entrancelogs | [EVENT/CLOSED] What a glorious feeling;

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[EVENT/CLOSED] What a glorious feeling;

Who: Angel/Angelus, Cordelia Chase, Buffy Summers, Adam Milligan, Meg Masters, Stiles Stilinski, Jackson Whittemore, Ellen Harvelle, & H.G. Wells
Where: All over the mansion, as well as the grounds after nightfall.
When: October 30th - November 2nd
Rating: R for violence, death and possible torture.
Summary: Angel's mirror is in the driver's seat for the last few days of the event, meaning that Angelus himself has run of the mansion. Anyone looking to write him off or underestimate him as a common vampire is in for one hell of a surprise.
The Story:

God, this place was so much better than where the Mirrors were usually stuck. Full to the eaves with what amounted to walking Happy Meals, and the way he'd heard it? Death wasn't permanent. If you liked someone enough, you could wait around for a few days and help yourself to seconds. Now that was some pretty impeccable service.

Of course, to be on this side in the first place, he was stuck in his Real's body, but that wasn't all that different from the usual state of affairs. It was strongly reminiscent of the days before Wonderland, except this time, that pesky soul wasn't doing anything to hold him back. It had taken a day or two, but Angelus had managed to overpower the safety that had been put in place by that curse all those years ago, and the sheer feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction was just exhilarating.

Bedrooms, of course, were off-limits. He couldn't cross the threshold without an invitation, but the rest of the mansion? Oh, everything else was fair game. The ballroom, the kitchen, the library, the clinic-- though currently he was making his way along the main corridor that housed the tearooms, singing to himself as he went from door to door, kicking them in forcefully at each stop. He could smell someone hiding down here. He would find them. It was only a matter of when.

"Singin' in the rain-- Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Bang. Another door kicked open hard enough to smack against the wall behind it. "Just singin' in the rain, what a glorious feeling, I'm happy again--"

Bang, bang. "I'm laughin' at clouds, so dark up above, the sun's in my heart, and I'm ready for love--"

He stopped short after kicking in another door and smiled to himself, letting out a low whistle as he looked down the length of the corridor. "Only so many holes for the mice to hide in around here. Be coy all you want. It just means you'll taste better when I get there."

He always loved it when they ran, anyway. Fear and adrenaline only made them taste sweeter.

[[OOC: Wherever and whenever you want Angelus to stumble upon your character, there he'll be. Replies will come from onehappyfella. Action or prose is fine, I'll gladly match you!]]

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Going after the encroaching vines had become something of a pet project of Angel's since the Mirrors had invaded. While some of the Mirrors themselves were violent, engaging them directly didn't seem to be the answer -- the bodies they were in weren't theirs, their Reals essentially innocent bystanders. It was the same as coming up against someone who was demon-possessed. No matter what the thing inside had done, you did everything you could to keep from harming the vessel. So far, he hadn't needed to intervene with too many Mirrors (or Reals) gone off the rails, but what he could do was dedicate himself to doing a little pruning -- cutting back as many of those roots and vines as possible to keep them from attacking or turning anyone else.

He couldn't be everywhere at once, he couldn't get all of them, but he could damn well try.

He'd been doing a steady sweep of the lower floors, doing his best to ignore the constant prodding from his own Mirror at the back of his mind. He hadn't been lucky enough to avoid getting attacked, but all that meant was he didn't have to be quite so careful about avoiding the vines from here on out. So far, he had been able to keep his Mirror contained. For the best -- his Mirror's identity was exactly what he'd thought it would be.

As long as Angel was able to keep himself at the helm, he would be fine. Everyone around him would be fine.

He shoved his way through the door to the library, letting it swing closed behind him as he entered, broadsword in hand. He gave the place a quick, cursory glance, appraising it as he searched for any signs of life before heading down the center aisle.

"Anyone home?"

Adam hadn't exactly made his physical health a priority during his many thrilling weeks of lying in bed for twenty three and a half hours a day, and for a Mirror trapped in a feeble body, laying low during the initial days seemed the best choice. He'd washed the baby, dressed the baby, fed the baby, and with the baby's consciousness fast asleep in the back of his head, he'd gotten to do whatever the hell he wanted with the body. Not a bad deal for someone who'd wondered if the end was nigh when the roots had started attacking the Mirror side.

Angel's question received an amiable, "No," from somewhere further into the room. Adam's deep, friendly voice, but not Adam himself, not really.

If Angel bothered to follow the voice, he would have little difficulty finding its source. Adam was sitting at one of the large study tables, feet propped up on a pile of books on the tabletop. For the afternoon, he’d transformed the library into his own personal movie theatre, complete with a bowl of popcorn, a projector, and a movie playing on a makeshift screen he’d fastened to one of the bookshelves.

Everybody needed a break from the plant apocalypse sometime, didn't they? That wasn't a crime. Between the roots and the people who might take unkindly to a Mirror riding Adam's body around, the roots were the greater of two evils. There weren't a lot of reflective surfaces in a library, though! Perfect place for a little respite. Being opportunistic and resourceful even on his worst day, Adam's Mirror had taken advantage of the locale, and he planned to keep doing so until he grew bored enough to tempt his luck outside again.

Angel raised both eyebrows to himself before turning in that exact direction. The last thing he'd expected to find was someone who seemed to be entirely at ease with the current goings-on, but there Adam was, sitting with his feet propped up and watching -- what was that, anyway? -- looking like he didn't have a care in the world.

For a brief moment, Angel was almost jealous.

"Hey." He came to a stop a few feet away from the table itself. Unlike the actual angels that seemed to have the run of the mansion, Angel himself was a big believer in respecting personal space. "It's probably not safe to hang out in here for long. The roots haven't made their way here yet, but there's always a chance you could get blocked in."

One could say he was studying up on applicable reference material. He'd chosen some no-name, low-budget apocalypse B movie to set the mood, and he glanced away from the scene--a shrieking girl getting stabbed with a screwdriver--to tip his head over the back of the chair and give his guest an upside-down look.

"Hi."

Sure, the library wouldn't be safe forever, and people-shaped danger was always capable of finding its way inside along with the roots, but he had no intention of falling to either side of the fight. Even to someone with a giant sword in their hand.

His greeting was greased with a hang-loose easiness. Acting came much easier to him than it did to his Real. Adam couldn't have played off the shadows under his eyes or his overall ill-looking appearance very well, but he could. Maybe he was a threat, sitting there like nothing was amiss in the world, maybe he wasn't, but he wasn't a target.

"Ah well, they're only plants." He popped up popcorn into his mouth. "What can they really do that a good bushwhacking won't fix, right? But you look like you're on the hunt for trouble."

His mouth twitched a little as he took a moment to consider what dangers plants really could pose. It was interesting, really, how the moment something inanimate became animate, you stopped asking questions and just accepted that it was unnatural and decidedly Not Okay.

"They could squeeze you. You know, like a--" He paused to gesture vaguely. "Like one of those snakes. The squeezey ones-- boa constrictor."

He was at the top of his game today when it came to eloquence and articulation. He gave up on any attempt to salvage his dignity and instead lifted his sword once it had been alluded to.

"For said bushwhacking. Someone has to beat the roots back, or at least try."

"Oh, I like these kinds of games!" Adam's Mirror piped up in response to Angel's amusing attempt to describe boa constrictors. He pointed with his index finger. "Or... maybe they could, you know, burrow inside a person and lay their evil eggs in them. There's probably a movie about that."

Or the roots could just deposit people's Mirror reflections into their bodies, which was closer to fact than fiction. But who was counting?

He smiled, relaxing where he was. "Ah. Finally, lawn maintenance shows up to take care of this plant problem?" A little late for the Mirror side, all things considered. C'est la vie. "Good. I'm glad someone's taking the proactive approach. Shit's getting real and I'd rather not find out what plant monsters might hatch out of a person."

Angel deflated slightly. His own inability to be articulate really was embarrassing at times. This? This was one of those times.

"There are demons that do that, too," he said flatly, making an effort to regain his gameface and maybe, just maybe, make himself look like someone who actually knew what he was talking about when it came to the bad and the ugly, creepy roots, vines, and nasty Mirrors included.

"Cutting them back doesn't stop them permanently, but it slows them down. If you're going to leave the library or move through the mansion, it might not be a bad idea to use one of the closets to arm yourself. Keep them at bay if they get too close." He paused before awkwardly adding, "Don't get any ideas, though. I'm not looking to be a groundskeeper full-time."

The sunlight kind of kept that from being a viable career choice.

Ooh, demons. That was an even better guess.

He uncrossed his legs, smile widening. "I hope they're not here," he remarked, then took up a handful of popcorn.

The advice wasn't that bad if the guy was, you know, talking to someone who was afraid of the impending invasion. Sure, the roots had fucked up part of Wonderland and caused this whole mess to begin with, but he wasn't ready to barricade himself in a storm shelter with the army rations and the canned beans just yet. They had to stop sometime, didn't they? Whether due to the diligent weed-whackers living on the Real side, or because Wonderland sometimes had the attention span of a gnat. Maybe even the plants themselves would get tired of growing and give up.

Weirder things could happen, right?

"I'll keep that stuff in mind. And I promise, no ideas here, your identity as a superhero is safe with me." He waved a hand. "But looks like we're good for now. Sit, eat, enjoy the amenities! There's a stack of movies just waiting to be explored."

He squinted a little, silently questioning the remark about his identity before it clicked. It had been a long time since anyone had tossed a superhero jibe his way, which he was thankful for. He didn't mind what it implied, but getting Cordelia to quit calling him the Dark Avenger all those years ago had been a feat.

"It's not a secret identity," he remarked awkwardly, his gaze traveling to the stack of movies and looking over a few of the titles represented. "You're really going to just stay here and watch these? You don't care about what's going on out there?"

"Implying you are a superhero?" He had to ask. The guy had brought it up.

In comparison, what was stranger? Someone with a sword taking it upon their heroic self to play hall monitor to plants that had no intentions of slowing down, or someone taking the time to enjoy themselves? In all fairness, the Mirror thought he was the least questionable out of the two of them. Innocently minding his own business, of course. How much more normal and wholesome could he get?

He looked at Angel as if he were questioning the other man's seriousness in asking. "Well, maybe not all of them if I have a hankering to play racket ball instead." They were called "pastimes" for a reason. "Why should I care? Wonderland's going to do what Wonderland wants to do. We're just along for the ride. Better to sit back and ride it out while you can, you know?"

The real Adam probably had a different opinion, but the real Adam wasn't in control.

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[EVENT/CLOSED] What a glorious feeling;

Angel & Adam, Backdated to 10/28

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