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

[apatheticguide]

[ He doesn't say anything. His lack of movement and words should probably say enough for him. He seems to not want to provoke whatever it is. ]

[notsogreedy]

[Good job, Sebastian. Whatever it is, the Rabbit seems to be afraid of it. Ankh keeps silent as well, turning his attention back to
Sebastian and the... thing, as this progresses.

Now that the thing is making itself known while his ability to sense desires is intact, does he feel anything from it?]

[worldkeys]

[ The other senses that generally populate the room seem to have hushed in response to the much larger presence now inside it. Ankh will hear a loud noise like nails on chalkboard, and the whispering of various voices, just repeating the same thing over and over:

... No one came...

He'll be flooded with a will to live so strongly the feeling makes him ill. It fills his very bones and makes his blood boil, makes his hair stand on-end. The walls seem to be whispering, the very air seems to be alive with somethings. Wisps... of something, someones? Somebodies? Nobodies. But no one is there. Who? What? When? How? There's no one. But there's everyone, all at once. For a moment in his mind's eye the entire room distorts and stretches strangely and all he can feel and hear is the sound of indistinct, young screaming over and over.

Someone fighting against something, and the sounds of glass breaking. Then, heavy breathing.

Ownership. This is theirs. The World. This place. It's theirs. This entity--this thing standing before Ankh... is more powerful than any Greeed, any creature, he has ever run across. And the emotions built up inside it are so intense that it will be a miracle he does not throw up just from feeling how split and how many there are at once. Anger. Sadness. Regret. Loneliness. An intense desire to bring in others.

... But, a playful side, too. Something almost... childish. Saccharine. Like it wants to make everyone here dance like little toy soldiers. There is one other phrase that seems to repeat, after the other one, in his mind: I'll bring them to my Wonderland.

He will also feel something weakening in his body the longer he focuses, as if he is... unwell. That focusing on this is making him worse off, health-wise.

And then that name, over and over. Alice. Alice. Alice. It loves Alices. Alice is their favorite... there's something terrifying and sinister inside it. The emotions will continue to build the longer he tries to focus on the figure until he either passes out or stops. ]

[notsogreedy]

[Oh, yes, he feels things, and the usual cacophony of feelings from the ton of unknown sources is nothing compared to how intensely overwhelming this is. He slumps to the ground, but he doesn't pass out. It takes effort to tear himself away from that overpowering mass of desires. He can't cut it off completely, no more than someone can just choose not to hear a loud noise, but he can shift his focus to something else. Anything, as long as it's not this thing that calls itself God.

Is there anything worth noticing from the Rabbit? Or from the usual crowd of mystery presences?]

[apatheticguide]

[ The usual presences have hushed, as if trying to silence themselves in the presence of this other being.

As for the White Rabbit, he is largely silent himself. Nothing will be felt from him at all, though his gaze at the wall away from both the figure and everything happening suggests he wants this over with about ten minutes ago, and would like this experience to end. ]

[notsogreedy]

[He might find it interesting that the Rabbit shows up as so much nothing, except that he can't seem to find anyone else specific, either. It's hard to ignore the overwhelming mass of desires put forth by God when there's nowhere else to put his focus, but he tries, regardless. He's felt enough already to start to understand, and enough to find things to wonder about.

Why does it have such a desperate need for Alices? It's not as simple as wanting playthings on a whim. There are other emotions; deeper, darker things that say there's something more to it. Anger, sadness, regret... Things Ankh understands except it context he doesn't. He hates this thing that's having this effect on him, who seems to think that people like them exist as nothing but toys to play with and break and throw away. But under that are the pieces he can relate to, and there's something almost sympathetic. What happened to cause that tumult of emotions? Who was supposed to come and didn't? What's special about Alice?

He won't ask. He barely feels well enough to talk, he doesn't want to draw its attention, and he isn't sure he even wants to know. But the thoughts are there, and if the thing can read minds the same way the Guides can, it might notice that they're loud even as he tries to deny his own curiosity.

Does it notice? Does it care?]

[worldkeys]

[ Said thing does turn to glance at Ankh, sparing a small tilt of its head, eventually, but otherwise, the misty form doesn't bother him for the moment. He's given it little reason to. It does say one thing, though: ]

Will you fly, birdy? Or will you be crushed, like you crushed her?

[notsogreedy]

[He isn't sure what to think when it turns toward him, but he sits up to look back at it, wary but holding his ground. It doesn't seem that interested in him. Not nearly the way it has been with some of the others, at least. That's a good thing.

He grimaces at the words, though he otherwise doesn't immediately react. Easy as he is to provoke, the combination of what he's seen this thing do to others and the fact that it's currently hard for him to move make it much easier for him to stay put and say nothing. Inwardly, the response is much stronger. Guilt and fear and all the things he'd trained himself not to think about until it was stirred up again, not by the cat's mention, but by a voice... either hers, or just a girl, close enough. He can't claim that he'd recognise her voice now after all that time.

This time, he'll ask.]

When I was leaving that world, there was a voice. [Sebastian didn't hear it. Just him. Maybe the Cat. And maybe God.] What was it that I heard?

[Or who? It couldn't have actually been that girl. He saw her die 800 years ago so how could she be here? He's not sure whether there's a point in asking, whether he'll get any sort of useful answer, but if anyone would know, it's the thing he's talking to right now.]

[worldkeys]

[ The figure tilts its head, but then giggles, as if Ankh's question was so cute. ]

I wonder what it was. There's a lot of things that find their way here, you know. This place is like a little funnel... this little World of mine.

[notsogreedy]

[That giggle is disconcerting, and he's not sure if it's a good sign or a bad one that he seems to have amused it. The words are a partial answer, and one that only adds more questions... The same ones he had before about why this thing needs people so desperately, but also he's back to the one the cat never answered about how he can be here when he should be dead. If he can be here, and if things just show up in here, then is it possible...

No, he refuses to think about the possibility that she might actually be here, stuck in some way where only a voice could reach him. Something else, reading his mind and messing with him. That's more likely, anyway.

There's more he could ask. More he does but doesn't want to know. He'll choose the latter and stay silent at this point. The Rabbit has the right idea. Let this thing be distracted by someone else.]

[worldkeys]

[ Unfortunately for Ankh, the being has noticed, but it doesn't seem like it wants to do too much more than annoy him verbally. So there's that. ]

Poor poor Alice, with his clipped wings. Can't you fly anymore, little bird? Or maybe... or maybe, you'll never, ever, fly again...

[notsogreedy]

[Of course it's not going away, and being in a state to be harder to provoke doesn't mean he's not... well, Ankh.]

What does that mean?

[There isn't as much force behind it as there might be otherwise, but he doesn't just let that one go. It feels like a threat, the same way some of the things the Rabbit said when he first showed up did. Maybe it doesn't mean anything at all, but he can't help but react.]

[worldkeys]

[ There's a chortle. ]

I wonder, little birdy.

[ They won't elaborate. ]