entrancelogs | + Your Princess Is in another...Palace +

+ Your Princess Is in another...Palace +

Who: Everyone!
Where: All over Wonderland
When: Friday, 8/24 - Monday, 8/27
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Palaces! This log is for Palace Rulers to post descriptions of their palaces, and for unaffected characters to wander in and out of them.
The Story:

Palace rulers: These are the characters who experience the bout of lightheadedness and spontaneously manifest a Palace starting at noon on 8/24. As soon as the palace forms, the character is essentially sucked into their Palace and made to play the part of the ruler.

These characters will forget they were ever in Wonderland or indeed had any other life outside of their Palace. If Character A's Palace took the form of her living her dream as a world-famous surfer where the oceans are made of cotton candy, she would always believe she'd been a surfer and that oceans have always been made of cotton candy. Any characters who entered her Palace would merely seem like visitors or intruders to the beach. Maybe they're surf fans, too?

It is possible to "wake" a Person from their Palace if one were to kill them (easy mode... if a bit violent) or make them see it's merely a mental construct (hard mode). If a person were to die inside their Palace, however, it would count as a mansion death. There are no real ways to "unmake" these Palaces other than to snap the person out of it or wait for them to run their course.

Palaces are tied to locations that characters frequent or find special meaning in. They do not outwardly change the appearance of the mansion--the clinic will still look like the clinic on the outside, but crossing inside takes you into the mental landscape of that affected character, and it may look however that player chooses it to.

Unaffected characters: Congratulations, you get to explore other characters’ inner world by visiting their Palaces! There is also a chance of danger should a character enter into a Palace whose ruler is likely to see them as a threat. Should Character A as described above not want a person there, sharks on legs might rise from the ocean and attempt to chase them off. (Sorry about that.)

However, there will always be a way to escape a Palace should you need to. There will always be a door leading back to the normal mansion, though no one else in the Palace will be able to see it aside from the unaffected character. If you entered the clinic and it's a barren hellscape, the clinic door will take you back out. Yay!

It is also possible for characters to see cognitive clones of themselves inside someone else's Palace if that person has a mental image of them. How these cognitive versions behave is, however, entirely up to the Palace ruler, whether realistic or not.

See the Bulletin Board for details on the event. You can also go to the plotting post to see what everyone else is doing!

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Gren remains tense, eyeing her up like she's some sort of threat. Right until she starts looking so goddamned earnest about it all anyway. Then...well, then some cracks start to show in his resolve. The furrowed brow softens, just a touch.

"Look, Lady, I sure as hell haven't told you anything. I've never laid eyes on you before."

But a seed of doubt has been planted, it niggles in the back of his mind, though he does his best to ignore it. He shifts in his stool, casting a worried glance around the bar. Because she know his name, his complete and real name and she's a witch. Not always a good combo. At least she isn't a mundy.

"I mean- you looking for the Thirteenth Floor? You with those witches? Or like...do you work with Auntie Greenleaf?"

"No. I'm looking for you."

Her chin lifts, cheeks flushing as she fights to hide the pain that lances through her with his words. It's only been a couple of weeks, but Misty has let the others convince her that this place isn't Hell. Instead it has obviously been playing a long con to lure her into believing, to having hope. And then this.

"I came here to find you, and... and you don't understand. Do you have any idea how many times I relived the same scene in Hell? Killing a poor defenseless creature over and over again. I knew better than to trust this place. I knew it! But I'm not doing this," she says. She sank into the depression of her last Hell. She is fighting back this time.

Even if she is taking a horrible chance as she storms up closer to Gren if no one stops her. "I know you. Kinda. You helped me when I first got here! You told me about asshole heroes that hurt people for being different." She sniffles, rubbing her nose with the side of her hand.

"I... I got your book from the library! I wanted to know your story and I started reading it, so don't let them do this to you! They're making you forget."

Misty bristles with frustration, anger leaving her cheeks red though not as red as her nose, the rims of her eyes, as she fights not to let tears fall.

I'm looking for you.

Words not uttered by anyone really, not to Gren. People actively avoid him, bar for his tiny group of people he allows close. He's violent and antsy and nobody wants anything to do with him. But here is a woman claiming very much otherwise, and it gives him reason to pause.

"Well, I know the Bronx is kinda shitty, but calling it Hell is a little overboard."

It's a joke, largely to deflect himself from his swirling, confused response he's feeling towards her. He doesn't understand what's happening, but she does. He's well acquainted with the impossible- there's a small chance what she's saying could be true. Especially when there's a large, nameless THEM involved. Gren always has had a weak spot when it comes to fighting against the big dogs.

"I don't-" remember. "This place- look I'm always fuckin' here. This is my place. Where I go. If anyone was makin' some kinda Hell or whatever for me, they picked a pretty goddamn stupid one."

Or the perfect one. Putting him in with his chosen family. (Something is broken about them something is wrong) He casts a worried look at the bald guy, then at the brunette sitting across the bar from him. No. It can't be wrong. This is how it's supposed to be. This is how they are. Hanging out in Holly's bar. Together.

Right?

The woman looks on the verge of tears though. Over him. She's read his story and she has tears to shed over him. When he speaks again, it's with more quiet than usual. His patent gruffness has the edge taken off- he's uneasy, worried.

"Who's making me forget?"

"None of this is about my time in Hell," she insists, even if she is the one that brought it up. Because despite her fixation since, as she believes, she escaped Hell, this isn't about that. This is about not letting Wonderland, or Hell, or whatever this place is trap him into some loop that screws with the mind.

Even if the image, the things you're living don't seem that bad, she can't let them do that to him. A person could become lost like that, lost forever to their memories and with this being her first event, she isn't really confined that is what this is... or that he'll really be saved by this place is he gives into the memories.

She draws a breath and it catches, a rough, pained sound because her chest is too tight to breath. In truth, she's terrified. If they can do this to Gren, to others, then maybe she truly never did escape Hell and they're using this to lure her into something more painful. Losing everyone that could make her feel like she truly has a place to belong.

"Maybe this was your place but it's not now," she insists, practically pleading in her tones as she takes another step closer, then another. "But it's not now."

She can't spare a look for anyone else, just staring earnestly up at Gren.

"The Queen. She's trying to use your memories against you. To run where we were." She isn't mentioning Wonderland again, not after his reaction the first time. "This is supposed to be a boat. A bar on a boat, and you spend time here at the dock by the beach. I came out here to find you because I... because I wanted to talk about the story and things. I don't know. I just know I like talking to you and I don't keep focusing on Hell when I do."

And she doesn't find herself in tears like when she speaks about Cordelia and Zoe and meeting Stevie. Except she is crying, tears streaking down her cheeks as she dashes at them with her fringe wrapped hands.

Misty speaks and for once in his life, Gren listens. He hates the feeling of being used- or being someone else's puppet. A pawn. A nothing to be used and discarded when his usefulness has worn out. It's been a feeling he's held with him for a while- watching helplessly as his loved ones...

He casts another look at the brown haired woman. Something horribly pained crosses his features. She can't be here. It's not actually possible for her to be here. She's dead. Torn down by a cowardly fuck on the orders of someone else. One of the few decent people in his long existence, snuffed out like she was nothing.

She isn't real.

His eyes drop to the wood of the bar, a little out of focus. He does listen to what Misty is saying, though. Partial memories trickle in, shadows, whispers of what was real. She was right. They did that, him and her. She was a witch, a decent one. A friend. Someone who'd been though some real bullshit and had still come out the other end a decent person.

There's a smash of glass, and he's surprised to see it's his own whiskey glass, so tight had he been gripping it. He looks at his hand absently, noting that he wasn't bleeding. This wasn't right. None of this was right. But- but.

"I can't-" leave- he turns to look at the brunette, who'd moved behind the bar, to stand with her sister. "She's here."

And is being used to keep him here. It's dawning on him with a dull ache. He can see the door out of the corner of his eye but he doesn't want it to be there. He wants his life to be as it was. Before Lily was murdered, before his relationship with Woody disinterested into nothing, before Holly's heart went and got itself broke over those things happening. When he still had his family.

All Misty wants to do is grab Gren and shake him. Shake him until whatever they've done to him stops and the images of this place fade and ... And she knows that's cruel. It's cruel to take this from him, because if this is home to him before Wonderland. Who is she to take that from him?

But if she found herself caught up in a memory of being with the others in Miss Robichaux's Academy, she would hope that Gren or someone would help her and save her from it. That's how people died, and she knew it. You got caught in the hallucinations and the memories, and eventually your body dies and you never even know.

She gasps as the glass shatters, moving to pull off her shawl - her Stevie Nicks shawl - ready to use it to staunch the bleeding.

Except there isn't any blood.

"Gren? If this was real, I would do everything in my power to give it to you. I would use every bit of witchcraft I have to keep you here and not back in Wonderland, but I can't." It hurts that she can't, clutching at her shawl so hard it hurt as the fabric twines about her hands. She has lost so much that she believes she'll never have again. It's Wonderland or Hell, but others have lost everything, and she can't help them get it back. No matter how much losing more people in her life will hurt.

"And you can hate me for sayin' all this, and tellin' you the truth, but I would rather that than you just turning to dust like I probably did."

She knows the stories, and she has to assume. She never left a memory in Hell. She can't let that happen if she can stop it.

A move that would be considered suicidal by most. Though Misty might well be one of the few people in his lifetime that could get away with touching him at all, let alone anything else. He'd even be touched if he knew about that shawl, what it meant to her- and what she was willing to use it for.

He instead stares at the wood of the bartop- half listening to her, half trying to battle with himself. A part of him wants to stay here. To live the lie- to still have his life, his loved ones, together. The temptation is very great, but he supposes that's the fucking point. To make him want to stay. To make him want to not go back to reality.

Her words sink in. His friends here are gone - Lily's dead, Woody's left. Holly's still around, but while he's trapped in Wonderland, she might as well be a billion miles away. She won't even know he's missing. Not with the way this place works. But he has friends here, in Wonderland. He's got Shawn, he's got Asgore. He's got Misty. Misty, who'd do everything in her power to make him happy. A kindness very few have ever offered him.

"Okay."

He lets out a long, shaky breath. He stands- he doesn't look at the people his palace have built. He doesn't dare. If he does, he's worried that his resolve will break and there'll be no helping him then. He does, however, finally turn to look at Misty proper. There's a stillness to him that's never in the foreground of his personality. He looks tired. Beaten.

"Okay. You win. I'll go."

From the things that Gren had told her previously, Misty can imagine the chance she's taking. And it's worth it. If someone had a chance to come in and rescue her from that classroom, she would hope they'd take that risk. It's why she's willing to take that risk for him.

Wonderland is giving her a chance at having people that are hers, those she can trust and hopefully trust her. There's nothing this place can throw at her that she won't risk for them. She's been to Hell once. She's died at the stake. Wonderland can bring it on.

He agrees, and despite that, her heart sinks. Watching that conflict on his face, knowing what she's taking from him, it's painful and leaves her heart feeling like shattered glass. She's broken something, she fears, and she's not even sure she truly can rescue him from this place. Except the dock had been there, and she came down the beach, and that's all she can hope for. That it all still remains beyond the door she stepped through.

So she closes the gap between them, reaching for his hand. She fears without that his resolve might give. Or hers.

"I'm so sorry. If I could give you your life back, I would." Even if it means one less person here she is already beginning to consider hers. Misty attaches to people quickly, having spent her whole life waiting for a place where she belongs. "But I can't. I can only do my best to protect you from this place if I can."

It's all she can offer, but maybe despite the way he looks, maybe it can be enough.

Wonderland has slowly started to give him a sense of home he thought was lost to him. Misty was definitely a big part of that. If she wasn't, well, she wouldn't have got him to move at all. Leaving here...it was awful. Walking away from something that once made him happy- something that was a rarity, had been a rarity, since he left the Homelands and found himself in the Mundy.

He spares her proffered hand a glance. He hesitates, before taking it. Not because he doesn't want to, not that he's afraid of potentially harming her- but because this is the final step to accepting this a the lie it is. To accept her help and walk away from what Wonderland has created for him.

"...Not a lot of folk say that about me."

Because he's a monster. Because he's usually the one protecting others. She can take her pick. He exhales slowly, taking her hand in his.

"Okay. Let's just...get the fuck out of here."

The moment his hand takes her, her fingers close tightly around his. Clinging, afraid he will try and pull away at the last minute. If he had, she wouldn't be able to resist him but she knew she will still try. For both of their sake.

"No matter how big and bad you are, someone can always be there for you."

Smiling then, turning for the door and hoping that he moves with her as she heads for the door. Pushing it open, hoping that she's right and that Wonderland lay on the other side. They aren't anymore sure it's real, but at least it's not drawn from their own memories like apparently this place is.

His fingers remain tight with hers, it's soothing, more than he'd really like to admit. More than he'd care to try and unpackage, along with everything else right now. But then, he supposes, they have plenty of time for that.

"I don't know, I'm pretty fuckin' big and can be pretty fuckin' bad."

It's said in jest though, perhaps even in mockery of someone who's decidedly not in this room. It's not without appreciation for her, though. For wanting to step up and protect him from his own demons. He steels himself, takes a breath. Right. He's ready. And so, he follows her through the door- out of his own mental prison and into the less horrible Wonderland one.

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+ Your Princess Is in another...Palace +

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