Round 1 Introduction Hub Log

[worldkeys]

Who: The Alices and the White Rabbit.
What: What: Everybody wakes up on the first day of the first round inside the World's Hub, greeted by the White Rabbit, who seems largely unimpressed.
Where: The World's Hub.
Warnings: Rabbit is gloomy and has a bad temper and tends to complain a lot. Otherwise, not much.

You entered a closet. You knew that much. You woke up from... somewhere, and you entered a cupboard or a closet and you followed a strange cat with golden eyes. You blink. You feel assailed by the feeling of your body falling somewhere, the sound of heavy machinery--

And then darkness, before... a wooden pathway, and another cupboard, and a boy in a hood. A cat-boy, with golden eyes, much like the one you followed. He cackles gleefully at everyone before disappearing with a meow. The cupboard behind him is locked. Past this area, you find yourself in a strange room of ruined, cracked cobblestone and oddly-shaped lamps. Dead trees line the path. There are old tombstones scattered about. A gloomy boy with black twigs for hair and strange eyes, dressed in fancy, Victorian-looking garb stands in the middle of the room. There are others like you about, you notice. Not TOO many more, but a fair few.

Something about the boy's eyes carry a dreadful feeling. They're red on black. No whites to them at all. He has two white rabbit ears on his head, but one is distinctly torn off, like something had just taken a bite out of it. He looks at those assembled, cocks his head to the side, as if... curious for a moment, before shaking it and then sighing.

"... Ah. Welcome, Alice." There's a pause, as if he's assessing what he's doing. He particularly stares deeply at Clock. "... Oh? No, not at all... well, you're still ▒▒▒▒▒ to me."

A nod to himself, as if to confirm it.

"More pressing... I have a task for all of you. If you could help me with it, that would be most appreciated."

[ OOC: Feel free to respond in either prose or bracketspam. Also, Cheshire will probably have a thread later you can reply to as well. For now, this is the opening log to badger the NPC with questions. ]

Comments

[apatheticguide]

[ He tilts his head in confusion when she asks that of him. ]

... A name? I don't understand. I... don't have one. I'm just the White Rabbit. That's all.

[apatheticguide]

[ It is with them! He'll motion to the door behind him. ]

Back there. I can unlock the first door. You'll need the others to help you. I cannot tell you where the Key might be hidden, probably inside somewhere important to the person whose Heart it is, but... well. Good enough. A pleasure working with you, Alice.

[heartgatherer]

[.....................................]

Sorry. Don't you know-- that name doesn't suit me at all.

[zinit]

[As Qilby expected, there's an angle to work. Get in good with this chacha, and who knows? Maybe he'll get something from it. Now, granted, that something might be 'dead,' but staying in the Blank Dimension was worse than death, anyway.)]

[His tone goes dark, quiet, almost conspiratorial.] I see; so the fun is in the chase. But then, are you going to continue this, just with newer and newer people?

[How enviable.]

[heartgatherer]

...that's what you are... not who you are.

And you're certainly not the White Rabbit I knew. [Ah--] ...that's a good thing, by the way.

[frozentear]

[................... That again.]

Sebastian.

[He's going to head for the door behind the rabbit, though.]

[apatheticguide]

... I don't have a name, though.

[ He hasn't. Ever, really. Has... he? Though, for him, he's not very white. Just the way the tips of his ears sort of mesh into a bit of white hair on his head... you could say he's not too white rabbit-y at all, really. Black hair that looks like tree branches, he certainly seems idle. ]

... I guessed as much. Well... I've been other things before this. So I couldn't tell you what to call me aside from that. Just this is fine. Don't worry about it. It's pointless to assign names to someone like me, anyway.

[stolenface]

Suited or not, it's not like you have anything else to go by. Unless you really wanna be Clock. Mweehee!

[ Oh, he sees that face. Don't give him that look. You're Special, so he's going to treat you Special. ]

[frozentear]

[Here, kitty?... That'd be weird, when the cat is a person. Also "not" a costume, presumably. And also,]

Sebastian.

[They were both going to keep getting his name wrong, weren't they.]

[stolenface]

Maybe I will, mrrrreow, maybe I won't. Depends on my mood. I'm a cat, after all.

[ He's whimsical, so it really depends on how bored he gets. ]

[notsogreedy]

So someone else brought him here, and this person is trying to help him leave? But what does leaving even mean in this case? Back to nonexistence?

It's only belatedly that he notices the phrasing, about worrying about living, is strange, almost like this person knew his thoughts. Can he read his mind? And if so, how well? Ankh is more familiar with the concept than most people might be, but what he picks up from other people is often a bit fuzzy.

If you can tell what I'm thinking and you're the slightest bit helpful, you'll answer that.

But aside from that line of questioning that he isn't going to say out loud yet-

"Who is it who took me?" Maybe if he finds that person, he'll get some answers.

[stolenface]

Don't care what your name is. And yeah, I'm not in a costume. Even got real ears under here.

[ More blatant mind-reading! Don't worry, he's more amused than insulted by that first thought. ]

[apatheticguide]

He doesn't respond to anything at all, in fact, his expression doesn't change. If he notices what Ankh's thinking, he either doesn't feel like commenting, or can't tell.

Or perhaps he's just a good guesser.

"The other guide. I'm not speaking his name. You find him. Aside from that, I need my Keys. If you want to be whole and in one piece, that is. I assume you do?"

[frozentear]

Do they move?

[He said the first thing he thought of, and immediately regretted it... oh well, too late to take it back now. How'd the cat boy know he was thinking about the costume, anyway? Did he overhear it earlier?]

[heartgatherer]

...does it really matter if I tell you not to? You'll probably just call me whatever you want anyway.

[She doesn't get the impression she has much choice here. Anyway, it's not like her real name is an option-- and both of the ones that have been suggested are equally painful.]

[stolenface]

[ The big ears on his hood just flick in response. So clearly what's under them can move. ]

[stolenface]

Nope! I do what I please. I am, after all, a cat.

[ Insisting he call her anything other than what he wants will get him to use it more often. ]

[notsogreedy]

So either it's not that clear, or this person is decidedly not helpful. Given how unclear an answer that is, the latter is true regardless. And then, that's the second time he's picked a want that's both relevant and sounds like a threat, and Ankh doesn't like the sound of that at all.

He takes a step forward, closing the distance between them, and reaching to grab this unhelpful stranger by the chin, hard. "What the hell does that mean?"

[heartgatherer]

Other things? ...you mean your role has changed?

[That's... different. And it makes the task before her more difficult. Oh but she'll find it-- a name that he likes which to call him by. Just referring to someone by a title... she doesn't like that. It's too similar to the kind of thinking that made people feel lives were disposable in Wonderland.]

[apatheticguide]

... Oh, no. Oh no no no. Rabbit's red-on-black eyes just seem to gleam when Ankh picks him up. He'll give him one warning:

"That's against the rules."

His voice sounds a little more harsh, but quiet than usual. He says nothing else.

[heartgatherer]

Well? What about you? Do you have a name?

[Not that she cares as much to know yours if you have one, but...]

[apatheticguide]

Yes, of course. I'm a guide. So I appear as whatever people need me to be. Right now I'm the White Rabbit. That's all.

[ He gives the vaguest of shrugs, as though this is completely normal. ]

[stolenface]

Not anymore. Lost it a long time ago. Don't really care, either. So now I'm the Cheshire Cat.

[ But that did get him to pause a moment. ]

[frozentear]

[What. What even. Okay, so those are (probably) actual ears under there. And he's probably not actually human. Do things like him live in the mines? Is he like the witches Sebastian's heard of? Maybe this one's the real wizard. Maybe they're both wizards. Animal wizards.... Come to think of it, he's never heard of the wizard in the forest giving quests. That usually only happened in stories.]

...Do you know where the keys are?

[stolenface]

In the Worlds, Alice.

[ He'll gesture to the doors, arms spread wide. Which is giving what's probably the first proper look at his appearance with how it adjusts and angles things. ]

Gotta go through the Hearts of you and the other Alices to find 'em.