Playing House

Who: Damon and Nate
Where: the common area
When: late night

( the metaphorical road stretched out ahead, full of possibility )

Who: Avery and Hannah
Where: the kitchen
When: late night

( He'd just spent the evening hungry and deemed it what he deserved. )

Who: Eden and Jamal
Where: Eden's room
When: Early afternoon

( That was what first meetings were for. Figuring out whether or not the chick was wortht the time of day. )

Who: Delaney and Charles
Where: the billiard room
When: a while after the mixer starts

Delaney was having an awesome time. She'd been having some drinks and talking with the people who'd shown up for the get-together in the billiard room, and actually she'd lost track of just how many drinks she'd had. Three, or was it four? She'd also eaten a couple of those insanely delicious cupcakes that Mack had made. That would soak up the alcohol, right? She'd had friends in high school who'd frantically eaten white bread after parties so they'd be less drunk when they got home, and she thought cupcakes were similar enough that it should work for her, too. She didn't want to get sloppy drunk right off, because she tended to make not-so-great choices when she did.

She was taking a bit of a break from the conversation, looking out one of the windows with her latest drink in hand. All that snow. What if they were in Iceland or somewhere like that? Except, wait... did they even have the same seasons as North America? Her geography knowledge was sadly lacking, and she shrugged her musings off as she turned and wandered back into the room. All this eye candy! There was Jai, the cutie behind the bar, and the super-tall man with the beard, the attractive Asian guy and the muscular man with the patch on the back of his shirt. He was Chris, she thought. She hadn't quite remembered names for all of them or matched them to what they'd posted on the journals, but she felt sure she would. She was a quick study when it came to people and socializing. More were coming in all the time, and someone else was walking in now. Her gaze turned in his direction and she smiled expectantly.

Who: Daphne, Audrey, and any other ExBers that want to join in the fun!
When: 7 and on
Where: Daphne’s room

While Jai was setting up in the billiard room, Daphne was preparing for a little party of her own. A viewing party, of course. Not that there was a lot that could be done in the way of preparations, but she made sure her room was presentable and brought in some extra pillows from the supply of linens in case people wanted them. A few hours earlier she had made a request on her computer for party refreshments, and upon checking the dumbwaiter at 6:45 she was delighted to find that the scientists had complied. A case of beer, a pizza, and a massive bowl of popcorn. Daphne grinned from ear to ear and blew a kiss in the general direction of where she thought a camera might be. This almost made up for finding out that her top picks for the bet – Chris and Jamal – both had the personalities of feral cats with feline aids. Oh well, she’d find someone else. Or maybe there was a girl down there dumb enough to sleep with one of them. Assholes or not, they were pretty assholes.

Once the treats were set out on top of her dresser, she propped her bedroom door open with a pillow, and plunked down in front of her computer to see what was going on downstairs.

Who: Everyone and anyone! Mini-threads + spinoff scenes welcome.
Where: Billiard room
When: 7 and on

If one didn’t peer out the windows into the vast white nothing, it was entirely possible to feel like you were in an actual bar. Jai felt quite comfortable in the billiard room, actually. It looked, felt, and even smelled like a bar he’d frequented back home.

He’d showed up a little early, setting out snacks and familiarizing himself with the inventory behind the bar. Okay, technically he wasn’t supposed to mix alcohol with his meds, but he’d found that a beer here and there didn’t upset his system too badly. He was still proudly Irish, after all. He’d set himself a low limit, and could happily make drinks for other people and still have fun. He’d never been one of those guys who had to get drunk to enjoy himself, anyway.

By the time seven o’clock crept up, the room was prepared for a party. Granted, if the entire house turned up he knew they wouldn’t all fit, but he didn’t think that was a problem they were going to have to face. If they did, they’d just take things elsewhere. While he waited for people to begin trickling in, he got himself a beer and headed over to the jukebox. He’d always wanted one of these things in his place.

WHO: Kai and OPEN
WHEN: late afternoon, Day 2
WHERE: the library

( time enough at last )

Who: Madison and Nate
When: Day 2; late afternoon
Where: Common area

( For a while, Nate lounged on a sofa alone and smoked. )

Who: Chris and Mack
When: Late afternoon
Where: Kitchen


( In which Mack may be driven to throw things. )

Who: Osten and Audrey
When: Late afternoon
Where: Common area

( Normal wallpaper. )

WHO | Jerrica & OPEN Christian
WHERE | 4th Floor: Laundry area
WHEN | Afternoon
WHAT | Further exploration

( They really were going to spoil her here if they weren't careful. )

Who: Delaney and Rupert
When: 11:30 a.m.
Where: Rupert's room to start

Delaney had been highly irritated that she'd felt so unwell the day before, because she was here to meet people, and who'd want to meet someone who was as pale as death, barely able to keep her eyes open and fighting dry heaves on and off? No one she'd want to meet, because that would mean they had some kind of illness fetish. Plus, she didn't believe in meeting new people when she didn't look her best, and she simply hadn't felt well enough to shower and do her hair. It was disappointing, but there hadn't been much she could do about it. So she'd spent the day sleeping, drinking water and nibbling at pretzels from the little packet she'd gotten on one of her airline flights.

If it had been a bug or just overtiredness, she wasn't sure, but she'd felt better by the time she'd awakened at about ten o'clock on January 2nd. Curiosity had driven her to her door, which seemed to be locked from the outside. That was odd, and as she'd been trying to figure out what she should do, she'd seen the light on her computer flashing. She took care of making a journal post, which would unlock the door. Strange, but it was easy enough to shrug off. After spending about twenty minutes commenting on other journals, she'd flung herself into the shower, singing as she washed her hair and scrubbed her body. Nothing like Adele songs to bolster her for the day. That girl had some serious pipes!

Delaney couldn't wait to get out and about, because a whole house of new people to meet sounded like heaven to her, so she made quick work of drying her hair, putting on light makeup and dressing in a loose, colorful v-necked sweater that continually fell off one shoulder, which called for a tank top underneath, and her favorite jeans with embroidery on the back pockets. Everyone was wearing those, probably because they drew attention to the posterior region. She wasn't Kim Kardashian exactly, but she had a nice enough ass, she thought. Key in her pocket, one last check in the dresser mirror and a cheeky smile at her reflection and she left her room.

The door to her right was a sitting room, she saw when she peered inside. To her left was the door of another occupant, and that seemed a good enough place to start. She rapped on the door and bounced lightly on her toes as she waited for it to be answered.

Who: Nate and OPEN (to ExB)
When: Day 2; early afternoon
Where: Linen closet

( After meeting everyone the day before, Nate had decided that he hadn't made a mistake in agreeing to the experiment. )

Who: Lina and open!
When: Just before noon
Where: Shed outside

This morning’s surprise had been annoying, but they had all volunteered to come here and put up with occasional annoyances. Lina had posted her stupid answer, gone for her morning run (she’d actually found some decent trails in the woods), and had returned to the house for a solitary breakfast. A shower. And then she’d allowed herself to check the journal system again. She was not terribly pleased with what she’d read. The wheels in her mind started turning, and she couldn’t get them to shut off. Something had left a bad taste in her mouth.

She had tried to find a distraction inside the house, and had been unsuccessful. Finally, she decided she’d head out and try and get a little speed. She had not been lying this morning. She did miss her car. Driving made her feel better. On a bad day she could drive out of town to the little places the cops didn’t care about, and put the pedal to the floor. A while of that and she usually felt a little more centered. She didn’t have her car here, but there were the snowmobiles. She returned briefly to her room for her snow-boots and heavy coat, and headed outside with all haste. There were some new tracks in the snow – she definitely wasn’t the only person choosing to spend a lot of time outside. Maybe people liked the idea of potentially escaping the cameras. The guys in charge had picked a good location for this, though. Not a lot of people would be willing to brave the elements for a little time to themselves. Lina herself had never minded the cold. She was well used to it by now.

‘Shed’ was not the proper word for the smaller building slightly northeast of the house. One could have fit a couple of cars and boats with ease. There were vehicles – bikes, dirtbikes (one of these in particular caught Lina’s eye, and she stared at it longingly as she wished for an early spring), ATVs, snowmobiles, even a dune buggy and a couple of go-karts. There was a closet marked ice skates. There was patio furniture and grills for the summertime. And just about any kind of sporting equipment you can imagine. Lina briefly humored the idea of hitting up the journals to see if anyone knew how to play hockey and was interested in a pick-up game, but dismissed the idea. There may come a day when she felt the need for social interaction, but it wasn’t today.

Lina made her way over to one of the snowmobiles, all of which were identical. She had a feeling it was pretty much fated for some idiot who had never been on one before to give it a try and end up really fucking themselves up. Again, she briefly hesitated offering to give lessons, and dismissed this idea as well. Yes, people were going to get hurt. No, that wasn’t her problem. It was the scientists’ problem. She started looking around for a gas can, thinking that maybe she’d take the rest of the day to go as far as a tank would get her just to see what there was to see, when something else caught her eye. The ‘shed’ had all sorts of cupboards and closets, some marked and some not, but when she saw a partially obscured word on a nearby one she felt compelled to check it. She pushed aside a box of croquette mallets (fucking Shining references, they were everywhere and she didn’t like it), and saw the label clearly. Snowsuits. Lina clicked her tongue and stared at this for a moment, internally debating with herself what to do next. Not my problem, she reminded herself. Not up to me to make sure someone doesn’t accidentally freeze to death because they’re too stupid to know better. I can still get on the snowmobile, get out of here for a while, and figure out what’s bothering me. Not my problem. Sighing, she opened the door anyway. Yup, snowsuits. Of all adult sizes and colors. None of them would be particularly flattering on any human being, but they were all warm enough for anyone who hadn’t brought cold weather gear. I could pretend I hadn’t seen this, Lina thought. “Aw, fuck it,” she mumbled, and she looked around for a container big enough to take them all back to the house in. She could just leave them in the kitchen for people to find for themselves. No one had to know she’d done it. She sure as fuck didn’t want a reputation for being ‘helpful.’

Who: Bobby and open to any
Where: basement, pool
When: Day 2, sometime around noon

( a cool, comforting contrast )

Who: Lily and Open
Where: The kitchen
When: Around noon

It was well after 11am when Lily finally got off the computer and proceed to the kitchen to feed herself properly. She had been munching on Jaffa cakes all morning, but now a cup of tea sounded like the best thing in the world, not least of all because her mouth was dry and she was thirsty from all the chocolatey-orangey goodness. Finding the door able to open was a relief, and Lily made a mental note to always check the computer for little blinking lights before panicking from now on.

The kitchen was empty when she arrived in it, and Lily assumed everybody else had already eaten. She went to heat up some water in the kettle, find herself a mug...the basics for a cup of tea. All this she did while humming a song - although after a while she'd started actually singing it almost under her breath. She sat on one of the island benches waiting for the water to boil as she looked around and really took in the gigantic kitchen. People could dance in it. All it needed was a device that played music, really. Lily had always liked to dance and sing while she worked - well, truth be told she liked to dance and sing while doing pretty much anything - because it made every chore ten times more fun.

Yes, a music player in the kitchen would really be great.

WEATHER REPORT: No change in temperatures, though it may feel colder outside today as there is a slight north wind.

EVENTS: It appears that the experiment has started smoothly, and without a hitch. Our house-mates are still familiarizing themselves with both their new environment, and their new roommates. Experiment A participants will find something waiting for them in the morning, however.

On their desks, a tiny red light on their computer will be blinking. This light is not annoying enough to wake most sleepers, but noticeable enough not to be ignored upon waking naturally. Upon turning on their computer monitors, a message from the scientist awaits them.

“Good morning. We hope you are settling in comfortably, and all accommodations are to your liking. We would like to introduce you to the communications system found on your computer. On your desktop, you will find a program labeled Journal System. Here you can access your own journal, where you can post public or private journal entries. You can also view public entries of your housemates, and send private messages.

As part of your contract within the experiment, you are required to write regular journal entries. Today, we start you off with a prompt. If you access the Journal System now, you will find a prompt waiting for you to be answered. You will also find that your bedroom door is locked, and cannot be opened until you have answered it. Thank you, and happy writing.”

The prompt awaiting them? “What do you think you will miss the most about home?”

Those in Experiment B do not get this experience. However, they will find that they have viewing access to Experiment A’s journal entries.