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]

[ 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. ]