forum Be Our Guest (Revamped / Closed) (Mature)

Started March 11, 2021 by @CasiCasino group

tune

(Perfect~!)

Receiving a weird golden letter in the mail the day before, it might’ve been safer to stay at home and not investigate all that’s been said in the letter. However, with how cryptic the letter seemed, it was too intriguing to not at least see what it was talking about. The place the letter mentioned wasn’t far away from Emerson, nor was it far away from Harley. One car ride should be able to reach the place in no time.

(now I just need both of you to show up in front of the mansion)

Emerson turned the letter over in their hands as the cab drove slowly up the driveway to the mansion, the dusty car sputtering to a stop halfway there. "I'll just get out here." They called up to the front seat, the driver shrugging and unlocking the doors. "Alright mate, whatever floats your boat." He muttered, barely sparing a glance as Emerson climbed out of the car and lugged their bag out behind them. They quickly pulled out their phone to venmo him the money before waving goodbye and walking up to the front of the mansion.

As Emerson would walk up to the front of the mansion, a ‘person’ soon walked out of the place. The man wore a faceless red mask covering his entire face and was dressed like a nutcracker. He turned to Emerson and nodded, going over to them. ”We’ve been expecting you. Please, follow me inside,” the masked man said, taking Emerson’s belongings and holding them, turning back to walk inside the mansion. Emerson was then guided to a room which represented a meeting room of some sort which had only four chairs. ”Please sit wherever you feel comfortable,”

Harley sat in the passenger seat of his friend’s car, drumming his fingers on his lap as he stared out of the window. “I’m kinda nervous about all this, Natalie, you know I’m not a holiday sort of person.”
The blonde woman glanced over with a soft smile before letting out a gentle sigh. “You’ll be fine, besides it isn’t for too long and you’ll be back before you know it.”
The two of them had been sat in the courtyard of the mansion for about ten minutes, and Harley was still nervous about even climbing out. After watching someone else enter the mansion, however, he decided it was time.

He collected his luggage from the back of Natalie’s car, took a deep breath, and started slowly making his way towards the doors.
“See you soon Harley!” Natalie waved to him before driving away.

As Harley entered the mansion, the same masked nutcracker dressed man came out, looking at Harley for a moment. ”Please, come in,” he took the man’s belongings and guided him to the ‘meeting room’ where Emerson was already in. He set Harley’s belongings beside Emerson’s and stood by the door of the meeting room as if he was watching them.

Emerson had to hold back an eyebrow raise at the masked figure. They chalked it up to whoever owns the mansion being an eccentric millionaire. Rich people. Emerson thought as they took a seat in the chair closest to their luggage, resting their purse that held their phone and pepper spray in their lap.

Harley took the seat furthest away from Emerson and tapped his feet as they both waited for something to happen. His eyes wandered around the room, darting to the masked man every so often, taking in every detail. Harley wasn’t accustomed to holidays, but even he knew that this was more than a little strange— why were there four chairs?

As the two stayed inside the room, the nutcracker boy, too, remained. However, approximately five minutes passed and the nutcracker went out of the room with the lights going dim. Soon enough, the nutcracker masked came back in and removed the remaining chairs with an audible sigh. He then stood at the desk where the seat between the two were, holding a tray with two cups of what could been assumed to be tea. He then set them down in front of the two, gesturing to them. ”Your welcome drinks, Emerson, and Harley. We welcome you both to our special vacation away from the troubles of daily routines. We would like you to enjoy your stay, and perhaps even join us to help entertain new guests and more. Your stay here does not have an exact time limit and your stay here will also be fun, for both of you, and for the fifteen of us. Unfortunately, despite sending out four letters, only two of you came so it is a bit of a disappointment. Regardless of that, I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy your stay, and that you will not lose yourself and your slowly decreasing sanity staying here,” the nutcracker masked said, looking between the two and the cups of tea. ”Please enjoy your drinks,”

Harley raised an eyebrow at the offered drink, picking it up and giving it a little sniff. “What is this?” He asked, turning his attention to the masked man. There was no way in hell that Harley was going to trust this drink until given a reason to.

(Apologies, trying not to respond to rps over break, but I will make an acception for this because it's two of my favorite rpers)

Emerson wrinkled their nose at the cup and nodded along to Harley's question. "I second that. I have some allergies, you see." They lied. They detested most teas and didn't want to seem rude to their host…. And that Harley fella asked before they could, which was good. They sure as hell weren't going to ask first.

(happy Altrince noises :D)

”Pu-erh Tea, a kind of fermented tea,” the nutcracker masked answered, noticing how the two were not trusting him. He smirked audibly before he walked back towards the door. ”You two take this time to talk to each other,” he opened the door— ”—you may not have another chance to do so,” with that, he left.

Now the room went quite silent, but outside the room wasn’t. There were sounds coming from many different places around and there was no clear direction as to what they should be doing right now. The meeting room they were in looked fairly new, as if it had been modified not too long ago. Given the design, it might be easy to conclude that the owner of the mansion was a fan of puzzles as given by the jigsaw wallpaper, the chairs, and the round table they were at which looked like it was specially made with some contraptions built inside. Stuck to the side of the table on both Harley’s side and Emerson’s side were envelopes.

Harley made a point of shoving the ‘tea’ as far away from him as possible before leaning back in the chair with a sigh. “I’ve never liked these cryptic things and I have a feeling that this holiday is going to ruin my love for vacations too.”
He glanced around the room, turning his nose up at the distasteful decor, before turning his attention back to the table. Upon seeing the envelope, he detached it from the table and opened it up.

Emerson stood up, automatically not trusting the chairs. They got into an internet dive one night about torture methods, they knew how much shit could be built into chairs. "Yes… A bit tacky as well…" They murmured as they began to pace, grabbing their letter and opening it with their nail as they made their rounds. Before they read it, they realized they hadn't introduced themselves. "Oh dear, I was just hit with the revelation that I hadn't told you my name. I'm Emerson Backwater, a designer back in the city."

Harley looked up from his letter with a stone cold glare, crumpling the paper in his hand as he stood up from his seat. “I’m Harley, and I’m sort of tired so I think I’ll be looking for my room.”

There was no way the letter was being serious, it couldn’t have been!

He made his way to the door that he had entered, picking up his luggage before slowly creeping out of the room. Perhaps part of him believed what the letter said, but it would take a lot more than threats to get him to admit that he was scared. ‘The librarian huh? Why are they sending me a letter like this… Perhaps I should find them.’
Where was the library from here? It wasn’t like there were any maps nearby so it could have been anywhere in the vast building. ‘Well, I have twenty minutes to find it, so let’s start upstairs.’

As Harley would make his way upstairs, he would find that the mansion was decorated with pictures from places which looked unreal. They looked like they came from a different place, a different time, a different universe. Places like castles and palaces, halls and hotels, gardens and nightly skies, were on the walls of the place and were framed in gold. Towards the right end of the second floor was the library, however, it was currently locked.
The mansion itself consisted of two buildings; the old and main building, and the new building. Both with four floors and more than enough room for guests to stroll through. Between the buildings was a nifty garden with a white marbled fountain in the middle of it all.

Emerson frowned, reading through the letter and looking up when Harley left. They went through the letter again and simply sighed, they would go along with it. Maybe it was like a big escape room or something. Don't escape rooms have you sign forms? "Whatever." They mumbled, grabbing their bag and beginning to walk in the same direction the other had. Maybe they could catch up with the prickly looking fellow.

Harley had made it to the second floor and eventually found what he assumed to be the library— the door was locked. The man rattled it a few times, trying to get it open, but gave up and started looking around. No one was nearby but they could very well come for him now that they had heard him make such a racket.
Taking a deep breath, Harley found his way to the stairs and ran up to the next floor.

When Emerson left the room they had been in, a loud noise rang out through the building. Harley’s heart started racing; the game had begun! He swung himself into the closest room and, after making sure no one was in there, shut the door. He leaned his back against the door and covered his mouth to muffle his heavy breaths. ‘What happens if I’m caught? I don’t like this, I don’t like not knowing these things!’

An announcement rang out after the signal was given.
”Greetings fellow guests. This is ‘The Announcer’ speaking. I would like to explain the rules of this game one more time. A twenty-minute timer has started and the Hunted is currently being… well, hunted down by a handful of individuals who will work as the Hunter. There will no hurting, at least not fatally, in this first game but I cannot say the same for games later down the line. The person that wins this first game will gain an advantage in the next game, which will be explained after you have eaten lunch. Oh, one more thing. You are not allowed to leave this mansion until you both have finished all twenty four games we’ve made. If you do leave, please be happy that the afterlife will accept you quite willingly. That’s it for now! Good luck. Both of you,”
With the announcement done, another alam rang out as the sound of doors opening can be heard loudly around the mansion. They were the Hunters for the first round who are working alongside Emerson in an attempt to catch the prey that was Harley.

Emerson made a surprised noise at the announcement, it was more fucked up than they had originally thought. If I get through these… games, I'll get to go home. I'm sure as hell not going to try and escape, these bastards just threatened to kill me… Things along those lines ran through Emerson's head as their pace quickened. They would head towards the jumble of noises they heard, then start knocking and trying any other doors. They would be polite to any who talked to them, but they would win.

Walking out of the doors Emerson had knocked were humanoids, all of different structures, ages, genders, and body types. They all had a smiling white mask on their faces, their movements similar to that of puppets tied to strings. The some ten ‘Hunters’ had started to walk down the halls, exploring each floor in an attempt to find Harley, the only one Hunted.
Despite the chaos happening on the first floor, was a whistling sound from the halls of the second floor. It had came from a relatively tall man of black hair and a face which was hidden by a faceless brown mask. His burnt brown leather jacket swayed as he made his way towards the library, the hilt of his rusty sword by his side. Standing there in front of the library’s doors, the man got out a key and unlocked it, opening the doors wide open before he stepped inside. Once inside, while arranging the books, the Librarian had recited something.

”Jack and Jill…
Went up the hill…
To fetch a pail of water…
Jack fell down…
And broke his crown…
And Jill came tumbling after…
What meets the eyes…
Could be white lies…
You must see through their covers…
A smile they show…
A ‘Hunter’s’ role…
A secret you’ll discover.”

It wasn’t too long after the Hunters were out that the sound of a gunshot could be heard just outside the mansion. There had been no signs of any one of the two leaving the place. So perhaps it was someone else. Someone… like the Hunters themselves.

Emerson would find themself face-to-face with one of the Hunters, the Hunter’s mask looked as if it was their face. They tilted their head slightly, in their hand was a pistol. A real one. They fired once at the floor, causing the sound to echo through the halls. However, the other Hunters were completely unfazed by it.
”Your wish is our command,” the single Hunter had spoken. ”Give us an order, and we shall execute it,”

Harley would soon find himself in an uncomfortable situation. There were footsteps, just outside the room. There were no talking. No words were exchanged as silence fueled the ever dangerous atmosphere. The door was knocked on.
”London Bridge is falling down…”
The person outside started to recite, knocking. Knocking. Knocking once more as they continued to recite the song.
”London Bridge is falling down…
Falling down…
Falling down…
London Bridge is falling down…”
An audible smirk could be heard.
”My. Fair. Harley…”
Some seconds passed by before the sound of footsteps could be heard. The same knocking sounds could be heard from the door in the room next to the one Harley was in with the same recitation. This went on until the sound could not be heard anymore. Maybe… it was safe to leave the room now.

Emerson gave a barely noticeable flinch at the gunshot, hand tightening around their pepper spray that was in their pocket. They just had to imagine it was another client, they didn't spend years building up a thick skin to monster clients just to have it broken by this scary fellow… Who had a gun.

They cleared their throat and straightened their back, taking their hand out of their pocket and smiling politely. "If you would find Harley and bring him back to me, unharmed." They really hoped that the order was concrete enough that they could follow it without any problem. "Thank you." They tacked on at the end, to be polite.

While the voice had been outside the room Harley was hiding in, he had clamped his hands over his mouth and clenched his eyes shut. He hated nursery rhymes already, but including his name in one was the tip of the iceberg.
He waited for the footsteps and voice to pass completely, pressing his ear against the door until he heard complete silence, before shakily standing up and grabbing his suitcase and turning the door handle.

As soon as the door was open, Harley was out of that room like a trapped animal and made his way through the halls until he found the stairs down to the floor where he knew the library was. Nothing else was on his mind apart from getting to that location, and as the terrified tears pricked his eyes he found himself trying not to panic when hurriedly opening the library door.