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

[xxxx_me]

...

Maybe we should start by looking for a key?

[That's definitely not a random item to search for in these circumstances.]

[theawfulaccount]

Couldn't we just imagine a key? If this is a dream. It seems easier.

[xxxx_me]

[Opens mouth.

Closes mouth.

Why didn't he think of that?]

We can try it.

[theawfulaccount]

[ Different genres come with different possibilities, after all. ]

Alright, I'll just... try very hard to use my imagination, I suppose.

[ And, feeling slightly foolish, Violet holds her hand out and attempts to focus on it. ]

I've never tried lucid dreaming, but it seems to me that it must be easier than this.

[xxxx_me]

[He'll hold his hand out too, focusing very hard on a mental image of the World Key.

...

......

.........]

...Nothing. Maybe we aren't in control of the Dream?

[theawfulaccount]

I... am not fond of the idea of someone else being in charge of a dream I'm in.

[xxxx_me]

It might be because someone else is the dreamer?

[Somewhat uncertain, though, like he's repeating what someone else told him.]

[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.

[theawfulaccount]

That might be better, whether we're in a dream or not. I find looking around is almost always useful, or at least very rarely bad.

[xxxx_me]

Sometimes it's easier to find answers that way.

[He's going to start, actually, by checking the doors in this very room! He seems almost surprised that they all open on the first try.]

[theawfulaccount]

[ She, meanwhile, is going to check the portraits. ]

It does all seem remarkably real, doesn't it? Even something this fantastical, you can still tell how it works.

[xxxx_me]

The rules might be a little different. ...Like things being able to talk that shouldn't.

[Allen has discovered More Bathrooms. That's useful to know.]

[theawfulaccount]

But there are still rules, if you know where to look. ... Apart from the ones on our doors, anyway.

[xxxx_me]

[Tilting his head in thought for a moment before nodding.]

...Yeah, I guess so.

[theawfulaccount]

If we figure out the rules, it should bring us closer to... well, something. Though I'm not sure how much we'll learn without meeting our captor.

[xxxx_me]

Yeah... I want to ask about some of those rules, too.

[theawfulaccount]

I have some questions as well. But until then, we don't have much else to do but investigate.

[xxxx_me]

Right.

[Next door reveals... Laundry!]

...Are we supposed to clean clothes?

[theawfulaccount]

I suppose so.

[ She looks down at the shirt of her concierge uniform, long past the point of "well-pressed." ]

I'm afraid if I scrub this too much it's liable to tear.

[xxxx_me]

...Maybe we can find extra clothes, too?

[He doesn't see why extra clothes can't be in a dream, at least.]