Forums » General Roleplay » Poveglia Resort [Closed]

A closed 1x1 between Sprokkelhout and Mundanity.

Off the coast of Venice there is an island by the name of Poveglia that is most famous - or infamous - for its dark history. Some even go as far as claiming it to be the world's most haunted island.
Wether or not it's all true or wether myth has taken over; Poveglia fascinates. Enough for people to decide to turn the overgrown island around and build a beautiful new resort.
A competition decides who the first visitors are going to be, but these people are soon finding out that they are going to get much more than they bargained for.
It all starts minor and innocuous enough, but by the time they realize just what is going on on the island, leaving might not be an option anymore..

If there was one word to describe Benjamin's current state of mind with, it would be 'excitement'. While he had done some reading up on the history of the place he would be going to, he had taken most of it with a grain of salt. And while he definitely hoped to see some odd things, a significant part of him was also very much up for a sweet holiday in a brand new resort. Swimming, tanning, maybe some rock climbing if at all possible, and exploring what was left of the old buildings; the chances of Ben growing bored were pretty small.
The ferry to the island was already waiting. It was smaller than what would likely be used once the resort was fully in business, though even then the amount of people staying there would remain limited, as the island wasn't very big.
The winners' belongings were being loaded onboard by men who'd clearly worked on ships their whole life and seemed entirely unimpressed by the weight of the suitcases and dufflebags. Ben, who'd done his fair share of backpacking, was a bit taken aback by not having to carry around his luggage, but it was a welcome change of pace.
He had boarded the ship via the passengers route and was now standing on deck, deeply breathing in the sea air with an involuntary grin on his face.
His hair, which he'd carefully styled into place this morning, was already a windswept mess, but Ben could live with that. He had more interesting things to think about.

The thought ran through her mind many, many times as the librarian prepared for her trip.

Why am I doing this?

She could think of a dozen reasons why not to go to Poveglia, but a singular motivation kept repeating in her mind that bolstered her resolve to get onto the boat and make the trip. When she thought about the life that she had lived up until now and thought of what stories that she might tell when she got older... she couldn't even think of one worth mentioning. Her childhood? Average. Her adolescence? Normal. Her adult life? Basic and stable. It might've explained why she took so heavily to escapist hobbies like writing, reading cheesy novels, the bit of wine that she kept for when she got bored and the bit of television that she had watched.

Beatrice, regardless of whether it was true or not, found herself to be rather boring. Her shyness and anxiety didn't do much to help her alleviate that. She had never had a man and it wasn't because she had never met a suitor. In truth, she was actually quite beautiful and had a decent sense of humor if a guy stuck around long enough for her to break free of her shell. But, her response was always the same. A man approaches, she gets nervous and begins to worry about how he might change her life, then she runs away from him. Sometimes, literally. This brings us to the present moment. She asked herself the question one more time.

Why am I doing this?

"Because, if I don't, I'll never change," she said to herself for the last time as she handed her bags off to one of the men who worked at the port then made her way onto the boat; finally committing to something that she, herself, could not control.

This journey would be her proof to herself that, if she tried hard enough, she could open herself to the world. Now that she had stepped onto the boat, she no longer had a choice, anyway.

She walked over to the edge of the boat near a stranger; Mr. Marino, himself, unknowingly. The young man would find that she was talking to herself, calming herself, at a volume much to loud to be a private conversation.

"Okay, B. You can do this! You just gotta relax and take everything in stride as it comes!" She spoke aloud to herself, completely failing to conceal even an ounce of her anxiety.

Briefly, Ben's attention was drawn to some kids that were being sent off the docks by a somewhat tired looking man and he couldn't help briefly smiling to himself, as the kids seemed to almost immediately disappear between the boats elsewhere. He couldn't blame the little shits, he'd been just as mischievous as a young boy as well.
It wasn't until he heard someone speaking near him that he noticed the young woman who had to be Beatrice. He caught what she'd been saying and looked up with an amused expression on his face.
"That's the spirit!" he said with a grin, and he extended his hand. While they had informed him who he'd be going on holiday with, he still knew little about the woman, who didn't seem all that much at ease. He figured she probably just didn't like being at open sea much or something like that, some people found the ocean unnerving.
Ben himself could not possibly have been more of the opposite; he couldn't wait for the damn ferry to just start moving already.
"Ben," he introduced himself.
Despite the sea wind, it wasn't cold aboard the ferry. It was a cloudless day, with the sun burning on Ben's bare shoulders, as he was wearing a simple, grey sleeveless shirt, slightly worn out denim shorts and flipflops. He enjoyed the heat and could already picture himself taking a nice, refreshing dive once they reached their destination.

"Oh," Beatrice replied, a bit of an extended pause followed before she remembered her manners, "Or, uh... Hi! Beatrice. You can call me Beatrice."

She nodded for a moment before taking a step towards the edge of the ship and looking down into the water. It wasn't that she disliked Ben or his appearance, she actually found him quite handsome, but with no idea what he liked or what he thought about her, she found it a bit more comforting to turn her attention towards the sea. It wasn't like the fishes were going to be upset that she was staring at them. And then something weird happened; an odd expression would grace Beatrice's face.

She looked as though she were gathering resolve before storming off into war.

In truth, she saw Ben as her first obstacle. I mean, why wouldn't she? A cute guy who approached her on a boat and was obviously interested in conversation? If she had any intention of keeping her word then she couldn't simply ignore him and worry about making a fool of herself. NO! NOW WAS THE TIME TO EMBRACE THE SITUATION AND LIVE LIFE AS IT CAME HER WAY!

It was a good thing that Ben couldn't read her thoughts at that moment.

"So, what brings you out here, anyway? Don't tell me that you're a ghost hunter coming to catch a glimpse of 'Muerte Rojo?" She asked, immediately regretting that she had insinuated that this man might've been a ghost hunter as opposed to... a regular person who just happened to be on vacation.

Ben dropped the hand that went unshaken, but wasn't thrown off balance by it; her awkwardness was quite apparent, so he didn't really see reason to take offense.
"Beatrice it is then," he responded.
He followed her gaze towards the water for a moment. A seagull swooped down to retrieve a little bit of leftover food that had been floating in the water just now. He then looked back at Beatrice, who still seemed quite uncomfortable. He calmly leant against the railing, his back to the water now and his elbows resting on the pleasantly cool metal.

When she finally spoke, her words got a hearty laugh out of Ben.
"Hmm, who knows, maybe I've got one of them ouija boards all packed and ready to go," he said jokingly. Then he shook his head. "Don't worry, while I'd love to see some weird shit, I'm really just here for the sun, the sea and maybe just a little quality time of waking the dead."
He just couldn't resist the last bit.
He was only half-joking, of course. While he obviously did not pack an ouija board, he would be pretty stoked to see an actual ghost. He got the impression that Beatrice would be somewhere around the opposite of stoked, should an actual ghost make its entrance.
"And you? You here to get some ghost action, or just to relax for a few weeks?"

Ben's laughter relaxed her a bit, but she kept her attention towards the sea. Every word that followed let her know that he was a goofball with a good sense of humor. She may not have found him particularly funny, but she couldn't deny that he made her feel comfortable being herself. At least so far, anyway. She thought over his question and realized something...

"I... don't know, to be honest. 'Relaxing', for me, usually involves sitting in my room reading or watching silly movies. But that would be a waste in a place like this, right?" she asked, unsure if she, herself, was being rhetorical or not, "This is actually the first time that I've left my hometown. I can't say that I'd be happy to see a ghost," Beatrice despited surprises, "But, it might be better than the alternative choice, haha. Sounds weird, but I guess I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do on a vacation like this. I mean, I brought a swimsuit, but ehhhhhhh"

She paused for a brief moment to look Ben in the eyes, an absolutely radiant smile on her face as she, for the first time since she had decided to take this trip, got the anxiety off of her chest with some earnest words. Oh, she knew it'd return... but she felt good just making fun of herself at that moment. The smile slowly began to deform as the librarian began to chortle, and as her smile slowly fell apart, it was replaced by a much more jovial laugh.

Ben's face had gone a bit more serious when he realized the woman opened up a little bit. He hadn't expected to get something that honest within a few minutes of meeting her, but the surprise didn't show on his face. He was a bartender after all, really surprising him took a lot at this point. Drunk people had interesting stories to tell and were often very insistent on telling him those stories.
Her own smile, however, made him reciprocate and the fact that she laughed seemed a nice bit of improvement in Ben's book.
"Well, it just so happens that I'm quite the expert when it comes to having an action-packed holiday," he said with a grin. "I'll show you how it's done."
While it was, again, a lighthearted joke, he really didn't mind introducing her to the fun world of, say, water sports; the waters around Poveglia likely weren't fit for surfing at all, but he was positive that snorkeling for instance would open up a whole new world. Hell, maybe they even had scubagear for rent there.
He noticed that the men who'd been busy readying the ferry seemed just about done and the gangway was starting to get reeled in slowly.
"Seems like we're about to go," he mentioned, nodding in the direction of the gangway that was nearly up now. He felt a new surge of excitement. They were finally really ready to go.

Beatrice raised an eyebrow but kept her thoughts to herself this time.

"I might just have to take you up on that offer, Ben."

Before she had a chance to say more, they began to pull into port and it was time for everyone to get their things together and embark on what was hopefully a memorable adventure for Beatrice. She grabbed her bags and began to make her way to her hotel to get herself settled before she could do some exploring and see what this island had to offer.

"Deal," Ben said.
When they pulled into port Ben let out a brief, impressed whistle. He'd seen many images of the island in it's overgrown, worn out state; a strange mixture of human abandonment and nature trying to take the island back, but what they were looking at now was a state of the art resort.
The old buildings were still there, but they had been restored up to and including the belltower, with it's narrow spire that still had a cross at the top. Unlike the imagery, the ruins now looked mostly picturesque.
But it was the actual resort that really went for the wow factor; a hotel that balanced a fine line between respecting the local architecture, while still keeping a very modern feel, built from large, off-white blocks that almost glowed in the sun, a large swimming pool and a few smaller ones and what seemed like it's very own personal restaurant with a small supermarket next to it.

As Ben descended off the gangway with a large backpack on his back and a suitcase trailing behind him. Once he set foot on the island, he, too, made his way to the hotel, where he got his key and made his way to his room.
The hotel room was impressive as well. Large windows made it a very bright room and it had a surprisingly roomy bathroom. There was a TV, though Ben wasn't too interested in that, and a bookcase with a lot of books that were all in Italian. Ben did not speak Italian. There were some artbooks however, I'll just look at the pictures, then, I guess.
He simply dumped his luggage, put on some deodorant, and made his way right back outside. Hotelrooms he'd seen before (though this was probably the cleanest one he'd ever been, given that he was the very first person to stay in that room) but the island was where the fun began.
On his way out he happened to pass the room Beatrice stayed in and he stopped in the doorway.
"Hey, I'm gonna head out and have a walk on the island," he said. "Feel like coming along?"