psltagon | EVENT 01: Welcome to the Pentagon!

Entry tags:

ic: events

EVENT 01: Welcome to the Pentagon!

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Oof. Apparently, this is something that is covered in the instruction manual for the hotel, because Voir looks over at the mess, sighs, then excuses themselves from the front desk to walk to the employee room. They return later with some metal stanchions and rope cordons, which they begin deploying around the mess. ]

Everyone all right here? Nothing to see, please move along, everyone... As for you two, please stand out of the way with your luggage. We'll have staff come by to plug things up later. Welcome, by the way.

Um.

[ kaveh looks. and then, with the guilt of a golden-furred dog who isn't quite sure what it's done wrong, only that it has, he takes a step to the side. ]

Ah. Wait- please don't welcome us here just yet! We were trying our best to get out! This doesn't seem very out at all!

Well, the door is there, if you'd like to be more out than you're in, but I think you'll find that there's even less out there than there is in here. There's a refueling station out there! Sometimes, there's even a bus. Here...

[ They kick aside some of the more egregious chunks of concrete, then stands out of the way so both Kaveh and Alhaitham can roll their luggage comfortably toward the rest of the lobby. ]

My name's Voir, by the way. You're standing in the Pentagon, a four star hotel in the middle of, as far as I know, nowhere.

Luggage? [Alhaitham raises a brow as he steps sideways, glancing around.

The rest of that sure sounds like "simulation" but he dare not speak it aloud while Kaveh is in the middle of grappling with consequences.]

[ kaveh's head tilts up, then down. ]

Oh. Well, I suppose - yes, that is a pentagon. But isn't it a little too on the nose to call it the Pentagon? If it had six sides, would you have called it Hexagon? [ ... ] Wait. Nice to meet you, Voir, but did you just say there's nothing else out there? Over there?

Yes, right next to you. Your things are in them! There we go...

[ Voir shoos them out of the blast area and hooks the cordon behind them. There! Now no one will trip over anything. ]

Let's go outside so you can see what I'm talking about... To answer your question, it is on the nose, but I didn't name the place. I don't know who did, actually.

[ Look, sliding doors! Voir steps toward them and allows their two guests to step out first, if they wish. ]

[Those bags were... not there before. Simulation intensifies.

But Alhaitham grabs them anyway because if it's like the City there may be personal things in here he doesn't want other people to snatch.] What about the owner?

And does this place knit itself back together magically every night? Unless that's a very, very strange question. [ says kaveh, with a growing sense of dread. it manifests itself in the way he tips his shoulder into alhaitham's, a gentle brush of a thing that grounds him. ]

[ It's eerie, how flat everything is outside the Pentagon. Beyond the hedges is a road, and across the road is a gas station. The road stretches into what seems like eternity in both directions. There is vegetation, of course, but even the grass seems a bit too well clipped. It's so very flat.

At least the signage for the gas station seems to have personality. The gas station guy can be seen behind the glass doors, sweeping the floors. ]

I've broken some things here and there for the past week, and the staff comes by and replaces it... Ah, like them.

[ They point back inside, at thes cordoned off area. The staff look like regular people, but as they carefully move aside the cordon to begin cleaning the mess with shovels and a wheelbarrow, it's clear even from this distance that they have no faces. Just smooth skin where their faces should be. ]

They're a little... Unsettling, I suppose — not at all the conversational, obviously — but they haven't harmed us yet, and they have impeccable manners. I'm guessing they'll be fixing that wall for the next day or so.

[In response, Alhaitham's hand slips against Kaveh's arm. The certainty that no matter where they are, at least they know the other is there.

And this is like some part of the city was unfinished. But with some phantasms to give the appearance of the work being done, rather than it fixing itself?

Alhaitham stares at them. Quite rudely. Not like they have faces to protest with.]

Huh. And how did you find yourself here?

[ The staff are far too busy cleaning up to notice Alhaitham staring at them, for the moment! Only time will tell if they can do things like see. Or eat.

Voir sticks a hand in their pocket. They, Shiwon, and Arsalan are wearing the same uniforms as the staff, but Voir has chosen to leave the blazer and the first button of their shirt unbuttoned. ]

Same as you lot. I walked in through the front door on my way to my ship; Arsalan was at his mansion before waking up in the lobby, and I bumped into Shiwon while she was trying to catch the train to school, apparently. We were checked in by the staff.

[ kaveh looks. and then, he blanches. his hand flits up to where alhaitham's rests to give it a squeeze. it's a four-alarm squeeze, on the usual five-alarm scale. it's a fairly alarmed squeeze. ]

Haitham, Haitham - they don't have faces! Are they... what are they? Are they even alive?

[ ... and then, with a single, stunned finger pointed in their guide's way- ] Are... you alive?

[ A surprised look from Voir before they throw their head back and laugh. ]

Well, I like to think so. At the very least, I'll vouch for Arsalan and Shiwon. Shiwon's too rowdy to not be alive, and Arsalan... Well, that man's lived several lifetimes, as far as I know. Getting more than confirmation of one out of him is like pulling teeth, believe me.

[At least someone here is having some fun.] Perhaps a better question is whether they're real. The city was originally built upon simulations of people.

[ They are nothing if not committed to having the time of their life at all times! ✨ ]

The city? Is that where you're from? If this is a simulation, I wouldn't know. Not the scientific sort, personally. Sorry I can't help much there.

[ They tut, then look back inside. ]

I should probably head back in so Shiwon and Arsalan don't get swamped, but is there anything else I can do for you two?

Well, yes, but - [ kaveh's hand flutters nervously in alhaitham's. despite it all, something does ring a little different. he can't quite put his finger on why, and so continues: ] oh, this is getting to be a little much. But if it's simply another chapter of it, then we have a duty to see where it leads.

Ah - Mister... Voir? Sorry, we're still having a little trouble processing all of this. But you seem to know where's what and what's where. Just one more quesiton: are you part of this hotel, now? As a worker?

[Alhaitham's hand is now a stress ball.]

It's where we just came from [And anything further back isn't exactly relevant at this time.]

A part of the hotel... I guess that's a fair question to ask.

[ Voir puts a finger to their chin in thought. ]

When we — Arsalan, Shiwon, and I, that is — realized that we were undergoing job training for this place, we did have a small discussion about if we wanted to comply. We concluded that the best way to figure out what was happening was to play along for as long as it takes for this place to show its innerworkings. So far, in spite of how... unusual the circumstances are, the core of our responsibilities seem perfectly normal, as is the booking system and the job training. I think the only thing that has been overtly strange outside of the patently obvious has been the lack of a management position. Regardless of how well or poorly we perform, there seem to be no consequences for our compliance or lack thereof. We knew, for example, that today was meant to be a big day — I can show you the employee calendar in the break room later — but no one's been by to update the calendar, or check our time cards, or anything of the sort.

[ A shrug. ]

All to say that I'm sure we could have skipped work today and let the staff check you lot in, but I personally wouldn't have done that. It was just awkward when it happened to us. Shiwon was terrified the whole time. At least we have faces, friendliness notwithstanding.

[ it seems, kaveh thinks, terribly straight-forward and infinitely complicated. but that's the way with all things. he thinks about how each of them had to take on their own roles within the city's simulation, whether they were assigned to or not. how they all had to find ways to adapt despite the rules being unwritten, opaque and seemingly ever-changing. it simply means a different kind of being prisoner, is all.

kaveh plucks up a smile. ]

Well, I can certainly say that having you greet us has made me feel infinitely better than if the blank, faceless people did. So you have my thanks for choosing to be kind. It sounds like we're all in a... [ he grimaces, ] a less than ideal situation, and well - for us, it's sort of the second time around. But that just means it's better to choose to be kind than to leave each other to fend for ourselves.

So, thank you for taking on all of this. Um, I've still very little idea as to what's going on yet, but I'd like to be able to help, however you need. It's the least I can do for the lot of you who are trying to make things better for the rest of us.

[If this is another sloppy research project Alhaitham may just give into the urge to stab the people responsible.

He listens, and then slowly turns his attention to the faceless people.] I wonder how much the faceless staff are like actual people or some sort of construct.

[ A nod to Kaveh and a peppy grin! ]

Appreciate it! Can't say there's much to do besides gather information and see about sending us all home if possible — or necessary — but I'll get back to you if I dream any bigger than that.

[ Turning back to watch the staff go, they shrug, crossing their arms and regarding the cleanup crew thoughtfully. ]

We've asked them questions — yes or no questions, obviously — and they can write more complex messages if they need to, but for the most part, there doesn't seem to be much personality to them besides helpful and occasionally apologetic for most small inconveniences. They don't seem to understand the question when we ask if anyone's in charge, and they don't really... live anywhere, as far as we've been able to see. If they're people, they're doing a great job at stretching the definition as far as possible, but they don't seem malicious, either.

[ a guilty beat, because kaveh had been thinking the exact same thing as alhaitham had just indicated, save for it perhaps being a little bit wordier. couldn't they simply be... an organic shell with a robotic core? or perhaps even homegrown, much like the akasha. kaveh didn't feel thrilled by the prospect of experimenting on human-shaped people who may actually be (or may not actually be) people, but if there's one thing he's learned about breaking out of the city, it's that sometimes, needs must-

... kaveh suddenly realises that he has been here for all of thirty minutes, and he is already thinking about needs must. he doesn't even know if needs really must. he's making an assumption based on fear. suddenly, kaveh doesn't know if he likes this new kaveh, the person that he's become. the silence recedes further into a guilty knot. kaveh tries very hard not to meet anyone's eyes. ]

That's... good, at least. Non-malicious is good. Though I suppose we can't expect them to do more than they're meant to, whether they're on our side or not. Or, uh, if there are sides, even.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT 01: Welcome to the Pentagon!

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fuck me. rahhhhHHH!!!

you don't have to ask voir twice (gasp) who said that

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WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS

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