entranceway | 003 ♚ mirror writing/action

I. mirror writing;

_{[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:]}

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.

_{[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.}

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With so many from different realms, I dare not think all lords appear the same as the ones in my own.

[ I never met a king I liked, he says and it pulls a small smile from her. sansa stark's brother was king in the north but her thoughts turn to joffrey, to what this boy would have made of him. ]

I am naught but a baseborn girl; I have never seen court, I cannot ever hope to walk about one.

[ sansa had; and sansa had seen that royal courts are beautiful but cruel. sansa has been held captive in one and was forced to smile prettily all the while. ]

I have heard there are some dangerous beasts in wonderland. It is a clever effort.

_{[At her courtesy toward lordship, Peter lifts an eyebrow.]}

You fear them.

_{[A clinical observation with just a hint of a question at first, as if he's made a discovery and is merely waiting for her to confirm the truth. With barely a pause, he continues on, his questioning tone rising to overpower the rest.]}

Is that it? Or you're in awe of royal blood? _{[A small, curious noise.]} Not everyday you meet someone who doesn't take chances with how they show respect. That's very mannerly of you. You must think a royal's might is really terrible.

_{[Peter's sarcasm is evident in the way he poises "royal" and "might" in the same sentence, derision on his tongue. Peter Pan has no care for kings or queens; he's baseborn through and through, but has risen to heights far above royalty. Sansa's boy king probably wouldn't have stood a chance against the founder of the Lost Boys.]}

They'd have no power here, if you haven't yet thought of that. And some realms don't have any of those at all. Mine never did.

_{[Monarchies would bore a person to tears in Neverland, given that they'd have no power there. Only children can rule in Neverland, and Peter still loves it for that; the poverty and class divide he'd seen with Malcolm's eyes can't exist in a world that runs on pure imagination, not gold or jewels.

And that's why the pretenders to the imaginary throne in Wonderland also earn Peter's ridicule.]}

Count yourself lucky. _{[He smiles. Court is dull, but the kind of hunting he has in mind isn't.]} The most dangerous ones probably live in these walls.

[ I fear them, yes; but I am not in awe of their blood. I know a king chokes the same as a commoner, sansa would say. the edge of the north would slip into her words, into the voice of she whose family was taken away by the lions with their red silks and golden hair.

Alayne must be more gentle but Alayne does not wish to be taken for a fool, either. ]

Power comes from those who would stand by their side. You are right, of course, a king with no claim is nothing.

[ but a claim is strong and valuable, sansa stark has taught me that. ]

But if he comes upon our realm with those who believe his claim, then I would fear them.

[ because then, any could be wonderland's king and who would say otherwise? she had seen what happened to Joffrey's uncle who tried to stake his claim. She had seen the flames upon the water. Power would come to a king when the people would believe his claim. it cannot be taken, she thinks, it ought to be earned.

margaery tyrell taught her that. perhaps in this moment, alayne is half herself and half sansa stark. perhaps the touch of the north would never truly leave her lips. ]

Are there truly no kings in your realm?

_{[Now that is smart. Most people wouldn't think too hard about what right royal blood actually has to a throne besides some nebulous divine claim. He smiles like the answer has pleasantly amused him.]}

Belief... Ah, that. Yes, now you're on to something. Belief is powerful and something to be feared, you've got it. Clever!

_{[In light of this praise, Peter smiles wider and goes back to smoothing the edge of his thumb along the pointed end of his spear.]}

Either way, I find all that a little boring. You don't have to show off your curtsies around me. In my world, you can say and do whatever you like. It's a place for children only. Plenty of beasts, but no rules. No kingdoms.

[ he says clever but alayne feels silly in comparison. she has learned her lessons, certainly but this boy seem to be more knowledgeable of the sort of wisdom her lord father would appreciate. ]

Only children? How do they come upon it?

That's right, just children. Like you and me.

_{[Peter's green eyes have a way of lighting up when he speaks about Neverland's magic, dear to his heart as it is. It makes him look younger, and almost conspiratorial, drawing the invisible line between "us" and "them."]}

Have you ever dreamed of a place you could escape to when times are hard? A paradise where you can do anything, be anyone. That's Neverland. Children from all over visit the island in their dreams, and some of them even choose to live there, where they never have to worry about anything again.

[ littlefinger had done the same, in his own way. he has made sansa into alayne and he had subtly told apart the 'us' of him and her and the 'them'. this boy, however, is different and she wants to say I am not a child, I a maiden. Sansa Stark was a maiden flowered and wedded but Alayne knows nothing of marriage. Instead, she says, ]

I am four-and-ten. There are some, in my realm, who are already wedded. They would never name themselves 'children'.

[ gentle. but the 'I' and the 'we' exists there, too. she tries not to take his words too deeply. they are beautiful and they almost awaken something which she had not done in quite some time. sansa stark was a girl who thought each story and song to be true but those dreams proved foolish when they shattered. alayne attempts not to do the same mistake. ]

You must miss it so, your Neverland. I would have, if I were you.

_{[Fourteen? Fourteen and already wishing to be an adult? He could cluck his tongue, he really could.

Peter laughs, amused, thinking she's missing the point of her own observation.]}

And probably to a husband who drinks too much, or to a wife who complains too much. No more time to themselves, having the freedom to do what they want. Soon enough, children, and plenty of those children go abandoned because their families are too busy being unhappy. If you're not one of them, count your blessings.

The faster you go down that road, the more you have to lose.

_{[It's a good time for an introduction, and Peter drops his name with a dimpled smile. Lost Boys do have some manners.]}

I'm Peter, Peter Pan. _{[And he nods, but it's hard to say whether he's acknowledging what she's said, or saying "yes" and admitting to a dream of returning home one day.]} Not my first choice to leave, I'll tell you that. If this world takes a peek at my memories, too, who knows, maybe you'll get a glimpse of it. You look like you could use a trip to Neverland.

I am but a bastard girl.

[ I know of children who go abandoned; though she had not learned that sansa stark. she had heard talk of the smallfolk in king's landing and how many of their children were without parents. ]

Peter Pan.

[ carefully, almost as if she's afraid to pronounce it wrong. ]

I am Alayne Stone.

[ she considers his next words. ]

If the Mansion would do it, it would be without your leave.

003 ♚ mirror writing/action

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