entrancelogs | + FOURTH WALL EVENT: HOUSE PARTY +

+ FOURTH WALL EVENT: HOUSE PARTY +

Who: E V E R Y O N E
Where: Wonderland's Second Mansion, near the southern walls
When: Sept 1st to Sept 10th
Rating: G to PG-13 (please label higher ratings, thank you!)
Summary: It's a whole party mansion! Have a look inside, explore, make yourselves at home! And don't forget to have a look at the Fourth Wall Master Post for event rules, puzzle clues, and more places to mingle!
The Story:

Beginning on September 1st, something more than grass has suddenly grown near the southern walls. A second mansion has sprung up overnight! With only three floors and a strangely makeshift look about it it doesn't seem to compare to the original at first glance, but there's plenty enjoyment to be had inside!

The first floor houses a series of restaurants, diners, and coffee shops. No matter your style or intentions, this floor will find something to your taste! (Provided you, too, really love the colour red.) Of course all foods and services are free, and provided invisibly and without delay - no need to tip the unseen magical forces! ♥

The second floor is this mansion's beating heart - quite literally so! Disco beats shake this massive dancefloor 24/7, and the open bar provides party refreshments for responsible hydration and/or happy cocktail hour. Invisible DJ not playing your song? Man the turntables yourself, or sneak off into the karaoke corner! By the way, it doesn't take a keen observer to notice the common theme of this floor's design.

(Although it falls to the curious party guest to notice the peculiar paint splashes on one of the walls, and a little patience to stick around long enough for the travelling spotlights to reveal their message.)

Despite the busy party below, the third floor is surprisingly quiet, and pleasantly so. It invites crisp and clean comfort, be it to sit, to sleep, or to mingle in the comfy common rooms in front of their warm chimneys. From single bedrooms to large dormitories all guests have plenty of room to make use of fluffy pillows galore, be it to sleep on, to fight with, or to build.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ if wonderland makes very little sense to stefan, it's the same conclusion katherine's made of the world she finds herself in and of the books. perhaps that's the point; wonderland is never meant to make a lick of sense. ]

Both queens run the show. [ she rests her elbow against the table, leaving her mug of tea before her. leaning her chin against the back of her curled hand, katherine looks in thought. her eyes narrow and her lips purse. ] In some way.

[ there's the mirror side, and then there's this one. she doubts the queen on the mirror side could pull everyone on this side right on over. if she could, she'd be able to break the glass, and through her investigation to learn the ins and outs of wonderland's history (and even her involvement in it, however dismal it's turning out to be), she's learned the queens are only so powerful. ]

[ it's disappointing. hadn't she always aspired to become a queen once she, as a pawn, made her way across the chess board? ]

I'm a little disappointed this story lacks a white hare leading me down the rabbit hole. I almost feel ripped off. [ she looks up at him. ] How real is space? Much like the one we know in Mystic Falls?

I wouldn't count the little guy out just yet. Even I need to eat at some point.

[Two queens, though.... That's more than what he's heard so far. Stefan knows little about Wonderland - frankly, he's still hoping that he'll wake up again, and this time, it'll be in Mystic Falls. He doubts it, given the sheer amount of people from home.

He'd guess that this is more of a nexus - a temporary nexus? - given the sheer size of the second mansion, but it's so hard to tell.]

I'd say it's pretty real. [He raises his eyebrows at her.] Mystic Falls wasn't lying about how vast it is, or even how empty it feels sometimes... but we've also never seen the galaxies that I've visited.

Hard for them to write about what they don't know, right?

[ she shrugs her shoulders. ] You'll be surprised. [ there's been people who've made history supposedly being knowledgeable when they'd known nothing at all. bullshit was an incredibly fascinating art form, and one that katherine sometimes excelled in. ]

[ she tilted her head, still resting her chin against the back of her hand. taking a moment to think, she looks up at him and narrows her eyes, as though he's the answer to what she wants to find. ] Do aliens exist?

[ it's not necessarily the most expected question, given their line of thinking, but katherine has to know. is there life on jupiter? are men really from mars? she doesn't quite know what she intends to retrieve from asking such a question, but she's sure it'll lead her down some useful rabbit hole. ]

Well, yeah.

[He doesn't have to hesitate there, because even Wonderland is host to them. Stefan's also long since gained a keen fascination with science, particularly of astronomy (it's a necessary life skill), so he doesn't even mind delving into this.]

As long as there's a source of life, you'll have all sorts of species coming to call it home. A lot of them are like us. Not quite human, but not quite anything else. Our biology's pretty universal.

[He pauses, also adding,] But if you think about it, aren't we aliens? This isn't Earth, and we're settling in practically uncharted territory.

[ at his response, katherine leans back in her chair, becoming comfortable with her arms crossed against her chest. she regards him with an amused quirk to her lips and an arch to her brow — and finds herself interested in stefan's answer that belongs out of this world. ]

It's somewhere, someplace. [ it's an easy dismissal on her behalf. if she answers him truthfully, she'd inform him they've both been aliens since their deaths. she doesn't belong in the natural order of things, and neither does he. ] You're speaking as though you've met one.

[ did you go dancing with aliens, stefan? ]

Because I have.

[He rests his arms on the table now, his expression growing more somber. Stefan may not belong in the natural order of things, but he's had far too many encounters with "the other" - from killing aliens that dared to invade Earth to saving the innocent that fell pray to local plagues. He's seen them at their worst and their best, and how can he try to distill that into a single sentence?]

You've got Kryptonians, you've got the Nunnilis, you've got Ferines and Orerines, you have whatever-the-hell Westeros people call themselves... and to all of them? We're the odd ones out.

[ he might as well be speaking another language, as none of those names register for her. five hundred years of living, and it appears she hasn't lived life to the fullest just yet. ]

[ she looks at him with a disbelieving arch to her brow. she opens her mouth to speak, but finds herself empty of words. so, she gestures toward the cup that's now in her hands, and quips, ] I feel we may need something stronger than tea.

[ like a good stiff drink that may leave them feeling a little buzzed. aliens? kryptonians? the other ones she can't even remember he's said. ]

It sounds like you've had quite the adventure, Stefan.

Probably. [He wishes up - summons up? - a bottle of bourbon. It's probably not what Salvatore would've wanted, but Stefan doesn't drink anymore. He's too far removed to know what "his" stiff drink would be.

As far as he's concerned, this black tea's as good as it's gonna get.] This more like it?

Don't sell yourself short, either. Outer space's got its adventures, but you're living a novel here. A classic one at that.

[ katherine grins at the appearance of bourbon, even if she's currently on a wine kick. there's something about asking the closet for the most expensive bottle (and pair of shoes to match) that makes a girl go a little mad. ]

[ and the grin remains, even when she rolls her eyes. ] It all ended up being a dream, Stefan. [ the lesson she'd learned when she'd read the book many times over had changed. if she read it now, she doesn't know what she'd take from a little girl falling asleep in a boat and dreaming up such an incredible world. she just knows such a world has never been attainable to her, it being a long, long, long stretch of a lesson katherine pierce has only begun to understand. ]

[ she teases, ] I don't want such an anticlimactic ending to my classic novel adventures.

Even the most vivid dreams can teach us a thing or two about the waking world.

[He hadn't read Alice's adventures in years, probably decades, but he remembers its impact. Nearly everything references it at some point - the rabbit hole feels pretty ubiquitous now - and maybe the book itself isn't the lesson so much as its transformative power. Something about her adventures strikes a chord. Now if only Stefan could remember what it was.]

You and anticlimactic, by the way, are total opposites. I wouldn't count on that ever happening.

[ katherine should roll her eyes or look unimpressed, but she merely looks at stefan. she doesn't like being taken off guard. she prepares for everything — for every word, flinch, tic, blink, breath. stefan's responses have always been predictable, but his tone and the meaning behind it have always fluctuated between sincere and mocking. ]

[ from damon's lips, it'd be a true mocking. nothing emerges from his mouth as something sincere when it leaps from his tongue. but stefan has always been different — or that's what katherine has always wished to believe. ]

Surprises happen, Stefan. [ she doesn't smirk or tilt her head or appear as though she's trying to goad him as she often does. she says it straight and to the point, letting her gaze drop as though she's wishing to not bring any attention to it. looking down at the photograph he's given her, she takes a moment to begin tracing it with the tip of her finger. ]

[ she looks up at him, and though she doesn't smile like the cat that caught the canary and chose to play with it, she tilts her head as she watches him. ] I doubt you woke up this morning believing you'd be here, in Wonderland, with the one person you hate the most. But it's your reality.

["But I don't hate you."

Salvatore sure did: Salvatore remembered those intense moments of passion, right before the vampirism set in and he was promised immortality (and powers he never wanted or asked for). But Alesci never experienced such a thing. Olette kicked out Katerina before she could weave her magic on either Damon or Stefan.

In hindsight, a little sister had been a blessing in more ways than one. He swallows his surprise, glancing at Katherine with new eyes. Their game might not last much longer, and a more cunning man might've snatched the canary from her.

Stefan's not that person, and right now, he's not sure if he should let Katherine know that too.]

Well, no, but... even the craziest tea party has something to offer. You're still here, right? That has to mean something.

[ it means katherine's still as stupid as she'd been when she hadn't heeded pearl's warnings to leave town. she's letting stupidity, a lust for something she once had, get in the way. it's distracting; much like a bird, she watches shiny things, waiting patiently for the perfect time for her to swoop down and steal it. ]

[ stefan has always been shiny, but, if she admits it to herself, he has lost his glow over the years. there's something about the chase that grows tiresome and stale, and with him always refusing her, the fun had been in how to break him. ]

[ katherine doesn't wish to break him in this moment. ]

Maybe. [ she'll concede to that. she's here because she's lonely. no one else will speak to her. she won't make any attempts to speak to anyone else. katherine wishes for normalcy, but she'll never get it again. her bridges are burned and remain piles of ash, and she knows no phoenixes will rise from the rubble. ever since emerging from the shadows, she'll never have what she once had, and she has to accept it. ]

[ she traces the lip of her tea cup, looking down at the tea that's half drunk. ] We both know I'm glutton for punishment. [ hence why she's still here. she tilts her head, as if peering down into a mirror in the cup. she takes her time before she looks up at him. ] Why are you?

[Another good question, and one Stefan can't truthfully answer.

Katherine holds the key to memories that he doesn't (shouldn't?) remember, and every sentence, every syllable speaks to some primal urge. He wants to know everything about him that she does - and maybe, just maybe, she'll let something new slip. Alesci's staying because of his work in interfaith and his tendency to forgive; Salvatore's staying because of his desire to learn more about the person he used to be.]

This, [he gestures to his tea,] just so happens to be the best cup of tea I've had in two years. I don't think I could give it up right now.

["It" is awfully vague in this instance: their conversation? The tea? The whole place that's Wonderland? Even Stefan isn't sure, but right now, he knows what he's about, and the luxuries here aren't ones he'll ever take for granted again.]

Edited 2016-10-24 23:01 (UTC)

[ stefan's transparent. that's all katherine can express with the slow upward curve of her mouth as she studies him. ]

[ he's different, yet the same. space travel may have changed him slightly, but he's still the brooding boy who can't forgive himself for even hurting a silly little butterfly. stefan salvatore likes to punish himself, and though she can see it within him, the lack of anger or scorn is something she finds interesting about him. ]

[ he doesn't know how to forgive himself. he hasn't forgiven her because it's much easier to put a different face to all of his problems than his own. she's worn that badge of honour proudly, but has to wonder what he truly means. ]

You've found your best cup of tea in two years with me? [ she arches her brow then, challenging. hasn't he had the best cup of tea with elena? with damon? with anyone else but the person he dislikes more than anything in his life? it gives her everything she needs, yet, at the same time, nothing at all. ]

With you, with Caroline, with Bonnie, and even with Klaus's older sister.

[Stefan shrugs, raising his eyebrows a little as if he didn't care who he had tea with. Most people would've bought his practiced indifference too, but then, Katherine's not "most people."

He's deliberately staying, and it's not just for the perfectly-brewed cups that refill themselves at his smallest whim. Nor is it for the plates of baklava and ma'amoul, or even the fluffy chicken-stuffed pastries that resemble the ones Bonnie used to make.

No, he wants some answers about his past, and who better than the one who had haunted the faded echoes of his memory for the past two years?]

Did you know he had one? Because I'm gonna be honest, that was a pretty weird high tea.

[ it's obvious by how katherine's brow furrows she hadn't known that. there'd been elijah, niklaus, rebekah, a wild kol, and that dull and unnecessary finn. katerina may never have met half the mikaelson family, but elijah had spoke of them. emptying his fears and anxieties and concerns and even admiration for all of his siblings into her hands, she finds now she can use that dated and yet powerful information to her own gain. ]

[ her brows furrow as her head tilts, and she lets stefan be able to read she hadn't known at all. her eyes narrow. ] He has an older sister?

[ she isn't surprised this is yet another betrayal from elijah mikaelson. the "he" in question is not, in fact, klaus. ]

[Unfortunately, Stefan has zero idea about Elijah, let alone any Mikaelson that isn't Rebekah or Klaus (or the long-lost sister). He does know, however, that Katherine doesn't open herself up so easily - so this must be valuable information.

But since he's brought it up already, he might as well take it to the logical conclusion.]

Apparently. [Stefan shrugs, because at this point, long-lost siblings are the new Normal.] Rebekah didn't know she was still alive. Which... probably means Klaus didn't know either.

[He'd make some big jazz hands-type statement about Wonderland, but he's taking it in stride as he helps himself to some baklava.]

[ is klaus not knowing he had an older sister the equivalent to the world flipping him the bird? if katherine's learned anything over her five hundred years of learning how to outrun a man so determined he makes her sacrifice expensive shoes to mud, it's that he values family and dislikes being taken by surprise. ]

[ she learned the latter the hard way. ]

[ elijah hadn't said a word, and so she wonders, with stefan's comment, if he hadn't known, too. she doesn't doubt he would've told her of another sister if given the chance. another mikaelson to weigh the world down with? sometimes katherine wonders if the universe has chosen to punish itself. ]

[ when she speaks again, it's to herself, as her gaze drops and her brows furrow in thought. ] Which means Elijah didn't know. [ for someone who kept his secrets, he wore his familial heart on his sleeve — and katherine refuses to use it against him. ]

[ looking up at stefan, she doesn't keep her expression guarded. he's always hunted for honesty, and so katherine decides to give it to him. ] What's her name?

[Who the hell is Elijah?

Scratch that, Stefan can guess from her expression. Klaus and Rebekah weren't the only ones back home. There had been an Elijah too, and he had mattered at one point to her. Why else would his name come up over tea?

He takes a second to swallow down some baklava (he's not a heathen, and he refuses to talk with his mouth full).] Freya. She's the eldest, from what I understand, and a witch in her own right.

[ stefan's lack of reaction to elijah's name coming from her mouth in a manner that's almost warm (and a little betrayed) doesn't raise any eyebrows from katherine. she may not have discerned his last exact memory, but she figures he has to have known they were together. if anything, he's the only one she she'd feel comfortable ever explaining it to — elijah was there, she was there, and she had loved him in a way she had never loved anyone else since she'd first met him. damon would react immaturely and ruin it, but stefan always seemed to be understanding — or always tried to understand her. ]

[ katherine stares at stefan. ] Freya.

[ the tall, blonde woman she'd met during her second week in wonderland. klaus' sister. a witch. two things katherine pierce disliked fiercely. ]

[ katherine's expression grows stony, the equivalent to balling her fists. she'd met freya, and that means freya would have had to have told klaus she was here — despite her name being in the address book, if anyone bothered to look for it — and katherine's entire plan of enjoying wonderland while flying under the radar is ruined. ]

[ she's so, so tired of running. ]

[ attempting to compose herself, she looks at stefan with a curious arch of her brow. ] And what does Freya know? [ she loses her attempt to appear nonchalant with the slightly angry clarification of: ] Of anything.

[Uh-oh.

He had hit more than a whole bundle of nerves with that name. They must've met, but in that meeting, Freya didn't disclose her last name.

Stefan would officially call this "not his problem" and get the hell outta Dodge, but he can feel his entire body freezing in place.]

Good question. She met me, apparently, sometime in the future. I was in New Orleans for something, and we had "a moment," and that's... kinda all I got.

[For now. In the coming days, he'll learn far more about her than he ever intended, and he'll learn that she might be the most dangerous Mikaelson of the bunch.]

[ despite the betrayal and the swelling anxiety storming inside of her, katherine doesn't give into her need to panic and fight back. she begins to form the plan of believing freya mikaelson knows who the great katherine pierce is, and tries to build her castle around that one core thought. ]

[ she looks to stefan with an arch to her brow and an almost exasperated look. ] A moment, Stefan? [ when it comes to stefan salvatore, she doubts many women can really ignore any temptation they feel around him. he has the bone structure and the height, and a nice voice and warm eyes that not even the coldest of villains could really ignore and not let get to them. ]

[ elijah made her weak. stefan dug his fingers inside of that soft spot, and elijah returned into her life to tear it right open. ]

[ she should feel jealous, vindictive and petulant at the mere thought of stefan with another, but she feels no desire to enact on the urge to sweep stefan up and keep him to herself. that part of her will always belong to him, but her self-control will always be hers. ] Really?

A non-romantic moment, if that's what you're so worried about.

[Nevermind that Freya's entire existence confirms one thing: Mystic Falls was never destroyed. Whoever pulled him to Locke City did so willingly, and they did it with every intention on raising a soldier. He doesn't have time to worry about that, with the way Katherine's looking at him.

He's not exactly concerned with his reputation. He's Muslim now, and his faith's too strong for him to fool around. Unless there's another Muslimah here, he's living up that single and proud life.]

She wouldn't tell me why we even met, but I can't imagine it was for good reason.

[ she wouldn't classify what she's feeling as "worry", but concern over stefan's taste in women. it seems to have only declined since her. ]

[ and of course over his well-being, but katherine won't allow herself to dwell on that. sweep it under the rug, dress it differently, it makes her feel more in control to believe nothing about stefan salvatore can touch her. ]

She wouldn't tell you? [ her expression scrunches up, almost in disbelief. it's almost as though she's annoyed on his behalf. who dangles the carrot in front of the donkey and doesn't so much as let him take a bite of it in the end? other than katherine pierce, she doesn't quite know who else is as horribly unkind as her. ]

[ it must mean something incredible, then. it only annoys her to not know. ]

[ distracting herself with her cup of tea, she only speaks after she's drunk a little more of it. ] Good to know all Mikaelsons remain a pain in the ass. I thought Elijah was the only irritating one.

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sorry for the late!

no worries! nothing's ever late when you can live forever. ♥︎

you are too kind ♥

😘 ♥

♥!!

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