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

[soverainty]

[Oh boy. Not that she's all that well-versed on the history of movies, but I'm presuming that there are some movies closer to her era and so this is Strange. Niko frowns a little bit as she looks through.

She's also not the hugest fan of children's literature, which isn't to say she doesn't read but she's definitely more of a manga & vidya girl. That said, she probably knows different medium adaptations of these books...

What's the odd tale out?]

[whimsicalism]

[This one's pretty famous and has many adaptations so it's quite curious that this one's out.

Alice in Wonderland, as well as Through the Looking Glass.]

[soverainty]

[Oh, she absolutely knows that one, and between all the references to Queens and Cats and playing cards and everything she's already had a couple of Questions floating around in her head. Wouldn't anyone?]

Hmm. What's the point of leaving out something so famous, though...?

[She's going to look around, but she's alone for this investigation, so alas there is no such thing as asking for a second opinion or anything. Maybe later.

Anything else unusual about the collection? Also, are all the TV channels static or is there anything else to be watched on there besides all these movies?]

[whimsicalism]

[It truly is a strange thing to leave out. Actually, there has been a disturbance in the dust around the literary tapes. There's only a thin layer on this collection of tapes.

Also, it seems that the stories focusing on wars and soldiers have been shifted to the bottom. For example, the Narnia and Lord of the Rings tapes are near the bottom while the Wizard of Oz is on top.

As for the TV channels, most are just static or just blank screens with that crest you saw on the letter. There doesn't seem to be anything else on the TV for now.]

[soverainty]

[The literary tapes are the children's ones she was just looking at, right? Does it look like anything has been removed from this section or the rest of the collection, or is it just that some stuff was never here in the first place?

There's a small tilt of her head when she notices the arrangement, though, before there's a quick sigh and she crouches to get a better look. If they're too low down she might just give up and sit on the floor, but: she's going to grab a couple from each section to play through them.

It'll likely take her a bit to work out all the buttons... Though actually, is everything properly rewound because I just remembered that was an obstacle too.........]

[whimsicalism]

[They sure are! Actually, yes there have been some tapes that have been moved. Maybe four or so?

As for the tapes, not all the videos are rewound. Hasn't anyone been told to be kind and rewind before??]

[soverainty]

[Is it possible to tell what's been moved or are they gone altogether?

Also Niko is in a bit too much of a hurry to rewind all these tapes, gosh, so she's just going to put them in as-is. Which movies haven't been rewound, and have they been played to a certain point or just to the end? Although she doesn't quite have enough expertise to check the tapes themselves, she can probably mostly tell what point in the movie they're at..... This castle should really go digital.]

[whimsicalism]

[Without a list of what was here before, it's not obvious what was taken except by the obvious lack of their presence.

As for which ones haven't been rewound? A lot of them. Some have been watched all the to end and some to a mid-point or a few minutes in.]

[soverainty]

[Hmm. Well, it looks like there's also like, VHS tape debris on the floor so maybe that's what happened... Who even knows anymore. Did someone throw a tantrum in here or a tornado ran through here or something... It's kind of ominous, actually. She looks around at the empty room with what might be a spot of trepidation.

That being said, she's still going to stay close to the TV once that gets going! Which movies were watched all the way through? Maybe she'll figure out how to rewind eventually...?]

[whimsicalism]

[It doesn't seem like there's much debris left after what Dark Dream picked up, at least! Something about carpet near the jukebox looks a little different, though.

Many. A lot of stupid teenage romcom nonsense, some fictional accounts of pets or animals, some action movies, some musicals. Even some movies about war, despite them now being on the bottom. Basically, it looks like someone either didn't care about rewinding what they watched or didn't know how to. Maybe both.]

[soverainty]

[Oh, good, nobody needs that stuff stuck in their shoes or feet, if they were unwise enough to wander in here barefoot. Niko spends a bunch of time just going idly through the movies, even though she probably has other more pressing things to do, like wandering around the castle in circles.

It's fine! Sometimes you need a moment to catch your bearings. All that said, she'll just stack the ones that need to be rewound (or that she's tried to watch) near the TV and VCR, perhaps on one of the tables.

Now. What's going on over by the jukebox?]

[whimsicalism]

[Since you were looking at the ground, that corner of carpet looks a little thin. The rest of the carpet in the media room is a thick dark purple but by over the jukebox? It's a little bald and also is pulled a little away the wall.]

[soverainty]

[Hm. Well, that looks like some kind of secret passage or something if ever she's seen one! Anyone who's anyone who's into gaming or any kind of fiction can guess that much! Without hesitation she moves on over and tries to pull back the carpet.]

[whimsicalism]

[You reveal... the floorboards, made out of dark wood. There is, however, one floorboard that's splintering a little and isn't in quite as tightly as the rest.]

[soverainty]

[This time, it's really time to sit down on the floor and see if there's some way to leverage the floorboard out. She's got to watch out for getting splinters, though, so she's going to use the cape on her outfit to protect her hands and try to carefully lift the floorboard out if it'll go.

Secret passage? Secret passage???]

[whimsicalism]

[Sadly, what you find is too small to let anyone through. However, you found a secret storage hole!

That is, there's a shallow hole underneath the floorboards. Someone might even call it a shallow grave for dear Alice. There are the four missing video tapes in here, all versions of Lewis Caroll's work. There's also a small pouch of random junk.

While the tapes in their containers are dusty, the pouch isn't.]

[soverainty]

[Aww. Well, if it's a hole, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

Still, this isn't a bad haul. She's going to haul the tapes out and set them on a table nearby so they're not accidentally stepped on. Don't need any more dead technology in here. Then she's going to check out that pouch! Is there a design on the pouch? What is it?? What kind of junk is it??

One woman's trash is another woman's treasure, after all.]

[whimsicalism]

[The poor tapes have been abused enough. As for the pouch, it looks like it's more like some cloth that's been roughly stitched into a makeshift pouch. It's a nice, if old, fabric with some fluffy clouds printed on it but we all know what's in a woman's purse is very important.

Well, there's four items in it. They're rather random items, too. A fancy looking silver earring with a blue jewel in it, a a snapped string of some kind, an animal tooth, and a broken blue colored pencil.]

[soverainty]

[Oh, what a cute pouch. Wonder who it belongs to... she'll just keep it safe for now, even though she probably shouldn't be rifling through other people's things. Mysteriously waking up in a murder castle might take a little more precedence just now.

Niko will examine the items one by one. What shape is the earring? Is the string just in two pieces and is there any clue to how it might have snapped? Can she tell what kind of animal the tooth is from?]

[whimsicalism]

[First, the earring. It's one of those sorts of earrings that dangle from the ear. If it hadn't been so badly bent out of shape it might have been worth quite a lot.

For the string, it's in one piece but both ends are frayed and look uneven. It's made out of some kind of hair? Not your average twine, this is.

As for the tooth, it's obviously from a predator. How well versed in large mammal predators is Niko?]

[soverainty]

[Oh, d-ear. How exactly has the earring been bent out of shape?

She kind of. Pauses at the string, because she had to touch that to take it out........ She needs to wash her hands. Well, everything was already dusty but this is definitely unsanitary. What color is the hair, and does it look like human hair?

Hmm. She might have to go check the library for large mammal predators after this, since she's used to being able to look this stuff up online. The tooth can keep for later. Anything special about the blue pencil?]

[whimsicalism]

[Crushed, as if something heavy fell against it.

Actually, it seems to be horse hair. Something about it might be more recognizable to someone else unless she knows something about musical strings?

The pencil's lead is worn out. The broken edge is jagged as if it snapped.]

[soverainty]

[I can't believe the owner of this earring is just dead now.

... There isn't blood or anything else indicating that on this thing, right? It just looks like it was in some kind of accident by itself?

Horse or general animal hair is a little better; she's no musician, but she can certainly show it to someone else later.

Somebody definitely used this pencil a lot. If she uses it (probably to draw on one of the VHS tapes' labels), what type of blue is it? Assuming there's enough lead to get a scribble.]

[whimsicalism]

[Nope, no blood or anything like. Just... it's very squashed, the jewel seems to be falling out of it's holding, in fact. There's no proof anyone was or wasn't wearing it when was broken, though.

It's a bright blue.]

[soverainty]

[Still ominous... Still ominous... And possibly also curiouser and curiouser.

Well, there's no way for her to glean all that much more information just now with these little objects, so she's going to tuck everything back into the pouch. She'll have to deal with this stuff later. For the moment: she's going to try putting the set-aside VHS tapes into the VCR player.

How much of them were watched?]