( open ) but do not tell me all is fine

[backpacking]

Who: Ellie and YOU
Where: All over the mansion and then the beach
When: Post-event
Rating: PG-13 for language and likely talk of violence
Summary: Once everyone vanishes, she realizes that Wonderland can be just as unkind as her own world.
The Story:

[ A new day dawns and they're gone. They're all gone. Ellie scrambles to look around her room, but the only thing remaining of Tess, Joel, and Riley are a dirty coffee cup and a series of punny messages sent to Ellie's device. She doesn't - can't - believe it, and so she searches everywhere (everywhere), climbing to the top of the mansion in the attic and on the roof and then down to the first floor and basement. Then, of course, the grounds, though as soon as she leaves she remembers the second mansion and heads that way.

It's vanished. Not a good sign, but she doesn't stop.

Then, the grounds. She ducks through the trees in the woods and runs along the beach, looks in the stables and through the gardens.

When she returns inside it's dark and she's both filthy and exhausted.

She doesn't stop. Ellie begins her renewed search by putting her fist into one of the mirrors in the mansion's entrance hall and comes away with a bloody hand and nothing else. It's the beginning of her perhaps childish revenge, because anger is easier than acceptance and she is wild with spiteful energy. She ducks into a hallway and stops short upon seeing one of Wonderland's featured art pieces... but doesn't hover for long. Her pocket knife tears into the material, shredding it as much as she can before storming ahead. Into the kitchen, then, where she thoughtlessly tears open the cabinet... only to find it offering her fresh coffee beans and china.

All that goes, spilled out with an angry cry across the floor, smashing into pieces. She's gone again as the mess settles.

Her room, finally, for no reason except that her feet lead her there. Ellie opens the door and sees the gift bag, one she hadn't noticed that morning in her focused hunt. She doesn't get beyond the card before she snatches it all up, anger renewed, and flees the mansion for the second time that day. When she makes it to the beach, she flings the entire bag as far as she can into the water and then sits, defeated, on the sand. ]

Fuck. [ And she buries her face in her hands. ]


( ooc ; feel free to encounter her at any stage in the bolded locations! )

Comments

[backpacking]

[ It's the second hug she's received this evening, both from other zombie universe residents. From other people, it wouldn't mean much, but Michonne understands. Simon understands. ]

Yeah. [ What can she say? ] ... Thanks.

[ Nothing he can say will bring them back, though, just as nothing she can do will bring them back. ]

It sucks. [ Ellie finishes, lamely. ]

[luckynumberthree]

It does. [ His agreement comes easily, even as he rests his chin atop her head, tucking her in against him for a moment. ] It sucks in the worst kind of way, because we want to keep them here, keep them safe. And Wonderland never gives us any say in the matter.

[backpacking]

I just don't get... why some people are here for years, and other people... it was just one week. [ That's majorly unfair, particularly since (in her mind) Joel, Tess, and Riley were all hugely deserving of a break from their world. ] Who makes that call? It can't be random, not when they all came and went at the same time. Right?

[luckynumberthree]

No, I don't think it was random. [ His hand strokes along on her spine, soothing as he watches the tide come in. ] I think it might have been an event. A weird one, maybe. But the timing was right.

[backpacking]

The fuck kind of event was that, then? [ She demands suddenly, turning to look up at him with an almost disgusted expression. ] Why would they just... do that?

[ It's more cruel than some of the more bloody ones, in a lot of ways. ]

Never mind. I know there's no answer. [ She rests her chin on her crossed arms, still staring out at the water. ] I just wish I had something more... concrete to be mad at.

[luckynumberthree]

Well, you could go kick the house. Or break a mirror. Paint a bunch of roses white. I'm not sure it would do much good, but it's something.

[backpacking]

Already did that one thing. [ She mumbles, briefly raising her battered, but bandaged, hand. ] Didn't make me feel better.

[ Kicking the house would probably accomplish about the same thing. ]

Painting the roses... because of the Queen, right? [ Ellie wrinkles her nose. ] That's not totally fair; it's not only her fault.

[luckynumberthree]

[ Simon eyes her bandaged hand before catching it gently and pressing a kiss to the top of it. As if that totally makes it all better. Hey, with the way Wonderland magic works, who knows? ]

The mirror?

And maybe not, but I don't think I'd go so far to say she ever plays fair either.

[backpacking]

Yeah. [ Punched it, immediately bandaged up by Medieval Dad. ] It's fine.

[ It isn't bleeding everywhere, anyway. ]

Sure. But, there's the, uh... Duchess, too, right? And all the trippy, talking animals.

[luckynumberthree]

I'm not sure the trippy talking animals are even responsible for themselves, let alone any of the rest of this.

[ Still, he cradles her bandaged hand in one of his, holding it gently. ]

Did it help? The punching?

[backpacking]

[ Ellie scoffs at the question. ]

Nope. [ It just hurt like hell. ] Nothing helps with that - with this kind of stuff.

[ Talking, maybe. For a while. ]

[luckynumberthree]

Sometimes it does.

[ Although not as often as he'd like. ]

Sometimes this helps. Just sharing it with someone who gets it. Lessa blood that way too.

[backpacking]

[ But what happens when all those people are gone?

Ellie swallows. ]

You've been okay, though? [ beat ] Did anyone from your guys' world show up during that week?