003 ♚ mirror writing/action

[boyhood]

I. mirror writing;

<sub>[Today a certain someone's left a message for the Mirrors. Several messages, actually. Copies appear on all sorts of mirrors in all sorts of places, spread out around the mansion for maximum coverage.

To Mirror eyes, it reads:]</sub>

When does her royal highness plan to let you back over?
Good company is scarce and some of you are more likeable than your other selves.

Good allies are also hard to find.
I want something you can do.
Maybe you want something an ally on this side can do.
We could help each other across the great divide.

_{[Characters on the Real side see something different, however. Peter has cloaked his writing so that when Reals look at the words, they'll see nothing but gibberish, configurations of random letters, lines, and doodles as if a graffiti artist or a very bored person has gone around defacing mansion property. No matter how hard a person tries, though, the writing won't come off.]}

II.

<sub>[Another slight change in the daily comings and goings of Wonderland is that today Peter Pan is letting himself be seen.

Usually, the wiry youth with his leather skins and timeworn boots keeps his appearances random. Sometimes he might chat on the network or show up in the odd place, or he might disappear for a week or more, it all depends on his mood. Even though he technically has free run of the place, it's especially not every day Peter spends a lengthy amount of time in the mansion; he still looks out of place inside its walls like a vagabond that's snuck in through the back door, his tastes running in the opposite direction of all the glamor. Nonetheless, the mansion is where the people are, so even he has to come in to warm his feet by the proverbial fire sometimes.

While he monitors the mirrors, the boy can be found all over the mansion and its grounds, keeping his quick, nimble fingers occupied with wood and blades, partly for himself, and partly to attract the right eyes. He works idly--even thoughtlessly to inexperienced eyes who see only a meaningless pastime and not the centuries of experience in his baby-soft hands--but there's a grace in what he does.

In the morning, maybe you'll see him carving spears in the tea room or the dining room, the archaic weapons and the mess of wood shavings at his feet at odds with the room's expensive tastes. Maybe you'll find him somewhere with a large hunk of yew almost as tall as he is, scraping bark off with practiced ease, or measuring off branches of a dogwood tree with his eyes to ensure they're the right length for arrows. Reed is a slightly trickier wood to work with, and if you come across the teenager in the entrance hall you may find him cutting into the wood delicately, tongue peeking out of his mouth.

No matter where you come across him, Peter doesn't have a single care about leaving things in disarray, even if the room's already occupied. Don't bother trying to chastise this one. In Neverland, never had a child ever been expected to clean up a mess except as punishment.

At some point in the day, Peter can even be found sitting outside by the mansion doors, the sun beaming down on him without ever casting a shadow below. He handles small pieces of bamboo, carving them more carefully than any other, but he'll hide them from sight if anyone drifts near enough to catch a peek. They'll make fine panpipes before too long, and that's a surprise he wants to keep under wraps for a while yet.</sub>

Comments

( mirror )

[untrustable]

What are you up to today, Pan?
I promise you can count on my help if I could count on yours.
A deal is only a deal if it works both ways.

[boyhood]

Always up to something. :)
Today it's casting nets to see what the fish are like.

_{[And this is why people don't let Peter Pan near stationary. This constitutes the villain version of sinister texting.]}

I will be. And you have mine.
I don't break my deals, and I trust you're as good as your word.
Everybody gets what they want.

[untrustable]

You'll find many of the fish are not keen about swimming against the school.
We received quite the nasty chiding from Her Majesty.

Of course, I see no harm in helping a friend.
:)

[boyhood]

<sub>[Anything can be dressed up to look like something else. Betrayal of one's leader can be made to look like loyalty. A fox, even, can be made to look like a man.

What especially strikes Peter's curiosity about Miles' reply isn't the challenge he faces in dealing with truly loyal subjects to the Queen of Hearts, it's mention of her foul mood.]</sub>

Would that be because of the one who swam over to this side?
The queen must really like to keep your leashes short and tight.

_{[Such a pity, too. Peter hadn't lied about finding himself curious about the Mirrors' company, and he prefers making friends face-to-face.]}

I'm short on those these days, it's a lonely life in Wonderland.
If we're to play a game together on the same side of the glass, the first step is cutting that leash.
Does no one on your side know how the looking glasses are spelled?

[untrustable]

Yes.
It's in our abilities to swap with our real whenever we choose.
However, the Queen doesn't look well on that either.
And no one wants to be a traitor.

[ carefully, he draws on a little symbol on the mirror and stands so that it lines up with his forehead--one of the queen's "traitor marks" ]

She rules out insubordination through fear, I suppose.
An admirable trait, but one that leaves us restricted.
Whatever games we play will have to wait until the Queen on your side angers her enough to free us upon the mansion, as she did a long time ago.

[boyhood]

A brand?

<sub>[Well now! This might be the first time Peter's admired the Queen of Hearts for anything. Ruling through fear, he gets, but he can honestly say he hadn't branded his boys like livestock.

How cold.]</sub>

Admirable is a word for it!
If both of them can work that magic, the link must be this world.
Are they the only two capable of it?

_{[Wonderland is in itself a puzzle to solve. Bringing down the mirrors in opposition to what the female powers in this world want is just the kind of challenge Peter has his eye on.]}