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vitaelamorte) wrote2017-05-31 09:54 pm
+ storyline archive +
Current Storyline
|
Premise
There are many, many worlds out there. They float between time and space, whirling around each other in chaotic patterns. They're the scattered pieces of an eldritch puzzle that never stop moving, trying to find harmony and wholeness again. Most worlds go on and on never knowing about their dancing partners, never knowing where they came from or where they're going. But one world is different. This world is lonely. This world is hungry. When this world comes too close to another, it tries to put itself back together by grabbing at what it can. And what it takes, it uses, drains, reshapes it, and makes it part of itself again. What it takes is you. But it won't just change you. It won't just open up your mind and stroll among your memories. Oh no. This world goes a step further: it rebuilds itself around what you know, what you've experienced, what you are. It changes the world around you and the people you talk to, and it can even change you yourself. And every time it does, it steals a piece of your life that you'll never see again. Where do those pieces of you go? This world will never tell you, and neither will its children, who look at you from the mirrors and then smile at your back when you turn away. These Mirror images serve a Queen in red, and they have their own agenda, just like the world that made them. They watch you through the glass and laugh every time you wake up to find yourself someone or something else. Don't bother looking in the mirrors for them, though. You won't see them. Just know that they're always there. And they're always watching. Once Upon a Time
+ Once Upon A Time + (-150 years pre-game)
Once upon a time, and long, long ago, there was only one world and it existed outside of time and space – what you know as Wonderland. Everything was together. But, one day, Wonderland broke apart. Other worlds were formed, with their own sense of time and their own space. They pulled away and became their own places with their own people and creatures and so on. They left Wonderland all alone, and empty. Since then, Wonderland has grown stronger. Instead of just allowing those worlds to stay away, it pulls them back, feeding on their power and the memories of the beings that dwell in them. It takes their residents and makes them its own, hoping to one day bring everyone and everything back to Wonderland. It’s impossible to tell exactly how long this has gone on, given that Wonderland is a time-less place, but it has always made its best efforts to keep everyone comfortable. Countless seasons have passed. Countless people have been plucked out of their lives only to be put back in their homes. But the reason Wonderland is Wonderland-themed is because of one kidnappee who lasted longer than anyone else – Alice Liddell. Alice came to Wonderland as a curious twelve-year-old girl, and she spent so long in Wonderland, and endured event after event, that she was eventually only left with one single memory of home - her cat, Dinah. She had a long history of not getting along with her royal highness the Queen of Hearts, and her Mirror was unmade at some point, possibly because the Queen grew sick of looking at any variation of that Alice. Much like the original story, Alice stumbled upon the Rabbit Hole one day and decided to crawl right through. It brought her to the Mirror side of the mansion, and without a Mirror to swap with, she found herself trapped there. In order to keep from incurring the Queen’s wrath, she quickly learned how to travel through the vents and steal from the Mirror kitchens. Shortly after this is when the timeline of the RP begins. + No Time to Say Goodbye + (2007)
As Wonderland grew, more residents came and went over time. Some of them came and left many, many times, such as the Mad Hatter. His original prototype was the one a person met if they died five times, for…negotiations. Even the Queen of Hearts has had slight tweakings over the years, to make sure she’s as suitable for her job as she possibly can be. But there is one resident who perished once and for all, never to be remade, and that is The White Rabbit. His purpose was a familiar one – he announced events a few days before their arrival, allowing everyone to prepare themselves if they could figure out his riddles. At the time, the people staying in Wonderland made a discovery. Their worlds were literally crashing into Wonderland, as demonstrated by an event that allowed them to see the process. They grew to rely on The White Rabbit’s warnings, and felt like they were growing closer to figuring things out, and going home. Which, of course, made it more devastating when The White Rabbit was found hanging in the foyer at the end of an event. The floor opened up beneath him, and the mansion itself swallowed his limp body. There has never been another White Rabbit since. Events went unannounced and other residents appeared after that, such as the Duchess, the March Hare, and the Cheshire Cat, and the mansion tried to move on from the White Rabbit Incident. In one event in particular, some people were able to hear whispers of “We will be together again…we will not be incomplete anymore”. After that, the Duchess began to announce the events and things returned to an odd normalcy. + Mirrors + (2007)
The Duchess became known as a kind resident, who looked after everyone in Wonderland and called them her children. Naturally, this could not last long, and she eventually disappeared – she had been stolen by The Queen of Hearts, who at this point was unknown to the most recent general public. But, it would not stay that way for long. Shortly after, some of the people in Wonderland began acting…strangely. They weren’t quite themselves, but no one could put their finger on it until people started getting hurt, and dying. It was eventually discovered that they had been replaced by Mirrored versions of themselves, and that the Real versions were trapped on the other side of the glass. It was discovered that the Queen of Hearts ordered these Mirrors to cross over and create as much of a distraction as possible through death, destruction, chaos, and confusion, while she was making herself known. After being caught by some clever real things, she revealed herself to be the one true monarch of Wonderland all along and disappeared, taking her Mirrors along with her and sending the Real Things back to their proper side of the glass. + Ewaymas + (2007)
That year (2007) near the beginning of December, one kidnappee tried to use his teleportation powers to return home. However, this backfired catastrophically, and several people in Wonderland (himself included) were replaced with versions of themselves from five years in Wonderland’s future. One of these was someone who had managed to die five times – and it was revealed that anyone who does so loses something very important – something that makes them who they are. They also often become loyal to the Queen in the process. Five years in the future, there was a big war between the Real Things and the Mirrors. The Real Things were able to cross onto the Mirror side and fight; however, they learned the hard way that a death on the Mirror side of the mansion is a permanent death. They lost many of their friends, and used this chance to go back in time to warn their past selves of their mistakes. Don’t die five times. Don’t die on the Mirror Side. They’re important lessons that have stuck for many years since, even though the reasons why are starting to be forgotten. Eventually, Time began to fix itself once more, and the future versions returned home, and the ones who belonged in that timeline returned. + All That’s In-Between + (2008)
Things slowed down for a time in Wonderland. Attempts to recover the Duchess were made, but ultimately she disappeared for good, quietly fading out of the picture. Other NPCs came and went as well – the Hatter and Cheshire Cat disappeared, and Wonderland began to rearrange and reorganize itself. Even the Queen of Hearts had a brief, unsettling period of silence. But, we all know that could never really last long, right? Go Ask Alice
+ Fall down the Rabbit Hole + (2009)
The peace was interrupted when one Mirror decided to cross the Mirrors of his own accord, without permission of the Queen of Hearts. This, of course, trapped his Real version on the Mirror side of the mansion. Alice, who was also trapped on the Mirror side of the mansion, drew missing posters of him, and alerted the Real Things that they were being tricked. The Queen was absolutely livid, and sent a party of Mirrors to retrieve him and to get in the way of the Real Things trying to cross over to Mirror side to save their lost comrade. This event marked the first use of the Rabbit Hole, which allows Real Things to cross over to the Mirror side of the mansion. It travels around constantly, so it is very difficult to actively seek out, but in this event the March Hare and the Dormouse pointed the way so that the Real Thing could be saved. Eventually, the Mirror was persuaded to return, and all of the Mirrors and Real Things returned home, either through the Rabbit Hole or otherwise. All except for Alice, who was still hiding on Mirror side... + Glass House + (2009)
Not long after this, the mansion turned entirely see-through. All of the walls, the floors, and the ceilings were invisible, and no one had any privacy whatsoever. However, they were able to see the grounds much more extensively than normal, since they had the most perfect Bird’s-Eye view. Also, this change allowed the Real Things to be able to look into the mirrors and see their Mirror counterparts, and interact through the glass. This was the first event that allowed Real Things to be able to directly see and speak to their own Mirrors (which had previously been impossible through the physics of Wonderland). But of course, there was more to the event than that – with everything visible and no privacy, the Queen of Hearts was able to see Alice hiding on the Mirror side of the mansion. One of her Mirrors captured her, and brought her to the dungeons on Mirror side. + Disorder in the Court! + (2009)
With Alice captured, the Queen ordered her to be put to trial. There were clues left for the defense (the Real Things on traitorous Mirror) in various places, and the Ballroom was converted into a courtroom. Mirrors and Reals sat side-by-side and watched the defense try to prove Alice’s innocence. But, ultimately, the Queen had made up her mind from the start, and was just using this time to come up with a suitable punishment for Alice. She announced that in the second week of August, Alice was going to lose everything – she was going to have everything ripped from her. Then, with a cackle, the Queen returned everything to normal, and brought her Mirrors and Alice back to Mirror side, giving the Real Things a short break to try and plan a way to save Alice. + The Alice Rescue Mission + (2009)
When the time finally came for Alice to be punished, signs began appearing all across the mansion, pointing in different directions. They all eventually led to the Rabbit Hole, which would allow Real Things to cross over and try to rescue Alice. As usual, the Mirrors were ordered to be a distraction, and to keep people from crossing over. Everything had to be carefully balanced, as there could only be one version of a character on each side of the mansion. There were many false leads as to where the Queen and Alice were, and obstacles along the way. One was an all white room, otherwise known as The Core. If someone stumbled upon this room (it tends to move around on Mirror Side), it would steal one of their memories – a much larger memory than the single words the events usually take. Their mission was ultimately a failure, however. Eventually a conversation between Alice and the Queen, in which Alice was cornered. She begged and screamed for the Queen not to take Dinah away. Dinah, being her last memory of home, was all she had left, but the Queen was unsympathetic. The next thing anyone heard was a horrible scream of pain. All went quiet, leading everyone to assume the worst, but not long after, Alice made a post. She seemed entirely fine and cheerful, except that she was missing her bright blue eyes. She didn’t understand the commotion at all, and seemed to be under the impression that Wonderland was her one and only home. The Queen ordered her Mirrors to return home, which brought all of the Real Things back to their side, where the mood was very somber, from the loss of a friend and ally. The Real Side also gained the Chessboard Hills at the end of this event. On the Mirror side, things returned to normal, and a new fixture appeared in the Queen’s chambers – a pair of blue eyes in a jar of liquid, darting around nervously. Puzzling Changes
+ Ghosts of Chess Games Past + (2009)
Things remained quiet for some time after that, but in November a snow storm began. The Chessboard Hills were buried in it, but somehow retained their odd pattern. Five people found themselves strangely compelled to wander out into the snow, and went missing for three days. The storm grew worse back at the mansion, and the snow began to come inside through shattered windows. Meanwhile, the people who went missing were having a chat with the ghosts of old residents of Wonderland – chess pieces. They were various pieces lost in some moment in the past, chattering about a game of chess they were playing. Some of them were White pieces and some of them were Red, but they all spoke of an old battle as if it were upcoming. Eventually the storm passed, and the people who wandered into the snow returned to the mansion with odd messages from the ghost chess pieces that did not quite makes sense to anyone. + That Time The Core Got Really Sick + (2010)
Due to a lack of events, the Queen took it upon herself to feed The Core of the mansion more memories, forcibly. She captured some Real Things, interrogated them, and then stole their memories of home based on false charges. When she returned them, they were much like Alice – their eyes were intact, but they believed they had always been in Wonderland, because they had no memories of anything else. However, The Core was not used to taking in so many memories at once – it held itself up in The Ballroom and began to spit them out, leaving little wisps of memory floating around and searching for their owners. Not only that, but more ghosts began to appear around the Mansion – ghosts of every NPC resident that had been in Wonderland before. This included the original version of the Queen of Hearts, who often appeared as a red blur in the mirrors. The current Queen of Hearts, feeling her authority was being challenged by this ghost, was incredibly angry. She sent out her Mirrors to cause another distraction while she spent the rest of the event trying to fix The Core and restore everything to normal (even though she was ultimately the cause of all this…). Eventually, her efforts were fruitful. All of the ghosts vanished, and the lost memories were restored, bringing everything back to how it was before the event began. + The Jabberwock(y) + (2010)
This event found everyone feeling very tired and forgetful, until they eventually fell asleep. From then on, it became a dream-event, and the Jabberwocky could be found creeping around here and there inside the dreams. But, when everyone woke up, they were left with only foggy memories of the Jabberwock, and he was nowhere to be found. That’s because after he creeped on the Real Things, he moved on to the Mirror side of the mansion, intending on making a tasty meal of The Core. The Queen ordered her Mirrors to fight the Jabberwocky, and they put up a valiant effort. Some of them even lost their lives in the process, but the Queen of Hearts remade them out of the goodness of her heart (or because she needed more fighters). As it feasted, it became more and more real, which allowed the Mirrors to finally damage it. The battle became so intense that it was impossible to hide it from the Real Side – they began to feel earthquakes, and the lights would dim, as if there wasn’t enough power to light them. The mansion stopped healing itself. Some mirrors had broken, and commotion could be heard through them, the sounds of a battle. Unbroken mirrors were simply dark, with no reflection at all, though they would occasionally leak blood. The Jabberwock could not be contained on the Mirror side of the mansion though – it eventually crossed, feeling strong enough to feed over there. This forced the Mirrors and the Real Things to work together to try and defeat it, and they all put in their best efforts. In the end though, it was the Queen of Hearts who saved the day by slicing the Jabberwocky down with the Vorpal Sword. She then ordered her Mirrors back to Mirror Side and the only sign that the Jabberwocky had ever been there was a large scar on the mansion grounds where he fell – a mark that Wonderland is still unable to heal to this day. Off with Their Heads
+ Ewaymas + (2010)
For this Ewaymas, the mansion made changes based on various Christmas songs from everyone’s memories – songs such as Santa Baby, Baby It’s Cold Outside, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, and so on. But, there was one song that the Mansion latched onto more than any other. On Christmas, the mansion gave everyone a small item to remind them of home, and a paper with handwritten lyrics to Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. “Through the years, we all will be together”. This creeped out many of the folks in the mansion. + An Unbirthday Party + (2011)
In April 2011, Wonderland celebrated its first unannual unbirthday by throwing a party for everyone in the Mansion, real and mirror sides included. For the first time, all the glass mirrors, disappeared and the Mirrors could exist on the same side as their real counterparts, a sign that something was slightly amiss with Wonderland. On top of that, Wonderland began pulling in more and more visitors from numerous other worlds and timelines to join in on the festivities. The influx of new arrivals didn't last too long though, Wonderland promptly sending everyone who hadn't already existed in the world back to their respective universes. + Human Chess + (2011)
After a small spat, Tweedledee and Tweedledum decide to have a chess match to settle their dispute and petitioned the Queen of Hearts. She said yes because she was sure they would draw, making it win-win for her because she wouldn't have to give out prizes! With the not-necessarily-willing help of sixteen human residents and—with the Queen of Hearts’ permission—sixteen Mirrors, they orchestrate a magical human chess game with high stakes. Should the real things win, they have one death removed from their tally; should the Mirrors win, they get to become real. Tweedledum and her team of Mirrors win the match, and so the chess game Mirror-versions became the real versions of those characters, while the losing Real Things and those that had been switched out for their Mirror versions became trapped on the Mirror side. The attempt to make all the other Real Things accept this by convincing them that it was normal didn’t last long. They noticed the differences before long and, just as they were starting to figure it out and kick up a fuss, the Queen changed her mind and put things back as they had been, dragging her Mirrors back home. + Rebellion + (2011)
After the chess match in the summer, several things happened in a row. The long dead White Rabbit appeared, striking up conversation with the residents of the Mansion while, on the Mirror Side, those Mirrors who had their chance to become real snatched from them, began to foment revolution. Things escalated through the early fall until the White Rabbit introduced the Real Side to the Rabbit Hole, the passage from between the real and mirror sides. With everyone choosing sides, the hunt was on to find the Queen, but in the end it was the Mansion itself to dethroned her, consuming her whole. It was Wonderland as well that enthroned the new Queen, a Queen in blue: Alice. + Ewaymas+ (2011)
Things seemed well and good at first, but when Wonderland began to break at the seams, Alice proved to not be a useful Queen at all. There was a crack in Wonderland that allowed everyone to travel home for Christmas. They wound up in empty winter versions of home. The mirrors cracked as well, and the Mirror versions were able to cross over freely, without forcing the Real Things to switch with them. They also had the option to try and go “home” through the crack in Wonderland, but they became ghost-like in those worlds, since they were not real in them. Rather than try to fix the problem, Alice tried to cover it up and make Wonderland so appealing that everyone would have to come back. She used an absurd amount of magic trying to make everyone happy, which just broke Wonderland more. Eventually, thankfully, it was able to fix itself, with no help from the useless Queen Alice. + Triumphant Return + (2012)
Through the winter and the early spring, Wonderland continued to break down under the leadership of its new Queen, who was not well equipped to repair it. In a bout of cosmic indigestion, events overlapped and mixed the memories of more than one person, and in the winter, the world itself started to crack around the edges. It wasn’t until the spring, though, that things would come to a head. The White Rabbit became increasingly ravenous and began to change physically, it’s body twisting and growing into that of a familiar old monster: the Jabberwocky. While it rampaged first on the Mirror Side and then the Real Side, Queen Alice could only hide in her room and cry. Fortunately for everyone, Wonderland realized its mistake and rebirthed the Queen of Hearts just in time to take up the Vorpal Sword and slay the Jabberwocky, restoring both peace and the old order to Wonderland. 6 Impossible Things
+ Halloween and Ewaymas + (2012)
More ghosts have come to the mansion! For Halloween they possessed people and caused them to believe they were really what they had been forced to dress up as. Most importantly though, they left behind locked doors all over the mansion, one for every person there. When Christmas decorating came around though, everyone found a key in their stocking. The Queen of Hearts did not like this turn of events, and ordered her Mirrors to retrieve all of the Real Things’ keys. Inside the doors were various kinds of memories, either of the past or possible futures. Given how powerful memories are in Wonderland, she did not want any given to the Real Things. However, allegiance to the Queen was a bit low after the rebellion, especially among the older Mirrors. Some disobeyed her either by assisting Real Things in accessing their doors, or using the keys themselves. When all the keys had been obtained or used, she made sure to punish the disobedient Mirrors harshly, to reestablish her place as a monarch to be feared. Each traitor was given a mark somewhere visible on their body – a broken heart with one half black and one half red. These marks itch and burn, and they will not be removed until that Mirror has proven themselves loyal to the Queen. + The Red Queen's Debut + (2013)
The following April, another mysterious door appeared on the real side of the mansion, in the entrance hall. There was a riddle etched onto the door that read: I'm here, forgotten and alone,
Eight spaces followed the riddle – a space for an answer. Upon discovering this door had appeared, the Queen of Hearts ordered her Mirrors to solve the riddle and bring her back the prize behind the door. It became a race to solve the puzzle, Mirrors vs. Real Things, with the Real Things teaming together and the Mirrors pitting themselves against each other. Incorrect answers were punished by appearances from the Frumious Bandersnatch and the Jubjub Bird and putting everyone in great danger. Finally though, the correct guess was made – R E D Q U E E N. This time when the door opened, the Red Queen emerged with the Vorpal Shield. It is the mighty Vorpal Sword's counterpart and match, and the Queen of Hearts was livid when her Mirrors did not win. She marked three more of the Mirrors as traitors.With the Red Queen's arrival the door, the Bandersnatch, and the Jubjub Bird all vanished. + Human Chess + (2013)
The Queen of Hearts stewed in her anger for a couple of months, pondering how exactly she could obtain the Vorpal Shield for herself. But finally, she came up with exactly the perfect way. She challenged the Red Queen (who is revealed to be her sister) to a game of chess. It was decided that it would be winner take all – both the Shield and the Sword. Each Queen selected sixteen of their subjects to participate in another Mirrors vs. Real Things chess match. All others were forced to watch from the stands, unable to interfere. The pieces were not fighting for their own prizes this time, but fighting over their monarchs' weapons. Naturally, this was a cause that is easier for obedient Mirrors to get behind than Real Things who were already unsure if they should be trusting the Red Queen. The Queen of Hearts was ruthless in her attacks, and the Red Queen was forced to play a more defensive role, in an attempt to save as many of her Real Things as possible. Alas, a game cannot be won that way – the Queen of Hearts won the match and received both the Vorpal Sword and the Vorpal Shield as her prize. She was overjoyed with her Mirrors, and as such she permitted all of them to have a week's vacation on the Real Side, even the Traitors. This forced all of the Real Things to Mirror Side for a week, but fortunately they missed most of that week's regularly scheduled event – instead, the Mirrors were the ones forced to tell the truth and nothing but the truth for a weekend. When the week was up, the Queen of Hearts called her Mirrors back home, leaving the Real Things to endure the last day of the truth event, and to wonder what was going to happen now that the Queen of Hearts had both the Ultimate Sword and the Ultimate Shield in her possession. + Halloween + (2013)
Seasons changed. People began to heal emotionally from the trauma of the Chess Match, and the Duchess decided to do some gardening. She planted a sapling on the Mirror Side in an effort to brighten up their gardens and make them less gray. It failed, of course, turning gray itself, but the roots began to grow and grow, until eventually they broke through the floors and walls of the Mirror mansion. They destroyed most of the Mirrored mansion, breaking into closets and sapping them of all their precious magic. This continued rapidly, until the roots found their way to the Core of the mansion. Once they broke in, a bright light flashed and every Mirror vanished completely. The Core made the roots even stronger than before, strong enough to break through to the Real Side of the mansion, where they proceeded to do more of the same. All of the plant life on the Real Side grew wildly, and the Garden was in immense pain. The roots began to target the Real Things, and when a Real Thing was attacked, they found themselves sharing their body with their displaced Mirrors. Many of the Mirrors fought for exclusive control of the bodies, though some got along more amiably than that. Meanwhile, the Queen of Hearts was enraged. She believed that the Red Queen was responsible for this somehow – that she stole her Mirrors to try and punish her for winning the chess match and taking both of the weapons. The Red Queen denied this and even offered to help, suggesting they team up to solve the problem. The Queen of Hearts refused though, insistent that she did not need her sister's help. She returned to the Mirror Side to seek out her sword, but the roots made travel difficult, so she was forced to bushwhack through the wreckage to her quarters. While this was going on, the Duchess was attempting to solve the problem she had created before the Queen of Hearts discovered who was really responsible for the roots. She first tried to get her pig to eat all of the roots, but that was truly an impossible task. But then, she snuck away to the Queen of Hearts' chambers, intending to borrow the Vorpal Sword and return it before she even noticed it was gone. She cut the massive root at the Core and in a flash of light all of the roots withered and died, and the Mirrors returned to their bodies on Mirror Side. Unfortunately, the Queen of Hearts caught her in the act and her cover was blown. In a panic, the Duchess ran off, taking the Vorpal Sword with her, and in all of the confusion while no one was looking, the Red Queen stole back her Vorpal Shield. Contrariwise
+ Ewaymas + (2013)
After Wonderland's usual Christmas decorating and the annual decking of the halls, ten people went missing from Wonderland! They were not swapped with their Mirror counterparts, but all of their belongings remained behind (indicating they did not go home either). Two days later, all who went missing turned up once again, but they were all different - five years older (mentally) and beaten down by years and years of war. None of them knew why they had been swapped with their past selves, but all of them had a terrible story to tell. In short, the Jabberwocky would attack within the next year or two and without the Vorpal Sword the frumious beast could not and would not be defeated. Wonderland would deplete its resources trying to defend against the Jabberwock and the magic of Wonderland would rapidly begin to run out. Food and safe shelter were scarce and people were dying repeatedly - and some of them, in an unfortunate accident, permanently. While in Wonderland these swapped individuals did their best to warn everyone and to make changes to the past in the hopes that the future would never happen - even if it meant they would cease to exist. At midnight, as Christmas Eve turned into Christmas Day, the future visitors vanished and were replaced with the versions that actually belonged in that timeline, though not a single one of them had any memory of the previous two weeks. + A Few Renovations + (2014)
In the spring of 2014, a new resident appeared in Wonderland. Bill the Lizard had arrived to make a few improvements and repairs and additions to Wonderland. Unfortunately, each of these adjustments caused some chaos - whenever someone entered a new area, it would trigger an event from years past. Seeing the distress the changes had caused, the Red Queen undid all of the renovations, removed all to the effects, and threw a party to apologize for all of the commotion. This was no ordinary party, however. Much like the unbirthday party a few years earlier, this was a party in which everyone was permitted to attend - everyone, even people in other worlds. It was an opportunity for those trapped in Wonderland to see their friends and loved ones from other worlds, even temporarily. The Mirrors were invited as well, the Queen of Hearts was rather irritated they attended without her explicit permission. + The Duchess' Riddle + (2014)
The Duchess, after vanishing with the Vorpal Sword for months, finally returned to the network in fall of 2014, addressing the Real Things with the Sword in hand. She gave them all a riddle to solve, and informed them that if they had learned their lesson and if they could solve her riddle, then she would give them the Sword. The Queen of Hearts learned of this deal and sent many of her Mirrors across the glass to try and win back her sword and solve the riddle themselves on her behalf. It became a race to solve the riddle, Mirrors versus Reals, but unfortunately a week passed and no one was any closer to solving the riddle. This frustrated the Duchess and she decided that no one deserve the Sword. Soon after, the Queen of Hearts received a pig delivery - the Duchess sent the Sword on pigback to her and the Queen of Hearts was absolutely delighted that her weapon had finally been returned to her. The Red Queen cautioned her sister against getting her hopes up, but like in many other conversations they've had, the Queen of Hearts chose not to listen to her. The Vorpal Sword had been returned, and she and her Mirrors would be ready to face the Jabberwock whenever it came. Counter-Contrariwise
+ Ewaymas + (2014)
As it was prophesied the previous year, the Jabberwock attacked once more. It infiltrated the dreams of those in Wonderland, causing general unrest among those who knew what that meant. At first, things seem to be fine and Ewaymas proceeded as usual - but on the other side of the glass, the Jabberwock was attacking Mirror Side. The Queen of Hearts was not worried, since the Vorpal Sword had been returned to her. However, when she faced the Jabberwocky, her sword shattered on contact - the Duchess gave her a fake! The first line of defense was falling, and the Mirrors were leaving messages on the glass begging for help. Some cowardly Mirrors even crossed the glass, leaving their counterparts to face the Jabberwocky instead. The Red Queen led Real Things through the Rabbit Hole to go assist, and from there many fell to the Jabberwock. Mirrors were eaten and Real Things had their memories stolen by the frumious beast. The Sister Queens put aside their differences and came up with a plan. On Christmas Day, they lured the Jabberwock to the Core of the mansion and sealed it inside - along with the Red Queen and her Vorpal Shield. When the fight was over, all was restore to normal, but the Queen of Hearts' sister was gone. + Switcheroo + (2015)
The suddden arrival of springtime in Wonderland unsettled the Core, upsetting its stomach. It spit out bits and pieces of ancient events, and when it attempted to correct the problem it missed the events altogether and instead tried to absorb countless memories of the people in Wonderland. This made it queasier and it threw up the memories, but those memories returned to the wrong owners, leaving the people of Wonderland to sort out whose memories are whose. All returned to normal eventually, but there was some unease - if the Core is this unstable, could it truly hold the Jabberwock? + Sentimental Ending + (2015)
During the previous character event, the closets began to malfunction. Soon after that, many places in Wonderland changed location, and this is all following many combination events and events where there were after-effects for a few days. Wonderland was beginning to break apart. This became rather literal. The Playing Cards discovered (in lovely song) that a rip had formed in Wonderland, just a small one. That small rip became hundreds though, and the Core itself began to flicker. Jumping through the rips would transport someone to a random location in Wonderland - including random locations on Mirror Side. The Queen of Hearts, once she realized what had happened, gave her Mirrors an order. They were to bring her an item of sentimental value from Real Side, and she gave them four days to complete this task. When time was up, she waited at the Core to receive these items and threw them inside. As more and more items were thrown inside, the rips began to sew themselves up and disappear, and the Core began to flicker less and less until it simply burned bright as always and all of the tears in Wonderland were gone. All Mirrors remaining on Real Side returned to Mirror Side, and the Core had recovered, for the time being. + Jabberbabies + (2015)
Once again, everyone fell prey to a collective dream, a warning of a Jabberwock to come...or, more accurately, Jabberwocks. The Core split the Jabberwocky into many many many smaller lizards and they began to fuse with Mirrors, in an effort to feed and make themselves strong enough to be one Jabberwock again. The Mirrors, however, could not sustain the Jabberlizards, and so they turned their attention to the Real Things, burrowing inside them and possessing them. Some were killed, some were cured, and others remained lizards until the end of the event and suffered amnesia for a week afterwards. The Duchess was overcome by Jabberbabies, even when armed with the Vorpal Sword. The Duchesswocky was nearly about to change form, and become a Jabberwock once again, but before she (it? they?) could, the Queen of Hearts stole back her rightful sword and beheaded the Duchess. The Jabberwock was vanquished before it could even begin and everything returned to normal - except for the Duchess, whose head was still detached from her body. Life Is but a Dream
+ Catch a Falling Star + (2016)
After a few months of peace, stars plummet to the ground from Wonderland's night sky, crashing like meteors. Inside every glowing star was a memory from Wonderland long ago, before the current mansion existed. A smaller one was in its place, and there were talks of trying to build a second one to house the increasing populations. In these old memories, Alice was a regular figure in Wonderland. The stars revealed many things - that Alice once had both her eyes, a room in Wonderland and more of her memories. Unfortunately, the crashing stars also woke up the garden. Grouchy at rising a few weeks too early, the Garden grew to an enormous size and make ridiculous demands of the people of Wonderland (often punishing them magically if they refused). Eventually though, Bill the Lizard was able to repair the sky, making entirely new Wonderland constellations of the fallen stars. This eventually satisfied the garden, and it was able to retreat. The people of Wonderland were left with memories of a time before they were captured, and Alice's room number - 865. + Flip the Glass + (2016)
The Duchess, no longer Jabber-fied but still separated from her head, made a request of the Real Things. On Mirror Side, there was a spool of golden thread that she could not find, and she demanded that they find it for her. Who has it? Where is it kept? In order to accomplish this, she flipped the glass in the mirrors, allowing the Real Things the rare opportunity to spy on their Mirror counterparts, and the Mirrors a rare chance to see their own reflections. Even rarer still was that the flip revealed the Queen of Hearts' chambers, and gave Real Things the opportunity to watch her. Naturally, the Queen of Hearts is the owner of the golden spool of thread, and several Real Things reported this back to the Duchess. Now that she had the information she needed, she smashed all mirrors but one, which allowed them to regenerate facing the correct way once more - with Real Things seeing themselves and the Mirrors seeing the Real Things, as things should be. + Thank you! + (2016)
Then, it was time for a party. ♥ Many, many invitations began to appear for many, many parties scattered across Wonderland. On top of that, Wonderland pulled in as many more people as it could possibly manage and removed the glass from the mirrors, so the Mirror characters could attend any of the parties. At first it seemed to be a week and a half of happy, fun parties, and to some extent it was...but, each party contained a hidden puzzle or riddle. If a character solved the first riddle, it would lead them to another and another until eventually they would find a prize at the end. One route led to a room of red herrings. Another route led to a series of thank you notes. A third route led to a mysterious message, thanking the listener from its very Core. The final route was ICly unsolved, but the prize was delivered to everyone in Wonderland as a party favor - a scene of three princesses, revealing the existence of a White Princess (and presumably a White Queen). + Ewaymas + (2016)
This year for the holidays, all of Wonderland's decorations were pure white. Everything from the garland to the menorahs to the tree in the entrance hall was white as snow. This seemed to be the only thing Wonderland had done...at least until everyone went to sleep. When asleep, people would dream of an alternate Wonderland decked out in white, ruled by the mysterious White Queen. She overthrew the Queen of Hearts in this reality and liberated the Mirrors, and she rescued the Real Things from having to endure events. They all lived under her peaceful rule, except for one problem - none of them could remember anything outside of Wonderland. They had been Alice-ifed, so to speak. In these dreams, only the dreamer would remember living outside of Wonderland. Hidden away in the basement was a room filled with jars labeled with characters' names and filled with their memories. Some dreamers managed to return a memory to at least one person in the White Queen's Kingdom, so that they could know they were truly from another world. No one got a real good night's rest until the event ended and the holidays were over, but they were left with many questions of who the White Queen is and what her intentions truly are. Keep Your Head
+ Steal from the Reals + (2017)
A couple of sneaky scientist Real Things tried to punch a hole in reality in an attempt to escape Wonderland, but they only succeeded in punching a hole to Mirror Side. This allowed some less loyal Mirrors to sneak over to Real Side, and the Queen of Hearts was absolutely furious. She ordered her Mirrors to go and capture the traitors, but also to each bring her one item of value to their Reals. After a week or so, Her Majesty called everyone back to Mirror Side to inspect their stolen goods and punish those who needed to be punished. Eventually the hole was repaired, and Bill the Lizard, seeing that Wonderland had gotten too small for its inhabitants, built a lizard-shaped lake for them all to enjoy, in the hopes that they wouldn’t go punching more holes in Wonderland in the future. + Search for Something Lost + (2017)
Several months later, the Reals received some interesting gifts, all with a label reading "In the search for something lost, do what you know you must. -RQ". No one knew exactly what these items were for, though it quickly became apparent that some of these items were actually the ones that had been stolen by the Mirrors a few months prior. Others, however, did not seem to fit that pattern. Together, the people of Wonderland combined their items and their wits to accomplish a number of different things! One person interviewed the Queen of Hearts and learned that not only did she have a spy on Real Side, but that anyone who dies five times comes back with loyalty to her. Another group managed to reunite Alice’s eyes and give them back to her, which also gave her back the last memory she has of her home - of her cat Dinah. A third group was able to find the Rabbit Hole, and after making a memory sacrifice to open the Core, the Red Queen was freed - but not before someone else had ominous Jabberwock dreams. A breakdown of everything that was done with NPC Items can be found right here. In addition, the mansion began to rip apart at the seams and redo old events within a short radius of whoever touched them. Once the Red Queen was freed from the Core, she had Bill the Lizard fix the rips and restore everything to a sense of normalcy as quickly as possible. + Ewaymas + (2017)
Ewaymas was more lighthearted this year - a chance for Reals and Mirrors to celebrate together, in festivities thrown by the newly freed Red Queen. However, the Queen of Hearts was furious about her sister’s plans, and though she passive-aggressively gave her Mirrors the permission to go, she felt as though her subjects were being stolen out from under her - especially since the invitations to the party were signed with a red heart. However, the Red Queen knew nothing of this and thought that perhaps the Queen of Hearts had decided to contribute. Neither was sure who threw the party, but the party was thrown just the same. At that party however, there was a donation box calling for anyone who touched it to forget a word for a good cause. Being that it was an obscure word no one would ever need (subdermatoglyphic) and that it is the holiday season - or perhaps just out of curiosity - a number of both Reals and Mirrors touched the donation box and willingly gave up a word. The purpose of the donation box was left unclear, but at the end of the holidays each Mirror was given a small gift (while their Reals only got ugly holiday sweaters). + Spring Carnival + (2018)
The Red Queen created a carnival and invited both Mirrors and Real Things to come have fun and celebrate the change of seasons. For some strange reason there were hearts all over the decorations, but was otherwise was a seemingly ordinary carnival. However, the mysterious donation box appeared once again! This time it asked Reals and Mirrors to forget the phrase “Morsicatio Buccarum” and promised that anyone who did so would receive a prize. The Mirrors only received minor useless trinkets, but the Reals who touched the box received cards with information about various Mirrors on them, promising that their prize was a new friend. The Queen of Hearts was furious about this carnival, especially after the party at Ewaymas. She decided that use of her motif and enticing her Mirrors into crossing the glass was enough to warrant a declaration of war - one that would come in three months’ time. |