Rehearsal 1: [Text, from Astralfield]

[forgotten_vows]

[The text is written in long, loopy handwriting, and displays as a dark blue -- the color of the chalk he's using. Victor's not even close to figuring out the video function yet.]

I -- I don't even know what I'm doing. . . Apparently this chalkboard can be used to talk to other people? Like letters, only more -- instant? Oh dear, I'm so confused. . .

Is there anyone out there who can explain this to me? All I know is that I was in my room, preparing to draw, when suddenly I blacked out and then. . .

[And he just can't help asking the question that's been on his mind since he first woke up here.]

Is this Wonderland?

Comments

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

Yes, very. We don't have anything like this at home.

[Pause.]

Well, we have chalkboards, just -- not ones that can somehow capture moving images. And if you wish to send someone a message, you write a letter and wait for it to arrive. Not that I dislike this curious "instantaneous" version. . .

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

It's sort of like what we have in the human world back home, but different, too.

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

The human world?

[You have Victor's attention.]

What other worlds do you know?

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

Well, there's Makai, where the demons live, and Heaven, where the angels live. Have you been to other ones?

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

Ah -- yes. I don't suppose you've ever heard of the Land of the Dead. . .

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

Not yet.

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

[Okay, that gets a little laugh.]

It's part of the afterlife in my world. Heaven's supposed to be part of it too, but -- I assume it works differently where you live.

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

A little. Maybe a lot.

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

Well, having never been to Heaven, I couldn't say for sure. . . The Land of the Dead is populated by walking corpses. It's sort of a -- undead, off-kilter mirror of the living world. And about five times more welcoming, depending on where you live.

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

I see. I haven't really been either, but I've spent a lot of time in Makai, and there are a lot of different things.

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

Have you? If -- if you don't mind me asking, what was it like?

[Because he's always been told demons were absolutely horrible. . .but he also always been told the dead can't rise again, and we know how that turned out.]

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

It was a lot of work to get through, but that was because of a couple of different problems. But even though humans say that demons and devils are bad, they're really just like anybody else.

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

[Victor nods.]

That's how it worked with the Dead. Some people might say they're evil, but they're just people in the end.

[He may sound ever-so-slightly bitter.]

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

Did something happen?

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

Oh -- well, the local pastor. . . It's a complicated story, but I may have helped the dead rise for a night, and he didn't take it well.

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

I'm sorry...

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

It's all right. I suppose I can understand why he was afraid -- I just wish he hadn't reacted so strongly. They really were harmless, and -- and they deserve better than being called evil.

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

I know how that works, too.

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

You do? Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that. It's horrible when people are so intolerant, isn't it? Especially in the face of contrary evidence. . .

[Really, Pastor Galswells, you saw that the dead didn't do anything to hurt your church. Why the hate?]

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

It'll be all right, though.

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

I hope so. Guess we can't really know, living here. . .

[Well, she can't -- things haven't been quite all right for him for a while, but he doesn't want to burden her with that.]

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

I guess not.

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

Does anyone know why people from other worlds have been coming here? My introduction to the place was -- abrupt.

[As in, he spent most of it staring and wondering what the hell was going on and why no one would tell him what the hell was going on.]

[Action]

[seewithyoureyes]

I think the rulers are a little...

[Action]

[forgotten_vows]

[Victor waggles a hand, with a look that clearly says, "Not all there?" He can buy it -- part of the reason he thought this place might be part of Wonderland, after all.]