guess what other countries might be up to, and he doesn't really care.] The rest of them... They were "created" rather than simply born with the inherent ability to do what I can do.

[Tools to be used. Not a simple fact of life, like it is in River's world, where such a prominence would mean a community created to train and protect their own. (Even police their own, if what he recalls from Lucinda was correct.)]

And after your training was done? What then? You're free to do whatever you like?

[The fact that the psychics were “created” rather than born gets another rare frown from River. He answers Henry’s question in lieu of making a remark about that.]

Generally? Yes. Most espers live “normal” lives but if there is a downside, it’d be that if the Collective gives someone an assignment, you’re expected to fulfill it. It’s to be expected in return for all the support and networking.

[Yeah, don't worry about it.]

And if they don't want to? Fulfill it.

Event Log #004

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