Be brave enough to burn

[notsogreedy]

Who: All the Alices (and Ankh, his name is Ankh)
What: Just a mysterious castle built on top of a restaurant. What could possibly go wrong?
Where: World Two – Wings to the Sky
Warnings: Who even knows? Will update as necessary.



Ankh wakes up at the edge of the water, his arm draped over a rock and his face cushioned by a bed of sand and seaweed as the edges of waves wash over his body. The first thing he notices upon waking is that it's uncomfortable. The second, upon lifting his head and starting to pull himself out of the water is that it's familiar. Awareness dawning, he scrambles to his feet and looks around wide-eyed half expecting Eiji to be there somewhere. Of course he isn't.

But this... this is his last memory. For a moment he wonders if somehow this whole thing came to an end and he wound up back home, but that's wishful thinking. No, this is just his world. His heart, as the guides like to call it. It's only more obvious that this isn't real as he scans the horizon and finds Cous Coussier where it shouldn't be. And then on top of it... that's-

His eyes widen, and then narrow. He's not sure what to expect out of this other than nothing good.

But, after wringing the water out of his clothes as best he can, he makes his way to the restaurant and curiously to the freezer, where he finds the ice pops he expects to be there. Pulling one out, he gives it a skeptical look for a moment—does he dare assume it's really the same or even safe to eat?--but ultimately pops it into his mouth and discovers it tastes exactly like he expects. That much is something he can appreciate. But as for the rest of this...

With popsicle in hand, he continues exploring.

Comments

[dolosa]

This is a lot more what I'm used to.

[ In regards to the scenery, at least. To Rei, it's a rather nice change of pace in all honestly, and it makes her feel a bit more at ease. But since there doesn't seem to be any strange feelings, she might as well investigate on her own, heels clicking as she decides to head towards the library. Anything out of place to see here at first glance? ]

First Puzzle Found

[worldkeys]

[ The library itself is perfectly normal. However, Rei will notice that the stained glass windows all depict her. There are six in total, but only one of them seems to accurately depict her as she truly is--the rest are all lies. The others show her in various situations. One displays her in a wheelchair. Another displays her kissing the back of a hand reaching in from off the side of the image, a gentle but genuine smile on her face. Yet another displays her sitting in a coffee shop with some unknown figure with a rabbit's head. Yet another displays her standing over a rabbit-headed figure, with her clothes and the knife both soaked in blood. A fifth displays her just barely hiding a blue rabbit behind her back, with a speech bubble saying that the rabbit is red. The final stained glass window shows her hanging off of someone with a rabbit head as if they're lovers. Many of the stained glass windows have random crosses, wolves and rabbits across them as decoration. She will find that she can tell everyone except Ankh which one is accurate and which ones are lies. She--and anyone else who knows--won't even be able to point to the correct one or mimic it in drawing in Ankh's presence. ]

[mearry]

[ It's already starting off bad for C-ta, who woke up face flat and with a mouth full of sand. His mouth still tastes of sand and salt as he makes his way to the strangely placed castle. ]

There's ought to be something interesting around here...isn't that always the case with castles?

[ He, like the dumb, curious teenager he is, will head downstairs and into dungeon. Knock knock, no one's there and the door is open, so he'll be trying to check that out. What's in there? ]

Second Puzzle Found

[worldkeys]

[ The dungeons are largely just lined with empty and barren cells down each side of the room. However, on each end of the room is two stained glass windows each, although the ones by the door cannot be seen on the outside of the room. Each stained glass window depicts C-ta. One depicts him holding onto a pink rabbit and smiling while in his other hand is a box cutter dripping blood. Another depicts him hanging off of a girl as if they're best friends. The third displays another girl as they peacefully have lunch together, although it's hard to tell if this is just platonic or romantic. The final one depicts him happily surrounded by many people, as if this is something he is content with. Like Rei, he will be able to point out which is the window displaying the true him to anyone who isn't Ankh and so long as Ankh is not in the room. Otherwise, should Ankh be present, he will find it impossible to tell him which one is correct. ]

Because new silly information

[notsogreedy]

The restaurant portion of the building is as he remembers it, complete with a bizarre theme to the decorations for the day. What isn't so normal is... well, the theme. He's used to Chiyoko coming up with anything from history or fantasy or other countries, but this...

Right now, there is underwear all over the walls. Extemely colorful, glaringly bright underwear. Hung up in neat frames on proud display. Ankh recognises it. In fact, it's all so familiar, it's disgusting. What is Eiji's underwear doing in something that's supposed to be his heart?

"What the hell?"

[dolosa]

Okay that's pretty hilarious.

[ And she's been through strip searches. Don't mind that she's laughing here... ]

[mearry]

Wow. [ C-ta is definitely snickering quietly. ] I believe that this is what some people would call a fixation.

[frozentear]

After looking through the rest of the building... there's only one person left out of the windows, just like how the only person without a clock for a heart in the last heart was Alice. It seems like a pretty safe guess that this heart belongs to Ankh.

"...I see. So this is what your heart is like."

...There are worse things to say to someone who basically admitted he'd shoot you again, right?

[zinit]

Ah. Uh. Alright, so that's a thing.

Qilby's hit with a flash of embarrassment - secondhand or not, he's not sure, but he's never been too comfortable with displays like this - before the humor of it hits him, and he's left laughing with his forehead in his hand.

"If your lover's underwear are that important to you, aah..." He's not quite saying it to Ankh, but rather to the air around him.

[frozentear]

[From the outside, the castle is an impressive size. It's not quite as big on the inside, but it's still amazing. He's never been inside a real castle before. He pushes open the door to what turns out to be a bedroom. What does he find?]

Third Puzzle Found

[worldkeys]

[ There are only four stained glass windows in the bedroom, one on each wall. Each depicts Sebastian himself. The first window shows him sitting happily with his family at the dinner table, just having a great time with all of them. The second shows him perfectly at home, chatting with a bunch of people on a college campus somewhere. The third depicts him sitting alone next to a motorcycle looking out at a city. The final window shows him helping his mother chop lumber, enjoying himself as he does it. Like the other two puzzles, he will not be able to point out the accurate one directly when Ankh is around. ]

[bakegarasu]

[Otoha grunts as he picks himself up off the sand. His muscles are sore... like he was lying there for a while. Annoying. Whatever. His sword is still there, so he heads up to... a restaurant?]

[Whatever. Food is food. He glances up at the... decorations... and shrugs. Not his problem. He's seen weirder fetishes. He wanders around for a bit before coming to the door. He opens it, and steps inside.]

[... A castle? Interesting. He wanders around a bit before finding the Armory, gazing up at the stained glass windows.]

Fourth Puzzle Found

[worldkeys]

[ When Otoha enters the armory, it's exactly what you'd expect out of a medieval castle's weaponry, various swords, maces, and the like inside it. Aside from that, there are four stained glass windows depicting Otoha himself. A theme of various buildings, strange eye-shaped amulets, and being on the tops of tall skyscrapers is omnipresent. The first window depicts him with a girl, sword in hand, covered in blood. Her corpse is obvious and decaying. The cityscape around the two of them is destroyed. The second window shows him and another man running from a destroyed Shinjuku, flames spreading throughout the city, neither of them looking overly bothered. The third window shows Otoha and various yokai mobbing several obviously weak humans, with little regard or care for their safety. In the image, he is smiling. The final window depicts Otoha with the girl from first window again, although, this time, the two of them are sitting atop a building at night time, looking at the city's lights together, and both smiling.

He will find that he can tell everyone except Ankh which window is accurate and which ones are not. He won't even be able to point to the correct one or mimic it in drawing in Ankh's presence, nor will anyone else who knows. ]

[notsogreedy]

[Ankh walks in to find Otoha staring up at the windows depicting him. Convenient. For the moment, he doesn't say anything, just focusing on what he can sense of Otoha's desires. It's as much for general knowledge as to see if anything might have been brought to the surface by the images in question. The only other times he's been around Otoha, he wasn't able to read him, or his desires were so unbalanced by the world they were in that it was hard to tell much.]

please bear with me if I'm slow!

[zinit]

[A beach... Alright, he can handle this. (Or, well, he'd be a lot better at handling this if there weren't sand in his beard.) Unfortunately, there's no time to go exploring the native flora and fauna; he's got to find out what kind of puzzles this heart has for him.]

[So through the restaurant he goes, then up to the castle. (What a weird layout, he thinks, ignoring that the Zinit had an even weirder layout.) He picks a door at random, opens it, and finds:]

An office... [But it's the windows that get his attention.]

Fifth Puzzle Found

[worldkeys]

[ When Qilby steps inside the office, he will notice that it is mostly normal, if a bit modernized for being in an old castle. There is a large grand piano, as well as a station to... make cakes inside it. There is also a gramophone on a table near some chairs, that... only plays the happy birthday song. It isn't playing when he enters, at least, not at first. ... But aside from that... normality, there are five stained glass windows that all depict Qilby. Only one of them is accurate to who he truly is, however.

Nearly all the windows seem to carry some sort of theme of greenery or technology and test tubes in the background, as well as space being featured in some form, either in monitors or as the 'sky'. The first window depicts Qilby standing over a dragon's corpse, although he doesn't look too broken up about it. He appears to be walking away from it in this picture, and smiling. There is blood on his clothes, making it noticable that, perhaps, he may have been involved in the dragon's death. The second window depicts him sitting alone on a hillside surrounded by lush greenery and various flowers. He is playing some manner of board game by himself, and seems to be thoroughly enjoying the lack of company. The third one displays him talking with an older figure's silhouette and shrugging. The figure stands next to a vacant throne, and Qilby appears to be facing away from it. Yet another window displays Qilby by himself, surrounded by the hands of many others similar to his own. The background is filled with flames and destruction, the greenery and technology present in other backgrounds now destroyed. The hands are all an arm's length away from him. The sky shows not blue, but the cosmos itself. In his hands is a cube-shaped object. His eyes are shadowed, and he has a thin smile on his face. The final stained glass window depicts Qilby as a hologram-like projection, distorted and corrupting. The lab around it is decaying and falling apart, as if abandoned or purposefully left unkempt. Various test tubes are broken with fluid leaking out of them, and all sorts of sensitive equipment appears to be malfunctioning.

He will find that he can tell everyone except Ankh which window is accurate and which ones are not. He won't even be able to point to the correct one or mimic it in drawing in Ankh's presence, nor will anyone else who knows. ]

[frozentear]

[Sebastian comes into the room some time after Ankh has left, holding out a pen.]

Hey. Take this and mark the window that's true so that we can leave faster.

[mearry]

[ You know, at least this death was much less painful than the other one. It all happened in the blink of an eye-- one moment he was with Ankh ( or whatever his name is ) and the other, he was laying on his back at the Hub.

The desire to not move is strong in him. Realization of his lost memories hits him once more like a ton of bricks, and he feels unsure, as if he's walking on a thin line. The hollowness in C-ta heart feels painful-- emptiness is not a nice feeling. There was no other way around it. The disappearance of the memories of that person is the reason for this, like a pebble in his shoe.

Besides emptiness, the anger boiling inside his stomach has only continued to grow. If it wasn't for that stupid Cat...!!

Bringing himself up into a sitting position, C-ta stays silent, staring at the floor intently. He'll be fine soon. Maybe. ]

[apatheticguide]

[ He appears to have been slightly dozing when C-ta pops up. He hadn't expected someone to die quite so soon, and he startles awake and then sighs.

No rest for the weary. If he's anything right now, it's nonplussed. ]

... So you're back here, I see.

After solving the dungeon puzzle and talking to Sebastian

[notsogreedy]

[After he and Sebastian had come up with a plan, and Sebastian had left to go inform everyone else, Ankh found himself with very little to be doing for a while. In fact, he quickly decided that if no one can say anything while he's around that he should avoid all the windows as much as possible until Sebastian comes to find him again.

So for now, he's in the kitchen, eating another popsicle. How many is that at this point? But he doesn't plan on stopping. He was always addicted to these things, and he likely won't see another one until he gets home. If he gets home. If home is even the right word.

This isn't a terrible substitute, he realises. For a moment at least, he considers the possibility that maybe there's no need to leave. No reason to solve the puzzles he dreads the results of or to ever get through that locked gate and into someone else's personal hell. He could stay here. Cous Coussier, with all the food, and even some people around to watch and to toy with. They aren't the ones he's used to, but maybe that's a good thing. He can't go back to them, anyway. They're the ones who wanted him gone, despite all their outward friendliness.

But he can't help thinking about them, or this place, or the last time he was there. Stupidly sentimental, but he had missed it. And then there was Hina, almost concerned, almost wanting him to stay. He'd asked her... and of course she said no. She always had her brother first in mind. How could have even for one second have thought...? (He almost feels the now contextless memory of his core shattering. If she had just said yes...)

He doesn't notice until he hears the snap and looks down that his fist has clenched hard enough to break the empty popsicle stick in his hand. He glares at it for a second, then throws the broken stick to the other side of the room. So now he's stuck here, where he shouldn't even exist, trapped in a memory without the ability to feel anything. And he was thinking about staying like this? What a joke. Stupidly sentimental, even now.

With a scowl, he goes and grabs yet another popsicle out of the freezer and leans against the counter with it. He pulls the Peacock medal from his pocket and stares at it while he licks at the ice pop. Five more of these, and he can be done with this place. What the hell's taking Sebastian so long?]

[frozentear]

[Eventually, Sebastian returns, with both good and bad news.]

Hey. I got two of the others to use the pen. The girl who isn't Alice wouldn't, and I couldn't find Alice.

Final Puzzle

[worldkeys]

[ Within the chapel are six stained glass windows, all depicting Alice Liddell. She is performing various tasks in them, all with varying clock and heart motifs. In the first, she is pulling another woman's hair while laughing cruelly. In the second, she's openly flirting with a man while the same woman looks on. In the third, she's walking over the broken clocks littering the ground of the now-familiar Land of Clover. In the fourth, she's crying over a grave while a man in an obnoxiously plaid jacket turns her head, as if trying to distract her. In a fifth, she's quietly standing by while two people with guns fight, as if she refuses to do anything or doesn't care. In the sixth, she sits alone under a tree, seeming content with this turn of events. Like all the others, the truth cannot be spoken or otherwise communicated in Ankh's presence. ]

Re: Final Puzzle

[notsogreedy]

[Ankh comes here after solving Rei's puzzle. He knows the answers to the rest, assuming their owners weren't lying when they marked them, but this one is a bit of a mystery. He can eliminate a few based on what he knows of Alice, but not all of them. He ponders them for a moment before finding something to hit the windows with. He'll try the image with the grave first.]

[dolosa]

[ Well, that was quite entertaining. Of course, now that coming back from the dead a second time is said and done, she's going to be checking the fridge for some ingredients and start cooking some food. Just because it's a dream doesn't mean she can't get some food.

She's actually a rather decent cook, so don't worry -- it's not poisoned. (Unless you want it to be.) ]

[mearry]

What are you cooking?

[ C-ta's not nearly as entertained as Rei may be, but he'll try to push his own anxieties away for another time. He may be a bit awkward with girls but, ah, there's no one else around to talk with. ]

Final Room

[stolenface]

[ When Ankh arrives up the spiral staircase, it will be in a familiar room. One in which he was betrayed by a King and stabbed in the back. But the stained glass here is different than he remembers. It depicts the people of his memories, often in horrifying situations. There's no way to tell if any of this is real or has happened since his arrival here. The Cat is standing there, all casual as he watches him with a smirk. ]

Hey... Alice.

Ankh > Sebastian > Cat

[notsogreedy]

[He recognises the room immediately, and his eyes go wide. Even when he expected this might be here, it's different physically being there. But what strikes him more are the windows, showing things that wouldn't have been so bothersome if not for the memories he'd just gotten back. Precious memories that had been taken away from him by a certain someone who happens to be standing right there looking all too pleased with himself.

Ankh's eyes narrow, his fists clench, and he practically growls-] You.