Three Spoons {Dictation}

[cyan_maid]

[This entry is backdated to about midmorning on July 1st.]

[There are some dainty sniffles coming from the journal today, as if they came from someone who had just begun to recover from a cry, and not even the good kind of cry that makes you feel better. A couple cake batter fingerprints appear, and then are hastily wiped away. That only smudges the paper.]

Oh...I'm sorry about that, I...

[A pause. Jane blows her nose.]

I was...cleaning up a mess...in the kitchen. I'm really sorry about all of that batter...in the sink...that's my fault...!

[Oh sugar, her voice is cracking. Better make this quick.]

I think I'm...ready to admit to my loss...

{Filtered to - Anyone who confronted her about her loss}

All of you were right. I'm sorry I was so prickly about it before.

{Filtered to - Uru}

Would you still...let someone into the baking club even if they couldn't bake...?

Comments

[cyan_maid]

Oh wow! Was it like how we were taken to that camp?

[Maybe there was a benefit to life in the castle after all - wait, no, no, it's mean and it took your baking, Jane!]

[amiable]

Mm! They're called "world changes" here. We go to all sorts of places every now and then!

[cyan_maid]

How interesting. I wonder why, though. Why would the castle go through all the trouble to do something like that?

[amiable]

This place can do a lot of mean things... like taking away precious things from us, but I think it tries to make up for the things it does by taking us to nice places.

[cyan_maid]

Goodness. How utterly perplexing.

[amiable]

[ Sheepishly: ] It... is a sentient castle. [ That doesn't make sense at all either. ]

[cyan_maid]

[She sighs, and there's a soft thump.]

See, that's what infuriates me. It's a castle and it - it can think, apparently, and it can do anything to us, and we're none the wiser until we stumble upon it.

[amiable]

This place takes away our memories when we do leave, so we can't come back or try to figure it out somewhere else.

[cyan_maid]

It does?!

[The funny thing is, after all she's been through - she can believe it.]

Oh! This place is certainly clever then, isn't it? Clever and full of all manner of tricks.

[amiable]

Mm! [ Curiously now: ] Did no one tell you these things when you arrived?

[cyan_maid]

I was told many things, but the information tends to run together after a while, and I was quite distracted at the time. I had been obsessed with trying to find my father.

[amiable]

It's okay! There's a lot of things that we kind of forget to tell people when they arrive here.

[cyan_maid]

There's just so much to keep straight. I feel like I should keep a notebook for myself.

[amiable]

That's why we have journals~!

[cyan_maid]

True, but these seem to be more for communication and for keeping tabs on people than anything. That's interesting in itself, don't you think?

[amiable]

I never really thought about it before. I don't know if cell phones work here since I haven't seen a tower...

[cyan_maid]

I hadn't even thought of cell phones! I doubt they would work if you tried to call home, but perhaps they could be configured to work here, somehow? It would take someone good with electronics to do that, though.

[amiable]

I'll have to ask! I've never been really good with electronics myself. I didn't have a computer back home.

[cyan_maid]

Oh, computers are alright once you get the hang of them, and any of the pop-ups you might not be able to avoid.

[amiable]

I never had much use for it back home! I used the library for all my studying and research.

[cyan_maid]

Libraries are definitely fantastic! I think I attempted to read through the entire collection of detective stories once, at the one back home, but my Dad would never let me take all of them out at once.

[amiable]

Eh? Why not? Books are good for you!

[cyan_maid]

I agree! But I think you misunderstand. I wanted to check out every single detective book in the library at one time, and they are quite numerous! It's a bit like trying to order all of the bacon and eggs at a restaurant, only with books.

[amiable]

All of them at once?! [ JANE THAT'S TOO MANY!! ]

[cyan_maid]

Hoo hoo hoo!

Well why not? I bet if I really applied myself, I could read all of them before they had to be returned!

Although, as I mentioned before, my Dad would never let me try. He would at least let me joke about the bacon and eggs, but never the books.