1 missing screw

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

[sits crosslegged on the floor. She'd done what most others did, wake up and look shocked. Curiosity won out, and when she saw the journal on the floor she had to start reading it.]

Ok, let me make sure I have this straight. I'm in a magical castle? Some sort of nexus between worlds and this journal is how most people communicate?

[holds the journal upside down and shakes it, but nothing comes out]

I should be dead. We failed to save the world. Is this an afterlife of some sort?

Comments

[baww.livejournal.com]

[have a very high-pitched trilling coming from seemingly nowhere. after all, the best way to greet someone who believes themselves dead is with a ghost, isn't it?]

If this is the afterlife, then... [a low giggle] We are both right at home.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

[She'd encountered ghosts before, but they were usually hostile spirits. This one didn't seem hostile, yet.]

You're a ghost then? How did you die?

[baww.livejournal.com]

[have a laugh. except this one is a genuine amused laugh, something one wouldn't expect from someone who was doomed to an eternity as a ghost. she unleashes the low, creepish tone as she speaks of her death]

All I remember is... two. glowing. eyes.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

[a beat or two, then]

That doesn't sound like a good way to die. Well, I'm actually not sure there is a good way to die.

[hostile or not, this ghost is creepy]

[baww.livejournal.com]

[she's a very curious sort, wafting about trying to see if people will mock her for being dead or not. though, talks of death do excite her... in a strange way.]

Hmm, at least it was quick. And painless. [a drawn-out sigh] Tell me, why do you think you are dead? What happened? Was it something dreadful?

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

You could say that. My friends and I were trying to save the world from a monster. It won.

[sighs heavily] Now, I just have to figure out a way to go back and change things. I know the castle won't let me leave, so I'm kind of at a loss.

[ruin-mania.livejournal.com]

That is the gist of it, yes. Ask for anything within reason and it will appear, yet something has been taken from you and cannot be regained.

And no, this is not the afterlife. Many have reported returning home for a few weeks or months and thenfinding themselves here once again.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

[long pause]

Oh. I wonder what it is.

[shakes her head sadly] I doubt I have anything to return home to. My friends and I were trying to save the world, and we failed.

[ruin-mania.livejournal.com]

It is often something that is less than obvious - a memory, perhaps, that you may not notice until someone from your home points out that it should be there. Unfortunately.

I am sorry to hear that, but--perhaps there is still something that can be done? It seemed once that we failed on our own quest, yet it was only by doing so that we were able to achieve a truer success than we could have imagined before.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

[thinks for a moment] Of course, we were traveling through time. Maybe there's still hope.

[ruin-mania.livejournal.com]

Yes. If you hold on to that belief, there will be.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[warp-snipe-warp.livejournal.com]

Sure is. See, this afterlife was the afterlife constructed by the lowest winning bidder. Got all the features of a cardboard box filled with holes.

Lucky, lucky you, huh? HA!

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

You're certainly odd.

[warp-snipe-warp.livejournal.com]

And you're certainly blunt.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

Did I hurt your feelings?

[warp-snipe-warp.livejournal.com]

As if! Sorry darling, but you're gonna have to do better than that.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

I wasn't trying to hurt your feelings. How long have you been here?

[warp-snipe-warp.livejournal.com]

Well now I'm just disappointed. And for the record, ten days short of four months even.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

Is anyone from your home here besides you?

[shrt-temper.livejournal.com]

... hunh. ... It seems to like taking people who can't save their homes.

You're correct about the castle, but not dead. Strange things happen frequently. Check these pages ... [scribbles in a few numbers so that she can find posts that he found of interest when he was reading up on the castle's messing-with-people-ness]

Also, kitchen on first floor. Lots of people seem to point that out at first.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

Are you a hero too? [There could be some kind of insiduous motivation for the castle to be kidnapping heroes. But if they're trapped, what can she do?]

I'll certainly look up those pages. If I'm going to be here a while, I need to know what I'm up against.

[brief pause] I'm Lucca. What's your name?

[shrt-temper.livejournal.com]

Vigilante, yes. .... Lucca. Hm.

I'm Rorschach.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

[Vigilante..she wasn't familiar with that term and made a note to look it up after the conversation.]

It's nice to meet you, Rorshach. How long have you been here?

[shrt-temper.livejournal.com]

[Vigilante. n. hero that no one actually wants around because the police are all either lazy or corrupt or both. ~ from The Dictionary Of Rorschach]

About a month.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

[Now that was an interesting definition.]

Has the castle been in need of a vigilante during that time?

[chosenfake.livejournal.com]

[This is not the redhead you're looking for.]

Wow, you're taking this pretty well.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

I've had some time to get used to weird concepts. I've spent the last few months traveling through time.

[chosenfake.livejournal.com]

... Well, that'd do it.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

It was a challenging time, to be certain. [realizes her manners] I'm Lucca. What's your name?

[chosenfake.livejournal.com]

Luke. Luke fon Fabre.

Oh, and welcome to Crazy Castle, where everyone and everything's nuts.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to get the idea. I imagine this is traumatic for a lot of people.

[chosenfake.livejournal.com]

... Yeah. Especially people who are supposed to be dead.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

Are you supposed to be dead?

[chosenfake.livejournal.com]

N-- no. But I know people who are.

[gatekeymaker.livejournal.com]

I can see how that would be upsetting.

[chosenfake.livejournal.com]

... Mm. [Sensitive topic. Sorry. :(]