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.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caelumstaff) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
hotelcaelum2024-01-12 09:44 am
no subject
Was he afraid that day his best friend, his one and only turned his back on him, and left him alone? ]
Heh, nah. You're gonna have to do better than that if you wanna spook me.
[ And he is ever changing, ever growing, must always confront what he fears in order grow stronger. If that is only the fallibility of his own heart now, then he should face that too, shouldn't he? ]
You know...I have the ability to heal myself. To refresh my brain as often as I need, with the cursed energy I possess. Pretty self-sufficient, huh? I've thought about it, before...if I could refine my reverse technique to the point that I could go without sleep indefinitely, if I could weather the negative effects of going hungry by healing my fatigue. Wouldn't that be something...
[ The question remains unspoken, but weighs heavy in the ensuing silence. What sort of person must he be to willingly consider giving up that part of his humanity? What sort of being is he? ]
no subject
"Being tired is not the only reason to rest."
[ She settles on, the curve of her lip clever, a cold hand raising to her chin. ]
It feels as though I have heard that rather recently. Hehehe....
[ Her chuckles seem a little more mirthful than the usual aloofness they're uttered with, genuinely sounding amused to have turned his own words against him. ]
Are there not things which you would enjoy to eat again? Things you yearn to dream about? To forfeit these urges... is to eventually forget those desires. And in doing so, yourself. I would not wish that fate on anyone.
[ She wishes she could taste mulled wine again, could close her eyes and dream of the person she loves most. But she can't remember the things she used to like to eat, what things used to excite her enough to dream about. There's no choice in giving it up for her — it's simply gone forever, and despite the playful way in which she delivers it, the warning is serious. ]
no subject
But he has been here, and...despite retaining his powers and abilities, it's still the most ordinary he's felt in years. A complex realization to grapple with on its own, but no less monumental, that he's thought it at all.
And so Giselle's warning serves to further fortify against his crusade for power, against that which would make him less of a man, and more of a weapon. He can still be fully human, while she cannot.
...He hates that he can't do anything about that. He hates when he feels powerless, but it's not as though he has any capacity to give those missing parts of herself back to her.
...Or does he? ]
Hey, Gigi-chan. Now that you've been here for awhile...has your wish changed at all?
[ Perhaps something of a non sequitur, but she can likely already tell where he is going with this. ]
fatamoru spoilers
But... despite that... she finds herself hesitating to affirm it.
Hundreds of years of lost memories, of never being able to truly reunite, doubt about whether a second wish would even change matters, all pitted against the small flashes of joy she's been able to secure her hands around here... it's hard to be steadfast in keeping the former over the latter. ]
I'd like to always keep that wish in my heart.
[ Her words are sure, genuine, a deep and profound love coursing steady beneath them. But the words are tight, too, brittle with cracks of doubt and eroding hope. It would break her heart to abandon the person she loves, but, there's also only so much she can endure, especially when offered a reprieve as tempting as the one she's been introduced to, through meeting all the guests. ]
But... I'm unsure how much longer I can bear waiting for it to come true. I've held on tight for so, so very long... [ She smiles, but the tug of her lip is sad — mourning, almost. Like a confession: ] Lately... I find myself simply wishing to live happily.
[ Reunion or no, she means. It's devastating, in its own right, thinking about letting go of the wish she's carried for so long, but she can't deny how much lighter her spirit has felt, surrounded by others who talk to her like Giselle — people like him, who invite her to be at their side, and spare a thought for what her wish may be. When it comes down to it, she's exhausted of being in despair, and she doesn't want to invite the chance of more of it, by risking another wish that may go awry. She just wants to be happy again.
Once her eyes open, she keeps her gaze down, brow tensing with conflict. ]
...Do you find that cowardly?
no subject
Without hesitating a moment, without missing a beat, in an urgent, sincere exhale: ]
No. It takes a lot more courage to choose to live for yourself.
[ And for perhaps the first time in his life, he’s hearing those words for himself, too. It’s ironic, how easily Satoru has always found it to be to say them to others – he is the champion of breaking the system, after all, of rewriting the laws of his society so mere children no longer have to be forced to be soldiers. So they can live their own lives, happily, however they choose. Yet when was the last time he told himself that? Allowed himself to believe it? He’s not unhappy, he loves what he does, he loves his students, and nothing makes him feel more alive than letting loose in a fight. He lives and breathes jujutsu, he can do anything that he wants, and yet is he satisfied?
Is it too much to not want to die with regrets himself? Is that even possible, for someone like him, or is he too far gone, too defined by who he is, what he is, what he needs to be?
Yet he tells Giselle to live for herself. Someone who, by the sounds of it, has been waiting a hell of a lot longer than him to make that decision, has lived with regrets for far longer. Has given up her humanity for it, when he still has his own. How can he tell her to do something he’s not willing to do himself?
If that makes him a hypocrite, so be it. Maybe she’ll still take his advice, regardless at how poor a job he does at following it. He can do anything, make any choice, and the world will beckon to his call…
…except for choose his own happiness. Go figure. ]
If you don’t make that wish for yourself, I’ll just have to do it for you.
[ Is this blackmail? Yeah, kind of, but he's entirely sincere. ]
no subject
Those words communicate that she's anything but, though.
Her eyes widen, head turning to meet his eyes near instantly — it's really... not something she'd expected to hear from him. Satoru is playful and energetic, but serious and ambitious, too. He'd said from the beginning he didn't believe or trust in the power of a wish. Only now does she begin to wonder if that's truly how he felt. She could understand if he only trusted his own seemingly limitless powers to achieve his ambitions, but —
This wish, if it's real... he could still use it for something else, right? Surely, something that would make him happier than using it on a plain maid. ]
Satoru... now, you shouldn't say such a thing...
[ She tries to sound like her usual serene self, tries to wield the tone she'd use while passively scolding a child. But it comes out more like a plea, a waver in her voice that's not usually there. The truth is, even if it were that he was just joking, even if it were that he didn't really believe in a wish... it matters that he'd said, in words, that he would want her to be happy. It's more precious than any jewel to her, and she'll cradle that I'll just have to do it for you in her heart for many years to come, she knows. Deep in her cold chest, her heart clenches. ]
What shall stop me from spending mine to repay you in turn? [ a beat. ] From lending this so-called "courage" to you...
[ Because the sense she gets, from the quickness of his reply, the following exhale, and how easily he had forfeited his own wish, is that he has no intention of wishing the same for himself. His ambition must come first, she must assume, taking precedence over something as fleeting as happiness. She can understand that... she really can. She's never had such altruistic ideals as him, never had grand plans for helping society, but Giselle knows, intimately, what it is to put something you believe in before yourself in every aspect.
It's a testament to how much of her old self she's been able to regain here in this hotel, that she doesn't simply crumble and begin clinging on to the hope that she may finally be able to fix more than one problem of her own, through this alleged power. For so long, Giselle has thought only of herself, only of holding out until she could reach her own happiness. But, now... she can't bear to think of getting it by taking the same chance away from someone else. Perhaps especially not from him, who she thinks she understands many facets of. ]
no subject
Isn't that what he wants for his students, too? For those asked to bear a burden they're far too young to be taking on? To just...have the chance to live their lives the way they want.
Why does he consider himself the exception to that? Why, when he has people like Giselle who are willing to fight for his happiness, too?
Surprise flickers on his features for a moment, before it softens into a smile, gaze turning down to the serene surface of his tea. Slow and easy, he exhales, a steady ripple forming over its surface from the gust of his breath. ]
That so? Hah...maybe we should just do each other a favor and be a little selfish with our wishes, then, huh?
[ It takes courage to live for yourself. He really believes that. He just...has grown so numb to fear that he forgot what courage really felt like.
...He's remembering, though. He's remembering everything he forgot a decade about, the kaleidoscope of every color of his heart, and that of those around him. ]
At the very least...we ought to hold each other accountable, don't you think?
[ For each other's happiness, and their freedom to pursue it as they see fit. ]