You're My Friend, They're My Friends (IC Intro)

[whimsicalism]

Whatever you were doing before, wherever you were before this moment it doesn't matter. The world seems to grow dark around you: an almost inaudible giggle floats to your year before you lose consciousness completely. Other it belonging to a child there's no defining characteristics of the voice. Maybe you just imagined it? Even if you did, one thing is clear when you wake up.

You're not where you were before. The bedroom you find yourself is plush and well decorated, almost like a fancy hotel or apartment. That might be little comfort considering that it's clear that you don't recognize it. Before you rush off to explore your surroundings there's a message pinned to the door to the hall.

From the desk of the Queen:

Hello, my friends dear.

I can only hope you enjoy your new life here. For those you stirring from sleep, this is my promise that I will keep: I will let you go if that is what you desire but the price for it will be quite dire.

For my rules are quite clear that I don't wish you to leave. Yet I will, if you can take the grief.

If you wish to know my name and the reasons to my game, meet in the audience hall for tea. Tea, yes, a grand tea party for my grand guests! Cake and sweets are what we need to meet. In an hour we both will be there, no peeking before!

Signed,

Instead of a signature, there's a small feline paw print underneath as well as some strange sort of heart crest?

There seems to be others moving outside your room. Perhaps it's time to explore, to see if anyone else knows what's going on. Don't slip on the playing card (an ace of hearts, with the heart shape replaced by the strange crest). That there's a scribbled phrase of 'dormez-vous? dormez-vous?' on the card but surely one of the others slipped it under your door.

This Castle seems like a strange place ot live in... yet for now it's quiet and peaceful, even if the Audience Hall is locked.

Comments

[theawfulaccount]

You're the first of the two of you to speak to me, and if seeing a portrait means I've met someone then I'm excellent friends with Jules Verne.

hallway

[prescience]

[What terrible circumstances they both seem to have found themselves in.

Oriko herself is wandering up the hallway from Room 25, tapping the card she received against her temple in deep thought. It even takes a moment for Violet's voice to break through the haze, but when she hears her calling out, it draws her attention sooner or later.]

Oh, my. You look a little worse for wear. [How odd. Is there water nearby? Perhaps outside the confines of this barrier...or whatever the castle itself is.]

I'm beginning to fear that finding who you're looking for won't be so easy. First things first: Shall we find somewhere to dispose of that? [Oriko gestures at the mass of seaweed, able to manage a small, reassuring smile.]

[theawfulaccount]

Well, that's at least one comfort. But... "other worlds?"

[ballooncaged]

[SHE SHOULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING... BUT AW HE LOVES HIS SIS?? Mizuki knows nothing of this wholesome witchcraft.]

Oh, that's so cool! The first part I mean. You need really good balance to do that. ...I guess depending on the type of place to sleep you could need balance for that too...

[rhododendronhoney]

Well...not quite...but I guess that's pretty close. I got this after, well...facing down my own darker side and talking it out with her. It's part of me now-it's actually supposed to glow a little. [She lifts it to her eye, squinting.] I don't know why it isn't...

[ballooncaged]

They could... have a plan to change it themselves.

[Now she's on this again.]

I mean, if money is their objective, then they'd have to set up some kind of tax shelter.

[seventhlittlemonster]

Well... There was a time where One felt that way about it, but... We're all thick as thieves! We could not live without one another.

[In the gallery, he couldn't help but stare at his rather... abstract painting, evocative of a painting of St. Denis but with a darker color scheme, his monstrous features more prominent too.]

...This reminds me of one of Three's paintings but scarier.

[theawfulaccount]

But that's... lucid dreams are one thing, but surely shared dreams are a bridge too far.

[ Violet would find her understanding of the natural world challenged more than once in this place, but this thought in particular would stand out for a while yet. ]

[xxxx_me]

[Honestly, the only reason he can believe it is because he's walked through like five different people's dreams by now.]

...

Let's just try looking around instead.

[rhododendronhoney]

Well...last summer, the world of Pokemon and our world started to merge together in weird ways, and some places in our world would disappear into a weird mist and become filled with Pokemon. We had to go in there and fight our way through to bring things back to normal...one time we ended up going into a waterpark that turned out to be some kind of twisted game-show thing. [She wrings her hands together.] And it seems like it's not just two worlds either...there's other people here that know about other alternate worlds.

[seventhlittlemonster]

Indeed, she's great at it too! [He seemed happy, but he was also trying really hard this time to not show he was really sad that he's separated from his family!]

[battlestations]

[They would be roughly on the same page... roughly.]

Of course I'm refusing - I'm not some psychopath. You're not the only one with a sworn duty to protect his fellow child, either. ...Though, the whole 'Paradise' thing is new. Are you not with the Kids Next Door?

[cause like... most people with these ideologies find it eventually...]

[ballooncaged]

[Ooooh he's not dragging it out that means she should probably nudge it away from WOW LET'S MEET HER.] I haven't really had any practice like that. I focus on martial arts mostly. But cross-training is supposed to be good for you, so maybe someday.

Media Room

[littlebratziska]

[Exploring eventually brings Franziska to the media room, where she spends several moments watching Dark Dream fail to insert a video tape.]

Haven't you ever use a VCR before?

[Normally not using one, or even seeing one used, would be very odd, but given the cast of characters she has met thus far, she is beginning to think it is perhaps more normal than she would have thought.

Maybe that girl from earlier had been right, and there were multiple worlds.]

[seventhlittlemonster]

Hm... I have trained in... knitting? That's something you train in, right? [He was really struggling to think of any particular talents that he has.] Are puppet shows something you train in too? [REALLY TRYING HERE]

[battlestations]

He's a fire breathing shapeshifter, I doubt there's a prison that can hold him. He also has every villain in the city in his pocket. But as long as we thwart him at every turn, we're safe. He may be powerful, but he's still just a dorky adult in the end.

[ballooncaged]

Are you kidding? Those are totally skills! I can't knit anything at all!! And it's not like I crochet instead either.

[The way he sounds so not confident about it kind of makes it sound like he's at a really basic level but let's not judge.]

[seventhlittlemonster]

Just making sure, I can knit a striped scarf. Maybe if I had the materials, I'd be able to knit a little something for everyone... [He seemed to feel better about his skills, but... where would he find such things in a place like this?]

[byzer0]

Meeting someone and being friends with someone are two entirely different things. And who's Jules Verde, anyway?

[ He's gotta sound out that name a little bit, but he's perhaps surprisingly careful to make sure he says it right. ]

media room

[byzer0]

Does it matter if it breaks? It's probably just junk anyway. [ I swtg this won't be echoes of a robot and an otaku because for the moment, Natsuo is just peering at the tapes rather than having a go at them or shaking them. ]

exit

[byzer0]

Nope, you're all alone ★.

[ c'mon, that was too easy for him not to take it. ]

[rhododendronhoney]

Wow. Sounds like Missingno, with the whole "controlling all the villains" thing. We managed to seal him away in the end-though we had help from Arceus, for that. [A pause]

Um, let me know if you want more explanations on some of what I just said.

[rhododendronhoney]

Yeah...last summer, Earth ended up merging with the Pokemon world, and I was part of a group chosen to stop it from destabilizing both worlds. And I'm pretty sure some of us are from even more different worlds, since we have different understandings of basic concepts.

gallery

[byzer0]

Mercy? Mercy doesn't have any place here at all, and you're real stupid for thinking it does.

[ For some reason she's earning more judgement than their kidnapper. ]

[rhododendronhoney]

[Cori glances at it too, though her worried expression is more for Seven's own reaction to it.]

I definitely think they didn't get your best side.

[She looks over at her own and sighs a little.] Ah...they got my customer service face down, at least. [Her portrait shows her leaning forward in a bow with a cheerful smile on her face, hands clasped behind her back.]