video;

[deflectere]

[ a rather surly young man appears, dressed in a white tuxedo with gold highlights. he hasn't had time to change since his rather unexpected arrival and it's not like he's got a spare change of clothes. in fact, he's got nothing and that just adds another layer to the surliness. ]

This isn't where I'm supposed to be.

[ but alec guesses that's probably the point. if he's gone through a portal to another dimension, whatever's brought him here wants him off guard. he just can't figure out what sort of demon could have gotten inside of his wedding with so many shadowhunters there. he'd seen nothing. ]

Can someone please provide a status report of what I've walked into? And where the rest of my family is? The guests at my wedding?

[ he doesn't really care about the well being of anyone but his family but having high ranking clave members go missing at his wedding will do nothing to help the already tarnished lightwood name. ]

What dimension is this? Who's the demon that pulled me here? Show yourself.

[ with that, he clicks the video off, frustration evident in even that action.]

Comments

text

[theenforcer]

Use of the word status report makes me curious what military you've served in. US Army Special Forces, myself.

Your family and guests, as well as I assume your spouse, are where you left them. Somehow frozen in time and waiting for you.

As for what dimension, they call it Wonderland. Like the book or the movie, if you're familiar with them. As for the person in charge? There's a queen that puts her name to things, but who the hell knows for sure.

text

[deflectere]

I'm not in the mundane military. I don't even know what the mundane military does besides kill each other.

I didn't marry her. I stopped the wedding but what spell froze them? What warlock did that?

Wonderland is fiction. It's fake. It's what my little brother reads in between training. Who's putting you up to saying this?

text

[theenforcer]

Well you've been conscripted into this one, so good luck.

Damned if we know. Whoever also snatched you through time and space.

Yeah, you're going to have a fun time here if you don't try to listen and accept. You aren't the first. You're not the last. This place kidnaps, recycles, aims to kill, and then laughs when it doesn't stick.

So you can deny the truth. Doesn't change it though.

Re: text

[deflectere]

Why is there a need for conscription? Are you also telling me in that in addition to everything else, there is a war here?

What you are saying makes no sense. What you're saying is impossible. There are other dimensions, I believe that, but it takes powerful magic to traverse them.

I saw or felt no evidence of powerful magic where I was and yet I'm supposed to accept the word of a mundane that I don't even know? That I've never seen. That I don't trust?

Who are you, anyway? Who am I speaking to? Are you some sort of authority figure here?

text

[theenforcer]

You can sit around and not do anything, that's your call, but the Queen on the other side of the mirror declared war come the summer.

Least she gave everyone warning.

Yeah well, a lot of my life has been impossible lately. That doesn't mean it's not happening, but again. Your call.

Go your way and do what works for you then. No one is forcing you to believe or go along with it. The mansion and everyone in it will still exist and still be coping with this place trying to kill them.

I'm Barbie. I just arrived here a bit ago, and before that I was trapped in a Dome watching people I was learning to care about die.

I want to avoid that here.

Video

[oneagainstall]

Ain't nobody gonna come to your little fuckin' call out except the rest of us sorry fuckers trapped here, too. This place is Wonderland- or some weird fuckin' copy of it.

[He's still not convinced this is actually Wonderland. ]

Video

[deflectere]

[ how pleasant. alec's face hardens a bit but he bites down on the first response he wants to make. that's a jace move and he is not his brother. he thinks before he speaks and whatever's going on here is not going to be helped by his anger.]

Wonderland? Like the fictional book? You have to know how that sounds. You have to know that it makes you sound like you've been bespelled or you're possibly hallucinating on mundane drugs.

Because there is no way what you're saying could be true.

Video

[oneagainstall]

[He uses the word 'mundane' and talks about demons, but Gren doesn't think he's a Fable. Not one he recognises, anyway. That said, Gren vehemently denied this was Wonderland when he arrived, hell, he's still convinced it's not the real deal. Real Wonderland is fucked, like the rest of the Homelands. ]

Trust me, I'd be a lot more fuckin' pleasant if I was tripping my nuts off. This probably ain't the real Wonderland, just some fakey bullshit copy. Doesn't matter, we're all stuck here regardless.

Video

[deflectere]

[ he's saying exactly what alec doesn't want to hear. he doesn't want to be stuck anywhere. real or fake, this place isn't manhattan. it isn't new york. it's not idris. it's nowhere good and he's apparently stuck. that will not stand. ]

So, this is a prison? Has everyone here done something wrong and this is their ultimate punishment?

[ he doesn't think this man will know but it's worth asking. the clave can't have approved of what he'd done mere seconds before arriving here. they should have just sent him to the silent city though. not some realm that he's unfamiliar with. ]

[Audio]

[shslliar]

[What's that? You think a demon did this? Alright, let him pull a voice changer out of his closet to make himself sound extra distorted and spooky.]

Oh, MY. Another lost soul has fallen into MY DOMAIN.

I'm sorry if your family was expecting you, but I don't exactly control who enters or leaves. This misstep must have been YOUR FAULT.

[He giggles like an evil creature, his laughter made more sinister by the autotuning.]

[Audio]

[deflectere]

[ alec stiffens. he reaches for a blade that isn't there, fingers scraping against the fabric of his dress pants. even if the seraph blade had been there, alec doesn't know what he would have done. he can't attack a sound]

Who is this? Reveal yourself.

[ lesser demons don't tend to start conversations. they attack. they kill. which means this isn't a demon or this is a greater demon. neither one is a good thing. ]

I don't make mistakes. And how do you have such a lack of control over your domain? You don't control who comes or goes but you lay claim to this place? That claim sounds shaky.

[Audio]

[shslliar]

[Too bad Kokichi doesn't know how demons work in Alec's world.]

Ah, but anyone can make mistakes. Especially pathetic mortals who don't know who they're up against.

And to answer your question, this place is less like a house and more like a pet. They get lonely and hungry, and who am I to deny it subsistence? Heh heh heh...

[Audio]

[deflectere]

[ it's hard to make a solid judgment about this person without seeing them. a voice can be disguised, changed, distorted and not as easily read as someone's face. so, he's at a disadvantage. ]

I don't believe you.

[ might as well see what goading does to whatever or whoever this is. ]

I don't think this is your domain at all. What is your name?

[video]

[deadshapes]

Dude, you got taken from your own wedding? That sucks, man, I'm sorry. Maybe you'll luck out and you won't be stuck here too long?

Re: [video]

[deflectere]

[ alec doesn't know exactly what he's seeing on screen here. it's a cat but it's talking. church, the institute's cat, had been strange and old, but he'd never talked. this...creature is talking to him and sympathizing with him. ]

The wedding was stopped before it could be completed.

[ because he'd stopped it. he'd taken a chance and stopped it and apparently that had been the wrong decision. ]

What are you?

[ blunt, as always. his filter needs some work. ]

[video]

[deadshapes]

Oh, well. That's--good I guess? Whatever. It'll be exactly as you left it when you go home, so you don't have to worry, at least.

[She stares at him. Oh boy, here it comes.]

I'm a person. No, I'm not a cat. No, I'm not human either. People in my world just look kind of like animals. The end.

So now that that part of the conversation is over, do you want me to tell you what the deal with this dumb place is?

Re: [video]

[deflectere]

[ honestly alec isn't sure what it is yet. good or not. he hadn't wanted to get married but it would have done wonders for his family. but, he'd tried to take something for himself and now, immediately after doing that, he was here. alec doesn't know what o think of that besides some kind of karmic punishment. ]

So, you're saying that while I'm here, time stops? I know of some warlock spells that can do that but not for any lengthy amount of time.

[ the explanation is completely absurd but also believable. he knows where he's come from and what people can look like so who is he to say that what she's saying is a lie. ]

I was assuming a large warlock mark but I suppose your explanation makes more sense.

[ alec still isn't sure he wants to know what this is if it's not immediately followed by someone telling him how he can get home. ]

What is this dumb place? And when can I leave it?

[video]

[wriggedywrecked]

Oh for fuck's sake, demons this time? Really? Fucking Christ.

Re: [video]

[deflectere]

[ alec considers not answering. he doesn't know this man and doesn't owe him an explanation but that little thing called pride pushes him into responding to this man's exclamation. ]

Do you have a problem with that? I understand most mundanes can't see them but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

[video]

[wriggedywrecked]

Oh, fuck you. I've met all kind of demons and none of those little pieces of shit h-have the ability or the balls to pull people into other dimensions. The fact that it was the first thing you thought of is offensive because it means fakeass powerful hell demons are real somewhere, a-and that pisses me the fuck off.

Or you're just some old-timey lunatic who thinks d-demons are responsible for everything.

[video]

[deflectere]

You obviously haven't met the type of demons I have. Lesser demons wouldn't be able to pull people into other dimensions. They're slow and dumb.

[ not all lesser demons but in alec's experience, they were used as pawns, fodder to wear down shadowhunters in preparation for greater demons. ]

Greater demons would absolutely have the power and they are not fake. I've seen them, I've fought them. Are you calling me a liar?

[ alec frowns. the only person he's been lying to is himself. ]

video }

[meanestgirl]

You're in Wonderland and I don't think there's a demon in charge. Just ... Wonderland.

[Which sounds very unhelpful but after you've been here a while, you realize that Wonderland kind of has a mind of it's own.]

I'm sorry you got kidnapped from your wedding though. I'm Kimberly.

video }

[deflectere]

[ because that explanation makes so much sense. alec's expression doesn't change but he does have more questions. ]

Wonderland. My brother read books with a Wonderland in them. Are you trying to tell me that's where I am? Or am I just hallucinating?

[ there were some pretty powerful drugs that could cause that. ]

Alec. And the wedding wasn't meant to be anyway. I'd stopped it before we could...consummate anything.

video }

[meanestgirl]

No, that's basically it. There's no white rabbit but we do have a Queen of Hearts.

[And she's not very nice, you wouldn't like her. Kim is also not going to touch that bit about his wedding for right now, because it's not really her business. Also, not really something she knows anything about being ... a seventeen year old girl.]

I know it's ... a lot, but unfortunately it's true.

video }

[deflectere]

Are you kidding me?

[ she doesn't appear to be kidding but alec can't immediately dismiss the idea that this is some demonic shapeshifter, that he's not being played to let his guard down. this would be an unusual way to do it, with a teenage girl but alec's seen stranger. ]

Okay, let's say I believe you. What's the point of me being here? What is the point of me, you, anyone being in a place like this?