the vanity is familiar. there's nobody here. there's nobody ever here, not when you want them to be. they're busy. they're off attending to something that isn't you, like always.
there's her reflection in the mirror again. it's just her.]
[ without noticing, she's wrapped her arms around herself. as she waits. and waits. she waits for something to happen, anything. but there's no one here. she's--
almost disappointed.
she grabs a lipstick from the vanity and turns around to leave. might as well get something out of it, right? it's not like she even wants to go home anyway. ]
[when she turns, there's a cardigan and skirt, standing right behind her. there's nobody visible, but it looks like someone is just standing, watching. there's no reflection in the vanity!
if she tries to go around it, it just turns to watch as she does.]
she does that awkward jump in place of someone who accidentally bumped their toe into a table for a little bit before she kneels down and looks through? the clothes pile? what hurt her. this better not be more trauma. ]
If this is all a dumb puzzle, I'm going to be so mad.
[it's a red mask! or a half mask. it covers the top half of the face. when she touches it, she gets the sense that it is... very important to someone.]
[ she will bring the mask with her. maybe it's part of this stupid inevitable side quest puzzle. she looks around the room to make sure there isn't anything else to interact with before leaving. ]
[nope, the room seems pretty empty. but as she's walking to the door, there's whispering behind her. nothing intelligible, really, except for vague snippets of gossipy sounding giggles, little girls laughing at her behind her back. if she turns, there's nothing there.
unfortunately she's probably not going to like room 102 much better, because it's entirely ripped apart. the mirror is shattered, the bed is in pieces. the floor is ripped to shreds, and there's a girl sitting, staring into the room at something else. grace can't quite see what it is with the room angled as it is, but the girl seems upset, scrambling backwards.]
[ unfortunately x2, grace is something of a reactionary idiot, so-- she beelines towards the girl, heart in her throat as she reaches and tries to grab her so she can turn her around ]
[she goes - and a lot of things happen all at once.
first, she grabs hazel, and hazel shrieks a little, looking up at her. she's half transformed, and clearly panicking. second, at this angle, hazel can now see a man standing where the bed once was, or - at least, something that's supposed to be him. his limbs are just a little too long, eyes a little too wide.
he skitters across the room, grabbing hazel by the shoulder and throwing her across the room, into the wardrobe, destroying both it and knocking the wind out of her. he turns on hazel, and picks her up by the back of her shirt.]
[ it comes out of her even though she knows it's not real. it can't be, but still, she-- she's shaking and it's different but she's thought of this before. this exact scenario. she's grabbing simon (the lookalike, it's not him, he's not-- he wouldn't.) before she even recognizes she's doing it, trying to wrench him away from hazel.
and brings a hand up to backhand grace across the room, into the door. the lights flicker, cracking and going in and out, and simon picks hazel up. she wails. he ignores it. there's a window - a window right there against the wall, and simon does not hesitate before he throws hazel out through it.
there's the sudden roaring sound of wheels on a track. the lights go out, and in the dark, there's a sickening crunch.]
[ grace flies and hits the door, and she's immediately scrambling to try and get up again, whoozy, but all she's got time to do is get halfway there before she sees him throw her out, and all she can do is scream. ]
HAZEL!!!
[ it's a raw high pitched scream, but she can still hear the wheels, and she falls to her knees sobbing even before the lights go out, putting a hand to her mouth. she tries to tell herself it isn't real, but all she can think of is hazel, on the train, alone with simon. hazel clinging to her and screaming that she was afraid of the wheel.
it might not be real right now but it could be, so she's just going to sit there sobbing until the lights turn on or something else happens! maybe not!simon will throw her out the window too! that'd be better. ]
[ it takes her a few minutes to finish crying. but it's fine since it's just an empty hotel room, right?
she wipes at her face once she's done, letting out a deep breath before she starts walking around and going through everything to see if there's anything she can take. wardrobe, dresser, this time she avoids looking at the mirror, night tables, on and under the bed. let's get this done. ]
[ well. this is a terrible hat, but she's keeping it. she's also going to carry a crossbow now, i guess! her loot accumulates. but more importantly than that--
[ hm. well. alright. she's got everything from this room including the trauma, so first she's going to go out into the hallway before starting to answer again ]
I'M IN A WEIRD HOTEL ROOM HALLWAY!
[ logic states molly is in a similar situation, because there's an elevator and his voice is coming from above, but logic also states grace just spent five minutes crying in turtle child, so. whatever. what happens if she goes to open room 103 just to check ]
[ but that's in a normal volume to herself before she goes to explore this normal hotel room that won't be cursed at all in five minutes. sure. she's got a crossbow now! she's tough! she can put on a crab hat and be protected!!
let's pretend any of that works while she goes ahead and does her usual check of dresser, wardrobe and night tables. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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the vanity is familiar. there's nobody here. there's nobody ever here, not when you want them to be. they're busy. they're off attending to something that isn't you, like always.
there's her reflection in the mirror again. it's just her.]
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almost disappointed.
she grabs a lipstick from the vanity and turns around to leave. might as well get something out of it, right? it's not like she even wants to go home anyway. ]
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if she tries to go around it, it just turns to watch as she does.]
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[ she does not go around! she instead shoves it aside with all her strength! because you can shove maybe ghosts, right. sure you can! ]
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and she kicks something when she tries to go through. something in the pile of clothes that is hard and probably hurts her foot.]
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she does that awkward jump in place of someone who accidentally bumped their toe into a table for a little bit before she kneels down and looks through? the clothes pile? what hurt her. this better not be more trauma. ]
If this is all a dumb puzzle, I'm going to be so mad.
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[ she will bring the mask with her. maybe it's part of this stupid inevitable side quest puzzle. she looks around the room to make sure there isn't anything else to interact with before leaving. ]
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but she can be out in the hallway, if she wants!]
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unfortunately she's probably not going to like room 102 much better, because it's entirely ripped apart. the mirror is shattered, the bed is in pieces. the floor is ripped to shreds, and there's a girl sitting, staring into the room at something else. grace can't quite see what it is with the room angled as it is, but the girl seems upset, scrambling backwards.]
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Hazel!
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first, she grabs hazel, and hazel shrieks a little, looking up at her. she's half transformed, and clearly panicking. second, at this angle, hazel can now see a man standing where the bed once was, or - at least, something that's supposed to be him. his limbs are just a little too long, eyes a little too wide.
he skitters across the room, grabbing hazel by the shoulder and throwing her across the room, into the wardrobe, destroying both it and knocking the wind out of her. he turns on hazel, and picks her up by the back of her shirt.]
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[ it comes out of her even though she knows it's not real. it can't be, but still, she-- she's shaking and it's different but she's thought of this before. this exact scenario. she's grabbing simon (the lookalike, it's not him, he's not-- he wouldn't.) before she even recognizes she's doing it, trying to wrench him away from hazel.
maybe hazel. not hazel. she can't think. ]
Get away from her!
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and brings a hand up to backhand grace across the room, into the door. the lights flicker, cracking and going in and out, and simon picks hazel up. she wails. he ignores it. there's a window - a window right there against the wall, and simon does not hesitate before he throws hazel out through it.
there's the sudden roaring sound of wheels on a track. the lights go out, and in the dark, there's a sickening crunch.]
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HAZEL!!!
[ it's a raw high pitched scream, but she can still hear the wheels, and she falls to her knees sobbing even before the lights go out, putting a hand to her mouth. she tries to tell herself it isn't real, but all she can think of is hazel, on the train, alone with simon. hazel clinging to her and screaming that she was afraid of the wheel.
it might not be real right now but it could be, so she's just going to sit there sobbing until the lights turn on or something else happens! maybe not!simon will throw her out the window too! that'd be better. ]
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the lights flicker out.
and then back on, and the room is completely back to normal once more. nothing broken, no window, no shattered wardrobe. just a hotel room.]
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she wipes at her face once she's done, letting out a deep breath before she starts walking around and going through everything to see if there's anything she can take. wardrobe, dresser, this time she avoids looking at the mirror, night tables, on and under the bed. let's get this done. ]
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as she's looking, she can hear, faintly, a familiar voice above her. Grace? GRACE!]
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she knows that voice. she screams back-- ]
MOLLY? MOLLY, WHERE ARE YOU?
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also:
NOT A GODSDAMNED CLUE. comes from above her.]
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I'M IN A WEIRD HOTEL ROOM HALLWAY!
[ logic states molly is in a similar situation, because there's an elevator and his voice is coming from above, but logic also states grace just spent five minutes crying in turtle child, so. whatever. what happens if she goes to open room 103 just to check ]
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she can try room 103! it's just a plain old hotel room, similar to the first one she was in.]
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[ but that's in a normal volume to herself before she goes to explore this normal hotel room that won't be cursed at all in five minutes. sure. she's got a crossbow now! she's tough! she can put on a crab hat and be protected!!
let's pretend any of that works while she goes ahead and does her usual check of dresser, wardrobe and night tables. ]
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she does, however, hear footsteps coming down the hall.]
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