(open) alice in yogen...land

[shimashima]

Who: Alice and anyone!
What: Awakening + some post-arrival catch-all content for variety (library studying efforts; music room moment of silence; attempting to carry out his "three hopeful deeds" quest; testing whether he can bathe without summoning his fairy godmother at awkward times or prove that it was all a prank after all).
When: Late January and probably early February.
Where: First floor hallways and locker area; library; music room; dorm building common room and bathrooms; anywhere you want to run into him to aid his mission.
Warnings: YTTD spoilers and discussions of death in some threads.


a. first floor — counselor's office to lockers: awakening

[ Alice blinks, shaking his head as he catches himself against the doorway. The fog hampering him barely lifts; something feels off, but it slips through his fingers as soon as he pursues it. Finding a mysterious surprise in one pocket is just as perplexing — 35.4 N, 138.6 E... Whose writing is this, and why is the note in his possession? Since when...?

The answers don't come. They definitely aren't written on the walls, or the floor, or anyone's face. For now, Alice folds the scrap of paper back into a small square to store in his locker — it's possible that he simply needs to get some rest, out of sorts, he decides.

Upon reaching the correct row of lockers, entering the combination for his own, he hovers there too long, abruptly gripping the edge of the locker's open door so tightly that his hand trembles, white-knuckled, and the locker hinges creak. His other hand does the same with the front of his jacket, creasing its lapels.

This, all of this— What in the world is he doing here, classes to attend on his mind, years after already finishing high school...? In such a plain uniform, at that! It's almost as bad as enduring the restrictive shackles of "slammer style"! These thoughts hurtle through his head, wherever they came from, knocking loose question after question, each one more dizzying to ponder than the last.

He shuts the locker, and thinks of countless others lining a white room. He opens it again, merely to continue peering inside at its perfectly normal contents, seized by the absurd fear that he'll come face to face with a gun-wielding schoolgirl. But that can't be right — she was outside—

In some sort of nonsensical dream, yes? ]

How... how ridiculous...!

[ Open, shut. Open, shut. A white room with a stained ceiling. Perhaps it would be best to turn around and leave for a change of scenery, but he can't seem to clear his head for that, soon clutching onto the locker partly because his knees might buckle otherwise as one hand tugs at his shirt's collar. ]

b. library: totally blending in

[ The spectre of finals week may have been vanquished for the time being, but this is still a school, and the start of another semester heralds the inexorable approach of further torment. Not only that, but if the rumors are to be believed, this particular school's methods are plainly insane, the biggest yikes imaginable! It's like a death game, culling students so cruelly...

As tempting as it must be for everyone to hide from it all (right?), they have no choice but to prepare in advance for whatever else lies in store.

Alice, for his part, is seated at a table in the library, textbooks and pages of notes laid out before him. A model prisoner elsewhere, it should be a piece of cake to mold himself into a model student here, thanks to the completed high school experience under his belt, thus setting an inspiring example to follow — it's the least he can do now. And so, with what might be unexpected diligence, he turns page after page, the tip of his pen scratching across paper, covering the sheets in neat (if somewhat odd-looking) handwriting.

Consequently, the look of concentration he wears is particularly intense, closer to scowling at the study materials in front of him — at least until he pauses for so-called furtive glances cast around rather conspicuously. Eating in the library is surely forbidden, and he knows better than to try his luck here, even with his unparalleled capacity for stealth, but how can anyone focus uninterrupted for hours on end on an empty stomach?!

All the same, despite such inconvenient obstacles, if anyone in the vicinity appears to be noticeably discouraged in the face of their schoolwork today, Alice will eventually speak up. ]

...Trick questions would violate some kind of code... I'm sure of it. So it's simply a matter of studying regularly, and paying attention in class, in order to face future exams without any mental blocks... Perhaps that's the key to avoiding a terrible fate.

c. music room: reko was better at this

[ Why come here, of all places?

Alice can't play a single instrument — it makes no difference whether or not most are locked away out of reach. Even so, once he's approached the piano, he lingers there awhile, though he only lets his fingertips wander across a few keys, slowly, from left to right, without pressing down.

He does hum under his breath, just a brief sequence of notes that breaks off before long, leaving the song unfinished. ]

d. dormitory common room, various locations: three hopeful deeds

[ Support others, lift their spirits by returning hope to their despairing hearts... What a task he's been handed! Honestly, there's a part of him that thinks this is purely for his peculiar fairy godmother's entertainment. He's rather out of practice when it comes to spending so much time around others, for one — unless this school counts, hazily, and the Death Game before it — and no one seems especially inclined to regard him as a beacon of hope.

(Did his words dispel Ranmaru Kageyama's despair, that time...?)

Nevertheless, unwilling to risk something dreadful if the entire thing is true, Alice is taking his quest seriously indeed. Around the school grounds, on each floor and from rooftop to courtyard, he stays on the lookout for anyone who might fit the description of someone who has lost the will to go on.

In the dormitory building's common room, however, while he tries to surreptitiously keep up his watchful observing from a free seat, the disturbing decor remains distracting. This feels horribly familiar, too, all these paintings on the walls. ]

As if one art gallery like this wasn't enough...

e. dormitory hallways and bathrooms: haunting

[ Since human bodies continue to function as they did in life outside of this bizarre purgatory, it would be completely disgusting to have no access to running water, and so forth. Daily showers are as necessary as ever!

But with a ghostly presence lurking about, how is a man to bathe in peace?! Said ghost could appear at any moment, and if it wasn't a lie that no one else can see him, reacting aloud would arouse suspicion...

Alert, Alice does his best to tiptoe through the hallways, and to flatten himself against the walls without touching any of the paintings. It's a race against time — he can't hold his breath much longer to stay silent as he creeps towards the nearest bathroom! ]

Comments

[shimashima]

[ There's something that Alice wants to ask, suddenly, a question stirring within his heart, though he's simultaneously afraid of the answer. Train journey or no, this school is a temporary stop, a place where the dead pass through, facing trials to earn passage to the next life, then — half a year is plenty of time for a few others to have arrived here before him, isn't it?

On the other hand, his surname didn't seem to ring any bells. What that suggests is too much to add on top of the growing pile of everything else.

The silence feels heavy, stretching on for some moments, but Alice breathes in and out, like any living person. Eventually, he sits back again, loosening his grip on his clothing. ]

I suppose that's why it's a school... If we're expected to take reincarnation entrance exams. By performing good deeds, is it?

[decrypter]

I guess you could say that. Sorry I can't be more clear - even being here for months, I'm still not quite sure on the rules other than to survive, to attend classes and to graduate. Everything else is rather flexible.

[she doesn't rush him to speak before he's ready. it's a heavy thing to take in, but the way she phrased it, perhaps he will still have hope for his future. that this isn't the end of everything, it isn't Hell - she'll just not yet mention the deaths, the horrors that saturate the walls. that's harder to explain, and paints the one who reveals it as a doomsayer.]

But there's no harm in trying to be our best selves regardless of rules or no rules.

[shimashima]

You've been helpful, Helena Adams... You could have ignored me, but you didn't.

[ Had she chosen to avoid the racket instead of extending a helping hand, who could have blamed her? He doesn't expect her to have all the answers at the ready, in any case, as if she's a one-woman welcoming committee or a walking information brochure. She's truly done more than most would for a complete stranger, he thinks.

To survive... Alice's mind returns to that part — it makes the school sound closer to another deadly competition than any afterlife lobby. ]

...What happens to anyone who fails to... survive?

[ None of his guesses are comforting. ]

[decrypter]

...We've seen some of them return, so it stands to reason that somehow, they will come back. Even if that's not always as soon as you'd like.

[it could be months. it could be years. all she knows is that things happen, again and again, and the implications are that they've all been here before. even though they don't recall it. even if the marks on her wrist, hidden by her sleeve, suggest there's more at play. she can't say that someone won't appear one day to kill her, to kill him. but they're already dead once - what's another time?]

It isn't a hopeless situation, in the end.

[shimashima]

Ah... Truly?!

[ The chair making its accompanying noise over and over must be irritating, every time that Alice moves abruptly — tall and broad, not especially light (it's muscle weight, of course!), his frame evidently tests the chair's joints. Astonishment prompts the movement now; this new revelation is even more unexpected than the others, somehow.

It's the surprising notion that not surviving may not be final. In that case, it's not as hopeless as punishment, an execution, souls obliterated altogether.

It's not a death game, and Alice breathes a sigh of relief. His guesses were wrong. ]

That's... good, yes? As long as it applies to everyone, and it's unlimited?

[decrypter]

[it's fine, it tells her where he is in space, and the relief in his voice is better to hear. it means not everything is all bad, and that she can give him some degree of preparedness for the future. she nods, and raises her head again to him.]

I haven't heard of a reason someone wouldn't come back, or a limit. The only real factor is time. Of course, no one is happy to see another die, but some of it is a little easier to bear, knowing.

[it didn't make murder acceptable. it didn't make any of the deaths fine. but if she can hold hope that some day someone will return, even in this hell...one finds the little pieces of light where they can.]

It's all a lot to take in, I know. Perhaps I should have led with more practical things, like where we're staying and the like.

[shimashima]

[ Second (or however many) chances are reassuring, in the event that the school's trials rival Asunaro's insane ideas after all, but dying countless times isn't a pleasant thought. Helena Adams is right — even if nothing is permanent here, that only makes the situation a little more bearable. Experiencing death still causes people to suffer.

Alice can't deny it — it's definitely a lot to take in. ]

It's important information, isn't it? So it's necessary to be aware, and prepared... Thank you, Helena Adams. Truly.

[ Pausing, he glances around the room, at its innocuous appearance. It looks so normal, a familiar space. ]

Is there something to know about other topics?