but as I told you... I didn't chase the white rabbit!

[heartgatherer]

Who: The Alices and Clock
What: Open the first door and see what you find. Hopefully it's a key... maybe it's something more.
Where: World One - The Country of Clover
Warnings: General violence and disregard for life.

 '▒▒▒▒▒, you fool... it was all just a dream'...

If she could have thought that to herself, then she might have believed it. Here were the high vaulted ceilings of Clover Tower that she'd grown so used to since the shift to the Country of Clover. And yet her name was still lost to her. She could not think it... could not say it... It was as though someone had stolen it entirely, as odd of a thing as that sounded. That was all she needed to know to prove she wasn't dreaming. Then that meant it was as the rabbit and cat said-- in order to retrieve the rabbit's keys, they needed to enter the doors and the door took them straight into peoples' hearts.

This one no doubt was supposed to be her own. How else could this place be replicated so accurately? None of the others should know a thing about Wonderland. After all... this was her dream. Her messed-up, embarrassing, dangerous... oh no.

Outside the window the forest, the castle and the Hatter Mansion were all as they should be. But what had happened to the others? If they had been split up, there was no telling what manner of characters they might have met. While they should be safe as Outsiders, Clover has never seen any other Outsiders. Like this, there's no way to be sure they're safe.

Whatever's happened - this is no time to be sleeping. She needs to verify what's going on in this world and the whereabouts of the people that entered with her. If this was a true and accurate reflection of the world that she knew, then she needed to warn them of a great many things.

Down the tower stairs she goes... to investigate the fate of herself and those who had gone with her.

Comments

[frozentear]

If anything, the first noticeable thing might be that there's little desire for violence compared to most of the others. A little bit for revenge, but it's mostly been satisfied so far - he got a good shot in right before dying. What little there remains for violence is just for throwing things that shouldn't be thrown, and not much for hurting people.

The forest is comfortable. It's like home - mostly in that he knows his way around so well. He exits a door within range of the stranger, and turns to look in his general direction, or what he thinks might be that direction, even though he's not totally sure where the other is at right now. Despite being killed before, he doesn't seem terribly suspicious.

[notsogreedy]

It's amazing how little there is coming from this one person. As far as he can tell, this place is amplifying everyone's violent urges, and it's a rare person who doesn't have any to begin with. He doesn't see any issue with letting him come closer, at least. For now, he doesn't say anything, just watches from his spot up in the tree.

[frozentear]

He looks around. There doesn't seem to be anyone there, which is... a bit of a relief. Walking through the forest, he turns and... that flash of color doesn't look like part of the tree. Curious, he goes closer, trying to figure out what's up there.

[notsogreedy]

"I guess you saw me." He looks down at him, meeting that curious gaze, though he seems a bit indifferent to having been spotted. It wasn't as if he expected to be completely hidden; he doesn't look like part of a tree, after all. Though if anything, his clothes here are actually less flashy than usual. Still, it's to his credit that he noticed; most people don't ever bother looking up.

[frozentear]

He recognizes this man from back where the rabbit was. Another of those who followed the cat, then. Sebastian himself may be somewhat less recognizable, now that his hair is blonde.

One hand moves back a bit, towards his gun - after dying, and having realized his own tendencies for violence were increased beyond normal levels, it's a lot harder to just trust the others here. But he doesn't draw it, even though there's a small, barely cognizant thread inside him whispering that he should hurt this person before he's hurt - dying is fine, but the pain that comes with it is terrible, and he'd rather avoid that. Still, the fact that he wasn't immediately attacked is a good sign, right?

"I did." That much was obvious. "What are you doing up there?"

[notsogreedy]

"Sitting." An obvious and unhelpful answer, but he can't be bothered to come up with anything more descriptive. It is the truth, though; that's about all he's doing right now. Ankh doesn't have much desire for violence, either.

It takes a moment, but he recognises the man's face as someone who was in the room with the rabbit. Something is very clearly different, though. "What happened to your hair?"

[frozentear]

...No kidding. He never would have guessed. Anyway, his hand drops when he sees that the man is staying in the tree and not reaching for a weapon.

He shrugs, nonchalant about the fact that he died. "One of the others stabbed me. After I woke up, it had changed."

[notsogreedy]

He notices the way the other's hand moves from his weapon. He wasn't concerned to begin with, since there hadn't been any real desire to use that weapon in the first place. Something about what he says is interesting, though.

He gives the man a curious look. He was stabbed, and the way he talked made it sound like he might have died. Did he revive from the dead, or just recover somehow? Either way, if someone stabbed him and they knew to take the clocks (or whatever that is inside everyone here--he never confirmed with the door--but that's what it sounds like), it's hard to imagine they wouldn't have. It's obvious that right now he's alive, though, and presumably that means the supposed key functioning as a poor excuse for a heart is still ticking away inside him. "You still have a clock?"

[frozentear]

[You still have a clock?

He narrows his eyes a bit. So this one presumably knows about the keys being within them, then. Yet he's not attacking. Interesting.]

"Yeah. I'm not sure why. Maybe he didn't talk to Hanna."

[notsogreedy]

"Who?" Clearly this guy had also learned about the keys but who the hell is Hanna?

[frozentear]

"The door."

Didn't you talk to her? is what he's thinking. But to be fair, Hanna only gave him her name after he asked.

[notsogreedy]

"That annoying thing has a name?" Not that he's really surprised, considering it was talking to him earlier.

[frozentear]

"Don't you?" As if it's obvious that the talking door would have a name. It made sense now, anyway. Almost.

[notsogreedy]

"I'm not a door." Though if he wants to go that path, he's also not any more alive than a door depending on your point of view. "People here seem to think everyone should be called Alice, anyway."

[frozentear]

Well, that door was very alive, so what does that say about you?

"You mean the rabbit and the cat call everyone Alice. I'm Sebastian." Definitely not an Alice, no matter how much those two insisted on it.

[notsogreedy]

"Yeah, that's what I meant." So maybe if anything, it's surprising that the door's name wasn't Alice, since it seems to be more natural to this place than any of them are. But whatever. "I'm Ankh." Very definitely not an Alice.

[frozentear]

Nice to meet you... except not really, given the circumstances. Still, he's more amiable than anyone else he's interacted with so far - although considering that's the rabbit, the cat, Hanna, and the guy who killed him, that's not saying much.

"Cool... Ankh. Have you found out anything about this... heart?" It was worth asking, probably. He'd already shared most of what he knew, anyway.

[notsogreedy]

"You already know about the clocks and the door." That's most of everything he's run across that seems worthwhile. He shrugs. "This place seems to amplify violent desires. That's about it."

All of which begs the question of why Sebastian seems to have so little interest in attacking him, but then, he supposes that goes both ways. If he was that interested in killing Sebastian, he would have shot him before he found him in the tree.

[frozentear]

...So it really does amplify them. Maybe sword guy wouldn't have killed him under normal circumstances. Though, it's hard to be sure. He tilts his head slightly.

"You seem very calm despite that."

[notsogreedy]

He raises an eyebrow in reply. "So do you."

[frozentear]

Yeah, well. He sighs.

"I've never really wanted to hurt anyone." Not before he was sliced open by sword guy, anyway. And even that only lasted until he was able to sink a bullet into him, though it might be a different story if they met again. There might be a spike in the desire for revenge, there.

"It's kind of like... this place can only amplify what's actually there."

[notsogreedy]

"Exactly." Ankh can agree about it only taking what's there and making it stronger. His situation is different, but the result is the same. Ankh has definitely wanted to hurt people before. There are probably people he would still want to hurt quite a bit if he saw them right now. But none of those people are here. What he's dealing with is effectively a bunch of strangers, and random violence against strangers in and of itself isn't something that holds much interest.

"Most people hold back things like that usually. I'm not surprised they go crazy in a place like this." He hasn't found everybody yet, either, but there are at least a couple he's actively avoided getting anywhere near so far. Maybe one of them is the one who stabbed Sebastian. "You're pretty weird for not having anything like that to start with."

[frozentear]

"Do they?..." Violent impulses weren't something he thought of most people having. But then, why was there a war going on? Even someone from his town was involved in the war... though he couldn't remember why he knew that.

"Is it weird that I don't want to hurt people who haven't hurt me?" He didn't think it was. He also wasn't sure how he knew that about himself, given that he only remembered sword guy hurting him in any way, though he somehow knew it was true.

[notsogreedy]

"Who knows?" He shrugs. Put that way, there are probably a lot of people like that, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't end up with their own reasons for doing something violent in a place like this.

"People have all kinds of reasons. Just because someone hasn't hurt you doesn't mean they won't, for example." It's the kind of logic that would usually make him far more violent than he is right now. It's only held back by the fact that right now, he doesn't care much about whether he gets hurt or not.

[frozentear]

"It doesn't mean you won't get hurt. But even then, it's usually not physical." ............... "Is that something you believe?"

Maybe this person... Ankh... really thought that everyone was dangerous. Sebastian could kind of understand that. Even in this situation, he was uncomfortable for reasons having nothing to do with being tasked with ripping people's hearts out. There were worse things than dying - moreso now than usually.

But even if they wanted to hurt him physically, that was because of the effects of this heart. He knew that. Someone being dangerous here didn't mean they'd be dangerous in everyday life, even if it was the sort of thing they might think about and never do.