entranceway | M e s s a g e 3 5

Hm...I've been wondering about Superpowers lately! Does anyone else wonder what it would be like to have them? Or what it would be like to have a different one, if you've already got one? There's no need to leave anyone out of the pondering just because they've alr͕̦̤̝e҉͈͇̦̼̕a̹͢ͅd̡͖̼̹̤͈͎̟͡ỳ҉̗̟̜̖̹ ͡҉̳͔g̡͈̪͇̪̻̲̼̬o͏̸̛̰̗̰̦̲ͅt̻̠̜͝͠͝-͕̙-҉̣͈

[Curiously, the audio glitches out of the post and becomes something else entirely. The video feed is still there and everyone can see Alice excitedly talking about something, presumably different superpowers, and occasionally shaking her head and going on a different excited tangent. Even without her eyes, her moods are crystal clear. The audio, however, sounds more like a radio broadcast. The voice that comes through is not Alice's and does not match up with her movements at all. it belongs to someone a bit older than her.

--ecent attacks? [A small, polite, controlled laugh.] I should think everyone knows who's responsible. Clearly we ought to be investigating the Humans! We should have never allowed them to live among us. It was doomed to fail from the start!? You simply can't expect them to live alongside people who are biologically superior to them in every way. It was never going to work! It was only a matter of time before they began lashing out. They won't be happy unless we are suffering.

[There something garbled, another voice - perhaps an interviewer?]

Their inherent jealousy should not be the problem of my people. Thankfully, our task force is working their absolute hardest - my "heart" goes out to every one of you! [There's some more static, as a small group of people laughs at the pun.] My honest opinion though, is that none of them belong here. Not a single one. And if I have my way, EVERY last one of them wil͝҉̱̳̦̦l͏̷̱̳ ̶̯̖̜͔͍̗̩͘b̢̧͙͇͓̻̯͈̺̤̀e̛͏̖ ̢̧͚͡ḓ̢̰͙͕̦͉̜͢-̸̫̦̺͡-̥͉̠̣̯̝̪̕͝!

[The audio cuts out once more and returns to Alice, speaking as she normally does, with her mouth matching up to her voice again.]

--and that's why I think flying would be the best power. Don't you think so? What sort of power would you want, if you could pick anything at all?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Just like that, it all gets dragged right back to the source, doesn't it. Well that's just...fine. He still has most of his notes stashed away. He still remembers what he's here to do.

When he types, he types slowly, deliberately, with none of his earlier slapdash carelessness.]

You got cut off halfway through.

[Alice doesn't text in return, instead opting for video.]

Did I? Huh. How curious...with scissors, you think? Or was it more of a knife sort of cutting?

[She...doesn't seem to understand what happened.]

[Figures. He has to look that unsettling face in the...well, "in the eye" wouldn't be the proper terminology, would it?

He hates the blank canvas where her eyes should be. His expression twists, and he obstinately continues to text his response.]

Not literal cutting. Someone else's broadcast interrupted yours. I doubt it was intentional.

[Probably not, but Alice wouldn't question it.]

Oh. That's...peculiar. And a bit rude. They could have waited until I was finished!

You didn't hear her at all?

[Because it sounded a bit to him like her Royal Majesty. No one else sounds like they've got a perpetual stick up her ass quite like she does.]

[Alice shakes her head.]

No, not a word. [She pauses.] Though, now that I think about it...you sound a little different to me. Or write, I suppose. It's just another way to sound in the end, but you seem...not-quite-yourself. Or not the you you were when we last spoke, at least.

Are you someone new now, Snow Storm? More of a blizzard, or flurries?

I've been away for a while. Four years back home.

[Snow sto - oh, right. Because of his little electrostatic tendencies, right. Ugh. He grimaces in apparent distaste.]

Maybe I'm more of a hurricane now.

Four years? That isn't so long. Four years goes by in a blink here in Wonderland!

[She doesn't seem to notice any irony in her own words, but she carefully considers Alex's. Eventually, she nods. The metaphor makes sense to her. When she speaks, she sounds a little sad for him.]

Oh, I see. Lots of thunder, lots of lightning and wind...but lots of rain too. I'm sorry.

Don't I know it.

[Goddamnit, how's she simultaneously manage to be so endearing and infuriating all at once? She figures him out real quick, and he can feel himself softening up to it and he needs to cut that shit out because that is an attachment, and attachments are unhelpful. He needs to stop fucking caring.

Why'd she have to go and be so nice for?]

You read my mind. Not literally. I'd hate to have that power.

[And now he's playing right into her childish question. Get your shit together, Kralie, and stop acting like a damn moron.]

[She seems happy he's finally playing along though, and eases.]

Oh, me as well! It would be so much pressure, especially if everyone knew about it. Everyone would expect me to understand everything about them, or they would worry I'd learn their secrets when really I'd just want to go about my day! If I'm going to have a power, it would have to be something that's actually fun to have.

Flying, right? That might be better if you weren't in Wonderland. There's not a lot of places to go to.

But what are your thoughts on invisibility?

[He tries to relinquish any lingering affection he might have for her.

He fails.]

I suppose not. The sky doesn't go up quite as high as it ought to, but I can't imagine any other place I'd ever be in...

[There are clearly many worlds out there, but none that Alice can recall.]

I don't think I'd be very good at being invisible. I'd just find another way for people to notice me, and then it would defeat the purpose of invisibility entirely!

[She can't imagine not being here. Well, maybe she's not the only one. Fleetingly, he finds himself wishing desperately for the same. Then he tries to scrub away the thought. It's useless.]

I've heard lots of arguments for shapeshifting. You can just shapeshift to get whatever power you want.

[She frowns a little. Her nose wrinkles up too, and her eyebrows narrow - it's remarkable how someone can so clearly "squint" without eyes to actually squint with.]

Isn't that cheating? I'm fairly certain that's cheating. It's like wishing to get infinite wishes!

[That contortion of her facial muscles has the dual effect of being both oddly reassuring and incredibly unsettling. Comforting because It never looked that way, it was always blank and featureless, but -

Faces shouldn't look like that.]

Power duplication, then. That's definitely a thing.

Oh, you mean copying someone else's powers? Like a copy cat?

[She gasps suddenly, excited!]

What a fantastic superhero name! Copy Cat! Sorry, but you're going to have to think of something else, Hurricane. I'm claiming that one for myself!

[She's grinning, wide and playful and full of mischief. She is entirely aware she's being a brat.]

Hey, that's fine. You can be Copy Cat. I can be Hurricane. Sounds more like a Dairy Queen than a superhero duo, but I can work with that.

[He can work with pretending he's something that's semi-functional, a fractional amount of his old self leaking through, when he's...not.]

I think it sounds like a magnificent superhero duo! Though, perhaps that's because I'm not entirely certain what a Dairy Queen is other than a Queen of Dairy Products?

[Hm. Would she have a milk carton crown?]

What sort of power would you have though? Maybe weather powers to go with your name? Or something else?

It's an ice cream store. Makes some pretty good stuff.

[Not that he'd know. He hasn't really had the opportunity to grasp at normalcy for some time.]

Weather powers, sure. Shooting lightning at things seems pretty fun.

Oh! Maybe one will come to Wonderland someday then. That happens sometimes.

[They had Denny's for an event once, after all.]

But weather powers would be spectacular! You could make it rain or snow, or you could clear it all up into sunshine!

I guess it's a pretty good skillset to have, yeah. Sure. Weather powers. I'll take it.

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M e s s a g e 3 5

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