We left off entering Alley Five, a bustling metropolitan night club with an oddly relaxing atmosphere compared to the bumping hip-hop stuff you were expecting - the current soundtrack is light and breezy, the clientele at the tables have cocktails instead of hard drinks, and there is a notable lack of eardrum-destroying bass booms. You enter and feel oddly chilled out by the place, as if it has a similar siren-like aura to Piers the jazz singer; it just makes you want to... vibe.
There appear to be about eighty or ninety people here tonight and the bar is hopping.
@Hikari You sweep your gaze around just getting a feel for the clientele and seeing if any of them seem supernatural, and at first glance the vast majority seem mundane - some college students wearing university sweatshirts just having a night out, a couple of girls trying to hype up their friend to approach another cute girl, and so on. The drinks, unlike the Denny's cheesecakes, seem quite normal. But then you notice something really odd - or rather, the lack of something.
There don't seem to be any staff in the building. You definitely see signs of people being served - having food, drinks and such, so presumably they had a waiter at some point - but nobody actually seems to... work here? Like, you watch what you assume is a staff door for a good few minutes and not a single waiter comes out.
It activates your "something weird is going on" sense.
A large group of rowdy teens exits nearby, leaving some empty tables with glasses and menus scattered about. The music shifts to something marimba-esque and flutey.
Foley, who is still radiating a nervous orange, transmits: It feels strange in here.
Not sure, but it feels like it's from over there. Foley shifts in your bag to indicate the back of the club, where a few teenagers are loitering by one of the staff doors that leads further into the building.
@AncientSwordRage Everyone appears to be speaking primarily English and Spanish, and you don't hear any Otherside languages. But, after a few minutes of eavesdropping, it occurs to you that a couple of the teenagers and young adults are speaking English... oddly. As if they're a little out of touch with young-person slang in a way you wouldn't expect from young people? They use phrases like "chill pill", "slay," "groovy" and "splendid" in a way that seems... jarring.
You overhear a kid who can't be older than twenty say, "well, golly gee gosh."
Soft footsteps approach from behind quite suddenly, as a young woman in a rather stunningly purple-and-red dress emerges seemingly from the crowd itself - you certainly didn't see her come out of any of the staff doors - and smiles demurely. "I see you have been taking in the decor," she says, in a very sleek, accented voice. "Welcome to the Alley. I'm sorry for the delay in service. Would any of you care for a drink?"
"Of course! Chop-chop, this charming lady wants a drink." She claps her hands, which have extremely long painted nails. A tiny whoosh of wind flutters your hair, and suddenly there is a blue, fruit-decorated tropical mocktail in your hand that looks quite delectable. Nobody nearby seems to notice or acknowledge the fact that a drink just apparated out of thin air.
She does another polite stage chuckle. "I assume you won't mind a bit of expediency."
"Oh, I'm most certainly not the host. I suppose you could call me more of a greeter, to certain clientele." She gestures to the assorted teens, who are completely ignoring her rather noticeable presence. "Most of them would think you're all talking to thin air at the moment, as it happens."
"We heard that this place was pretty lit when it first opened. Literally." I make an explosion gesture with my hand. "Maybe there's somewhere more private we can talk?"
Her smile drops a bit and she gets a more nervous, evasive look in her eyes. "Well, that's most certainly a more personal conversation," she says, with a light but simultaneously how could they possibly know that tone. "Perhaps we should go to the back office. I think you may find what you are looking for there."
You follow her down a narrow, angled hallway, which is more dimly lit than the main club area, and towards what looks to be a thick metal door, which is closed and locked. The woman hastily waves her long-nailed hand, and it swings open with a loud creak.
Beyond the door, you were expecting an office - perhaps something akin to Adrian's office back at SECO - but instead it appears to be... grass. A carpet of soft, dew-flecked and glimmering grass that seems entirely impossible, and it starts right beyond the threshold, along with a puff of soft cool spring air and what seems to be long, reaching willow trees.
She walks inside hastily and gestures for you to follow. "It's quite safe, I assure you."
There's a hard lurching sensation in your stomach as you pass over, like you're being yanked up by a fishhook, but then it ends. Your body gets a familiar, buzzing, prickling sensation of magic. You've passed into... somewhere else.
@Hikari Before you is a long, reaching, sweeping forest passageway draped with willow trees - huge and towering, creating a thick canopy. Tiny motes of dew glitter on the grass under your feet. It seems earthly, but also not. You stare at it keenly, trying to understand the environment with your SECO survival skills, and think... it's odd to see willow trees with no visible water source. And it's also odd that the woman, who is walking deeper into the grove, is leaving no footprints.
Your survival senses are definitely telling you that this is another plane, but not elemental. It's familiar in that weird way of deja vu - like you've been here before but you also haven't?
"Come along," the woman calls, from further up ahead; you could swear her voice sounds more melodic, matching the soft rustling of the willow trees. "You don't want to keep them waiting."
