[hope and hua cheng find themselves in the hall at around the same time, by chance. the other doors in the hall have what look like trash bags set out in front of them. weird, why would someone do that?
but one door in particular - the locked door from earlier in the week - is a little different.
there's a glint of gold on it, and they'll suddenly be able to perceive a gold-plated sign that reads "HOUSEKEEPING". the door is still locked, but... that sign wasn't there before. perhaps this is a good time to try to get in?
please respond to this tag with the methods they would initially employ to try to get in, and we'll work from there!]
[ well! the trash bags outside the hall doors make sense to hope, given the second activity of the day... the gold on the mystery door, however, doesn't add up. it catches his attention quickly as he scopes out the area and he heads straight for it. ]
...Well, it looks like my question from earlier in the week is about to be answered.
[ he puts his hand on the doorknob and starts to turn it, but before anything else can happen, he turns his gaze away from the gilded sign and spots hua cheng conveniently not too far from him. ]
Hua Cheng, right? Would you care to accompany me? Two heads are better than one, after all.
[ theoretically, the trash bags are fine. part of him wants to poke through them, though, in the event that something is in there. tanhua sniffs at one while he's considering it, before he notices both the door and hope, attention turning that way.
he looks at the door for a moment, and then at hope. ]
... in some cases. I said earlier to someone that I couldn't abide by leaving a door unchecked, even if it didn't actually have anything behind it, so we may as well try it.
[ coming to join him, he inclines his head slightly - turn the knob, hope, and let's see what happens. ]
[ he nods in agreement with hc's instincts! great minds think alike! also, cute, good baby tanhua. but there goes the doorknob sticking! hope's not frustrated; he expected this. ]
Of course, that would have been too easy. However, I still wanted to at least try...
[ it would've been silly if they started off with the complicated methods only to find they just needed to turn the knob, right? does the door have a keyhole or card reader or anything else obvious that might indicate a way of entry? regardless of the answer, hope glances back toward hua cheng's daemon, looking at the lil dude with an expression that's half thoughtful, half unenthused. ]
...Your fox may have the right of it. We might have to dig through the bags to find something that can open it.
[ his expression isn't particularly surprised either, seeing that the door doesn't open with their first attempt. it's not going to be easy like the terrible rooms they've been coming in and out of since arrival...
tanhua glances up when hearing "fox," ears twitching, and hua cheng looks back at the bags with an equally unenthused, thoughtful expression. ]
If someone threw away a butterknife or something similar, we'd maybe be able to wedge it between the door and the jam to release the lock. Regardless, nothing gained by just going "it didn't open, oh well."
[ a key accidentally getting thrown away is unlikely, but, still, one can hope. with a sigh, he heads over to the nearest bag and kneels down to open it for rummaging purposes, daemon coming over to join him, sticking his nose in. thanks. ]
[it doesn't have a card reader, but there is a keyhole. what are you gonna do with that, hope?
hua cheng, meanwhile, begins looking through the trash. this bag doesn't have the smell of any mediocre meals coming from it, but it does smell of paint - and inside, he'll find some broken paintbrushes, ripped-up paint-splattered canvases, and empty jars that once contained paint.]
[ he's gonna look through the hole and see if he can...see...anything on the other side! and then he'll pause for a moment before he reaches into one of the pouches tucked into his belt... and pull out a knife! he looks at it a little dubiously before he carefully tries to jam it into the hole, then follows it up with hc's suggestion of trying to wedge the blade between the door and lock.
again, regardless of what he tries, he'll call out to hua cheng who is now stinky: ]
I probably don't need to tell you this, but be on the lookout for a key.
[ actually, this is worse than food? hua cheng looks genuinely offended to be finding these supplies in here - tanhua sniffs, then sneezes, and goes to join hope near the door instead while his person sorts through the bag. ]
How big, would you guess? [ he pulls out canvases and jars, making sure nothing is stuck on or in them that could be of use, making a stack of them. if he gets paint on the floor?
well, he doesn't care all that much. pspspsps palette knife or wire or key ]
[hua cheng is valid. maybe a few splashes of paint get on the floor. it's fine, though! they're right in front of the housekeeping room. surely that'll get fixed up quick.
the knife doesn't fit into the keyhole, but wedging it between the door and the lock itself does. there's a click, and...
the door swings open.
the room is well-stocked and well-organized - a plethora of cleaning supplies are set aside on shelves and clearly labeled. sheets, pillowcases, blankets, towels, washcloths, tablecloths, and other linens are folded neatly and packed into boxes that are similarly clearly labeled. there are brooms, mops, buckets, rags, and rubber gloves available here as well.
at one end of the room is a closet door.
to the side of the closet is what appears to be a garbage chute (it is labeled as such, even). it has a handle on it, and looks like it would need to be pulled open.
along the wall nearest the door, there is a housekeeping cart. it appears to be empty.
there is a desk and a chair along the last wall. a thick binder sits on the desk, along with a clipboard, a cup full of pens and pencils, and sheets of blank paper.
[ oh. he deadass didn't expect that to work. neat! ]
—Never mind, it's open. Let's go.
[ he folds his knife back up and places it back in his pocket. onward! once they're in the room, hope very quickly scans their surroundings and goes straight for the desk. taking a quick look at the clipboard to see if there's anything written on it, he flips open the binder to see if there are any juicy hotel secrets inside. ]
I suppose this all makes sense for a cleaning closet...but why, then, was its purpose hidden until now?
[ both hua cheng and tanhua have a little moment of ears twitching, with the opening of the door, and turn to look. he looks at his daemon and makes a staying gesture with one hand, before wiping them both off on the floor shamelessly and getting up to immediately follow after hope into the room.
the huli jing stays outside, sitting and looking out to sound an alarm if necessary. can't do much else with the useless thing - probably would be a bad idea to toss his disconnected soul down the garbage chute. ]
Probably something in here that we're not meant to get our hands on, typically. [ hope goes for the desk - he goes for the boxes, starting to rifle through them. they can check the chute in a minute. he wants to see if there's anything in here. ] What's it say?
[the clipboard has a sheet that has WEEK 2, DAY 3 written at the top, then two columns.
one column is labeled "assignments," and has a list of all the rooms that are currently accessible in the hotel - the ones listed on the locations, the creepy door rooms, and the guest rooms (they are numbered). the other column is labeled "assigned to," and has a space that would conceivably fit someone's name.
however, the "assigned to" column is blank.
the binder itself is a little more interesting - it has reports of the statuses of some of the rooms. flipping through it, hope will see a few excerpts - "floor 00, door 14 - glass shards everywhere again. why do they keep breaking the mirrors? don't they know that's bad luck?" "floor 01, door 9 - someone flipped a table. did they not realize they could just leave whenever they wanted?" "floor 00, door 2 - someone slashed up the portraits. AGAIN." "guest rooms - delivered toothpaste and toothbrushes because I guess no one could find theirs with their toiletries?"
the boxes contain what they're labeled with! pillowcases in the box marked "pillowcases," sheets in the box marked "sheets". they're even very nicely sorted by color in a way that forms a gradient. maybe someone here is a little too into organizing, but it's very pleasing to the eye.]
...Information on happenings around the hotel, it seems. These ones seem to be commentary on our actions thus far, mostly reports of destruction that have happened in the hallway rooms...
[ he'll continue rifling through the binder for any more info! are the excerpts typed or handwritten? also, is it possible to take the binder and/or clipboard off of the desk? hope will definitely attempt to do so regardless of the answer! ]
What about you? Is there anything of note in the boxes?
[ ...if there's nothing else new to find at the desk, the chute's the next logical place to check, so! he will mosey on that-a-way. ]
[ he takes one of the boxes marked as sheets, putting it under his arm. "why, hua cheng" pettiness, mostly, but it could be useful. he checks under the boxes, moving them around and putting them on the floor to check and see if there's anything in the shelf or behind it.
he even reaches out with his free hand and raps his knuckles against the back of the shelf/wall/whatever is there if he can reach it, listening to see if anything comes back hollow sounding when he knocks. ]
Obsessively organized supplies for our rooms and general upkeep of hotel cleanliness. Nothing else that I can find so far.
[ a glance back to where hope is at and going, and then he just. looks up at the ceiling, just in case? ]
[the excerpts are handwritten, though any attempt to identify them will banish hope to the handwriting mind palace where he will come to the conclusion that he just can't focus on it enough to tell who it belongs to (is it one person? multiple someones? who knows?), and continue in the same vein as before - "gift shop - could people stop leaving bloody stuff in here? i guess i'll leave it since they seem to have put it there on purpose." "butterfly garden - someone PLEASE explain to me why the butterflies are so aggressive today? what, did someone DIE in here?"
the binder and clipboard come off the desk, but i'm just going to note now so i don't forget that if hope tries to leave the room with them, they'll just poof back to their original spots. they can't leave the housekeeping room.
the chute is there, waiting to be opened. when hope does open it, it opens outward - and while he can see the cool metal of the chute itself, it gets darker and darker the further down he looks. it's impossible to see how far down it goes, or if anything is in there already.
there isn't anything under or behind the boxes save for... more boxes, where there's space for it! and walls and shelves where there's not. nothing sounds hollow when he knocks on them.
the ceiling is... it's a ceiling. it's there. i wish i had put something here to jumpscare you, but i did not.]
[ i hate this. wwwhat about if he writes notes on the blank sheets of paper and attempts to take those out of the room? he's not going to do it immediately, but i too am going to just make note of it now so we can just handwave things later gomen. also, he nods and hums to acknowledge hc's observations, he's not ignoring u king he's just very much in exploration mode right now.
he doesn't stick his head in the chute or anything, because that would be stupid, i have watched so many horror movies i know how this goes and i already play another character who is assigned decapitation. he will, however, think for a second... before reaching into another pouch (different from the one with the knife) and pulling out his wiwaldi-assigned 3d printed claude figure. he takes one extended moment of staring at it in his hand before he tosses it down the chute, timing it to see how long it takes for it to hit the bottom. if there is a bottom. ]
[ could've told me sholmes was on the ceiling and i'd have believed you britt
oh, fun. hua cheng finds it vaguely hilarious because he's a bastard that he's watching his suitemate get tossed into the garbage. tiny, tiny claude is tossed down into the abyss. goodbye.
he comes over and stands at hope's shoulder, setting the box down and pulling out a sheet. he twists one end at the longest side, before grabbing another to twist and tie while they're standing there just. waiting for a noise to come from the chute.
i'm going to wager that he's too damn big to fit down the chute and he highly doubts hope will volunteer to climb down, so this is mostly to see if something or someone is on the other end. ]
[he can write notes, and it'll be on there until he tries to leave. but the paper poofs back, totally blank. it's like a hard reset.
anyway, goodbye forever, claude.
the figure makes the sort of noise you'd expect from a 3d-printed figure hitting metal, though it gets fainter and fainter as it goes... it never makes a final noise like it's hit the very bottom, though. hm.
also i was about to be like how do you know it's me but then i remembered i'm the one who contacted you about this breakin. kill me. i'm dead inside, i should match.
anyway!
hua cheng will not hear anything that indicates that someone or something is down there. at a glance, the chute does seem a little small for him, but maybe he'll have a clearer picture if he gets up close and personal with it.]
[ well. that's concerning! also, binch, he is only a couple of inches shorter than hc, how dare u.
when it becomes apparent that poor claude (tiny) never hits anything that could be construed as "the end" of the chute, hope will give hua cheng an extremely hesitant side glance. ]
. . . Would you be comfortable having your fox try to climb down?
This would be easier if he could still change shapes and fly down. [ sigh ] I can probably tie this around him if it doesn't snap closed on my face or something. Here, hold one end of it - step on it if you have to put your weight into it.
[ he passes it off to hope, going to tie the other end as securely as possible to the handle of the chute? because he's a paranoid bastard and isn't going to just let this thing try to EAT HIM.
but mama didn't raise no quitter, he's going to lean in to take a look. ]
hua cheng will find that, despite how broad his shoulders are and despite how much smaller the chute looked by comparison, he'll fit into the chute just enough to get a look around! it's still extremely dark further down, but. it fits around him, even though it should be physically impossible for that.
weird.
it does not slam shut on him even though i'm very tempted to make it, can you imagine having to explain that injury. "what happened" "i stuck my face into the trash"]
[ it's a good thing that hua cheng suggests the foot thing (hate that i said it like that), because hope wouldn't have thought about that to begin with. steadily planting some of the sheet rope under his boot, he keeps a firm grip on the rest as hc peeks down... and, like, he notes how weird it is that he was able to fit in there at all? hewwo? ]
C...can you get back out?
[ DOES HE NEED TO START WINNIE THE POOHING YOUR BIG GHOST ASS OUTTA THERE ]
... shouldn't be able to fit in here, I think, but we shouldn't be surprised by changing locations at this point in our lives.
[ weird! but he sighs, bracing one hand against the side of the chute interior and feeling around with the other to see if he can't locate some weird shit in here or touch hands with a spooky shadow while he's doing something incredibly stupid.
just close it on him. it'd be funny. more suspicious injuries for him to sigh about. ]
Probably. Hang on. [ he'll move to. just. exit the chute if nothing happens from him groping in the dark. ]
[ hope breathes a tiny little sigh of relief as hua cheng pulls himself out of the chute... while hua cheng debates on whether or not to lower his furry soul down the hole, hope tries to see if he can open the other door they have not tried yet. if it does not open with a simple knob turn, he will again try the knife trick. what other secrets lurk in the closet...
he is also keeping an eye on both hc and tanhua in case something happens at which point he will drop whatever he's doing to save smol friend ]
[ small favors in the form of chutes not eating him. he eyeballs it for a moment, before letting out a short, sharp whistle. the daemon comes trotting back in, looking up at him, waiting for a signal, or why he was called back in.
he grabs another sheet to twist and tie, going until he has a decent enough rope that he sure hopes is secure. for how detached he is about his soul, it's, well. still his soul? (it's disconnected from him now, but still.) ]
Alright. Here goes. [ tanhua allows the end of the sheet rope to be tied around him like a harness, although seems a little wary when he's fed into the chute. goodbye! ]
[the closet door opens easily! inside are uniforms in a range of sizes - they're in colors that match the hotel staff's uniforms, though they're in this style. at a glance, it looks like just about anyone would be able to find something that fit them in here, if they were so inclined.
tanhua, meanwhile, is lowered into the chute. why are you doing this to your soul. what the fuck, hua cheng. be nice to your fox.
anyway, he gets lowered further in, and in, and in, until they can't see him in the darkness anymore. he eventually hits the bottom, but it's impossible to tell just how many sheets were needed for this or how far down he went - perception's a little off. the claude figure rests at his paws.
while the boys are doing this, though... the lights within the room flicker ominously. when the lights stabilize, they'll find that their own shadows look a little rough around the edges, and there's the distinct feeling that they're being watched.]
[ interesting... uniforms... how many sets are in here? he probably won't be able to count exactly how many but like, is it a lot or just a handful?
also, terrifying, i hate it. hope startles when the lights flicker, and boy, does he not appreciate that!! keeping an eye on their shadows, he tentatively raises his hand to the knife pocket again, just in case. ]
—I think something is onto us. We should get out of here sooner rather than later. Do you need help reeling it back up?
[ he's not intentionally misgendering tanhua he just doesn't know :( also he doesn't mind if tanhua brings claude back or not, it's whatever, sorry my dude. ]
[ honestly hua cheng spent 8 weeks misgendering his own soul so he doesn't even bat an eye at hope doing it. he instead glances up with the flickering of the lights, keeping a firm hold on the makeshift rope even as it feels a little more slack with tanhua reaching the bottom. the fox sniffs around a bit for anything amiss, picking around to see if there's anything besides claude.
if there is, he'll snatch it with his teeth. if there isn't, claude's coming home.
either way, he lets out a muffled yowl and paws at the rope. ]
You can either help or check if there's anything we missed. But you're right. [ he shifts to start pulling, hand over hand, to get the rope up with his daemon as he keeps an eye on the shadows. ] We'd better leave before we push our luck here.
[there isn't anything else in the chute just yet. tanhua gets his teeth around the figure of claude. claude's coming home...
the lights begin to flicker, again, as the makeshift rope is pulled back up, taking the fox with it. their shadows seem to be moving of their own accord whenever the lights flicker back on - they bolt for the door, then snap back to just being their shadows.
they will probably want to get moving as soon as they've got the soul fox back!]
[ yyyyeah that's not great! while hua cheng yeets tanhua back out, hope does a quick search of the room, takes a peek into the supposedly empty housekeeping cart, then grabs his notes and hightails it out of there!! he's so focused on getting out before the shadows fuck them up that he doesn't even notice they disappear once he crosses the threshold, but it's fine.
he will hold the door for hua cheng and tanhua to scuttle out, and then he will slam it shut! stay the fuck in there, shadow monsters! ]
[ bad! bad vibes. a glance keeps going down to the shadows, every time the light flickers, keeping close watch of them. tanhua keeps as still as possible, instead of scrabbling at the walls of the chute. it's not a comfortable trip back up, but they've had worse, considering, so he suffers it.
and once hua cheng sees blood orange fur...
he just reaches out to scruff the dog-sized fox, hauling him out and into his arms, rope and all, to back up quickly to the open doorway. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
week one, wednesday
but one door in particular - the locked door from earlier in the week - is a little different.
there's a glint of gold on it, and they'll suddenly be able to perceive a gold-plated sign that reads "HOUSEKEEPING". the door is still locked, but... that sign wasn't there before. perhaps this is a good time to try to get in?
please respond to this tag with the methods they would initially employ to try to get in, and we'll work from there!]
no subject
...Well, it looks like my question from earlier in the week is about to be answered.
[ he puts his hand on the doorknob and starts to turn it, but before anything else can happen, he turns his gaze away from the gilded sign and spots hua cheng conveniently not too far from him. ]
Hua Cheng, right? Would you care to accompany me? Two heads are better than one, after all.
no subject
he looks at the door for a moment, and then at hope. ]
... in some cases. I said earlier to someone that I couldn't abide by leaving a door unchecked, even if it didn't actually have anything behind it, so we may as well try it.
[ coming to join him, he inclines his head slightly - turn the knob, hope, and let's see what happens. ]
no subject
the doorknob turns slightly, then sticks - it appears it's still locked. they'll have to think of a way to get inside.]
no subject
Of course, that would have been too easy. However, I still wanted to at least try...
[ it would've been silly if they started off with the complicated methods only to find they just needed to turn the knob, right? does the door have a keyhole or card reader or anything else obvious that might indicate a way of entry? regardless of the answer, hope glances back toward hua cheng's daemon, looking at the lil dude with an expression that's half thoughtful, half unenthused. ]
...Your fox may have the right of it. We might have to dig through the bags to find something that can open it.
no subject
tanhua glances up when hearing "fox," ears twitching, and hua cheng looks back at the bags with an equally unenthused, thoughtful expression. ]
If someone threw away a butterknife or something similar, we'd maybe be able to wedge it between the door and the jam to release the lock. Regardless, nothing gained by just going "it didn't open, oh well."
[ a key accidentally getting thrown away is unlikely, but, still, one can hope. with a sigh, he heads over to the nearest bag and kneels down to open it for rummaging purposes, daemon coming over to join him, sticking his nose in. thanks. ]
no subject
hua cheng, meanwhile, begins looking through the trash. this bag doesn't have the smell of any mediocre meals coming from it, but it does smell of paint - and inside, he'll find some broken paintbrushes, ripped-up paint-splattered canvases, and empty jars that once contained paint.]
no subject
again, regardless of what he tries, he'll call out to hua cheng who is now stinky: ]
I probably don't need to tell you this, but be on the lookout for a key.
no subject
How big, would you guess? [ he pulls out canvases and jars, making sure nothing is stuck on or in them that could be of use, making a stack of them. if he gets paint on the floor?
well, he doesn't care all that much. pspspsps palette knife or wire or key ]
no subject
the knife doesn't fit into the keyhole, but wedging it between the door and the lock itself does. there's a click, and...
the door swings open.
the room is well-stocked and well-organized - a plethora of cleaning supplies are set aside on shelves and clearly labeled. sheets, pillowcases, blankets, towels, washcloths, tablecloths, and other linens are folded neatly and packed into boxes that are similarly clearly labeled. there are brooms, mops, buckets, rags, and rubber gloves available here as well.
at one end of the room is a closet door.
to the side of the closet is what appears to be a garbage chute (it is labeled as such, even). it has a handle on it, and looks like it would need to be pulled open.
along the wall nearest the door, there is a housekeeping cart. it appears to be empty.
there is a desk and a chair along the last wall. a thick binder sits on the desk, along with a clipboard, a cup full of pens and pencils, and sheets of blank paper.
what now, you burglars, you?]
no subject
—Never mind, it's open. Let's go.
[ he folds his knife back up and places it back in his pocket. onward! once they're in the room, hope very quickly scans their surroundings and goes straight for the desk. taking a quick look at the clipboard to see if there's anything written on it, he flips open the binder to see if there are any juicy hotel secrets inside. ]
I suppose this all makes sense for a cleaning closet...but why, then, was its purpose hidden until now?
no subject
the huli jing stays outside, sitting and looking out to sound an alarm if necessary. can't do much else with the useless thing - probably would be a bad idea to toss his disconnected soul down the garbage chute. ]
Probably something in here that we're not meant to get our hands on, typically. [ hope goes for the desk - he goes for the boxes, starting to rifle through them. they can check the chute in a minute. he wants to see if there's anything in here. ] What's it say?
no subject
one column is labeled "assignments," and has a list of all the rooms that are currently accessible in the hotel - the ones listed on the locations, the creepy door rooms, and the guest rooms (they are numbered). the other column is labeled "assigned to," and has a space that would conceivably fit someone's name.
however, the "assigned to" column is blank.
the binder itself is a little more interesting - it has reports of the statuses of some of the rooms. flipping through it, hope will see a few excerpts - "floor 00, door 14 - glass shards everywhere again. why do they keep breaking the mirrors? don't they know that's bad luck?" "floor 01, door 9 - someone flipped a table. did they not realize they could just leave whenever they wanted?" "floor 00, door 2 - someone slashed up the portraits. AGAIN." "guest rooms - delivered toothpaste and toothbrushes because I guess no one could find theirs with their toiletries?"
the boxes contain what they're labeled with! pillowcases in the box marked "pillowcases," sheets in the box marked "sheets". they're even very nicely sorted by color in a way that forms a gradient. maybe someone here is a little too into organizing, but it's very pleasing to the eye.]
no subject
[ he'll continue rifling through the binder for any more info! are the excerpts typed or handwritten? also, is it possible to take the binder and/or clipboard off of the desk? hope will definitely attempt to do so regardless of the answer! ]
What about you? Is there anything of note in the boxes?
[ ...if there's nothing else new to find at the desk, the chute's the next logical place to check, so! he will mosey on that-a-way. ]
no subject
he even reaches out with his free hand and raps his knuckles against the back of the shelf/wall/whatever is there if he can reach it, listening to see if anything comes back hollow sounding when he knocks. ]
Obsessively organized supplies for our rooms and general upkeep of hotel cleanliness. Nothing else that I can find so far.
[ a glance back to where hope is at and going, and then he just. looks up at the ceiling, just in case? ]
no subject
the binder and clipboard come off the desk, but i'm just going to note now so i don't forget that if hope tries to leave the room with them, they'll just poof back to their original spots. they can't leave the housekeeping room.
the chute is there, waiting to be opened. when hope does open it, it opens outward - and while he can see the cool metal of the chute itself, it gets darker and darker the further down he looks. it's impossible to see how far down it goes, or if anything is in there already.
there isn't anything under or behind the boxes save for... more boxes, where there's space for it! and walls and shelves where there's not. nothing sounds hollow when he knocks on them.
the ceiling is... it's a ceiling. it's there. i wish i had put something here to jumpscare you, but i did not.]
no subject
he doesn't stick his head in the chute or anything, because that would be stupid, i have watched so many horror movies i know how this goes and i already play another character who is assigned decapitation. he will, however, think for a second... before reaching into another pouch (different from the one with the knife) and pulling out his wiwaldi-assigned 3d printed claude figure. he takes one extended moment of staring at it in his hand before he tosses it down the chute, timing it to see how long it takes for it to hit the bottom. if there is a bottom. ]
no subject
oh, fun. hua cheng finds it vaguely hilarious because he's a bastard that he's watching his suitemate get tossed into the garbage. tiny, tiny claude is tossed down into the abyss. goodbye.
he comes over and stands at hope's shoulder, setting the box down and pulling out a sheet. he twists one end at the longest side, before grabbing another to twist and tie while they're standing there just. waiting for a noise to come from the chute.
i'm going to wager that he's too damn big to fit down the chute and he highly doubts hope will volunteer to climb down, so this is mostly to see if something or someone is on the other end. ]
no subject
anyway, goodbye forever, claude.
the figure makes the sort of noise you'd expect from a 3d-printed figure hitting metal, though it gets fainter and fainter as it goes... it never makes a final noise like it's hit the very bottom, though. hm.
also i was about to be like how do you know it's me but then i remembered i'm the one who contacted you about this breakin. kill me. i'm dead inside, i should match.
anyway!
hua cheng will not hear anything that indicates that someone or something is down there. at a glance, the chute does seem a little small for him, but maybe he'll have a clearer picture if he gets up close and personal with it.]
no subject
when it becomes apparent that poor claude (tiny) never hits anything that could be construed as "the end" of the chute, hope will give hua cheng an extremely hesitant side glance. ]
. . . Would you be comfortable having your fox try to climb down?
[ tanhua :( ]
no subject
[ he passes it off to hope, going to tie the other end as securely as possible to the handle of the chute? because he's a paranoid bastard and isn't going to just let this thing try to EAT HIM.
but mama didn't raise no quitter, he's going to lean in to take a look. ]
no subject
hua cheng will find that, despite how broad his shoulders are and despite how much smaller the chute looked by comparison, he'll fit into the chute just enough to get a look around! it's still extremely dark further down, but. it fits around him, even though it should be physically impossible for that.
weird.
it does not slam shut on him even though i'm very tempted to make it, can you imagine having to explain that injury. "what happened" "i stuck my face into the trash"]
no subject
[ it's a good thing that hua cheng suggests the foot thing (hate that i said it like that), because hope wouldn't have thought about that to begin with. steadily planting some of the sheet rope under his boot, he keeps a firm grip on the rest as hc peeks down... and, like, he notes how weird it is that he was able to fit in there at all? hewwo? ]
C...can you get back out?
[ DOES HE NEED TO START WINNIE THE POOHING YOUR BIG GHOST ASS OUTTA THERE ]
no subject
[ weird! but he sighs, bracing one hand against the side of the chute interior and feeling around with the other to see if he can't locate some weird shit in here or touch hands with a spooky shadow while he's doing something incredibly stupid.
just close it on him. it'd be funny. more suspicious injuries for him to sigh about. ]
Probably. Hang on. [ he'll move to. just. exit the chute if nothing happens from him groping in the dark. ]
no subject
he's able to exit the chute without much trouble. it's a bit of an awkward motion to get out, but nothing impedes him from it.
what now?]
no subject
he is also keeping an eye on both hc and tanhua in case something happens at which point he will drop whatever he's doing to save smol friend ]
no subject
he grabs another sheet to twist and tie, going until he has a decent enough rope that he sure hopes is secure. for how detached he is about his soul, it's, well. still his soul? (it's disconnected from him now, but still.) ]
Alright. Here goes. [ tanhua allows the end of the sheet rope to be tied around him like a harness, although seems a little wary when he's fed into the chute. goodbye! ]
no subject
tanhua, meanwhile, is lowered into the chute. why are you doing this to your soul. what the fuck, hua cheng. be nice to your fox.
anyway, he gets lowered further in, and in, and in, until they can't see him in the darkness anymore. he eventually hits the bottom, but it's impossible to tell just how many sheets were needed for this or how far down he went - perception's a little off. the claude figure rests at his paws.
while the boys are doing this, though... the lights within the room flicker ominously. when the lights stabilize, they'll find that their own shadows look a little rough around the edges, and there's the distinct feeling that they're being watched.]
no subject
also, terrifying, i hate it. hope startles when the lights flicker, and boy, does he not appreciate that!! keeping an eye on their shadows, he tentatively raises his hand to the knife pocket again, just in case. ]
—I think something is onto us. We should get out of here sooner rather than later. Do you need help reeling it back up?
[ he's not intentionally misgendering tanhua he just doesn't know :( also he doesn't mind if tanhua brings claude back or not, it's whatever, sorry my dude. ]
no subject
if there is, he'll snatch it with his teeth. if there isn't, claude's coming home.
either way, he lets out a muffled yowl and paws at the rope. ]
You can either help or check if there's anything we missed. But you're right. [ he shifts to start pulling, hand over hand, to get the rope up with his daemon as he keeps an eye on the shadows. ] We'd better leave before we push our luck here.
no subject
the lights begin to flicker, again, as the makeshift rope is pulled back up, taking the fox with it. their shadows seem to be moving of their own accord whenever the lights flicker back on - they bolt for the door, then snap back to just being their shadows.
they will probably want to get moving as soon as they've got the soul fox back!]
no subject
he will hold the door for hua cheng and tanhua to scuttle out, and then he will slam it shut! stay the fuck in there, shadow monsters! ]
no subject
and once hua cheng sees blood orange fur...
he just reaches out to scruff the dog-sized fox, hauling him out and into his arms, rope and all, to back up quickly to the open doorway. ]
no subject
the flickering lights stop once they're out in the hallway. everything looks normal.
literally everything! even the trash bags from before are gone.
the only difference is that the housekeeping door remains unlocked. good job, guys! you didn't die!]