paradisa | case #001 ☕ [written]

You tell me. I just woke up in a castle with a possessed journal and I have no idea what the hell is going on.

Christ, for a moment I thought this was some sort of "something bad is happening" entry and not someone new.

Are those types of "entries" the norm?

[Ho shit she wants to go home now.]

A few times a month, maybe. Entries for new people, probably about a dozen.

Welcome to Paradisa.

Thanks. Want to point me to the way out now?

There is none. You leave when the castle decides it's your time to go.

How exactly does a castle decide anything??

[Tess sighs audibly, here, before resuming writing:]

That's just how things work around here, alright?

No offense, but that's not a good enough answer for me.

Well excuse me, your highness.

Is there anyone here I can talk to who has an idea of what's actually going on?

Literally no one can explain how a magic living castle thinks, so no. We can tell you about living here, about what you can expect, but nobody has a fucking clue why.

Also, don't be so fucking rude. That might help.

[Kate just pauses for a second, mouthing "wow" to herself that way the journal won't pick it up. She frowns and takes a breath.]

Fine. You're right. Sorry.

[If only writing could convey how smug she is over that.]

Good. What do you want to know about Paradisa?

Who's in charge? I get the sentient, magic castle thing [no she doesn't] but is there anyone here actually running things?

Nobody is. The castle is magic, so the rest of us have this semi-functional anarchy thing. Some people offer up their skills as doctors or detectives or whatever, but most of us just do whatever.

Let me guess: you're one of those letter-of-the-law types.

It's that obvious, huh?

[Kate can't help but smirk. Even through writing she can't hide it.]

Not many people get here and immediately look for whatever authority is around.

There are probably three or four people like that here in the castle. Two of them are children, another is a teenager, and then the last is a detective. That's it. Have fun.

You know the name of the detective? [She figures it wouldn't hurt to have a talk with someone in the same mindset as her.]

Yeah. Kate Becket.

[Tess can't be fucked to double-check the spelling; she lives in a world so low-tech you don't even commit much to paper, let alone digital text. Anything physical is evidence, and that stuff is safer in her head.]

[Well. That was less than helpful.]

Beckett. That's me, by the way.

[Switching to dictating, then. She can't be fucked to write if it's just Kate.]

What? I didn't even realize you'd left.

[Kate moves to dictating, too. All of this is just too weird.]

Yeah, well, I didn't either. So were you and the last me, uh, friends?

Not particularly.

I get along better with your boyfriend, but that's only because he makes a pretty good bartender. The way he gushes about you is pretty exhausting to listen to.

Oh.

[Welp.]

Yeah, he gets a little... exuberant.

[She's not really sure how else to respond to that.]

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