Your life is a blank book

[worldkeys]

Who: The Alices
What: Time to explore C-ta's heart
Where: World number four, Blank Book
Warnings: None yet

When the Alices wake up this time, they're in a nice little house. Spread out over the couches, the chairs and the floor, so some are more comfortable than others. But when they awaken, they'll notice that there's this feeling of being watched. And with only some poking around, they'll find security cameras littered throughout the house so that there's absolutely no privacy save for the bathroom. The fridge is fully stocked, and upstairs there are three bedrooms and a single locked door. Upon that door is the sole puzzle they will find in this world, with a message.

To find the key to leave, you must find the key to this door. You have one week.

What the Alices do with their time, but something or someone is monitoring them more than usual. And now they're on a time limit, although they may notice that the night never comes or the day never changes. It'll be hard to tell how long they really have, or if time is even moving, which probably isn't helping whatever unease they're feeling. But hey. At least the house they're locked in is nice.

Comments

[notsogreedy]

[Well this seems familiar. Not the place, or the specifics, but the setup. Ankh had a smartphone and plenty of time to play around with it. He's not unfamiliar with "escape the room" games. Which is why his initial reaction to finding that note is]

One of these, huh...

[And a characteristic "tch" because those games are good for passing the time when he's really bored, not something he wants to deal with in any sort of reality. But fine. He'll be poking around anywhere and everywhere, not just for keys, but anything that seems notably out of place. It's not going to be as straightforward as just finding the key under a pillow somewhere, he knows that much.

And of course somewhere in there he's going to check the freezer, because that's a weird place for a key. He doubts there will be a key. But are there popsicles? He will accept popsicles.

Is there anything obviously out of place around, in the freezer or otherwise?]

[worldkeys]

[ There are indeed popsicles. Lucky you, Ankh. But there's also a scrap of paper buried under them. Might want to wait for it to thaw and dry off before trying to read it, though.

Something happened. I don’t remember it.
Some people were there. I don’t remember them.
But I remember what I need to do. ]

[notsogreedy]

[Ankh takes a popsicle and munches on it while he waits for the note to dry out enough to be easily readable. May as well poke through all the kitchen cabinets in the mean time. Anything there?]

[worldkeys]

[ Various non-perishables, utensils and cookware. Otherwise, not much of note. ]

[notsogreedy]

[Boring. Well, it was worth a try. And boy that note sure is cryptic, isn't it? What is he supposed to get out of that?]

Open to everyone

[He's still not sure who this world belongs to, so he doesn't know exactly who to track down about whether that note is relevant to them. Instead, he'll stop whoever he runs across and shove it at them.]

Oi. Does this mean anything to you?

For mods

[Is there anywhere around the house that would be conspicuous as a place to look for things to someone familiar with escape the room games? Because that's probably where he'll look next, in between trying to find someone who can make sense of that note.]

[frozentear]

[Time to search. His heart's not fully in it, but even if there really isn't anything waiting for him at home, the others need to go home too.

Anything under the couch cushions?]

[worldkeys]

[ Sebastian finds a few loose coins, but not much else. ]

[bakegarasu]

Otoha frowns. To find the key... a single week. What if they don't get through it in a week? That's... distressing.

For Mods

But he's not going to let that show to anyone. He'll start by poking around in the kitchen, looking behind the appliances. He's strong enough to move things a bit, if they behave like they should. Maybe he'll find something of note. Maybe he'll just find dust.

For Everyone

There's other people here, too. And adding to the watched feeling from the security cameras, Otoha is watching the other Alices. After all, he's not sure whose Heart this is. That person might have more of an idea of what to do here, after all.

[frozentear]

[It takes a while to realize Otoha is watching him, what with the sensation of being watched already there. But once he notices, he starts getting a little creeped out. That's weird, Otoha.]

[bakegarasu]

[He just blinks and keeps watching.]

[Whatcha up to, Sebastian?]

[frozentear]

[Looking for the key, honestly.

Every once in a while he looks over his shoulder to see if he's still being watched.]

[worldkeys]

Behind the microwave is a crumpled up notebook scrap.

Souls are trapped here. Lost. Wandering. Rotting.
I’ll send them to a better place.

[bakegarasu]

Well, that's not ominous at all.

... On a whim, he'll see if he can reach one of the security cameras and cut it down.

[worldkeys]

The security cameras, he will find, are indestructible.

[dolosa]

This looks like it's going to be interesting.

[ Let's go check the generic bedroom for stuff -- checking the bed itself first: under the sheets, covers, pillows. Is there anything here that stands out? ]

[worldkeys]

[ The bed looks super comfortable. It's got nice, clean sheets that were freshly washed, fluffy pillows and it's nice and warm. Otherwise, there's nothing of note. ]

[dolosa]

[ Okay, since there's nothing here -- let's try checking the other bedroom. You know, the one that isn't C-ta's. ]

[worldkeys]

[ It's a messy and unkempt room, like someone left in a hurry and someone else may have ransacked it. There's a stuffed rabbit sitting in the open, the only thing that looks remotely undisturbed.

However, upon closer inspection, the back of the rabbit has been cut into. Something has already been removed. ]

[frozentear]

Mmm... that's one word for it. Wonder what'll happen if we don't find it in a week. Though we should be able to tear this place apart by then.

[He's speaking a little slower, and might be noticeably sighing at times, but he's not as frozen as he had been.]

[dolosa]

We could "die". Or perhaps end up in a Groundhog Day situation.

[ She won't mention their prior conversation -- it's not something that she would want to bring up. ]

[frozentear]

[That's fine by him.]

So we might "die"... whatever that means here. Or be doomed to repeat it. It'd kind of suck if we had no reference to what we did or didn't know.

[So we'd better finish it.]

World End: Disaster

[worldkeys]

[ The entire house shakes, as if an earthquake has rocked it. At the same time, the entire World seems to fall into disrepair. The electricity all turns off, and nothing that isn't manually operated will work anymore. A thick layer of dust now covers everything, and whoever is with the stuffed rabbit will find that the opening on the back is bleeding profusely somehow. It's also now night outside, with a strange sense of stillness. The feeling of being watched has vanished, instead replaced with a sense of urgency.

The only light in the entire house is coming from the now-cracked door into the previously-locked room.

More than that, though, it's like the World is beginning to decay. Blood smears the wall, along with writing on the walls and ground. Liar, liar and I'm the one in control and many similar things. All of the messages are ominous, secret bits about whoever's heart this is spelled out while the World begins to slowly rot. Eventually, the only safe place is the locked room.

And it's a Japanese music room when entered, with a bunch of computers set up to monitor them all. Alice is standing in the room, as well as the White Rabbit, who is now in a school uniform. Both are staring down, one in terror or shock or something, the other with a resigned expression.

C-ta lies on the floor, in a pool of blood, with a box cutter in the back of his neck. He is obviously dead. ]

[dolosa]

So he died.

[ She's more amused than anything, even as she sighs at the entirety of this. ]

Hey, is he dead for real or is he just "dead"?

[apatheticguide]

[ The White Rabbit kicks C-ta's body aside--almost with a sort of annoyed expression--and then reveals the World Key in his pocket.

He largely ignores Rei, because the rumbling that is happening, he figures, is self-explanatory. ]

One of you pick that up, I cannot here. And hurry it up. This World... it will fall to pieces with his death.

[dolosa]

[ Well, she's not picking it up. She's just a sixteen year old girl, after all. ]

I guess we should all go, then. [ It's not her problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Let's get out our asses out of here. ]