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Post by <Raintalon> on Jul 12, 2020 20:26:18 GMT -5
~ This RP is an offshoot of of The Paradox House. Visit us here! ~
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jul 12, 2020 20:32:39 GMT -5
Before the blink, Solaris was running. Behind her, a huge, hulking creature, crashing and heaving its enormous mass around with a clumsiness she'd recognize anywhere.
She never could stand bloaters. A pain in the neck to beat, all of them. And hard to beat when you couldn't see. So, she was running, her feet thumping on the rotten wood underneath her -
Until it wasn't. Her feet hit a threshold that shouldn't have been there and she fell, hard, rolling a couple feet before coming to a slow stop, stunned. She lay there for a moment, ears ringing, and realized she no longer heard anything behind her. Had the thing fallen somewhere? Or had a person taken it out?
Underneath her was carpet. Why was there carpet? And why did it feel so smooth? She'd never felt carpet like this in any of these old rotted out buildings. It made her uneasy.
Slowly, she sat up, wincing as she felt the telltale signs of rug burn along her arms. Now...to find her way out...
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jul 13, 2020 1:15:34 GMT -5
Nico frowned at the goblet he held in his hand, staring at the contents as though he didn’t quite trust them. He was about to lift the cup to his lips when he noticed the change in surroundings and set the goblet on the concierge desk. He shrugged off the dirty look he received, as he highly doubted the man to be anybody who actually came from a world. It seemed far more likely he was just house generated, especially since Nico was still wearing his regular old aviator jacket and not a bellhop uniform or anything. The place sent a shudder down his spine as he looked at it a bit more closely. It reminded him just a little too much of the Lotus Hotel. Maybe that was just because he hadn’t been to any hotels since then.
Another glance around suggested that he wasn’t alone, as the girl with red marks on her forearms didn’t seem to belong either. A blinker, then, which made Nico at least a little more comfortable in the room. He didn’t know her, but unless she got too close, any ally was better than none.
“Hey,” he called, edging a little bit closer, but not trying to startle the girl. He was still well out of reach of weapons – his or any she might be carrying. “Did you just blink in too?”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jul 13, 2020 15:41:16 GMT -5
"Back up!"
The instant she heard a voice, Sol was up and in a defensive crouch, knives in both hands and held out in front of her at a practiced and deadly angle in case the person came closer. They didn't sound very old - maybe her age - and they weren't far away either, although they didn't seem to be trying to rush at her.
"I'll stick you," she threatened, eyes fixed sightlessly on where she estimated that they were. "Right in the throat. So you better not try anything stupid."
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jul 13, 2020 16:04:16 GMT -5
Nico instantly took a few steps back, understanding the sentiment exactly. He didn’t know if the other blinker hated proximity as much as he did or just thought he was a threat, but he wasn’t exactly in the mood to push it.
“I believe you,” he replied, his voice light but humorless. “But you might want to reconsider starting a fight with me.” It wasn’t a threat, exactly, though he did have his hand positioned on the hilt of his sword. He didn’t mean to be condescending, either, he was just… tired. And annoyed. “You clearly know how to use those knives,” he went on, glancing at the uneasy-looking person at the front desk, “And I’m no beginner at swordsmanship. And I’d rather fight anything trying to kill either of us than fight you.”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jul 13, 2020 16:16:47 GMT -5
Sol listened, still crouched, but as the stranger went on, she relaxed a bit and stood up straight, hands falling to her sides even though they still held the knives. What they were saying, at least, made sense. And they hadn't tried to kill her immediately, which meant they either didn't want to risk a knife to the throat, or they were relatively friendly.
Or, they were just waiting for a better opportunity to steal from her.
"Sword's a stupid weapon," she said, gesturing in their general direction with one hand, still holding the knife. "It'll get you killed. Anyway - "
"Excuse me, sir? Ma'am? Can I - "
Sol froze, knives pulled instantly in front of her face, as she heard another voice - this one deep, and oddly formal. Unknowingly, she was facing off with a very nervous looking bellhop, who had tried to gently herd the two of them into the hallway and now was standing at an odd angle, eyes darting to Sol's knives as if he wasn't sure at all she was allowed to have them.
"Who's that?" asked Sol sharply, her body angled so she was defending her right side from Nico, and her left from the new voice. "They with you? I thought I said not to try something stupid."
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jul 13, 2020 16:32:23 GMT -5
Nico rolled his eyes, his knuckles whitening where he grasped his weapon. “The sword’s kept me alive perfectly fine, thanks,” he retorted. “It allows for better reach anyway, and it looks cooler than knives do.” Okay, so maybe that last point wasn’t strictly necessary, but if he was going to fight he might as well have the right aesthetic going. Or at least that’s what he had thought when he was ten and forging his weapon. If he’d been just a few years younger, he might have added on that swords dealt more damage, but he’d learnt the hard way that the world didn’t follow the rules of Mythomagic.
Nico turned his attention to the bellhop, making his grip on his sword readily apparent.
“Take a step back.” His voice was steely, much more dangerous than the tone he’d used with Sol. The bellhop had gotten just a little too close for comfort. He shifted his gaze to glance at Sol, almost shaking his head. “He’s not even real,” Nico told her, narrowing his eyes at the bellhop, who didn’t have any indication of life around him. There was no light aura, but there was none of the murky blackness that indicated he was dead, either. Definitely something the House had decided to cook up.
“I also don’t think he has any interest in hurting us,” Nico added, seeing the nervous way the bellhop was glancing between the two of them. Still, he didn’t trust him.
“Care to tell us where you’re herding us off to?” It was more of a threat than a question.
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jul 17, 2020 18:26:49 GMT -5
Sol was getting increasingly wary of this situation with every passing moment. She didn't like being around even one person - usually, she spewed threats the second she noticed them, and they either attacked or cleared out. But now there were two of them, both not immediately threatening her. And being around sighted people made her antsy - it always felt like when everyone's in on a joke except you. Except the consequences of not being in on the joke can get you killed.
She raised her eyebrows when the first voice spoke again, blinking as she tried to figure out if she'd heard them right. She had. They thought the second person wasn't real? What???
"Ooooooooookay," she said, tone dripping with skepticism as she slowly began to back away from the both of them, knives still held out in front of her. "This has been fun and all, but...yeah. I'm out."
"O-oh, m-m-miss, I wouldn't go out there if I were you," said the bellhop, who seemed to be growing increasingly anxious now that he had not one, but two teenagers brandishing weapons in his general direction. "Sir - I simply want to make sure you get to your room safely. I mean no disrespect, of course." Here, he took a comically low bow, seemingly ready to beg for forgiveness on hands and knees if it meant he made it to the end of his shift with the same number of holes he'd started it with.
"Our rooms? Miss? Sir? What are you even talking about?" asked Sol, her face contorted in confusion. "Look, if this is some kinda weird cult - "
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jul 24, 2020 13:38:10 GMT -5
Nico grimaced, looking at their surroundings. He really didn’t like hotels, thought that definitely wasn’t the fault of anyone involved here. He couldn’t help but wonder if the House knew that too. Fortunately, if a hundred years passed in the House, he would still blink back into his own time. That was all that mattered. Nico didn’t dare go any nearer to the girl, only partially because he didn’t want to be stabbed. He knew what it was like to want space, and he didn’t want to be the reason this girl didn’t get any. He gave a small sigh, pressing his fingertips against his temple.
“Listen,” Nico said, addressing the bellhop instead of Sol. Clearly, she didn’t know where she was. He’d have to deal with that later. It would have been much more convenient if he’d had the chance to do so in the living room rather than here, but… he’d deal with it. “You’re going to have to be a little bit more forthright about what’s waiting for us in our… our room. Because right now this sounds like a textbook trap, and I’d really prefer not to deal with that right now.”
Nico, don’t be rude! He heard Bianca’s voice chastising him in the back of his head, but right now he didn’t care. It wasn’t like this person actually existed. He cast a quick glance behind him, if only to confirm that there was no door to the outside. If there was, he couldn’t see it from here. He took in a deep breath, trying to tamp down some of his annoyance.
He turned his attention back to Sol, then lowered his sword just a little bit. “It’s not a cult,” he told her tersely, “We’re in the House’s recreation of a hotel lobby.” He didn’t say he thought it would be better if they just went with the bellhop – he didn’t want to set himself up to be stabbed quite so soon.
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jul 31, 2020 10:34:42 GMT -5
“A trap?? Oh, no sir, not at all! We have the f-finest of rooms available for you, if you j-just follow me. We boast the highest safety rating in the area, so no need to fear!” The bellhop reached up and patted at his damp forehead with a lace-lined handkerchief, then pushed his glasses a little further up his nose.
For the moment, Sol decided to assume that they were in a cult called the House, and that Nico was in denial about having himself joined a cult.
Either way, she was done.
“Okay, yep, that make sense. See ya.”
She turned around and began to walk back the way she’d come, hands out in front of her face until they collided with smooth glass. Then, she patted upwards, until she felt and gripped the handles, and then pushed, hard.
Nothing.
She pulled.
Nothing.
Silently, she reached into her pocket, and pulled out a brick. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, she began to slam the brick into the glass with all her strength, the horrible banging sound echoing all throughout the pristine lobby.
“Ma’am, please stop that!” called the bellhop, looking like he might start crying at any moment. “Ma’am!”
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jul 31, 2020 11:58:28 GMT -5
Nico’s brow raised and he rolled his eyes. “You know, there’s really nothing you could have said to make it seem more like a trap than that.” He turned his attention away from the bellhop and back to Sol, who, wisely, had decided she was over it. If Nico hadn’t spent the last several years of his life periodically blinking in, he might have had a similar reaction. He was inclined to let her just do her own thing until she started pounding on the door with the brick. Nico cringed, throwing his hands over his ears on reflex. “How can you be more noisy than a [oops!]ing cyclops?” he muttered, glaring in her general direction until he decided he couldn’t let this go on for much longer. He pried his hands away from his ears and pulled on the nearest shadows until he was a few feet from Sol. “You wanna make the whole building go deaf?” he accused, crossing his arms. “That glass is probably bulletproof.” Nico was about to say more when a scream tore through the lobby, louder even than the terrible sound of brick against unbreakable glass. “Highest safety rating in the area, huh?” he asked the bellhop dryly. He was about to run towards the scream when he remembered that, crazy as she seemed to be, Sol was as much a part of this as he was. “Listen,” he told her, “I’m going to go see what happened. You want to keep trying to break out, fine by me.”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Jul 31, 2020 12:19:03 GMT -5
“Why do you call them cyclops?” she muttered under her breath, continuing her determined banging on the window right up until the scream.
When she heard it, she only banged harder, but after a few more hits and no signs of the glass buckling, she let out a growl of frustration and stuffed the brick back into her pocket.
“Fine, let’s go,” she said irritably, and began to crab-walk along the side of the door until he hit the corner. She was liking this less and less with every passing moment - she’d managed to stay alive so long because she didn’t risk these kinds of encounters.
“I’m sticking to the wall,” she said, beginning to move forward with one shoulder brushing the wall as she went. “You can do what you want.”
“Oh, how dreadful!”
In the very next room over - a dining room, as it happened, a man in a sharp suit lay dead on the floor, a knife driven into his chest. A woman was lying over his corpse, still wailing, and several other equally distinctive looking onlookers had gathered to see what had happened.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Jul 31, 2020 14:03:39 GMT -5
“Because that’s what they are?” Nico replied, eyes narrowing. Either Sol thought they were from the same world and thought Nico was referring to something else, or she was just oddly confrontational. It was obvious nobody had explained the House to her, and Nico didn’t really want to be the one to do it.
Nico wasn’t going to protest when Sol began to make her way towards the scream. Good, at least they seemed to be headed in the direction the House wanted them to go. That meant they could get out of this room at least a little bit more quickly.
The sight that greeted him as they stepped into the next room was unfortunate, but not unexpected. There was less blood than there should have been, but Nico was grateful for that. At least the House didn’t feel the need to make it gruesome.
“Who killed him?” he asked bluntly, looking between the people situated in the room. It was like a game of Clue come to life, to the point where he was half certain the woman bent over the body – a stereotypical red dress femme fatale – was named Miss Scarlett. Although he had little hope his question would be answered, it would certainly make the room a bit easier, right?
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Post by <Raintalon> on Aug 19, 2020 21:21:47 GMT -5
WHOOP IM BACK)
"If you say so, dude," said Sol, not particularly committed to arguing with him on names for the Infected. That train of thought was quickly interrupted, though, as the boy called out something else.
"Hang on," she said, holding up her hand to try and shut everyone up. Dead body. Where? Probably where the sobbing was, she decided, and promptly made her way over to the hysterical woman, impatiently pushing her inside to run her hands, snakelike, along the dead man's body. They hit the knife, and she raised her eyebrows in interest, running her hands up and down the hilt until she hit the spot where it met flesh.
"We don't know," said another woman in a thick New York accent. She brought a cigar to her lips and blew a puff of smoke carefully into the air. "Don't seem to have seen you all around here before tonight, though."
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Aug 25, 2020 1:01:43 GMT -5
Nico was comfortable with death. He had to be, given who he was and the role he was expected to play. That didn’t, however, mean he wanted to be running his hands all over a dead body, or the weapon that had been plunged into it. Then again, whatever Sol had to do in order to see, Nico wasn’t going to judge her for it. Let Sol handle the investigation of the body, Nico could try to deal with the people here. Maybe. Asking Nico to deal with people was like asking a cat to try synchronized swimming. He could do it, but it wasn’t gonna be pretty.
“Wow, nice move, accusing us when neither of us have motive and we both have pretty strong alibis considering we literally both appeared here out of thin air five minutes ago. Ask the bellhop if you have to, he was pretty traumatized.” He left out the part about the bellhop only being traumatized after they both threatened him with weapons. That wouldn’t go well here.
“How about we start with names, huh? Then we can figure out who killed the bastard and get out of here. I’m Nico.”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Aug 26, 2020 22:32:28 GMT -5
Sol yanked the knife out of the dead person's chest, ignoring the sobbing woman as she wiped it on her shirt and tucked it away with her other weapons. The wound itself didn't tell her much - or rather, it told her plenty, but nothing that was relevant here. It told her he was killed by a human and not one of the Infected, which was all the investigation she generally needed to do.
"Sapphire," replied the woman, narrowing her eyes at Nico as he fired back at her. "And yall are strangers around here, so don't be getting all short with me for my suspicions. You ain't got no ground to stand on, honey."
"Wow, you're annoying," said Sol to the woman with the strange accent, rejoining the circle and facing towards where she'd heard Nico's voice. "Listen, why are we helping these guys? Do you know them from somewhere? Cause I don't, and this whole thing seems like it doesn't have to be our problem."
"I-I-I'm Alfred," chimed in the butler, raising a timid hand. Sol stared in his direction for a long moment, then turned back to Nico to catch his answer. "C'mon. People get dead all the time everywhere. It's no big deal."
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 3, 2020 2:02:35 GMT -5
Nico tensed, eyes narrowing at the way the woman addressed him. They weren’t going to gt anywhere by being rude, that was for certain. Even though these people weren’t real. “Apologies, Miss Sapphire,” Nico returned, his tone much milder. He couldn’t quite manage a smile that would sell it, but he was trying. “We…” he glanced at Sol, then reconsidered. He wasn’t going to speak for her. “I’d like to help. We just arrived, and the last thing we expected to find was a dead body.” He silently prayed to Hermes that Sol would play along. “I don’t know anyone here,” Nico replied to Sol, his voice quieter than it had been when he’d spoken to the woman. His tone also sounded far more real. “But if we want to get out, it’s probably a good idea to play along.” Hopefully that was a principle that applied in Sol’s world as well, especially considering she wasn’t going to believe in the House. Something about her last statement rubbed him the wrong way, and he crossed his arms. The temperature of the room dropped by a degree or two. “Listen, I don’t care how real these people are, but sometimes death actually matters. Sorry it doesn’t to you.” The statement contained more vitriol than Nico had intended, but he was tired and the last thing he wanted to deal with was a blinker who wasn’t even willing to listen to an explanation of the House. He took a moment before turning to look at the bellhop from earlier. “If we help solve this, will you unlock the doors so we can get out?” His voice was raised just a little bit so Sol would know the question was for her benefit as much as his.
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Post by <Raintalon> on Sept 4, 2020 19:16:03 GMT -5
"Okay, whatever. Jeez," said Sol, her voice gruff to hide the sting of being unexpectedly snapped at. Why was he so mad all of a sudden? Annoyed, she pulled her coat a little closer around her as both the physical and emotional temperature of the room dropped. "Anyway, I'll help. But if either of us finds a way out of this place, I'm leaving. These people give me the creeps."
She turned to face where she was pretty sure the bellhop was standing as Nico asked his question. The fact that they had been locked in to begin with seemed really fishy, but she didn't want to mention that to Nico, because the poor guy already seemed on edge and nothing had really even happened yet. Probably better if he just didn't think about the whole being trapped by cultists thing too much.
"The doors should be unlocked, sir," said the bellhop, with a small bow of his head. "This is a hotel, of course. You are free to leave whenever you like."
Sol turned her head to look up at where Nico was (how tall was he?) and raised an eyebrow, then looked back down at the bellhop. "Well, obviously we're not," she contradicted. "We tried to leave, and the thing wouldn't open. Not even when I - "
But Sol's impending confession of vandalism was interrupted as the heavy wooden doors separating the dining room from the entryway slammed shut so violently that the chandelier shook with the impact. Several screams and gasps of alarm echoed throughout the room, and Sol was behind the nearest chair in the blink of an eye, crouched with her back braced against it as she hoped it was thick enough to stop bullets.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Sept 12, 2020 0:20:21 GMT -5
“Fair enough,” Nico replied quietly, trying to rein himself in. “If there’s a way out, then I’m leaving too.” Hopefully the House wouldn’t consider that rude. Actually, scratch that. The House could think it was rude if it wanted to, as long as it didn’t take it out on either Nico or Sol. He realized he didn’t even know the other blinker’s name, but he’d figure that out later, if it came up. If they got out of this room.
“No offense, sir,” Nico began, trying to keep his tone as polite as possible, “I’ve about had it with hotels where people are supposedly free to come and go. I’d like to leave this one sometime before 2100, thanks.” He didn’t know what year Sol was from, or even if she was from Earth. He didn’t know if it mattered. “I-”
Whatever Nico had been about to say was lost to the door slamming. He unsheathed his sword in the blink of an eye, looking nervously from person to person to make sure nobody had trapped them in there. To make sure nobody else was armed, because suddenly this room got a lot more dangerous. One of these people was probably the murderer. And now they were trapped in the same room. His heart was beating much too quickly, and he tried to take a breath to control it. The last thing he needed was his powers getting out of hand here.
Nico grimaced. Okay, they were getting out of here as soon as possible. He pulled out a chair – not the one Sol was behind – and used it as a makeshift step stool until a few moments later he was standing on the table.
“Listen,” he addressed the crowd, some of the annoyance in his tone leaking through. “This man was murdered. One of you,” he punctuated his sentence with a particularly colorful insult in Greek, “murdered him. Anyone with evidence better step forward right. the. [oops!]. now.”
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Post by <Raintalon> on Sept 21, 2020 20:30:38 GMT -5
Sol squinted disbelievingly up towards the sound of the new boy's loud, echoing voice, and her eyes widened, the first sign of fear she'd shown since arriving in this room.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" she said, darting out from her hiding place and grabbing his sleeve to all but drag him off the table. "We have to be quiet! That noise probably already brought some of them, and there's no exit, so if they get in here, we're dead! Deader than the guy on the floor!"
"What in the name of god is she going on about?" asked a man in an expensive suit, adjusting his monacle to stare suspiciously at the little girl who was currently trying to drag the other kid off the table. "And in a situation like this? She needs to mind her manners."
"Is someone coming for us??" cried the sobbing woman, still crouched over the corpse.
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Transgender
strider
No mourners, no funerals
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Post by strider on Oct 7, 2020 22:04:19 GMT -5
Nico wrenched his arm back, staring at Sol with a sort of anger and alarm he was grateful she couldn’t see.
“Don’t touch me.” His voice was low, and quite possibly more threatening than he meant it to be. He didn’t want to start a fight or an argument or anything between himself and a new blinker, but that was the one thing he needed to make clear. Once he’d had a few moments to calm his thoughts and catch his breath, he turned back to look at Sol.
“There’s nobody here but you and I, and the people we found in this room. I don’t know what kind of danger you have in your world, but they won’t get you here. At least in this room. I promise.” Sol couldn’t possibly know what promises meant to Nico, but he knew. And he would never break one.
“Nobody’s coming for us, ma’am,” Nico managed through gritted teeth. “But I don’t think we should split up. It’d be awfully difficult to someone to murder again with all of these witnesses.” His voice was still rather shaky from the unexpected fear of Sol grabbing his wrist, but he was doing his best to sound in control.
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