castle_whims | THIRD TRIAL

To the court room. Make it quick, alright? I don't really know about any of you but I don't want to waste more time on a couple of bratty teenagers.

[The Queen still is silent as you descend to the court room. There are ten less of you than when you began. The podiums look empty as you go to them. Even if the podiums are getting empty, though, there is a new jury box near the Alices that is rather full... of ghosts of all the participants of the previous round you've discovered and of your dead compatriots. They don't talk but they're there. Judging. Always judging.

There is someone who doesn't notice this addition, though. Queen Alice.

The Queen is quiet but she's next to the Cat. Her head is bowed to her chest as she seems to sleep quietly. Then as movement she jolts up, smiling vaguely as she nods.]

Yes, a tea party--that's what we...need...

[Her head drops back to her chest as she falls asleep again. The Cat glances at her then back at the crowd with agitation.]

Someone is responsible for Lena and Neku's deaths. Do something about it, will you? Why did you even bring one of those ghosts in with you, anyway?

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Well, don't worry, I'm with you on that.

[ Absolutely rude as all hell, really. ]

[It is killing me that I cannot make a Jekyll and Hyde reference, because Gavroche predates the story.]

Seems a bit strange for Lena, too. But who else would she be letting write in her diary like that?

That's a good point.

[ Hm. ]

Was there ever any indication that she might have had a dissociative identity disorder or anything...?

A what?

[We still call depression melancholy in the Gavroche times. Mental health??? What the fuck is that???]

It's a disorder where a person manifests two or more distinct identities or personalities. It develops in response to trauma as a way to help them avoid bad memories.

So if she had this sort of disorder, while Lena would presumably be the original and primary personality, it would be possible for her to present as a different person under certain circumstances, and she wouldn't necessarily share memories with that other identity or know what they were doing.

Sounds like penny dreadful material. [He frowns though.] If she was that, though, and this personality wanted to kill us then would it have been out and about? Doesn't suit the purpose.

I mean, the person I know of who's like this is normally a mousy author and has an alternate personality that's a serial killer, so...

Why do you know a serial killer.

[Just here to ask the important questions today apparently.]

She was in something that aired on TV in my world. A killing game similar to this one, actually.

[ ...Also he owns some of her romance novels. ]

[Nagisa why is your taste in literature.]

You guys air this stuff on TV? I mean, I know you said the place was messed up, but that's a whole new level even for digital dystopias?

It was one of the later parts of the Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History. It was supposed to be especially despair-inducing because of the people involved, but the deaths themselves weren't really anything most hadn't seen before by that point.

............... The what.

It's really not the time to get into a history lesson.

(no subject)

soverainty - 2020-10-31 18:45 (UTC) - Expand

strictura - 2020-10-31 18:50 (UTC) - Expand

soverainty - 2020-10-31 18:54 (UTC) - Expand

[Well Gilgamesh just mentioned dark magic and suddenly there's a flicker of realization on Allen's face.]

O-oh...

Hm? Did she ever mention anything like that to you?

She...

[He droops a bit. Now that he's remembering, he's also remembering how much she didn't want to talk about it at the time.

Now he understands - really understands - why that was.]

I got a journal out of the vending machine, and it was hers. It had a poem inside about some people... [Getting side tracked.] -anyway, she really wanted it back and and told me it was about how her aunt was the sorceress of the shadows who got banished and was making Lena try to do something about it. She said...

[He closes his eyes. He's getting sad again at the thought.]

She said she was just her aunt's puppet. And she didn't know what happened to her aunt now that she's here, but they were still holding it over her.

Ah... So maybe her aunt was here all along, and when people's supernatural powers came back... that's what you're thinking, right?

[He nods.]

Given that no one seems to have access to all of their abilities, or their abilities at full strength... If she came back, she may not have had the level of control she anticipated. Right?

Maybe...

That's all she told me about it. She wasn't really used to talking to people about it, and she looked really uncomfortable even saying that much. I think she only explained it because I read most of the poem before she found me with the journal.

[And magic is not really his wheelhouse so uh

He's a little useless for conjecture here.]

So, was her aunt the person who didn't want her to have friends?

[Seems weird to her, but she's not... well, there's an argument for her being a sorceress of the shadows but that would be kind of a misleading description.]

Her aunt was a bad person. Even when she wanted to talk about it to someone, her aunt wouldn't let her.

[ Frowning... He kind of wishes he'd known this about her earlier. ]

imozon - 2020-10-31 18:27 (UTC) - Expand

That's all right, Allen. We should all know by now that she was particularly guarded about these matters.

Thank you. [Time to sit down and think about this dark aunt magic.]

That's a little different from having a split personality, huh.

Damn, that's a dramatic duck tale.