+ FOURTH WALL EVENT: GENERAL NON-PARTY MINGLE POST +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: E V E R Y O N E
Where: Everywhere that isn't one of the parties! Both Sides!
When: Sept 1st to Sept 10th
Rating: G to PG-13 (please label higher ratings, thank you!)
Summary: Wonderful parties are springing up all across Wonderland, but there are still plenty of other places to explore. This is a log for any new arrivals who want to experience different parts of Wonderland life, and any current guests not in the mood for a log or transmission of their own.

Please also see THE FOURTH WALL MASTER POST for rules, information, and all the fun parties you can visit!
The Story:

On the morning of September 1st, everyone in Wonderland, on both Real and Mirror Side, will awake to find one of four possible invitations has been shoved under their doors. The glass has been carefully removed from all mirrors, and everyone will be able to cross to and from Mirror Side with ease, without forcing any sort of swap. The Queen of Hearts' chambers, discovered in the previous event, will be mysteriously inaccessible, leading only to a tearoom.

Additionally, there will be many more Wonderland guests than usual, each of them with their own random invitation and network device (wired to make replies only). As the week goes on, as per the invitations, more and more parties will appear (and everyone is invited to all of them, whether they received an invitation or not). But who brought them here? Why are there so many parties? Who is responsible for all of this exactly?

It's anyone's guess, though if parties or riddles are not your style, then there is always plenty more to see...

Comments

Jeremy Gilbert | The Vampire Diaries | ota, non-resident

[ghostwhispers]

[Parties are fine and good, but somehow things are less fun when they happen because someone plucked you out of your plane of existence and dropped you in actual Alice-style Wonderland. So Jeremy's eschewing all of that business and is instead investigating the premises. There's a tense young man creeping down the halls of several floors of the first mansion, and treading warily through the garden hedge maze as if he expects something to jump out and bite him. He's carrying a gym bag on his shoulder; someone with sharp eyes might notice the awkward bulges and angles within from the vampire-slaying mini-arsenal he's carrying around with him.

Eventually, he'll approach someone to sate the bigger question he's still not confirmed.]

Um, so hey. What are the chances that we're dead?


[OOC: Also open to any starters you want to throw at him instead! Things were discussed. Come do those things with me.]

[goeth]

[ bonnie must be a walking memory to jeremy.

curly hair and a loose peasant top, here is a high school girl trying to heft the entire world upon her shoulders. she clutches the messenger bag hanging from her shoulder as she turns, showing that she's babyfaced and malleable still. not yet built are the walls and armor she will learn to wield and peek through as she collects scars.

her own eyes fall to the bag, but it's less curious than jeremy himself.

if she weren't already tense at the sight of him, the mention of death would surely raise her shoulders in discomfort. but bonnie rallies. ]

That depends. Can you die when you're already dead?

[ghostwhispers]

[It's Bonnie. It's Bonnie but it's very much not Bonnie. This is the Bonnie who tried to hard to please and protect everyone, the one who fought and struggled and sacrificed. This is the Bonnie he sees when he dreams about her at night, and that means this can't be real.]

Usually I get brought back in between, but I really wouldn't put it past one of those ancient types to find a way to pull it off.

[This isn't Bonnie it's probably just something using her face.]

[goeth]

Hey, it's OK. I just -- I meant because you can die here.

[ bonnie takes a step toward jeremy, stilted. her hand starts to reach toward him before she reassesses and stops, leaving it sort of hanging between them awkwardly. while she's well aware of how little wonderland cares about time from a human's perspective it doesn't yet occur to her to apply that knowledge now. ]

You just arrived?

[ghostwhispers]

... Well that's good to know, I guess.

[Tension runs through his muscles as she reaches for him. His hand twitches, visible effort from resisting the urge to reach for a weapon.]

Yeah. I'm guessing you've been here a whole lot longer though.

[Something messing with ghosts? Hallucinogens? He doesn't know much about banshees and the less tangible edges of occult stuff - is there some kind of spirit hierarchy he doesn't understand yet?]

[goeth]

[ when she frowns, it's because she's already found herself in a whirlwind of uncertainty in regard to pretty much every aspect of her emotional life. her hand drops. it's awkward, the way she sees similarities and differences-- the way she's been unconsciously checking them off in her mind lately. ]

Uhm-- yeah. Months, actually.

[ ok bonnie bennett that's about enough of that. this is jeremy. remember? the first person to actually verbalize concern for your witchy habits? the boy who thought to put you first even when you refused? ]

You're staring at me.

[ghostwhispers]

[He squints slightly at the remark. Well of course he's staring at her. Why shouldn't he stare?]

I'm just mostly trying to figure out what's wearing my ex-girlfriend's face to try to talk to me.

[goeth]

[ wait w h a t ]

No, I'm not-- I'm me. Jeremy, I'm Bonnie.

[ right? right? like. she didn't get remade wrong did she? oh god. ]

[deathlessness]

Slim.

[Though Freya shouldn't really speak to that completely, but from what her siblings tell her, she survives her attempt to thwart Davina's spell and prevent the sire lines from being broken, so she feels it's fairly safe to assume that she isn't dead yet.]

That can be fortunate or unfortunate, depending on your point of view.

[ghostwhispers]

Might not be either. It's not like either of them has a habit of being permanent.

[It's just a little dry humor from someone who's seen too much for his age. He smiles at this new lady in a way he hopes is disarming.]

Why, did you have a preference of your own?

[deathlessness]

[She laughs, before giving a small shrug.]

I certainly prefer alive over dead. Though I can't necessarily speak to the minds of others, or their opinions of Wonderland.

[interpersonal]

[ when jeremy was a tiny, he had the sweetest smile. it would always make her heart hurt, in the very best way, whenever she saw it. after their parents died, those smiles became less frequent, until eventually, they were taken from him. she took them from him. this is a truth she never avoids, forgets, or excuses.

she hears his voice and something in her just

stops. ]

No chance at all, if I have anything to say about it.

[ elena would make herself the queen's worst nightmare, for all the nightmares she has given them. hello, jeremy. have a very human elena, feet clad in converse sneakers and hair pin-straight. she's rooted in place, wondering if he's real. ]

This is when I ask you if there's anything in spoilertown you want to avoid.

[ghostwhispers]

{{OOC still: Jer's pretty avoidant in general but are there any major "ELENA CANNOT KNOW X points you want me to make sure don't slip?}}

[He stops at the sound of her voice, staring at her as she'd done for him. He's probably bigger than she remembers, muscular in a way he hadn't been when she was human. He stands straighter, pays more attention. It keeps him alive. It also keeps him watching her face for tells. There are a lot of people who have that face, but there's something unique and different about each of them. It's not Katherine. Even when Katherine's actively trying to be Elena, she gives herself away often enough that it's like being able to tell identical twins apart. And that in itself begs a harsh question.]

Did something happen to Bonnie?

[interpersonal]

ooc: elena actually knows quite a bit via the originals! if at all possible though, i would like her to remain in the dark about jer's season four death/her no-humanity arc... most of season four really, sob. ty for asking. ❤

[ his harshness takes her by surprise. elena's eyebrows climb upward, lips parting to tug in a stunned breath. she'd been a second away from throwing her arms around him, and his reaction to her keeps her rooted in place. he looks so big; her chest clenches. ]

To Bonnie? She was fine earlier. Does that mean you've already seen her?

[ghostwhispers]

{{OH well then I'm glad I asked! I hadn't even thought those were the Elena spoilers you wouldn't want. Season 4 is totally off-limits, got it.}}

[Elena should know what that question means. And if she doesn't, then it means she hasn't been cursed yet. Magical time travel hurts his head.]

I've seen her.

And... I guess this means that I'm supposed to ask you about the last thing that happened at home when you were there.

[It seems to be the thing to do, at least.]

[interpersonal]

[ jeremy's question is a tricky one.

he wasn't involved in elena's last memories from home. he was in denver, safe and sound, the result of another one of elena's cruel (and in her mind, necessary) game plans. it means she has to think farther back, but only a little. ] Klaus was angry Stefan stole his siblings' coffins from him, and he'd stop at nothing to get them back. Tyler was newly sired to him. [ and hanging around jeremy to get him off vervain.

yeah, elena wasn't pleased about that one, but alaric took one for the team. ]

[ghostwhispers]

["Tyler was newly sired" is the line that feels like it means the most. It seems more important than anything Klaus was blackmailing them into doing. Tyler had been practically an infant then. He'd yet to go off to find himself and learn how to calm down and be a best friend. Jeremy himself had still been compellable, thrust into the arms of one invasive good-intentioned vampire after another, all in the interest of Elena straining to brainwash him into happiness. He'd resented her for that, once. But even that feels like a different lifetime.]

Oh. [He shifts, somewhat awkwardly.]

That was a while ago, for me. I'm, uh. Gonna be 20 soon.

[It seems like the quickest way to give her a timeframe without picking through the details of how he lived that long.]

[interpersonal]

[ ...

elena's sharp intake of breath is audible, and her surprise just as evident. something blooms inside of her chest at the sight of him, all grown-up and from a future that she has yet to live. but there is a future: they've outlived the nightmare that is klaus. also, those muscles are huge, jer. ]

You're a year older than me than me right now.

[ just ... give her a moment to process this ... ]

[ghostwhispers]

[How is it that Elena always knows the most embarrassing things to say? It makes him feel self-conscious when she stares at him like that, as if she's going to parade him around to some friends to show off how grown up her baby brother is. His tension breaks into an uncomfortable laugh.]

Yeah, seems like that's something that can happen here.

[interpersonal]

[ it's her job as your big sister, jeremy. it's in the contract somewhere. and make no mistake, she's still your big sister. in fact, she's about to make this more embarrassing. elena's face finally breaks into a grin, and she throws her arms around him, pulling him in for that hug.

she restrained herself long enough. ] I've missed you.

[ghostwhispers]

[He returns the hug as it arrives, hooking his head over her shoulder. It would probably be more in character with the Jeremy she knows to moan and shove her away, but she's hugging him. She's the real Elena, the one who hasn't died yet. The one who isn't so embroiled in the lives of dead people that she shuts herself off and pulls away from everyone. The one who hasn't been cursed and can still move her arms of her own volition.]

Yeah, I've -- I've missed you too.

[He's not getting choked up you're getting choked up.]

[interpersonal]

I'm here now, Jer. [ elena's hold tightens on him a fraction. it won't hurt much, if at all, considering her strength remains that of a human's. she blinks back the sting of unchecked tears, closing her eyes against his neck. she lingers, selfishly, and then pulls back with reluctance to take a good look at him.

her hands briefly touch at his cheeks, as though she'll be able to read in his expression all the years she is missing. ]

Are you okay? Has anyone explained where we are?

[ghostwhispers]

[When she pulls away, he gives her a half-smile, straining to keep from looking like he's watching a dead person. Given the lifestyle he leads, he'll probably be dead before Elena wakes up. He hadn't thought he'd ever see her alive again. It's bittersweet.]

Yeah, I. I spoke to Bonnie for a little bit. It's all pretty crazy.

[Not really. Not by the standards of the new normal.]

[interpersonal]

I know.

[ elena takes his hands, because it comes like second nature to her: wanting to soothe him, wanting to be an anchor, even when she makes all the wrong choices. ] I know it looks and sounds crazy, but I promise you, Jer. This is real.

[ they're in wonderland, somehow. and elena has been here for a long time now. ]

[ghostwhispers]

[He watches her face until it occurs to him that it's probably gone on too long. He pulls away at length.]

It's okay even if it's not. At least for a little while. It's been a while since I saw you last.