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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Comments

[baebladie]

[ Well, Blade will keep it up. After five, six, several times...

...

In fact, it is almost as if he doesn't know when to give up. Or to stop. So, things will be like this for awhile! ]

You don't seem worried at all—pretender.

[calamitish]

[ oh my god sure, they're doing this. ]

I said my magic was strong, didn't I!? [ but there's a smirk only blade will see as he gets particularly close on one attempt.

yeah, someone's a dirty liar. ]

[allrounder]

[ He imagines it with her, closing his eyes and picturing the solitary stars, accompanied by the little dots that wash across the sky. ]

Hmm, I quite like that. A reminder that one is never truly alone, despite the distance that may sit between us.

[allrounder]

[ He's right—anyone powerful enough to bring all of them here is in turn powerful enough to conceal their method.

Does that stop G'raha's optimism, though? Well... no. ]

Right you are! But remember, anything that can be concealed can thus be uncovered!

[coldseep]

( )

I passed by it a little earlier. Want to walk with me?

( It might not be the most direct path there, but they'll get there. )

[coldseep]

( omg!! sharktales©!! )

Can you speak the language of the sharks? Or does the shark speak the language of man? How did you help them?

[allrounder]

Correct! The high volume of swords also suggests a desire to stray from the technological advancements of weaponry and keep towards more traditional methods of defense and offense.

[ He smiles. ]

Or, quite possibly, they do not have anything particularly advanced at all.

[ It reminds him of the contrast between Eorzea and the Garlean Empire. ]

You have an eye for strategy. Your observations give us an image of the sort of place we're in beyond weaponry.

[coldseep]

Oh! They're similar to me, then.

( He smiles, seemingly delighted that there exist similar kin on other worlds - where all else is unfamiliar, some form of them persists, if in some parallel form. )

Me, I'm known as a dragon.

[remainsilent]

[ While the Trailblazer creed is to help others, Dan Heng himself have his own limits. Being taken at such a crucial time and leaving Caelus behind in that world without someone to watch his back is... there will be no clemency from him ]

I do not intend to go back on my word.

[ If Blade even remembers that. ]

I will however fight you if it becomes a problem. [ Blade can have his favorite punching bag, but he will not kill him. ]

[antemeridian]

Accomplished? What do you mean by that?

[ That is, perhaps, not the word she would have used for some of them. ]

But it's much the same for me. If there's some common element, or unifying theme, or something that connects us... [ Her mouth presses a little thin. ] I haven't found it.

[distain]

[She suddenly wishes she hadn't shared. It rises up hot and fast in her throat. He can't possibly understand, no matter what he says. He doesn't know what it's like to be alone.]

The sky is suffocating. [Her voice has become a bit more brooding.] Yet there are still bright spots within it. If we all come from different stars, as you say... just what is this one supposed to be?

[whileaway]

Not for everything--that's not a particular skill of mine--but a sealed jar has less that could be wrong with it than an opened one. [that would give only one potential contamination point, which they're all at the mercy of regardless.] Plus I would prefer figuring out the flavor before I open the jar.

[ You don't expect him to snack on something weird flavored, do you?]

[fourtuity]

[ Hmm, something to file away for later. ]

I'll share with the class when I'm sure, and it won't be cut off the moment I say it. Just considering those plaques in that one room, it's hard to say this isn't intentional, y'know?

[fourtuity]

Oh, I see...

[ Okay, she doesn't, but she doesn't have anything against this chill guy. ]

Yeah, that'd be harder to find. Maybe if you drop something for them, you can follow them back?

[oncefallen]

[He notes that "here" at the end of the sentence.]

Because your abilities have been sealed as well, I assume?

[dumbface]

Why? [ aggressive, but a second after his expression subtly changes, growing more thoughtful. it's not a bad question, he guesses. he did just kind of suddenly wake up here, which is weird.

so. the last thing he remembers? the last thing he remembers...

he thinks for what is probably an unnecessarily long time, but considering they were about to fisticuff a second ago this is an improvement. he could keep being rude back! and maybe punch the guy, but he's slowly switching gears instead. ]

I ate something delicious.

[frostlight]

I'm not a fairy.

[She says this plainly and without bite, though the reminder of another time at the question of threats twitches an eyebrow.]

They tried, but their threats always turn up empty in the end. Their mistake was to think I'd be afraid of them in the first place.

[frostlight]

So long as we know the destination, it shouldn't be a problem . . . unless you know something?

[caporegrimme]

[Seeing someone else eating the bread takes him aback. Why are you so careless?]

We're in a place we don't know. There's no reason to take the risk.

[Truthfully, even if someone ate all the bread, he'd still think something is off! Because what if this bread isn't poisoned, but then more appears, and those are the ones poisoned? It's not really paranoia, really, that's just being reasonably cautious, in his opinion!]

[fourtuity]

That's one way to put it. This place is a total mystery to me. Never seen it before in my life.

[oncefallen]

[... oh. Now he's definitely pinged.]

The rebellion?

[Do go on.]

[fourtuity]

[ Just the question itself is enough to make her grimace. ]

I'd say "not again". If buildings counted as labyrinths.

[ocenon]

[ ........ uh. Okay. He'd make some kind of weird comment about how Saber isn't actually his name, but, like... ]

I am grateful your assistance, Cain. [ ... ] Can I ensure that you will be able to keep an eye out when you are unable to see myself?

[ocenon]

I suppose the people who built the city must have had some sense of humor about them, really.

[ Again, mages, so no. ]

How peculiar. I would think that it'd be bold to use any kind of magecraft to pull someone like this in the middle of a crowd of people, but perhaps they're not interested in keeping anything secret.

[ like he's one to talk. ]

[diel]

Oh, you mean they’re dramatic. I know someone like that… If you don’t like it, why don’t you… um, have them fill out a form instead?

[ seems like an easy fix. ]