seaofhearts | Round 1 Introduction Hub Log

Entry tags:

Round 1 Introduction Hub Log

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. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ankh is not sure where he is, how he got here, or where he even was before he got here. He didn't recognise the place where he woke up, and he doesn't know how he woke up, since his medal broke and he's pretty sure shouldn't even have a consciousness right now, much less a body. And that... well, anything surrounding that is hazier than he'd like. Memory loss on top of everything else. This is a great day.

And now there's someone who wants him to do something, because of course a stranger is going to ask for favors. Maybe that's why he's alive (if "alive" is the word; last he checked, it wasn't). Maybe this person, or someone related, is responsible for keeping him around when he should have been destroyed. He really has nothing but questions here.

"...My name is Ankh."

But clearly that was the important part.

"No, it's not. Everyone is Alice here. Except for that girl."

He says it so matter-of-fact that it's simple, and then moves on, clearly unbothered by his inner turmoil.

"Will you do what I asked or not? I'm sure you want to live, don't you? You seem disoriented."

Who is she, then? But the mysterious person moves on before he gets to asking.

Most people would be motivated, or intrigued at least, when something someone asked for casually just got connected to the idea of wanting to live. In Ankh's case, it just makes him bristle further. Did he want to live? Yes, as far as the last thing he remembers, that was what he wanted more than anything. He didn't get it, and now someone is trying to hold it over his head at the price of some unknown favor.

"Why am I here?" It's not a direct response to the question, about what it is this stranger wants him to do. It goes deeper, to how he's 'alive' in the first place, whether this person is responsible. The way he says it is dripping with suspicion.

"Ask the one who took you, not me."

It's not his fault. It's that damned Cat. Always causing him problems. Always, always...

"If you want to worry about living, I'd ask him first. Because I hardly know anything about it. I'm just a guide. It's my job to get people out of here and guide them through this place."

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.

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?"

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?"

... 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.

That's not an expected reaction. Usually grabbing someone like that gets surprise or fear. Maybe anger, trying to struggle or lash back out at it. This is too cool, and that more than anything is what makes him pause. Much as he really doesn't care about rules, he doesn't have enough of an idea of how anything works here to know what the consequences might be. He'll back off. For now. Though the look on his face is challenging, if anything.

"So? What happens if people break rules?" And almost as an afterthought, "Shouldn't you tell people what the rules are in the first place?"

"You should know better than to grab them. Maybe you would, if you stopped to listen instead of being an idiot."

He's very close to making sure Ankh regrets his decisions. Very, very close.

"If you value your life, you'll leave us guides be. The World is not any other world."

"If you want me to listen, then maybe you should explain something!" he snaps back. He's not touching him. He backed off like a good boy, but that sure doesn't mean he's happy about any of this. As far as he's concerned, all there has been to listen to is someone insisting on calling him the wrong name, asking for favors, making threats, and not answering questions.

"Like what this world is and why you're expecting me to go find these keys for you."

"You're the one taking them that way. I can give you a real threat if you want, but only if you want to take it that far."

He's agitated now, and it shows. His ears are pressed flat against his head.

"I have no patience for people who can't understand the obvious. This is simply what it is. The World is the World, and nowhere else. It's not your world, or any other world, it's simply itself. And if you wanted to leave, you'd have to find the Keys. Isn't that obvious? What does a key do? It unlocks things."

Well, that answers the question about whether his mind is being read or not. Very unhelpful. Though at least what he said just now is more than Ankh's been getting out of him, even if it still wasn't much. That makes him... very, very slightly less irritated.

"You said it's not just any world, like that's an explanation for something. What's special about it?" The only part that was obvious was that this isn't where he came from, and that much, he didn't ask about. But where he came from was being broken, and that means there's probably nothing to go back to, so he's not sure what incentive he'd have for finding these keys, even if he wasn't still annoyed at how this conversation has gone. "And what if I don't want to leave?"

"It's not. It's the World. Don't you understand? Say you were sleeping, Alice. Where do you think you ended up?"

Natural conclusions, that should be coming naturally, he thinks.

"And whether you want to leave or not... I don't care. I'll make you, if I have to. Because you can't survive here. Only us guides can. And you're human right now. Anything that finds it way here becomes mostly similar to humans. That's how the World processes things. Except for us guides. But I can put you back, unscathed. If you actually cooperate, that is. As it is, I only want my Keys back. I hardly feel that's much to ask in return of someone who has no second chances."

Except he wasn't sleeping, he was broken and presumably nonexistent, so that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But he's not going to worry about it right now. Maybe when he decides to think about it and put it in a more human context, he'll put two and two together.

Right now, he's much more interested in the implication he's not sure he caught. He tilts his head to one side and looks at the unhelpful stranger, skeptical but interested. "You'd put me back as a human?"

"It's not against the Rules."

He says it bluntly. He could do that. If it was wanted.

"Or as you were. It doesn't matter. I just want you out. But while you're in these rooms, you're like this. So keep it in mind."

As a human, or as he was, or if either of those are possible, then maybe something in between, with all the senses of a human and all his powers still intact. Something alive. Not nothing.

"How do I find these keys, then?" Because now he has a reason to ask. What he won't consider doing for an unhelpful stranger, he will do in a heartbeat if it gets him something he's desperately wanted.

He sighs. Yes, he's been trying to say this, but... well. Whatever. As long as Ankh gets with the program, what does he care?

"The door behind me. They're hidden in the doors beyond. I can unlock one of them... the rest are locked. So look for that one. It'll be inside one of the Hearts of someone here. I cannot tell you what to expect or whose."

He's just passing by on his way towards the door, but -

"They don't care what your name is. You should probably get used to it."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Round 1 Introduction Hub Log

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject