Re: LAST. THING. STANDING. [S!1][ROUND ONE: TELEVISION LAND]
12-04-2011, 02:29 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Ixcalibur.
Maria stood by the door to the manager’s office, anxiously contemplating whether or not to knock. She knew from experience that Mister O did not like to be disturbed when he was in his office, but surely this was more important? He had to be aware of what had happened. The roar of the crowd and the over the top shouting of the announcer had been deafening. There was no way that he hadn’t noticed it. She glanced around nervously; really desperately wishing she didn’t have to deal with this situation on her own. Eventually she raised her hand to knock upon the door, just as it opened.
“Maria.” Mister O greeted her with the same warm smile he did every day. He quickly stepped through the door and carefully closed it shut behind him. “You are, as ever, looking radiant today.” Though Maria’s expression softened, the anxiety did not go away entirely.
“Mister O,” she said, “did you not hear that awful racket? The braying of an unimaginably vast crowd? The cheery banter of a man who wants us dead?” Once, maybe twice, she almost stumbled over her words in her panicked rush to get them out. Mister O calmly strolled down the corridor, running his fingers along the pastel wallpaper as though he had never seen it before.
“I heard.” Mister O said. Carefully he picked up and examined a particularly tacky ornament, which he couldn’t actually tell what it was supposed to be. “It doesn’t change anything.” He shrugged idly, put the thing, whatever it was, back down and headed down the short flight of stairs. “This is new.” He commented.
“It doesn’t change anything?” Maria repeated incredulously, as she followed him downstairs. “Mister O, I really believe that there are things out there that will be looking to kill us both at the first opportunity they get.”
“Yes.” Mister O said simply. “The best course of action is to do what we do best, my dear Maria.” Reaching the bottom of the stairs he found himself in a small hallway. In front of him a front door more suited to a house than an inn, to his right a door to a dining room and presumably through there a kitchen. He frowned. “We’ve definitely lost some floor space, but I don’t think that should matter, because…” He trailed off as he strode to the front door and threw it open. It revealed a modern street with houses and shops; a road lined with parked cars, and while there was none to be seen at the moment people. Potential guests. “Perfect.” He said enthusiastically.
“Mister O,” Maria’s tone belied her frustration with the manager, “please take this seriously. You didn’t see the things we’re supposed to be up against.”
“Trust me Maria. I know what I am doing.” Mister O turned and grinned at the receptionist. “Think you could go out there and see if there are any people around?” Maria just glared at him as though he had gone mad.
“Why won’t you take this seriously?” Maria asked. “We are in real danger.”
“Maria, please don’t be like this now.” Mister O replied, his tone turning harsh. “Do what I say and we’ll both get through this alive. This thing we have been enlisted in, it is not a calamity or an emergency. It is a good thing, and we will ultimately be better off.” There was for a moment silence as the two stared at one another.
From outside there was the noise of a car coming to a stop outside the bed and breakfast. Mister O turned and looked, and when he looked back he could not hide his enthusiastic grin.
“Maria, we have customers.” He said. “Their room is on the house, I insist.” And with that said Mister O retreated back upstairs to his office.
--------
“Can I take this blindfold off yet?” Sarah Aston asked irritably. This comment was greeted by a couple of chuckles that didn’t seem to come from anywhere in particular. Sarah had long blonde hair, perfect skin maintained through many many layers of makeup and larger than average breasts.
“No not yet.” Her boyfriend Darren Liston replied as he jogged around the front of the car. As he did so he banged his foot and grimaced painfully for a moment, this also elicited a laugh or two from the nonexistent crowd. He quickly recovered and opened the door on Sarah’s side.
Darren had short dark hair, incredibly pale skin, glasses and an akward manner about him. He wore a black shirt with the acronym LOL printed on it in large white letters, television shorthand to indicate just how much of a computer geek he obviously was. He removed Sarah’s blindfold, an act he accompanied with an audio fanfare. Sarah looked at the Traveller’s Rest bed and breakfast.
It was little more than another of the identical houses that lined this middle of nowhere street, though this was mainly for the reason that this was an out of the way kind of set that didn’t get used very often. The only real difference between the Traveller’s Rest bed and breakfast and the 2 bedroom house next door to it was that the Traveller’s Rest had a sign in their driveway. Either way it did not live up to Sarah’s expectations. She frowned.
“This is your romantic getaway?” Sarah asked. There was laughter, which Darren patiently waited to finish before responding.
“Don’t you like it?” He asked earnestly.
“Like it?” Sarah repeated incredulously. “Why yes I love it… No! Of course I don’t like it what were you thinking?!” She snapped angrily causing peals of laughter.
“But, I thought you said you liked bed and breakfasts?” Darren asked.
“I meant I like beds and I like breakfasts.” Sarah retorted. Uproarious laughter, with even a little applause. “This place… is a dump.” More laughter.
“But it’s already been paid for!” Darren said, despairingly. Sarah sighed.
“Fine. We’ll stay the weekend I guess.” She said with a sense of weary obligation rather than any actual desire to do so. “But don’t think you’re getting any you know what.” Further laughter, this time including applause and whooping.
End of Act Two.
Time for commercials.
-------
Sarah and Darren reluctantly checked into the bed and breakfast, with tons of hilarious quarrelling between the two. Maria could only watch bemused as they carried out their seemingly rehearsed argument for the benefit of an intangible and easily pleased crowd. There was further comedy to be had when Sarah and Darren wanted a meal cooked, and lacking a chef, Maria had to cook their meals for them, with amusingly disastrous results.
By this time it was getting dark outside and finally Sarah and Darren began to tire. They bickered and bantered and referenced things which Maria had no concept of, but which the relentless laughter seemed to think was relevant and hilarious.
Maria, no longer needed by their guests, found herself hanging around Mister O’s office door, once again wondering whether she should knock. He’d seemed pretty annoyed with her before for some reason she hadn’t been able to figure out. She was being perfectly reasonable, he was the one who wanted to bury his head in the sand and pretend nothing was wrong. It made her uneasy, and the bizarreness of their guests wasn’t doing anything to help the growing anxiety. She raised her hand, ready to knock upon the door, utterly convinced that she had to convince him to see this as a real threat, no matter how much he wanted to believe otherwise… and she stopped.
From around the edges of the door shone light white. Dim at first but growing brighter and brighter every second. After a moment it was so blisteringly white that Maria had to close her eyes. Another moment and that was not enough. She covered her eyes with her hands and it still seemed to shine through. Blinding white light consumed the entire corridor, and then in a second was gone. Maria took a couple of seconds to recover.
“What was that?” Maria asked in a low voice, no longer really wanting Mister O’s attention.
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good.” Sarah replied. “I think maybe we should leave Mister O alone for now.” Darren nodded his head in agreement. Maria turned around and looked at Sarah and Darren; the maid and the cook respectively. They shared her look of concern. At Darren’s lead they headed downstairs, opting to leave Mister O alone for the moment. Sarah leant a comforting arm on Maria’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure this thing out.” She said. Maria half-smiled. She was glad to have such good friends who she could count on in this crazy situation.
Maria stood by the door to the manager’s office, anxiously contemplating whether or not to knock. She knew from experience that Mister O did not like to be disturbed when he was in his office, but surely this was more important? He had to be aware of what had happened. The roar of the crowd and the over the top shouting of the announcer had been deafening. There was no way that he hadn’t noticed it. She glanced around nervously; really desperately wishing she didn’t have to deal with this situation on her own. Eventually she raised her hand to knock upon the door, just as it opened.
“Maria.” Mister O greeted her with the same warm smile he did every day. He quickly stepped through the door and carefully closed it shut behind him. “You are, as ever, looking radiant today.” Though Maria’s expression softened, the anxiety did not go away entirely.
“Mister O,” she said, “did you not hear that awful racket? The braying of an unimaginably vast crowd? The cheery banter of a man who wants us dead?” Once, maybe twice, she almost stumbled over her words in her panicked rush to get them out. Mister O calmly strolled down the corridor, running his fingers along the pastel wallpaper as though he had never seen it before.
“I heard.” Mister O said. Carefully he picked up and examined a particularly tacky ornament, which he couldn’t actually tell what it was supposed to be. “It doesn’t change anything.” He shrugged idly, put the thing, whatever it was, back down and headed down the short flight of stairs. “This is new.” He commented.
“It doesn’t change anything?” Maria repeated incredulously, as she followed him downstairs. “Mister O, I really believe that there are things out there that will be looking to kill us both at the first opportunity they get.”
“Yes.” Mister O said simply. “The best course of action is to do what we do best, my dear Maria.” Reaching the bottom of the stairs he found himself in a small hallway. In front of him a front door more suited to a house than an inn, to his right a door to a dining room and presumably through there a kitchen. He frowned. “We’ve definitely lost some floor space, but I don’t think that should matter, because…” He trailed off as he strode to the front door and threw it open. It revealed a modern street with houses and shops; a road lined with parked cars, and while there was none to be seen at the moment people. Potential guests. “Perfect.” He said enthusiastically.
“Mister O,” Maria’s tone belied her frustration with the manager, “please take this seriously. You didn’t see the things we’re supposed to be up against.”
“Trust me Maria. I know what I am doing.” Mister O turned and grinned at the receptionist. “Think you could go out there and see if there are any people around?” Maria just glared at him as though he had gone mad.
“Why won’t you take this seriously?” Maria asked. “We are in real danger.”
“Maria, please don’t be like this now.” Mister O replied, his tone turning harsh. “Do what I say and we’ll both get through this alive. This thing we have been enlisted in, it is not a calamity or an emergency. It is a good thing, and we will ultimately be better off.” There was for a moment silence as the two stared at one another.
From outside there was the noise of a car coming to a stop outside the bed and breakfast. Mister O turned and looked, and when he looked back he could not hide his enthusiastic grin.
“Maria, we have customers.” He said. “Their room is on the house, I insist.” And with that said Mister O retreated back upstairs to his office.
--------
“Can I take this blindfold off yet?” Sarah Aston asked irritably. This comment was greeted by a couple of chuckles that didn’t seem to come from anywhere in particular. Sarah had long blonde hair, perfect skin maintained through many many layers of makeup and larger than average breasts.
“No not yet.” Her boyfriend Darren Liston replied as he jogged around the front of the car. As he did so he banged his foot and grimaced painfully for a moment, this also elicited a laugh or two from the nonexistent crowd. He quickly recovered and opened the door on Sarah’s side.
Darren had short dark hair, incredibly pale skin, glasses and an akward manner about him. He wore a black shirt with the acronym LOL printed on it in large white letters, television shorthand to indicate just how much of a computer geek he obviously was. He removed Sarah’s blindfold, an act he accompanied with an audio fanfare. Sarah looked at the Traveller’s Rest bed and breakfast.
It was little more than another of the identical houses that lined this middle of nowhere street, though this was mainly for the reason that this was an out of the way kind of set that didn’t get used very often. The only real difference between the Traveller’s Rest bed and breakfast and the 2 bedroom house next door to it was that the Traveller’s Rest had a sign in their driveway. Either way it did not live up to Sarah’s expectations. She frowned.
“This is your romantic getaway?” Sarah asked. There was laughter, which Darren patiently waited to finish before responding.
“Don’t you like it?” He asked earnestly.
“Like it?” Sarah repeated incredulously. “Why yes I love it… No! Of course I don’t like it what were you thinking?!” She snapped angrily causing peals of laughter.
“But, I thought you said you liked bed and breakfasts?” Darren asked.
“I meant I like beds and I like breakfasts.” Sarah retorted. Uproarious laughter, with even a little applause. “This place… is a dump.” More laughter.
“But it’s already been paid for!” Darren said, despairingly. Sarah sighed.
“Fine. We’ll stay the weekend I guess.” She said with a sense of weary obligation rather than any actual desire to do so. “But don’t think you’re getting any you know what.” Further laughter, this time including applause and whooping.
End of Act Two.
Time for commercials.
-------
Sarah and Darren reluctantly checked into the bed and breakfast, with tons of hilarious quarrelling between the two. Maria could only watch bemused as they carried out their seemingly rehearsed argument for the benefit of an intangible and easily pleased crowd. There was further comedy to be had when Sarah and Darren wanted a meal cooked, and lacking a chef, Maria had to cook their meals for them, with amusingly disastrous results.
By this time it was getting dark outside and finally Sarah and Darren began to tire. They bickered and bantered and referenced things which Maria had no concept of, but which the relentless laughter seemed to think was relevant and hilarious.
Maria, no longer needed by their guests, found herself hanging around Mister O’s office door, once again wondering whether she should knock. He’d seemed pretty annoyed with her before for some reason she hadn’t been able to figure out. She was being perfectly reasonable, he was the one who wanted to bury his head in the sand and pretend nothing was wrong. It made her uneasy, and the bizarreness of their guests wasn’t doing anything to help the growing anxiety. She raised her hand, ready to knock upon the door, utterly convinced that she had to convince him to see this as a real threat, no matter how much he wanted to believe otherwise… and she stopped.
From around the edges of the door shone light white. Dim at first but growing brighter and brighter every second. After a moment it was so blisteringly white that Maria had to close her eyes. Another moment and that was not enough. She covered her eyes with her hands and it still seemed to shine through. Blinding white light consumed the entire corridor, and then in a second was gone. Maria took a couple of seconds to recover.
“What was that?” Maria asked in a low voice, no longer really wanting Mister O’s attention.
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good.” Sarah replied. “I think maybe we should leave Mister O alone for now.” Darren nodded his head in agreement. Maria turned around and looked at Sarah and Darren; the maid and the cook respectively. They shared her look of concern. At Darren’s lead they headed downstairs, opting to leave Mister O alone for the moment. Sarah leant a comforting arm on Maria’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure this thing out.” She said. Maria half-smiled. She was glad to have such good friends who she could count on in this crazy situation.
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Hang 'Em High | The Only Hope For Me Is You | Zero Percent | Early Sunsets Over Monroeville | DESTROYA | Demolition Lovers | To The End
Surrender The Night | Disenchanted | The Ghost Of You | Party Poison | Vampires Will Never Hurt You | The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You