video; open to all

[eyething]

[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.

Comments

[interpersonal]

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?

[eyething]

[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.

[interpersonal]

[ ]

Why.

[eyething]

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).]

[interpersonal]

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. ]

[eyething]

[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.

[interpersonal]

[ 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? ]

[eyething]

[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.

[interpersonal]

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 ... ]

[eyething]

[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.

[interpersonal]

[ 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?

[eyething]

[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]

[interpersonal]

[ 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.

[eyething]

[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.]

[interpersonal]

[ she inhales sharply.

it could read as a reaction brought on by the painful reminder of what transpired during those months before she got here. in truth, it's like hearing it for the first time. stefan is gone. she knew that deep down, somewhere in her bones. and with klaus ... that makes sense to her, too much sense to her. there's snippets of memories but it's all muddled. her tongue sticks to the roof of her mouth. chest creaks like a floorboard. stefan. oh god, stefan. she lived this. why can't she reach for it? ]

Right.

[ a painful swallow. ]

I have to go find Bonnie.

[ bonnie will tell her she's wrong, that she's assuming the worst, that it can't be — she just needs to find bonnie.

she goes before she can be stopped. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ]