+ A Forward dated (6/12) Royal Proclamation +

[bewhatyouseem]

[ It has been 24 hours since the chess match and after some impatient redecorating, everyone's feeds - Mirror and Real alike come to life with a video set to Baroque music. There is no speaking yet, simply a slide show displaying various parts of the new Mirror side of things. It's an introduction of sorts.

The new Throne room which is where the Real side's ballroom is located.

Though the White Queen's mirrors can't go without a ballroom of their own.

Finally, her own chambers are displayed, with everything neat and orderly, and all signs of the Queen of Hearts (including all of her very odd...pieces and parts of things in jars) completely gone.

The music fades out, and soon the White Queen, sitting on her throne graces the screen. She is addressing both sides today, however they won't be able to communicate to each other, only to her. ]

My dearest Mirrors and Reals,

The time has come for us to put aside our differences and all the Queen of Hearts used to put you at odds with one another. We are, after all, one kingdom and as my sister the Red Queen proclaimed, we shall live in peace and harmony.

[ It's not quite what she said, but it's close enough. ]

From henceforth, I proclaim that no Mirror need to spy on the Real side on my behalf. You have no good graces to earn with me, no reason to bring me information about the other side. I, unfortunately, have no control over the events that occur, but let that be all the dear Reals must worry over. You have my word that there will be no command for you to hurt or kill and you must not live in fear of my mirrors only wishing to cause harm.

...Of course, I cannot help it if some mirrors do have this tendency, but I will not advocate it.

Now, onto my new subjects. And to that point, what your former queen demanded of you.

You will no longer be unmade at a whim. Please do not live in fear of a mistake. You aren't merely subjects, you are a people. From now on ruled by me, yes, but not as a figure to be feared or only one to please. I will create new mirrors as new Reals arrive, and you will all be cared for.

There is one exchange I have made with Wonderland's magic, but that does mean we've had to give something up to have a bit of color. For too long our outside world has been black and white. No more.

[ She pauses, then dramatically claps her hands, the sound echoing in the room. ]

There are no more tea rooms on our side, dear mirrors. But you do now have a beautiful garden. The color is limited to the gardens only, but oh, I do hope you find it as glorious as I do. Please, do not confine yourselves to the indoors only.

[ Go touch some grass, please. For her title being the White Queen, things aren't quite so blandly colored and she smiles with a soft nod of her head. ]

I urge any of you, real and mirror alike, to now take this time to introduce yourselves. I'm quite curious about you all. Though I will say, you will be speaking only to me and at this time, Reals and Mirrors will not be able to address one another.

Comments

[choosetruth]

You were dead at the time, so you may not know. But we all shared dreams of a... different Wonderland. One where you had defeated the Queen of Hearts and ruled Wonderland in her stead.

[The Red Queen was nowhere to be found. An interesting point that at the time, Georgia hadn't considered much at all.]

In that Wonderland, there were no events, but no one on the Real side remembered any life outside of Wonderland. Are you capable of that?

[bewhatyouseem]

[ The White Queen frowns and shakes her head slowly. ]

I wasn't aware of any such thing, and no, I am not capable of it.

[ Not that she knows of, anyway. ]

No Queen actually controls how people come and go, what they remember and what they don't.

[choosetruth]

You really need to brush up on your Wonderland history. A lot's happened.

[She's not sure she entirely believes the Queen on that one. The dreams happened, and considering how they basically got no sleep that entire few weeks, she knows it wasn't just a weird dream. Between that and how everyone had such close variations on the same dream. It just doesn't make sense.]

So you don't know how to bottle memories at all? Because we've seen examples of the other Queens handling memories. Hearts captured Alice's memory of her cat along with her eyes. Red managed to snag one of Tim's memories before it went into the Core. It may not be much, but you clearly have some ability. And that's not even getting started on the donation boxes.

[bewhatyouseem]

I've only been here for twenty-four hours, my dear. Please, give me a moment.

[ She was too busy getting rid of every ugly thing her sister owned, okay? ]

Bottling a memory and being able to pick and choose what Wonderland takes from you are two very different things.

[ She and her sisters can take, but they know what will be coming. They don't know what Wonderland will take. ]

What are the donation boxes?

[choosetruth]

Hm. [She knows what she saw. And what she didn’t see, and in fairness, they didn’t actually see the White Queen. Just because everyone claimed that was who was responsible doesn’t make it true.

But it doesn’t make it false either. Magic flowers isn’t enough to buy her trust.]

They’ve appeared three times at events where Reals and Mirrors could mingle, and each time touching it caused you to lose a word.

[She opens her laptop and clicks on a file before turning it to face the White Queen again. It contains the three words. She can only read the last one, but that won’t stop her from documenting them.]

There was one at the chess game. It vanished when you appeared. [She raises an eyebrow.] I suppose it could be a coincidence, but I don’t believe in those. Especially not here.

[bewhatyouseem]

[ The Queen listens to all of this patiently and by the time Georgia is done, she looks up. ]

I quite agree with you. Nothing here is by accident. Most everything in Wonderland happens for a reason, even my death had a purpose. But the reasons aren't reasons I'm aware of. Judging by the video, I...certainly wasn't expecting it.

[ She knows more than the average Wonderland resident, but that doesn't mean she has the entire knowledge bank. And her murder was a betrayal, clearly. ]

[choosetruth]

No, it doesn't seem like you were.

What was your realm? If Hearts had the Mirror side and Red had the Real side.

[bewhatyouseem]

I never had one of my own. I was always more content to do anything but rule.

[ She liked to knit and care for animals, solve riddles and puzzles. ]

[choosetruth]

The Duchess said she was your subject.

[Back before she vanished.]

[bewhatyouseem]

[ The White Queen looks completely thrown off by that, blinking quickly as her jaw drops. ]

Oh...my. Have I forgotten more than I remember?

[ She's trying to think with all of her might, but she doesn't remember ruling anything. ]

Perhaps my memories haven't all yet returned.

[choosetruth]

Apparently.

[Unless the Duchess was mistaken. It's not like they can check.]

Do you remember the Duchess at all?

[bewhatyouseem]

[ The White Queen ducks her head, thinking as she frowns in concentration. Then, presses her lips together in a thin line before addressing Georgia again. ]

No, I do not.

[choosetruth]

[The hard line of her omnipresent frown deepens under her sunglasses.]

How much do you remember?

[bewhatyouseem]

That's probably the better question.

[ She rubs her face, exhausted. Not with Georgia at all, but mentally, suddenly being back, everything has been so draining. ]

I certainly don't remember anything about ruling. I remember...my childhood. Days spent outside in the sun, knitting and tending to the flowers. Curling up and reading. I remember both sisters always fighting, and Hearts was so...easily angered, so easily outraged. I hated it so very much. I never understood why we couldn't just be sisters and take care of one another.

[ She tries to hide it, the way she wipes away a tear. How undignified of a queen. ]

[choosetruth]

And your adulthood? What were you doing if you weren't ruling?

[bewhatyouseem]

Attempting to keep the peace, as always. Which someone, apparently, did not like.

[ Since she was killed, and all. ]

[choosetruth]

Do you remember doing that? Or is that just what you assume you did?

[She had assumed the Queen of Hearts killed her. It's not out of the question.]

[bewhatyouseem]

I do remember that. I know I did it. I've been doing it since I could talk and ask them to please not fight.

[choosetruth]

Yes, but do you remember doing it as an adult? Can you remember any specific moments?

[bewhatyouseem]

[ She is starting to get restless at the questions, feeling inadequate for not knowing more. ]

Am I letting you down terribly if I say no?

[choosetruth]

[She shakes her head.]

You'll only let me down if you lie to me. Finding the limits of your memory is useful information in and of itself.

[bewhatyouseem]

I'm not lying about anything, but not knowing feels like a disappointment.

[ She lets out a heavy breath. ]

I wonder if this was part of it. If losing most things was a known side effect to my murderer?

[choosetruth]

I understand. It is disappointing. But it's not something we can fix until we know how deep the damage is.

[It might not be something they can fix period. But to figure that out they need to know the truth too.]

Could be. Could be there's something in the missing memories someone doesn't want you knowing. And it could just be Wonderland bullshit. Or a mix of the two.

[bewhatyouseem]

If...I can find a way to retrieve my memories, would you help me?

[ It's a big 'if.' And part of her is a little afraid to ever know what isn't there. Speculation is easier than knowing the cold hard truth, sometimes, of any situation. ]

[choosetruth]

[She hesitates, thinking her answer through before she says anything.]

I won't promise. The way this place works, it's all too likely it'll be a price I'm not willing to pay. But I will do what I can.