+ Somewhere a Grandiose Carnival Was Going on in the Sky +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: Everyone!
Where: The grounds of the Mansion
When: March 9-16
Rating: PG-13 (warn if you go higher)
Summary: The Red Queen has thrown a carnival for everyone!
The Story:


From Friday, March 9, through Friday, March 16, the gardens and grounds of the Mansion will be a sprawling a carnival. The masked, unspeaking vendors will be selling trinkets and running free game booths. Carnival rides, exhibits, and foods represent all of the various cultures of those currently residing in the Mansion.


Of particular note, and perhaps incongruously, everything is decorated with red hearts.

Use this log for any and all of your carnival needs!

Comments

[postictal]

"Okay, you make a good point," says Tim, and it sounds an awful lot like he's about to slide a but in there. But. Alas. "...I was gonna say something else, but honestly, I really just...can't."

When is Jay not freaking out? He's basically a bendy straw composed entirely of pure anxiety.

Besides, it's - not unpleasant. To be able to make wry comments and jokes, and to hear her refer to Jay in a way that implies she's fond of him. Despite...well, all of it.

[choosetruth]

"Good. You know how much I appreciate honesty." It's more poking fun of herself than anything else. Even her hardline on honesty would not get mad at Tim for trying to claim Jay wasn't constantly freaking out. Even if it wouldn't be particularly convincing.

But speaking of freaking out.

"Have you noticed Wonderland's events have been significantly less traumatic lately?"

[postictal]

“You think that might be intentional?” Thank god she moves things along; straight theorizing is infinitely better and easier than small talk, he suspects, for both of them. “A way of apologizing or the calm before the storm, do you think?”

Or coincidence, but he tends to doubt that’s the sort of thing that runs events around here. Not given the kinds of memories they’re pulling from.

[choosetruth]

"Could be. It's that or a coincidence, and I don't believe in coincidences. Especially around here."

Wonderland is known for madness, but there's usually at least some sort of method there, even if Georgia can't always grasp it. It can't be coincidence.

[postictal]

Tim hums his agreement. Coincidence stopped being something he believed in some time ago, but it applies even less so here.

"The Red Queen definitely made this one happen. Gotta wonder about the timing of it." Though they won't know for certain until the next event happens along - it bears keeping in mind. Maybe asking her if this was a preemptive apology.

[choosetruth]

"Think she'd give a straight answer if you asked?" It's Wonderland, so odds aren't great. Then again, the Red Queen's been surprisingly forthcoming, relatively speaking.

[postictal]

"I think she'd give what she considers to be a straight answer," says Tim, after a moment's consideration. "Which...isn't really saying much, but she seems more with it than everyone else. Or - less purposefully a pain when it comes to answering questions."

He's probably gotten more answers outta the Red Queen than he has all the other residents combined, to be honest, with the possible exception of Alice.

[choosetruth]

"I've noticed that myself." Though that doesn't mean that Georgia necessarily trusts her. She's not very trusting most of the time. "The Dormouse is pretty good too if you can get him to wake up. Offering him treacle's a good strategy."

[postictal]

"Treacle, huh?" He's gonna keep that in mind...though that does remind him, with a slightly rueful clearing of his throat and a shoving of his hands into his pockets.

"...sorry, by the way. I keep holding out on that deal with the chess piece. She just...she pops up a lotta the time anyway, y'know? Feels - I dunno. Doesn't feel necessary. Though I guess I wouldn't really know," he's quick to add. He's not the interviewer here. Far from it.

[choosetruth]

"That's fine. I'd rather have it on reserve anyway for when we really need it than use it just to hurry along something that can wait for her next appearance anyway." She's happy to be strategic about it. In Wonderland, the one thing they have an excess of is time, but that may not always be the case.

[postictal]

"You kinda gotta wonder what her relationship to all the Mirrors is. She seems to like including them in everything." As opposed to the Queen of Hearts, who seems to favor pitting them against one another and watching the sparks fly. More entertaining?

That seems too simple an explanation, and a bit more sadistic than he'd give the Red Queen credit for.

[choosetruth]

"She does." If Georgia's being optimistic, the Queen is doing it for the same reason Georgia wants to help them. Because it's fair and right.

Georgia's rarely optimistic. It's far more likely the Queen's trying to get the Mirrors on her side.

"Think they appreciate it? A lot of them seem to have crossed over, at least."

[postictal]

"I dunno. They've kinda been indoctrinated to be...the way they are since day one." Meaning he wouldn't be surprised if a few of them were bent on taking advantage of the opportunity to wreak a little chaos, even if he can technically understand why they would, and even forgive it.

Doesn't mean he has to like it.

[choosetruth]

"And some of them are as bad as people like to say." She won't deny that much. It's just that plenty of reals are as bad as well.

[postictal]

"Maybe 'cause they've never had a reason to try being anything else." It's easier said than it is backing up with any kind of significant action, but he's not yet had the chance or reason to implement something like that anyway.

But then again, it's not as if he's been trying very hard.

[choosetruth]

"We have to break them free from the Queen's control first."

The problem is, she only has one idea for how to do that, and she's pretty sure it's a terrible one.

[postictal]

"Well, the question there is, how the hell do we do that." Because full disclosure, Tim has no idea. He tried to sway two people from under the control of something larger than themselves, and it ended poorly.

He wasn't much good at it.

[choosetruth]

She frowns, shifting to look out at the rest of the carnival.

"The Red Queen suggested there's a way. She also suggested we're incapable of it. Or at least that I am."

Not that Georgia intends to quit. She just has to be damn careful about it.

[postictal]

“What about the other residents? Like Alice?” She’s pretty comfortable relating to the rest of them, which is a positive in his mind. Most people he’s spoken to who are familiar with her are protective - or at the very least, would care if something else were to happen to her.

“Maybe it’s a question of what we are, or the fact that we still remember where we came from. We’re not Wonderland’s so we can’t do much to it, maybe. If that’s the case, why not back someone who can?”

[choosetruth]

"Yes, a 12 year old with barely any memories and 150 plus years of being trapped in this hellhole. That couldn't possibly go wrong."

She's just saying, Alice is nice enough, but she's flaky. She might be nice to the Mirrors and the Reals, but being nice isn't the most important thing for a queen.

"I'd be all for that, but it would have to be the right person. We don't want to make things worse than they already are."

[postictal]

"I'm just saying our options are limited here. You wanna go with the Dormouse instead?" Honestly, Alice is probably the one of them he trusts the most, which isn't much but is, admittedly, something. He doesn't distrust her as much as he does the rest.

That may as well be a vote of confidence in his book.

"I guess it comes down to whether you'd rather do nothing, or do something that has the risk to make things worse." He suspects he knows which one she'd pick.

[choosetruth]

"The Dormouse is one of the more competent residents if you wake him up." It's just that waking him up is the trick. She straightens, frowning at him. "And the answer is neither. I'd rather come up with a plan that might make things better."

[postictal]

"The problem with biding your time here is that you're always doing it. Hell, I've been doing it." Holding off on using that chess piece until the opportune moment, because...fuck, what if he ends up really needing it? What if there's something worse down the line? What if this chance is better off not being taken?

Is there a choice there, a question of gauging the best time to actually act? Or is there just never a good time, period?

Personally, he leans toward the latter.

[choosetruth]

"What else do we have here but time?"

An unknown amount, perhaps, but it's just about the only thing they have in excess.

"There's middle ground between never acting and being impulsive. It's called being strategic."

[postictal]

"So what's the strategy right now? Bide your time, try and convince the Mirrors that they're being misled...however likely that'll be?" 'Cause he's been having some limited success in some regards, and...more success in others.

But then again, he's not sure if his successes really count. He didn't sway the Mirrors in question so much as provide them an alternate route to the same destination they were always planning on heading.