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🛎 ([personal profile] guestservices) wrote2022-04-26 01:31 pm
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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!

★ At the very end of the first floor hallway is another door - this one is locked with a padlock. It has a message painted on the door.... Don't dead? Anyway, it seems you can't check just stroll in there! From the looks of it it would be ill-advised to attempt to break in. Occasionally there are muffled shrieks coming from beyond the door. Hmm!


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.

★ A dumbwaiter sits at the end of the hallway of bedrooms. Inside of it is a typewriter, and a golden bell labeled as Virgo's. 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.

★ 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




illomened: ((∩╹□╹∩))

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-05 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
We could try to get them to check with flowers...?

[Can't wait for them to horribly misinterpret what literally any of their bouquets say.]
sageguidance: (pic#15664974)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-05 05:50 am (UTC)(link)
That is... one way, but I could not possibly begin to imagine how to convey such a message with flowers alone.
illomened: (えへへ)

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-05 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
[YEAH SAME HAT.]

Let's see... Zinnias stand for thinking kindly of friends who aren't there. Maybe that - something for searching? Ah, the problem with hanakotoba is that it's all terribly up to interpretation.
sageguidance: (pic#15711572)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-05 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
Hana... [ what now? ]
illomened: (last call)

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-05 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
Ah - flower language, that is! After all, it's more for messages like "I've been thinking about you" and less like "please go look for the mailroom because your dead friends have been sending you so much mail".
sageguidance: (pic#15664963)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-05 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
A gross oversight of those who invented flower language, truly.
illomened: (but somehow)

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-05 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
It's terrible that we haven't spent more time in general devising ways for dearly departed stuck in mansions to communicate with others.
sageguidance: (pic#15664974)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-05 09:00 am (UTC)(link)
... Well.

[ Alphinaud pauses, and he hates what he's about to say, but. ]

Those are... normally ghosts, I think, who do not have that issue...
illomened: (last call)

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-05 09:44 am (UTC)(link)
[This is so funny help... Somewhat wryly:]

I suppose we are all quite abnormal for ghosts, after all...
sageguidance: (pic#15711730)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-05 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
... I had not quite thought about it much before, but....



[ this is a boy with the dawning realization that they ARE fckin ghosts now, huh ]
illomened: ((∩╹□╹∩))

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-06 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
[SWEET ALPHINAUD...]

It would be nice if we could do a proper haunting! Like the ones in stories!

[Rustle some papers, flicker some lightswitches, scare a few people, y'know.]
sageguidance: (pic#15664994)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-11 10:26 am (UTC)(link)
—No!

[ he says, a little too quickly ]

I... I mean. We should not further tarnish the reputation of ghosts.

[ yes ]
illomened: (curious)

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-11 08:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[Souji who has no idea that Alphinaud has GHOST FEARS, just looking baffled for a second.]

Oh? Isn't that what they're supposed to do?
sageguidance: (pic#15711730)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-12 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
Only in made up legends. ... Supposedly...
illomened: (this is my word)

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-12 05:12 am (UTC)(link)
We could write our own legends instead then, hm? And give ghosts a better name!

[Sweet... sweet Alphinaud...]
sageguidance: (pic#15711607)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-12 05:28 am (UTC)(link)
[ He thinks about this for a moment, then: ]

I... think I would like that, actually.
illomened: (bluebird)

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-12 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh... That's surprisingly cute agreement, actually. Souji had been teasing, but his smile is a little warmer, then.]

Then that's exactly what we'll do.
sageguidance: (pic#15711607)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-12 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ His expression grows a little wistful. ]

There was a woman back in Wiwaldi who revealed to me not long after we met that she were a ghost. Though she was vain and quite peculiar, it wasn't long 'fore she became a dear friend to me, and it was through her that I realized that the manner in which the living speak of ghosts may not be wholly accurate.
illomened: (spring)

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-12 07:55 am (UTC)(link)
[me in my seasons feelings yelling MANWOOOOOOOLLLLLLL

This is really cute though oh no. Souji is so soft about other people being soft about their fwiends... Even if it's bittersweet, given their circumstances.]


It does seem that quite a lot ends up lost or obscured, doesn't it? Between stories, between things we hear rather than things we see for ourselves... There are always those out there who prove our preconceived thoughts wrong, aren't there? Human or otherwise.
sageguidance: (pic#15711730)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-26 07:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ manwol... ;n; ]

Quite so. I was rather surprised by what she had told me, and so... Well, I am still not perfect at overcoming such, erm... fears, but I shall continue to try for her sake.
illomened: ((•ᗨ•;;))

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-26 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
I think that your continued effort is the important part. It's a very kind gesture to that friend, without a doubt.

[Said with a self-assured nod! Hell yeah, lil man, you keep going.]
sageguidance: (pic#15711728)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-26 08:44 am (UTC)(link)
I can only hope. Not that I think she ever minded much...
illomened: ((◡‿◡))

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-26 09:53 am (UTC)(link)
Even so, everyone likes to know that their friends are thinking of them fondly and keeping them in mind, you know?
sageguidance: (pic#15664987)

[personal profile] sageguidance 2022-07-26 10:44 am (UTC)(link)
Aye, that is quite true. Then... hm, yes. A new legend—one I shall dedicate to her.
illomened: (tide)

[personal profile] illomened 2022-07-26 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
What an honor to be one of the first to witness it!