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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Honestly, Nagisa has kind of already paused to look at her from a distance, even before she turns his way.

Ah... Monaca-chan would look pretty in a dress like that, wouldn't she? The color's lighter than what she usually wears, but it looks like her style otherwise...

--But then she actually addresses him, and he jumps, face flushing. Did she notice? He wasn't thinking anything improper, especially not about her...!! ]

A-ah! Um, I... [ Well, he just woke up in that room for the first time, so it's not like he has anything personal in there. It shouldn't be a problem...? ] I suppose that would be fine. I-it's down that way.

[ Manaka notices his face flush, and she tilts her head. But... Well, at least it doesn't seem like she understands what the problem is? ]

Ah, thank you very much! [ She folds her hands in front of her skirt, and then she dips in a very proper bow. ] It'll just be a quick peek, I promise.

[ OKAY, GOOD... collecting himself... he nods. ]

All right. [ Leading the way to room 6, then! ] Is there something in particular that you're looking for, or are you just comparing?

"Just comparing"... Mm-hm, I guess that's the best way to put it. [ She follows behind him with light steps. ] Yours has a window in it, too, right?

Ah... It does, but I'm certain that the scenery it shows outside is a fake. There's no building anything like this from where that scene would be visible.

[ Upon arriving at his door, he holds it open for her, and then gestures toward the window.

The view outside is of a bizarre, brightly colored riverfront shopping district, with storefronts that appear to be made of cardboard. Beyond that is a tall, twisting, pagoda-style tower against a red sky. ]

To be seeing this view of the riverfront and Towa Tower, I'd have to be in one of the shops myself. None of the buildings in that area could hold all the rooms in this place.

A fake... Mm-hm, that's what I thought. I just wanted to confirm.

[ Still, when they reach his room, she steps airily past him to examine the window for herself. There's only a brief glance at the scenery outside, before her attention seems to turn toward the window itself and the sill that surrounds it. ]

Have you been out to the garden yet? Even though it's on the other side of the building, I thought that the view doesn't line up with the one from my window. So, I wondered what I would see if I checked everyone else's.

But, hm... Yours doesn't line up with what I could see from mine, either. So it must be that they all show something different. I wonder if the Queen chose them, or if they come from us...?

[ By the end, she's half thinking out loud. ]

[ That's sort of like the question about where the information accompanying their portraits came from, isn't it? Whether someone put in the effort to spy on them and learn these things about them, or if they just ripped the information directly from their brains somehow.

In any case, he shakes his head. ]

I noticed the garden while I was looking around the library, but I haven't taken a good look at it yet. I'll have to see it for myself.

[ Though he doesn't doubt what she's saying at all. After looking around a little and learning a few things about the people here, he'd probably be more surprised if everyone did see the same view of Towa City. ]

Did your window show a place you recognized?

A-ah, that's... [ All at once, her inquisitive demeanor changes. She blushes. One of her hands comes up, and as she answers him, she finds herself twirling a lock of hair around her finger. ] Um, I've never been there myself, but I've seen it before. So, kind of...

[ Oh, uh. Not the response he was expecting, he thought that was a pretty dry and straightforward question... ]

Ah-- Sorry, was that a personal question? I didn't mean it that way.

[ Now he's blushing again because she is, and he doesn't even know why!! ]

I-in any case, they definitely seem to be personalized to each of us individually then, right?

Yes!! [ She answers a bit too loudly, but it's probably fine. ] I mean, I think they must be... I want to confirm with a few other people first, but for now, that seems like it's probably the case.

R-right... It seems reasonable, at least, given how much information they already seem to have on us. Though I'm not sure if they thought they were doing us a favor by giving us something familiar -- to some extent -- or if their intention was just to show off their capabilities.

Ah, well... I can only guess based on the castle itself, but... This doesn't really feel like the kind of place someone would make if they were the sort of person to think like, I want to make them understand how powerless they are against me, muahahaha, does it?

[ She does her best impersonation of a scary old man and everything. ]

[ so the queen is an old man, huh... he cracks a bit of a smile at that impression, but it only lasts a second. ]

Well, not that blatantly. But if their goal is to drive people to kill each other, chipping away at things slowly is a better way to make despair take root. This could just be an early, subtle way of demonstrating that they know what's in our heads, beyond what went into the portrait profiles.

Hm, but with the way the rules are written, it seems like the Queen is fine with us not killing anyone, doesn't it? It's just that it'll be boring for her to win by default. And it keeps repeating that we're all supposed to be friends... Don't you think that sounds more like someone who doesn't understand how people think?

[ ...like, neither does Manaka, but ]

Hm. I was thinking that the killing was more likely to be the real goal and the threat of losing our memories was supposed to incentivize us to do it, but I suppose that doesn't have to be the case.

[ sometimes you just jump to certain conclusions when you're from the danganronpa franchise. ]

If she's sincere about considering us "friends," then... yes, it does seem like she has a skewed interpretation of the concept, at the very least.

It might be that that's the case, too. But I don't think both those things can't be true at the same time—that it's important for us to kill, for some reason, and that what was written in the rules is sincere. Isn't it simpler to say what you mean than to put on an act that might be caught out?

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

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