open | in peace, may you leave this shore.

[coleader]

Who: Clarke Griffin and your lovely self.
Where: Here, there, everywhere.
When: November 24th
Rating: PG, probably.
Summary: Clarke falls down the rabbit hole.
The Story:

MORNING » BEACH

[ Clarke's first thought is the same one that has been running through her mind since she stumbled back to camp, bloody and covered in mud. Bellamy is alive. Octavia is alive. Raven is alive. She replays the thought over and over, but it never loses novelty. Clarke is no less relieved the hundredth time she thinks it than she was the first; she will never stop feeling so, she suspects, and every breath of hers will undoubtedly turn into a sigh of relief.

Clarke's second thought is— sand.

There wasn't sand on the Ark, the spaceship she lived on until she was nearly eighteen, and there certainly hadn't been any sand out in the woods the dropship to Earth had crashed into. Sometimes, Clarke thinks that she's experienced all she's ever going to — she has already seen so much more than she ever imagined, and it seems like testing fate to wish for more — but this, this is a fresh experience, sullied only by her confusion at how she stumbled upon a beach of all places. ]

Oh my god. [ The murmur slips out of her mouth, unexpected, before she can stop it. Clarke kneels down, pants already getting dirty, and takes a handful of sand, watching curiously as it runs through her fingers. She's read of it before, but no description in a book could have given her the vividness of experience that this does.

In fact, she might be gaping a little bit. ]

AFTERNOON » MANSION

[ Clarke is nothing if not inquisitive, even if she suspects those inquiries will lead her nowhere good. This feels too much like being kept in Mount Weather — there has to be a dark secret behind it all.

Carefully, slowly, she wanders the halls, eyes scanning the rooms for anything that could offer her information. To the outside observer, however, she looks a bit... worse for wear. She's certainly lacking the mud caked on her face, and much of the blood has been wiped away by her mother, but the only thing that can rid her of these scars is time.

There's a young, disoriented woman covered in cuts aimlessly wandering the mansion. ]

EVENING » FOREST

[ She doesn't trust a thing.

Clarke has been burned too many times by promises of warmth, food, and shelter. Although many seem to live within the mansion walls, even that is not a guarantee of safety. She eschews all reason, giving into her gut feeling of suspicion, and sets up camp outside the mansion. Still, she's careful not to stray too far, as she knows what things can lurk in the dark of the woods.

She lights a campfire, the smoke rising and billowing from the twigs. It's a well made fire, all things considered, and it's clear that this isn't her first time sleeping in the woods and it won't be the last.

There is one thing, however, she didn't account for.

Her stomach growls incessantly, protesting her resistance to eating or drinking anything offered at the mansion. She had managed to gather materials to fashion a slingshot from the mansion, if nothing else, and so she does; Clarke creeps along the edges, poised to shoot a stone at any small creature that happens by. (It isn't sophisticated, but it's all she has.) Unfortunately, she runs into someone else instead, her stone only nearly missing them. ]

I'm so sorry, I thought— [ It doesn't really matter what she thought, come to think of it. "I thought you were a squirrel" is no excuse. Her anxiety had made her trigger-happy. ] Are you hurt? I can help you, if you are.

Comments

[monosaccharide]

Well, if you're sure. [Finn gets hurt a lot, and he's always ended up fine.]

What happened? Did that happen here?

[Bubblegum is new enough and still getting the hang of everyone looking so similar so she honestly isn't sure if she's seen the other girl around before or not.]

[coleader]

[ What happened indeed. It's a long and complicated story, one that would require backstory to even understand. She doesn't much feel like recounting the past few months, not with how terrible they've been, so she sidesteps the question instead. ]

Trust me, it's a long story. But don't worry, it didn't happen here.

[ Clarke has to wonder if blood gets shed often in Wonderland, if this woman is asking her that. ]

I'm fine, really. [ Dryly: ] You should've seen the other guy.

[monosaccharide]

I guess you're new, then? [She offers a smile and holds out a hand.] I'm Princess Bubblegum. I'd say welcome, but it's hard to feel very welcome when you've been taken somewhere against your will.

[coleader]

[ This isn't her first "taken somewhere against your will" rodeo. All she can really do is raise an eyebrow and laugh a little, although it's more bitter laughter than anything having to do with joy. ]

Thanks, uh— [ She falters, almost unable to say it with a straight face. Clarke winces a little bit, sounding sheepish. ] Princess Bubblegum? Sorry, that's a really uncommon name where I'm from.

[ Perhaps it's culturally insensitive of her. She doesn't doubt that it would have been better to just ignore it, but— Princess Bubblegum. And she's pink. ]

Speaking of, do you mind if I ask where you're from?

[monosaccharide]

[She doesn't look particularly offended.] I wouldn't expect it to be. It's not really common where I'm from either, though it is descriptive.

[She squeezes her hair, which, of course, keeps its shape, until she pats it back into place.]

I'm from the Candy Kingdom in the Land of Ooo. [A beat.] I'd be surprised if you've heard of it. We don't have many humans left.

[coleader]

[ She can only gape as Bubblegum squeezes her— bubblegum hair? The look doesn't go away when she mentions a Candy Kingdom. It's just so ridiculous that she can barely believe in such a place. ]

I think I can safely say I've never heard of it.

[monosaccharide]

I'm not surprised. Humans are all but extinct where I'm from. I only know of one in all of Ooo.

[coleader]

( so sorry for the wait! i burned out a bit. it's totally okay to drop this if it's been too long. ♥ )

One. [ It's hard not to be shocked at that; humans extinct. ] What happened to the rest of them?

[monosaccharide]

We don't know for sure. Records from back when they were the dominant species, way back before the Mushroom War, are mostly gone.

But don't worry! It may not be your world's future.