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

[ "change back", oh, that's a whole slew of implications there. she shudders despite herself, her academic's brain beginning to slot a few forgotten pieces together. the shadow, the hedging manner he speaks about it in, the immolation, the fact that he is named Vecna.

but hey! at least she's not thinking about licking his tears anymore. ]

I suppose I should see. And know.

Sure.

[Casual, as though this isn't something that might send her flying out the door and into the lava -- he hopes against hope that isn't the case. And yet he knows how visceral anything from that plane can be, himself included. He's used the fear it incites in others to his advantage more than once.

Well. Nothing to do than to try, and see how she takes to it.]

All right, so... look... right there.

[He gestures to the far end of her room, which is suddenly no longer her room, but the dark, isolated, cobwebby clearance of a ruined attic, entwined with strange dark vines. Little beams of moonlight sluice through the slats of the roof and the dusty panes of a window.

But it's not completely isolated, of course.

He ushers forth the illusion of "himself" in his true form, posed in a kneel as the many vines rise and latch onto Vecna's back. With a wet sound, they connect with his sometimes-pulsating flesh and lift him up high -- like a spider at the center of its web.

And like this, the mystery of Henry's shadow is a mystery no longer. His form matches the silhouette she would have seen back then. The tendrils, the larger frame, the clawed, almost gnarled left hand. He seems to be in a trance, like this, but his... everything prevents it from being a truly tranquil scene.

There's something to be said about the fact that he thought she'd take this better at a distance, rather than up close, anyway.]

[ every single inch of her goes utterly. still. she's frozen in place, down to the very blood in her veins. paralyzed by that very fear he's wielded with all the precision of a scalpel.

that figure is a lich.

Henry is a lich.

Henry is Vecna.

she'd flinch back, but she can't. she can't move at all. she can only breathe, coming faster and faster and faster as the scene plays out. ]

[That is not what we would call... an ideal reaction.

And he's watching her reaction carefully, too. Of course she'd be afraid, even when he's trying not to specifically strike fear into her; what sense would that make? But nothing about what he looks like is calming, or doesn't send the imagination wheeling. There's no hiding what that place turned him into: a monster.

And that's fine.

He just needs to acclimate her to this reality. Gently.]

...Do you want me to end the illusion there?

[ still perfectly unmoving, but her eyes snap to the side. to him. still a lithe, blonde man with a 001 tattooed on his wrist.

this whole time, she's been touching a lich? kissing, holding, being intimate with—?

her mouth works silently; she's not sure what she wants to say. her voice is frozen, too. "yes" seems safe. ]

[Definitely still him. He'd not jumpscare her like that. On purpose, anyway.

Fun fact, the Vecna hanging from his "web" still has a little 001 tattoo, too, in the same place. Though perhaps that's hard to notice from back here, on the bed.

He dismisses the illusion just to be safe, and it disappears in a wisp. Her room returns to normal.]

...No matter what I am, I'm not going to hurt you, you know.

[ >jumpscares literally every other character in the show ]

Why do you go straight to "hurt"? [ words suddenly pouring from her mouth ] You—you have no skin.

[She’s special.

And why DID he go straight to “hurt.”]

Well. You saw what I looked like.

[And yeah, no skin.]

That place changed me. Completely. All the creatures there are like that — cold, and smooth, and… [slimy, just say slimy] …slick.

There were—things attached to you! And you have no skin!

[Maybe he should just let this settle in her mind for a bit. Let’s not talk about his undead appearance.]

Being connected to that dimension amplifies my powers. It helps me reach out, even into my “home” plane.

[ she tries to imagine this voice coming out of that thing. ]

Like that? Mammon, you looked like spider. Is that intentional?

[She’s in for a surprise when she hears his lich voice someday.

He shouldn’t smile at the comparison, but it’s Henry, so of course he does.]

It just turned out that way, but I thought so, too. Fitting… like being at the center of the web, feeling every reverberation in that place.

[ Mammon, she forgot he could feel it. ]

I don't understand. But you aren't really there?

What do you mean?

[Not really there? He's very much trapped, and it takes a moment to parse what he thinks is her actual meaning.]

Oh, you mean the attic? Don't let that deceive you. That plane is a shadowed, mirrored reflection of my own. Even when it comes to the buildings of the town itself.

But when you show me your mind flayer, it was all... rocks and dust...

You said it lays over. This realm. [ or she suggested it, she can't recall ] So these... people, who lit you on fire. Were they in your realm, or were you bleeding over into theirs?

That was when I found it. Before it... intersected with the "real" world. Before it "laid over" it.

[Like two spheres, bumping into each other, and the Upside Down is the area where they intersect. That's how he inherently understands it, even if he cannot scientifically explain it. ~~plus it's not like canon explains it~~]

They were coming into mine.

[ this is horrible. horrible. she hates it ]

Why?

[Ah, we are treading into slightly treacherous territory. This is a little more than just showing her what he looks like -- this pulls at tenuous strings that could lead to more questions, with answers that she might not be ready to hear, and he pauses.]

Going home requires creating portals. Some people don't like it when you poke holes in the veil between realities; don't want things to spill through. Even if one of those "things" is a man that's been trapped for years. It's as simple as that.

[is it tho]

[

is it? she looks at him without moving or speaking for... too long after he's given his explanation. her blood is pulsing in her ears. Sprezzatura's never found it simple to read people—not her peers, not her parents. not even Henry.

so it speaks to something that, as she gazes at him, she thinks: I don't believe you. ]

[ she turns her face away, running a hand through her hair like a woman thrice her age. ]

I see.

[“I see.” Is that it? For such a prolonged silence that followed, he wonders what she’s going through her head — is it doubt? Concern?

Something, for certain. But she accepts his answer, all the same, and maybe for now… that’ll have to do.]

So… does any of what you saw change how you think of me?

[ there is doubt. yes. but she refuses to look at it for long.

....... ]

I don't know. It might.

[He can't help but wonder if this would have gone over better or worse if he had waited to show her.

Tilts his head, considering again.]

But who I am isn't any different than before.

[He was always a lich man; and surely she just didn't like him for his looks alone? He's nothing special in that department.]

[ why did they cross over to set you on fire? why did they not want to rescue a lost soul? why are you "Vecna"? ]

Why ask me if you are going to argue with my answer?

[As the famous saying goes: Don't worry about it.]

Because you're owed the truth [lol] of what I look like. But I don't want to push you away, either. Not after everything.

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the way i'm still linking you even tho you're canon familiar

WET MAN

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