Mesdames et Messieurs, Voilà, C'est Vous

[lesmodsalouette]

Bievenue

You're wrapped in a soothing, all-encompassing darkness.

Well, perhaps not perfectly all-encompassing -- you can see some slivers of light here and there, just enough to realize that your current space is literally wrapped in something, and that you are a highly customized burrito at the mercy of an entirely too fluffy bed and set of blankets. Moreover: you are definitely not alone.

Depending upon the contents of your bed (two of you, waking up dressed exactly in what you wore last you remember back where each of you came from, in the exact same state as those last moments no matter how illogical or disjointed), it may not be comfortable or feasible to stay cocooned up for much longer. There's a low, muted GONG, GONGG coming from not far away, your bed creaks like a beleaguered ship in an unannounced storm, and it is joined by even more noises of movement beyond the bed canopy as you try to take stock of where you are.

Eventually, you either fall out of bed or drag yourself into this world: your new and strangely crowded personal rooms, the clock insistently sounding out the hour, and the halls and heraldry of the venerable Château Ambregris -- a lavishly decorated and fully furnished version of a more-or-less authentic French castle (assuming you know what France or a castle are).

Left to your own devices for the moment, you may find it helpful to explore the castle for your own purposes, check out the suspicious statues and personalized plaques in the Promenade of Reflexion, or perhaps to try to get to the bottom of the mysterious and frankly alarming amount of bread piled up in front of the place settings in the Banquet Hall. (Were you thinking of escaping? Any attempts to leave the property will be met with no forward progress at all, treadmill style). There's just about every kind of loaf, roll, boule, baguette, croissant or even animal-shaped bread you can think of stacked in baskets. There's absolutely nothing else save for plain bread, but at least you won't starve.

[OOC: Welcome to Château Ambregris, a perfectly normal castle receiving perfectly normal guests. Feel free to ask any questions in discord! The NPC Meet & Greet will be later today, March 8 at 6 PM EST/3 PM PST.]

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mars

[coldseep]

( The wages of wandering around aimlessly with such little caution...

Having a gun pointed at him surprises him - but then, weirdly, seems to make him a little happy? )

A friend, if you'll let it be mutual.

[the_obedient_servant]

[They shrug, no less casual than they were in announcing it.]

A long time ago. [Not strictly true, but not strictly wrong either.]
Children tend to outlive their parents.

[antemeridian]

[ she tilts her head, just a little. ]

It can still be random, can't it? If there is as little connection between the two of you as you are saying.

[ wouldn't that speak more for randomness than if both he and someone he were closer to ended up here? wherever here is.

(she has her suspicions, but it's hard to find anything to found them on. not for a lack of trying.) ]

Still ... 'randomness' seems unsatisfying, as an answer. That is why you are trying to find some commonality or logic to it, right...?

[uiscebeatha]

[ Cain seems vaguely unimpressed by the "me bit," but it doesn't bother him. It's fine! He's clearly not a snake, so at least he can look him in the eye and talk to him :)

He tilts his head, brow quirked. ]

...I admit, I haven't really taken a good look at any of the crests.

[ Or anything that requires him to stand and look for more than two seconds... They have snakes on them???? ]

Where'd you find them?

[distain]

[She listens to his words, but the first images that come to mind are engraved plates and woodcuts, depictions of demons and suffering. Her weight sags forward a little.]

... So I've fallen to Hell, then, have I?

[Admittedly, it's a much more opulaent place than the priests' sermons and often only half-listened to had described.]

[the_obedient_servant]

Neither have I, but my point is -

All of us are from different locations - perhaps even worlds. [Definitely worlds, but that's neither here nor there.] This place has some kind of access to worlds beyond it's reach.

It's a theory without much in the way of evidence, but the clocks could be tracking time in certain locations within these worlds.

...Or some obnoxious twit decided to mess them all up for aesthetic purposes.

[coldseep]

( He thinks back on his years. In all the time he's had, what has filled the empty left by - ah; he won't think their names; he'll cry (but for a moment he seems briefly misty) - what has filled their absence? )

Nothing, really. But we live in a beautiful world, I think. I let it flow through me, and though it may pass through like a sieve, that doesn't mean I'm always unhappy. So long as you're living, you learn to live with your emptiness, or be swallowed by it.

( And he... )

[distain]

[Presuming they're near Tia's plaque since that's where she'd get to look disappointed about her name...]

Your inheritance might have something to do with it... unless this information is somehow incorrect?

[How does a woman become a Lord, anyway? Perhaps it is all a lie. (We'll unpack the spirit stuff later.)]

[antemeridian]

[ hm. she glances over more properly now, attention piqued by the unexpected candor. ]

... An interesting theory. There is not much to support it, but in the same way, it is difficult to refute entirely. Both things are certainly possible, to a certain degree.

[ idiocy, or thematic magic? who can say. ]

Do you suspect that if one were to look closely enough, they would find a clock that matches the time belonging to the place they were taken from?

[ it's light, more of a musing thought than anything more serious. there's pitfalls with this, of course; in the vein of broken clocks being twice a day, and there being so many of them here it's entirely possible something might match their recollections purely out of coincidence or happenstance. ]

[diel]

[ she keeps calling it a kidnapping but, ]

This place is full of priceless things - or it looks like it. Why would they need to kidnap us?

[diel]

[ wanna count how many? ]

You would do anything for your family, right?

[uiscebeatha]

I have, yeah. Not everyone has one, though. The tech's kind of...complicated.

[ idk what the shower lore is in wizard world please forgive me ]

How were they? Was— Oops. [ He's about to turn around when he remembers the other guy's probably naked? He can't tell, but. ] You decent yet? Can I turn around?

[arbalestrier]

[rude is his middle name nods

With that non-answer, Sousuke considers smacking the man for being uncooperative, but a niggling doubt has already sprouted. First off, why would anyone involved in an abduction put themselves so close to their captive without restraining them? Secondly, now that he's had some time to process everything, he can hear the sounds of others waking, even if the curtains are obscuring his view.

He lowers his voice, losing the demanding tone.]

Never mind that. What's the last thing you remember before waking up?

[diel]

[ he doesn’t need it. whatever settles over him dissipates as easily as morning haze. with only a faint bitterness as proof it was there at all. ]

Oh - are we going to share with everyone after?

[simulacres]

[ .... ]

For what?

[uiscebeatha]

Guess you're right...

[ It's hard for him to find the words. They're definitely connected, they're definitely allies, maybe even friends. But Cain would name at least five others before he named Bradley. If it was random, then why not pick someone else from his hometown, his home country, his home world?

Maybe that was the point of randomness... He's not the expert. ]

Hmm, I wasn't really looking, but there also doesn't seem to be anything obvious tying us all together. [ He frowns, taps his finger to his chin, glances at the plaques he can see. ] Everyone seems pretty accomplished though, one way or another. Maybe that means something.

[ Glancing in her direction, but not making eye contact. ]

You haven't noticed anything, have you?

[the_obedient_servant]

I guess if it was a personal collection... After all, they are all the same artist.

[Why would an artist paint the same thing five times? Are they stupid?]

I wonder if he has some relevance to this place.

[coldseep]

An anthill... that's where ants live, right?

( He knows ocean and ocean air stuff, but land creatures are a novelty to him. )

What happens when ( not if! ) we find an anthill? Do you just watch them go in and out?

[antline]

I want to see them.

[the_obedient_servant]

We'll utilize our monopoly over it to make them pay more and more in exchange for the controlled surplus we give them.

[We're doing capitalism, random stranger. You have no choice.]

[snakeblood]

[ It's okay, he'll keep his own amusement. There's always been only one person he tried to please that wasn't himself. ] They were in a few of the rooms I passed by. You know, the circular thing with squiggles.

[coldseep]

( 🤝 at shaking fist at canon ambiguities )

And do you dislike it? What you were put through?

[snakeblood]

Of course. Who else would I do everything for? [ ... ]

[safetycheck]

No.

[ She says it without an ounce of hesitation. ]

Yona is my dear friend, don't be mistaken. She's someone precious to me...but I'm shocked they felt the need to single her out.

[safetycheck]

...

[ This girl doesn't look like she's from Kouka, and that's an unusual name.

Yet... ]

Is this some kind of trap?