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[thecourier]

Red Queen said somethin' t' me a while ago.

[He starts the video like it's an afterthought, like stepping into the middle of a conversation that started a few minutes ago. It was a while, a few months in fact, but time does pass so strangely here and he's had other things on his mind.

Dan's sitting on a bench in the gym, after running himself to near-exhaustion not for the first time. It's a habit now, not necessarily a good one, almost like a kind of self-flagellation for one reason or another. He rubs the back of his wrist across his forehead and clears his throat.]

B'fore that chess game. [He thinks. Almost sure of that.] Tried t' get some info outta her 'bout how this place works. Didn't get much, but she did tell me, we only see 'two sides to this place'.

[His accent slips as he enunciates carefully, glancing away from the camera for a moment.]

May be more sides we don't see, an' there might be answers there. Been tryin' t' figure it out, but I ain't got a head on me for riddles an' she tells worse ones than the psyker kid at 188 Tradin' Post back home. Know some people here 've dug deeper into this shit than I ever did. What y' all thinkin'?

Comments

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[middlefinger]

Riddles are way more my sister's thing -- but I think it makes a hell of a lot of sense that there might more than two sides -- we've seen more than two queens, haven't we?

[thecourier]

Sure have. White Queen didn't tell us where she'd been, did she? Sounded like she didn't really remember too much.

[God, why hadn't he been paying more attention?]

Someone's gotta have more 've an eye on this kinda thing than me.

[middlefinger]

And in my experience people not remember where they've been missing too? That doesn't end well.

[she can't help bu think of what happened to willa once she got her memories back, would the white queen turn on them if she got hers?]

I wish my sister was here -- she was always way better at this kinda stuff.

( video. )

[wildwest]

I suspected as much. Things here ain't as black and white as we would so like them to appear, especially with the way things seem to change on a dime.

[ not just their surroundings, but sometimes they themselves. ]

[thecourier]

That ain't ever been in any kinda question. [Dan likes Doc, finds him familiar in a way that he doesn't with most, so he slips easily into a more casual tone.]

Nothin' we've experienced fer ourselves is hidden, but she couldn't give me any more info on how t' get t' these other places she talked about. Couldn't or wouldn't. I don't fuckin' know.

[wildwest]

Wouldn't, most likely. I'd bet my hat on it. Places they don't want us to go, don't want us to see.

[Private Video]

[shslliar]

[... Why not? Have a kid sipping boba tea in a tea room.]

Hey. You know, I think that Griffin told me something like that back when he first showed up. Something about Wonderland being bigger than we see...

I think he implied that's where the rest of the Wonderland characters go. It's been a while.

[thecourier]

Uh huh. Interestin'.

[Just as well this is video, kid, because he knows you already. Slightly more of a 'with a pinch of salt' attitude with this one.]

Y' remember anythin' else he told you?

[shslliar]

[Yep... He totally isn't messing around with exploding collars anymore, though!]

Um...

[He takes a sip of his tea from the straw...]

Not really. He just grumped at me and demanded fish.

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[emojis]

[Drizella doesn't apply her other world knowledge often, but when she does:]

That doesn't surprise me. Wonderland's always been the kind of land that does what it wants. It would make sense that it would have more than one ... plane to it, I guess.

[thecourier]

Makes sense, even knowin' what we already do. Hell, every time it takes us t' somewhere that looks like a place one of us came from it could be another one a these 'planes', yeah?

[He's not any kind of scientist, but god damn he has seen enough shit to put his head into trying to work this out.]

But she called 'em hidden places. Didn't specify jus' how hidden they were. Could be it ain't just us they're hidden from.

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[theenforcer]

It makes sense, if only that we never see her or the others. She say anything that might hint where and how they manage it?

Other than whatever that hell pit that opened under the queen was at the chess match.

They could have yanked her through as well.

[thecourier]

Nah. Tried t' press it but couldn't get anythin' more out of her. [Dan frowns, rubbing a hand around the back of his neck. His mind is in much the same place - where the Queen of Hearts went, and where the White Queen came from...]

Don't know if it was 'cause she wouldn't tell me, or 'cause she couldn't. Hard t' say here, ain't it.

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[spiritofgoodness]

[ With everything Henry's told her over the past few months, Snow decides to take a stab at her own personal theory. Plus, it's been a little while since she last spoke to Dan. ]

I think, maybe, there's something in charge that we can't see. After all, the Queens don't seem to actually...do anything outside of the White Queen who I believe makes the mirrors and resurrects us when and if we die.

[thecourier]

[It has been a little while, and it's good to see her. Dan's never been the best at keeping in touch with people - still too used to finding them gone when he swings by their homes again.]

Mm... but not seemin' to do anythin' doesn't mean they don't do anythin', right? Wouldn't wanna make that kind of assumption. But... yeah. Wouldn't be the first time I found somethin' in charge that I wasn't expectin'.

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[choosetruth]

I talked to the Duchess before she vanished. She implied the White Queen had once been the rule of her own realm, one that the Duchess was a part of.

Not sure what that realm is, of course, cause no one here ever gives a damn straight answer, but it must have existed.

[thecourier]

[That's something. Dan glances offside, seeming to be making a small note of what she said. It's such a damn useful thing, this being literate.]

There anythin' else? Been wrackin' my brain tryin' t' think of any other times we might a' seen realms except this one an' the Mirror side.

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[romsapience]

That is a theory I have thought about as well. I've never considered it beyond this, but seeing as how the Red Queen herself mentioned this...I have the urge to research more about this.

I've been meaning to scour through the archives again, this will provide motivation! Who knows? Maybe there was more information about this that has been lost in time.

[thecourier]

[He takes a moment to give Turing a glance up and down, and he doesn't even think to question how easily he might be able to check back through the archives. Dan might have never seen a robot quite like this one, but he's seen enough of them to last more than one lifetime.]

Again? Did y' turn anythin' up the first time?

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[krmvgivv]

Oh! That kind of makes a lot of sense, in a weird way. Like, we're thinking of it as... hold on.

[He rummages around in his vest pocket and pulls out a piece of notebook paper.]

We're thinking of it as 2D, right? [He flips the paper over.] But it might not be! It could be a cube, or even a tesseract! Or something totally different! Oh, this is so cool.

[thecourier]

A-- [A tesseract? Never mind. He doesn't need to know.]

It could be a damn paper bird fer all we know, yeah? Point a' fact, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Always knew this place weren't simple, but I'm thinkin' it's more complicated than I was givin' it credit.

[video]

[normandysbest]

Do you think she means it like how there's more than two Queens?

[She's been thinking about this a lot, too. The Queens still haven't left her mind, even in times of relative peace.]

This whole place is set up like chess. Red and White. And then you have Hearts kicking around, putting a fist through everything. Maybe that implies a third realm. Something hidden.

[Shepard stops, thinks for a second, and wonders if it's relevant.]

Were you here for that one New Years? Where we were in the other world, with the White Queen?

[thecourier]

Mm, not sure 'bout that. Didn't say nothin' about hidden people, but what they don't say can mean much as they do.

[But she asks that question and... god, the recollection is so sluggish it's like his mind is trying not to remember it. He rubs the heel of one hand against his temple, and nods.]

... Y... eah. I think so. Think I was here fer that. [If he's being really honest, he's not entirely certain.]

How long ago?

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[itchtokill]

[This is exactly the sort of thing he's been looking for, and he's glad this bloke seems to want to share with the class.]

How long have you been sitting on this? And did she say anything else remotely useful or odd when you spoke to her? I know the locals aren't too great with offering up the information, but anything might help.

[thecourier]

Few months, I guess. Nearly forgot about it really.

She said Wonderland brings us here. Not the Core. Something else. Couldn't get out of her what the something else is. Didn't bring them here, though.

Hard to tell how much of it was her not wanting to say and how much was what she just didn't know.