Week 1 [Day 1-Day 3]

[calloperators]

[After a long stressful day like this has been, maybe you want to curl up in bed and try to sleep this whole thing off, or maybe you stay up all night desperately trying to find a way out of this town. Whether it be asking the cops for help, trying to steal a car, or just simply trying to walk out of town, you will unfortunately find your attempts to escape fruitless.

Even with it being obvious something strange is going on, no one has shown their face yet to even hint that they're the ones behind it. And you have no idea if or when they will.

However, in the very least you have a whole town to explore, and at the start of each day, and the beginning of every night, no matter where you are, you'll suddenly hear a radio crackle to life. Whether this is comforting or unsettling? Well, that's up to you to decide.

Just have a good time and try not think about the letter you got earlier, okay?]

< LOCATIONS | REGAINS | TAKEN >

[ DAY 1 (SUNDAY) || NIGHT 1 (MONDAY) || DAY 2 (TUESDAY) || NIGHT 2 (WEDNESDAY) || DAY 3 (THURSDAY) ]
((OOC: Welcome to Week 1 of Hotline! As you can probably tell by the fact that Day 2 and beyond are frozen, we will have no grace week so we can get right into the murder!

And if you want to investigate the town, you just need to write INVESTIGATION in your header! Have fun ;) ))

Comments

Day 1 (Sunday)

[calloperators]

RADIO

[hotlinenpcs]

[As the sun begins to tinge the horizon a pale yellow and the songs begin to change, the voice of the radio announcer slides onto the airwaves. Despite how strange last night was, his dulcet tones almost make you feel as though everything's going to be alright.]

Heeeey, listeners, it's 6:13 AM, and this is Matt comin' at ya with the weather. It looks like it's shaping up to be a H-O-T summer day! Make sure to keep outta the heat and slap on that sunscreen--staying out too long might leave you burned.

NPC call [cw: alcohol, drugs]

[worldchampofmartialarts]

[Satan wakes with a ringing headache. He can't remember anything that happened past his third beer of the night, much less how he managed to wind up in this bed again after all of it. and there's something thin and slimy clinging to his skin? He moves a hand down to unpeel it from his abs and get a good look at it... it's a plastic baggie of weed.]

[Huh. Well. Who knows where that came from. He'll just... save that for later. He opens his box and drops it in the chicken mask for safekeeping.]

[Now that that's out of the way, the first thought that cuts through all the chaos in his mind is that he needs to call Videl and let her know he's safe... n-not like that should be changing at any time! He's safe and nothing bad's gonna happen to him and she shouldn't need to worry about her own father, when it's supposed to be the other way around! See, he's already doing enough worrying for the both of them! It's fine!]

[...after that, he makes his way over to the convenience store for some good ol' fashion Hangover Alka Seltzer and Ibuprofen! ...and some bottled water, which he proceeds to slam down right then and there on the convenience store floor, taking both meds at once. I'm sure Beard doesn't mind. It's fine.]

[Now feeling thoroughly revitalized- he thinks it's high time to get a bit of training in and heads on over to the motel gym- ...no wait, he's hungry as hell. Pizza time. Beard gives him a large pineapple, ham, and Reese's Pieces pizza. Is that a standard menu item? He shrugs and indulges in it anyway.]

[Now it's time to head back to the gym. The equipment isn't anything to write home about, but it'll do for now. He jumps up on the closest treadmill and cranks it up to 16 MPH. Woah, that's fast. Way faster than he thought it was gonna be. B-but he can't back out of it now! He starts looking around the room at the other treadmills to make sure he's the top dog of this public exercise facility. That'd be a confidence booster, at least- boy, his thighs are killing him.]

[Later on, you can catch him at the arcade, dejectedly playing a bigass Pole Position cabinet tucked away in the corner, because its one of the only sit-down games here, and after the treadmill incident he REALLY needs a good sitting-down. ...he's sure been hogging it for a while, though. Wanna remind him he's not the only person in this arcade?]

ring ring

[hotlinenpcs]

[The dial tone rings....

..........

..............

Click.]

You've reached The Gomorrah hotline. We cater to your vice and temptation. What is your pleasure?

[The male voice on the line is, for the lack of a better term, sultry.]

gym

[conceivesfrenzy]

[ Curious about all the devices around town, Alice starts poking her head into every room that she can in the motel. All this technology is fascinating, so she can't help but look around.

When she comes into the gym, she's automatically staring at Satan as he's chugging along on the treadmill. Looking at the other devices, it's not that hard to imagine what this place is for.

She gets up on a treadmill a couple units over. Rather than use it, she'd rather lean on one of the handlebars, watching him run. ]

Wow, mister! You must be really strong if you can run that fast! Can you... run faster?

arcade

[rainblower]

[There's someone in a gas mask and asbestos suit who's been standing near the cabinet for a while, staring unblinkingly at Mr. Satan and patiently waiting their turn. Satan probably wouldn't have noticed them--they've been standing behind him. One might interpret their presence to be somewhat foreboding, due to the fact that...they seem to be wielding a frying pan and tapping it against their hand. Is that allowed here? There's not a rule against frying pans, is there?

After several minutes, they clear their throat to allow their presence to be known.]

[iote]

...And I'm telling you that what you describe is irrelevant!

[Oh...dear. Okay. So anyone in the general vicinity of the gun shop today can probably hear Michalis, being more or less the Worst Customer Service Experience In The Goddamn World; he's apparently decided to try to accomplish something today, god only knows what that something is. Other than looking like a crazy person in front of this employee, I guess, because he's definitely accomplishing that.]

I will not repeat myself again - I have never seen one of these before, and I ask merely to borrow one for the sake of demonstration! This isn't difficult, you insolent-

[...Someone might want to tell him why he can't just borrow and load a deadly fucking weapon for the sake of seeing what it does?

That...aside, he's seeming pretty content to stay near the motel and sulk after he, you know, was not permitted to be a fucking idiot with a gun; there are things on the ground floor that he didn't really look over. The rec room of all places seems to have his interest for a while, though it isn't so much any one thing in particular as it is the components of one? Namely, he's picking up one of the cues for use with the pool table - turning it over in his hands, tossing it gently and catching it to see how it comes down, toying with it a bit...

Eventually he'll just throw the beanbags onto the couch, move the damn couch out of the way so he has some space, and just start doing simple training rotations with it - wraps and one-handed spinning techniques and basic strikes, and he seems confident enough with it to imply that this isn't just an idle activity. He seems well-trained, though...well, obviously a bit inconsiderate, hopefully no one else was really planning on doing anything in here.]

Gun shop

[butwhoareyou]

... You know you can't just borrow a weapon just to see what it does, don't you?

[Don't worry, Tim's here! And he's staring towards the stranger with a bewildered look, his hands in his pockets. He's not entirely too sure why he's around the shop in the first place- just mindless wandering around, probably.]

You have to buy it.

gun shop;

[seventhsign]

...I doubt they'd hand over a weapon you could easily kill someone by mistake so easily, especially if you don't know how to wield one.

[ At the very least, he recognizes that it's a gun and boy, those are not newbie-demonstration friendly. Testament is not surprised if the employee is Beyond Tired due to all of this. ]

rec room

[rangerslayer]

[ Well, this sure is a sight. Kimberly wanted to get a better look around this place in the daylight, but she didn't anticipate finding someone using it as a gym. ]

You know, usually? People use those for recreation. But they're sturdy enough for a few good hits.

rec room

[advancements]

[Don't worry, Xander's not here to use the rec room, but he's definitely here to see what you're doing. He watches for a moment before approaching.]

Would you care for a sparring partner?

[Admittedly, these don't really look like they'll hold up to a sparring match, but hey, that sounds fun.]

Night 1 (Monday)

[calloperators]

RADIO

[hotlinenpcs]

[As the sun sets, and the music changes once more, the radio crackles to life, in the same, calming dulcet tones.]

Good evening everyone, it looks like the sun has set, leaving us in a nice sheet of coolness to relax you after a hot day. It looks like there's going to be some showers later tonight, so it's a good night to curl up on the couch and fall asleep to the sound of rain.

[knifegf]

convenience store

Hey, come back!

[ she yells as she sprints down the lane of the store, chasing the bodega cat. it's so fast and nimble and she wants to play with it. but then it turns the corner and once she does the same-- ]

Hey!

[ --she crashes right into you. ]

Watch where you're going, I'm trying to... ugh! [ she looks around your shoulder and the cat is gone. ] Damn it. It always gets away from me.

the bar

[ thank god it's night time because someone needs a drink or two. the good thing about dingy bars is that they look like shit and play the same loud music no matter where on earth you are. she sits at the bar counter with a martini and stares at the bartender, whose busy with someone else.

if you stopped by chances are she'll notice you, having been quietly taking note of everyone at the motel who woke up there mysteriously, and will wave you to come over. and if you decide to beckon to her wave, she'll point to beard. ]

Pssst, isn't that the guy from the pizza parlor? And the video store? And the market. [ she grins. ] Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Day 2 (Tuesday)

[calloperators]

MOTIVE: THROWING IT ALL AWAY

[hotlinenpcs]

[You never so much as hear the phone ringing, but for some reason, there's another message on your answering machine. You can tell as much from the light that's begun to blink again.

If you pick up the receiver and press the button, the following recorded message will play. The voice sounds similar to the one you heard the other night.]

Good morning! Here's your wake up call, as requested! Hope you're finding everything okay at the Palms Motel.

Sorry about the laundry room and pool, by the way--we've provided some compensation for the lack of these services. It'd be awful if you weren't enjoying yourself while you were here. I mean, can you imagine what would happen if someone took everything important away from you? Your friends, your job, your power...that wouldn't be very fun, now, would it?

Anyways, thanks for choosing the Palms Motel! With the Palms, paradise in within reach.

[The speaker's voice remains upbeat despite the underlying threat. There’s an audible click, and the recording stops.]

RADIO

[hotlinenpcs]

[The rain showers promised yesterday didn't come, but, then again, when is the weather forecast ever accurate? It's difficult to tell when the radio actually changes songs, but soon enough, you find yourself hearing the radio host speak again.]

And it's time for the weather, folks. We're seeing clear skies all day with a low of sixty-two and a high of seventy-three. Humidity is at an all-time low. Make sure to get outside while the weather's still nice--you never know when it's gonna be the last good summer day. It's 6:13 AM, and we're comin' at you with some more Genesis and Phil Collins. This is Matt, wishing you a safe drive to work.

[rainblower]

[For the most part, Pyro is indifferent to phone calls the way a small child might be indifferent towards adults jabbering on about taxes and jobs. But this phone call was different. They stare at the receiver before promptly dropping it on the ground, leaving the motel room. After a pause, they walk back in to take the pillowcase off their pillow and hurry outside.

Pyro might be somewhat childish, but they aren't stupid. Normally, they wouldn't be bothered by someone threatening them--for God's sake, they're a mercenary. But whoever put them here obviously took away their fire once, and they could take it away again, if they wanted to. Pyro doesn't want that to happen. They were away from fire for an hour the other day, and they nearly had a breakdown over it. Which means they have to get more fire to prevent this from happening, right?

For the most of the morning, they can be found at the convenience store, hurriedly filling their pillowcase with all manner of lighters, matchbooks, aerosol cans...anything that can be used as an effective fire-lighter. Like a trick-or-treater, except instead of candy, it's fire. They linger in the alcohol section for a little bit before gathering some beer in glass bottles. No sense talking to Beard right now--he probably wouldn't understand them, anyways. In their hurry to fill their bag, they accidentally bump into someone and cause their supplies to go scattering on the linoleum tiles. In panic, they crouch down and start refilling the pillowcase.]

Shrry, shrry.

[Later, they can be seen at the beach with a rather impressive array of makeshift weapons--mostly fire based, of course. In their gloved hand, they hold an aerosol can with a lighter taped near the opening. They click the lighter and carefully direct the spray towards the ocean before pressing the trigger. An impressive plume of fire ignites, casting an orange glow over the sand.

From some distance away, one can hear the Pyro cackling rather loudly.

It's a good thing this beach isn't really used for relaxing, huh?]

[neverstudied]

[It takes an incredible effort for Venkman to not throw the receiver at the wall once he realizes he's being threatened by the answering machine. The nerve of this fucking guy...

It doesn't help that he still hasn't found Ray.

Oh, he got confirmation that Ray is here, alright- on Monday morning, he'd checked the nameplates, and sure enough, Kimberly had remembered correctly. Venkman's been keeping an eye on that door whenever he's in the area- at one point spending at least a few hours loitering in the halls-, but so far he hasn't seen Ray enter or exit it. Bad luck, he supposes.

He's also been keeping his eyes peeled whenever he's in town, and asked other people to keep an eye out for the redheaded Ghostbuster. No luck there, either. Venkman either has the worst luck in the world, or something really weird is going on.

... Weirder than the kidnapping and animal masks, at least.

And now he's getting thinly-veiled threats, and there's nothing he can do about it. Venkman can't figure out what's worse- Ray being stuck in this shitty murder situation, or Egon and Winston being somewhere else where Venkman can't protect them, if this phone guy wants to follow through on the threats. Not that he can protect Ray, either, if he can't find him...

Venkman is working very, very hard to keep his panic and rage to a minimum. Which means, for now, he's spending a lot of time at the arcade, trying to keep his mind off of things, and keeping an eye out for Ray.

It... doesn't really work to calm him down. He's not bad at most of these games, but he keeps getting distracted by going down the rabbit hole of "thinking about the issues he's trying to avoid", losing his focus, and-]

God damnit!

[-Throwing brief, explosive tantrums when he inevitably loses. Watch out, he might throw something. Or punch a hole in the wall. Or in the nearest arcade cabinet. Hope you didn't want to play that game next.]

Night 2 (Wednesday)

[calloperators]

RADIO

[hotlinenpcs]

[You hardly notice the announcer speaking as the music shifts again, the sun beginning to set. Perhaps it's the heat that's getting to you.]

Hey, hey, cool cats. This station wouldn't be on the air if it weren't for the generous donations of-- [The sound of shuffling papers.] --Mr. Claude Eisner. Keep being cool, Mr. Eisner. Remember, a contribution of fifty dollars or more get you a shout-out on your local radio station and keeps us on the air. And now, back to the music.

NPC request

[iote]

[So it's late, and Michalis can't sleep for shit because Reasons and those reasons generally have him in...not the best mood, but you know what, there are places here that are always open and as such he might as well look into them a little bit?

He's been a little wigged out just in general at how readily available everything here is; the convenience store is a personal source of weird for a lot of reasons - too bright, everything is packaged strangely - but tonight actually sees him checking out the candy and looking like an absolute child about it? God, he will be taking so goddamn much and the stash will go back to his room eventually but for now he is seeming weirdly euphoric over the Skittles, bless his heart.

...He will approach Beard eventually, though. Perhaps he'll have some relevant questions to ask the guy once he's done obtaining enough candy to kill a man, but for now...]

Your supplier must be very good at what they do, if you can offer us these things so consistently.

[...Okay, look, he tried.

That said, though, once he's dropped the candy off in his room as planned, he..doesn't seem terribly inclined to leave; the door to Room 6 can be found largely open and the lights are on, if anyone else is awake tonight.]

[gether]

[Well... that call he got this morning wasn't great, but he's going to try to stay optimistic. It was a vague threat, after all! And while there's a lot he could lose, he didn't want to kill for a "maybe".

First of all, he found these strange coins in his room, and they seem to go with the gatcha machine in the convenience store!

And he gets... Well, it's something. Ray is particularly worried about the Ecto Cooler he got and stares at it for a few good minutes.]

Are they expecting me to drink straight ectoplasm? I'm not sure that's safe for human consumption.

[He is going to wear that lettuce shirt the rest of the night, however. You can't stop him.

Later on, he's doing his best to distract himself by going bowling. After all, he hasn't done it in forever, and it

Still... it's awkward alone, so when someone comes into the bowling alley, he immediately calls out to them:]

Hey! You wanna go bowling with me? It'll be fun!

[Join him!!!]

Day 3 (Thursday)

[calloperators]

RADIO

[hotlinenpcs]

[The announcer sounds rather chipper as the static of the radio makes its way to your ears.]

--as for the weather today, looks like it's gonna be mostly clear with some scattered clouds. Low of sixty-three, high of seventy-two. Humidity is at 20%, so you don't have to worry about those summer thunderstorms anytime soon.

[The music begins to play again.]