sixthiterationlogs | [MINGLE] Glitches: Locked In

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]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeah, I'm sure there's going to be a way out eventually. We just have to use our brains instead of my muscles."

Oliver doesn't mind using his head to work his way out of a problem but it usually works better if Felicity uses her head to work their way out of something. She is definitely the smarter of the two of them and he has no issues with admitting that to anyone who asks. In the current situation, since his brawn is doing them no good, he's happy to open the floor up to suggestions.

"Do you think the locking mechanism is jammed? We could try to pick it."

"I think if it was as simple as something being jammed, there wouldn't be anyone left in the Inn," she answered as she looked around at the various occupants engaged in conversation and attempting their own escapes. "Also, for it to affect every lock on every door and window would take more than a jam."

She leans over to look at the lock, then up at the ceiling as a general direction, before glancing around the room and then back at Oliver. "We know the place isn't technologically advanced, so maybe it's an actual puzzle. Like." A pause as she looked at the people holding keys. "An order to the keys being used? Either doors or the way they were found or even where."

"Like one of those escape rooms? I never saw the appeal, considering I want to keep things locked away and not figure out how to let them loose," Oliver says. He knows it's a thrill for the general populace to solve a puzzle and get out of a seemingly-dangerous situation but for him, it's just a Wednesday night. He has no desire to engage in that kind of mental exercise for fun.

Except, now, it's not really for fun. They really are trapped and unlike an escape room you pay for and get let out of after three hours whether you succeed or not, there's a real chance this Inn isn't going to spring them loose until they actually figure out the keys and how to use them.

"If there's an order, how would we know which order to start with? There's no way of knowing what the system is without a rubric."

"I don't know," she says, being as honest as she can, though she's still watching the others. "But, like I said, maybe it has something to do with the order of the keys. Where they were found or when."

She looks back at Oliver and can feel the agitation rolling off him. Reaching out, she puts her hand on his forearm, then slides it down so she can thread her fingers through his. "We'll figure it out. We always do." It's her attempt at being comforting, though she's not always very good at it. "Let's go ask some questions."

Giving his hand a squeeze, she nods her head in the general direction of where others are congregating and gives him an encouraging smile: Play nice.

The touch of Felicity's hand does soothe him a little bit and Oliver wonders what that says about him. He's soothed by this but he can't calm himself down? When did he become such a hothead? Then again, the village is an inherently stressful place: isolation from the outside world, continual environmental challenges, mental games. There would be lesser men than him who might crumble under that sort of pressure.

"Sometimes I feel like Lian Yu was just a primer for this place," Oliver says hollowly. It's an exaggeration, yes, but he's feeling particularly frustrated today and he needs to find some way to vent that frustration that doesn't involve shoving his shoulder against a shut door until he breaks either the door or his body.

"It's all going to end up being an ARGUS trick, isn't it?"

Listening to his comment about Lian Yu, Felicity huffs a laugh, then shakes her head because... well, Lian Yu taught Oliver a lot of things and she's not surprised that he'd think that way. Hell, his being on Lian Yu taught her a lot of things, in the long run, and she has to admit--

"Lian Yu was terrible, but I wonder if we'd have survived this long without you being. You know, you." She might bitch and complain about all training, but it's an admission for his ears only that she's glad he's not left her to die, basically. And then he goes on about ARGUS and she inhales deeply and adds, "And at this point, nothing would shock me. But I'd be seriously pissed."

"ARGUS lives to piss us off. I wouldn't be shocked either," Oliver echoes. As to training, he's always trained to keep himself one step ahead of what wants him eliminated. As far as he's concerned, he's not going to let anything hurt Felicity or himself while they're here and he's going to keep them ahead of the proverbial curve.

"Everything I do is to keep us alive, Felicity. Everything. Even if it seems trivial at the time, you've got to trust me. I don't do this just to be a pain. I do it for survival. You never know what's going to happen tomorrow."

"Yes, Oliver." Her tone turned dry. "I know. And if you tell me that again, you won't have to worry about ARGUS hunting you down."

She raised her eyebrows at him in warning because he'd told her seventy-four times in the last week alone that what he did was to keep them alive and was for survival and, frankly, she could quote it back to him verbatim at this point. She knew full well that the reason they were alive was because of him, which was... in essence ... what she'd just said.

"I love you, but sometimes? You are a pain." Then she sighs and leans closer. "What next? Do you wanna go talk to those people or should I?"

"I think you're more of a people person than I am," Oliver says. He's slightly sore about her pointing out that he's a little obsessive about survival but, in cases like this, he's only been proven right. Granted, their training hadn't prepared them for being locked inside the Inn but it had prepared them to think on their feet and be prepared for anything - up to and including the current situation.

"Or we could split up and try to see if we can get more information that way?"

[MINGLE] Glitches: Locked In

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