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

[hellscapes]

It was a collaborative effort. [ so: yes on the letter, but they pause. ] "Hospitality" is a good one, though.

[ DEEPLY AMUSED they saw your jail cell. singular. ]

[engineers]

Haha. Moreso now than the other day, I mean, but, at least no one was really bleeding out or anything. Maybe the bar's a little low.

[ he thinks the little party is sweet, actually?? it's cute... he knows the struggle of a broke school,

i mean, with his normal amount of cheer and genuine interest: ] So, then, you all are the HPD? What's your name? I guess you already know ours, but, I'm Lu Bixing.

[hellscapes]

The bar is way too low.

[ they agree so quick. but they do a dramatic bow and then. gesture at their little work tag ]

Blue Hawaiian! One of Hell's Personal Demons. At your service! And detriment.

[ ... at least they're honest? ]

[engineers]

Like the drink...?

[ huh! actually, now that blue hawaiian says that, he does take the moment to scroll through his device and look at the npc profiles, murmuring the names to himself... ]

I see! Well, you know what they say, sometimes your demon's just the drink... [ haha get it its a dad joke ] Anyway - it's nice to meet you, Blue Hawaiian! Service and detriment alike. You don't seem too detrimental so far, though. Are demons typically this tall?

[hellscapes]

Drinking is a big thing in this place. You'll see.

[ sort of ominous, but they seem patient when he's scrolling. ... patient enough because they also loom to look at the screen like they don't have their own phone. ]

The height is a job requirement. Discriminatory! [ again. they seem to find that amusing though. ]

[engineers]

[ he just shows them the phone. feel free to peek at your own info! the looming does not seem to put him off too much, and he even scrolls a bit further for their inspection onto their own profiles, making a thoughtful noise. ]

That is discriminatory. Or, I guess, a really strange uniform policy. [ like, really strange! but that's fine. unbothered. moisturized. etc. ] Drinking is a big thing - is that what the house party is about, then?

[ there's a pause when he hits his own profile. ] Oh, it even says official...

[hellscapes]

They're your official accounts! Auto-generated from your files.

[ peeeeering. they seem to just like to loom. ]

Yep. Boss's party is going to involve a lot of drinking for sure. If you get the VIP invite, you can even participate in [ their voice lowers an octave. for drama ] the challenge!

[engineers]

[ loom away big npc

he looks up, tilting his head back to actually do so. ]

VIP invite? [ a pause - he clearly appreciated the drama, if the way he grins a little back is any indication. ] I do like a good challenge! What's that about?

[hellscapes]

Drinking contest! [ clap clap. ] You have to be pretty interesting to be invited, but if you are, all you have to do it outdrink the Boss!

[ they loom more and turn their head ]

How high is your tolerance?

[engineers]

[



briefly thinks about all of the [redacted] he's experienced in the past seventeen years ]

Well, once I emptied Commodore Lin's own liquor stash...... [ this is said also with the tone of someone who likes drama, like he's gonna tell a story....but he stops there and grins. ] ...It's pretty good, but I can think of someone who would be better for sure. [ lin jingheng your iron liver. ]

Alright. So, you get invited, you drink with the Boss - what happens if you win?

[hellscapes]

[ the face goes >\ when he doesn't finish the story. ]

You're gonna have to do better than pretty good. Hell alcohol is something else.

[ but they go back to standing up straight ]

You win your life back! [ they throw confetti from ... somewhere. ] You get to go leave and live both.

[engineers]

[








i'm sorry, what ]

That's - really? [ WHAT? ]

[hellscapes]

[


:\ ]

You could stand to look happier about it. [ pokes his cheek ] It's a rare opportunity. You guys landed at a good time!

[ they died. ]

[engineers]

[ SORRY HE'S JUST SHOOK he like comes back to normal when blue hawaiian pokes his cheek, shaking his head like a dog. ]

I just - well, I didn't think that was even possible. Interesting! That's really it? Win the drinking contest from hell, go home? I guess we all have to win, then, not just one person? I have a lot of questions.

[hellscapes]

What? No. This is hell, not a team sport. [ no teams!! ] You win, you come back. Someone else can't oudrink the Boss, they get to stay here for the rest of... well, forever.

[engineers]

... So... it sounds like we're going to be doing the drinking training...


[ he can't resist




he can't ]

.... from hell!

[hellscapes]

Boooooooooooooooo. Boooooooooo.

[ thumbs down. exaggerated booing. etc ]

[engineers]

Haha, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! It was too easy!

[ pleased with himself

...though. after a moment, he does backtrack, sobering (lol) up a bit. ] Ah, though - if we arrived at a good time, then... are there other people here?

[hellscapes]

[ the impression that they'd be sticking out their tongue... if their weird face had one. but then they just. tilt their head ]

... Did you think there were only 31 people sent to Hell ever? There's other people somewhere. We just stick the newbies together.

[engineers]

[ .... ]

... Could you tell us if someone is here? That might not be a newbie.

[hellscapes]

No.

[ a little blunt... ]

I don't know everyone who's in Hell right now? That's asking too much any way you look at it.

[engineers]

...Right.

[ of course. well, helpful and detrimental, right? ] You'd know, I think. He'd be making a ruckus.

[ it's affectionate, maybe a little distant, before he shakes his head. ] Well - thank you anyway, Blue Hawaiian. If you ever do hear the name Monoeye Hawk, would you tell me?

[hellscapes]

[ ... they look a little awkward ... ]

If you end up sticking around, you can just look him up. He'll probably have some kind of profile. [ is this helping. but also, wait. ] Monoeye Hawk?

[ THE FUCK KIND OF NAME ]

[engineers]

[ i do not want to hear that from blue hawaiian

also i forgot a d up there its fine ]

Monoeyed Hawk. [ he confirms, with a laugh - affectionate again, a little brighter. ]

Actually, his official ID says something like... [ a pause, and lu bixing affixes a more gruff tone. ] "Monoeyed Hawk, Surname Lu (I picked it at random, my name ain’t Lu Monoeyed Hawk)."

He's my dad.

[hellscapes]

That's long even for the Bicker display...

[ help. help? also leave blue's name alone. it's a great name. it has a color. ]

Your dad is a one eyed hawk? [ peeeering. it is unclear how serious they are about this question ]