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entrancelogs2018-12-19 09:22 pm
vitaelamorte) wrote in entrancelogs2018-12-19 09:22 pm
Faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us no more | 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 19th - December 26th (ICly December 25th) (WEEK TWO)
Rating: PG-13, warn if going higher
Summary: After a particularly intense week of holiday cheer and holiday scenes, Wonderland simply cannot take any more. The form it takes will no longer hold. Wonderland sheds its holiday skin and remains in the barest form of itself.
The Story:
As of the 19th, no one will be able to use the network to make posts. A new error message will appear on all screens, but again, it's probably fine.
This will quickly prove to be a problem though, as Wonderland has completely abandoned any sign of the signature mansion or its grounds. All of a sudden, it cannot hold itself together any more. At this point, Wonderland has become a series of holiday past, present, and future scenes instead of a collection of rooms, and none of them connect together in any sensical, linear way. If you find a friend wandering, you may want to stay with them. It will prove difficult to seek out people on purpose (though very easy to stumble across people by accident).
In between the various scenes, instead of the halls of the mansion, are one of three voids. Gravity does not seem to exist in them, and characters will float, swim, or spin around until they find a new scene to be in. There is no up or down, and no ground to stand on. Scenes are entered suddenly and without warning, going from floating along to suddenly standing in a memory or a vision (unless you have come from the second void). Characters can also find themselves traveling from void to void, but there is no precise place where they overlap, and if they turn around they will not be able to return to the void they were previously in. It is almost as though perhaps, the voids and the scenes are moving around, and that Wonderland no longer has a static form.
Wonderland will remain this way until the end of the event. What happens then? You'll have to wait and see. ♥ For now though, please enjoy the horrible voids that make up all of Wonderland at the moment. If you have any questions, please report to the plot post or check out our Fourth Wall Masterpost for all your other fourth wall needs!
Where: Everywhere, one both Mirror and Real Side!
When: December 19th - December 26th (ICly December 25th) (WEEK TWO)
Rating: PG-13, warn if going higher
Summary: After a particularly intense week of holiday cheer and holiday scenes, Wonderland simply cannot take any more. The form it takes will no longer hold. Wonderland sheds its holiday skin and remains in the barest form of itself.
The Story:
As of the 19th, no one will be able to use the network to make posts. A new error message will appear on all screens, but again, it's probably fine.
This will quickly prove to be a problem though, as Wonderland has completely abandoned any sign of the signature mansion or its grounds. All of a sudden, it cannot hold itself together any more. At this point, Wonderland has become a series of holiday past, present, and future scenes instead of a collection of rooms, and none of them connect together in any sensical, linear way. If you find a friend wandering, you may want to stay with them. It will prove difficult to seek out people on purpose (though very easy to stumble across people by accident).
In between the various scenes, instead of the halls of the mansion, are one of three voids. Gravity does not seem to exist in them, and characters will float, swim, or spin around until they find a new scene to be in. There is no up or down, and no ground to stand on. Scenes are entered suddenly and without warning, going from floating along to suddenly standing in a memory or a vision (unless you have come from the second void). Characters can also find themselves traveling from void to void, but there is no precise place where they overlap, and if they turn around they will not be able to return to the void they were previously in. It is almost as though perhaps, the voids and the scenes are moving around, and that Wonderland no longer has a static form.
Wonderland will remain this way until the end of the event. What happens then? You'll have to wait and see. ♥ For now though, please enjoy the horrible voids that make up all of Wonderland at the moment. If you have any questions, please report to the plot post or check out our Fourth Wall Masterpost for all your other fourth wall needs!
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Well... anyone could be anything. For all you know you could be fake, but I'd still rather have you around than her.
[That's probably meant to be reassuring, based on the smile. Great!]
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[She preens... for a second. And then she gets a good look at the gray surroundings with its tiny tears in reality and sighs. None of that matters if she can't figure all of this out, does it?] We should keep looking for the mainframe...
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[They clearly don't have any notion of how to actually find this supposed mainframe, but what else is new? M'Lapis is still just happy to be hanging out. Also, while she's not terribly interested in any of those scenes drifting in the mist so far, watching them go by is still sort of absorbing. There have to be SOME, somewhere, that are worth seeing, but it's kinda fun to just sit back and judge them en masse too.
Two anthropomorhpic animals are visiting a maximum-security prison. That's not very appropriate for a holiday special. Who approved any of it?
M'Lapis is about to continue the sentiment, to maybe egg on Peridot for more ideas slash needle her about the assumed lack of ideas, either way to try to get her to say more things. But just as she starts to speak she is interrupted. It's kinda like a desynced stereo effect, since the voice cutting in is her own, and likewise only starts to call out before faltering off in shock.
"Peri--"
It would seem that the Real Thing has finally caught up. She has appeared from behind, emerging from the fog suddenly, and if one should glance back she now has her eyes wide, a hand drifting towards her mouth as she struggles to quite decide on a reaction.
And ahead, facing away, the Mirror goes rigid. Still holding onto Peridot's hand tightly, too tightly; still smiling, now as if her face has frozen that way.
So this oughta be good.]
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Stars, she is not the Paulette in this scenario! She won't allow it!]
Lapis! There you are.
[Anxiety at Lapis's reaction at side, she was deeply missing her and wanted to know where she'd gone. It's a simple truth. She can't lie and she's afraid to be forthcoming- well, so much for all those communication lessons.]
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R'Lapis has her eyes on her double and the nearest hardlight equivalent of every muscle tensed; that hand fists as it lowers again, but to be fair fists are pretty standard for her body language. Still, while she's clearly more than a bit freaked out right now, she's not freaking out just yet, so that's a plus. If not calm, she can at least be called controlled. It visibly takes her a moment to work out words to say -- addressed to Peridot, still warily studying the Mirror all the while.]
"You didn't think she was me?"
[Which is where M'Lapis pulls it together enough to reinsert herself, more chipper than ever, practically sing-songing.]
Ohhh, don't worry. This isn't that kind of relationship.
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Peridot may actually dissipate her form in embarrassment and shame right this second.] But I couldn't leave her alone in here. Wonderland is falling apart! And you're both... Hnngh. You're both Lapis.
[And thus warranting her loyalty and devotion, apparently. Peridot rubs at her hand where M'Lapis had held on a bit too tightly, not wanting her to pull away. Hoo boy. This is a lot.]
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See, we're friends. We go way back. I don't need to lie, because she likes me.
[Real Lapis had finally managed a glance to Peridot, but her eyes return to the Mirror inevitably, a pull too powerful to fight. So she shuts them. She grimaces and squares her shoulders and braces herself. It's hard to read exactly how she's taking any of this, because she's still tense and certainly still looks unhappy, but she's also putting a lot, a lot of effort into this answer.]
"Okay."
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A tiny keening sound escapes her like air leaving a balloon as she speaks up.] Ooookay? That's it? You're not mad? N-not that you should be! ...But if you are, th-that's okay. Your feelings are valid and, understandably, this is strange and unnerving, and I should have said something, but it's hard to bring up when you two can't really... physically meet... except for right now.
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[M'Lapis steps forward, er, floats forward. Not to close the distance, but to put herself ahead of Peridot. She knows what's happening here. As always, the moment the Real enters the equation, she just becomes an inconvenience everyone else can either ignore or try to solve, how terrible for them, and she's sick of it. She knows what's happening here, except she can't fathom how Real Lapis is actually being reasonable when all those memories M'Lapis is saddled with say she's anything but.]
That's great, but I don't have anything to tell you. I don't need your approval just because I'm [she wiggles her fingers] strange and unnerving. I don't need your permission to make friends with someone just because you got there first, and I don't need to sit here while you two talk around me just because you're so much more important!
[Whoops, her faux cheerfulness got a bit frayed by the end of that. It's still there, of course, because even if M'Lapis is losing her composure, she will darn well do it passive-aggresively. All iterations of this particular Lapis Lazuli are sassmasters and know how to weaponize it. She schools herself back up again and turns to Peridot, far more sweetly.]
Do you want anything else from me, Peridot dear?
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So she looks over at M'Lapis, expectantly.] See? It's fine. You two are halves of the same whole. I'm sure we can approach this reasonably. Heh.
[In hindsight... She probably should have expected that reaction and the fact that maybe her choice in words was a bit much so early in the conflict. Stars, she shouldn't be left as the mediator in a problem.] Don't- It's not like that. She just hasn't met you. I'm sure if we stick together on this, everything will be fine and you two can see you're not that different.
[You both love me and I love both of you? That feels weirdly extravagant. Also like something Steven would say and as much she defers to Steven's wisdom, it feels a little disingenuous to throw the "l" word around either Lapis.] You're both important. The Mirrors are just like Homeworld gems- they're struggling to figure out their place in all of this.
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[Now she's just blurting things out defensively. This isn't working at all. M'Lapis is only getting more upset the longer this goes on, which is especially insulting because Real Lapis is supposed to be the one doing that! If the Real Thing would just have a hilarious breakdown about the betrayal or the existential crisis like usual, M'Lapis could stand back and be smug about it and feel better and make things worse. Why is it happening the other way around?!
She HATES feeling bad. She hates Lapis, and while she should be able to outtalk her, she knows now she'll just spiral out of control if she tries. The fact of Peridot trying to placate her should be helping, but it's not, and that's frustrating too. It's starting to feel like if she can't ruin Real Lapis's day, she's gonna have to ruin something. She's seriously low on options, and she has got to take some control of this situation before she picks one she doesn't like. She needs to do whatever it takes to pull herself together.
M'Lapis spreads her wings again, for all the good they do in a void, and puts a hand on Peridot's shoulder. The Real Thing reacts immediately with a startled noise that's not quite a word or a growl, tensing to move at another moment's notice. That cheers M'Lapis up a bit, which was of course the point. All she's doing is delivering a friendly pat, naturally. Pat pat. There we go. It's so much easier to pick that smile back up and keep being lovable when she focuses on Peridot.]
See? She's never really going to trust me. Peridot, I was lying to you. I'm not half of anything, and I would really appreciate it if you stopped talking about how I'm ~just the same~ as her, because frankly I'd rather not be. I don't trust her either!
[R'Lapis doesn't try to interject, still poised for the threat that isn't coming. She's starting to look a little less haunted and a little more angry, but it's all beneath the same control either way; she decided she was gonna listen, and right now she's listening.]
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This is so, so bad.
Peridot has not reached a point in her "education" on the affairs of emotions to be a successful mediator. Her own (emotionally fraught) opinions and (calculated) logic continue to defeat her, and she wishes she could lower her own gravity so she can sink into the void below a few more feet.
But since she can't do that, she settles for tugging at the ends of her pointed hair and digging her fingers in.] Are you seriously fighting over me?!
[The arrogant part of Peridot is very delighted by the idea that she is so desirable and wonderful that people would fight for her affection, but the logical side of her is presently winning the bout and claiming this as a useless conflict, because Peridot came to Earth so everything she wanted within reason was at her fingers. If she wants to be friends with Real and Mirror Lapis, then that should be fine. Why does Mirror Lapis have to be so weird about it, especially when the Real One seems to be working this out reasonably.] I know I'm adorable and irresistible, but this is pointless! You don't have to fight!
[She might also... Be missing the point that this isn't really about her, but about personhood and identity. She's not so logical that all of her arrogance is tossed out in the face of this.]
I guess this account works better by now anyway
The Mirror, her hand still on Peridot's shoulder, looks for a moment as if she has discovered she reached out and grabbed something completely different. A non-Euclidean bit of furniture, perhaps, or a deadly weapon she doesn't know how to use. She was utterly unprepared for that accusation, and with her position already so precarious, her defenses are in bad shape. Which is also completely ridiculous.
Because really, truly, that's not what this conflict is about. But even so, some small unwanted part of her can't quite help but realize that fighting over Peridot is EXACTLY what she's doing anyway. So, first of all, she bursts out in a peal of disbelieving laughter. And then there's really only one thing she can do.]
Ugh, no!
[She shoves Peridot away from her to gently tumble over herself in the void, and wheels around as sharply as she can in order to fly for the nearest scene change.]
"Wait --"
[R'Lapis doesn't know what else she hopes to accomplish. She's fairly riled up and not exactly eager to keep arguing with the Mirror. But she doesn't think anyone was fighting over Peridot, and well, maybe it's just that nobody could have expected THAT to be how things ended up.
The parting glance she gets back is incredulous. Like, duh, come on, obviously M'Lapis isn't going to wait because the Real said to, that wasn't even worth trying. She rolls her eyes and repeats herself with added exasperation.]
No!
[And then she's off to lose herself among cartoon penguins.]
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She peers up (in the sense that she stops lying flat in the void and looks at Lapis and then looks at where M'Lapis has departed, and then looks utterly indignant, which is a truly Peridot reaction to all of this] What did I say this time?
[At least she is self-aware enough to know This Keeps Happening, even if she's not self-aware enough to realize that she found precisely the wrong issue in a sea of issues and decided that was the problem.]
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Are you okay?
[She seems unhurt, certainly, but it's worth making sure because there's more to it than that and what's happening to Wonderland is terrifying. And, maybe, because she doesn't know what just happened or what it may mean. And maybe because there's the expectation, when someone has apparently spent time alone with a Mirror, that something harmful must have happened. Lapis may indeed be upset about all this, but yep, it's good to establish those priorities first.]
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[The words fall out of her in a stream that ends with a sort of catlike keening noise. This has went from being a weird adventure into madness and a discussion of Mirror personhood to being a lot of unexpected stress she can't really process yet. And she was worried about Lapis. It was just second to her original goal of figuring out how to fix the problem, and she's realizing now that was wrong and a little dangerous.] I'm... I'm sorry.
[It feels weird to say, even if she means it. She's sorry for abandoning Lapis in order to do her job? But it's true, isn't it? Even with them working towards a beneficial balance to their respective interests and Peridot loosening her chokehold on needing Lapis to be happy in order to validate herself, it still feels wrong to choose a task over her friend.]
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There are many good things to be upset about, but she has the feeling that what's really kicking it in for Peridot extends beyond her view. She has the feeling that she doesn't actually grasp what the apology is for, despite being given reasonable options. She doesn't really want to belabor this point right now when nobody's equipped to dig into things, but there's been no closure either, and it seems like she has to.]
Was she telling the truth?
[She knows the answer, as far as the fact that Peridot's apparently been talking to her Mirror for a while now; that's clearly either true or near enough to have a story behind it. There's no getting around the fact that that hurts, and that it's going to have to be a bit of an accusation. But then there are deeper, long-term implications. Was she telling the truth about lying? About hating the Real Lapis? About not fighting over Peridot?? About being different? Those are the questions that won't get sorted through today. Nobody's equipped. Regardless, they are there.]
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[She drawls the words, a bit guiltily, and maybe even a bit uncertainly. She doesn't really know, does she? She thought Lapis's Mirror was on the up and up, but was she? Was she just a replacement because the Peridot she shared space with was intolerable, and she was jealous of her Real's relationship?
Well, that's perhaps a long wandering road to egotism, so she cleaves that out of her head to be dealt with later.] My Mirror is awful, and she seemed... nice. It wasn't a secret. [This is a lie. She makes a soft sound and then course corrects.] It wasn't meant to be a secret. I just didn't know how to bring it up...
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[It hurts, but she's not stupid and not currently flipping her lid too hard to think, so she gets it. A lot of it, frankly, is being able to blame the Mirror herself; there's no telling how much she may have manipulated. Peridot would have been an easy mark. Like it or not, Lapis is aware that she doesn't always take things well, and Mirrors, of all things, were already such a difficult subject... None of that means it was right to go behind her back -- after they've gotten so much better at communicating! after she's been trying to figure out how to approach the idea! -- but it makes far too much sense to be comfortable with.
It's still kinda weird that she's not flipping her lid more, but there are probably reasons for that too, and there are definitely reasons this is better. After all, Lapis has tried that route before. Here and now, she's standing by the priorities she already decided.]
We can work it out, okay? I just wanted to find you.
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Right. We should... Find some place safe. Just for the moment, and then we can keep looking together. [In a gray void surrounded by windows to other times and places. Maybe one of them is quiet. Tentatively, she reaches out a hand for Lapis to take.]
there, NOW the thing about time and I wannit anyway
M'Lapis was right about one thing, possibly due to personally ensuring it; she was kind of just an obstacle in the road. Since nobody is equipped to sort through her shit right now, the Real Thing is indeed much more interested in her own concerns. No, she's had a goal all this time, and that little encounter wasn't even the only hurdle getting there, but there are also reasons she feels far more able than usual to power through. When Lapis is really determined about something she's damn well determined; this is more important than any Mirror drama or breakdown of reality, because she decided so and will not allow otherwise.
And it's not as happy a moment as it should have been, but still such a relief to be able to say it. That's what all of this was for.]
I met someone from home. She said I come back.
yaaaaas time to sort through those issues
Bismuth. [It's not a question. She feels like she would have known if someone else were out there spreading rumors, and it makes sense in the way that Peridot would have imagined it if she even a little bit of context for Lapis leaving beyond her word.] You... You came back to fight the Diamonds?
[That is a question, because she wants to hear it from Lapis even if it's what Lapis has gleaned secondhand from a Crystal Gem who has no reason to lie.]
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[Even now, amidst all this, she still has to laugh saying those words, because it just sounds insane. That is the EXACT thing she threw her life away in order to not do. It's still terrifying to contemplate, even!
It's just that that was a bad decision nonetheless, and this whole time, Lapis has never fully grasped that she had the ability to take it back.]
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[So maybe Steven did the hard part and she got poofed for her troubles- Lapis, too, probably- but still. No one right now can question them. Even they don't know how much they did. Bismuth doesn't know everything.]
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[Or corrupted! Or imprisoned within a selection of household objects! What's a little poofing, all things considered.
It is true that neither of these two were technically there, and Bismuth's intel was limited -- she didn't know all the character arcs going around -- so many details are still up in the air. But still, even vicariously, it's something darn near close to the experience of fighting and winning. That's a very good starting point.]