001 :: >press any key to continue (arrival)

[kickassqueen]

Who: Charlie Bradbury and anyone!
Where: Outside the mansion/entry hall.
When: January 1st, celebrating the new year newbie style! (Being confused)
Rating: Prob PG-13
Summary: Charlie's not in Oz anymore, Toto.
The Story:

One moment she's saying good bye, starting on her journey down the yellow brick road, and the next she's waking up beside a horse stable, propped against the side.

The high pitched whinny is what wakes her. Charlie comes to with a start, gasping and immediately regretting it as her nose is assaulted with pure horse. It's definitely not an odor she was expecting, which is why she chokes for a moment and starts coughing violently.

Once her initial shock dies down (and she's able to breathe again), Charlie pushes herself to stand, confusion starting to settle as she glances around. Anyone can see that this place? Definitely not Oz.

With more questions brewing in her brainspace, Charlie walks around to the front of the stables, checking out the horses she's had the pleasure of smelling today.

"You know, you guys look way awesome in movies and paintings," Charlie says this companionably as she crosses her arms, just having a friendly chat with the horses. "But in real life? Super smelly. Not majestic at all."

The horse closest to her snorts, pawing the ground. She gives it a suspicious look and decides maybe this isn't the time to make friendly with the animals.

"Gonna take that as my cue to get going. Later, my equine bros." Giving them a Vulcan salute, she turns around to take in the landscape and to figure out what's next on the agenda.

It's easy to pretend to be calm when it just seems so surreal. Like being in a lucid dream. That's what this has to be, right? As she starts a path down to the mansion, she doesn't feel so confident in that theory.

Oz is real, she was going to it. Who's to say she wasn't transported into some other kind of fairy tale world? And by the looks of this place, that's what it has to be.

Maybe there's be some dancing munchkins inside that can point her in the direction of the Emerald City.

As she walks, Charlie's looking over her shoulder every few seconds, wondering where her new traveling companion is. Traveling with Dorothy, the Dorothy, is like a super rad dream come true. Now here she is, alone in a strange place with no backup to speak of. Awesome.

It's like every fantasy novel she's ever read, or at least every RPG she's spent hours of her life chasing after every side quest she could find. Normally, that would make her feel a little better except for one simple fact: every hero, when beginning their quest, usually ends up running into some super hard tutorial fight. Maybe even an unwinnable one.

Charlie's wishing for a sword right now, and when she puts a hand in her jacket pocket, desperate for anything, her fingers brush against something unfamiliar.

"Huh?" Pulling out the object, at first glance it seems like a regular smart phone. Not hers, though. By now she's reached the steps in front of the mansion, and she comes to a stop, sitting down on one of the steps and turning the phone over in her hand.

She's in a hurry, sure, but she can take a fiver to figure out what this thing is, and more importantly, what it does.

(OOC: Charlie will chill on the steps a bit before going inside, feel free to catch her anywhere!)

Comments

Just outside the stables.

[evilhandissues]

Lindsey doesn't really like horses.

Stereotypical and different, they were tolerable out of all the other animals on the farm and there was something about the comforting nature of the stables that made him relax.

Who could have figured the how or the why?

Holding his guitar, he shoulders it and decides to seek out nourishment before padding away and spotting...a redheaded woman standing outside the stables looking confused.

"You lost?"

[pottershotter]

After everything that's happened in the last few days (and the most hectic holiday season he wasn't even around for), James has been feeling the need to stretch his legs. All four of them.

So, he's been spending some time strolling through the snow in a more stagly fashion, leaving deep hoof-prints and just enjoying the scenery and the peace of not having to deal with the fact that he vanished for a couple of days. Seems like a good way to spend New Year's Day, right?

From afar, he spies someone sitting on the steps and stops to look, alert - as stags often do. She's sort of familiar...that Charlie girl, right? That redheaded Muggle girl who knew about Hogwarts? James always pays attention to redheads, so he's certain it's her. It's been a while though - she's come and gone and come and gone. She can't seem to stay put in Wonderland (though really, that's probably for the best).

So, feeling curious and just a bit mischievous, he approaches her, walking slowly but coming much closer to her than a wild stag probably would.

[seekinghome]

Ed had been out for a walk to make himself get some fresh air and enjoy the snow while he's still not sick of it yet. Now he's definitely ready to go back inside and get warm.

He sees Charlie as he approaches the steps to get back in and is pretty sure he recognizes her. "Isn't it a bit cold to be sitting there?"

Time to find out if she recognizes him. If so, she's just been quiet for awhile. If not, he gets to go through explaining the place to her. Again.

[freewill]

Castiel doesn't usually have much reason to spend time in the entrance hall, though in this case he had been planning to make his way outside. Not for any particular reason, except that things are starting to calm down after the holiday season and it's supposedly the new year and for some reason, that makes him feel as if he should be getting fresh air.

But mainly, he's left to ask himself if the new year is anything more than an illusion. It can't actually be 2014 now, not when time isn't passing in this place and no one is aging. It feels to them like months or years have gone by, but the fact is that whenever they find their way home, it will be as if none of this has happened.

Still, he has to let off energy somehow, and so a walk through the snow had been his solution.

But oddly enough, right as he's about to walk out an unknown person walks in, though she's not a complete stranger. He's run into her before -- in fact, it had been in almost this exact spot. They'd only spoken once, and not for very long, but the whole thing is bizarre enough that it gives him pause.

"Hello," he says awkwardly.

[cowhouse]

The thing about this mansion is that it changes. Like, all the time, randomly. Sometimes it's amusing, entertaining, even, to try and puzzle out what's gone where... Other times (like now), it's a less 'ha ha where's the library you so silly, Wonderland' and more 'god dammit I just wanna get these books out of my room library why??'. Sure, they're not taking up that much space- and he probably won't be fined because that's not a thing that happens here- but Jesus. He's picked out the important parts of them and he's done, it's time for them to vacate his dresser.

He's huffing his way down the halls, How To Not Die In The Woods in hand, when he comes across Charlie; she looks every bit as confused as he is, but rather than assuming she's new (because he doesn't know everybody here), he's working on the assumption that she, too, is trying to locate the damn library. She looks... More of the book type than he does, at any rate. He lifts the book slightly as he approaches, waving it with a sigh.

"Yo. You seen the library anywhere today? I already checked the fourth floor," he adds, because it likes to go there sometimes. He's been here just long enough that the fact that rooms have preferences is only slightly mindboggling.

literally rite there on those steps dood

[righteously]

Since things have gone straight to actual hell, Dean's taken measures to be way, way more on the ball. For starters, taking some necessary supplies in preparation for some impending meetings.

What this translates into is hefting two enormous cardboard boxes stacked on top of one another down several flights of stairs- stupid friggin' magical mansion can have a hidden freaking swimming pool but it can't have, like, a magical fairyland elevator or some kind of wish escalators or like a whimsical laundry chute?

He figures he's in the clear once he's out of the flow of traffic, and doesn't watch where he's going as he heads down the mansion's main stairs.

And, naturally, he trips headlong over Charlie, boxes toppling, body twisting, back hitting the ground with a hard whump and a pained, squinty eyed groan.

And there he lays forever and ever, to die.

Or at least until he gets his wind back, wheezing, "God- Son of a-"

[halfwinchester]

<sub>[One good thing can be said of Wonderland: its winter has been mild so far, no snowstorms or plunging temperatures to keep Adam from venturing outside when he wants.

And sometimes he does, when he thinks no one's looking.

Today, for instance, he trudges out for a walk with jacket and backpack in hand, the latter stuffed with water, extra gloves, and some food. Just in case. Losing track of time is a problem for him, he's noticed, and he doesn't relish the idea of being hungry and cold while stuck a half hour from the mansion. On the whole, though, sometimes it's just nice to get away for a while. The place might be no better than a giant cage, but at least there's more to explore than one big metaphysical pile of flames.

He's just coming back from a couple hours outside, retracing someone's well-trodden snow path on his return to the mansion, when he notices a bright splash of red by the front door. He slows a little. The bright red hair belongs to a person sitting on the steps, but Adam doesn't recognize her. That doesn't say much, all things considered. He doesn't know a lot of people in the over-glorified apartment they all share.

As he comes up on her, he remarks:]</sub>

Pretty sure it's toll free.