Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore | OPEN

[vitaelamorte]

Who: E V E R Y O N E (Including our 4th wall guests!)
Where: Everywhere, one both Mirror and Real Side!
When: December 12th - December 18th (WEEK ONE)
Rating: PG-13, warn if going higher
Summary: This year's Ewaymas celebration rolls out the way it usually does, with intense decorating, a sudden snowfall and...far more arrivals than usual! New faces and old fill the mansion - but why would Wonderland bring so many people at once? And why do some of them remember Wonderland?
The Story:

On the evening before December 12th, the captives of Wonderland might be awoken by a loud commotion. Some of it is typical Ewaymas noise, likely familiar to anyone who has been in Wonderland for more than a year – construction sounds and jingle bells as Wonderland decks its own halls quite literally. Garland and lights race down the walls and down the stairs, and stockings appear on the walls for each and every person in Wonderland, embroidered with their names. There are decorative candles everywhere, and all sorts of decorations for every conceivable winter holiday, even if it does not align perfectly to the dates of Ewaymas. Time isn't real, so there will be menorahs and dreidels and Star of Davids even though Hanukkah ended two days prior. And of course, in the front hall, growing straight out of the floor, is a large decorated tree full of ornaments for everyone. And as always, it will have snowed heavily overnight, bringing all of the snow Wonderland will have between now and spring.

There is a second source of commotion in the night though – the sound of a crowd.

Over the course of the night, dozens of new arrivals will appear in Wonderland. Some for the first time. Some wondering how they managed to return with their memories. Others stumbling in with no recollection of ever having been here. Some might be friends from other timelines, other possibilities, and some might even be doubles of people who are already in Wonderland. It's strange for Wonderland to drag so many people into the mansion at once, but everything seems to indicate that they are supposed to be there. They have their own network devices and even have their own stockings on the wall and their own ornaments on the tree – by all accounts, it seems Wonderland expects that they'll be staying, and is treating them like any other new arrivals. Please, make them feel at home and help them settle in nicely.

The first few days will be for catching up with old friends and enjoying the decorations and settling into Wonderland. However, within a couple of days the decorations will start to glitch, much the way corrupted computer graphics might. Lights might change abruptly from multi-color to blue or white, entire décor styles will abruptly change, candle flames will flicker on and off like broken fluorescent lights, and any singing decorations might loop on a beat or two over and over putting you into an eternal hell. Wonderland doesn't seem to be able to stick to one motif, and it can't stop changing. These glitches are occurring on both the Real Side of Wonderland and the Mirror Side.

By the 15th, these glitches will include entire rooms changing into different holiday scenes. These scenes will all be of characters at various winter holidays in the past, the present (in their world), or a possible future. At this point in the event, characters will still be able to navigate the basic mansion and be able to exit these moments easily. These scenes cannot be interacted with – Wonderland seems to consider them another form of decorating. Unlike previous events of this type, these scenes will not loop at first. They will play once, and then Wonderland will glitch and correct itself to be the room it is supposed to be. The scene might play again, but it will be in a different location if it does.

By this point, Wonderland is having an increasingly difficult time holding itself together in a way that makes geographical sense. You might exit one room, even a room that was not previously playing a scene, and find yourself in the kitchen or on the roof instead of in the hallway. You might open a door that you were sure led to your room only to see a ten foot drop to the grounds outside.

This is the mingle log for WEEK ONE! For more information on this part of the event or any questions, please head over to the plot post, or check out our Fourth Wall Master Post for your other Fourth Wall event needs! Prose or [action brackets] are welcome. Please clearly indicate whether your character is on the Real Side or Mirror Side in your top levels. And of course, have fun! ♥

Comments

[gonerkid]

[Their gaze drifts. Or...supposedly it does. It's not easy to tell, with their bangs falling in front of their eyes, masking their expression. What little of their face is visible is pressed into thin, noncommittal line.]

[They shake their head, though. No. They don't care about that. They care about this - the checkerboard formation of things. It's familiar. It means something to them.]

[It means more than a mansion does.]

[shslliar]

... Not much of a talker, are you?

[Geez! Can't he get any kind of reaction out of this guy? Kokichi follows their gaze and... Yep. Sure is the checkerboard hills.]

What's so great about the checkerboard hills, anyway? It's not like they actually do anything other than look weird.

[gonerkid]

[It tightens up their throat, slightly. There are words there, jammed up behind their teeth and lodged in their throat. A story that they could spill out, if only they'd the means to articulate it. The disconnect between their tongue and their brain is as vibrant as it is impossible to overcome.]

[The impossibility of the Dark World. The significance of the checkers, the chess pieces. The throbbing weight of something red and unwanted in the pit of them.]

[The words scramble for purchase up against their airways. As usual, nothing comes out.]

[Nothing ever comes about. The most they can manage is a single word. A whisper.]

...important.

[shslliar]

[GASP! THEY SPEAK!

Quietly.]

Huh? What was that? Did you say this place was important or something?

[Now Kokichi's gonna wander over and stand in front of this stranger.] You're gonna have to speak up if I'm ever supposed to understand what you really think of these hills, bub. I mean, you just got here, right?

[gonerkid]

[Another nod. Those types of questions are best. Yes. No. But no matter how they answer, the conversation is going to progress the same way. Their choices...]

[Your choices don't matter.]

Yes. [Just got here.]

[shslliar]

So, why don't you go look at the rest of Wonderland? It's not like the hills are going anywhere.

[Kokichi is a master of manipulation, but he's pretty sure this lopsided conversation isn't actually scripted. The other guy just isn't giving him much to work with here.]

[gonerkid]

[They can't explain exactly how much they can't do that. They can't possibly leave - not with this being the one familiar thing. The cold pinches their fingertips. They pull their hands into fists and out again. Their stillness isn't stillness at all; it's twitching, restless.]

[There's some sort of fitful energy working at the heart of them, but they can't seem to be able to articulate what.]

...

Can't.

[Not yes. Not no.]

[Can't.]

[shslliar]

What?

[Now that was the dumbest thing Kokichi has ever heard. He leans in. Looking the stranger in the eye.]

Whadya mean ya can't? Literally nothing is stopping you right now!

Unless your legs are frozen solid or something, you can still walk wherever you want! Geez!

[gonerkid]

[Looking them in the eye might prove difficult; their eyes aren't easily visible, their bangs shielding their expression. The thin line of their mouth trembles faintly, as though struggling with an effort to say something else aloud.]

[They are.]

Can't.

[They - can't. Do you understand? They don't get to wander. They don't get to do anything that they're not told.]

[shslliar]

[Okay, looking at those scruffy bangs is close enough... But boy, this is not gonna work.]

Oh, come on! You're not a robot or anything! Literally nothing is stopping you from doing anything! Look, I can see your face turning blue, so don't tell me you actually don't mind freezing to death!

[gonerkid]

[Do they mind it? They don't know. They're not in a position to believe that their choices have any weight. As always. It's been so long since they've entertained what they might actually prefer that they're not sure they'd actually be capable of recognizing it.]

...doesn't matter.

[shslliar]

Doesn't matter?! What kind of crazy talk is that?

[This guy's driving the conversation in circles and it's starting to really bug Kokichi-]

That's it! I'm just gonna show you what you're missing. Come on. [Kokichi grabs the stranger's sleeve and attempts to drag him away.]

[gonerkid]

[Someone grabs them, and the effect is immediate. Their shoulders slump and their head drops to their chest, further veiling their eyes from view. They stumble after, unresisting, allowing themself to be dragged along like a puppet drawn by a string.]

[Their choices don't matter.]

[shslliar]

[That's even more irritating. Kokichi expected at least some resistance from Mx. Stoneface here, considering the guy's taller than him. But nope! They're just letting themselves be dragged along like a pathetic rag doll.]

Geez... So much for being physically unable to move or whatever... [He grumbles as they trudge through the snow. It's a bit of a walk from the Checkerboard Hills to the mansion, but at the pace they're going they'll probably make it in 20 minutes. Tops.]

I mean, seriously! A lifeless robot has more integrity at you! Or at least the will to live! Something!

[Then something hits him, making him pause his mean-spirited rant for a second.]

You don't even have a name, do you?

[gonerkid]

[They let him ramble. If his words strike with any impact, it doesn't show. Their expression is as deadpan as always, their head bowed.]

[It washes over them dully, like an oil slick over water. No matter how he might go on and on, whether or not they agree, it doesn't matter. They've heard worse.]

[They do, however, have an answer to that.]

Kris.

[shslliar]

Huh? [He stops walking a second near the giant scar in the ground and turns his head twoard the stranger.]

Kris? That's your name?

[gonerkid]

[They nod, once. Yes. Kris.]

[They know it to be their name, because it's what they've always been called. And everyone they've met has simply...known it, for some reason or another. This is the first time they've had to venture it, isn't it?]

[The first time in...a while.]

[shslliar]

[Alas, Kokichi is not a psychic. This is the first time he's actually met Kris, so how was he supposed to know what they were called?]

Well, nice ta meetcha. My name's Kokichi Oma... Though I guess you can just call me Oma if you're just gonna stick to the single name thing.

[And thus Kokichi is back to tugging Kris through the snow. Walking and talking is a possibility, folks.]

[gonerkid]

[Again, they do not protest. They simply allow themself to be towed, unprotesting, along. They should offer an answer, possibly - an okay, or all right, or nice to meet you, but the words, as usual, remain stuck in their throat with no neat way to articulate them.]

[In the end, they don't. Their choices, after all, have never mattered.]

[They know that.]

[shslliar]

... Uh, hello? Did you even hear me introduce myself?

[Ya know, if Kris' thoughts could be read, Kokichi would be yelling at them for sounding like a broken record. Since he can't...]

You're supposed to say something in response, stupid.

[gonerkid]

[They simply look at him.]

[No response, at first. He wants them to speak, so...they speak. As always, struggling to find something else to say. Too many barriers thrown up over time, and someone who doesn't seem to want them to be quiet, but their tongue is not their own.]

Okay.

[Say something.]

I heard you.

[shslliar]

... That's better. Thanks.

[Kokichi has no idea what's up with this weirdo. Do they just... Not know how to speak more than three words at a time?

At this point, Kokichi has managed to drag Kris to the weirdly shaped sidewalk- Or at least he assumes so because the crunching under his feet sounds more like there's pavement under the snow than grass.

Up ahead, there's a stable for horses on the side of a mansion that seems to look different to everyone. Kokichi thinks it's one of those modern, fancy houses you'd be lucky to see in urban Japan, but it's probably gonna look different to Kris. Or it might be glitching, for all we know.

Anyway, Kokichi's gonna ignore that and point out the stables.]

Hey! There's a stable full of horses over there! You wanna go look at them real quick?

[Kokichi doesn't care about the horses, he just wants Kris to make up their mind about something for once.]

[gonerkid]

[Do you?]

[They don't have an answer to that. The idea of choice has become so numbed, so absolute in the depthlessness of how it does not matter, that they can't quite come to terms with what he is asking. Or why.]

[They look at the stable, the horses that it allegedly contains. If they feel any inclination toward agreement or disagreement, it's not one they can readily access. Not one they can dig out from the pits of a human SOUL.]

Does it matter?

[shslliar]

[Kokichi doesn't seem to understand the SOUL issues Kris is having.]

It's a yes or no question, stupid, just pick one.

[gonerkid]

[No one does =)]

[They answer, and it sounds scripted. Strangely cold, and clipped, and nothing at all like the distant, curiously detached manner with which they've previously spoken.]

My choices don't matter.