[PP-F01] Roll up, Roll up!

[Ceres 0]

An odd scene was taking place in Tolbana's main square; a woman stood at its center, standing atop a giant black box with a question mark on it, every so often she'd jump off and try to offer someone a piece of paper.

Alice handed out another flyer to someone passing by, more so - shoving it into their chest. "Here! You must! you MUST!" The player picked it up, stared at it for a moment then scrunched it up and threw it over their shoulder, completely discarding it. Without a single word to the poor woman. Alice visibly bristled as she stomped over to the crumpled piece of paper, she picked it up and carefully smoothed it out. "Shh, Shh...it's okay! You'll be used again today!" Alice turned on a perfectly polished heel to find someone else to give a flyer to. 

"Come one! come ALL!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, waving the crumpled paper to and fro wildly. "Who wants to see a SHOW! A Circus! Yes! Yes!?" Another passerby, a young woman would have the paper shoved in front of her face.

"Lookie here! Can you see! Do you want to come!?"

The lady picked up the paper and stared it it, then at Alice, back to the paper. "Uhm...I think...I'm busy that day...sorry." She shoved the paper back into Alices hands and shuffled away.

"No one wants to come Mista Tybalt..." Alice said with a sigh as she looked at the flyer.  On it, was a picture of his mask, tonnes of stars and rabbits jumping out of it, the letters said 'COME TO WONDERLAND' bright, and pastel across the top - the bottom had the location of their home. He wanted her to bring everyone she could to enjoy the festivities, their qauint little home done up - for all manner of visitors for the halloween event celebrations. Candy would be given out! Stories would be shared!

She was even on her very best behavior - no roses today.

The woman sighed and wiped a fake tear from her eye, clutching the flyers close to her chest. "No one here can see the magic....this is utterly completely oh so tragic!" It truly was a shame... No one here wanted to come play, no one here wanted to escape from their dreary boring lives. All they wanted was to fight and be strong - but where did that leave them? It felt completely wrong!




Ceres | HP: 720/720 | EN: 90/90 | DMG: 8  | true Toier 5

WC 406                                                                                                              

Edited 4 hours ago by Ceres

[Scar 0]

Jack was wandering through the cobbled streets of Tolbana, taking in the usual bustle of the town square, when something caught his eye. There, in the center of the square, stood a woman atop a giant black box, its surface marked with a bold, glaring question mark. At first, he froze, uncertain, a flicker of recognition cross his features. The way she moved, the sharp precision in her gestures, the energy she radiated it all felt familiar.

It took only a moment for him to realize who it was. Alice. The same Alice he had met on the Eighth Floor. A ripple of unease ran down his spine, and he hesitated, instinctively putting a cautious distance between them. Memories of their last encounter lingered, her strange intensity, the unpredictability of her actions, the sense that anything she touched could become chaotic. He didn't want to get near anything she held.

He watched her closely. She was handing out flyers to passing players, shoving them into their hands with an almost desperate insistence. One player had picked up a flyer only to toss it back over her shoulder without a second thought, indifferent. Jack observed Alice's reaction: she stooped to retrieve the discarded paper, smoothing it carefully as if it were fragile, before searching for the next target. She moved with energy that bordered on frantic, a whirl of motion in the otherwise mundane town square. Jack's eyes narrowed.

Another player took a flyer, scrutinizing it for a long moment. Then, as if unsure what to do, they returned it to her. Nothing happened. No dramatic response, no display of magic, no sudden reaction. Alice simply accepted it and pressed on, waving the next flyer toward an approaching passerby. Jack let out a slow exhale, a mixture of curiosity and caution.

Step by step, he moved closer, maintaining a safe distance. His body tensed slightly, though his hands remained deliberately away from her, signaling no aggression, yet ready to act if necessary. He wasn't here to engage recklessly. He wasn't here to play. His priority was simple: ensure that no one around them was put in harm's way. Though unarmed, his posture was protective, alert.

Finally, stopping a few paces from the black box, Jack's gaze locked on her. Cold, unwavering, and measured, it held a quiet intensity. "What are you doing here, Alice?" His voice carried, low and firm, cutting through the noise of the square. There was no warmth, no overt friendliness. His tone was controlled, carefully neutral, but beneath it lingered an unmistakable edge, a mixture of suspicion and the readiness to act should her actions prove dangerous.

He stood there, silently watching, taking in her every movement. Flyers waved, players shuffled past, yet he remained focused, unmoving, assessing her intent. His expression betrayed nothing, his presence a calculated barrier between Alice and anyone who might inadvertently get caught in her schemes. The moment stretched, charged with quiet tension, as Jack waited for her to respond.

* * *

WC: 498

Spoiler

Scar | HP: 640/640 | EN: 102/102 | DMG: 23 | MIT:20 | ACC:1 | BH:7 | LD:5 | True Tier: 4

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Scar

[Ceres 0]

What are you doing here, Alice?"

The nuances were lost on the woman with not one too many screws loose, but all of them. "Me?" Alice bent over backwards, a deft skill of balance till her eyes landed on "Oh!?" She recognized him almost instantly. Alice straightened her back and turned till she faced him, throwing up the fliers into the air, some landed on the floor - others in the nearby fountain. "WELL! Well, well! Isn't this Swell!" A high pitched sing-song voice. Never quite in key - always lilting in pitch and volume. "If it isn't my ONe EYeD JacK!" She took three steps forward, toward him. The man visibly stiffened, and straightened his back. His gaze never wavering from her erratic movements.

"WHat am I dOing!?" A flourish of her hands, and fresh stack of papers sat in them, pulling them from who knows where, Alice bowed to the man and presented him a flyer. "Mista Tybalt is inViTinG everyOne! Not One! No-One, someone, everyone!" She bounced up and down in front of him in sheer excitement, here was someone who had seen it. Experienced it, she didn't know what he had seen but he was in a daze! For Days! So close, he was so very close to experiencing what she had. The boring drole man... "A SHoW! Ah! WonDerLand! For the SeasOn! Our Home! Your Home! yES?" Tybalt had opened up the house to the local festivities - something about a Halloween event - and was lamenting at how there had been no visitors thus far. 

"Did you want- Oh!" A pause as someone brushed past her and Alice would distract herself in following them, till they finally took a flyer and shoved it in their pocket. All seemingly harmless, and yet there was an unnerving way in its execution. How her eyes were so wide they were watering. How every time someone denied her, an eye would twitch, and fingers would tighten their hold on the paper. A hitch in her breath. Struggling to keep it together. Still, they were in a safe zone - no weapons were drawn - and even if they were - the systems would not allow the death of a player here.

Returning to the one eyed Jack - Alice continued her conversation. "MaGiC!" She cried out in sheer glee, reaching forward - her fingers brushing his ear and wouldn't you know? She held out a simple chocolate coin to him. 
"SeE!" The very first trick Tybalt had shown her, although this was no ear - just simple, sweet, chocolate. "YoU will eAt it won't You?" SHe asked, trying to push it into his hands. "Go On! It's a sweet treat! You Look like you could use it! SuCh a bore... SUCH a bore!"

WC: 455

[Scar 0]

Jack's eyes followed Alice's every motion, keeping a careful distance as he observed the flurry of flyers scattered around the fountain and cobblestones. Her erratic energy, her sudden bursts of song-like speech, the bouncing excitement, and the chaotic precision with which she handled each paper, set his nerves on edge. He hadn't forgotten their previous encounter on the Eighth Floor, and every instinct told him to stay alert. Still, there was something undeniably compelling about her presence, something that drew his attention despite the unease curling in his stomach.

Her voice rose in a wild, high-pitched melody, singing his name like it was some grand announcement, and Jack's jaw tightened. One-eyed Jack, she called, and he could feel the weight of her recognition, her unfiltered attention. He straightened, spine rigid, refusing to let his eyes waver even as she danced forward in her unsteady, energetic steps. He kept his hands tucked at his sides, away from the flying papers and her unpredictable reach, but he remained ready to intervene should her actions inadvertently harm anyone nearby.

“MaGiC,” she cried out, her words tumbling over one another in chaotic excitement, reaching toward him. Her fingers brushed against his ear as she thrust a simple chocolate coin into his hand, an innocent gesture disguised in her signature frenzy. Jack's grip on the coin was measured, deliberate, cautious. He held it but made no movement toward consuming it immediately, his gaze narrowing as he studied her expression. The wide, watery eyes, the twitching of her pupils, the subtle hitch in her breath, all of it spoke volumes, unspoken messages of obsession, exhilaration, and something else he couldn't quite place.

Jack's mind calculated, dissected, and cataloged everything. She was harmless in this zone, yes, but the precision of her chaos, the uncanny ability to compel attention, suggested a depth he wasn't willing to ignore. He remained unmoved by the performance, letting her energy crash around him like waves on stone. "Alice," he said, voice calm but edged with authority, cutting through the whimsical noise, "You're making a spectacle." He took a measured step closer, still keeping space between them. "I don't doubt that Tybalt's event is.. important. But there's no need for anyone to feel pressured or unsafe. Do you understand?"

His gaze flicked to the flyers scattered on the ground, then to the players who had pocketed them reluctantly, glancing nervously at Alice's unpredictable gestures. "You're lucky this is a safe zone," he added, tone dry. "Any less controlled environment, and your.. enthusiasm.. could get someone hurt." He finally allowed his eyes to soften fractionally, the faintest hint of curiosity breaking through the cold exterior. "I don't know what you've seen, or what Tybalt showed you, but it's.. clear you're invested. Too invested, maybe."

Jack's hand lifted slightly, as if to take the chocolate coin, but he didn't, weighing the gesture. "I'll accept this," he said, nodding once, slow and deliberate, "On the condition that you keep your.. magic.. contained for now. The chaos is impressive, Alice, but it doesn't need to spill into danger. Not here. Not now."

He studied her for a long moment, then allowed a subtle shift in tone, softening just enough to carry a hint of reluctant agreement. "And.. I'll attend the event," he said carefully, measuring each word. "Tybalt opened his home for this season, Halloween, I think? and if it's safe, then I'll see it through. I'll watch. I'll participate.. but under one condition: no one gets hurt. No one."

Jack's gaze drifted again, scanning the square, noting the scattered papers, the distracted players, the watery, intense eyes of Alice. His posture remained upright, alert, cold, but there was a measured patience to it, an acknowledgment that while her energy was unpredictable, it was fascinating. Dangerous, yes, but fascinating. He waited silently, allowing Alice to continue her show, his presence a calculated buffer between the chaos she created and the unsuspecting players around them.

* * *

WC: 658

[Ceres 0]

“Oh Please!” Borderline begging him to just taste even a sliver of the treat she had given him. In absolute sheer delight. “It’S goOd! SeE!” Alice reached out behind his other ear, then pulled out a second chocolate coin, dropping the flyers she was holding at her feet - she started to unwrap it and then popped it into her mouth. One of the true delights of this place, the food - the food was always so good! So tantalizing! So tasty.

I wanted to explore the floors and taste everything…

Alice tilted her head at the thought. “Hmm?” She chewed slowly and swallowed before tilting her head to the side and banging her ear, as though she was trying to dislodge water. “I thought I heard something…” She muttered to herself, going as far as to stick her finger in her ear and twisting it. “No…No its gone. Gone. GoNe. GonE. gOnE.”

A gust of wind blew the last of her flyers away - and Alice simply waved them goodbye, perhaps she should have made them a little heavier? Stronger? Perfume? Who knows! They were gone now. Nevermore. Out of sight. Out of mind. “Byee~”

"Alice- You're making a spectacle."

“Of CoURSe!” She shouted loudly, brandishing her hands as she threw confetti into the air. “The WorLd a performanCE! A pHenOmenon! A StaGe!” Alice turned back to the One Eyed Jack. Eyes twitched - smile faded slightly as she leaned in close to him.

“Why yOU of ALL pEople…one eyed Jack…” A flat palm against his chest. It was disappointing to have him ruin such a festive time. To try and quiet the rowdy. To force her to conform to the norm.  “YoU don’t WanT that AgaIn?” She asked, not a threat, curious. Why he was so against fun.

Alice stepped away, uncaring to his plight. “UnsaFe? Oh nonononoono my PRECIOUS! One. Eyed. JACK!” She accentuated his name with a lavish point at him pulling out a single red rose, completely normal this time - she didn’t have her special summer roses. “SaFe is a conStruct! Don’t you know! You’re safe! Tis nothing more than a Show!” She shook the rose and the petals fell off, harmlessly falling to the floor.

“See~ SEE~!

He was unmoved by her attempts.

 "You're lucky this is a safe zone," 

Alice giggled, covered her face then broke out into full maddening laughter, throwing her head back and covering her face. “Oh! Oh! Do you hear that!?” She asked absolutely no one next to her, nudging them with an elbow. “I’m lucky! Ahhh! Safe zones! Another construct! Is Safe Really ever TRULY safe?  How do you KNow!?” She asked, her giggles dying down. Her voice lowered into an eerie calm.

“Do you believe the words of a man who lured you into a world with false promises? Created a digital paradise? What stops him from changing his mind!? What if left was right and right was - “ She produced a tophat and pulled out a rubber chicken from it. “A-well that’s not right, thats a rubber chicken. But it COULD be right!” She tossed it carelessly over her shoulder and placed the tophat upon her head.

“CoNtrol…conTrol…how drole…so drole…” Alice approached him again, encroaching on his personal space.

“HuRt? Why?” A tilt of her head. “MiSta TyBalt…inVesTed? No. I’d Do Anything. For MiSta TyBalt.” Her eyes widened. A shaking hand reached out to him. “MiSta TybAlt saved me. I am Sure he can for you Too! But OnLy ONly if you Can!? Oh CaAN you!?” She asked. So curious of what he had seen out there in the forest. If he would truly enjoy wonderland. “
 

“WhAt did you See That DaY? My. OnE. EyEd. JAcK.”
 

He wanted to control her, an acceptance only if she kept herself contained. Whimsical wonderland denied. “NO!” A startling screech as she shoved him away. “You Won’T! No WonDer MiSta TyBalt wanted you - No NOnono no NO!”

Conditions and controls, no. she would not bend to such conformity.

WC: 663

[Scar 0]

For a long moment, Jack said nothing.

The plaza had grown quieter around them, not in sound, but in focus. Every laugh, every footstep, every chatter from passersby faded into something distant and hollow as Alice stood before him in her chaos-made-flesh. She was a spectacle, yes, but she was also something else entirely, an echo of the world’s madness given voice and color.

He looked down at the chocolate coin still in his hand. Her voice still rang in his ear. "Oh please!" she'd begged, her tone somewhere between delight and mania. He wasn't sure what made him do it. Maybe pity. Maybe curiosity. Or maybe he was just too tired to fight her storm.

He unwrapped the foil with a faint crinkle and bit into the chocolate.

It melted almost instantly, sweet, cheap, a little too rich. But the moment it touched his tongue, there was a flicker of something real. He hadn’t tasted anything quite like it in months. The flavor anchored him, reminded him of the line between illusion and reality, though that line was fading fast.

Alice had already moved on. Talking to herself, pulling another coin from behind his ear, muttering about sounds that weren’t there. Her fingers dug into her ear as though trying to twist the noise out of her skull. Jack just watched, silent, as her fliers danced away on the wind. She waved them off like lost memories. "Byee~"

He exhaled, half a sigh, half a prayer. "Alice-"

But she was already proclaiming to the world again, loud and jubilant. Confetti burst from her hands, fluttering like fragments of her thoughts. She was laughing, spinning, alive in a way no one else dared to be.He folded his arms. "Alice, you’re making a spectacle." Her reply came sharp and joyous, "Of CoURSe!" and the world was her stage again. She threw her arms wide, confetti cascading around her like snow. For a moment, he could almost see what she saw.

Then her expression changed.

The laughter faltered, smile thinning to something brittle. Her steps slowed until she was suddenly in front of him, too close, her hand pressing against his chest. Her eyes were wide but not wild now, focused, searching. "Why yOU of ALL pEople…one eyed Jack…"

He didn't move. He could feel her hand tremble faintly through the fabric of his coat. Her next words, "YoU don't WanT that AgaIn?" carried no accusation, only a strange, soft ache.

Jack's brow furrowed. "Want what again?" he asked, voice low, though he wasn't sure she would answer.

But she didn't. She was already gone, spiraling into another tirade, about safety, about constructs, about the falseness of the world. When she produced the rose, he found himself staring not at the flower but at her hands. The delicate way she shook it. The way the petals fell like tiny red tears at her feet.

He didn't flinch when she shouted "See~ SEE~!" He simply said, "You're lucky this is a safe zone."

Her laughter in response chilled him more than any threat could. She clutched her face, head thrown back, laughter bubbling out until it almost cracked into something else, something sharp and pained. And then she spoke again, words tumbling faster, faster, questions bleeding into questions.

"Safe zones! Another construct! Is Safe Really ever TRULY safe? How do you KNow!?"

Jack said nothing. Because she wasn't wrong.

He'd seen enough outside the walls to know safety was as fragile as belief.

She went on, talking about the man who built this world, about false promises, about the illusion of control. He wanted to interrupt, to tell her to stop, to breathe, but when she pulled the top hat from nowhere and produced a rubber chicken, he froze. The absurdity of it was both ridiculous and disarming.

He almost smiled. Almost.

Then her tone shifted again. Quieter now. Darker. "MiSta TyBalt saved me. I am Sure he can for you Too! But OnLy ONly if you Can!? Oh CaAN you!?"

Her trembling hand reached for him. Jack caught it before it could touch his chest again, fingers closing gently but firmly around her wrist.

"I saw enough that day," he said. His voice came out rougher than he intended. "Enough to know what’s real, and what isn’t. But maybe.." He paused, eye softening. "Maybe I should see for myself what this Wonderland of yours really is."

Her next words, "WhAt did you See That DaY? My. OnE. EyEd. JAcK." cut through him like a whisper from the dark.

He met her gaze. "Things that don’t stay buried," he answered simply. "Things you wouldn’t want to remember."

Then came her sudden scream. The shove. Her fury boiling over in fractured syllables, "You Won'T! No WonDer MiSta TyBalt wanted you, No NOnono no NO!"

Jack stumbled back but caught his footing quickly. His coat flared with the motion, his boots grinding against the cobblestone. For a long second, he stared at her, at the madness, the brilliance, the tragedy burning behind her eyes.

Then he stepped forward again, calm but resolute.

"You're wrong, Alice," he said quietly. "I'll come. To Tybalt’s event. To Wonderland. I'll see it myself."

He lifted the half-eaten chocolate coin between two fingers. "Maybe I'll even bring a few of these along. You seem to think they're magic."

A small, humorless smile tugged at his mouth.

"Let's find out if they really are."

* * *

WC: 903

[Ceres 0]

“....what….is real….?” The words fell from her lips in a near hushed whisper as Alice lowered herself into a crouch. Eyes shifting to and fro as though she were watching ants marching across the pavement, back and forth and back they ticked. Real… what… was… She forced her eyes closed. The sweet taste of delicate chocolate still lingered upon her tongue. The scents of fresh water from the fountain beside her. “...Real….” She closed her eyes. Her head swam, it hurt.

In that moment the erratic woman seemed calm - almost too much so. Sitting silently like a statue, and it wasn’t till one of the flyers fluttered back down to the ground, landing in front of her did she open her eyes. Coming face to face with the visage of Tybalt.

“Mista….Tybalt?” A hand slowly reached out to pick up the paper. Flashes of his laughter, a contorted body - screaming - pain. Ceres flinched.

Then, the scent of fresh linen - the taste of Strawberry milk, the laughter broke as her lips twisted back into that unnerving smile. “My reality is DiFfErent from YouRs!.” Alice said through bubbling and rising laughter. She shot up with a jump, brushing herself off. To the discerning onlooker they’d have seen two errant tears trickling their way down her face, but Alice did not notice. Alice did not care.

Alice faltered for a moment, but a moment was just a flicker, and a flicker was nothing to consider! Too small to worry, pushed down squashed in a hurry! “EnouGh!?” Alice asked, prancing her way over to him again- two palms to his chest, pressing forward and encroaching on his personal space. “BurRied! Let us get a SHOVEL! Then my OnE eYed Jack!” She sang - “I wAnt to SeE what you Saw! OH! AND YOUR nIgHTMARRES!”

A rough tug on his arm as she looped her own around his, pulling him toward the teleportation gate, he wanted to see wonderland! Mista Tybalt wanted the man dead, a rose, red.  But perhaps she could change his mind instead!

“Red RoSe, ReD RosE~” Alice sung happily to herself in time with each step she took. A visitor, willingly oh so willingly ready to see wonderland! How exciting. Exhilarating!

What would spill forth from his mind?

 — — — — — — — — 

Meanwhile… Somewhere, sitting in an inn - in the Town of Beginnings, hidden away from the world sat a woman who quietly watched the world go by, hidden behind sheer curtains and purchased delicately on a windowsill, trembling hands typing out messages at furious speeds.

Alinta → Scar: Hey
Alinta → Scar: You…don’t have to answer me, I know last we saw each other was… kinda awkward.
Alinta → Scar: But I miss you.

A pause between them of but a mere minute.

Alinta → Scar: Forget I said anything. Take care, Jack.

A sigh, as she shifted, away from the window - leaving that dark lonely room to explore a world outside.

 — — — — — — — —