All Hail the Queen

[whimsicalism]

[An hour passes in this strange place. There's silence for a few moments. Then loud talking starts.]

They don't seem to like me... [A young girl's voice, timid and small despite the fact that everyone can hear her.]

Does it matter? If we act like the sun or the north wind, it's no skin off our backs. [A second voice answers... the same voice? Could she just be talking to herself?] You are the Queen. All ways are your ways.

Yes. Alice is the Queen.

[At this statement, the doors quickly open. As the Queen's note said there's a large table filled with tea and sweets in the middle of the audience hall. There's even chairs for everyone. Far from the ground on an balcony is a large throne. On the throne is a young girl, with a small fluffy cat in her lap. The girl smiles briefly.]

I'm Alice the Queen.

[The cat jumps on the railing of the balcony to stare dispassionately at the gathered group before jumping on the throne herself. Within a few seconds a copy of the Queen is sitting next to her, dressed in black.]

And I'm Alice the Chesire Cat. Welcome to our Castle. [There's a dryness to the Cat's voice that is missing from the Queen's.]

I'm sure we can answer your questions! Come, it's time for Alice's Tea Party! Let's begin, Alice.

[Welcome to Wonderland.]

((OOC: It's alright to still respond to the IC intro post and there will backtagging from myself in this post if needed.))

Comments

[xxxx_me]

[...........

The Dream vibes truly haven't stopped.]

You're both Alices?

["Too", he almost adds, but he's not quite sure.]

[twinverses]

Yes, Alice is Alice.

Alice is Alice.

[They both nod, then in unison.] We are Alice, yes.

[rowboats]

[ ..................... ]

Is the kitty the one who's really in charge?

[ it seems like the cat is calling the shots, here ]

[twinverses]

[The 'cat' frowns at that accusation.]

Of course not-- [The 'Queen' cuts her off.] I'm the Queen Alice and everyone knows queens are better than cats.

Yeah!

1/2

[scratchitti]

....okay, seriously is there anyone else that is actually two cat people here I should know about? Because this is getting stupid.

[scratchitti]

[Seriously though:]

So what's your Game here, Stalker? What are you after?

[bizer0]

Only 'getting' stupid? It's been stupid since we were kidnapped here, stu~pid.

[Have fun Neku, that singsong voice doesn't bode well for you.]

[byzer0]

What are you blathering about now, stupid? [ With a complimentary sing-song to Youji's remarks ] Besides, we probably won't have our ears for much longer anyway.

[ He glances around the room, and folds his arms behind his head. ]

None of you here are really our type, but I guess things couldn't be too easy unlike the rest of you.

[caligulass]

[...

Okay you know what, she’s seen some weird stuff in her time. She may as well roll with this.]

You do know you’re interrupting important business with this, right? I don’t care what happens to Askr’s royalty, but my citizens and my future citizens are in danger. I’d be fine with a tea party later when Embla isn’t being overrun by nightmares.

[twinverses]

That's adult stuff.

Forget about it! You'll feel better.

[seventhlittlemonster]

[....]

The queen...?

[He was so confused and upset from being in this strange place... He had remembered what he was doing before he found himself here. He was... with them. All of them.]

Where's Momma? Where are my siblings?

[But did he really need to ask? He most likely already knew the answers to his questions.]

[twinverses]

They're back home, Seven.

1/2

[imozon]

[Dark Dream stomps in.]

Don't just interrupt! I was watchi--

2/2

[imozon]

[And she stops to stare at the table...]

Amazing...

[...and sits right down without questioning anything else.]

[immaculacies]

Mm-hm, okay! [ wow Manaka does not look affected by this at all ] In that case, can you tell us about the castle? Where it is, when it was built... Things like that!

[ Look, she's trying to confirm something here. ]

[twinverses]

My Alice made it.

Yup. Doesn't have to be a castle but were feeling a bit bored.

[Hm.]

[golden_king]

[ ... ]

...Mm, I can't believe someone like you thought setting up a terrible game was a good plan at all. You must have been running out of ideas, weren't you?

[twinverses]

What?

[undershadow]

[ well okay at least it's not triplets ]

Okay, we're all super impressed with the... whatever this is. Can I go now?

[twinverses]

Are you sure you want to do that?

[strictura]

[ Well, he wasn't expecting the cat to turn into a human, but he's glad he got the broader Wonderland theme part right, at least... though he's pretty sure it was fairly obvious to anyone familiar with the book.

Regardless, he hates this, and he definitely has questions! ]

What do you intend to get out of making us kill each other? You call us your friends, don't you? What's the point of bringing us here only to get rid of us?

[twinverses]

Oh, we'd bring you back. You won't stay dead for long! [If anything, this is something she sounds very serious about even if no one trusts her.]

'sides... it's the only way.

[theawfulaccount]

[ Violet stares at the two for a moment, expression neutral. That said, no one ever solved this sort of issue by standing about, so after taking in a few other comments she pipes up. ]

So you're both Alice? Are there any other Alices around?

[ The distinction between twins and triplets, after all, has been relevant enough recently in Violet's life. ]

[twinverses]

Nope.

We're just us.

[littlebratziska]

What foolish foolery is this?

[Franziska was overall not interested in anything like a tea party, but questions being answered sounded promising, so she made her way down to the audience hall anyway, and was momentarily surprised at the size of the table and everything covering it.

.... maybe later.]

Why have we been kidnapped? If you think we are going to trust you after having done that, then you are very mistaken!

[twinverses]

We have all the time we need here.

[battlestations]

[let's just get this out of the way]

YOU'RE A KID?!

[twinverses]

I'm nine. ...I think.

Not much older than that.

[byzer0]

You're not our Queen and we're not your friends. [ It's petulant but there's a certain kind of force behind it. ]

What kind of true name is Alice, anyway?

[twinverses]

[There's something in the air when he says that.]

It's our name. We're Alice.

[ballooncaged]

What's next? A mirror? A rabbit? Some old guy with a hat?

[Mizuki has just... been looking for answers all day. She's been reasonable, not disingenuously fitting the evidence to her hypothesis. Even friendly to self-proclaimed monsters. But this is it. The final straw. She just walks up to the side of the tea table, slamming her hands down on the edge with all of her strength. Flimsy wood might snap.]

IF I WANTED TO COSPLAY, I'D BE A MERMAID AT SUNFISH POCKET!!!!

[twinverses]

[It shifts but the table seems rather strong.

Hey, that guy's stories are too sad! Alice in Wonderland is better than his stories.

[rhododendronhoney]

[...okay, all these questions have put a worrying picture together in Coriander's mind. Still:]

You made this castle? Why doesn't it have a kitchen, then?

[THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION]

[twinverses]

We didn't need one.

[soverainty]

Hello, Alice-chan and... Alice-chan...? Alice-tan?

[Sometimes honorifics are useful, especially when one of your hosts turns out to be a cat all at once, or a twin, or a clone or a mirror image or any number of other things. Niko blinks at the double Alices and studies them with some confusion for a moment before carefully making her way over to the sweets table.

She's going to pull out a chair, but not sit down yet. The sweets are tempting, the sweets are beautiful, but there's so many other things to take care of. After all:]

I think we're just confused. Are you sure you don't want to join us? It's always a lot better to share teatime like this. [she gently pats the back of the seat next to her] But... I do have a lot of questions. If that's okay.

[twinverses]

We love tea and sweets, yes!

But I think a lot of people are mad at us so we're going to just stay up here for now. We'll answer questions.

[prescience]

I'm surprised you'd come to meet us yourselves.

[Oriko is smiling patiently, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes.

No...it definitely reaches them. But they're cold, politeness barely hiding tension and suspicion beneath them. Her fist clenches as she speaks, nails sharp against the skin.]

It was a little rude of us to show up without any notice, wasn't it? If only you'd invited us you wouldn't have so many unexpected guests.

[twinverses]

[There's a small shift in Queen Alice's stance. Nervousness, perhaps? She's playing with her skirt as if she's trying to match Oriko in some way.]

Alice told me everyone was coming.

[The other Alice is more blunt.]

It's our home, why shouldn't we at least say hello? After all, it's only polite.

Tea Party Is Over

[twinverses]

[It's not been a happy time for anyone, not even the Alices. Eventually the Queen speaks up. She's not crying anymore, at least.]

Excuse me, I think the tea party's over for now! If anyone wants to have tea with my Alice or me we'll be here later but...

[The other Alice picks up the sentence.]

Everyone's too cranky right now. We need to clean up. No further questions. Shoo, now, fly!

[Is this how things are going to be from here on out...? At least now you know how to contact your captors.]

((You can post top levels to this and respond to the twins and others still. This is just so we all know how this tea party ends.))