OPEN | here come the night

[halfwinchester]

Who: Adam Milligan (halfwinchester) and whoever else might be admiring Ewaymas!
Where: Around the mansion.
When: Dec. 13, anytime from late night to mid-afternoon.
Rating: G for now!
Summary: What the hell's with all this Christmas stuff? At least one newcomer is out and about looking at the changes.
The Story:



<sub>[Very rarely does Adam sleep through the night--or at all, if he's being honest. When the light fades and the mansion gets quiet, it's the perfect time for thoughts of his time in the pit to creep back in, and almost every night begins and ends with him sitting wide-awake until he's too tired to mount a defense. Sometimes he likes to ward away his nightmares in the bathroom. It's smaller in there, and reminds him of the times he'd hidden there when he'd been sick with the flu as a young child.

That night, he's counting spots on the ceiling of his room when the snow starts to fall, and it's the first thing that grabs Adam's attention before the noise starts. Snow? Had that been in Wonderland's weather report? By the time his curiosity wins out over his apprehension, the noises outside his door have long since stopped.

He creeps into the hallway in bare feet to see what going's on. Christmas decorations? Is it Christmas?

The mansion looks beautifully done up in the late hours of the night, and for a while Adam looks around until the pull to return to his room grows too strong. He can be found downstairs inspecting the giant Christmas tree once daylight breaks, dressed for the weather in a heavy sweater. His breakfast is an apple, which he eats while poking at ornaments on the branches.

For once, he has something to do in the mansion that isn't simply "avoid angels." It's strange enough thinking it's already December. A lot of the time it feels like he just arrived, soul broken and all.]</sub>

Comments

[eatsyourscience]

[Souji has a habit of being up at night, especially when the weather is inclement (not that that happens much in Wonderland). Since tonight is the annual decorating spree, he's up, wandering the halls while the magic is actually at work, and once it's over, it doesn't occur to him to go back to his room and sleep. Why not stay up? He has no where he needs to be in the morning, and maybe he can be the first one to go out into the snow. It's a childish thought, but it makes him happy.

Around dawn, he finds his way down to the entrance hall and sees Adam by the tree. Not that he recognizes him on sight--he's only ever spoken to him via text on the network.

Apparent stranger or not, Souji doesn't think he has a reason to be wary. He waves a little as he reaches the bottom of the stairs.]

Good morning.

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[Considering the changes to the mansion could be worse, a lot worse, Adam isn't too afraid for his health while he stands under the tree. The Christmas tree in itself is one of the more innocuous parts of the mansion to admire, unlike the cracks in the floor and the suspicious mistletoe. If it's going to spontaneously grow grey roots and try to strangle people, it's doing a damn good job twinkling innocently under the lights so far.

Adam takes a bite of his apple and shoots a glance in Souji's direction... only to stop and look again. That hair. That hair is something else. He wonders if his poker face for dealing with supernatural stuff is getting better, because he can feel himself staring without a great deal of shock.

Whatever. He's done asking questions.]</sub>

Nice hair.

[eatsyourscience]

[Souji blinks and rolls his eyes up to look at his bangs, like they might have been replaced with something else while he wasn't looking.]

Uh...thanks?

[No one's ever commented on his hair before. Now he's wondering if most people are just more polite than Adam about it.

He doesn't think about it for long, though. After skirting around a crack in the floor, he comes up closer to look at the tree, though his eyes linger on the break he just avoided.]

What do you think? [After a second, just to make sure the consequent comment isn't about his hair, he adds:] About the changes.

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[If nobody's bothered to point out Souji's hair has all the pigment of a ninety-year-old's yet, Adam would have to say that's a failing on everyone else's part, not his. Souji's hunch is right; Adam has half a mind to say something else on the subject before the other boy (human?) cuts him off at the knees.

He glances back at the tree for a second. What's he think? Where to start?]</sub>

... I don't know. Someone do it on purpose?

[eatsyourscience]

The Mansion. It does this every year.

[Souji sticks a hand into the tree to see if he can forage anything edible. He'd like a candy cane, but he'll settle for pine needles.]

[lowkeyangel]

[Gabriel doesn't exactly sleep. At least, normally. He's had his dose in Wonderland, thanks to being powerless a few times, but he's in full control of his Grace at the moment. Just enough to, like Adam, take a look at the Christmas decorations.

And turn up his nose, for the most part, Christmas being the inaccurate and stolen nonsense it is. Sure, he likes some aspects, like the sweets and the egg nog and the presents — and how, generally, people dial back on being douchebags for a little while. But Christmas is a reminder of his pagan past, and that makes him strangely melancholy as he sits down near the stairs to stare at a wreath.

It's on complete accident that Adam wanders by and he happens to notice.]

Can't sleep?

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[Alone, a sudden voice is enough to startle him, but at the sight of an angel sitting out of the way in the low-lit halls... His heart slams into his ribcage, and with a stumble, he barely comes to a stop before toppling down the stairs. Here is precisely why he should know better than to leave the safety of those sigils. He can't go anywhere without meeting one of them.

He hasn't crossed paths with just any angel, either. He's one Adam knows intimately well down to his soul; Gabriel's hand prints are all over it in a way not even Michael can claim, and he's an immense part of his earliest memories from after the pit. Adam recalls enough to know that he probably wouldn't be here if not for this angel, but that isn't necessarily a good thing, as they all know.

It is a sign of power, something an angel has in spades.

Swallowing hard, Adam comes to a stop, eyes locked on Gabriel. Then he seems to remember himself and drops his gaze quickly, like Gabriel is too bright to look at. He might be a productive of suffering, but he doesn't crave it.]</sub>

[lowkeyangel]

[Gabriel almost sighs, but thinks better of it. He keeps it internalized, instead. Of course he's not surprised about Adam being scared to death of angels. He knows what they did to his soul, in ways that had made Michael grumpy.

He raises both hands in mock surrender.]

Relax. I'm just, uh, eyeing the Christmas decorations.

[Not admiring. Just eyeing.]

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[Castiel, even Michael... in the past, he'd pushed them because he'd been angry. Opened his mouth without a care and let the words fly. He hadn't cared. The anger had whited out the clear-cut knowledge of what an angel could do to him.

But this one... this one he doesn't know. A question mark. An unknown. It's not so much fear that keeps his head lowered as it is knowing that whatever tiny little island he's built to weather his mind's choppy seas could be broken in an instant by an angel who feels like its been insulted, and he's too tired for that. There's only so many times a person can build themselves back up after an angel dismantles them.

If anything, being under Michael's watch seems to make him a target, not a protected species.

He glances at Gabriel from the corner of his eye once the angel raises his hands placatingly. With or without the remark about the Christmas decorations, it would still be an odd gesture for an angel. Of course he doesn't believe the sentiment, not for an instant, but it seems like permission enough to go about existing without being blown back to the Stone Age. For the moment.]</sub>

Okay.

_{[Human opinions aren't exactly valued, no matter how much of a throwaway comment it is.]}

[notthesecondworstfighter]

[It's nothing short of a surprise to wake up and find the mansion decorated overnight. When he first steps out his door, Wash has to do a doubletake, and then finds himself wondering if perhaps he's still dreaming. Until he remembers, anyway. Wonderland. Magic. All that stuff that still manages to catch him off guard. At least this is a pleasant piece of Wonderland magic though. He can't deny that the place looks pretty great, and it's been a long time since he last saw Christmas decorations.

Deciding to enjoy it, he makes his way downstairs, not paying as much attention to where he's going as he probably should, too busy inspecting the decorations he passes. Thankfully, he manages to not trip down the stairs and break something, and when he reaches the entrance hall...well. The gigantic tree is another surprise. But what catches his eye is Adam inspecting it, seeming as interested yet puzzled as he is.]

This whole thing new to you, too?

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[Wonderland is weird. He gets that. He's seen the evidence. It runs by its own rules, some of them benevolent like the luxury found in the Beautiful Room, but undermined by something more sinister like Zachariah. Sometimes bad, sometimes not as bad, but always weird. This... person?... is a prime example.

Adam just stares in silence, apple partially raised to his mouth. Forget answering the question, he has no idea what he's looking at.]</sub>

[notthesecondworstfighter]

[His gaze having shifted back to admire the tree while waiting an answer, it only takes Wash a few moments to realize that he's getting nothing but silence in response. Maybe a few moments longer than it should, but it gets through, causing him to blink and glance back over. ...Only to find that he's being stared at.

At first, he just stares back, just for a few seconds. He has half a mind to comment about how staring is rude, but that's pretty hypocritical, in all honesty, as he's guilty of having stared at things he's seen around Wonderland. Things unfamiliar to him and completely strange. Considering he's been thought strange by others around here already, this shouldn't really be a surprise that he's being stared at.]

...Is it the armour? [He taps his chest piece with the question.] It seems like it's always the armour.

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[As if someone decked out like this isn't batshit enough, the helmet and yellow-tinted visor are creepy in their own right when he knows there's something under there but they're not doing anything.

Suspicious, he's about to back away and pretend his hardest none of this had happened when the man... or whatever it is... speaks again.

Honest answer?]</sub>

Yeah, it's the armour.

_{[There had better be some kind of explanation attached to this stunning display of self-awareness.]}

/smooch!

[ex_alighthouse135]

[As Adam is inspecting the Christmas tree, someone else enters the room. Elizabeth is quite taken by the sight of it. A real Christmas tree! It's the first one she's ever seen. But then there's something else that takes her attention.

She walks quickly in Adam's direction, looking as though she might say something, but rather than speak she reaches to put her arms right around him and leans into for a sudden and not-so-brief kiss!]

<3! Why, hello there!

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[Good surprises aren't a thing that happens to him, at least not in a very long time. John Winchester showing up on his doorstep for the first time? That had seemed like a good surprise at the time, but like so many things, it'd turned sour in the end. Same with his life. Same with the angels' promises. Wonderland, for all its everyday comforts, had its downsides, too.

But a kiss out of the blue is one thing he's not expecting on any level. One minute he's by himself, the next a girl stalks right up to him and plants one on him without a word. Stunned, he doesn't think to move.]</sub>

What the hell?

_{[It's the first thing out of his mouth once it's over.]}

[ex_alighthouse135]

[When the kiss ends, Elizabeth steps back red in the face from a blush.]

Um, hello! Sorry about that.

[Her finger points upward to the mistletoe.]

I'm afraid there's no helping it. I'm sorry if I offended you.

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[Adam's cheeks are starting to bloom red, too, but for slightly different reasons. Since when did introductions start coming after something like... that? Is he still in his room, having a really weird dream? Feels like it. Feels like it a lot. People don't just come up to other people and kiss them unless they're in a movie, which this decidedly isn't given how much the plot sucks.

He's too busy staring at her face to look at what she's trying to point to. Delayed, he lifts his head to see the mistletoe.]</sub>

Are you serious? Mistletoe?

_{[He's never even seen the real thing outside of a book before. Hadn't someone told this girl she didn't need to stick to tradition this closely?]}

kisses!

[onsilksheets]

[The sudden onslaught of Christmas decorations threw Bela for a loop because she remembered it being springtime back home; Christmas was over half a year away for her. She didn't make a big deal of the holiday itself, and that probably stemmed from a few rubbish Christmases when she was a child.

The less said about that, the better.

It didn't stop her from her usual routine though, and Bela makes her way downstairs, greeted by the sight of the tree on her way down. She could accuse the mansion of overdoing it but maybe it thought the residents would appreciate the decorations. She blinks to make sure it's real, coming over to inspect the tree.

What Bela didn't expect to see was Adam.]

Early start for you, yeah?

[Casual. Friendly. Avoiding anything to do with zombies.]

A+, better than dying or eternal torment.

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[It's fair to say that his social skills have deteriorated in leaps and bounds since his time in the Cage. At the sight of Bela (and it's Bela, he remembers, he remembers the name), he turns his attention away from the tree. Aside from making sure a handful of people like her hadn't died horribly during their temporary end of the world scenario, he hadn't gone out of his way to keep in touch with anyone.

It's not like he'd swapped cell phone numbers with them, or planned slumber parties where they could sit up late, gossip, and talk about how they were dealing with their trauma.]</sub>

Oh, hey.

_{[She's not wrong. Adam doesn't exactly fit in this little community of misfits; his daily routine involves not showing his face around the mansion.]}

Uh, the house elves woke me up.

_{[He shrugs a shoulder at the tree. Or whatever had done this.]}

much, much better yep

[onsilksheets]

[Being stuck in hell probably wouldn't do much for one's social skills or their state of mind. Bela remembers what Adam was like when she first met him and helped him; but she thinks he has gotten better since that time. She could be wrong but Bela hopes that she isn't.

And it's not like she has been extremely sociable herself, just checking in with a few people now and again.]

House elves?

[An amused smile touches her lips.]

I suppose that's possible given where we are. [A beat and she's more serious this time.] How are you?

[halfwinchester]

_{[Bela's guess is as good as his. It's questionable whether him being out and about is a sign of improving health or stupidity. House elves would be the cute, harmless option, but God knows what's really behind the mansion going whacky.]}

You're British, I figured that one would fly. This place could double as Hogwarts.

<sub>[Humor is a good way to start the day. Better than waking up to night terrors and not daring to move out of his bed until the afternoon.

Because of that, he only looks slightly awkward at the question.]</sub>

I'm all right.

[askedforit]

Sleep is a thing that's sort of hit or miss for Peter, and sometimes, he finds himself with a case of sleeplessness. But really, even though the sleep might be nice, he can't quite argue with the sight that's before him. Wonderland's gone all-out for Christmas, it seems, and it's really kind of impressive.

It reminds him a little of the lavish affairs his parents would put on back home. And it's with a mixture of fondness and distaste that he recalls the parties and other fancy gatherings that were hosted at his childhood home.

But this isn't home, far from it. There's danger and threats to look out for, but there's good things too, and Peter's doing his best to focus on those instead.

While he wanders around taking in the decorations, he spots Adam poking at a Christmas tree, and decides to try striking up a conversation.]

Hey. They really went all-out with the decorating, huh?

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[He hadn't thought making acquaintances with people would ever be possible again with Lucifer's Cage in the equation, but he's starting to recognize more familiar faces than not. Adam looks up to see Peter, and he remembers the guy and a harmless conversation they'd had while he'd been looking for a new room to hide his troubles in.

As far as first impressions go, Adam doesn't think he made the worst one he possibly could have. There'd been no blood, shouting, or mention of Hell. No insane Mirror people or cannibal monsters, either.

And the guy hadn't tried to kill him or sell him on the angelic manifesto. Bonus.]</sub>

Hey. _{[After a beat of silence, he responds in kind, then shrugs at the tree with a roll of his eyes.]} No kidding.

[askedforit]

[Sure, Adam might be a little... interesting? Maybe even intense, but that's not exactly out of the ordinary. Most of the people Peter knows are like that, and that includes his brother and his mom. Of course, there's the whole hell thing to consider, but since that's not exactly a fact Peter knows, it doesn't quite count.

But either way, the guy seems nice enough.]

I can't say I've ever seen a place decorate itself before. If anything like that ever happens back home, it'll just be another way to make us obsolete.

[But it probably won't happen, since he doesn't live in a magical mansion back in New York. It's just one of those things that's funny to think about.]

[halfwinchester]

Sounds like the Matrix. _{[He offers the comment with a faint quirk of his brow. Though there's always the chance the guy won't even understand that reference, so he switches gears.]} If something didn't do the decorating for it, you mean.

<sub>[It's either believe Wonderland runs amok at random, or that it has a rhyme and a reason to it and that Wonderland's weird ass cast of characters has something to do with it. Adam can't begin to guess how or why, but he's leaning toward the latter theory. He's been thinking about the possibilities all the while looking over the changes.

Places don't just decorate themselves. And roots just don't spontaneously start moving under the floor.

On the other hand...]</sub>

But I don't have a damn clue. _{[He cranes his head to take in the tree, sounding resigned.]} I just saw it when the noise was over and done with.