Work Text:
Failing LED lights. Popcorn ceilings. Off-white painted walls and dark grey carpeted floors.
Can ugliness be classified as a form of torture? At this point it sure felt like it to her. Again and again and again, this damn liminal office was going to drive her insane!
Wasn’t there a quote for that? The definition of insanity being doing something over and over again and expecting different results? Well, it didn’t matter, it wasn’t like she had a choice! There was nothing else here, just her with a shoddy flashlight traversing through ever-repeating office rooms. And that was FINE, GREAT EVEN. She didn’t have anything better to do when showing up to her new job, might as well get thrown into an endless hellscape!
Gah, she wasn’t normally this agitated. She was just… very tired. Not just mentally. Any attempt at rest around here only resulted in the most subpar sleeping experiences. If she attempted to rest somewhere before she knew those… creatures… would start attacking her, the lights were too bright, make her feel like someone was trying to burn her retinas through her eyelids. But if she waited until the rooms were darker, then she was always at a risk of being attacked by those two monsters, not only killing her but also returning her to the starting room, which again, was as bright as it could get. And trying to sleep in one of the lockers was just not great, you could trust her on that one.
… what was she even doing anymore?
Curling up into a ball, she sat in one of the lockers in the room she was currently in, a meeting room, her empty flashlight discarded somewhere next to her. The world outside the metal box was bathed in darkness, and she was currently around… A-368. If she remembered correctly.
How long has it been? Since she got here, was sent into this hell. Time had lost all meaning, with neither daylight nor clocks to keep track, but still she couldn’t help it. She’d been someone before this, right? She had had family and friends, a home, dreams and ambitions. Obviously a job that she’d been looking forward to at least a little bit. And now…
The woman slumped further, her head falling against the metal walls with a dull thud. Now she couldn’t even…
Her name. What had been her name? She didn’t remember. That’s how long it’s been, that the memories of who she once was hadn’t just grown fuzzy, but were slowly… decaying. Decaying as the office, the world around her was.
Moon, look what I found.
What is it now, Star, I do not wish to take too much time away from- oh my! What kind of realm is that? Did you make this?
No, I just found it like this, as it is. How interesting. I’ve never seen a world this dead before.
… Star, I know that look. What are you planning? It better be nothing hindering our explorer.
Hm, don’t worry, I’ll make sure there will be nothing to hinder him. But… maybe he would like to take a little detour?
The thing about repetition is that after a while, everything starts blending together. That was very much the case for everything in the Hotel, special rooms included. As scary as the Figure is, and as painful as being killed by it was, there were only so many times Tourist was able to complete the Library before it became repetitive. Same for the Shop, the Infirmary, the Courtyard and the Electrical Room. It all just- blended together after a while.
That also meant though, that any changes, anything new, stuck out like a sore thumb.
Now, it wasn’t like the room itself was anything to write home about. It looked very much like a destroyed hotel hallway to him, one filled with closets and bookshelves. There was nothing unusual about this as this kind of room always had a likelihood to appear after the Library. No, what actually got Tourist’s attention was the… quiet, somewhat soothing noise drifting through the air, its composition almost melodic. It wasn’t anything he’d heard before, which made him turn away from where he was about to open the next door because-
Because this was something new. Something different. And by that definition, it was something he had to check out. Stepping back and scanning the rather dim room, there was nothing immediate of note. Again, it was a wrecked hallway, nothing really to add there. Only when he started shuffling around the obstructions was when he spotted it.
A hole. In the wall. Of this stupid, endless, and most importantly, inescapable hotel. Was it- No, it couldn’t be. The chance that it was a way out were slim to none, leaning towards absolutely not. But it was still something new.
Squeezing through the narrow gap, Tourist carefully entered the hollowed out, very purposely restricted pathway in the wall, leading him closer to wherever that noise was coming from. Soon he entered another new room, which too was really mostly nothing special. Didn’t look worse for wear, filled to the brim with chairs and closets as if there was something in there to hide from (hopefully there wasn’t) and kind of boring. Two things caught his eye though; one being one of those grid doors that normally meant he had to traverse yet another cellar and the other being a rather large, quite frankly gorgeous painting, depicting a snapshot of space with a simple star shining brightly in the middle. Checking for a plaque, he didn’t find one, leaving it untitled.
It was… weird. This whole situation was weird, and new, which kind of made him excited, but also how was he supposed to progress because the path leading forwards was blocked and he didn’t see any levers or cellars nearby. Poking around the room didn’t yield any results either, no other hidden pathways or triggers that he could find.
A bit of disappointment filled him. It seemed like this was something he would’ve had to have known about earlier in his exploration, like the plant room in the Infirmary.
Squeezing himself back out into the main room, the man decided to just forget about it for now and pay closer attention the next time around. Or maybe ask Guiding Light, if she’s able to spare the time to answer.
Still, he felt miffed about being denied something so new and exciting, a feeling that was only amplified when the next room turned out to be a cellar room.
If you wanted him to find your “little detour”, why did you make it so hard to access?
I thought it should challenge him. The realm he will enter is a lot more… decrepit, then our Hotel. If he wants a chance of survival, then he needs to prove that he’s willing to put in the effort.
Well, I suppose that is fair. Still… it shouldn’t be too hostile. You do still want him to have a fair chance, right?
Of course. This realm, I have made it my own. There were always plans for changes to be made.
That is good to hear. Though to make sure, don’t you think making him traverse a thousand rooms is a bit… much?
It was kind of funny, really. That the first thing she noticed was probably the smallest.
Her day, if you could still call it that, had been normal so far. Walking and looking for batteries and hiding in lockers. Same as always, nothing exciting. It happened when she was taking a small break in one of the kitchen areas, the room still relatively bright. She was fiddling around with the coffee machine standing on the counter, more out of boredom than anything else, as there was neither coffee nor even running water, when she noticed it.
Lying on the counter, not far from her, was a bandage. A bandage. That shouldn’t have tripped her up as much as this, right? In a normal office environment a random bandage would’ve been absolutely nothing.
But after however long, she knew better. After having checked cabinets and closets over and over again, destroying various rooms, kicking in doors and even clawing at the walls in a desperate attempt to get out-
She knew better. Batteries? Yes, those she had found plenty, not frequently but still again and again. Bandages? No. Never. This place didn’t have bandages, or anything that could benefit her or her health in any way.
Until now, she supposed.
Picking it up slowly, she held it out pinched in between her fingers, as if it would suddenly jump at her. It didn’t look out of the ordinary, not in any way. Just a normal, light brown band-aid, that you could slap on a small wound. Further inspections didn’t yield any results either, it almost felt offensive how non-strange it was.
The woman could’ve probably stood there all day, wondering about this strange change, but was interrupted as a familiar and loud, yet static-y scream tore through the air. Quickly ducking into the fridge, she pocketed the bandage for now. She could inspect it better later if it happened to carry over after death, and if it didn’t, she couldn’t do much with a single bandage anyway.
The second change she noticed (aside from the sudden appearance of coins and gold bars?) was one that affected her a bit more directly. Sort of.
It was just- the flashlight dispenser in the Waiting Room changed position. Out of nowhere, it was suddenly at the back of the room instead near the entrance. And, and this one was very convenient for her, the payment currency changed, as it now accepted the aforementioned gold coins instead of normal Bux. Which is good, because she ran out of Bux ages ago. Yay her. Now she had an easy backup.
Other than that though, things felt off. In general.
As if the way this world existed had inexplicably shifted a few inches to the left, leaving her bumping against corners and feeling horribly. But again, it wasn’t like there was anything she could do about it.
Now that I think about it, Star, did you ever check if there was anything else residing in your realm, other than those two entities?
Huh? Oh… no? What else could possibly be in there?
A person?
…I doubt it.
It took, somewhat embarrassingly, four more runs before Tourist realized that the room after Door 60 aka Mystery Door Room was always a cellar (a dark cellar no less, good grief). It also took him, more embarrassingly, another two before he put together that those two rooms are connected. Now in his defense, due to the random nature of the Hotel, rooms normally weren't connected, even those that were consistent. Room 49 was always the same, yes, but it still had very little to do with the actual Library.
So he finally managed to unlock the grid door, and then, worst embarrassingly, had to make another lap through the Hotel when he found himself in front of another locked door, with no means to open it. BUt that was fine! What’s one more time anyway?!
So at last, here he was. Two lockpicks and a skeleton key in hand, there was finally nothing standing between him and this new path forward. His hands shook slightly as he picked the padlocks, before he straightened up and took one last breath to calm himself.
Here goes nothing.
Pushing the Skeleton Key into the lock, he twisted it open and then had to squint as bright yellow light started to spill out through the edges in between the door and its frame. Easing it open he was further blinded by the brightness. The pleasant noise was louder than ever. Yellow sparks floated and drifted all around him, beckoning him, and despite his reluctance to flashbang himself further, there was something almost calling to him to enter.
Putting one foot in front of the other, the man carefully shuffled forward into the next room, his boots meeting what sounded like… carpet? For a moment, the light got even brighter, and he tried his best to shield himself with his hands, before it quickly, finally, started to fade, revealing what was possibly the ugliest location Tourist had ever seen.
The door clicked shut behind him as he took in the white walls, the big window in the ceiling and the red carpeted floor. Two black couches stood to either side of him, and on the left side of the room sat a dispenser of some kind. Other than that a flat brown door stood in front of him, a plaque reading A-001 hanging above it.
Turning around, much to his surprise he found the door he came from hadn’t just closed but disappeared entirely, leaving only behind a slightly glowing frame. Behind it was what looked like the actual entrance to this place, a large metal door that he wouldn’t be surprised if it was welded shut.
Well… this wasn’t too bad! Yet. Actually, the light was kind of nice. As unpleasant as this place was to look at, the lack of natural light in the Hotel had always made him feel like there was something heavy pressing down on him. Not that he knew if this light was any more natural, but it did feel like it, so yeah that was nice.
Inspecting the dispenser, he found that he could purchase an alternate type of flashlight that didn’t require batteries, and only for ten gold! That was the cheapest item he’d ever purchased. (Tourist appreciated Jeff, he truly did. But 100 gold for a lockpick? No thanks.)
With nothing left to do in this room, the man walked up to the wooden door, pushing it open, as it lacked any sort of knob or handle. He cringed at the loud squeal it made, the unpleasant sound echoing through the empty space.
The next room- well, it looked just as grainy as the first, though the carpet was a blueish-grey now and the ceiling was normal. The room itself wasn’t big or complex, it was actually quite short and only had four metal lockers in it, each one located in a corner of the room. On the far side was the next door, again with a plaque that read A-002 this time.
The next room was again, ugly and short, with three more lockers against the wall across from him and a wall isolating the door into a small hallway. Though in this room, there were a few coins laying in the ground as well, just in front of the right most locker. But other than that, there was again nothing. Same for the next room, and the one after that.
Tourist had a feeling that this place was potentially worse than the Hotel.
…
He made it to A-098 before he met Curious Light for the first time.
I don’t understand? Why did you two make this, aren’t… what do you call them?
The red one is A-60 and the smiley one is A-120.
Yes, aren’t those two enough?
Not at all, there are so many entities in the Hotel, and only two in Star’s newest realm? One more is the least we can do to make it fair.
Nebula, our goal is not to hurt him.
But mine is to challenge him, which I am doing.
It’s not that bad Moon, three entities is really not that many. He’ll do fine.
… fine. But don’t make it any worse.
No promises.
There was a third change.
And this one wasn’t just the worst, it was also the most baffling and confusing.
The first time she encountered it, it was so sudden and out of nowhere that she didn’t even have the chance to register what happened before she was knocked flat on her back. She’d been once again inching closer to A-200, pocketing a few of those coins, keeping out an ear for Red when a… face; that she had never seen before just appeared in front of her, a few feet away. It was different then the faces she usually saw, more of an entire head, unlike the crudely drawn expression of the Happy Scribble or the disembodied faces of the Multi Monster.
So this white, sort-of pixelated head appeared in front of her, causing her to freeze as she looked at it like a deer in headlights. Then, all of a sudden a red stop sign appeared in front of her, causing her to scramble backwards in an attempt to run to a locker and hide from this new threat, as that was what she always did.
What happened instead was that the thing was on her in an instance, giving her no time to react, its face stretching and contorting as it ripped into her. For a moment she thought it had killed her and she half expected to be in the Waiting Room again. But as she laid on the dark grey floor, blood dripping down her face and arms, she found herself very much still alive. Pained, and worse for wear, but not dead.
Carefully she pushed herself up, pain cursing all throughout her, making her wince as she tried not to aggravate her new wounds too much. It didn’t work very well, but with a bit of effort she managed to push herself into a sitting position.
Her arms were a mess from where she had tried to shield herself, long cuts running down her forearms, her fingers numb and honestly, at least one of them was probably broken. More blood ran down from her hairline, dripping over her eyebrow into her right eye, clouding half of her vision in a red blur.
Confusion sat heavy in her mind.
What was that?
That wasn’t a small bandage, or a coin or a moved dispenser. That was a monster, a new monster that she had never seen before, that-
That she had no idea how to deal with. It didn’t- she wasn’t-
…
She was scared. The realization almost shocked her out of it. Not numb. Not bored. Not even just nervous or anxious, but scared, her heart beating out of her chest, her breaths short and uneven as dark spots danced across her vision. The fear sparked another emotion inside her, a muddled one that she… couldn’t put a name to.
Sitting on the floor, she slowly pulled out the bandage she had pocketed all that time ago. The first change. Looking at it, it almost felt like it was mocking her. Peeling off the back, she put it onto her arm and watched as it soaked in her blood, doing nothing to cover her wounds.
It didn’t help. It didn’t make her feel better.
She was so tired.
…
It had to happen eventually.
It was inevitable, really. The likelihood of having two people occupy the same cramped space for extended periods of time and not meet was very slim.
(Though if the three Architects somehow managed to overlook an entire second person after all this time, it maybe wasn’t as inevitable. Still, it happened.)
Tourist was once again in the Rooms. It was a decision he had made out of boredom, having grown tired of the repetition of the Hotel. Admittedly, the Rooms were even more boring and repetitive, but it was still a change he desperately needed. If he treated it like a game with a score it was bearable even, no goal, just try to get as far as you can.
He recharged his shakelight as he pushed open another loud squeaky door. Vitamins were currently running through his system, so he hurried to the next door, not wanting to waste any time. He still kept out an ear for A-60 and A-120 of course, but other than that didn’t pause for much. Batteries had been strangely rare this run anyway.
Pushing open A-194, he quickly scanned the room; and then paused. It wasn’t any special room, (certainly not an Exit Room, he would’ve heard that) just one of those short hallways with the plant sidetable. What made him pause was the fact that the next door was open.
Hurrying to it, he shone his light into A-195, which was a locker room, and low and behold, the next door was open as well.
Now, that of course could mean a plethora of things! Maybe… Curious Light didn’t bother closing them? If they even did that in the first place. Or maybe whatever was endlessly generating these rooms just picked ones whose doors were already open?
Or maybe-
Maybe… Maybe someone else opened them. Which- nonono, that couldn’t be. There was no else here, it was just him and the Lights and all those damn monsters but not- not another person. Right?
A feeling was blooming in his chest, one that tasted suspiciously like hope but choked him like desperation and before he realized it he started running. He didn’t pay attention to the rooms anymore, didn’t listen for monsters, didn’t even bother with his light as he stumbled blindly through the dark.
His foot caught the carpet as he heard the loud sound of a wooden door opening, opened by someone that wasn’t him, and he almost fell as he sped up further-
It happened in Room A-201, an entirely unimportant room (one with a catwalk), with an entirely unimportant number. The woman, lost in her thoughts up to that point, was a lot worse for wear, unable to figure out how to deal with this new monster that was plaquing her. Heck, the only reason she had gotten this far this time around was because she had figured out that the healing from the bandages wasn’t just placebo, even though they barely covered anything.
Either way, just as she opened the next door, a loud thud sounded from behind her, the sound not unlike the sole of a boot hitting metal. It caused her to jump, whipping around as she shone her flashlight across the room, blinding the man behind her-
The what?!
She froze up completely as her brain barely registered what she was seeing. There was a guy. Right there. Standing in the doorway as she kept her light on him even as he hissed and shielded his eyes.
He looked exhausted, his skin pale and his light brown hair tangled and unkept, reaching past his shoulders. The slim glasses framing his eyes, one grey and the other yellow, were bent and held together with one of the bandages, meanwhile his clothes, although fancy with a dress shirt and dress pants, were wrinkled and creased and covered in various stains. His build on the other hand was nothing to write home about, as he was a few inches shorter than her and also worryingly thin.
It was at this point her brain caught up again, and she quickly pointed her light to the floor, allowing him to look at her as well. For a moment they both just stood there on the metal catwalk, neither knowing how to react after… so long without even seeing another person.
Not that there was any time for that as it turned out, as a loud static-y scream suddenly broke the silence, causing both of them to jump. Not just that, but a certain white face decided to show itself too in that moment, prompting Tourist to freeze up. But to his surprise, he still heard shuffling from beside him, and when he glanced to the woman she was scrambling away from A-90 with a panicked expression on her face and why was she still moving-
Quicker than he ever thought he could react, Tourist leapt towards the other, gripping her by her shoulders and pulling her down to ground, stopping her from any further movements. Now this close, he was finally able to get a good look at the woman as well. She was quite tall, probably over six feet with a larger build and grey skin. Her hair was a slightly darker shade of grey, curls pulled back into a fuzzy ponytail, a few loose strands framing her black eyes.
The clothes she was wearing resembled office clothes ironically enough, including a white, crumbled blouse and old, faded jeans. Two jackets were tied around her waist, one being a grey suit jacket that completed her look, while the second one was a brown aviator jacket.
In the time he was looking at her, A-90’s stop sign appeared and quickly disappeared as neither of them moved. Tourist almost felt relieved before he quickly remembered that there was another threat still approaching. Shoot, neither of them were near lockers now.
But before he could react any further, arms wrapped around his middle, making him feel like he was plunged into freezing cold water despite the fact that they felt unbearably warm, and the woman, instead of trying to get up, rolled to the side, dropping them both from the metal platform to the lower floor. Landing somewhat gracefully on her feet, she didn’t waste any time as she slammed open one of the lockers and squeezed them both in. Its door was barely able to shut before the red entity, A-60 or the Multi Monster or whatever, sped by above them, its loud scream rattling the metal keeping them safe.
A few more moments passed as it quickly grew quiet and then completely disappeared, before the woman, who at that point was still holding Tourist, opened the locker, causing them both to tumble out on the floor.
“So you’ve been here? In this office? All this time? What about the Exit Rooms?”
The man sitting across from the woman asked, back against the stairs, his frame curled up as he hugged his knees to his chest, a stark contrast to her more open but hunched form.
Her expression was one of heavy confusion.
“What ‘Exit Rooms’? I’ve been here since probably forever and I’ve never seen any kind of room or door I could’ve possibly exited this place from. There is no way out.” She paused, taking a closer look at him. She almost wanted to excuse him of lying or messing with her, but he looked just as exhausted as she felt. With a bit of hesitation, she continued, “Not for me, at least.”
He hummed, mulling over that possibility.
“And what about Curious Light? They always talk to me when I.. perish, in this place. Surely you’ve met them before?”
“Can’t say I do,” the woman responded dejectedly, before continuing with a bit of humor, “You know what, I bet I’ve been here longer than that guy as well.”
“Wether that is the case or not, surely they wouldn’t have just… ignored you,” he said with confusion, his face creased in thought. “I can admit they’re not the most helpful, but keeping you completely in the dark? That’s just cruel.”
She hummed at that.
“And what about that hotel? The way you described honestly almost made it sound pleasant.” Pleasant was a bit of an understatement. She would kill to hear the sound of wooden floors under her shoes right now. Being in a rustic old hotel instead of this ugly office space sounded like something heavensend, and when was the last time she heard rain?
“I can admit, the Hotel is a lot less worse than this place, though I wouldn’t get too excited.” He tried to give her a comforting smile. “It still gets old really fast.” “Maybe,” she half agreed, “but that would be a problem for future me.” He huffed at that, slightly amused, before they both lapsed into silence, neither really wanting to look at the other.
“Do you think I could?”
“Huh?” Tourist made a questioning sound as he looked at the woman, her expression pained and almost desolate as she stared to the side, looking at the locker they had been hiding in before. “You could… what?”
“Come to the Hotel with you,” she clarified, not meeting his eyes. “It’s not that I don’t believe you, about its dangers and its repetitiveness. But I just…”
Failing LED lights. Popcorn ceilings. Off-white painted walls and dark grey carpeted floors. The same few rooms, over and over again. How long has it been? It had to have been years at this point.
“I’m so, so tired of this place,” she admitted, and she hated how strangled her voice got at the end. “Fuck, I’ve been here so long, I don’t even remember my own name. I just want to leave.”
And there was it again, that feeling in Tourist’s chest. It was less frantique now, less choking but still bitter. Not hope, not really. Grief, maybe?
“I don’t remember my name either,” he admitted softly, prompting her to finally look at him. “Though I haven’t been able to remember it since I’ve entered the Hotel, so I don’t know if we’re in the same boat there. The Lights usually call me things like ‘Explorer’, ‘Visitor’ or ‘Tourist’.”
He paused, thinking over his next words. “And I would love to do that. Show you the Hotel.”
“Really?” She sounded so hopeful.
The feeling in his chest worsened, and without thinking he reached forward and grabbed her hand. They both flinched at the unfamiliar warmth, but neither pulled away.
“Of course! And if you really can’t leave this place for whatever reason I’ll- I’ll keep coming back,” he told her, meaning every word. “I can bring you items, if you want. Or books or anything, there’s so much- stuff! In the Hotel.”
His hands started to tremble, and if she hadn’t been holding them he probably would’ve been wildly gesturing. The melancholic look on her face was gone now, replaced with a baffled smile and all prior feelings in Tourist’s chest were quickly replaced with an all encompassing warmth. One that he hadn’t felt in a long time.
“I’d love that,” she told him eventually, as they both rose from the floor.
“Well then Mr… uhh,” she thought for a moment, “do you have a preference for any of the names the Lights have given you?” “Oh, I usually refer to myself as Tourist. I think it rolls off the tongue best.” “Well then Mr. Tourist, please lead the way.” She ended her request with a teasing bow, causing him to chuckle.
“Of course Miss… whatever you want me to call you,” he responded as they walked back up to the catwalk. “Is there anything you want me to call you?” “Not really. I didn’t really have a reason to think about it until now. “She shrugged. “I guess I’m open to suggestions.”
They walked into the next room, A-202.
“Hmm… Curious Light usually refers to this place as ‘The Rooms’, so maybe Ms. Rooms…” Both of them made a face at that. “Or maybe not, that’s a bit too formal.”
“A bit,” she agreed.
“So something more casual…” Tourist thought out loud. “Something nickname-esque could be fun, like Room-y. That’s pretty stupid though,” he mused to himself, and the pause as he realized that he couldn’t hear the others' footsteps anymore.
Turning to where she had stopped, the man saw probably one of the most delighted expressions in existence on her face. Oh… oh no.
“Wha- are you seriously considering that one?! Roomy?" She just gave him a shit-eating grin. “Are you not? I love it, I think I want to be my actual name from now on too,” she said, and then earnestly started to laugh at the others' flabbergasted sputtering.
She felt light right now, she realized. There was still exhaustion, still fear that had worn itself into the very core of her being, but right here, right now, with Tourist by her side, they were fine. Roomy was fine.
Well, it was nice knowing you.
It can’t be that bad.
Don’t delude yourself. You know how Moon is when it comes to mortals.
I’m… sure it's fine.
…
STAR!