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

[notsogreedy]

A
The first thing Ankh notices when he gets back to the Hub is that his senses seem to be normal. The second is the lack of a certain creepy and nauseating presence that he isn't anywhere close to identifying. Between the two, he probably is visibly relieved. He also seems a bit distracted. But that's not surprising, considering he has a whole set of memories to finish processing, not to mention whatever useful bits can be pulled out of what the cat said, and whatever that thing was. He's just going to be keeping to himself for a bit, though it's possible to approach him.

B
Compared to the silence of having his ability to sense desires being cut off for a while in his world, the Hub is almost unbearably noisy. A lot of desires. A lot of wishes to live. He's noticed before, and wondered, but he didn't have any particular reason to care. Now, though, it reminds him of something the cat said, about many Alices before who never woke up. Is that what all those are, then? If so, "many" seems to be an understatement, and Ankh isn't quite sure what to make of that.

For a while, still, he tunes it all out, lost in his own thoughts. But eventually, it's hard to ignore the fact that a couple of those mysterious presences stick out from the crowd. He's never been curious enough before to try to make them out, but at this point, after what he just experienced with some other presence making itself all too known, maybe that knowledge would be worth something. So he tries.

It takes effort. Too much effort. He doesn't get very far before he passes out.

B

[apatheticguide]

He's going to have the White Rabbit standing over him when he awakens. The guide looks largely unimpressed by Ankh's... attempts to decipher whatever might be here, with the way his good ear is angled against his head and twitching in irritation. He prods him with a gloved hand absently.

"... Having fun, Alice?"

Re: B

[notsogreedy]

The first thing Ankh is aware of is the hand poking at him, and the first thing he does is try to swat it away, still half asleep. It takes a moment longer for the rest of everything to sink in, about why the Rabbit is staring at him, and what made him pass out in the first place. It takes him a second to sit up, and it's only after that that he realises that desire he had been trying to track, which had always been distinct from the rest of the noise in there, doesn't seem to even be present anymore.

"Where did it go?"

[apatheticguide]

Yeah, he's a little confused by what Ankh's saying. So he'll just stare blankly. He's not especially sure what the other was hoping to find, here.

"... Where did what go?"

[notsogreedy]

The Rabbit actually seems genuinely confused. That's... interesting.

"So now you can't understand my thoughts?" He gives him a skeptical look, but whatever. If he's really that confused, then maybe he's not aware of... whatever that was. He stands up the rest of the way, taking a second to organise his thoughts. He hadn't gotten much from that, but...

"Does a river mean anything to you?"

[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.

[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?"

[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.

[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?"

[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."

[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.

[apatheticguide]

... Well. This is a more simplistic answer.

"In a fanciful dream like this one... well. They did not wake up, simply put."

That's all. It's easy enough to answer.

[notsogreedy]

It's a simple answer. Too simple.

"You said people can't survive here. Is that all there is to it?" They just get stuck and stay here until they... what? Die, presumably, but how and why? Knowing this place, he doubts it's anything painless. "Or is there something else that happens to rule breakers?"

A

[frozentear]

He needs to cool off before going to talk to anyone else, and it seems like Ankh is the same way. It takes some time - time that both of them seem to need - before Sebastian approaches Ankh, less hesitantly than the last time they were in the hub. He has a lot of questions. A lot.

"So... you're some kind of monster. You look pretty human to me."

[notsogreedy]

It's not unexpected when Sebastian comes over to talk to him, though he's not looking forward to the questions that he's sure are coming. He replies to those first words with a look that's some mixture of annoyance and amusement. Of course he looks human. He stole a human's body and he seems to be stuck with that form while he's in here. Not that he's complaining; he rather likes looking like this. But that doesn't mean what he is is so simple.

"You do seem like that type."

[frozentear]

He didn't realize there was a type associated with asking that question. Thanks for informing him, Ankh.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

[notsogreedy]

Well, for one, that also hadn't been a question. As for what Ankh meant-

"You believe what you see. No one said this is my normal body, or that we're all supposed to be human." In fact, he's aware of someone else who also isn't, but he'll keep that information to himself for now.

[frozentear]

He sits down near Ankh. As long as he's not outright insulting he probably won't get punched again. And he's expecting to be there a while.

"What is your normal body like?"

[notsogreedy]

Ankh directs a somewhat unfriendly glance in his direction as he sits down, but he won't tell him not to. Everything Sebastian did in there is worth a few questions, probably.

That question, though. Predicatable as it is, Ankh isn't entirely sure how to answer it. A pile of medals, something stronger but very lacking. For a long time, just a hand, and not even that anymore. As much as he wants to, he can't come up with any description that's even remotely flattering. Except for one. "I had wings."

[frozentear]

"A bird, huh?"

That's all he can think of that has wings. All of Cheshire's talk about monsters only made him think of the mines, but Ankh more and more doesn't seem like he'd belong in there.

"They're nicer than anything that lives in the mines."

[notsogreedy]

"A Greeed." Something different from just a bird, though at the same time, he's not wrong. Ankh was the King of Birds, once. But he hasn't been that for a long time.

"What lives in your mines?"

[frozentear]

"Greed?" What does that mean?

"Hmm... there are a lot of creatures that live there. I've heard some horror stories about what lives on the lower levels. Beings made of shadow and the like. I haven't gone far down myself, but everything that lives in there seems to be out to hurt you."

[notsogreedy]

"Maybe you don't belong there." Ankh doesn't know what kinds of things those are, and he probably wouldn't have any sympathy for them if he met them. Still, the way Sebastian put it just sounds very... human.

[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."