1: welcome home Darlington breathes easier almost from the moment he steps foot inside Staywell Manor, the stone and wood and carved beams feeling...not familiar, exactly, but like some half-remembered comfort. Maybe it's the mere aesthetics of it, the sense of history, of care; chairs positioned around the room in twos and threes, firelight glinting richly off of the leaded glass of the narrow windows.
He could live here. He could be happy. It could be his, or at least some corner of it. The thought of that aches, low and dull, but he can't put a finger on why.
After check-in, he climbs the stairs in search of his room--and yet, each flight seems to take longer than it ought, each hallway bending at angles that never feel quite exact. Fitting his key in a lock, he turns it only to feel resistance. Rattling the doorknob does nothing either, and, after a moment, he lifts a hand to knock. In a place like this it feels unlikely they'll be made to double up, but anything seems possible.
2: warm your bones The cloak he'd found in his room did him few favors, but at least it's warm, decent enough for the trek between the Manor and what seems to be the only pub in town as the evening's gloom and mist roll in. Inside, it's busy, though the general atmosphere is less convivial and more...frustrated, with occasional pockets of resignation as he scans the groups clustered around a few of the tables. Darlington chalks it up to nothing much exactly--at least until he finds himself stuck to a seat as well, a card arrayed on the table in front of him along with a teapot emitting a slow curl of steam from its spout.
He's tried getting up, and it's an embarrassment he'd little care to repeat again.
"I don't think--" he starts as someone pulls the empty chair out from the other side, then stops, watching helplessly as they sit, making the same mistake as he had only a short time before. He sighs. "Well, I suppose we're in this together now."
3: wildcard Different idea? Have questions? I'm open to pretty much anything! Hit me up over at gripyfish and let's talk!
Daniel Arlington | Hell Bent
Darlington breathes easier almost from the moment he steps foot inside Staywell Manor, the stone and wood and carved beams feeling...not familiar, exactly, but like some half-remembered comfort. Maybe it's the mere aesthetics of it, the sense of history, of care; chairs positioned around the room in twos and threes, firelight glinting richly off of the leaded glass of the narrow windows.
He could live here. He could be happy. It could be his, or at least some corner of it. The thought of that aches, low and dull, but he can't put a finger on why.
After check-in, he climbs the stairs in search of his room--and yet, each flight seems to take longer than it ought, each hallway bending at angles that never feel quite exact. Fitting his key in a lock, he turns it only to feel resistance. Rattling the doorknob does nothing either, and, after a moment, he lifts a hand to knock. In a place like this it feels unlikely they'll be made to double up, but anything seems possible.
2: warm your bones
The cloak he'd found in his room did him few favors, but at least it's warm, decent enough for the trek between the Manor and what seems to be the only pub in town as the evening's gloom and mist roll in. Inside, it's busy, though the general atmosphere is less convivial and more...frustrated, with occasional pockets of resignation as he scans the groups clustered around a few of the tables. Darlington chalks it up to nothing much exactly--at least until he finds himself stuck to a seat as well, a card arrayed on the table in front of him along with a teapot emitting a slow curl of steam from its spout.
He's tried getting up, and it's an embarrassment he'd little care to repeat again.
"I don't think--" he starts as someone pulls the empty chair out from the other side, then stops, watching helplessly as they sit, making the same mistake as he had only a short time before. He sighs. "Well, I suppose we're in this together now."
3: wildcard
Different idea? Have questions? I'm open to pretty much anything! Hit me up over at