h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*Michelle enters room 012, Lil's room. The entire room has been done up to look like an adobe house from Santa Fe. The book case contains predominantly books on art, cacti, and law... an interesting combination. The poirtrait over the bed is of a large goblet, perhaps a grail. The writting desk is well supplied, and a door in the corner leads to the Wash Closet Lil will share with Witty Moniker.

Michelle thinks that Lil is the most sensible guest at the party, and she certainly admires her taste in clothes.*

*Lil enters the room according to Lil's directions and stops at the threshold with delight at how the decor echoes her own aesthetic*

*She goes to the washroom, finds a cloth and soaks it in cold water. Wringing it out she wipes her face, then runs her fingers quickly through her hair before coming back to her room*

I feel better refreshed now. Sometimes it's good just to get up and walk around for a minute, check out the art in the hallways and all. Fascinating group. Interesting combination. Better go back.

*leaves, carefully closing the door behind her*

*returns to her room from stopping at Witty Moniker's room*
*sighs and sits down at desk, pulls fresh paper toward her, dips the quill pen in ink and begins to write*

"My dear nephew,
So sorry that I wasn't able to return to the apartments to continue our plans for Blue Steed. I was invited to what I thought would be a dinner party, but which has turned out to be some sort of imprisonment. Our host turned out to be an android, after someone tried to murder him -- it was so much like that android that everyone thinks is a real man in the first Alien movie! There he was with a knife in his back and no blood.

And now the butler has let us loose briefly before we gather again in the sitting room. I hope I will be able to get this letter to you before anything awful befalls us."

*puts the quill back in its holder and sits pensively for a moment, staring at the painting of an elaborate cup, done in folk art style. She nods to herself and puts a hand over her gemstone almost protectively, just as she did when the lights went out in the dining room*

I had better go back to the group. I hardly know which is more unsafe, to stay here or go down to the sitting room.

*leaves, closing the door behind her*

*re-enters the room and stands a moment, massaging her temples*

*moves around the room, moving her shoulders to relax her neck muscles and looking idly at the art books* Stickley! and Lloyd Wright of course. And I must look through this book on Edward Hopper when I have a moment.

* sits down on bed and jumps up almost immediately with surprise*

What's under the spread??

(Are you trying to imply something about Michelle's ability to make a bed? No, I guess not, rather, this is why your presence at this soirée was recomended to me: your uncanny ability to give any situation more character and class.)

*Under the covers the item vaugely oval shapped, flat, and rather large. It's also hard. On pulling back the covers (I don't mean to manipulate your actions but if you want to know what's under the covers you'd really HAVE to pull them back) Lil would discover a plaque, mounted on wood -- with a rouge stain to it -- and shaped like a fish. On the brass plaque are engraved these words: "Le poisson sans boisson est poison". (Cryptic, isn't it?) *

(by the way, glad you noticed the Frank Lloyd Wright stuff. I love his work. It always strikes close to home)

*frowns in perplexity*
The fish without a drink is poison? The sober fish is poison? I need to think about this... *glancing again at the folk-art chalice in its vivid reds and greens* Poison.

*Suddenly realises she should be back at the sitting room. Lil props the odd plaque up ontop of the bookshelf and exits the room hurriedly, hand to the stone at her throat*

*Lil returns to her room after a rather inconclusive period of time*

*considers writing to her nephew but is too tired*
*feeling too nervous to sleep, she selects a book on southwestern architecture, throws back the spread and leans back against stacked pillows to read*
*before long the book slips from her grasp onto the bed, and she falls asleep*

*She dreams that a hole has opened up in the wall where the bookcase used to be. Out of it come vague figures. They look like Jim and Minos. And there's a third figure who looks like... the Masque of the Red Rejection E-Mail. But why is the Masque hanging around with the victims? He hasn't been killed...

As Lil wakes up she could swear she sees the bookcase come out from behind the wall and return to its usual spot. Must just be her eyes adjusting to the light*

*As Lil has spent so much of her life staring directly into cathode ray tubes, her eyes take a while to admit light and find their focus*

*She sits up, wondering if she has had another one of those lucid dreams -- but something feels different, as if the air itself as changed in the room*

*She gets up and walks, stretching, toward the bookcase. Something is different. But what?*

*Well, it could be that a book that was formerly pushed way back into the bookshelf (and therefor out of sight) is now hanging just a bit off the shelf. It's a book on dog grooming...*