[ Open ] A Home for the Holidays

[maddeninghatter]

Date & Time: December 10th - 21st
Location: The Museum of Old and New(ish) Art
Characters: Xerxes Break and you. Information about and a map to the castle has been left in the Transporter Facility, so anyone interested in renovating a warm and secure (if weird) place to stay is welcome.
Summary: An eccentric billionaire’s 27th century medieval-replica castle/art museum/hotel lies abandoned and half-buried in the snow. It’s going to take a lot of work to renovate, but hey it’s more kid-friendly than a brothel. Right? Right?
Warnings: None.

The 1980's ski-wear themed snow suits Break brought back from this mission proved to be a hit with the local population (so stylish!), as were Mister Cecil's ugly Christmas sweaters, so they have been able to trade for goods and some technical services, to help make this place more livable. Supplies from the DITR have also been a great help. However, a lot of work needs to be done: cleaning and vermin-smiting and clearing away snow. Come and help, or simply explore.

(ooc: feel free to start threads willy-nilly, action-spam or prose, name your time and place, threadjack and mingle.)


(1) Museum:

The stairway forces you straight down, past four floors, into the very dungeons of the castle. There are no windows; it was artificially lit, although the electricity isn't on at present. However, the old geothermal power generation system in the structure is simple and robust, so only a small amount of tweaking will be required to get it operational once more. In the meantime, the DITR has kindly supplied you with bright uber-LED flashlights and batteries with advanced energy storage, meaning they should stay lit for weeks. Should.

As soon as you emerge in the dungeons, you’ll find yourself lost in a maze of gallery after gallery. High sandstone walls rise up, towering over everything. What was once a set of opulent velvet curtains lining the art spaces hang in rags, having long since been devoured by rats.

Many of the paintings are destroyed, but most are intact, as are the sculptures and installations, preserved in the deep freeze. The subject matter is bizarre and disturbing. Take this human centipede for instance. And what on earth does this machine do? What’s that smell….

However, some of the “artworks” are playful and interactive. Try a game of ping pong on an accordion-shaped table; or jump on a trampoline in a cage with bells underneath; or find the white library, full of blank books (don’t deface the art!).

Try not to get lost.


(2) Castle/Hotel:

The upper levels of the castle were hotel rooms, long ago. Alas, all of the sheets and bedding were made into nests by rats. Here too, the lush velvet curtains hang in rags, and the wool carpets over the stone floors have lost their battle to the moths.

Yet most of the furniture remains intact, as well as the elaborate chandeliers. Compact heaters will keep the spaces at a near-comfortable temperature, and sleeping bags will do for now.

Let’s get cleaning!


(3) R&R

All that hard work has finally paid off. The geothermal power system is now providing electricity and abundant steam heat, and multiple hotel rooms are in habitable shape. Most importantly, the kitchen is functional. it's time to relax with a cup of hot spiced wine (or chocolate) and pastry. Some mischievous person has hung mistletoe over various random entranceways, so look sharp!


(4) Playing in the snow

The weak December sun makes an appearance, illuminating the ice crystals in the frigid air, creating a sun dog. The snow sparkles like white diamonds. It’s still freezing, but how can you stay inside on a day like this? Anyway, the snow needs shoveling, but perhaps there’s time to make a snowman (or snow angels).


(5) Penguins:

In addition to vermin of the four-legged, tailed and whiskered variety, this castle is home to a flock of penguins. These might be the principal reason the castle has lain abandoned all these years. They can be found anywhere in or around the structure. Approach with caution. Or better yet —



— run away.

Comments

[maddeninghatter]

[ A long moment of ungainly arm windmilling, followed by a leap and a twirl and landing on his toes. I meant to do that. Nonchalantly, he withdraws a precious lollipop from a pocket of his ugly Christmas sweater and chomps down on it. ]

Dear me.

[ Crunch. ]

What's the matter? You sounded quite out of sorts.

[velveteened]

( there's a pause, just drawn out long enough to suggest you didn't mean to do that at all and we both know it, as he rubs off the rest of the spiderweb and turns to more important issues.

LIKE HIS MISERY. )

I just finished reading this book!

( you'd think he'd sound pleased about it, and yet he's more like aghast )

[maddeninghatter]

[ YOU CHEEKY BRAT



....to his knowledge, he hasn't ripped out the last five pages of any books lately, and he can't think why Oz would sound so incensed. He's just going to suck noisily at his lollipop for a moment, considering. In the end, it's Emily who exclaims: ]

DID YOU WANT A GOLD STAR?

1/

[velveteened]

( EMILY HE DOESN'T HAVE THE TIME FOR THIS )

And the ending was so terrible!

[velveteened]

It was the worst thing I've ever read!

[velveteened]

Well, Miss Sylvie was a bit...

[velveteened]

But the point was that Arthur was supposed to become king and unite all of Albion under a peaceful rule after all the decades and decades of fighting!

[velveteened]

His humble upbringing with the help from Merlyn and the animals meant that he'd be nothing like his father or the other corrupt kings! And he was able to do it and make Might serve Right by founding the Round Table and everything. Even if he made mistakes like anyone else, he was a really good person and always did his best to do the right thing!

[velveteened]

If he's the "once and future king," then his reign is supposed to last, isn't it?

[velveteened]

It's not supposed to crumble and for everything to get ruined before he gets killed by his own child.

( with his sister. DETAILS. )

And then to end the novel saying something like —

[velveteened]

( YEAH HE'S GOING TO FLIP THE BOOK OPEN AND READ IT ALOUD )

The old King felt refreshed, clear-headed, almost ready to begin again.

There would be a day — there must be a day — when he would come back to Gramarye with a new Round Table which had no corners, Just as the world had none — a table without boundaries between the nations who would sit to feast there. The hope of making it would lie in culture. If people could be persuaded to read and write, not just to eat and make love, there was still a chance that they might come to reason.

But it was too late for another effort then. For that time it was his destiny to die, or, as some say, to be carried off to Avilion, where he could wait for better days. For that time it was Lancelot's fate and Guenever's to take the tonsure and the veil, while Mordred must be slain. The fate of this man or that man was less than a drop, although it was a sparkling one, in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea.

The cannons of his adversary were thundering in the tattered morning when the Majesty of England drew himself up to meet the future with a peaceful heart.

OKAY I'M DONE

[velveteened]

— what kind of an ending is that?

1/2

[maddeninghatter]

[ His gaze has become increasingly unfocused of late. As he has stopped actively pretending that he can see, he has become careless, generally gazing down when he is speaking to someone, or else he (lazily) keeps his eyes shut. But as Oz reads, he looks as though he is seeing something very far away. ]

That sounds...

[ There's a frog in his throat, or something like that, because his voice is hoarse and he has to cough a little to clear it. ]

That sounds like a book I might like to read, actually.

[maddeninghatter]

THANKS FOR SPOILING IT, BRAT!

1/3

[velveteened]

( oz isn't so careless as to offer up the book now that he's finished, and the atmosphere isn't so conducive to teasing about reading the rest of it aloud. but it's a famous story, he knows after their trip to vegas, which means it likely wouldn't be hard to find other versions of it — including audio ones. the back cover slips from his hand as he considers that, flopping onto the last page and shutting the book. break's past isn't something he forgets so much as doesn't dwell on, mostly rearing its head at moments such as when it seems a little too close to discovery, or ones like now. )

I could —

2/4

[velveteened]

( OH NO HE IS WHAT HE HATES )

[velveteened]

( leo would be SO DISAPPOINTED in him

almost as much as he is in himself

he'd absolutely deserve a table being flipped at him for this awful offense )

[velveteened]

But it's not that much of a spoiler that a bildungsroman ( following one particular thread of story, anyway ) ends with the character's death...

( says the guilty conscience!!!!!! )

1/2

[maddeninghatter]

Ha! Ha! Ha! Why, you sound so serious. I'm only joking~!

[ It's time for a forehead attack, clearly. ]

2/3

[maddeninghatter]

That said, this ending of which you so strenuously disapprove....

[ He flops down, across the moth-eaten arm of Oz's chair. ]

It's a bit what life feels like, when you get older. You can devote your life to something, and make the most meticulous plans. But somewhere along the way, the world changes, in ways you could never have anticipated, and often hardly noticed. And then you realize that the goals you've been striving for, all this time, have moved.

[maddeninghatter]

[ Smoothly: ]

Speaking of which, there's something I wanted to talk to you about.

1/

[velveteened]

( nnnnn FOREHEAD ATTACKS

he's being serious because books are a very serious matter!!! )

[velveteened]

( the fate of this man or that man was less than a drop, although it was a sparkling one, in the great blue motion of the sunlit sea, though, it sounds like — when someone like jack speaks of the weakness of human beings, of himself. because where does that leave the people who can't measure up to such amazing, heroic standards?

he frowns in thought but it's not something he can understand very well yet, a notion like what break describes. he's too used to first attempts, finding a way to embark on long roads in the first place to consider the ways they twist and branch, lose sight of the starting point from which they began. )

3/3

[velveteened]

( but, oh — )

What is it?

[maddeninghatter]

It's about the future.

[ He'll let that statement settle, smiling enigmatically, before going on. ]

We've had to live day-to-day, haven't we? First in the old city, and then on the moon. However, by one means or another, we seem to have changed the past. Perhaps it's premature, but I think we ought to at least be thinking about what we want, going forward.