Round 1: Return from Ankh's Heart to the Hub

[worldkeys]

Who: The Alices, and the White Rabbit.
What: Everyone is returned from Ankh's Heart. YOU CHEATERS, YOU.
Where: The World Hub.
Warnings: A lovely bunch of cheating cheaters that Rabbit is, frankly, not sure if he should applaud or be exasperated about.

When they return, the White Rabbit seems like he can't decide if he's annoyed or impressed.

"... Another one, is it? Well... that was at least marginally faster than I'd expected you to go, compared to last time. Maybe I'll get them all back in a decent amount of time. I'll unlock the next Door for you, then."

As always, of course, he fully expects they're going to pester him with random, stupid questions. At the very least, he seems in a better mood than last time.

Comments

[frozentear]

"...Probably not. That's the only place in my town I haven't explored all the way, though. I can't help being curious." He can't deny that Ankh is right. He definitely doesn't belong down there. Pretty much anyone would agree... but that only makes him want to explore there more.

"You never did answer what you meant by greed."

[notsogreedy]

And that answer seems very Sebastian. "It's the same reason you don't hate this place, isn't it?" Much as it's obvious that he doesn't like the killing, it's equally obvious to Ankh that something is Sebastian is fulfilled by being here in this mess. Does he like danger or just excitement?

"It's what we're called." Much as he doesn't associate with the rest of them. The cat had made reference to his kind. The label is as simple as that. "Creatures of desire."

[frozentear]

Creatures of desire, huh... and the same reason he didn't hate this place... Even with some memories missing, he knew what reason that was.

"So you're able to tell what people are... thinking? Wanting?"

[notsogreedy]

So Sebastian had put that together. It's not surprising, considering some of the things he's said before. "What they want. I can't read their minds." If he could, there wouldn't have been any challenge to that last set of puzzles at all. Not that they were too difficult to begin with, even if Sebastian hadn't found a way to make it as simple as possible.

[apatheticguide]

[ ... Uh. Well. ]

... They're... simply monikers? It's because we don't have names. I feel as though I have been over this before.

[apatheticguide]

If he shows any recognition of what Ankh is talking about, it's not apparent on his face, although, to be certain, he doesn't emote much, so it's hard to say there's ever anything on his face at all.

"... A river? In the Worlds, perhaps?"

That's his best guess.

[frozentear]

[Sigh.]

You did say there was a reason... but okay. I guess you know what that voice was?

[apatheticguide]

... Sometimes the reason is simpler than you'd like it to be.

[ Look, not everything is a ground-shattering revelation, okay. ]

What voice?

[frozentear]

There was a voice in Ankh's heart... it kept reciting rhymes about cats, and said if everyone was Alice then nobody was. It... wasn't pleasant to hear.

[frozentear]

...I suppose that even with your game it wasn't that fun.

[apatheticguide]

[ His eyes fall a little bit, when Sebastian says that. Hmm... ]

Well, it's right. If everyone were Alice, then everyone would be nobody.

[notsogreedy]

"Tch. So you don't know, then." What a useful guide you are. Though if they are people who were here before like them, then maybe that's the most reasonable guess. Something that would only make sense to that person because it was from their world. But then why did it stand out?

It takes him a second to think that through and come up with a question the Rabbit would have a better chance of knowing the answer to. "The cat said something about people like us having been here before. How many?"

[frozentear]

"Hmm."

So Ankh was some kind of creature - a Greeed - that could detect others desires. And apparently he was different from others of his kind... maybe that was why Ankh had wound up here.

"Who was Cheshire talking about?"

[frozentear]

You know what it was?

[That's really what he wants to know. Do the guides know what it was? The cat wasn't surprised by it, so what about Rabbit?]

[apatheticguide]

He shrugs when Ankh asks that. That's a question he couldn't answer even if he wanted to. He doesn't bother keeping count.

"Only one person might know the exact number, and that would not be me. A number of lost Alices have passed through here and left this place behind; too many to count. Sometimes it is quiet for many years, sometimes they're frequent. It depends on the whims of him."

You know. The Cheshire Cat. Don't make him say his name. He hates him.

[apatheticguide]

[ He falls quiet for a moment, as if contemplating something. ]

... I can hazard a guess. There's a few things it could have been. But without having heard it myself, I cannot tell you for certain.

[notsogreedy]

He can guess who well enough. At least this is one point on which he and the Rabbit can agree. And that raises a few other questions, but first-

"How many of them didn't leave?"

[notsogreedy]

"When?" He can guess well enough what he means by it, but a few different things came up in that conversation, and he's not going to just volunteer the one he suspects prompted the question.

[apatheticguide]

Well, he may as well be level. His smile might seem cruel, but...

"If they did not leave, it was usually of their own making. Breaking the Rules will do that. But generally, a small number of them remained behind; most left. Usually the stupid, impulsive ones that don't bother listening."

[frozentear]

[Hmm... ]

I don't know about Ankh, but it made me feel sick... It laughed a lot. If that's not enough... if you hear it, you can tell?

[apatheticguide]

... That doesn't really tell me much, unfortunately. It could still have been an aftereffect of the World, or something else.

[ Otherwise, he's not sure. ]

[frozentear]

[Hmmmmmmm.......... ]

I see... So you aren't sure, then, Alice?

[notsogreedy]

So he only has an expression when delivering thinly veiled warnings. Noted.

"What happened to them?" The cat said they died, and he doesn't have a reason to doubt that, but between it being attached to these Rules and the way there seems to be something left over that still wants to live (assuming that's what those are; it's only a guess but it's the best one he has for now), he suspects there's a more specific answer. He tried to ask what happens to people who break the rules when he first got there. Maybe he'll finally get an answer.

[frozentear]

...It is true, there are several times Cheshire referred to others. In truth, he's curious about all of them, but this'll be easier if he's specific. Probably.

"...The blind girl."

[worldkeys]

[ The Hub begins to shake. Everyone inside will suddenly find themselves freezing, a ringing in their ears. A nondescript voice, sounding slightly more distressed this time, will call out: ]

You think it's funny, don't you, to try force me like this? Then how about I force you, Alice?

[ Suddenly, Sebastian's nose will begin to leak blood, and he will start feeling very ill. In a minute or two, he will begin coughing up blood, as well. The voice begins humming. It can be heard by everyone else in the Hub. ]

Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With cockle-shells, and silver bells,
And pretty maids all in a row.