[MINGLE] Glitches: Locked In

[sixthiteration]

The Inn is still a place that most of the villagers gather and, as such, a perfect place to conduct an experiment. Since it is a place of high traffic, it is not uncommon to see people come and go at all hours of the day and night; men and women come through to eat meals, to deliver game and simply to talk and catch up with others. If there's any bit of news or a new development within the village, it always spreads through the Inn like wildfire.

So what happens when the Inn is locked away from everyone else? What happens when the doors cease to work and the traffic in and out of the myriad doors is forcibly stopped for an afternoon and evening? Chaos? Panic? Both? Neither? That is precisely the hypothesis being tested today.

There are ways out, yes, but they're cleverly hidden. The keys are not in the normal, visible places they should be kept and each key fits a certain door. Additionally, those doors have to be opened in a certain order or nothing is going to happen.

How long will it take for the Inn to open up to the public again?


[Details can be found HERE]

Comments

Kira Akiyama | Mingle OTA | Lunch and the first key

[3ofswords]

It's another day in the canyon: rain dripping down windows, drafts seeping under doors, and every exit of the inn miraculously sealed shut. Kira had watched several attempts to rig them open, mimed conversations with people who couldn't get in any better than those of them trying to get out, and dissuaded at least one attempt to smash in the windows that keep the inn fucking warm and viable for being trapped in.

He's settled into an attitude of this might as well happen, things being as they were for the last year of his life. Trapped in his apartment, trapped in New York, trapped in a canyon: why not an inn with two appliances and a bar that's never stocked?

And if it might as well happen, he might as well cook lunch. Either the doors will open themselves up or they'll chop a hole in a wall: he'd rather wait one out before trying the other. Food will keep the natives from getting immediately restless, and bring them together enough to discuss the situation. "Come get your fucking protein," he calls out the kitchen door, once there are plates of eggs and fish set out with what's left of the greens. Now that the weather is turning, he--

Well, he'll have to get out of this shit before he trudges back to the peach trees.

Wondering what else he can scavenge out of the pantry, he drags in a chair to check the top shelves. There are a few old boxes, crusty looking bottles from old feasts that even the dog wouldn't touch. When he pulls one out of the way, a hairy spider in a thick web makes him click his tongue against his teeth, roll his eyes, but otherwise look away.

Then look back, because there's a dull shine of something behind the web.

One spider in a box and thorough rinse later, he's dropping a simple key onto the breakfast table. "Good news, I think we probably won't have to chop a hole in the wall; bad news," he jerks his head at the exit in the back corner of the kitchen, "this didn't fit the door over there."


[Please specify if you are replying to Kira, or simply putting your character at the breakfast table for others to tag; keep in mind this is a threadjacking situation!]

Kira

[markwatney]

The moment Kira drops the key onto the table, the situation suddenly makes complete, if irritating sense. This isn't the typical round of 'Try Not to Die' or 'Be Manipulated for Fun and Profit' — This is a more mundane sadism. It's a puzzle, and like too many of the ones I'd played in my misspent youth, the solution probably doesn't make any god damned sense. You just have to get it right to move forward.

"Okay, so what door does it fit?"

[3ofswords]

An element of Kira's own calm is Mark's presence--easier to keep level when you know you won't be the only one. It reins in his irritation for dramatics, the only good of which are those feigned, by him, for effect. Not every overreaction is low blood sugar, but the food will at least distract them for awhile; if it's another hour or two, he figures basic fire-minding and other chores might help.

Chores now including a hunt for keys.

Kira takes and chews through a bite of food before answering, coming out the opposite side of panic to: let me eat my fucking lunch. "No idea, yet. Figured I'd check around while we see if there are any more."