[CLOSED] and now what we know;

[lightgunhustler]

Who: Jo Harvelle & Tom Hanniger
Where: Fifth floor, Room 115.
When: Backdated to December 25th.
Rating: PG maybe? Will update if necessary.
Summary: Switching back after Ewaymas! Future!Tom has vanished, which means the original flavor is back in business.
The Story:

Jo found herself jolted awake when she vanished, just like she had more than a week before, when the mansion had decorated itself without warning and swept so many of their loved ones away from them, leaving in their stead future versions of themselves that came complete with grim stories to tell. Not all they'd had to say was bad, and after the first couple of days, Jo had found herself to be more comfortable in this new Tom's presence than she would have expected, but all the same, she knew he wouldn't be staying. She wouldn't have wanted him to. He didn't belong there, but there was another Tom who did. The same went for Dean, James, Emma, Stiles-- everyone else who had been switched.

Tom was gone, which meant the rest had probably vanished, too. All that was left to do was wait for everyone to be returned to their rightful time and place.

She didn't even begin to entertain the idea of letting herself go back to sleep while she waited, instead setting herself up in the armchair she had pulled over beneath the window earlier in the week, turning the ring on the chain around her neck over and over between her thumb and index finger as she watched the room, hawklike. After about fifteen minutes, she got to her feet, restless, ducking into the bathroom just long enough to splash cold water on her face, shaking off the last dregs of sleep in order to keep herself awake and alert.

That was all the time Wonderland needed. When she stepped back into the room, she wasn't alone anymore.

"You're back."

It was a much softer echo of the exclamation she'd made during the first switch. This time, she'd been expecting it.

Comments

[tom_hanniger]

It was like nothing had ever happened. One moment he's laying down to sleep and the next he was sitting on the side of the bed wondering when he'd gotten back up and put his pajamas on. Hadn't he gone to bed naked?

"Back from where?" He asked, rubbing at the back of his neck before stifling a yawn.

Tom looked up with a sleepy but relatively cheery expression before stretching his shoulders.

"What're you doin' up?"

[lightgunhustler]

"Kind of a long story." One she was more than willing to tell, once he'd had a little time to settle, but the fact that she sounded nothing short of relieved was incredibly telling - he'd been gone awhile. Even if there had been another Tom here in his place, it wasn't the same.

She helped herself to a seat beside him, wasting no time in laying a hand over his, curling her fingers around his hand and giving it a tight squeeze. Welcome back. She liked future Tom just fine, but she had missed the boyish cheer of her Tom.

"I was up waiting for you. Wonderland decided to whisk a few people away for a little while-- it was the 12th last you remember, right?"

[tom_hanniger]

"Uhhhhhhh, yeah?"

He raised an eyebrow and took her hand but he was nothing but confused. He hadn't been asking real questions, just disoriented ones.

Now, though, Jo had answered as though something had really happened. He glanced at the clock on his bedside table before coming back to totally focus on her, blinking hard to wake himself up.

"And now it's the 13th. You're being weird, what's going on?"

Wait, no, processing, processing..

"What do you mean whisked away?"

[lightgunhustler]

"It's the 25th," she corrected him, giving him another moment or two to gather his wits. If he didn't remember anything, that was a good sign. She'd been worried that the present versions had been switched with those in the future, or maybe stolen away someplace where Wonderland wasn't going to be so kind to them. Not remembering at all? That was the best she probably could have hoped for, after getting him back safe and in one piece to begin with.

"You just went missing in the middle of the night, little less than two weeks ago. A lot of people did -- ten altogether. It was an event," she clarified quickly, as though that would explain a great deal on its own. It usually did. "Until we found out what was going on, I was worried sick about you. Two days with no word and no clues."

[tom_hanniger]

It was true, It's just an event did wonders for most strange situations, but at least he could remember those. Tom nods slowly, taking it all in and piecing it together. Missing, huh. And a big group of people missing to boot, but he had no idea why or where he's been or what he's been doing. It's not a good feeling.

"Two days with no clues, but I was missing for two weeks? That doesn't add up, baby...I don't remember any of this...what happened? Are you alright?"

[lightgunhustler]

"I'm fine." She didn't take offense, just brushed it off and continued on. It was a pretty heavy story to drop on someone all at once, but she was just about done with the slow lead-in. There wasn't much more she could say without getting to the heart of the matter.

"That's because after two days, the mansion received visitors. Everyone who had vanished came back, but you weren't yourselves. They were versions from Wonderland's future -- which we have to derail." As much as they possibly could, though Tom himself had told her that there were certain things that had to happen no matter what. That still didn't sit well with her -- but he'd left her the ring and the photograph.

Aside from the Jabberwocky, whatever was coming was big. He had made that abundantly clear.

"This was their chance to change things."

[tom_hanniger]

"Oh..I'm gonna go ahead and assume something horrific happens, then. Awesome."

And he wouldn't be wrong. The story is long and confusing and incredibly complicated but what's worse is that it's real and it happened to him and people he knows and it's affected people. This period of time he, a version of him in any case, was running around talking about God knows what and he can see how much it's upset Jo. It upsets him. Everyone, probably.

But the future was bad. Really bad. The kind of bad that could only possibly come from Wonderland because it wouldn't even be fathomable, otherwise. As she she spoke he could feel his blood running cold, his stomach slowly sinking along with his shoulders and any good mood he might have been in as it all came together.

And when she finished he took a very heavy sigh and let it out little by little, fingers steepling in his lap.

"So. Merry Christmas, then." Humorless. This just- this just sucked.

"We're not going to let that happen, though. We'll find a way to stop it."

[lightgunhustler]

"Yeah, we will." She meant it. It wasn't some throw-away reassurance meant to smooth things over. They had a plan. They knew what was coming, and this time they would be able to prepare for it.

If only she could say the same for what Future Tom had warned her about earlier that day. She could brace herself for what was coming, but she didn't have the details to plan -- and he'd forbidden her from interfering. Talking to anyone about it was right out, too.

It felt awful, having a secret like that, one that quite frankly scared the crap out of her. Keeping it from Tom felt wrong, too, but he himself had been the one to tell her that she had to. Whatever was coming, it had to happen. One of those things that couldn't be avoided.

She hated that.

"We have time to prepare," she went on a moment later, withholding a sigh as she fought back the wave of guilt that came with the weight of that secret. "We're already a lot better off than we would have been otherwise. But there's time. ... until then, I'm just really glad you're back. I missed you."

The real him.

[tom_hanniger]

"I'm glad I'm back, too."

Tom was becoming more and more aware of just how screwed up things had been while he was away, and if the future was as grim as Jo was saying... as he'd told Jo... then all they could do was prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

But it was late, and he wasn't exactly sure why but he was exhausted.

Maybe it was from disappearing for ten days. Maybe it's the life force draining out of him after hearing what he's come back to. Either way it's enough to flop him back against the bed, hands ruffling through his own hair.

He can't think.

But he knows sleep isn't going to come easy. And he can tell it won't for Jo, either.

"This is stupid."

A very well thought out conclusion.

[lightgunhustler]

She smiled grimly, leaning over to plant a kiss against his forehead in a display of solidarity. She agreed. This was stupid, for lack of a better descriptor. She was half-ready to throw herself down on the mattress beside him before she perked up again, propping herself up on one hand before getting up to nod a head towards the bathroom.

"I have something that might make you feel better. It's Christmas, you know? Wait here--"

In the wake of the other Tom's disappearance, she'd had time to prepare. She disappeared by ducking into the bathroom for a moment, audibly shuffling around before returning with something cradled in her right arm, wrapped in a blanket -- though that wasn't enough to keep it from peeking up over her elbow to look towards the bed and blink.