queenofheartsrp | one. ( action/video )

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[ The last thing Amanda remembers is having fallen asleep in Clarice's cabin, but there's grass underneath her, not a mattress. She wakes slowly, squints against the sunlight as she pushes herself carefully into a sitting position. She's wearing white, a white dress that doesn't look like anything she ever owned, and the space around her, beautiful though it is — she barely registers that through the haze of confusion — is completely unfamiliar.

The cats bring her scrolls, and she must really be going crazy now — this is a hallucination, it has to be. Darius is mysteriously absent from her vision this time, but really, it must only be a matter of time before she'll see him, hidden among the trees or running down one of the garden paths. She reads the scrolls and fights the urge to laugh out loud. This is ridiculous. Her mind has really done a number on itself.

Amanda starts to push herself to her feet, and hisses out a curse at the sudden stabbing pain in her bad leg, reaching for and leaning against a nearby tree. ]

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[ And that would be where the Vine finds her, expression tense with pain as she carefully shifts her weight onto her good leg, using the tree trunk to balance herself. She isn't going to be able to walk like this, that was why she'd had the cane, but it's nowhere to be found here, at least so far as she can see. Then she notices the mirror, and for a few moments she just stares. Then she gives a soft, hysterical little sound almost like a laugh, and looks away, rubbing her hand across her face. She thinks she can feel a headache coming on already. ]

I have got to stop taking so many frakking drugs—

[ It's muttered to herself, because she can't imagine there would be consequences for anyone hearing her. She shuts her eyes for a few moments, composing herself, but when she opens them again the mirror is still there. One corner of her mouth twists, a little bitterly. ]

You're not even real. You can't be.

[ Because talking to a hovering mirror that just bloomed from a sentient vine makes complete sense when you're hallucinating. ]

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Are so! Really real.

Are you okay?

[ Oh. Now the mirror is talking back. Maybe she should have expected that, too. Amanda stares for a few moments, then shakes her head. ]

I'm seeing things. [ It's really the only way she can justify what's going on right now. But she seems to reconsider a little bit, looking at Italy skeptically. ]

If this is real, then how did I get here?

[ The question makes her exhale a mirthless little laugh. ]

I'm fine. Never been better.

The Queen took you, and now you're here. Well, took all of us.

The Vine is real too, even if it's kinda weird. You'll get used to it!

So we've been kidnapped.

[ That may be something like rising tension in her voice and expression. She's just starting to realize this is real. ]

Yeah. I mean, technically. [she's clearly confused and maybe scared. it'd be better to be straight with her] Definitely.

She just doesn't call it that.

[ Em has been making more and more of an effort to not look at the Vine lately. All big events seem to shake her up a bit, but this one really did a number on her and so she has been trying to just... ignore everything and focus on herself to try to bring herself back up.

Still, she can't help but to frown slightly at the woman that looks flabbergasted by the Gardens and she figures she's one of the new arrivals. The Queen is seldom satisfied with the people already trapped here and that just manages to grate Em further more.

Sitting on a table at the library, she looks at the mirror rather bored, one hand holding her cheek up, elbow on her knee, the other hand marking the page of the book she was reading before being harassed by the Vine. ]

You should know, the Vine does have this annoying way of creeping up on you when you less want it. [ She closes the book and sets it on the table, kind of hugging herself around her waist. ] Unfortunately, all of this is very much real. [ She pauses and tilts her head, looking at the way she seems to favour one leg. ] Are you okay?

The Vine— [ Despite what Emilia says, this has got to be a hallucination; it seems like something out of V-World, but it's not that, either, especially since she's never spent much time with the holobands and doesn't have any reason to use one now. ]

Is that what this thing is.

[ She pushes her hair back from her face with one hand, not really looking at the mirror. ]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay.

[ She can't walk, but otherwise? Just peachy. ]

[ Even if Amanda isn't looking at the mirror, Em nods at her question. ] That's what people call it, at the very least.

[ Then it's Em who is quiet for a long time, observing the woman rather than saying anything. She isn't a very proactive woman and unless she is actually friends with the other person, she doesn't insist much. She could be wrong, of course, even if the woman is clearly favouring one leg. ]

If you say so. [ Not quite convinced, however. ] Look, you're not the only one that got-- kidnapped, I suppose. In fact, all of the people around here are in the same situation as you are, myself included. I've been here for months, so you probably should try to get yourself somewhere to stay while you're stuck here. There's a building complex a friend of mine-- [ Probably shouldn't say "built from magic dirt". ] --Well, she just overlooks it.

Also, you will notice sooner or later, but I should warn you people come from different times and different places. Don't be surprised if you tell them you're from somewhere well-known and nobody knows what you're talking about.

Kidnapped—

[ She's listening to Emilia, but none of what she's saying really makes any sense to her right now. That one word kidnapped has gotten stuck in her mind, and the fact that the other woman has been here for months, and... it's too much. This is too much information at once and Amanda feels a little dizzy. Maybe it's good she's leaning against the tree for support. When she speaks, her tone of voice has gone shaky, anxious. Maybe a little angry, too, though that's not directed at Emilia. ]

Who would do that? Take all these people from their homes?

[ To be fair, some people don't say kidnapped. In fact, she doesn't know if others agree with her thoughts on being pulled here, but she does think they have been kidnapped. Put in a place against their will or consent, that's kidnapping to her.

A frown appears on Em's face as Amanda leans against the tree. ] Are you sure you're all right? [ It's not like she goes out of her way to help strangers, but she can related to the situation of being pulled here with no warning. ]

She calls herself the Queen. [ Her tone is rather accusing, as if saying she's crazy, which is fortified by the fact Em is rolling her eyes. ] There are a few others who work for her. And the animals act like we're in a children's film. [ A sigh. ] Nobody really knows what the hell does she want, besides apparently only wanting women in her Gardens. And romance. [ Eyeroll.

She still resents the fact the Queen picked her when she has no interest whatsoever in women. ]

[Sometimes Sephiroth haunts the area where new arrivals appear, as if looking for something. What she seeks, she does not know. She has not found it yet.

When she sees one of the new women, she does not always approach to introduce herself, though sometimes she waits to make sure they have no difficulties. She notices this woman's pained movement, how she leans on the tree for support. She comes forward, quick and quiet.]

Do you need assistance? [Her voice is low and polite.]

[ Amanda is not expecting anyone to approach her so soon, and she startles, looking up quickly. Sephiroth is not like anyone she has ever seen in her life, with the long silver hair and the glowing green eyes, and so it is that she can't answer the other woman's question right away — one of her own comes sudden and sharp to her lips instead. ]

Who are you?

[ There's an expression in her own wide eyes, confusion and something close to fear. ]

[For a moment, the fear gives her pause, but the woman's words are normal and understandable; she doesn't know who Sephiroth is. Sephiroth does remember when her appearance commonly took people by surprise, before Shinra made her so renowned. She still receives that reaction sometimes--both in Wutai and here.]

My name is Sephiroth. I am a SOLDIER. [Most people don't know of SOLDIER, but the word has meaning nonetheless.]

This may be difficult to accept, but you--like myself, and others here--have been abducted by an entity of unknown origin.

[ Amanda can almost hear the capital letters in the way Sephiroth says 'SOLDIER', but she doesn't have any context for it, so she only assumes the woman is a soldier, lowercase. It's almost the same meaning. ]

Abducted? [ Her voice goes tense. She almost asks by whom, but at the last minute she remembers Sephiroth said entity of unknown origin. So instead she asks, ] Why? What is this place?

[ She's read the scrolls, but they don't tell her much. ]

[Sephiroth's tone is almost apologetic. She knows full well how ridiculous any explanation of the Gardens sounds. It is most unlike anything in her world: mad, with pretenses of being fanciful.]

We have been brought to another world, what might be called a constructed reality. As you may have read, it is called the Gardens. It is large, but it has its limits.

The entity, which goes by the name "Queen of Hearts", has brought women here from many different worlds and universes and gathered us into this enclosure. She claims to wish us to form bonds with each other. We cannot say why. Perhaps she feeds on emotional energy, but that is only a theory.

[ She hesitates, and her expression is uncertain. ] ...Oh, well, I do not know about that... though I suppose if I were not real, I wouldn't be aware of it.

[ Amanda laughs a little at that, though there's no mirth in it. She shakes her head. ]

No, probably not.

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