EVENT 01: Welcome to the Pentagon!

[unrequite]

WELCOME TO THE PENTAGON!

Picture a Las Vegas sized hotel, but with no casino. It's just very big. And there is no gift shop.

The Pentagon welcomes you...

You wake up from a doze seated in a firm lobby chair. Walked through a set of automatic sliding doors, bag in tow. Where did you get that bag? Listen, don't worry about it.

- All guests to the Pentagon arrived with a medium-sized standard rolling bag. It is filled with any items they would have brought with them if they had time to pack a standard rolling bag before they left. Weapons are okay!
- All guests may bring one living animal. The animal will retain any powers it may have as long as it is not worldbreaking.
- All guests will have their powers. They will not be allowed to use it to break the world. They may break other things, but they will be pulled aside by one of the receptionists for a Talking To. They may be barred from the hotel for the night and it gets cold outside the Pentagon!
- Guests are not limited to standard entry to the hotel. However, if they break hotel property upon entry, they will be expected to pay for repairs. Method of payment will come as soon as I'm not fuckballs tired.

Things to do:

- Check in! There is a handy dandy receptionist at the front desk ready to take your name and your reservation. Yes, you have a reservation! It's here, in this shared suite. You don't remember making that reservation? What a pity. Well, while we get you resituated in the system, I suppose you will have to make peace with your roommate. Please don't fuck up your relationship with your roommate, that would be so terribly awkward. If you would like to trade rooms, that is fine, but please notify the front desk with all involved parties with the details of the room change! Also, please allow one day for admin to catch up with bookings before you trade rooms! Try to be nice to your one night roomie okay okay

- Get breakfast! A free continental breakfast is served from 6 am to 10 am. Please come by for fresh food!

- Chill in the lobby! When it isn't doubling as the breakfast area, the lobby area functions as both a waiting room, a meeting place, and a chill seating area in case you don't want to eat your gas station hotdog at the gas station like a neanderthal. wow.

- Find your room!

Each suite has a:
- kitchenette (one pot, one pan, plastic silverware, paper plates and bowls. no food. that's at the gas station across the street.)
- microwave
- fridge (with drinks! you will have to pay for them if you take them. it's going to be Esspensive.)
- two beds (small, but very comfy)
- bathroom with bath and shower (with standard toiletries. if you need more, you can call the front desk! there are towels, but if you make a real mess, call the front desk for fresh ones.)
- toilet (no bidet)
- closet (3 hangers, one extra set of sheets, one extra comforter, two extra pillows, a small ironing board, an iron)
- shared side table (two drawer compartments, one for each bed; there are outlets for electronics)
- wardrobe (just one, but it's big! please share.)
- desk with rolling chair (just one! again, please share. also: a notepad with a cheap ballpoint pen, a phone, and a phone directory for standard hotel amenities)
- pullout bed couch (for more guests! this bed is far less comfy than the standard beds.)
- television (with standard cable and standard trash programming. nothing particular stands out about the programming.)

- book shop? ... There is a bookshop where the gift shop should be. Where did it come from? Perhaps it's always been there, in the same way the faceless staff of the Pentagon have always been there. There is currently caution tape over the front entrance. Although the entrance isn't locked, it is not advised to enter the bookshop early. Who knows what might happen (the people who were in the City knows what will happen no don't touch that—)

- gas station? across the street? The street stretches into the horizon. This place is flat. so very flat. but there's a gas station.

- fresh produce (limited, but good variety. may be slightly wilted.)
- standard basic groceries (including pet food for your Living Creatures)
- liquor section (we in the south now boyzzz)
- lotto ticket machine (?)
- chargers/small electronics
- wall o candy
- basic amenities and toiletries(fancier than hotel amenities but not by much)
- magazines!
- slushy machine
- coffee machine
- rolling hotdogs
- hot fast food
- car maintenance products. you know. for your car
- gas station guy. nice guy

How do you pay? the gas station guy will charge it to your room! Who's paying for your room? Erm. Tehe. pero

You can also go to the gas station guy and buy a bus ticket to Sin City for a vacay. Sin City is great! Lots to do in Sin City. Buses to Sin City leave every Wednesday evening — don't be late! However, after a month at maximum, you will be back in your room in the Pentagon. Guess the hotel likes you!

Other hotel amenities. This hotel isn't 5 star, but it isn't 3 star either! Standard fancy hotel amenities, such as a small gym, a pool and sauna, a well maintained laundry room, a small spa, and a business center with computers and print station also exist. The only amenity that does not exist is the standard fancy hotel restaurant. Make your food yourselves!!

welcome nerds. enjoy your stay!

OOC:
- I will make a receptionist thread. please feel free to add your character to the queue for a randomly selected room! if you would like to also have a conversation with one of our three randomly selected receptionists, please say so in your comment. thank. EDIT: room assignments are here! please add any new characters to any random rooms you like. if you change rooms, please be sure to update the spreadsheet. thank yoooou
- i'll make up how to make money and pay for stuff later. for now please don't starve just buy stuff it's Fine
- electricity works. there's local internet but search engines bring up very little about the area. gps does NOT work (for now)
- uh that's it i'm tired please tell me if i missed anything

Comments

[wordchain]

[ An early start to the day has followed a rather restless night, and it seems exceedingly ridiculous and irrational to feel even more out of sorts simply because it isn't possible to prepare breakfast to have with Netzach and Midnight in their own kitchen. Consequently, Yesod has been standing there for several minutes, frowning at the generous spread awaiting the hotel's guests. They don't have other options yet — he can at least assess these and confirm that nothing will catch them unawares.

Kaveh is welcome company, however, and reassuring to see once again, still here. It clears the frown from Yesod's features; he smiles at Kaveh instead. ]

Good morning, Kaveh.

[ Then his expression turns mildly taken aback, if only because answering Kaveh's questions honestly might ruin the mood somewhat. He isn't capable of sleeping well without Netzach and Midnight there beside him, close, where he can be certain that they are safe. He has grown too accustomed to being able to touch them, he supposes. ]

Ah... The beds are structurally adequate. [ But the sheets lack the scent of home, the comfort of everything irreplaceable that comprises it. ] Perhaps the staff would permit some degree of personalization?

[fussiest]

[ yesod's smile settles something small and restless in kaveh's chest, like a bird deciding with tenative courage that perhaps the branch will hold after all. it's a ridiculous relief, and he knows it. but relief rarely consults reason before it floods.

still - structurally adequate, yesod says, and kaveh's years' of deciphering the precise language of a taciturn introvert kicks in. he considers this for a moment. ]

Perhaps... I know that you prefer beds that are a little on the firmer side, but with just enough give so that Netzach naturally tilts towards you during sleep. All the mattresses here seem very uniform - believe, I've tried about fifteen of them before realising that there was no saving them. But maybe I can do something about the bed, or the springs.

[ hm. ] Would you like me to take a look sometime today? I doubt I can have a solution for you right away, but it might be worth looking into. [ ... wait. ] Wait, did you tell Netzach about this?

[wordchain]

[ Kaveh's observations and the offer that follows shouldn't come as a surprise by now, but his remarkable kindness continues to leave a profound impression. Yesod had meant to encourage Kaveh and Netzach to pursue redecorating their shared hotel room to reflect their tastes to whatever extent might be achievable with their limited options, but Kaveh thinks of him instead. ]

I... assumed that Netzach must be pleased that the hotel reservations have assigned both of you to the same suite.

[ Netzach is still asleep there, Yesod imagines, and it's good that he and Kaveh can spend time in each other's company freely again, as friends and specifically as artists. ]

Nevertheless, I appreciate your offer, and I intended to ask you for your opinion regarding our supplies here.

[fussiest]

[ kaveh's eyes widen as self-awareness eventually catches up to him. ]

Oh! Yes, Netzach and I are rooming, though I nearly forgot about that since my night was taken up by the most irritating man in the world. Alhaitham immediately passed out on my side of the bed the moment his head hit the pillow. My side! He ought to have known better! [ with a gesture that's the summation of each and every frustration borne by mankind: ] I'm always on the left! I had half a mind to suffocate him with a pillow in the middle of the night, but decided that I can't get into that much trouble my first few days in. What will the reception think?

Anyway, you can always come to our room, Yesod. I don't think Netzach is used to sleeping alone either; I had half a mind to invite him over to our bed, if Alhaitham hadn't been taking up the majority of it. [ kaveh looks at yesod for a moment, contemplative. ] And you're not used to sleeping without him, right? I might as well get his bed the right firmness, and both of you can benefit.

[wordchain]

[ It's then that Yesod realizes — unaware of Alhaitham's slime consequences to come — that there are no rules dictating that they must sleep in their assigned rooms each night. Perhaps he and his husbands could have shared a bed, despite the small size of the hotel beds, as they normally would. Taishin might prefer that as well, though it doesn't seem right to leave a teenager alone here, either.

It's something to contemplate and discuss further, with everyone involved. Right now, his eyes widen a little in kind, though he has witnessed enough of Kaveh's exasperation towards Alhaitham to think that having Alhaitham's presence there through the night must have been comforting all the same, no matter which side of the bed he claimed.

Then Yesod colors as Kaveh's accurate conclusions bring to mind everything that has come to constitute a customary bedtime routine, a restful night's sleep. He worries that Midnight also hasn't slept at all. ]

Thank you for your invitation as well, Kaveh. I must confess that I was planning to visit both Netzach and Midnight shortly. I can't deny that it's unusual... that the three of us have spent the night apart.

[fussiest]

[ kaveh stills as yesod speaks. there's something about the way he says it, careful but not evasively so, that settles into kaveh. it's a quiet sort of clarity, one that comes after a late night and a terribly inadequate round of cheap, flavourless alcohol: a statement no more remarkable than the rising of the sun, or the call of the kulfiwallahs at dusk.

he observes the faint flush of colour on yesod's face, the careful way he picks at his words. there's grace, kaveh realises, in the way he names absence without diminishing what it signifies. it makes something in kaveh's chest ache. to remind him that he, too, has grown used to a certain someone's presence in his bed night after night. certain rhythms in life, even if those rhythms irritate him beyond reason. it must be like that for yesod, too, though he can't imagine yesod being irritated beyond reason. fond, perhaps. ]

Why later? I'm willing to bet the two of them are still in bed. How about we surprise them with some breakfast delivered to their door? [ kaveh plants his hands on his hips, and grins. ] Actually, it ought to be called breakfast in bed. What better way to wake up and start the morning, right?