by muffinstud » Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:15 pm
[Just in time, just in time...]
"That's all of them. Welcome program initiating. Closing the facility. It's your show now." Dave flicks one last switch and turns to give the woman the go ahead. Even in the shadows, her grin is visible, hungry and vicious. "Then let the game begin..."
The dining room looks grand (despite the extra round it took for the textures to pop in) and is quite spacious. The table is a dark, rich cherry polished to a lavish shine. One wall is taken up completely by a bay window with a box seat. One wall displays a tapestry of Native American origin, perhaps Apache or Hopi or Navajo. The other wall has a painting of high desert mountains smothered with snow and lined with happy trees and brush. The size of the room, especially the table, would allow somewhere from 10 to 15 people to eat a classy dinner together.
The library is stocked with fitting titles. Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Austen, Dickens, Hugo... all the classics are there. Some of the newer authors fill a section as well, from King to Cussler to Clancy. One section is devoted entirely to an extensive encyclopedia, while the books around it seem to be similar reference books such as atlases and the like. Why, in one of the corners closer to the ground there is even a children's section. It's small, however, and mostly made of Dr. Suess books.
No swimwear is to be found near the pool or hot tub area. No sheds in sight either, but Ed would notice a ceramic panel made to match the texture of the concrete patio. Underneath are the workings for the pool and hot tub, from lighting to the filtration system. It's all there, and from what he can see, both use salt water rather than chlorine to maintain cleanliness. There is, of course, a net and the standard tools on hooks on the side of the house.
Upstairs, the rooms all seem rather plain, save for the one across from the bathroom. The normal rooms have a full sized bed, dresser, small walk in closet, and a door leading to each adjacent room directly. The master bedroom however, has a king-sized bed with bannisters and the works. The closet is spacious, and has all the dresser drawers one could need built into the walls. While the bed and the closet keep the room itself from being spacious, there is still ample room to walk about. Passing the bathroom reveals it has a laundry nook at the entrance.
The hurried Irishman will notice the gates swinging closed behind him. He is greeted by the expansive flower gardens, with the orchard and vegetable garden visible on either side of the manor. He'd entered by the skin of his teeth, and by the time the gates clanged shut, something crackled in the bushes of the garden. In fact, this same crackling is heard all over the grounds, and throughout the house. It's an unfamiliar woman's voice.
"Welcome all, to your new home. You'll be staying here for a fair amount of time, so do make yourselves comfortable. We started recording as the first of you arrived, and it won't end until you all leave. As for the game itself, every one of you will receive cash at the end of the game. However, there will only be two winners, and only they will get the grand prize. If you feel the need to vent, there is a confessional booth under the east staircase. Welcome again, and have fun!" The crackling dies off, and everyone save for Jonathan feels an itching sensation at the base of their neck.
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to live in a van down by the river, when you're living...in a van down by the river!" --Matt Foley, motivational speaker