entranceway | ( video ) chapter one: livin' it up at the hotel california

[ becky doesn't remember ever auditioning for big brother, but when she peeks her head out of the room that has been made up for her to resemble her own room almost identically (they even got her posters!) all she sees is a long hall full of doors that presumably lead to other rooms. it reminds her more of a dormitory hallway than a house, but she's never actually watched big brother, so how would she know? maybe this, like, big brother college edition or something, despite the fact that she hasn't been to college since she dropped out her sophomore year. that wouldn't even make sense, anyway, unless they were in some kind of fraternity/sorority house. for all she knows, this could be part of a house, but it seems really odd for a house to have a whole floor of doors like a hotel. she almost feels like she's in a hilton. hilton's hotel california, more like... ]

[ she doesn't feel like she's been kidnapped, even though she's entirely sure that might be a possibility. she's read the supernatural books, she knows what's up. she also knows that if she's the first victim of whatever monster or cult this might be, she's screwed. but if she's not... ]

[ well. obviously the winchesters will show up. they always do. (except for the part where they aren't actually real. but a girl can dream.) but it's a good thing for becky she knows about these things, because if this is a potentially bad situation, panicking would not be a good option. she's obviously allowed to leave since the door isn't locked — or maybe that's just what they want her to think? ]

[ her eyes land on the computer on her desk. it might as well be hers from home, but she knows it isn't. it doesn't have all her stickers and sticky notes attached to it. it also doesn't have the fanfic she was in the middle of writing on it, or any of her other works. really, if she's going to get all the comforts from home, the least they could have done is copy all her computer files. she doesn't really care about the rest of the stuff in her room, but her fanfiction? that is irreplaceable. at least most of it is on the internet, so if she has internet access... ]

[ she opens the browser, which normally would take her to the home page of morethanbrothers.net, but here it apparently takes her to some kind of... forum? she's not entirely sure what it is. it's not like any forum she's ever seen before. but if this is the only thing they want her to access, maybe she'll be able to communicate with whoever else is trapped here, assuming that the people on this strange forum are also trapped here. it could just be a red herring, to make her feel like she's not alone when actually she is, or it could be like all hell breaks loose, and they've all been kidnapped by demons or something — except demons wouldn't be this nice, so probably not. she doesn't really want this to turn into some kind of battle royale, anyway. ]

[ she clicks on the video option and the light on her monitor blinks to life, and some kind of video box pops up on the screen in front of her. she looks a bit lost for a second as she tries to figure out if it's recording or not, but she assumes it is since the only other button she sees is a stop button. she looks back up, as if she's trying to make eye contact with whoever might be watching. ] Okay, this is kind of weird. Is this a kidnapping or, like, some kind of Hotel California thing? Or maybe it's both? It's hard to tell. But I don't remember how I got here, so that kind of makes me think kidnapping. Definitely not demons, but it's something... [ she seems distracted by something else on the screen, frowning at the 404 error she's getting for morethanbrothers.net until she remembers that the video is still recording. ] Oh, anyway. My name is Becky Rosen. Not I would expect any of you to know that... But, uh, any information on this place and what's going on would be great. And is it just me, or is the internet down?

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[Assuming that by this point Becky has gotten most of the information from others--he's always so late at replying to newbies, ugh--Wash keeps it short and sweet.]

There's no internet here. [Sympathetic helmeted-head tilt.] At all. But there are a lot of people to talk to over the network, so that's...something.

[ becky returns the head tilt, but it's more in curiosity as to why she's talking to someone cosplaying someone from halo. ]

Uh... yeah. I actually know a handful of them, too... [ "know" being a relative term... she grins, a small laugh escaping her lips, though her expression looks preemptively apologetic. ] Sorry, I've got to ask: what's with the cosplay? I mean, it's really good. Amazing craftsmanship on the armor. Is there some kind of cosplay club around here or something?

Oh, good!

[She has people here, he's glad to hear that. No doubt they'll help her out through this whole...thing.

However, her question draws him up short.]

...Cosplay? [Frown. What is this cosplay thing she speaks of.] I uh. I don't know what you mean...?

[ becky blinks a few times because, well, how does someone not know they're cosplaying? unless... this is one of those alternate universe things... ]

Oh! I'm sorry, I thought you were — cosplay is short for costume play, like, when you dress up as your favorite character from, say, a video game. That's what I thought... you were doing. Your armor looks a lot like the armor in this game called Halo.

...You thought I was dressed up as a character from a video game?

[Summing up what she just said, but. He can't really believe that. What the hell is this "Halo" that apparently has armour similar to his??? He's never heard of such a thing. Huff.]

I can assure you that's not what I'm doing. This isn't a costume, it's high-grade military armour. [Puffing out his chest just a little bit.] I'm a soldier back home, not a... "cosplayer".

[And he's only a tiny bit offended that she thought this was some costume.]

[ sorry wash!!! for the record, she looks really guilty about this little misunderstanding. ]

Sorry! Sorry... I didn't mean to offend you. It's just... where I come from, people dressed like you aren't actually soldiers. And I usually only see them at conventions. But for what it's worth... it's really cool armor. [ maybe this sheepish grin will appease him??? ]

[Well, when she looks all guilty like that, he can't help but feel bad... Even if he still totally thinks he had a right to be offended.]

It is pretty cool, isn't it? [He's always been pretty dorkily proud of the fact that he gets to wear such cool armour, okay. Breaking, he laughs a little and shakes his head.] It's okay. Costume is just a new one on me. Most people think I'm a robot or something, so I guess I should be glad you recognized it as armour.

[...He's forgetting something here. Oh man, where are his manners??]

I'm Washington, by the way. Or Wash. Either one works.

[ well, now that wash is laughing a little, becky feels more comfortable in laughing with him. ]

Nice to meet you, Wash. I'm Becky — but I already said that, didn't I? [ uh. ] Anyway, what are you doing walking around in fullbody armor? Doesn't it get hot?

Hot? No, it's got internal temperature control. It keeps me cool when it's warm out and, when it's cold out or I'm out in space, it keeps me warm.

[Shrug. It's pretty awesome, but after wearing the suit for so long, it's kind of just a feature that's helpful.]

And I'm walking around in it because... Er. Well, because I don't trust Wonderland. You never know when there's going to be trouble, or what kind of trouble it might be, and I don't want to be caught unprepared.

[So he's prepared all the time. Smart, right?]

Oh, that definitely makes sense. Always be prepared, right? [ and she's definitely impressed by the fact that the suit regulates its own temperature. ] That temperature thing sounds pretty neat, too, however it works. How does it work? [ they definitely don't have that kind of tech in 2009 as far as she knows. ]

Right.

[A single, very certain nod. It's nice to have someone agreeing with him on that for once.]

Oh. Uhm. I couldn't tell you the specifics on how it works... I'm not exactly an expert, I didn't design any of the armour, I just...know how to run it.

[Which he sounds really sheepish about now. Should he know that sort of thing??? Should he have studied up on how his armour works on top of everything else he had to learn??? Man, now that's going to bug him...]

[ oh no, wash, don't feel bad about no knowing! here, becky will offer you a reassuring grin. ]

Hey, that's okay. I'm sure it's all really complicated. I probably wouldn't understand it anyway.

I probably wouldn't understand it.

[He laughs a little, admittedly feeling better with her reassurance.]

It's high-tech stuff. I'm just paid to wear it, not know how it works.

[See? He's comfortable enough to joke now. S'all good.]

[ oh, good, she was beginning to feel bad about calling it fake. there's just one thing she has to ask... ]

Do you wear it all the time? I mean, do you sleep in it too? Seems like it would be pretty uncomfortable sleepwear.

( video ) chapter one: livin' it up at the hotel california

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