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

[notsogreedy]

[He gets closer, peering at the windows to try to see anything through them. They all seem to be normal windows to the outside.]

It doesn't look like it. But that doesn't mean they aren't hiding something.

[notsogreedy]

[The illustration is clear enough, and he lets go with some frustration.]

Tch.

[He glances up at the windows again, and a couple seem obvious. She's not in a wheelchair, and she didn't want to kill anyone herself in the last heart, so he doubts she murdered the rabbit. Outside of that, he doesn't have much to go on.]

What's with all these rabbits, anyway?

[dolosa]

Really? That's kind of gross, even for me.

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. ]

[notsogreedy]

You don't know who they belong to.

[dolosa]

It's probably in reference to a game I used to play -- Rabbit Doubt. Or the plush rabbit doll that is the only thing left from my parents. They're my favorite animal.

[ Well, at least she's allowed to give hints, just as long as she doesn't tell him te answer outright. ]

[notsogreedy]

Rabbit Doubt?

[dolosa]

Then... I'm assuming you do?

[dolosa]

Essentially a game of mafia, if you've heard of that. It's a mobile game in my home world where there is a wolf in rabbit's clothing. They kill one of the rabbits at night, and in the morning, you have to guess who the wolf was. If you're right, the rabbits win. If you're wrong, the wolf wins. The end.

[notsogreedy]

[He hasn't heard of mafia, but he doesn't need to ask. The explanation makes sense enough. But he can't help but notice now how there are rabbits and wolves all over these.]

Is that game that important to you?

[notsogreedy]

Good guess. [He's not sure whether it's wise to just say outright that this is his world they're in, but he doubts it'll stay a secret regardless.]

[frozentear]

[...He knew he'd never been to college, so that one was a lie. He'd been to that cliff before, many times - so that one was real. The others... he didn't recognize the people in them. He hadn't thought about home much while he was here, other than wishing he had his own bed and the privacy of his room back. But... These made him realize there was something missing. He'd lived in that house his entire life. But he didn't remember anyone else living there. He couldn't have been on his own that entire time, could he? Wouldn't someone have noticed?]

[dolosa]

Used to be. Not anymore.

[notsogreedy]

What changed?

[dolosa]

Several things. I died. I met Hajime. I went to his world. I quit being the 'Hazama Rei' that was behind real life Rabbit Doubt.

[notsogreedy]

[Eyebrows raise. That was a lot of new information at once.]

So Hajime is from a different world?

[dolosa]

That's right. He isn't from the world I'm from.

[ It might be a lot of new information, but Rei certainly doesn't mind sharing. ]

[notsogreedy]

[It's useful that she's willing to talk so much. He'll store all the information for future reference, even if it doesn't all help him figure out what he's supposed to do with this puzzle.]

Is traveling between worlds normal where you come from?

[It isn't for him, but he also happens to be something that's not normal where he comes from, so he'd believe it.]

[dolosa]

No -- it was just a favor I got after I died.

[notsogreedy]

Heh. [What an odd sounding sentence. It's probably only because he's here when he shouldn't exist at all that it sounds believable.] Why does dying grant you favors?

[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.]

[mearry]

Well, I remember being able to know right before you came in. [ The smile he gives Ankh is a tight one, unsure. ] Seems like you brought some bad luck with you.

[ C-ta then looks back at the stained glass, teeth biting into his lower lip in unease. ] These are...things about me, I think. Maybe like a two truths and a lie kind of game. Except I don't know the lie anymore. What a crappy game.

[dolosa]

Hajime helped out another person in the world between life and death. Basically, he assisted in helping end a game that decided where people would go. . . and because of that, I asked if I could be revived in his world.

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.]

[notsogreedy]

[And he scowls back. Some help you are. Though he's not surprised given that the one person he's talked to so far couldn't tell him which window was right, even though she knew the answer.

He looks at the pictures. More creepy rabbits. What's up with that? After a second, he gestures toward the ones with the girls in them.]

Who are they? [He should be able to answer that much, right?]