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

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

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! ♥

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Jay sees the way Alex's eyes cloud over, feels the way his grip slackens.]

[Shepard talked about him so fondly, like they were really friends.]

[Jay takes the opportunity and shoves.]

[He doesn't expect it. He stumbles back, reeling, curses under his breath. He's grabbing for a gun he doesn't have. He's struggling to seize a knife he doesn't carry.]

Get back here -

[But there's murder in his eyes again. Well and truly.]

[Wrong move. Somehow.]

[Can't we just talk? a distant, hysterical part of him asks. That part of him is stupid, though, and he tries to ignore it.]

[Jay bolts up the staircase, taking the steps two, three at a time. He doesn't realize where he's going until his hand's on the door handle.]

[The theater.]

[It's a dead end, sure, but it's one he knows. And, more importantly, the projectionist's booth at the back has got a door with a solid, deadbolt lock. So it's a plan. Not one of his better ones, but it's a plan.]

[He scrambles inside. Too bad this door doesn't have a lock, too.]

[Alex follows. He's not at that point in time just yet. He doesn't know the agonizing, frustrated slow burn of always being several steps behind a pair of incompetent detectives who telegraph all their movements on YouTube. He only knows how it felt to string Jay along, waiting for his internal debate to boil down to a conclusion he already knew he'd have to come to.]

[But he follows anyway. Charges after, weaponless, because he doesn't have anything on him, because he dropped the gun when Bill stabbed him. He'll strangle the bastard if he has to. He'll do whatever he has to.]

[He doesn't take in his surroundings. He doesn't care. He just plows furiously forward.]

[He hears the theater doors creak behind him; not much time. He just has to get up the steps, has to get the door to the projectionist's booth locked behind him.]

[Simple.]

[1D20 => 11]

[He stumbles on the steps, enough to narrow the gap between them, but he reaches the door, throwing it shut behind him with an echoing crack.]

[Lock, lock--shit, it's too dark to see the deadbolt. He feels for it, trying to hold the door shut with his weight.]

[Door slams. He powers after the noise, ends up slamming palms first into it. He feels for a doorknob, scrambling for a lock, trying to wrench it open, anything - ]

You can't run forever! [The words are heat and adrenaline pressed up against the back of his throat, heavy and panting from exertion. There's a handle, but Jay's thrown his weight up against the door. He starts hammering at it with his shoulder, with his fists, slamming his full body weight up against it.]

[1D20 => 9]

[Oh god. Oh god, he's trying to force his way in. Where's the lock?]

[Alex slams his full weight against the door, and it feels like the whole wall shudders. Jay's wrist aches from holding the doorknob in place, and his head throbs. He can't leave, though, and there's nothing within reach to barricade the door. It's just him.]

This isn't gonna fix anything! [He grips the doorknob with both hands. Needs a hand to feel for the lock, but he can't now. Has to wait for an opening.] You know what happens after the fifth time?

Everything ends.

[No. He doesn't know. He just assumes that five times is the magic number. That's what everyone says. Maybe, at that point, you stop reviving. You just depart, well and truly. Maybe for good. Put him in the fucking dirt, then. Let it be the end of it.]

[See if that makes it better.]

[He's still got a white-knuckle grip on the doorknob.]

It's wrong. What they told you back then, it's wrong. Shepard--

[1D20 => 1]

[He reaches for the lock, and his other hand slips.]

[Slips enough to turn the knob.]

[Slips enough to crack the door open.]

[Shepard, he says, throwing her name to the ground like a gauntlet, like a talisman. Hatred unfurls, heat coiling under his chest like a smoking gun, powering him forward. The door slips open a crack and he slams into it full force.]

[His glower is shadowed by the uneven falling of his hair into his eyes, his teeth bared.]

[Static rips across the words, the ripcord-buzz of rage tunneled through digital filters.]

She isn't going to fucking s̩̹̣a̛͌ͣv̲᷁̿ê̞̅ y̦͒̏o᷊ͤͣu̬̠̣.

[The door slams open, hard enough to damage the wall behind, hard enough to bruise Jay's arm as he stumbles back.]

Alex--

[It's nearly inaudible, swallowed by the way Alex's voice splits.]

[That's not the right word for it. Distorts isn't either; this isn't a corrupt video file, isn't a tape marred with magnetic interference. It doesn't sound exactly like any of it, doesn't line up with anything he's heard before. He's not sure he's hearing it now, not all of it. All Jay knows is that it's wrong; it's completely wrong.]

[And he's trapped.]

[It's not a plan; it's barely anything. He's not thinking. He just--reaches over to one of the flimsy racks of equipment (media players from an infinite multiverse, machines he'd like to preserve if he weren't about to be murdered) and, with all of his panicked strength, yanks on it. Maybe, if he's lucky, he'll slow Alex down.]

[1D20 => 18]

[[Disclaimer: I started to suspect the roller I was using would default to 11, since I kept getting 11s, so I tried another one. We can treat this roll as an 11 or an 18.]]

[Bloodlust-blind and snarling, he doesn't see it coming. He doesn't see anything but the pale blot of Jay moving steadily away from him, trying to escape, and then something crashes down on top of him. Plastic and metal equipment showering over his outflung hands and something slams into his temple with enough weight to make him see stars.]

[He shouts. The words aren't words at all; they're just formless half-curses, vague and split at the ends.]

[It nearly trips him to the floor. He throws it off with enough force to send it crashing into something else.]

[Holy shit, it worked.]

[For a split-second, at least. For a second, it worked.]

[Jay sprints forward, trying to stay out of arm's reach. If he can just get to the door without Alex noticing--]

[1D20 => 1]

[Unfortunately, fallen equipment can be a tripping hazard. A cord winds around his ankle, and at this speed, Jay can't correct his course. His leg is yanked out from under him, and he falls.]

[Directly toward Alex Kralie.]

[Alex is stumbling, fumbling to not trip and collapse to the goddamn floor. He does anyway. He pitches forward with a muffled curse, unintentionally dropping the whole of his dead weight on top of one Jay Merrick, which feels about the same as how it might feel for one to collapse on top of a bundle of fucking sticks.]

[This would be more tactically effective if he'd done so purposefully. As he did not, it mostly succeeds in causing Alex to see yet more stars.]

[There's an impulse tugging at Jay Merrick. The impulse to say, face mashed into the floor: "You done? Is it over?"]

[He's pretty sure that impulse comes from the part of his brain that has stubbornly refused to acknowledge the life-threatening danger he's been in for the past several minutes. He's also pretty sure it's the same part of his brain producing feelings like relief and familiarity and, god forbid, fondness for that guy he hung out with a few times in college, which is more times than he can say for most of his classmates.]

[He urges that part of his brain to shut up, and shoves up against the dead weight on top of him, trying to roll Alex off.]

Fuck off.

[Low, deep snarl, distorted by the weight or heaviness of words like fucking cement or like the density of a black hole sucking him dry. Doesn't sound like him. Nothing does. Alex Kralie doesn't feel like him and hasn't since he made the shitty decision to make a fucking student film with a couple of distant friends.]

[He's trying to scramble off, or rearrange himself so he has a better foothold. Can strangle Jay unconscious this way, maybe.]

[Or worse.]

You fuck off.

[Not his snappiest comeback, to be sure, and definitely lacking the gravity of Alex's snarl, those extra bass tones that scream predator, threat, sending a shot of adrenaline to Jay's skull.]

[He's rolled onto his side, nothing behind him to support him, but he still aims a clumsy, panicked kick at Alex's midsection.]

[1D20 => 10]

[Any retort Alex might have had is lost in the reflexive oof that comes from getting nailed in the fucking stomach by some bony asshole's foot.]

Where is she, huh? [The words rupture out of him like something cancerous and leaching, before he can fully process what it is he plans to say.] Don't see Shepard anywhere, here to fucking save you.

Not here to save you, either.

[God, he's on a roll, isn't he? This one's even less coherent than the last. Alex isn't gonna need saving from Jay any time soon.]

[But it's true. Shepard might've been able to keep this from getting out of hand. She could've spared Alex a couple bruises, at least. Jay tries to scramble to his feet.]

[1D20 => 6]

[His leg spasms, collapsing under him. It's not used to this kind of exertion. Still, through ragged breaths, Jay continues:]

She kept talking about you. Turns out you were right about the mole.

[And wouldn't that be Alex Kralie's greatest dream? A Jay who not only isn't dead, but who's also leaking information to the Other Side.]

[Not that there's really one of those, anymore.]

Liar.

[Because it's plain easier to deny it. It's easier to spit the word out and say that he's just trying to get a parting shot in, than it is to consider - what if it's true. It doesn't matter. He washed his hands of this. He washed his hands of all of it.]

You don't get to talk about her like you have any idea.

I'm not--!

[He has to get out of here.]

[1D20 => 19]

[And for once in his miserable life, it doesn't go wrong. Jay sprints for the door, grabbing hold of the handle on the way out.]

[Barricading himself inside was the original plan, but trapping Alex in there instead? An even better plan.]

[Assuming he can get the door shut behind him, and assuming he can find something to keep it that way. Too bad the door only locks from the inside.]

[Alex snarls, tears after. Crashes up against the door as it slams shut, the thudding of meat and muscle impacting an unyielding surface. Pounding up against it would be useless. He does it anyway, once, slamming a clenched fist up against the door with a wordless yell.]

Don't think you can run away forever! You can't, you hear me?

[Jay isn't running. Despite everything, he isn't running; he's holding the door shut from the other side, scanning the theater for a makeshift barricade. There isn't much.]

[This is why he's dead. This, right here, this bullshit. This frail, stupid hope that maybe he can make contact with Alex Kralie. Talk to him. Have a nice conversation. Get the answers he's been trying to find for four and a half years running (nearly six if he counts Wonderland).]

[Jay shouts through the door, voice cracking.]

What's killing me going to fix, huh? You still don't stay dead after five, and It's not here, Alex!

[He's not one for giving up. He starts to kick the door repeatedly, until his toes start to ache. Until the bones in his leg vibrate with the intensity of it, until his teeth ache from gritting them.]

It wasn't supposed to be! You brought it back. You brought It back, after everyone else had forgotten. You think It hasn't followed you here?

You brought It with you.

We've all been here before, Alex! Or other--other versions of us, or the same ones, with our memories wiped, or whatever, but It's been here! For a while!

[YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT YOUR FAULT scrawled across wrinkled papers]

[It's getting increasingly difficult to hold the door.]

[1D20 => 19 (what)]

[But it holds fast. He's able to get another few thoughts in.]

If it's too late to stop it, then we have to focus on keeping anybody who's seen it safe! Wonderland's just gonna keep bringing us back anyway!

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let's roll dice, i said. it'll be fun, i said.

LAUGHS

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i was so happy i found my real dice and then

the jay merrick mood (tm)

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