+ Event Part 1.5 - erusaert eht tuo hcraeS +

[vitaelamorte]

So, as you've all just heard from the Queen of Hearts, there’s something very special behind that door and she wants it. So she’s sending her Mirrors to fetch it for her. They have been encouraged not only to compete against the Real Things, but each other. It's every Mirror for themselves.

( LOTS more under the cut; Koji gets kind of rambly. )

[noitca] / [oediv]

[petabytes]

[ Riddles. It just had to be riddles. ]

Forgotten and alone... unlock my body... what even is this?

[ The lone figure stands in front of the door, hands on hips, eyebrows cocked in disapproval. She had hoped that it'd be some other kind of challenge - something that didn't require so much puzzling and thinking, or maybe something she could let someone else do and take the credit for. No dice. ]

Ugh. This is some bullshit.

[ She scoffs, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently. Figuring out the riddle is out of the question for the moment - what would someone expect Chihiro Fujisaki to do in this situation? ]

Hmm..

[ Opening up the video channel, she puts on her best pitiful face. ]

*sniff*... It's hopeless, isn't it? I d-don't know where to begin... has anyone else figured out what this riddle's supposed to mean...? I'm sorry, but I just can't figure it out... I'm so useless and terrible...

08 [Video/Action]

[justlove]

[When the news about the door and the riddle broke, at first, Blaine kept his distance. He figured that there were any number of people with better deduction skills and reasoning abilities than him, and so he thought he'd just leave the figuring out to them.

But word was sweeping around about it, and it seemed that nearly everyone was either curious or wary about the whole thing. And that left him kind of in the middle: neither burning with curiosity nor so wary about the thing that he wouldn't go anywhere near it.

He did go near it for one brief moment, just to examine the thing, and take down a few notes for reference. And when that was done, he went wandering somewhere, looking for somewhere quiet where he could puzzle things out. If he could.

Finally, his wanderings led him to the library, where he sat down and got ready to do some serious thinking.

After several moments of scribbling and muttering to himself, Blaine set down his pen and stretched. Nothing was making sense, and everything he wrote down made even less sense than the things he'd written down previously. It was beginning to make his head hurt.]

I guess I'm really not the greatest with this kind of thing.

[He said that aloud, knowing no one was there to hear him and laugh because he was talking to himself. Not that he would have minded, but still.]

[accidental video + action forever] All they are is dust in the wind

[hamburellakind]

[John's not the best at riddles, out of his friends. Actually, he's probably the worst. Which is why he's working backwards at it, like how you were supposed to with mazes when you're a kid. Which, uh, ultimately doesn't solve much, really, since either way it's a maze, but in this case it might help? It can definitely eliminate some stuff.

John's sitting on the floor in front of the door and its riddle, holding a piece of blue chalk. On the wood in front of him (let's say it's wood) he's drawn out eight lines. He taps the chalk to his nose, unaware of the hallway camera capturing him blueing his nose.

After a few moments, he writes "b a s e b a l l." His eyes glide up to the riddle and he reads it again.]

...No. [Sigh.

John raises his free hand over the letters and, carefully, uses air currents to lift the dust of the chalk up off the floor, leaving the empty spaces behind. He moves the letters slightly to his left, adding to a list of slightly smeared words like "accounts" and "mirrors" and "buttsex" and "doughnut". The chalk dust settles into place, more or less readable.

And he places the chalk against his nose once again.]

♛ first hunt - voice

[ofletters]

[ For those who know him, Wonderland residents may recognize the wearied and rough-edged voice of a one (1) Sam Winchester. He's chosen not to show his face today, so it's questionable where he is, but from the way he talks, it's likely that he's been hovering around for at least an hour. ]

Wonderland, huh? [ Scoff. ] Didn't take too much time to figure it out. Y'know, I don't remember the part where a parade of people not from this zip code tumbled down the Rabbit Hole after Alice.

[ Beat. ] Someone mind pointing me toward the way out of this dream? And before someone starts on the whole "Hotel California" speech, don't; I'll find a way out. You just have to look hard enough.

[video/action] listen, all this takes gettin' used to

[builditstrong]

[Kid ain't one for word games and riddles. He's been trying more practical methods instead. It's weird to find something that is completely unyielding beneath his hammer. A Mason's hammer can smash almost anything. Shooting it hasn't done much either, not that he expected it to. Honestly, he's curious about what's beyond the door, but he doesn't feel any pressing need to get it open. It's just been something to do.]

[The feed comes on as he's walking through a hallway.]

So's anyone tried jus' knockin' on it yet? Might be stupid, but figure I'll head down there an' try it. Ain't much else t'do.

[He switches off the feed, but a minute or so later it comes back on as he remembers something.]

I been thinkin' on something. Heard 'bout these "mirror" folk livin' beyond th' glass. Heard they's another me that side. [Which still just doesn't sit right with him, but.] They any way 'f talkin' to 'em? Communicatin'?

[Curiosity, that's all. Now the feed goes off for real.]

first journey ❀ voice ❀

[valiantchild]

[ Perhaps to exercise cruel and horrifying irony, Rose wakes up in the middle of a rose garden. Furthermore, she finds herself Doctorless and TARDISless. Not that it matters that much. He wasn't there for her back in London, either. Whole of the world in danger and he just... Was unconscious. Unfair it may be of her to be so demanding of him, but the abandonment she felt and still feels pierces like a knife and if anybody knows how to be bitter and petty when wounded, it's Rose. Her arrival is disquieting at best and staggering at worst. The girl who speaks is distressed, and has a very thick London accent. ]

What's all this, then? Some sort of -- transport? Well, you've gone and got yourself in a bit of a twist, haven't you? 'Cause I'm not alone. Not ever. He wouldn't just leave me here. This place. Strange, innit? Bit... Spring-like. Nice, for a kidnapping. And callin' it Wonderland, hah!

[ She really does crack up, bust out laughing. Is that a nervous edge to her voice? Perhaps. Perhaps it is. But she hides it well. ]

Fat lot of good that name is. No... Stoned caterpillar or nothin', is there? Alright then, identify yourselves! Who's behind all this? He's gonna find me, y'know. He'll wake up. He'll come for me.

Video

[emptymetal]

::People get to see one Edward Elric smiling strainedly at the camera.::

I, uh, seem to have ended up on the wrong side of someone else. Any of the doctor types wanna give me a hand?

::The Mirror is pretty sure that his Real Thing would do this. Once he's gotten his help, he fully intends to find what other trouble he can get into. Preferably without the bleeding this time.::

First Reading [Action/Voice]

[guilty_by_design]

[Schuldig's woken up in a number of ways over the course of his life. Tied up, pinned down, locked in lightless rooms, drugged, dazed, with broken bones and blood on his tongue.

He's not particularly heartbroken that, for reasons unknown to him, he isn't adding 'waking up with an entire building on top of him' isn't going to be added to the list. Or 'waking up in the ocean', since presumably the collapse of the building into the sea would have invited the water in. He's honestly a bit surprised to be waking up, period...though he isn't about to complain.

He doesn't seem to be any worse for wear for the collapse, either - another inexplicable blessing. He gets to his feet, stretching his legs and cracking his neck and mentally bracing himself against the steady tide of thoughts that have been flowing over him, and promptly begin flowing through him as his mind begins processing things properly again. Unconscious, he could get some relief - though he couldn't exactly appreciate it - but when you wake up, you hit the ground running, or you don't get back on your feet ever again. A lesson he'd learned instinctively as a kid, and one Rosenkrüs had been sure to brand into his brain. When a person drowns, they're said to go down three times; with a telepath, once is all it takes.

The thoughts help orient him, too; that's the other thing he learned fast. If he had to hear the thoughts of others, he'd use it to his advantage - instinct at first, practicality turned to vengeance later. He picks out the nearest minds to him, scans for any information immediately relevant...and is brought up short in confusion. Nothing he's getting makes even the slightest amount of sense...he's nowhere near the Esset building. He's nowhere near Schwarz, which is even more disturbing.

He doesn't even seem to be in Japan anymore. How the hell can he not be in Japan anymore? How could he have been out long enough to get him anywhere else? He's just standing out on the grass of some unidentifiable place, obviously not in any sort of city, much less Tokyo.

Schuldig is confused and uneasy, and he hates those feelings. But he finds himself grinning regardless...because when he's unhappy, he likes - no, loves to spread it around. It won't actually help him in any concrete way, but not all forms of pleasure are meant to be productive.]

Normally I chalk up jerking me around to Esset, simply because they've always been so good at it and I do so enjoy blaming them. [Schuldig's voice is a lazy drawl. He mostly sounds amused and bored...but there's an edge to his voice that shouldn't be ignored.] But even if their leaders weren't all comfortably dead, and even if the organization was still operating on a level functional enough to handle me, this is far more pleasant than anything they'd subject me to...that, or their torture methods have been radically overhauled.

Anyway, I know this has nothing to do with Esset. But I want to know what it does have to do with. Somehow I've fallen down the rabbit hole; that much I've gathered. But how it happened, and why, and how one gets back up again, and where the rest of my team is...that I still want to know.

And I want to know it now. [Now his voice is all edge.]

003 | Down the Rabbit Hole | Video/Action | Open, Party/Mingling Post

[childofthemoon]

[The video clicks on to show Dean sitting in his regular booth in the recently opened diner, laptop, coffee and pie within easy reach. Aerith moves through the feed before the video turns around to show Ruby, finally not pale and worried anymore, but relaxed and at ease with a slight smile, leaning against the jukebox. Journey's currently filling the diner with music, and Ruby wanders over to the counter, apparently happy with the selection. She shows Tohru preparing a dish while she talks.]

Guys, appreciate that you're all sitting in some corner of the mansion worrying about that door, but you know what? We happen to have this... nice, cozy establishment here, we have coffee, really good food, some beautiful ladies hanging around... [Yes, this includes Dean.] ... and all the space you could need, be it for fun or for some riddling around.

[And just to drive the point home, she pops a golden fry into her mouth and grins. Behind Ruby, Dean snorts at the ladies comment, but looks up from his laptop to eye the feed warily.]

While you're at it, how about throwing in a little PSA, sweetheart? Little tip: if a mirror sees it's reflection, it gets bounced back over to the other side. Start carrying around something shiny- but don't go getting all Twilight Zone. The last thing we need's mass hysteria.

[And with that, he turns his attention back to his work, sipping on his coffee. Ruby nods meaningfully at the video.]

Listen to the cowboy, guys, I mean it. He knows his stuff. Regardless, hop on over. [Yes, pun intended.] We're always open, and you can just as well riddle away with all the rest of us right here. Coffee's on the house, you can pay for food with small, meaningful tokens of your affection... no, just kidding, come on, everything's on the crazy magical house.

( Additional text announcement )

The Rabbit Hole - Floor 8, Room 001
Come for that riddle, stay for the company
Food, friends, drinks, music, riddles, pie, chicken wings, fun!

[ooc: Massive mingle post! The diner has never gotten an official opening, but it's now available to be used as event headquarters. There's food, there's music, there's company, there's people trying to figure out the puzzle. Mingle to your heart's desire <3 There are headers available, and you can feel free to make your own.

And remember guys! Mirrors on the real side can just waltz in there as well. Give us your alter egos, your reals, your firstborn children!]