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

media room

[immaculacies]

[ Manaka was just passing through, but... There's another girl in the way of her investigating the television. Manaka waits for her to finish up what she's doing and move; however, after a few seconds, it becomes apparent that— ]

Um... Do you need help?

[imozon]

[She tries to push the tape in one more time. It doesn't go in, and the tape makes a sound like it wants to break.]

I almost have it--

[And then she stops and turns to look at Manaka.]

...are you saying you'll help?

[immaculacies]

[ A faint wince pulls at Manaka's face, simply in response to the sound of the tape's casing creaking. It's no skin off her nose if it does break, but... ]

Mm-hm. [ Manaka lowers herself to be eye-level with the VCR, and then she gentle takes the tape out of her hands. A second later, she turns it over and hands it back. ] You were trying to put it in upside down. And backwards.

[ She says as much very politely. ]

[imozon]

[Dark Dream just... stares at her.]

You didn't even know me, and you really just helped me.

[immaculacies]

It isn't as though I had to go out of my way for it. There are times when it's harder not to do something for someone else than it is to help them, don't you think?

[imozon]

...I don't really know. I've never really helped people much.

[immaculacies]

Hm... I see. Well, it's not such a bad thing to do when you want to see the VCR yourself anyway.

[ Manaka giggles and hits play. What did Dark Dream put in, anyway? ]

Helping and not helping is usually more complicated than just doing something or not, anyway. After all, my father raised me to be a selfish person, but he still expected to do chores take care of my little sister anyway~

[imozon]

[It's Sleeping Beauty, specifically the Disney animated movie.]

Hmm... so he wanted you to be selfish, but also do things for other people?

[...

Yeah, she doesn't get it.]

[immaculacies]

Mm-hm. It's a little hypocritical, right? But I guess he didn't see it that way. To someone like him, maybe it was just natural to see family as an extension of oneself. He certainly thought there shouldn't be any separation between his wish and mine, at least.

[imozon]

Is that how it usually is? I never really had a family.

[immaculacies]

Usually... Well, maybe. But that's how it is for magi, at least. They're taught to be a bloodline more than a person, and so of course they treat their children the same way. In that sense, I can't really hold it against him, you know?

[imozon]

So they value family, but not bonds...

[Hm. And to think she thought she knew how that was supposed to work.]

[immaculacies]

Ah! That's a good way to put it actually! [ She claps her hands together. ] I'm impressed...

[imozon]

I thought bonds were the whole point of a family, though.

[immaculacies]

Mm, the idea of "family" is something that's made up by people. Different groups of people have defined it different ways across different places and times, so it's impossible to give a single definition and decide that one is the "point." Um, for example... It used to be that married couples would have lots and lots of children! But it wasn't just to have children, necessarily—it was so they would have a lot of helpers to work on the lands they owned, and because it was common for kids to die before adulthood back then. So if you could ask a parent from back then about what the purpose behind having a family was, you'd probably get a really different answer than if you asked a parent from nowadays.

Anyway, for magi, bonds aren't the point at all. It's about carrying on a bloodline, to continue the work your ancestors started. Family is a tool, so it doesn't matter if your kids like or even love you. And because of that, even when you're taught that you shouldn't care about other people, you're still expected to function as one of your family's pieces. There's no point to having a useless tool, right?