allthekeys (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
allthekeys) wrote2011-08-02 10:37 am
allthekeys) wrote2011-08-02 10:37 am
Entry tags:
[First House: Floor Two]
Second Story:
1. Hallway
This is a rather simple hallway, sparsely decorated and very unassuming. The floors are made of wood and covered with a line of carpet. Lamps adorn the walls, though they seem to need someone to light them.
2. Student Bedroom:
This room is surprisingly plain and practical. The bed is serviceable, and its blankets are warm. On the wall closest to the door, there is a small shelf that holds only a small wooden box. Anyone who opens it will discover an odd collection of treasures, seemingly held in value by the owner of the room. A small, carefully-folded square of silk is held within; it is clearly not a handkerchief, but has no rough edges to indicate where it might have come from. Beneath the silk are three copper tokens, a pewter horse, and a small penny whistle. There is no indication to whom these treasures might belong.
A number of books have been moved into the room, as well as a cot; a fish tank with an ethereal transparent fish sits along one wall, next to a washbasin made into a makeshift tank inhabited by a second fish, this one made of bright-colored living glass.
Beneath a mirror sits a simple and practical desk, clearly meant for function rather than anything else. One can almost see a student hard at work. The desk is covered with faint marks, the lingering impressions of letters left upon it. A small box holds some rather plain hairpins and cheap-looking enamel jewelery.
A small collection of pencils and paper hides within the single drawer of the desk, along with battered tubes of lip-gloss.
3. Student Closet:
This closet is full of neatly-hung school uniforms and casual clothing, with lines of loafers and boots standing on the floor beneath. Anyone pushing the dresses aside will discover a small locked door hidden behind the clothes. Though it had a keyhole, there is no knob.
4. Mirror Bedroom:
In an almost impractical gesture, as it seems impossible to keep clean, this room is made of mirrors. Floors, walls, ceiling and even the furniture are all coldly mirrored glass.
As a result it is rather cold, and very uncomfortable to try to sleep in. The bed is a hard lump of mirrored glass, and even with the insulation of a blanket you can’t help feeling chilled.
The mirrors, however, have all been badly cracked. The pieces are small, merely fragments. Allowing only the smallest bits of the reflection to be seen.
The wall, once showing a strange room, now shows fragments of something completely other. A world made of the hopes and wishes of the person watching, family and home and safety. Seen in fragments, a million moments happening at once. To anyone else it might look like random flashes of color, but to the watcher, the mirrors show everything that would have made them happy. Their hopes and triumphs reflected back for them.
Should they linger for long, a girl begins to appear. There is not enough to tell what she looks like, but those who are watching will know that she's there, and that she is genuinely happy to see them.
She's so very proud. So deeply satisfied. You have done well.
5. Journey Bedroom:
Opening the heavy wooden door reveals a room that seems a testament to a well traveled life. It seems almost unnatural to see it still and contained within a single room. The mementos that cover the walls, ranging from street cart knickknacks to what look like actual artifacts, could have easily decorated an entire house. An ornamental sword, tasseled and bright decorated, hangs just next to the door, though a more practical saber leans just behind.
A locked trunk sits at the end of the bed, stamped with the names of places both real and imagined and covered with a travel dust. A passport sits on the bedside table, but the cover page with the picture on it has been ripped out, it is filled with colorful stamps in a wide variety of languages.
There is a kit on one of the tables, what seems to be suited to an archaeologist or an explorer. The tools inside are all broken and prove to be completely useless.
Another table is completely covered with maps, some of countries the characters may recognize, others complete unknowns. They have been tossed around as though someone has gone through them in a great hurry, many are stacked haphazardly, some spilling onto the floor. The room itself looks well lived in, as though a traveler has been forced to settle here almost unwillingly.
The sound of footsteps can occasionally be heard, pacing back and forth through the room, but no one ever appears.
6. Fairy Bedroom:
This room is decorated in pretty, ethereal shades of pink, purple, and blue. Everything is dainty and fanciful, and gorgeous fairies are painted on the walls, which almost seem to move and change their expressions at night when nobody is watching; those who bother to check near the floor might see pretty mushrooms ringing the room, painted near the floorboards and bottom of the door in a traditional fairy circle. The ceiling is painted as a stunning twilight sky, with rich gem tones and pearly wisps of clouds, a silver moon and stars seeming to shine with their own light.
A lighted display case stands beside the door, showcasing all manner of fairy figurines, from carved wood to crystal to feathers and silk; the largest figurine, a richly appointed fairy queen, has a tiny silver key worn around her neck--surely too small to fit into any normal-sized lock. All furniture in the room is made of light woven wicker and topped with soft cushions, the bed small but comfortable, the desk--glass-topped, to allow for easy writing--provided with a book full of illustrated fairy tales.
Pushed to the far back of one desk drawer, a hand-stitched drawstring bag can be found; in it is a fairy stone, with a leather cord strung through the hole to allow it to be worn as a necklace, and a still smaller pouch with a note curled around it. The note reads "Just think of happy things, and your heart will fly on wings", and inside the bag seems to be some sort of fairy dust--a soft, sparkling powder that smells faintly perfumed. Everything in this room suggests the beautiful and benevolent side of the fairy mythos, but how many people have heard of the darker side of these delicate mythical creatures as well?
7. Red Bedroom:
Where this room was once luxurious and inviting, it has now been consumed by chaos.
Much of the room is still visible beneath the mess, decorated in red and mahogany. A table and two chairs sit next to the window, knocked to the side and teetering where they lean against the wall. The candles, fortunately not lit, are discarded, the plates forgotten. The bottle of red wine is cracked, the ruby liquid dripping slowly onto the floor in constant, steady drops.
What caused the disaster seems to originate, strangely, from the bed. The red silk sheets and a satin comforter have been torn apart in many places, pushed out of the way and damaged where necessary. The strong green vines of unreal ivy, however, crawl out of the pillow, the heart of it holding a closed flower bud. The bed, however, remains oddly comfortable. The vines are warm and comforting, tendrils wrapping around limbs to create a protective embrace. They cling momentarily to the skin, but yield when a houseguest removes themselves.
The mattress seems much firmer than before, and while the top is comfortable the side feels more like stone than padding.
8. Mask Bedroom:
Opening the door to this room brings you face to face with hundreds of faces. The walls are covered with masks in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from cheap to extravagant; feathered and carved and glass and leather, these masks cover every available surface and cover a wide array of mundane and fantastical creatures. Putting one on fills you with a strange sense of déjà vu, and leaving them on for too long will give you a headache. You may even find your hands moving without your consent, or that as time goes on, you are starting to lose time - as though something has happened. The masks are very strange, leaving a lingering feeling of disquiet for anyone who wears them, even for a moment, after they are removed again.
If you are willing to put up with the sense of constantly being watched, the bed is quite comfortable.
9. Trophy Room:
This room is a hunter’s paradise, or at the very least fit for bragging purposes. A table set with a crystal decanter and four elegantly carved crystal glasses encourages entertainment, occasionally one can smell a hint of cigar smoke or hear masculine laughter. Opening the cabinets under the table will reveal alcohol and a fine stock of imported cigars. The walls are covered with big game of all sorts, ranging in size from mice to elephants, and lighted displays fill the room. A few of the displays are very humanoid in their appearance, though they are displayed just as the animals. Several fantastical creatures are represented on the walls; a unicorn horn occupies a place of honor on the mantel and several delicate looking creatures, almost fey in their appearance, are pressed between glass. Covering another wall are sport’s trophies, medals and other memorabilia of a successful life, there are no names in appearance, though all are first place.
A small alcove reveals a veritable treasure trove of weapons. A pair of crossed spears and an axe hangs on the wall, seemingly a family crest. A small glass case displaying several guns sits beneath it, a pair of dueling pistols and a revolver nestled in red velvet above a sawed off shot gun, as well as three well made knives of varying sizes. A small compartment in the bottom of the display holds ammunition for the weapons. Neither guns nor ammo replace themselves when taken, though the spears somehow always find their way back to the wall the moment you aren’t looking at them properly.
There is a large painting on the far wall of a handsome gentleman with a distinguished looking mustache leaning on a rifle and staring smugly down at the room. The painting seems a little removed from the wall and giving it a little pull will reveal a safe hidden behind it.
10. Gallery:
A rather formal art gallery, it seems out of place in a personal residence. The walls are designed to display pictures, lighted and powered to provide them with the best light possible for viewing the paintings. A few freestanding statues occupy the center of the room as well as several comfortable couches, designed to allow for someone to sit and study the art. The room is welcoming, and climate controlled.
The oil paintings are almost exclusively of people, pretty young men and women who seem as though they must surely be happy in these moments. They are captured in the midst of extravagant gestures and scenes, glamorous and lively in their antiquated settings. It is impossible, however, to determine whether most are actually content. In very few of the pictures are the subjects even facing the audience; most have their heads turned away so that their faces cannot be seen. Those wherein the face is visible, they are uniformly obscured: the faces are incomplete, or bathed in shadow. Many of the subjects seem strangely familiar to the guests, though none are identifiable.
On some of them, it is clear that these pictures have not always hung in this place. Many of the frames are askew, or the pictures inside are crooked, offering the barest peak at the images below. Some even have cracked glass or chipped wood, the frame having been forced too hard into its change. While most pictures, if removed, simply reveal bland, boring still-life paintings or unimaginative images of fruit bowls and landscapes, some are rather more distinct. Some are reflections of the images above, but decidedly contrasted. The colours—normally bright and bold—are by far more subdued, the scenes faded and dimmed. The people in them are now completely visible, but they too seem listless, simply haunting the scene. While it may not be immediately evident, these images seem to only be under those with the shadowed faces.
There are a few pictures on the walls that break the pattern. Directly across from the first couch one comes to, a charcoal drawing of the Mute Ghost Girl has been carefully tucked into the frame. She is smiling happily and holding her stuffed rabbit, leaning gently against Don Marks. On the far wall, there are several water colours in a different style. The oil painting of the phoenix hangs on the side of the stair well, tucked almost in the corner. The wood surrounding it is lined faintly, as if someone drew something sharp across it while measuring for the painting.
11. Observatory:
A charming room that seems rather well suited for entertaining, it is nicely done in shades of black and white and brown and more relaxed than a formal parlor. The couches are comfortable and the windows allow a stunning view of islands, all floating in the sky, stretching off into the distance. East facing, it also allows a great view of the sun rising. The room is climate controlled, with a thermostat next to the door, though a formal fireplace occupies the far wall with a full accompaniment of tools and fuel.
12. Sewing Room:
This room is very pretty, for all that it serves a very obvious purpose. Skeins of yarn and bolts of cloth line the walls, baskets filled with spools of thread scattered throughout. A rather old looking sewing machine occupies a place of honor in the middle of the room, ready to be used at a moments notice and already threaded. A close look reveals that the thread is made of gold, seemingly calling to mind the tale of an odd little man.
There are mannequins in the far corner of the room, clothed in all manner of dress from formal and expensive to street walker, spanning every conceivable time period. A change of clothes could easily be procured from the room.
The mannequins seem to move when you're not looking, they change positions without warning and one could almost swear they hear giggling, as though someone is having a laugh at their expense. The rooms itself seems almost welcoming to some, in a very strange way. As though the mannequins might like some sighted company for a little while.
13. Glass Bathroom:
Everything in this room is made of glass, from the toilet to the sink to the tub; even the soap is oddly clear. It is impossible to do anything in complete privacy and you are always filled with the unnerving sense of being watched, even if there is no one else in the room. Occasionally out of the corner of your eye you can see what looks like hands and faces pressed against the inside of the wall, but a closer inspection will reveal nothing at all. Even with the shower on, this room feels constantly cold.
14. Perfume Bedroom:
This room is rather simple in design, it is not uncomfortable. The walls are covered with pictures of flowers and the vanity in the corner is absolutely covered with bottles of perfume. There is a small table covered with the makings of incense and cologne, as well as a few wadded up pieces of paper with musical notes. A small flower box sits inside the window. The cupboard beneath the table is full of teas and herbs and salves and further supplies, some of them might even be useful, but most just smell pleasant. Though the room has an agreeable scent, it starts to become overwhelming the longer you stay inside. Sleeping in this room will cause you to wake with a massive headache. The sound of feminine laughter or humming is sometimes heard.
15. Door to the Library:
A key rests in the lock of this door; unlocking it allows you into the upper floor of the Library.
16. Cherry Hallway
This hallway is charmingly decorated with pictures of cherries and beautiful cherry wood paneling. A small table near the middle of the hall has a vase full of cherry blossoms, wonderfully fragrant. The are very fresh, as though they have just been cut from their parent tree.
17. Thin Bedroom:
This room at first glance seems completely normal. There is a bed, a dresser and a small desk against the wall. The bed is narrow, barely qualifying as a twin, and though the mattress is thin it is comfortable enough. The desk is barely more than a shelf, hardly wide enough to sit a book on comfortably. It seems like it might be comfortable enough to stay here, should anyone want to claim it. It is only after some time is spent inside it that the resident might begin to feel that something is wrong. They begin to feel stretched, uncomfortably so, and if they fall asleep in the room they may wake with the uncomfortable sensation of being stretched on the rack. The room is good for short stays and quick naps, but anyone risking a longer stay will find that the effects take longer to fade each time.
18. Dark Bedroom:
The window to this room looks over the ballroom; barely any light manages to make its way across the space to get in the room. The lights don’t work and any light brought into the room dies quicker than it should. While it burns, it barely seems to chase the shadows away and doesn’t penetrate to all corners of the room. The shadows seem unusually animated, moving seemingly with a life of their own. If you turn off the light and lay on the bed you can watch them seethe and move across the ceiling and walls, covering the windows and making the room completely dark. It’s rather unnerving. Strangely, the shadows seem less threatening the more time you spend in the room. You may even notice the shadows streaming to welcome you like satisfied cats when you enter after an absence. The room is unusually cold and occasionally it feels as though something has touched you, but the bed is snug and comfortable.
19. Light Bedroom:
This room looks out over the green house. One wall is taken up completely with windows, floor to ceiling, with gauzy curtains doing little to dampen the light. A skylight only allows more light to enter the room. The blanket on the bed is down filled and incredibly warm and comfortable without feeling too heavy. The walls seem to be illuminated by some light source you can’t see; even at night the room is incredibly bright and welcoming. The desk is pale wood and covered with paper and notes and sketches of the sunrise. There is a balcony outside, but the windows won’t open to allow you outside. The clothes in the closet are very well made yet extraordinarily light weight and airy.
20. Loft Bedroom:
This room hangs over the grand ballroom, open to anyone who looks up. It’s a rather normal bedroom, just very very open and impossible to secure. The bed and dresser sit against the room's one wall. The view is quite good; you can see the entire ballroom from the ledge. It would be well suited for spying or for people watching. You can often hear music from bellow, but the organ is turned in such a way that you can't see the player. Hunkering down against the short wall will render you invisible, but attempting to leave through the door means that anyone down bellow can see you. It's quite the drop, and there seems to be no way to get to the floor quickly. To the left of the room, hidden behind a shelf, is a narrow set of handholds that might let an adventurous house guest climb down, though the handholds curve out of sight under the balcony, leading to the gardener's wing.
21. Heraldry Bedroom:
Although not too big, this room still has a sense of grandness and elegance. There’s a desk by the far wall made from a rich, dark coloured wood, but it looks like it’s there for show rather than use and it’s dwarfed by the size of the map behind it on the wall which appears to be the centerpiece of the room. Whatever world it is it won’t be known to any of the houseguests, but it seems to be a world mostly made up out of islands.
There are other maps along the walls showing some of these islands in more detail and while they’re much smaller they’ve all been crafted with great care and are seemingly hand made. Evenly spaced between these maps are banners made from expensive and soft fabrics flowing down towards the floor, all of them patterned in blue, gold and white. There are also paintings, most of them depicting beautiful ships with the ships’ names inscribed on small plaques beneath each work of art. The one painting that’s different is of a dark blue sky with what appears to be a falling star and it takes the place of the opposite wall from the map. This painting and a pinned up flag almost seem to frame the door you enter through. The flag shares its colours with the banners.
There are several cabinets in the room, made mostly of glass to clearly showcase what is inside them. There are coin collections, books, and other small things that appear to be of cultural value. More prominently on display though are badges and weapons, clearly meant for this land’s military to use. In a corner there is a uniform in a glass case, further emphasizing the focus on military.
Slogans such as “For your protection and theirs” and “Join us in service” can be found on various items throughout the room.
22. Mosaic Bedroom:
This room is absolutely covered with beautifully, meticulously colored tiles. The mosaics are constantly shifting, changing from one shape to another in varying complexity. It makes it difficult to judge the shape of the room, though the shapes are otherwise harmless. The cover on the bed is embroidered with colorful threads that seem less inclined than the walls to stay in their proper place. The pattern shifts constantly, thread writhing like snakes on the fabric. Aside from the disinclination of things to remain still in the room, it seems otherwise unremarkable and is quiet comfortable. There are no odd smells or sounds, and nothing obviously wrong with it. It simply has a mind of its own.
23. Day Room:
This isn’t so much a bedroom as a parlor, situated at the end of the hall where it branches to the Floating Hallway. Much like the Light Bedroom the walls are taken up with large windows, allowing a great deal of light into the room. Attractive couches and chairs circle small coffee tables, on a table in the corner are a beautiful silver tea service. There is always fresh hot water in the tea pot and a charming arrangement of small cakes and tea sandwiches. A tapestry and a small table with a bowl of cherries add a comfortable and welcoming feel to the room. The tapestry has been pulled from the wall, revealing an odd little door set in the wall. This door leads to the corkskrew stair.
24. Narrow Hallway:
Right off the Day room is a narrow hallway that ends in a dead end. There are four windows that look into the Blind Bedroom, allowing for observation. There is also a window that allows you to look into the open bathroom’s shower.
25. Store Room:
This is a very utilitarian room, with a concrete floor, white plastered walls, and shelves lining the walls. It's filled with boxes and bins of all sorts, with a good supply of things you'd need to keep up a house of this size--like linens, cleaning supplies, and a few boxes of very thoroughly tangled wire coat hangers. There are candles, matches, flasks of oil, cloth wicks, and lanterns in abundance as well, and oddly, art supplies--from blank canvases and brushes, to oil paints, to charcoal sticks, to boxes full of fresh wet clay that would need to be glazed and fired in a kiln.
While the room looks normal enough, for some reason, being in there for much longer than five or ten minutes tends to produce strange nausea and migraines, and stubbonrly staying for too long in spite of this leads to increasingly strong compulsions to tear one's eyes out. Measuring this room will also yield something odd--while the room seems to be a neat square, with each corner a right angle, the walls all measure as different lengths from each other, no matter how many times you try to check, and the corners all measure as 66 degrees.
26. Open Bathroom:
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this bathroom is that the entire wall of the shower is mirrored. It makes the room more chilly than is exactly comfortable, but the water stays hot for longer than any of the other rooms. This bathroom also locks a tub, having only a glasses in shower stall with white tile. The medicine cabinet on the wall is full of first aid supplies and some unlabelled medications. It is otherwise a normal bathroom.
27. Blind Bedroom:
This room looks fairly normal, unremarkable next to all of the bedrooms. Perhaps the only thing out of place are the four perfectly square mirrors on the far wall. There is a desk and a chair and a small bed. The desk has a neat stack of papers and a small plastic cup of pencils. A closer look will reveal that the chair is flimsy and would not stand up to any sort of impact and the desk and bed are bolted securely to the ground. The door has an external padlock.
There is a note on the desk that says "You put too much faith in your eyes."
28. Floating Hallway:
This hallway is completely glassed in, allowing light in. It's quiet comfortably warm and a nice place to get a little sun, for those who are missing the great outdoors, though it lacks the comfort of fresh air.
There are planters equally spaced along the hallway, as well as several benches for anyone who wishes to take a moment away from the rest of the house. Looking down reveals a very open, very green space and the occasional movement of a far away creature, though it is too high up to pick up any detail. There seem to be no supports holding the hallway in place, and in many places the floor is glass as well, offering the eerie sense of falling.
The hallway continues this way for approximately a mile. The midpoint is marked by a door on the western-facing wall, leading to the fourth house.
At the end of the hall is the doorway to the second house.
29. Corkscrew Stair:
The door leading to the stairs seems to have been sealed closed, and a wardrobe has been shoved haphazardly in front of it. The floor beneath the cabinet appears to be water damaged.
The Attic:
1. Attic:
Leading from the gallery, this room is rather dusty. Old empty boxes are tipped on their sides, wooden packing crates long stripped of anything but packing materials. The floors are wood, as are the walls, light peeking through the slats rather grudgingly. Though there seems not method of entry or exit, the dead appear here, waking in the dust amid the crates as though they have only fallen asleep. On the wall farthest from the staircase, there seems to have once been a door, though it has long been boarded over and is completely impossible to access. A fireplace full of soot and dust occupies the corner, and should someone wish it they could likely start a fire.
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-A calm, quiet scene of the greenhouse wreathed in fog, with Orion and Sirius central. Looking close, a glimpse of blond hair can be seen inside the carriage.
-A set of small watercolours, featuring chrysanthemums and tall grasses.
-A phoenix in full flight, filling the canvas. Vibrant red, orange, and yellow oil paints.
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If the walls can't have nails hammered into them, the poster will be placed on the door of the room instead.
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