Retreat! (RP)

Continues from Winter our discontent.

- Emma -

David was still mostly asleep when you got back from visiting Benji's grotty grotto, and he has left for work by the time you arise on Friday morning. Henry is picking you up 'just before lunch', the 'retreat' staring in the afternoon (possibly still a vestigial plan, left over from when it was a 'beach outing') with lunch, and the 'spa or refs', and the 'icebreakers' around sunset (sounds like more beach-talk).

• Are you ready when Henry arrives? Is he on time?

• Do you let Henry come up and help you carry your bags, or do you, maybe, have Sarah help you bring them down to the 'lobby'? Or do you try to avoid having Sarah and Henry see each other and 'talk' at all?

What do you do?

- Benji -

After you parted ways with Emma and the platform was getting sparse of people —with only a few late trains still running— you learned that the great black dog —purportedly a 'hellhound', if you are to believe the stories— has made another appearance.

• What are the signs?

What do you do?

- Persephone -

You know that Emma and Kat are set to meet the (possibly demonic) upper-crust elites at The Lanesborough. The hotel has many more rooms than Emma's group can use, so there are other clients in residence, and their famous restaurant and spa have limited openings to the public, but are mainly intended for guest use.

The cheapest rooms are £800 per night. That is a lot, even for your miraculous corporate card. Even a day-pass to the spa will set you back £250, but many say it is well worth it.

What do you do?

- Emma -

"Please don't embarrass me." Henry says, it sounds like he is joking... or meaning to sound like he is joking. It is an important weekend for him.

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When you arrive at The Lanesborough, the doorman gets the doors, the footman gets the bags, and the valet gets the car, you don't have to do anything. The receptionist sees you coming and greets you both by name.

"Mr Godfrey, Mrs Harper, welcome. Your room is ready if you want to get settled before lunch. We will have your bags delivered." He hands you each a key.

"Sorry. Did you say 'room'?" Henry asks, seeming a bit panicked by the use of singular.

"Yes, sir?" The receptionist says without any expression more than slight polite enquiry.

What do you do?

- Emma -

"I'm so sorry about this." Henry whispers to you as you walk. He is clearly thankful that you did not make a fuss, but he also looks more worried about the arrangement than you do. "This was not my idea. You must believe me."

If you make it to the room —the porter following a discrete distance behind— it is large and luxurious, and, despite not being a 'suite', there is a decent sized couch in the sitting area. Henry will give it a meaningful glance while the porter deposits your bags.

What do you do?

- Emma -

Henry has just tipped the porter an eye-watering sum that did not even make the porter blink —being gifted a night in such a hotel could still bankrupt someone in your position— when you unleash on him.

"Yes. Yes. Agreed." He says, glancing at the couch with slight concern. He almost makes a joke that you, too, should refrain from wandering around in a towel... but the hotel's towels would cover even more of you than many of your dresses, and he does not want to suggest he is not taking you seriously.

"I swear, I had no idea 'Sin had done this. I told him we were ... just friends. I will try to get it fixed." He says, sounding earnest.

What do you do?

- Emma -

"But... you... I ... we're not ..." Henry splutters having no words to counter your tirade. "It's not my fault." He says forlornly to himself as you leave.

• Describe your spa experience.

What do you do?

Benji is just about to head back down to his lair when he catches the faint scent of old blood. He stops in his tracks and looks around, trying to identify the source.

It’s coming from a ways down the tunnel, away from the fluorescent lights of the platform. He glances at the timetable and sees that the next train isn’t due for another thirteen minutes. He looks around to make sure no one’s watching him and then hops down onto the tracks and makes his way toward the source of smell.

He finds it about twenty metres down the tunnel – a splatter of blood across the tracks. He realises there’s another splatter on the wall a few metres further, and a small puddle on the ground a bit further than that. He dips his fingers into the puddle – the blood is cold and sticky, but clearly not that old—maybe a day or so. He probably would have found it sooner if he’d been spending more time at the station these last few days. He licks his fingers clean as he looks up and down the tunnel, thinking.

At first, he wonders if another vampire might have been hunting in his territory, but this is too messy for a vampire. Too much blood has been wasted.

The trail of blood continues on, past the puddle, although – upon closer investigation—the later traces aren’t so much splatters as prints – pawprints.

Benji stares at the massive bloody pawprints, filled with dread, until he feels the faint tremor in the earth of a train approaching and quickly scurries back to the platform.

**********

Benji knows that he has to do something about the Dog and soon (if people start going missing around Picadilly Circus station it won’t be long before the blame falls on him), but it takes him until the following afternoon/evening to work up the courage. His last encounter with the creature didn’t exactly go well for him, after all, and this time he’s on his own.

The trains run 24/7 on Fridays and Saturdays on the Piccadilly line, which is rather inconvenient, but does at least mean that there’s no point waiting until the early hours of the morning to begin his hunt.

Armed with his sword, he follows the tracks from Piccadilly Circus toward Green Park and Hyde Park Corner, searching for any trace of the hellhound.

- Benji -

A few train-dodges later you are past Hyde Park Corner. You have not found any more blood, it seems that one unfortunate victim was in the wrong place at the wrong time, maybe. Other signs that a 'dog' has been active around here increase the further you get from Piccadilly, they pick up a lot past Down Street station —though you are among the few who even remember it existed. There are other tunnels in the area, disused since 'the war' —the last one these short-lived people really have any recollection of— but they don't seem to be the focus of the dog's ramblings.

Once you pass Hyde Park Corner the number of signs start to drop off again, that seems to be the focus?

You have neither seen, heard, or smelt hide nor hair of the dog itself. Just leavings on the tracks. Maybe it has some way of getting out? But where would it go?

What do you do?

- Persephone -

Circe has made plans with Thom and Anne —the barristers— over the weekend, so you don't need to fret about leaving her alone. But do you tell her are getting a room at a hotel just the other side of the park?

The Lanesborough assure you that the spa is complementary for guest, so you don't get to push the boundaries of your corporate card too far... unless you want to (rooms go up to over £4k per night [booking link]).

On check-in, the receptionist does not recognise you (unless you sent them a picture) —so Emma's situation [ref] is special— but they are immensely polite, treating you like royalty —though maybe they treat royalty differently, you don't see any right now, but wouldn't be surprised— taking your bags, and seeing to your every need.

Emma, it seems, is heading for the spa.

What do you do?

- Emma -

Maybe it is the 'fight' with your ex, or the dry air from the industrial strength dehumidifiers the hotel uses to keep the woes of the outside world outside, but you are feeling a little warm and congested as you leave your room. A good nose-blow might help... though don't ask for that from Kat, you might get the wrong sort of blow...

Kat has not answered, if she has checked in she may be... busy...

The spa don't blink an eye at your arriving dressed as they are —they might not blink, but they do admire— and have hangers and racks for every form of wrinkle-free storage you could imagine. Clean, soft towels and robes are provided.

They offer private massages, as well as couple's massages, Persephone has just texted that she is also a guest in the hotel if you want a couple's room. The pool looks great too, not too full with everyone having spent the last few weeks wet, but heated to the perfect temperature.

What do you do?