knock knock

Ellie Carter

Ellie walks up to Hikaru, having found him at the locked door leading to the Warden's room. Not that she knew this yet. She steps up next to him, leaning in closer to take a look at the lock herself. She sounds American with a southern bite to her voice.

"Hey there, I'm Ellie. Do you think that's an exit?"

Hikaru Suzuki

He's already been surprised by more open doors than he expected, so finding a locked one should really have been more normal in a place like this. But now that Hikaru's curiosity has been hindered, it only makes it stronger. It's only the approach of someone else that stops him from giving the handle an experimental jiggle.

"Might be. There's got to be some kind of reason this one's locked off…"

He turns around to face this 'Ellie', takes one look at her, and the charm offensive starts immediately.

"Ellie, huh? Nice ink. I'm Hikaru. Lovely to meet you, shame about the situation."

Ellie Carter

Is he flirting or is he just gay? The sparkle tattoos… He might be gay.

"Nice ink yourself. I figure we'll know whether or not its a shame once we know what the situation is. I don't suppose you can pick a lock."

She reaches up with one hand and runs her fingers through her hair. "Don't got any hair pins, I'm afraid."

Hikaru Suzuki

"True, maybe I'm being too pessimistic. This could actually be a new 5-star hotel experience, fully immersive, etc. That would be fun."

He clearly sounds like he doesn't believe a word he's saying, but in a playful way rather than a bitter one.

"I've picked a few locks in my time, but this one is looking a bit trickier than the usual 'locked myself out the back door' situation. Might need more than hair pins anyway. Thanks though."

Ellie Carter

"Hey, hey, this could be a 5-star all-inclusive Alcatraz sleepover experience. You know, see what it was like for the mobsters-type shit."

She kicks the door, helpfully.

"This could be the jailbreak escape room portion of the experience."

Hikaru Suzuki

"How exciting. I hope it's one of those ones where you get a prize at the end. Even if it's just a half price drink at the bar."

He crouches down a little to squint at the door after she's kicked it. "Yeah, I don't think this is getting anywhere, sadly. Not sure if the key's hidden somewhere else here or what… it might even be electronic on the other side." He shrugs. "At least it doesn't feel like there's a sense of urgency. Not to jinx it."

Ellie Carter

"Can't be that easy, huh?"

She crouches next to him, hugging her knees, and looks back over at him.

"So, what do you think? I've been saying we're probably all dead. Seems like a fucked up sorta purgatory-Hell."

Hikaru Suzuki

He raises his eyebrows and thinks for a moment on her question.

"Honestly…? Not sure. If I'm dead, I don't know how it happened. I mean sure there's ways I can think of, but I don't have any last memories of an oncoming car or whatever." He certainly hopes this isn't an isekai.

"I was just going with the obvious and assuming this is jail, but it's looking like it isn't like any one I've heard of."

Ellie Carter

She stays crouching and runs a finger over the crack between the door and the frame.

"I don't remember either, but maybe that's just what happens when your brain dies? We're kind of like computers that haven't ever been shut down. You lose your RAM and your brain didn't save that memory to disk yet. Or, like, you lose the Word doc you haven't saved, or whatever. Makes total sense to me."

Hikaru Suzuki

Hikaru watches her as she goes, and there's an almost visible glazing over of his eyes as soon as she gets to even mildly technical talk. 'RAM', he heard that once, he's almost certain she doesn't mean losing track of sheep - okay. The Word document thing is something he can grasp.

"I mean… yeah? No? Maybe? Honestly, I have absolutely no idea. I don't know if there are people who research this or something… Sixth Sense is probably about as far as I know about the afterlife. So maybe we are all ghosts. Er, spoilers, I guess?"

"Well, at least if we're wearing the clothes we died in, we can both rest easy knowing we died in style."

Ellie Carter

She quickly looks him up and down again. He's flirting, but wait just a second.

"Hold up, you died in that? I wasn't wearing this. I mean, hah, not far off from what I usually wear, but I figured this was something special for each of us. You know, they gave the research student a lab coat. I feel like this lends credibility to my divine punishment theory."

Hikaru Suzuki

"…Maybe? I think I last remember it being the middle of the day. But if I've deleted my mental Word document or whatever, maybe I got shanked on the way home from the club or something."

That wouldn't be the most glamorous way to go. He kind of hopes it wasn't the case, but as he said - at least he would've gone out in style.

"I could also believe your theory. If I was gonna end up in some cosmic afterlife, I would like to think I'd show up in a mesh shirt, to be fair. Maybe not the straightjacket though."

Ellie Carter

She looks down at herself, pulling at the fabric in a way that's a little dangerous given her specific jacket.

"Hmmm, is that what these are? I just thought they looked like... uhh, the what-do-you-call-it game? They look like jackets from Kingdom Hearts or something. Now I can believe you and I would die wearing this, but some of the others I met probably wouldn't be caught dead wearing something fun and interesting."

Hikaru Suzuki

Hikaru's not complaining, though he's also quite good at tactfully not staring. The comparison makes him laugh, even if it takes him a moment to picture what she means. Look, he's not some kind of nerd…

"Well, they're not very effective, but it's the closest sort of vibe I get. Fashion-over-function straightjackets. But yeah, the others… I mean, I definitely hope for some of their sakes they didn't pick out their outfits."

Ooh, he just can't resist a #basic little bit of bitchiness about clothes.

Ellie Carter

"Did you see the red-head girl? I saw her when leaving. She's like a carousel of straps and rings. I bet she'd jingle like a sleigh if we put some keychains on all those."

It's less about the fashion and more about what amuses her for Ellie.

Hikaru Suzuki

"Now that sounds fun. It's not like these things are doing that good a job of keeping us restrained, so we might as well see what other function we can get out of them."

If becoming a human sleigh bell can be considered functional.

"For now, though… I'm not seeing anything else that could help with this door. Might move on and see what else there is round here. Give me a shout if you do dig up any hair pins, yeah?"

Even though he didn't expect them to do much good… Maybe it's just a convenient excuse for Ellie to talk to him again later.

Ellie Carter

"Alright, alright. Let me know if you find a better door~!"

She grins as she says it, but when Hikaru leaves the smile drops. What would escape even do for Ellie? Can she have a life after this? She stays by the door, quietly tracing it with a finger…