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

[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]

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. ]

[heartgatherer]

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

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

[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. ]

[heartgatherer]

...Chester then.

[Yeah she's not too concerned with this one. But not enough that she can simply ignore the fact that they've lost something important. Not the names, per se, but the identity that went with it-- beyond their roles as guides.

The same way she couldn't stand to lump together Wonderland's faceless-- she couldn't do that here either.]

So why are you here?

[stolenface]

Call me what you want, Lorina. Doesn't matter to me. As for why I'm here... Well. I'm a guide, after all. I'm the one you'll see in the Worlds if you guys get stuck.

[ Not that he's helpful. ]

[heartgatherer]

Why should you care? You're the one who threw the keys in there in the first place.

[Make up your mind - do you want them lost or found?]

[stolenface]

'Cause that's still my Role, and this is all one big game to keep me entertained. Not gonna be any fun if you don't find anything.

[heartgatherer]

[...Roles again...]

How is this supposed to be fun?

[But at least it's not killing games, she supposes. Even so, it's annoying.]

[stolenface]

Because I get to see you guys deal with all the little problems that come from exploring hearts, Lorina. All those nasty secrets laid bare for the world to see.

[heartgatherer]

[Ugh... it would have to be something terrible like that. Was this supposed to be some kind of test? Regardless of the 'why' - exposing all of her ugliness to these people she doesn't know... this dream couldn't get any worse.]

...how bad can it be? After all... we know our hearts better than anyone. Being able to find them should be easy.

[It would be nice if she believed that as much as she was willing to blurt it out.]

[stolenface]

I dunno, Lorina. Ask yourself that. Do you ever know everything in your heart?

[ It's an honest question and he knows the answer to it. ]

[heartgatherer]

[Ugh. He's right. Frustrating as that is--]

No one knows everything about anything-- and that's why we'll be just fine.

[Hopefully.]

[stolenface]

Don't count on it, Lorina. This place... Has a way of chewing people up and spitting them out.

[ ...Wow you got him to be serious for once. You're the only one who's gotten through to him like this. ]

[heartgatherer]

Then you shouldn't drag people here in the first place.

[But what's done is done and now they'll have to finish things.]

Games aren't meant to be dangerous- they're supposed to be fun. No one will want to play with you if you play dirty.

[It's a little bit like lecturing the twins...]

[stolenface]

Not like it matters to me, Lorina. I have to get my kicks somehow. Watchin' others suffer... That's what I find fun.

[ ...And there it goes. You get a warning. No one else does. ]