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[Damon is not happy, and definitely not drunk enough for this. At first, he assumed he'd been hallucinating, on some trip after drinking bad blood. However, he has been roaming Wonderland for hours on this bright and early morning, while everyone else was likely asleep. He’s poked his head in where it doesn’t belong, waiting for the hallucination to fade. Spoilers: it doesn’t. He finally studies the communication device, accepting that this is either one very long dream or he’s actually here. Somehow. He’s on the main floor, pressed up against the marble pillar, staring up at the ceiling. It takes minimal effort to skim through previous entries before he switches to video.]

Question #1, for the masses: How drunk do you have to be for this place to start making sense? Because I’m starting to think this poor, lonely bottle's not gonna cut it. [Damon looks to the bottle in his hand with a little sigh, tapping his fingers on its surface.] Looks like we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

[He takes a long drink, swallows, and sends the camera a slow but absolutely charming smirk:]

Question #2: what’s the one thing you wish someone had told you on your first day in the merry old Land of Wonder, but failed to?

[Damon points a finger at the camera with the hand that's still partly wound around the bottle] And go. Best answers get a pony.

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[and the last thing damon remembers is elena telling them to let the S word go so he wouldn't understand her confusion. someone has likely told him by now about timeline discrepancies, but it's hard for him to wrap his head around it after everything that has happened.

there's a pause as his gaze drifts over her face. it's one of the most recent conversations they had. do you trust me?. yes as if it is so easy to trust him.

he knows the truth.]

I do. [he relents control, lifting his hand up to follow where she leads him]

[ the swiftness with which the answer comes gives her pause, elena's face searching his for a moment. wordless.

in the end, she takes him to the rooftop.

elena sometimes ends up here with her telltale afghan and a journal. it's quiet and far away enough from the din in the mansion. it's also completely mirrorless, and perhaps kind of creepy, considering there's no skyline. there's a panoramic view of wonderland, but that's all they get. ]

There's people on the other side of the mirrors. They can see and hear everything. [ as long as there's a mirror.

comforting, no? ]

[damon reveals nothing as she searches his face. there's a genuineness to his expression.

his gaze catches her own, and he does not move as it does so. they make their way to the roof where there are no mirrors, and his gaze drifts out over all of it, everything that sprawls on the other side of the mansion]

Bonnie mentioned something about that. I didn't really ask though. [He was too distracted by her saying Elena is here to think of anything else tbqh.]

...evil twins?

Edited 2016-06-14 02:18 (UTC)

[ elena is no longer unfamiliar with the concept of disparate timelines.

when she and bonnie first arrived, elena immediately assumed they remembered all of the same things, and was quickly proven wrong. she isn't immediately assuming much of anything here, but there's concern, and there's wonder, and there's curiosity as she continues to search damon's face. the only thing that could possibly distract her from asking about home, asking about stefan, is the topic of mirrors. everything that happened not too long ago still rattles around in her head. she remains disquieted, and it's not all that hard to observe that elena takes this very, very seriously. she is no longer underestimating wonderland. ]

Something like that.

[ she pulls in a decisive breath, fingers moving through her hairline. ]

They're ...extreme. Sometimes they're the complete opposite. Sometimes they're only vaguely similar. Sometimes they're only vaguely dissimilar. You never know until you meet ... them. [ she'd always known they were there, but getting such a good glimpse makes it impossible to forget now. ]

[damon tilts his head to the side as he looks at her with slightly narrowed gaze, trying to get a read on what this means and on what she's thinking about. it's hard, because she's obviously been through something (several somethings) that he has no idea about. he doesn't know how it affects her or what that means for her or what she's referring to. it's frustrating especially after being so deeply tied to her for as long as he has been]

So whose mirror did you meet?

[it's clear she was shaken up by the whole ordeal. he can read it on her face, and he can already feel that protective surge rise up in him like a tidal wave. he's become so accustomed to that feeling especially these last few months. it still takes him surprise with the intensity of it sometimes

and she has been here for some time, and he wasn't, and there's still her voice ringing in his ears as it did the night he carried her home from the hospital.]

[ he sees right through her.

that should upset her more than it does. it makes her question more than it would. her throat closes and her lips part. she doesn't say anything at first, but when she does, the word is almost rushed. ] Bonnie's. [ she saw bonnie's. and bonnie hated her, blamed her, regretted her. it was one of her worst fears coming to life.

elena swallows. ]

And she saw mine. [ there's no sense in hiding it, is there? ] My mirror — she's a vampire.

[it doesn't help there's many months he has lived through with her that elena has yet to live, and he'll be incredibly upset when he realizes the truth of that, but he doesn't know it yet. his hand rests on her arm as they stand here together (always together, he can't imagine anything else anymore. not the decades he spent alone.

he's on her side. even when she doesn't want him to be, even when she readily throws herself on the fire).

his gaze drifts over her face after a moment.] ...and what were the mirrors like?

I'm assuming you talked to each other about it.

[if the mirrors are a threat, they need to discuss exactly what happened and what was talked about with their mirrors, but he also doesn't realize how effective those mirrors were at spreading their poison, creating distance.]

[ elena's gaze lifts to meet his. a pause that's almost awkward rests between them. something sticks to her chest and she holds her breath without realizing it. without you're the reason mystic falls went back to hell in the first place, doppelganger. I don't owe you anything.

every time she thinks back to those words, a little piece of her is destroyed further. ]

Not exactly.

[ she evades him now, eyes flickering toward the expanse of the gardens below them, lush and green. ]

There hasn't been time.

[damon lifts an eyebrow at her at that almost awkward pause, and he folds his arms across his chest as he looks at her even as she evades his gaze... as if he doesn't realize she is lying right now]

That's not even remotely true.

You were on your early morning jog, and Bonnie was out playing in the forest. What did the evil mirror versions of you say? Because they obviously hit their mark.

[they did exactly what they wanted to if it's leading the two of them to not talk right now.]

[ normally, this would be where elena shoots her mouth off.

in wonderland or back home, she and damon have perfected bickering into an art form. but she hasn't slept much, so she's tired, and she's still processing the fact he's here. she runs her fingers through her hair, pushing it back. she no longer looks quite as rattled, but it's clear that wonderland has had an effect on them.

if he sticks around long enough, he'll understand, but elena is nothing if not a trooper. ]

Can we please not talk about this right now, only an hour after you got here?

[ there really are other more pressing topics to discuss.

[damon looks over at her, taking in her expression. he can tell already that this place has had an effect on her, which makes him angry at it from the get go. everything she has been through already, all their own world sends their way-

he's seen her at very broken moments when she didn't think she could anymore, when she admitted to needing him. when she was angry, sad, scared, defeated, determined, stubborn. she's a trooper. he just wishes she didn't have to troop through so much. he loves her, and he wants more for her.

it's the quietness, the tiredness with which she speaks that has his own answer coming out equally quietly as his hand rests against her shoulder in reassurance.]

Okay. We can talk about something else.

[he's sure he will figure it out in time.]

Thank you.

[ her voice is full and genuine. she forgets that damon can be comforting when he wants to be. it's just that he rarely wants to be. she doesn't think he's ever let someone see the good in him unless the circumstances are that bad, but she does catch glimpses here and there.

(they are just never dwarfed by the rest, and she remembers that. she does.)

elena opens her mouth to suggest another topic of conversation when she notices his bag. yes, she's only just now noticing it. ]

What the hell are you carrying?

[damon nods, and those more comforting moments have increased as of late with stefan off on the rails and damon trying to handle everything else. though he's also still been plenty damon, killing alaric, attacking caroline's dad. elena fought him on it, and he got angry. he is never going to be good. he's a vampire. he's a monster, but he can be comforting

and he wants to be with her. he doesn't like to see her hurt, sad, exhausted, worn.

he lifts an eyebrow at the question as if it's so obvious before he slides the my-little-pony bag down so she can view it. it's clearly very full.]Ponies.

Edited 2016-06-21 03:50 (UTC)

[

]

Why.

Didn't you hear the video?

Best answers get a pony. Here are the ponies people get for good answers, and you get one just for being Elena.

[Damon pulls out the pony that he absolutely did not handpick from the entire group of them just for her.

Ahem. Except where he did. (And yes, she's wearing a crown).]

No.

[ she admits that rather shamelessly.

can you blame her? she was a little too shell-shocked with the fact damon was here to pay attention. elena takes the pony that he hands for her, a smirk beginning to curve on her lips. here's a secret most people don't know: sure, damon is a murderous asshole, but he's a murderous asshole who also happens to be a big dork. ]

Let me guess. You were introduced to the closets.

[ it is a nice pony. elena's ego secretly appreciates the crown. ]

[damon tilts his head to the side with a slight shrug like welp, because he can't really blame her given.... she had been jogging and then surprised and then ran right into his chest as he came out of her room.

he smirks, all pleased, at her expression as she takes the pony. (he's a murderous asshole, a serial killer, but he's also a big dork secretly, deep down who plays the piano and loves classic books and has a bag of ponies)]

Someone told me I could actually get ponies from the closets, and these were the ponies they handed out.

[damon lifts open the bag so she can see.] I got a few worthy answers, but not everyone wants their goddamn pony.

[ elena glances down at her own pony and straightens the crown. her lips twitch in spite of herself. ] You could get pretty much anything you want from the closets, within reason. [ nothing and no one from home, sadly, not that it surprises her. that would be too easy. ]

Looks like you might be stuck with them.

[ and sorry, damon, but the visual is priceless. maybe it'll give his room much needed accents? ]

[damon lifts an eyebrow at her as she straightens the crown of the pony like that, like she's all pleased. and he feels his heart do that thing it does in elena gilbert's presence that he doesn't remember it doing in the decades since before he met her, but it's been happening with ridiculous frequency lately (not that she knows or lived it)]

Oh, no, Elena. I'm handing them out. I'm dropping them in front of doors.

People are not denying my ponies.

Suit yourself.

[ it's his own time he is wasting, when he could just as easily drop the backpack off somewhere. elena knows it's less about the ponies and more that damon is a troll, particularly when he's bored. (that said, she doubts he's going to find himself bored in wonderland.) ]

I would exchange the backpack, if I were you. [ it'll ruin your cred, damon ... ]

[damon is a giant troll, and while wonderland will keep him occupied enough, he'll also be bored enough to want to do troll-y things like scour the network for random posts to give his unwanted opinions in. as well as drop off ponies to everyone who wants one and everyone who doesn't. his gaze drifts over her face and then down (ukwhere) and then back up to her face with a little smile.]

I think I pull off pony well, Elena.

[ this is why she has to keep an eye on you, damon. then again, she'd much rather have him trolling the network than, y'know, eating and compelling people. she knows damon isn't above doing any of those things, if the mood suits him. shoving him off with her elbow, now.

or at least trying to. puny human strength here. ]

Do you have any other real questions or should I leave you to your horse fetish?

[exactly. damon is behaving so... far. of course, he hasn't been in wonderland for very long so that might not be saying much in the slightest. this is damon. he always blows up. he always destroys. it's his thing once emotions get intense enough. he gives into the monster fully, and he tries to act like no one has a right to judge him because he's never claimed to be anything else. but a monster.

he smiles like the asshole he is though when she shoves him off with her elbow.]

I... heard people come from different timelines from the same universe so when did you come from?

[they can have this moment where she tells him, and he talks about things she doesn't remember, and she smiles and nods and runs for bonnie... :|a]

[ it's not that elena was dreading this question, necessarily.

but there's something about needing to answer it that makes things fuzzy, and that worries her. it's hard to ever fully settle somewhere that steals your memories. elena has been so vigilant since she arrived, and the mirrors only exacerbated the paranoia. she hasn't been sleeping very well.

but everything is fine. this is fine. ]

It was my birthday.

[ her voice takes on a wry note: ]

Wonderland has impeccable timing.

[damon lets out a low breath as his gaze drifts over her. it feels like her birthday happened a long time ago, but he remembers it so clearly. he came to her with her necklace to hook on to her neck again despite knowing what it represented. he knew it would make her happy to have it, and he wanted her to be happy on her birthday

or as close as she possibly could be. his voice is soft as his hand drifts over her shoulder slowly, and his gaze meets her own.]

You're from earlier than me.

But at least you still remember the summer with Stefan gone, wrapped up in Klaus. The two of us searching for him as much as we could.

[and they did.

they searched and searched.]

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