INTRO WEEKEND - SUNDAY

[hellscapes]

Well hey there! Have you been getting along with your fellow newly dead? Sure hope so! The jail cell's probably starting to feel a little cramped by now, huh? Without a way to tell the time or even guess what day it is, you might be feeling a little stir-crazy. The buffet is starting to run low, the soap is just about gone, and you're likely on the last square of toilet paper. Yikes.

You don't have time to worry about those things though before a faint sound breaks through the chatter of you and your cellmates. It's quiet at first, hard to pinpoint and very far away. It gradually begins to grow louder, and soon you may come to recognize them as church bells.

Without warning, all of the lights go out. Silk-like hands wind around your face, tying a thick piece of fabric over your eyes before you're forced to march forward. Try not to move too fast, lest you bump right into the person ahead of you. You can hear the cell door swinging open, and soon after there's the sound of something like water lapping against a shoreline. You take a few steps forward, but as you come to a stop you feel yourself sway in place briefly before promptly passing out.

Whoops.

When you come to, you're aware you're in another location. A tomato-y smell wafts through the air, and a slight draft blows through the room before a door slams shut behind you. Your blindfolds fall off with ease and you regain control of your limbs just in time to see the lights flickering on and off rather quickly.

"Welcome…to Hell…" a few voices say, tone low and dreary. The lights flicker faster and the voices chant the same mantra in rapid succession before there's suddenly a startled yell. With the rhythm lost, the lights flip back on and a dormitory common room comes into view.

The TV is playing some kind of gardening show with the volume low, and the remote is nowhere to be seen. There's plenty of seating for everyone whether you choose to sit on a couch, a beanbag, or the floor. Of course, if you sit on the floor you run the risk of sitting in a pile of confetti or on a used party popper. How messy. From here you can see the stairwells leading upward, but given the baby gates that have been set up it doesn't seem like you're going to leave anytime soon. Likewise, the front door to leave the dorm all together has been locked. What's your hurry? Stay awhile. Lunch has been provided in the form of lukewarm cafeteria-style pizza with cups of flat soda to wash it down. There's plenty of that for everyone, too. However, it seems like someone beat you to the welcome party; there's a sheet cake sitting on the other end of the table but it's already half-eaten. It doesn't even appear to have been cut into neat slices, so, uh, scoop some up if you want. There's also a life-size cut-out of this dapper gentleman for some reason.

You're probably distracted by what's at the front of the room, however. Standing below the hanging welcome sign are six figures. They might seem a little intimidating given their size in comparison to you, but don't be shy! Each one bears a name tag introducing themselves as your personal demons, eager to please and ready to help...probably.

Okay, fine, that's a stretch. But they do seem to be here to greet you and supply you with a few things. To the demons' left is a table with room keys and cell phones for each of you. Your keys are labeled with your names and room numbers, but you can always check the directories on the walls in case you get lost. Meanwhile, not only can your phones make calls, they already have a few apps on them including a radio, a camera app, and something called Bicker, a social media app where you can share your thoughts about Hell via text, photos or videos. Be sure to check out the profiles of your new mutuals! You won't be able to unfollow anybody for a while, but you can bug them to your heart's content.

Most importantly, to the demons' right is a whiteboard that looks as though it's seen better days given the sheer amount of marked-up scribbles on its surface. There may have been useful information on the board once, but now there's only two messages remaining.

SATAN'S HOUSE PARTY
SEVEN WEEKS AND SIX DAYS FROM TODAY

WELCOME TO HELL
Q&A IS NOW IN SESSION

Welcome to orientation. You're bound to have plenty of questions by now, right? Feel free to mingle and get to know your demons before exploring the dorm. Any attempt to jump the baby gates immediately will end in the gates rising up to block you, but we're sure you'll figure out how to get around those sooner or later.

Hello, happy Sunday! Thanks for playing with us so far. Here's some new notes!

-You are now able to explore the dormitories! Please check the dorm page for information about the building, what's available, and for your rooming assignments.

-You do not have to stay with your assigned dormmate for your whole stay, it's just for fun.

-You do not have to ICly stay for the whole Q&A! If your character would just disappear and try to jump the baby gates, they can do that. They will be stopped on their first attempt but they are free to go after that.

-For anyone talking to the NPCs, please stick with one for now just for mod loads! We will let you know when we are open to you guys tagging more than one.

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Comments

[engineers]

Well, if you see a problem, we fix it, right? I'm sure there's something we can do to doctor the food up around here.

[ lu bixing gives them a grin that suggests perhaps he will do his best to do this. let's cook hell to being better (no).

the rotting part sounds terrible, though, wow. ] Ah - then, definitely, yay, us. You all were watching us, right? Did you think we'd all make it through?

[hellscapes]

If you have an idea, be my guest. I don't cook. [ it's all on lu bixing!! and they are going to do nothing to stop it, apparently. but they tilt their head in consideration at the question. ]

We saw some stuff. Considering how quickly you all descended into madness after a single day? It was really questionable if you'd make it through the processing period!

[engineers]

If I do, I'll be sure to let you know! You can help me taste test.

[ cheerful!!!

the last bit, though, is maybe less cheerful... ] Aha... well... I suppose there's a reason why people have done prison experiments... It got a bit Lord of the Flies in there, didn't it?

[hellscapes]

Oh. [ they aren't really sure how to respond to that, so they sort of stare before deciding not to address that and moving on!! this man is so cheery for being dead.

but they tilt their head at the next bit. ]

Mm. I don't know if having a conch shell would've helped keep order any better, but at least you didn't have to share space with a rotted pig's head? Consider it a small blessing.

[engineers]

[ lu bixing

undeterred!! he likes that malibu got the reference, though, and laughs. ]

True... just the toilet, which might have been just as bad.

[ joking. maybe. ]

[hellscapes]

[ he's valid.

but maybe! it's enough that there's a polite laugh at that. ]

We did send you a plunger just in case. Though I hope you didn't really have to use it.

[engineers]

Not as far as I noticed... but, then again, I can't say I was paying all that much attention to that part of things.

[ too busy with fires and like, staring at lin jingheng ]

I think it's a win for everyone that we're out.

[hellscapes]

Even with all of you in the same room when there's too much happening all at once it's hard to keep track. The dorms are a little more spacious. You have more room to spread out and find new ways to irritate each other.

[engineers]

Ancient Earth philosophers did once say hell is other people...

[hellscapes]

I think that isn't something that would change even with the passage of time. Are you a people person?

[engineers]

Oh, definitely.

[ with a smile!! ] There are so many interesting people in the world - and now, there are interesting people in different universes, let alone galaxies.

[hellscapes]

[ ah? ]

Galaxies. Plural? I assume you mean the people you've met here?

[engineers]

Plural. There are eight, back home. That we know of, at least! Or, rather, that are currently accessible. Who knows? Maybe millenias from now, humankind will have advanced to find a ninth or a tenth. I'm from the Eighth, myself.

But the universes part, yes, that's new here. Alternate universes and dimensions that exist parallel to my own - with entirely different contexts and rules and realities. It's exciting! Like something out of a science fiction novel.

[ says lu bixing, protagonist of award winning science fiction novel the defectives ]

[hellscapes]

[ they seem to be thinking about this because it's a lot to process for a demon who's hanging around hell. ]

With the passage of time comes more opportunities for discovery. It's not like that doesn't make sense, but those are pretty big advancements. You've been to the other galaxies though haven't you? I don't think anybody else here is nearly as invested in the multiverse as you are.

[engineers]

[ the first part gets him to smile a little. ]

Exactly.

As for traveling - believe it or not, I've only been to a couple. I had every intention to try and travel all the way to the First, but my plans ended up changing pretty drastically. I've been out to the Seventh and Sixth since, though.

[ and none of them, as he have learned, are as important or special to him as the eighth is but that's besides the point. he is in fact, the prime minister of the eighth so he is a little biased.

as for the multiverse bit!! well!! lu bixing brightens. ] And, of course I have to be interested! I'm a scientist, you know, Malibu! Is there anything more amazing than to think that your entire concept of life can be shifted, and new discoveries can still be made? For a scientist, that's a gold mine.

[hellscapes]

[ they seem to be listening, tilting their head curiously even if they don't make any signs to show that they're really grasping all of it or even fully interested. but they're letting him talk since it seems to be important to him, and when he finishes there's a light hum under their breath. ]

I've never been very good at or interested in science, but I'll take your word for it. Though when you put it that way I bet some people would find that to be terrifying instead.

[engineers]

Haha, well - maybe we can change that!

[ hehe. but, more seriously: ] They might, though. The unknown can be scary to anyone. Maybe, for some people, that's their idea of hell, even.

Not for me. [ bring on the multiverse he loves this. ] The unknown is one of the only original things left, after all.

[hellscapes]

Ah, but if it's unknown then how do you know that it's still in its original form instead of changing while we're all unaware? And the concept of "original" is flimsy at best. What may be original to me may be old news to you. Likewise, what's original to you may be child's play to someone else.

Originality, and everything it brings, is temperamental. Some may feel that it strengthens, but others may find it to be the source of downfall.

[ ...but they seem to laugh a little at the end of that, tone lightening again. ]

Oh well. I'm sure this place will have other things to torment you the longer you're here.

[engineers]

[ i regret to inform you that malibu is lu bixing's favorite ]

Isn't that the truth! You're correct - maybe it is changing, and maybe that's what we learn to study. To find something in the frame of mind that we find it in now, and then to study it, to learn it, to find evidence of its former and theorize onto its future based on it. Maybe even to find that all of your initial theories were wrong! That's the joy of it, right?

And originality, too - every person who thinks they have an original idea, more often than not, someone else thought of it first, and tried it first. It can be depressing - life changing, even, the type of thing to turn an optimist to a cynic.

[ he also seems perfectly fine just

saying that,

and then huffs a laugh at the end. ]

Maybe! I guess that's the point of hell. It sounds like the hangovers might be a big part of it.

[hellscapes]

[ there he goes, rambling. lu bixing is still talking about theorizing and science and research and malibu listens again. even though they're paying attention, lu bixing may get the sense that their gaze seems to be drifting elsewhere to something else in the room. their head is turned just slightly, obviously watching something else, but not enough to completely tune him out.

when he finishes, their attention returns to him. ]

That still sounds like a lot of science. Even if I think finding joy in being wrong sounds a little stupid. [ but they don't seem to think any of that is necessarily wrong even if it isn't really in their wheelhouse. it's very obvious they're thinking all of this over, but they're leaving the topic behind. it's q&a time, not philosophy and science hour. ] There's all kinds of ways we can torture you. That's what we're here for! But the hangovers might get you before we do. Hell alcohol's pretty strong, and if your tolerance isn't, well...

[ they shrug! ]

You won't stand a chance without it.

[engineers]

[ he's a teacher do you think he's not used to this behavior? do you think he does not know what it is like to be half listened to. you fool. you absolute fool. what's malibu looking at.

anyway

malibu's first remark makes him laugh. ] It is, I think. [ theory and science, relativity and mathematics. so many things in lu bixing's life have been explained and understood that way that they're his bread and butter. he's gonna end up picking malibu's brain about this again sometime, if the look on his face is any indication.

but! moving on. ]

That's what I've heard. Mine's alright - and if it's not, I know someone who can probably help me get it going. Should we expect a boot camp?

[hellscapes]

[ they were listening fine, thank you very much. but also it's hard to say what, exactly, malibu is looking at but it may be in the direction of the door. ]

I don't know how much science is going to help you here, but it is your first day out of holding. Who can say? [ their brain will be available later, perhaps. ]

A boot camp for drinking? No way. But you'll figure out some other ways to train, probably. Guess it depends how bad you want to win.

[engineers]

[ malibu like escape escape

anyway. ]

Oh, I'm sure we will. If nothing else, it's for our own safety, isn't it? If the alcohol's that bad. That sounds like the sort of thing an experiment might just be perfect for.

[hellscapes]

[ maybe someday lu bixing will know what malibu was looking at...

still. when they speak, they sound more amused, and a little disbelieving. ]

Does everything have to be an experiment? What's wrong with just doing things because you can?

[engineers]

What's wrong with collecting data just because you can?

[ the goddamn door ]