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]

Well, that was satisfying. He's not quite so irritated, having watched Sebastian double over and cower away, even if it's a bit disturbing that he himself didn't feel that at all. For a moment, he just looks at his hand, then almost too quickly puts it back down at his side.

[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.

[mearry]

[ The sudden voice makes C-ta jolt, head snapping in the direction of the voice. Ah--

Thank god it's not the cat. ]

Yeah. [ He stands up, arms crossed and close against his chest. Unlike the Cat, C-ta emotions towards the cat are...strange. Somewhere between nostalgia and lots of doubt. ] At least it wasn't a gunshot.

[ he heaves a sigh, trying to choose his words carefully. ] That thing the cat stole...do you also know what it is?

[apatheticguide]

[ A quiet yawn. ]

... No. Whatever he takes is his own doing. As I said previously... I don't want to be thought of the same as him.

[mearry]

Mm, I understand. It must be a hassle to deal with him, huh? Does he do this a lot? I mean, I won't even ask how he does it [ he chuckles a little. ] but he does kind of look like a repeat offender.

[ So he doesn't know either... C-ta had thought of asking, for at least a hint on who the missing person is but it's clear that it'll be to no avail ]

[apatheticguide]

... What do you think?

[ He says it appraisingly, as if he expects C-ta to figure that out for himself. IS the Cat a repeat offender? ]

[frozentear]

That was an... interesting movement. Anyway, as long as he doesn't say anything stupid he's safe, right?

"Do you have any idea what we're supposed to do? I thought I did, but I can't seem to remember now."

[mearry]

It's hard to say. I can't say that I know him well.

[ And saying that he is is a little scary for C-ta to think about. What would that mean for them? Would it even matter? ]

But, whether you're stealing clothes or memories, you can't be that good without practice. Therefore...he's probably done it before, I think.

[apatheticguide]

... If you can already guess, then you shouldn't need to think too hard about it. Does it surprise you overmuch that he is always causing some fashion of trouble?

[ He's said it before, really. He hates him. ]

[notsogreedy]

He knew, but he doesn't now. Ankh has heard that before. It's either that or knowing but not being able to say. Though this is the first time he's heard it sound so completely clueless.

"Did you forget? Or have you not found the windows with pictures of you on them yet?"

[frozentear]

He knew before he walked in here. He's pretty sure of it.

"Oh, so you saw the windows too. I think there was some kind of pattern with them, but as soon as I walked in here I couldn't remember what it was."

[dolosa]

Revenge.

[ As simple as that. ]

For my parents' death, of course.

[notsogreedy]

"One of them is right." He'll just say it that way. Even if they couldn't tell him, Rei and C-ta had both indicated that there was a right answer and they knew it at some point. "Isn't it?"

[frozentear]

"... I think so? Let me go take another look."

He steps through the doorway behind him, and as soon as Ankh is out of sight - he knows which one it is again. He steps back into the room, then leaves again, then reenters. It probably looks odd, to be honest.

"...I can only remember when you're not there."

[notsogreedy]

That's a surprisingly boring answer, coming from you.

[He takes a few steps, looking at all the images again.]

Why does it matter what color the rabbit is?

[notsogreedy]

It looks ridiculous.

"That sounds right." It's probably telling that he doesn't find that statement surprising at all.

[frozentear]

That sounds right, huh... so this has happened with the others? In that case, he has an idea.

"Help me find something to write with."

There are a lot of drawers around. Ankh can at least make up for punching him by being helpful.

[notsogreedy]

He raises an eyebrow. "You think writing it down will work any better?" It seems... unlikely somehow, but it's so far untested. "Heh. It's worth a shot."

And helpful he is, for once. Even though he never did much around the restaurant, he has a general idea of where Chiyoko kept things. It doesn't take him long to find a pen and some paper.

[frozentear]

"Okay, cool. Stay here a moment."

Sebastian takes the pen and paper, and leaves the room - just far enough so that he can remember the placement of the windows, and draws three Xs and one O in the order of the windows in the room. Then he returns to the room and shows the paper to Ankh.

"Does this work?"

[notsogreedy]

Ankh looks at the paper, which clearly has something written on it, but nothing the slightest bit helpful.

"Not unless you meant to write a bunch of useless scribbles."

[frozentear]

He looks back at the paper and... huh. So Ankh can't read that? There must be something preventing it... But, he can see the scribbles.

"I'm going to try something else. Wait here."

He goes back to the bedroom to draw a bunch of curly lines on the wall around one of the stained glass windows... but which one? He knows one is false for sure. There are two others with people he can't remember - people who could be family, if he had any memories about them. The last one seems true, but... what if he had brought people with him when he went off to watch the city and he just had no memories of it?

Some time later - longer than it would have taken just to scribble around the window - he returns to the restaurant with the pen.

"Go look at the bedroom."

[notsogreedy]

While he waits, he goes and gets another popsicle. Now that he knows the game, he wants to keep eating these while he still has a sense of taste. It's already odd when he's missing some of the texture, but it'll do. When Sebastian comes back, he takes the half eaten ice pop with him and goes to look at the bedroom. Around one window are some of the most bizarre looking scribbles he's ever seen, but they seem to only be around one window. It's the one he might have guessed regardless. Sebastian desires excitement and escape. It's the only image that fits.

He glances back to Sebastian, gesturing toward the window. "You marked this one." It's not phrased as a question, though he is looking for some kind of confirmation. He wonders whether he'll get any.

[frozentear]

"Uh... I... used the pen in this room?..." It's the closest he's able to say, despite knowing he marked a window and it being blatantly clear that he only marked one window.

[notsogreedy]

"Heh." Well, it was a long shot, anyway. "I guess that's good enough." It's the same one he would have guessed regardless, so as of right now, he doesn't really have any reason to doubt whether the marks are in the right place.

"If we can get everyone else to do this, then my job will be easy." And frustrating and awful, given what happened with the first one. But easy.