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

[Wirt wasn't expecting anyone else to be there and nearly jumps out of his skin when addressed. He had been lost in his own thoughts and didn't even hear him come in.]

Oh, Louis! Sorry, I-- I didn't see you.

[That feels kind of obvious now though. He takes a deep breath.]

You saw it too? I...that was my family, so like. I'm glad I wasn't just hallucinating that or something? Unless you were too, but that would probably be weirder.

[He's at least getting used to Wirt's nervousness. He keeps his body language easy, non-threatening, offering a small smile. It's all good, buddy.]

It's alright. And yep, I sure did see that, and if I'm hallucinating a bunch of people I've never met, there's really no hope for me.

[He folds his arms, squinting at the room again.]

I'm calling Wonderland Shenanigans on this one. Clem did say weird shit happened here at Christmastime. Guess this is it.

[Wirt's been here for a number of Wonderland winter horrors before, so he knows that's the origin of this vision. He knows that, but he's still shocked by the actual contents of it.]

I mean, it's definitely weird but...that was me and my family, but Greg found that frog like right before we wound up in that other place! So for him to have it with him there on Christmas morning-- it means we have to have made it home! W-We're alive, and Greg's okay!

[He's not sure if Louis has heard one hundred percent of this story yet, but it doesn't matter. Wirt is too relieved to care. They made it home and everyone is alive and no one was claimed by the Beast.

They're okay and Wirt feels like he could cry.]

So you'll get out of the Nightmare Limbo place?

[Even with only part of the story, this is great news, and Louis grins. ]

Dude, that's awesome! You get to go the hell home, not drown and have a regular not-nightmare life. I'm happy for you.

[Genuinely, he is, and it's absolutely there in his tone.]

Is Greg your brother? The younger kid?

Edited 2018-12-22 19:26 (UTC)

Yeah! Yeah, we-- yeah, that's exactly what that means. I-I can't believe it. We actually get to go home.

[Louis being so excited for him is kind of contagious, and Wirt actually lets out a small laugh. They get to go home. They get to go home!

That relief is muted a bit when Louis asks about Greg though, and Wirt watches his brother run around with his frog, happy as ever. It takes a moment for him to summon up the words.]

Oh, um. Yeah, Greg's my little brother. And that's our mom, and his dad. [Not Wirt's. But, it's presented quickly and without additional comment from Wirt.] ...It's a long story, but I guess the shortest version is that I-- I couldn't be the person he needed me to be, and he put himself in danger to try and fix things. When I came back to Wonderland the last time, I didn't know if he was okay or not. I thought he might...he might have taken my place, and he never should have had to do that.

[He's vague, and he knows he's being vague, but he's a little ashamed to get more specific when they can see Greg right in front of them. He's just a little kid, around six years old. No one that little should have felt like they had to be responsible for anyone.]

Heck yeah! All home, no more crazy bullshit!

[Hearing Writ laugh is great. He's happy Wirt is happy. That he has something GOOD to look forward to.

He nods, watching Greg run around. He's about AJ's age, he realises. Though Greg seems a pretty regular kid for his age, while AJ is ...decidedly not. He doesn't quite understand what Wirt's talking about, and he can guess that's by design. But if Wirt doesn't want to delve into details, he won't probe.]

Sometimes, family do pretty crazy things for each other. Kind of part-and-parcel of having people care about you. They're usually willing to take risks- and because you love them too, you don't want them to do that. But they do anyway.

At least he looks pretty okay?

I mean...yeah, I guess, but shouldn't there be some kind of age restriction on that? Or at least like, "you must be this tall to risk your life for your brother"?

[He gestures up to about his shoulder, which is purposefully more than a foot taller than Greg in this holiday memory.]

He's too little to have to worry about me like that. [He sighs though, and mulls over Louis' words.] ...He does though. He really looks okay.

[He looks happy, like a kid should look on Christmas morning. He's running around and laughing. The frog also looks happy, but it's getting jostled around in a way that makes its stomach glow, somehow. Neither Wirt nor his counterpart in the scene seem fazed, but their mom and Greg's dad shoot each other a quiet, concerned look across the room as they elect not to comment for probably the dozenth time since the frog entered their family.]

Kinda depends on the world you're in. I mean, where I come from? That's...pretty normal. No height-slash-age restrictions on keeping you and yours alive. Hell, I'd say even a regular normal not-awful world would be the same. And that's not a bad thing.

[But then, he knows his views really are skewed. He's been looking after the younger kids since he was nine. Younger, if he was being honest, back when the world was a whole different kind of awful. He offers a reassuring smile.]

See? It's all gonna turn out fine. [Then, because he's naturally curious:] Okay, I gotta ask. Why does the frog glow?

Oh. ...Right, sorry. I keep forgetting things were like that for you.

[He looks a little embarrassed for it, though it's easy to do when Louis is so cheerful all the time. Still, Wirt makes a mental note that he should probably be more considerate going forward. He shrugs about the frog question though.]

He ate a magic bell.

[He says that at first with zero explanation or indication that that's anything other than normal, and after a beat it sinks in that that's a bizarre thing to just say like it's normal.]

...Right. Uh. So there was this witch? And she had a magic bell and she was using it on her niece to order her around, but it turns out her niece was possessed by an evil spirit or something? It was making her do bad stuff and one thing led to another and his frog ate the bell.

[That attempt at an explanation is somehow more confusing than the total lack of one.]

It's all good, man. No apologies needed. We all got our own stuff.

[He offers a smile, to show he's genuinely okay with it. His world is pretty awful, but then he's pretty sure he wouldn't have dealt with the creepy magical bullshit Wirt has had to cope with. ]

That's-

[No, give him a second to process that. He stares off into the middle distance.]

So. So the frog can...control the demon girl now??

Kind of? Lorna doesn't have the spirit in her anymore. Since the bell's in his frog now we sort of shook him in front of her and told the spirit to go away forever. So now the spirit's gone and Lorna doesn't have to sort the bones of children anymore and I...don't really know what else the bell does other than that?

[It doesn't seem to be doing anything magical in the scene before them, other than glowing. Mostly it's just a neat party trick now.]

Okay, cool cool. Cool, cool.

[He puts an index finger in the air, clicking his tongue.]

Real quick follow up question though. What the holy hell was the sorting the bones of children thing? Because it feels like you glossed over that and honestly I don't think that's a regular thing to gloss over.

Oh, sorry. So, the spirit would take over Lorna and devour children and then...I mean, they didn't really get into it much, but Auntie Whispers said she was supposed to sort the bones of people who had been eaten there before? She gave her a bunch of different chores to keep her busy so she "wouldn't become wicked" and that was one of them.

[And honestly that has some implications that Wirt's never thought too hard about before. Did the spirit just randomly take over if she had nothing to do?]

[Louis kind of...stares into the middle distance for a bit.]

Okey dokey then, that's super horrifying. Like, hey, sort out of the bones of the kids the spirit inside you fucking ate that's a fun chore. It's almost as fun as vacuuming.

[Louis has spent eight years in a zombie-infested hellscape, and then a few months in Wonderland. But this? This is where he's drawing his line.]

Sweet jesus Wirt, that place is fucked. I feel really bad for you. Wow.

Edited (this is not the time for default icon DW) 2019-01-14 21:30 (UTC)

And she wasn't even her real Aunt!

[Wirt seems to think that's on par with everything else, that some random lady was making Lorna do all this stuff.]

I dunno, I guess I never really...thought about it? I know, I know, that's super weird of me, but...it's hard to explain how it feels when you're there. It's like-- like you're in some kind of weird dream, where everything's just kind of happening to you and even if you look at it and think it's kind of weird, it's...hard to snap out of it. I, um. I guess it is kind of fucked though.

[He echoes Louis' sentiment with Louis' words, but that's when it really hits him.]

Wait, you think it is? I thought that would be like, nothing compared to the kind of stuff you must have gone through.

So she like kidnapped her?

[Yeah, that's pretty damn fucked up.]

I guess that makes sense. It sounds like a fucked up dreamscape, in all honesty.

[At Wirt's question he shrugs, nonplussed.]

Wellll, it's been eight years since the walkers showed up. They're part of the day to day life now. Sure, it was horrifiying as all hell when it started. But now? They're just...there. Like cows. Except cows that will absolutely eat you if they get anywhere near you.

[Wirt shrugs too. The dynamic between Lorna and Auntie Whispers is strange and makes no sense to him, especially since she decided to stay after all that.]

It kind of is, I think. It's like...somewhere between living and dying and dreaming, like the middle of a very weird venn diagram.

[He doesn't know how else to explain it, really. That world, though its name has slipped out of his mind since his last event, is beyond description.]

S-See, that is horrifying. Sure, I could have been eaten down to my bones by Lorna, but the most a cow will do to anyone in that world is...I don't know, nothing, probably? Maybe go to animal school?

[Was there a cow in Miss Langtree's school? He can't remember, but it doesn't seem like it would be totally out of place.]

Like...the Bermuda triangle.

[He's trying to understand, he's really, really trying. ]

...There's an animal school? And okay, yeah, but so long as you know to avoid the walkers, they don't do anything. Just...walk. And make this weird wheezy sound. Honestly, I've been way more threatened with the living than the dead.

...Actually, yeah, that's a pretty good analogy?

[Just a little horrifying though, since things disappear forever in the Bermuda Triangle.]

Oh, yeah. It's a school for animals where a lady's teaching them how to count and spell and play instru-- [He shakes his head and stops himself.] Sorry, I'm totally getting off track. But...I guess that makes sense? About the walkers, I mean. I don't really know much about it, outside of Wonderland events and stuff.

I mean, the idea of an animal school is pretty amazing too. Weird as all holy hell, but if there are sentient animals in a place I guess it makes total sense.

[He nods, walkers...well. They're always a threat- but anyone who's survived this far knows how to handle them by now. They do the same thing they always do. Predictable. ]

Thaaaat's a good thing. But yeah. The biggest threat I've faced for years is a bunch of human raiders coming to kidnap my group. Those guys are a hundred times more fucked up than the walkers could ever be.

[Were they sentient? They couldn't talk like Beatrice but they weren't really rowdy or skittish enough to be wild...wait, no, he's getting offtrack again.]

Human raiders? [Wirt looks appalled.] Seriously? Why would anyone go around kidnapping people in a zombie apocalypse? I-I don't mean to be insensitive or anything, I just-- you'd think they would have better things to do than actively making everything worse?

You sure would think that, wouldn't you? [There's bitterness in his voice, but it's not aimed at Wirt, his usually cheerful demeanour gone. ] They got a war with another group. They were kidnapping people- kids to force them to become soldiers.

[To make them fight in a war they had no part in. His group was fine, it would have remained fine. They didn't want to fuck with other people. They just wanted to be left alone to try and survive. ]

Just before I got here, they attacked my school. Killed one of my group and threw three others into a cage and ran off with them.

Oh my god. That's super messed up. I'm--

[He struggles to word it. Nothing feels like enough, so he just goes with his knee-jerk instinct.]

...I'm really sorry that happened.

[Louis sighs, catching himself, reigning it all back in. He offers a smile, more wan than before.]

It's super messed up. We're gonna go get them back, though. Clem's gonna figure out some badass plan and we'll get them back. I mean, shit, they got on her bad side now- that's a place no one ever needs to be.

I can see that, yeah. I for sure wouldn't want to be on her bad side.

[She's said to him before that she doesn't do anything because she has to, and Wirt figures that might apply to things other than just her being nice because she wants to. She probably wouldn't hold back.]

I hope it works though, and that you guys get them all back safe.

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

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