[Video]

[mypartnerintime]

Dear Wonderland.

[She says it like she's starting a letter. To all of you Wonderland girls and guys! She's obviously in her room, the wall of pasted-on Polaroid photos behind her, with softly lit lanterns hanging across the surface on thin wires. It's late at night- or rather, it's the wee hours of the morning. Max has no idea how much the old midnight gang of insomniacs still prowls around the network. She used to be pretty active at this time- not so much anymore.]

This is gonna sound kinda weird, but I swear I'm not off my rocker. Maybe groggy and craving for food, but not crazy.

[ Come on Max, stop embarrassing yourself on the network!]

I was just thinking that I would've graduated by now, since it's June. I'd probably be scrambling to find some sort of arts college that I can afford or that I can even get into. [Or not. Spending a year traveling and taking photos sounds great, too, but college seems pretty important.] And it sucks that I don't have school here.

But... obviously a lot of things suck about Wonderland. Nutso mirrors, certain newbies showing up, all kinds of scary mystery type stuff, nasty events. I mean, sometimes it's... just shit. [Like the past few days, for a lot of people. The network's been full of downers. Her brow furrows as she looks to the side, and her mouth curves into a slight frown.] And I'm sure some of us are bringing in a ton of messed up baggage from back home, too.

[She holds up a stack of instant photos, maybe seven or eight. She angles the stack sideways, so only the sides can be seen by the camera. The girl's still a little too shy to show the actual images.] But see this? Each one's a photo of a... a friend I've made here. People I could actually hang out with. [She waves the little stack at the screen, preparing herself for this next admission.] That's more friends than I had- have in my school.

So yeah, Wonderland totally bombs sometimes. But there's some pretty good stuff going on, too. And I know this is gonna be really hard right now, but I want to hear it- what's something you're super grateful for? Something you might never have had if you hadn't fallen down the rabbit hole? [She tries to make it sound like it's fun challenge, smiling timidly at the screen.] Cuz I'm sure you could name at least three things.

[[OOC: After the post, she leaves her room to roam around the mansion, phone light in hand. Feel free to bump into her wherever! Also, she'll be replying to all responses, even the ones after sunrise.]]

Comments

[belovedson]

I'm pretty sure Alice in Wonderland is pretty much required, you know? It almost feels like we should be handing out copies when new people show up.

[But the story can only go so far; Neal knows better than a lot of people just how such tales can get skewed.]

It's okay if you don't. Most of the common ones aren't actually what happened anyway. [Peter Pan is definitely one that stands guilty of being mostly wrong, but a lot of the famous ones don't get all the details straight.] The world we come from is called the Enchanted Forest. What people think of as fairytales are actually, well. History, I guess you'd call it. So stuff like dragons and mermaids are real where we're from.

[mypartnerintime]

[Most of the common fairytales aren't actually what happened.

That is a weird thought. She probably shouldn't be so surprised. And if they're from a world of fair tales, then they might know a thing or two about here and now. Suddenly this conversation seems a lot more urgent.]

Is it like Wonderland? With events? Multiple lives?

[belovedson]

Not at all. We've actually got our own version of Wonderland, although I've never been there myself. [He's heard about it though, and Neal knows enough to know it's not at all the same.] But yeah, events like what happen here definitely don't go on where I'm from.

Same thing with death. [A notion which has Neal glancing down for a moment. He understands, just based on his own experience with magic, that whatever force keeps them alive here has to have a terrible, impossible price—but it would be nice if it could carry over into their homes.] Unless there's some sort of incredible circumstance, people don't come back.

[mypartnerintime]

[Her brow furrows as she looks intently at the screen.] But some people have come back? How?

[belovedson]

Special circumstances, I guess you can say. [Neal hesitates; given how personal the few examples he can think of are, they aren't entirely comfortable for him to talk about.] They were pretty powerful people to begin with. One I'm not sure about the details, but the other--he was something unique in our world. The Dark One.

[With all the power that such a name implies.]

There was this vault thing set up to bring him back, but--magic comes with a price. [Neal swallows, resisting the urge to rub his own palm. Thankfully, holding the phone makes it easy enough.] Someone else had to die to make it work.

[mypartnerintime]

[Okay, anyone whose name is three words, the first one being "the" and all three being capitalized (Max assumes) has got to be pretty powerful.]

That sounds pretty bad. [She notices his hesitation.

But heyyy, talking about human sacrifice? Someone dying so someone else can live? That brings back nice memories for everyone.] Was it someone you knew...? I'm sorry...

[belovedson]

[He nods to acknowledge her sympathy, because yeah, it's pretty clear Neal's affected by this. When she asks if he knew the guy though, he can't help but grin just for a quick second.]

Guess you could say that, yeah. Anyway. [Because they're supposed to be focusing on the good things, right? And telling the story of his death to a kid isn't that.]

Point is, the world as we know it is pretty different from here.

[mypartnerintime]

[It's pretty obvious that there's more to the story than he lets on, but she's willing to let that slide. Focus on the good things, yeah.]

I guess nowhere is like here. But we can make the most of it.