Week 2

[grimgrinningghosts]

[It's been one whole week, and no one has died yet. For someone who seemed so sure that someone would die, it seems as if The Narrator was wrong about anyone killing another person. But after awhile, the hotel might seem pretty dull. There is only so much to do in here, and if you don't enjoy books and old board games, it's hard to keep you entertained unless you like marathons of Muppet Treasure Island.

But you can keep this up, right?

24 guests remain.]

[SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY]

{OOC: Don't forget to turn in your Week 1/Intro AC! Since Peace Week is over, Tuesday and onward are currently locked for the upcoming motive. Everything is going to change soon}

Comments

[sentree]

[ Hi Belle! Here she is with all these nice things! ...and a slightly dinged-up typewriter. ]

Yeah, weird right? Recognize anything?

[greatwidesomewhere]

No, nothing of mine...

[Belle trails off, going over to the typewriter and letting her fingers dance across the keys curiously. It's a very strange machine—like a piano, but for writing? That's the best she can guess, anyway. She looks up at Thalia.]

Show me how it works?

[sentree]

[ HA... Thalia looks away, a little awkward, and twirls her silver bracelet. ]

Uh, it's pretty straightforward. You put paper in it, and you press the keys and tada, you get a sentence.

[greatwidesomewhere]

[Belle hardly notices Thalia's awkwardness; she's too entranced by the typewriter. A smile spreads across her face.]

So it's a machine for writing! How curious...I imagine it saves quite a lot of time in correspondence.

[sentree]

[ Good, honestly, she doesn't like explaining the whole...can't read easily thing. Stupid English. ]

Usually. They're not even the most advanced, most people've been using computers for the last fifteen years.

[ ...Or something? Time's weird. There's a little hesitance in her voice but she shrugs it off. ]

[greatwidesomewhere]

[She honestly has no frame of reference for 'computer' as anything except a person who does math, but she manages to rein in the questions that want to come bubbling out. She can figure it out on her own time, probably. Her fingers tap lightly at the keys.]

It's wonderful, still. I'd like to try it, if there's any paper...

[sentree]

I bet there's some around here. At the front desk, or something. I could look around for you?

[ She's really fascinated by all this... What time's Belle from, she wonders. ]

[greatwidesomewhere]

Oh—thank you! I'd appreciate that very much! Or—wait!

[Belle digs in the little linen bag she's got attached to her skirt, out of habit, and pulls out her notebook.]

Would the paper from here work?

[sentree]

[ She carries around a notebook? Oh gods, she's like a more prim and proper Annabeth, that's almost sweet. ]

Oh, yeah, definitely. Handy. Take it out of the actual book and it'll work great.

[greatwidesomewhere]

[She likes to take notes on her reading!!!

Belle nods and carefully tears out a few sheets of the paper along the perforations, and then slides them across the table to Thalia.]

[sentree]

[ Alright, she loads them on in - not that hard to figure out how - and pushes the typewriter closer to Belle. ]

Knock yourself out, girl.

[greatwidesomewhere]

[Eagerly, Belle reaches out and taps experimentally at one of the keys. To her delight, it causes a small iron to strike the page, and after it retracts, there's a single, black "B" on the page.

She smiles, and taps a few more keys, spelling out her name.]

This is remarkable! I wish my father could see this, I know he'd think it was wonderful!

[sentree]

[ Such excitement... She really does remind her of Annabeth. Gods. She thinks Belle's...older than her? Maybe? Thalia's getting used to the whole...not aging thing, it's hard for her to tell now. ]

They don't have anything like this where you're from, huh? Color me curious, what's your year?

[greatwidesomewhere]

No, not at all... [She taps out a few more keys: L-E-C-O-E-U-R.]

Seventeen fifty-three. I believe some of the thinkers of my time may have thought of something like this, but certainly haven't made it a reality.

[sentree]

Zeus, really? I know some people from that far back, but...never fresh from there.

[greatwidesomewhere]

Truly. It seems everyone else is from much later on...It's enough to make me feel a bit dated, truthfully.

[sentree]

You probably don't want to hear what the date is where I'm from, then. It'd probably just depress you.

[greatwidesomewhere]

...Well, now I'm curious. Try me.

[sentree]

...2016?

[greatwidesomewhere]

[Belle's eyes grow very wide.]

That's...almost three hundred years after my time!

[sentree]

Uh-huh. You see the issue.

[greatwidesomewhere]

[Just give her a moment, here. Her mind is sort of blown.]

In two thousand sixteen...are girls called 'odd' for liking to read?

[sentree]

What? Oh, no! ...Well...

[ She considers. ]

Some people don't take girls seriously if we're not tough, you see. I've got a friend who really took that to heart. She loves books and architecture. She's...man, she's a real spitfire...but she had to work real hard to get people to respect her. Still... No one thinks she's 'odd' for reading or studying. If anything, she's smart. Wise.

You remind me a little of her, actually.

[greatwidesomewhere]

[Belle understands, or at least she thinks she does. It's the same way with boys in her time...she supposes it's better than being expected to cook and clean and be nothing more than a wife and a mother.

Her expression lights up, a tiny bit.]

Really? Thalia...that's so kind of you to say.

[sentree]

I call it like I see it. [ She winks at Belle. ] If Annabeth was here...well, I bet you two'd get along. She'd talk your ear off, but you'd get along.