guestservices: (Default)
🛎 ([personal profile] guestservices) wrote2022-07-11 08:16 am
Entry tags:

GRAVEYARD.






GRAVEYARD


Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today...

...to be super dead. No, did you think you were getting a funeral? Sorry.

When you wake up, no matter how you died, you'll find yourself all in one piece, inside of a fairly large box that upon further inspection may in fact be a coffin. However, throwing the lid off isn't too difficult, and as you step out of your own grave, you'll find yourself standing in a cemetery behind a large mansion, where an iron gate stands between you and the entrance. Thankfully, the moment you approach, dirty and tired as you are, the gate swings open, and you're allowed immediate entrance into the mansion.

The mansion itself is a little dusty, and the furnishings are vintage at best, but... hey, it's home. Why don't you explore a little?




FIRST FLOOR.

★ On the first floor is a parlor and sitting area. On one of the tables is a phone, which as of Week 3, Saturday has a dial tone and can be used to contact hotel staff. In addition to that is a kitchen stocked with food - not to mention a large wine cellar full to the bursting with every kind of wine you could imagine. Vintage!

★ Walking down a long hallway, you'll find a laundry room with a washbin and a washboard, a few closets full of dusty old clothes, a large library, and an ornate dining room with a crystal chandelier.

Of note, the dining room in particular has a very tall wall of what look like portraits to one side. If you walk closer, however, you may notice that the portraits are moving - and appear to actually be holding black and white images of your friends (and enemies?) back in the hotel, so you can monitor their activities. That's nice! There are record players set up beneath the portraits, which come with blank records set in there already; if you turn them on while the blank records are set there, you will be able to hear what is being said by the people in the portraits.

★ At the very end of the first floor hallway is another door - it is locked up tight with a padlock, and has a message painted on it.... Don't dead? Inside here is the basement that the dead locked Qi Rong into on Friday of Week 5. In theory you might be able to take the key from someone and go in, since it hasn't been returned to Virgo; inside here is a dark, dank basement illuminated by a lantern giving off a dim green glow. There are barrels of stale water and sour wine, boxes containing stale crackers, extremely questionable jerky, and other rotted foodstuffs, and... uh... there are some unpleasant-looking rats skittering around. Icky. In practice, why would you want to? Just keep it locked.

1, 2, 3


SECOND FLOOR.

★ On the second floor of the mansion is a series of bedrooms. Just like the hotel, you'll find a room already booked with your name on a nameplate on the door - and a portrait of yourself, as well as your hostage, hanging just above the nameplate. The inside of the rooms are simple - a bed with red covers, a desk with a typewriter, and a small bathroom with a toilet and a clawfoot tub. Provided that you didn't give your belongings away, you'll find all of them on your bed, waiting for you upon your arrival. This includes tickets (so long as they weren't looted from your body and used to pay for hints) and other things that may have been evidence in your case but belonged to you beforehand.

★ A dumbwaiter sits at the end of the hallway of bedrooms. Inside of it is a typewriter, and a space where there once sat a golden bell labeled as Virgo's; however, the bell is currently missing. An unlabeled bell sits to the side of it. A small sign above the dumbwaiter says: PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT STAFF BY LEAVING A MESSAGE. VIRGO MAY ALSO BE SENT A TIP AND RUNG. PULL THE LEVER TO PRESS SEND. - STAFF

It seems you can reach out to the hotel staff by leaving a message or ringing the bell, though your options are limited for the latter. Sure enough, a lever in the wall next to the dumbwaiter is currently set to the "down" position. Push it to "up" and watch your message disappear.

★ Beside the dumbwaiter is one last bedroom. This room is marked with a plaque that says "Dream Suite", and has several familiar constellations decorating the door. Occasionally, when you ring the bell by the dumbwaiter while thinking of a member of Hotel Staff on the living side, the corresponding constellation on the door will light up, and you'll feel as though you should walk in. Inside, there is a line of comfortable beds. Lie down in one, and you'll have a dreamlike "in person" audience with the NPC you had attempted to contact.


OUTDOORS.

★ Outside of the mansion is a small garage. The ground here is worn down and thin, and you can almost make out what look like railroad tracks embedded in the dirt. Inside of the garage is a rattly old car that moves along those little railroad tracks, from the garage to the mansion front, and then back all the way around to the cemetery.

★ On the grounds, there is a garden full of flowers. There are also the remnants of gardening supplies and supplies to package and send bouquets, but none of these supplies are in useable condition now.

★ A "bumper cars" rink has been made by clearing out all of the rocks, weeds and grass in a sizeable area. There are some small slopes and dips, and a bumper barrier along the outside of the rink which was made by piling up compacted dead leaves from the graveyard. There are two "cars": laundry baskets that have rudimentary jar lid wheels with ladle axles and nails stolen from a dining room chair. They have been padded with some old clothing, like that will save anyone. Since we don't have electricity in hell, each "car" has one paddle made from tree branches broken down into the appropriate size, presumably used to push the cars around.

★ The cemetery where you first awaken is a direct copy of the cemetery outside of the hotel - right down to the placement of statues, mausoleums, and the creepy atmosphere. Your grave remains after you wake up in it, in case you want to take a dirt nap.

1, 2



callalilies: (❄️ ooo big stretch.)

W5 SUNDAY AM

[personal profile] callalilies 2022-07-17 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Dear Diluc,

There's something to be said about how a week already feels like an eternity away from you.

I know that you've been having difficulties... but, I saw you on Wednesday night, and couldn't think of a single thing I wanted more than to return to you. I'm glad Hua Cheng saw to your dancing. You're too beautiful to stay pressed up against the wall, unless. You know. I'm the one doing that.

In any case. Know that you are, as always, not only the love of my life, but my best friend, my partner in all adversity. You're at the end of my string. Please remain as you are, stand strong. I don't want to see you down here. As I've stated before: if you do, then I'm refusing to let you in. You survive.

Give my dear Canopus both mine and Pol's love.

Shine true, firefly.

Love,
Kae
Dear Hua Cheng,

All is well and the rat problem has been extinguished, how delightful. Overall, I am just grateful that you are still safe, as are Dokja, Joonghyuk, Rin, and Diluc. As Dragonspine endures in fits of frost and storm, I do plan to endure regardless of whatever is thrown at us. I'll see you all in the end, even if I have to claw through dirt myself.

Pour one out on my grave for me. It's no celebration, just a bid for you to speak with me as we used to. I believe, amaranthus and locus would be fitting flowers to plant in a garden for the two of us.

The black roses are lovely. Thank you.

Yours,
Kaeya
Dear Mikazuki,

Thank you for the beautiful letter and the reminder of the trees on the living side. I'll treasure it closely. I'm glad that Hua Cheng has joined you in your endeavors. He has an eye for arrangements indeed.

I hold SOME contempt... but I think that's natural when certain things occur. I don't know if this portion of my letter will remain whole. Regardless, I will see to it that he is well taken care of. I still care.

As for Diluc, he is upset, but his fire will burn a little stronger as the days pass. I appreciate you bringing me news about him. I miss him more than words can say. But it will take more than this to break him. Do you know the story of the phoenix, Mikazuki? He is not unlike this.

Ah, and one last thing. We will do our best on our side to make certain that the transactions between living and dead are recorded in our letters, but we're very late in this game. All the same - is there anything noticeably different about the stationary upon which our letters arrive? Any sort of stamps or marks to differentiate it besides the redactions?

Yours,
Kaeya
Dear Yuri,

Trial was quite the whirlwind. I know that it couldn't have been easy to work through it all. Please take care of yourself... we'll keep an eye out for them down here. I'll make certain they write you as well.

Make certain you keep your chin up. Let those around you support you, alright?

Sending you my love. I wish I had more to give you besides that at the moment.

Yours,
Kaeya