AnasAbdin
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Keni
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we're not kids anymore.
titsay
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if i look back, i am lost
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Misplaced Lens Cap
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oozey mess
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Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
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One Nice Bug Per Day
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art blog(derogatory)
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@dreamwondering
loading... HARTWELL, ALICE.
dependent rp blog for waltrp. written by nami, they/she, est. frequent queue utilizer. poor eyesight - please avoid excessive plotting ( colors, fonts, etc ) in replies to me.
located... STAFF BIOGRAPHY.
searching... FURTHER INFORMATION FOUND.
HUNTER SCHAFER at the GQ Global Creativity Awards, dressed in a custom hand-painted Marni gown inspired by Vincent van Gogh's 'The Starry Night' (11th April 2024)
left behind | open: 0 /3
the storm had already moved on. that was the worst part. by the time riku stumbled back toward the festival’s edge, the snow had settled into something almost gentle, lights steady again like nothing had gone wrong. music drifted through the square. laughter carried. people passed him without a second glance. as if someone hadn’t just vanished ten minutes ago.
he stopped near the outskirts, boots planted in slush, shoulders tight beneath his coat. his hands were still shaking. He shoved them into his pockets to hide them, jaw set like that might keep everything else from spilling out too. "They were right there," he said suddenly, to no one in particular. his voice came out low and hoarse. " I was running. i saw them." he ran a hand through his hair, breath frosting hard in the cold. "i saw..."
the cold was something that alice had never been a fan of, but she had never expected to be given such a reason. she had never experienced such a wall of white, snow that moved in such unnatural ways in the erratic, flickering lighting. it felt like a nightmare, a vision, though she knew that she was awake and knew that she was not the only one who had seen it. it was real and the present.
alice had lost her way in the thick of it, trying to reorient herself as it calmed down, and catching the tail end of a familiar, though rough voice. her blue eyes glazed around, looking for footprints that didn't belong to riku. "who?" her voice comes out too quiet, barely above a whisper. she cleared it, trying again, lacking some precision, "who was right there? who did you see?"
open event starter
who: cornelius and anyone ( 0 out of 3 taken ) where: a quiet street in the underland when: early morning
Cornelius wondered how it had happened. Word had already spread to the Underland that Elias was now populated with mysterious enchanted gifts, wrapped in silver and green and containing mostly benign blessings. Toys; scarves; charms. If these had also been bestowed upon the Underland, Cor hadn’t seen them…
…until now.
Whether through intent or by accidentally falling through an opening, a trio of the enchanted gifts—unassuming, festive—sat together at the edge of the sidewalk.
There was only one other person nearby; they, too, seemed to have noticed the presents.
Cor took a step closer to them. “I’m conflicted about this, I really am,” he said to the other person as he examined the gifts. “On the one hand, they’re probably the same ones Elias is getting. On the other hand, I’ve been fooled more than once by things masquerading as other things down here.
“Being where they are, do you think these are safe to…you know, open?”
the whimsy of the holidays was always something that had put a little extra pep in alice's steps - she didn't mind the cooler weather, loved the way that the city seemed to come to life with a little extra sparkle and a lot of extra decorations, and it had always just... made things feel lighter. she was hoping that the same could be true this year, even with all that had happened.
but the presents popping up all around made it more difficult. alice was trying to keep an eye on all of the weird little things slipping through the cracks.
"well, you don't know until you know." an honest, though not reassuring, response, which she paired with a small shrug of her shoulders. though she was a woman generally riddled with anxiety, it was rare that it actually stopped her from doing things - even perhaps when it should have, when the threat was real. "i'll open it if you don't want to," she offered.
Oh! This woman had been inside the botanical garden, too—had been close by when Mirabel had heard the gardener’s words regarding the guide’s absence. She’d come outside with Mirabel.
Mirabel nodded at the woman’s statement that, when notifying anyone about a disappearance, how you knew they were missing was a deciding factor.
Mirabel let her gaze rest on a flowerbed just across the street (really, New Elias was beautiful, no matter where you were) as she collected her thoughts. “Yeah, something’s telling me—I mean, in the ‘that’s not right’ way, the ‘I know too much about how Elias usually runs’ way—that that guide didn’t just get sick and not tell anyone.” She sighed. “The gardener said—what did they say? That usually there’s someone else to fill in?”
Mirabel weighed what the woman was telling her, that she would go to the Council. Really, that was the most trustworthy option. (The most productive option, too—in the long run.) If there was something to be changed about the situation, the Council would take care of it—and would do it with the characteristic Elias respect and compassion. The only problem was when they’d take care of it.
The Council had a lot on its plate. This Mirabel knew; with people going missing practically every week, if not day, they were truly under a lot of pressure to move with decisiveness, strength, and speed. That meant that anything that wasn’t the core effort to save citizens was probably off the menu. That meant that the left-behind affairs of a lone person who’d gone missing…
…might take a back burner?
Leaving their family and friends confused or—worse—thinking that something concretely scary had happened to them?
But this woman’s confidence in the Council gave Mirabel confidence, too. And she was right—Mirabel needed to be absolutely certain that the guide had gone missing.
“Okay,” Mirabel said, then took a deep breath. “I think I’m going to go to the council building, then. I’m from the Madrigal family—we’re…community helpers, based in Old Elias usually, but I do work here sometimes, too. My ma and pa have been to see the council before…but I’ve never actually stepped foot on the premises. I’m…more behind-the-scenes with my efforts, you could say.
“Elias is huge, and as much as I wish I could say I know everyone and how to get in contact with them…I definitely don’t.
“What I want to know from you is… Have you ever been to the council building before?
“And do you think they’d let me get the address of the guide—so I could take the afternoon to visit her house myself, see if something else happened? …I’d want to be able to contact her family, too, in the event that she isn’t there.
“Provided that what I have a hunch happened, happened, and the guide has disappeared… I’d go back to the council building at the end of the day and let them know the bad news in person.”
that's not right way. yes, that was a feeling that alice had become all too familiar with - one that felt like it was constantly eating away at the edge of her consciousness, the themes of which seemed to show up in every drawing that filled her notebook. she was so familiar with the theme that she nearly forgotten what anything else felt like. elias did often run amuck in its own unique way, sometimes in ways that were wonderful and other times in ways that were terrible. now, well, she wasn't sure. likely the latter - but something about that figure in the woods didn't feel just terrible, which made it all the more confusing...
"i know what you mean."
alice took a sharp, deep breath in through her nose, trying to recenter herself on the present moment and give a little bit more mind to what was going on in the present moment. a potentially missing person. potentially. she had to repeat the word a few times, trying not to let her anxiety drive her into certainty, though it seemed like the other was gungho on it.
which, well, she understood. it was hard not to go there with everything that was happening. maybe even it was naive or silly not to go there. it was a line that was hard to find, when it was her anxiety driving her or when it was the actual external environment that indicated something. what was it now? she didn't know. maybe it was better than, to listen to the other woman and where she was driven toward, functioning on the assumption that she wasn't so riddled with the same cognitive ailments.
"oh?" as she half-way introduced herself, some familiarity came to mind. alice had lived in elias just long enough to know of some of the major families and figures, but not quite long enough that she actually personally knew them. "of course. i've heard of them, yeah. i'm sure that your word with them would go along way," she encouraged with a small nod of her head, smile lightening her features.
"i have, yes," she said, giving a slight pause and debating how much to say. "donald duck is a close mentor of mine. perhaps we could see if he's available, and talk to him directly. i know that he would take your concerns seriously." if there was anyone that she could trust, it was him.
that was an interesting question though, that she was less sure about. "i don't know. maybe? it might be worth seeing if the workers here might offer it, especially if you explain what your concern is. i think most reasonable people would understand and it might be a bit faster than going to the council to try and track it all down." it wouldn't hurt to try all the resources available for that, surely, but alice remained uncertain.
books i’ve read ❥ alice in wonderland // lewis carol
❝ i knew who i was this morning, but i've changed a few times since then. ❞
open starter
who: mirabel and anyone ( 0 out of 3 taken ) where: elias botanical garden, exterior when: noon
It was rare that Mirabel got an opportunity to explore New Elias. Most of her days off (read: half-days off—her efforts were never not needed), Mirabel would enjoy everything that Old Elias had to offer—the bakery, the record store, the animal shelter. But the morning’s meeting with an activist group to better coordinate the Madrigal family’s visits to New Elias had left Mirabel beside the botanical garden…and hugely curious about what lay inside its walls.
Unfortunately, the guide that Mirabel had expected to be waiting there was…missing.
“She didn’t show up this morning,” one of the gardeners explained as they watered a flowerbed. “Usually they have somebody else fill in, though…”
Mirabel, disconcerted (was this her first real encounter with one of the missing people cases?), left the botanical garden in a daze. Somebody walking down the sidewalk bumped into her—hard—and she barely noticed.
This was more than scary. This was more than chilling. This was…well, how would Mirabel have phrased it to one of her sisters? “Absolutely uncalled for”? “The kind of thing you would hope never happens to someone you love”?
It was like the war all over again. It was like those days when you couldn’t be sure you would see someone in the morning.
A person was lingering on the sidewalk—they’d probably seen Mirabel and that other person collide with each other and wanted to know if she was okay. Or they saw the look on her face—fear, and the beginnings of a plan. Her eyes were wide, but her jaw was set.
Mirabel turned to the person and asked them, “What’s the first thing you would do if…if you thought you’d found out someone was missing?” She swallowed. But she also felt a rush of determination—Mirabel would handle this right.
“Would you go straight to the council building and try to let them know directly? Send an email? Or…”
Mirabel closed her eyes. “Would you do what I think I’m going to do, and would you notify the press?”
There was no faster way to get the word out to friends and family than that.
alice looked rough. she supposed that there was no other way to look in a time like this, people going missing day by day and that strange figure that she had seen on the edge of the enchanted forest... she felt like she was being watched and needed to be watching in the same breath, unsure what to do with all of the information that she was rapidly attempting to process in her head. it was overwhelming. it was made worse by the fact that she hadn't gotten a good night of sleep in a worse, visible with the dark bags underneath her eyes, the slightly dazed expression that she seemed to be carrying with her everywhere.
the gardens were meant to be a place that she could try and reset her mind, ground herself with being surrounded by nature. it's different this time of year than it was in the summer, but it was still generally a place that was peaceful, quiet, and beautiful. the exact kind of distraction that she needed. or at least, the distraction that she thought she needed.
unable to help but overhear what was going on, alice quickly realized that was not the kind of day that she was about to get. she felt the anxiety spike inside of her chest, heart beating faster than what was necessary to try and quell her emotions. it was a losing battle. it always was. but it hadn't stopped her from slipping out of the gardens and following mirabel, unsure why or what she was doing.
"oh, um..." an overwhelming question, but a fair one. what would she do? panic briefly, then... well, probably notify donald directly. he would know what to do from there. but her train of thought is distracted with the next bit.
"i don't know. i mean, i guess it would depend on how i knew they were missing... do you think the guide is missing?" other possibilities roamed through her mind, but it's hard not to fixate on that one. "i'd probably tell the council. but i guess the press isn't a bad idea, either... i'd just want to be sure before i told anyone."
chess was learning rather quickly that too many questions turned into a loop, a stalemate, eventually someone would have to answer one. but that would not have been now, not if alice hadn't caved first, because the question to answer hers would be: you wouldn't? alas, she answers before he can ask. ending an endless loop.
"oh, but you could speak for anyone if you so pleased. quite often i will see a human do that." chess didn't mean anything positive or negative by the statement - purely observational. always teetering between asking questions or making observations - either way it was a tactic to gather what information he could in even the smallest of interactions. maybe one day chess would be able to enjoy a day in this realm - but for now everything was calculated. a mental notebook and pen running rampant in his mind with every second. calculations. observations. information. experience. they had all of it in wonderland and none of it here, and the more time chess spent earthside... the more urgent it felt to gather as much intel as possible. he wondered if that was something the girl who could jump through time and reality could help with.
"do you think this wheel - the curses ..." chess paused for a moment, unsure how to articulate their question for once. "none of it seems harmless, does it? do you think it has anything to do with the people disappearing?"
chess was not wrong, alice felt very aware of that, with his statement. most people weren't so hesitant to make assumptions or generalizations, but she tried to avoid getting caught into that loop. it was a side effect of the running anxiety that drove her through most situations, her over caution on the words that left her mouth. she supposed she'd be a fool not to appreciate the occasional benefits that it brought her.
the next question that came from him was one that didn't feel like a game, though, but something that came from a real place of concern. her brows knitted a bit closer together, not fully containing her surprise at the shift, but appreciating that space was made for it nonetheless. alice pursed her lips in consideration for a few moments. well, she supposed that chess was someone that she could be honest with. it was hard to articulate why, but she did not think harm would come from opening up her thoughts.
"no, i don't think it's harmless." her answer was direct though not overtly blunt. alice believed most things here were good, holiday spirit... but it would be foolish to ignore the realities of where they were. "i don't know if it has anything to do with that, though. that feels bigger than all of this," she gestured a bit aimlessly with her hands. "the missing people feels more... sinister?" she's unsure if that's the word she wanted, but stuck with it. "do you know anyone who's gone missing?"
Donnie blinked up from his notes surprised to see Alice sinking into the chair across from him. The corner of his mouth twitched upward. “You say that like a brain isn’t the most valuable resource in this city right now,” he said, gesturing vaguely at the mismatched array of books, scrolls, scribbled notes, and what appeared to be a half-eaten protein bar buried under a map of Old Elias.
He pushed his goggles up to his forehead and leaned back slightly, cracking his knuckles before folding his hands. “I’ve been trying to cross-reference the disappearance locations with known ley lines and recorded magical anomalies in the past two years. There’s a pattern here, I know it but it’s like every time I get close, the whole thing shifts on me.” He tapped one of the red pins on his city map with a small frown. “It’s like the city’s trying to hide something. Or someone is.”
His gaze drifted toward her journal for a moment, not to pry, but with curiosity Donatello had a deep respect for information in all its forms, even when it came through sketches and dreams instead of spreadsheets and charts. Donnie paused, his tone softening just a bit. “You’ve got a weird way of putting things, Alice, but… that weirdness might be exactly what I need right now. So what do your gut and those drawings of yours say?”
the corner of her mouth softened into a smile at his words, giving a sheepish shrug of her shoulders. knowledge was power like nothing else, even in a world where magic existed - it was a resource that always needed to be tapped into, no matter the circumstances. she believed that to be true. in this particular moment, she wasn't as insecure as she had once been about her own usefulness in the matter.
alice listened attentively, pale blue eyes pouring over the array that he had gathered in support of his hypotheses. but it sounded like he had already come to a similar conclusion that she had - there was something more going on, the anomalies wanted to reveal something and couldn't. she found herself unconsciously nodding along when he spoke, though stilled when she noticed his gaze toward his journal. she'd always felt insecure about sharing it, but knew it was important to move past that.
"i agree," she started simply, taking a moment to gather her thoughts. "it feels like the underland is trying to slip in, in a way that... i never felt before. it's always been there but never felt like this." her lips pursed as she opened up her journal, flipping to the more recent pages - shadowy and splintered forests, a cracked castle tower, a clock with a broken face. most of it was disturbing, even to her. "i don't know if it's a who or what. i suppose it's always felt like a what to me, but sometimes i get so lost in the wonderland, it's hard to see other possibilities."
8 x Hunter Schafer
Pacific Northwest forest walks
r4s
location: tiana's place at 6pm (0/4).
THE MORE TIME mandy spent in the underland, the more thankful she became that her actual apartment was in new elias. as strange of a commute as it might have been in her day to day, the escape out of cartoonish hell was both vital and welcome.
with that said, the tone in new elias had begun to shift. news outlets could only speak of the disappearances happening throughout the city and mandy couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. perhaps she was jumping the gun here but did this stuff start happening before or after the god of the underland summoned the grim fucking reaper to his manor? what was grim being forced to do now that they were here?
mandy sat at the bar at tiana's, picking at a bowl of jambalaya in front of her as the house band played in the distance. this was starting to become a bit of a ritual for the blonde, a weekly solo date when she got sick of cooking her own food. as the news ran silently on a tv in the corner, headlines flashing every few moments, she wanted to look to the person next to her and ask what they thought. it was so strange, so unspoken, but she chickened out as she put her spoon down and asked, "what's your favorite thing on the menu? i need to try something new."
it had only been a few weeks where alice had felt like she had finally gotten ahold of her sleep schedule, able to lay down again at night without her mind escaping her for hours. that had all been shattered. all it had taken was that one figure in the woods - and even with her feeling decidedly that he was real and not a figment of her imaginations or a crack through the wonderland, she had become completely unsettled again, a sense of antsyness that she could not shakev vibrating underneath her skin.
that had made it difficult for her to be alone. it wasn't a way that she usually felt, alice usually greatly enjoyed time to herself. but right now, being alone gave far much space to the anxiety that was eating away at the edges of her sanity, making every moment feel like it was one that was under threat.
being surrounded by people was a middle ground, strangers or not, and alice felt a sense of relief when the young woman next to her addressed her. "oh, my favorite thing?" she echoed, her face lighting up a little bit more than expected. her gaze dropped to what the other was eating, "well, their jambalaya is great, especially if you like something with spice. but i'm a big fan of the etouffee. it's not quite as spicy but still really good. you can have a bit of mine, if you want." a beat. "sorry, that's probably weird to offer to a stranger."
open starter, location mun's choice. (0/5)
mavis was in her own world. she wasn't sure how to feel after her talk with logan. people were disappearing that was true. but, was orion really a big part of it... could she really not handle herself? she had to make money. she had to do something to provide. it didn't matter what he had told her. she knew the truth was money means food and food means another day. she didn't notice the other as she was deep in thought. she just wanted to go on like things were normal... or as normal as they could be for the underworld.
"huh?" she asked finally noticing the other's voice, "sorry-- i wasn't listening what did you say?"
sometimes, alice wondered if she would ever feel normal. it was a silly question, and she could recognize that logically, but it did not stop the thought from drifting in and out of her mind on a whim. the feeling felt even more elevated when things in elias felt so awry, the recent news of a staggering amount of missing people setting her off. she wasn't sure what, if anything, she should do to control her anxiety. maybe this was a moment where you were just supposed to be anxious. her tells for that weren't always accurate. but sue her, her anxiety did have her checking in on people.
"oh, nothing meaningful," alice responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "i mean, i'm just glad to see that you're here still - that you're okay. i guess i've been a little bit freaked out by everything going on lately. oh, and hi. how are you?"
−−− ꧁ OPEN STARTER : FOR EVERYONE
Papers floated in looping figure-eights above his head, some fluttering like startled birds, others rotating slowly in hypnotic spirals. The enchantment keeping them organized had clearly gone off-script, overwhelmed by the sheer volume. Color-coded sigils pulsed in the corners of each parchment, notes written in layered languages, ink bleeding through as the spells began to fray.
Donald stood at the center of it all, hands braced on the edge of a cluttered desk, hair slightly askew, and a scowl deep enough to split stone. His shoulders were rigid with tension. At his side, a quill scribbled furiously into a thick ledger, recording the names of the missing. Another report. Another pattern that led nowhere. Another family with no answers.
A file slapped him in the side of the face, and he caught it with a sharp breath. His magic flared briefly, just enough to still the chaos around him for half a second before it sputtered and resumed its frantic loop. He looked exhausted, but the flicker in his eyes wasn’t fatigue...it was worry. “I swear,” he muttered to the papers as if they were sentient, “if one more file goes missing in the file, I’m setting the whole damn system on fire and starting from scratch.”
The door remained slightly ajar. Whether by accident or not, the office was meant to be for the citizens to come speak to a council member at any time so it didn't really matter. It was simply Donald's turn to be available for the city.
it was not uncommon for alice to doubt her own sense of reality. she had spent the entirety of her childhood being told to do just that, that her imagination was too big for their world, that she was nothing more than a creative daydreamer... she had tried for a long time to deny that part of herself, and in elias, she had found some sense of peace. that she could embrace those pieces of herself, that they were useful, with purpose... but here she was, spiraling again, trying to make sure her grip on reality was what she believed it to be.
alice knew exactly who to go to - who both needed this information and would be able to offer her some sense of grounding. the fire in her stomach told her that it was real, concrete, even with the pieces of it that didn't make sense. mysteries swirled inside of her head and her feet carried her quickly to his office, barging inside in an uncharacteristic way.
"i saw something," she blurted out, only then realizing that she was out of breath. she cleared her throat and straightened up, realizing that she must have looked a bit unkempt, a bit wild. that was fair. that was how she felt, too. "someone."
alice sat suddenly, pulling out her journal - pages filled with messy, hectic drawings, and turned to a clean page to begin to sketch out the hooded figure and his staff. maybe the image meant something to him, maybe it didn't, but it felt like the most best way to show him. "he was in the enchanted forest, just past where the magical barrier was... he disappeared. but i know he was there, i know he was real."
riku’s gaze tracked the small movement of her shoulders as she exhaled, the faintest quirk of a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth when he heard her neck crack. "you’ll scare off the wildlife with that," he murmured, tone light but with amusement. the smirk fading quickly back into focus.
"mind a step behind, huh?" he repeated softly, stepping into the ring opposite her. the keyblade angled downward at his side, its glow pulsing faintly with each steady breath he took. "we’ll just have to teach it to catch up." without warning, he moved..quick. precise. the swing aimed not to strike but to test instead. a flick of the wrist, a change in direction, the kind of movement meant to pull instinct out before thought could catch it. when her block came, he pivoted smoothly, pressure steady but not punishing.
"good," he said quietly with enough approval to encourage and not coddle. "see? you didn’t think. you just moved. That’s the space you need to find again." his next step was slower, eyes locked on hers. "the trick isn’t silencing your thoughts. it’s knowing which ones to listen to. the rest.." he let the motion of his blade finish the sentence with a sharp, clean arc "you let fall away."
a small chuckle passed through her lips, a brief moment of reprieve before allowing a greater focus to try to come over her body. it was easy to be caught on the points of tension that she carried, the stiffness in her neck or broader swathes of soreness that she knew weren't from sleeping quite enough. it was harder to step back from that and focus on the whole.
still, alice tried. she adjusted her stance across from him, and even when it felt as though her mind was too sluggish to fully process and keep up, instinct still guided her. she moved to block smoothly, and her mind caught back up when it came to balancing out the force required in order to hold resistance back to the weight of his force. he's right, she can recognize that consciously and in the moment, that it might be her own anxiety or insecurity that served as a bigger threat to the moment rather than physical capacity.
"you're right," she agreed, the words leaving her mouth feeling like a sigh, chest sinking with the exhale of breath. she took another deep breath, trying to center herself again. "if only it was as easy done as it is said," she murmured, not sure if she's seeking advice or validation. "the thoughts about wonderland... they're feeling louder. more agitated. i feel like if i don't give them attention, i'm doing all of us a disservice."
"What do you mean tricks and secrets?" She asked, obviously curious but not wanting to ask too many questions. However, for Alex Russo, she knew that she would always end up asking what was in her mind because being blunt was something she had a problem with regardless. She sighed, her eyes turning to look at the other. "Is it dangerous?" She asked, her eyebrows raised. She didn't get the sneaking suspicion that it was dangerous, but she knew she didn't know everything about here either, perhaps she was wrong.
there's an unfortunate long pause as alice attempted to gather her words, trying to find an answer that made any kind of sense outside of the walls of her head and her own lived experience. maybe, then, some kind of question was a better alternative. "do you not find this place to be some kind of odd? like there's something more hiding just beneath the surface?" if not, well, then maybe alice was revealing her own deep-seated level of paranoia to alex. she supposed there were worse people who could know about it. "it can be. it isn't always. i think many go about their lives without anything more than trivial concerns."
chaos, she said. it clicked only then why someone may just want to spin the wheel. maybe this was someone's personal brand of chaos. you see, the whole point of chaos is to relinquish control - at least for some people. chess more so liked to play puppet master, convincing those around him to feed into their curiosities. chaos did make chess think differently about this wheel. they didn't quite like it when something made them think differently.
it was difficult to determine what any of this meant - dropping into elias and running into the blonde child in what little time it took for the moon to turn full. of course the blonde child did not seem like a child anymore, but chess wondered if she had anything to do with this. could she have? the girl who could float between worlds?
even chess couldn't have done that before he was forced to be here. maybe the blonde child could do anything.
"is that not boring? peace?" perhaps, if all of this was her doing, she'd tell on herself within his questioning. another test, despite her best efforts to avoid one.
there's a moment where things around her seemed to appear all too large, as though she'd shrunk and shrunk and shrunk in a way that was horrifying and familiar. she blinks a few time, and her vision seems to clear up. there's no sign of if it was a memory of the past coming back to haunt her with inconvenient timing, or some kind of foreboding for the future that she needed to be alarmed about. things were never so easy and so clear for her.
"you would find peace boring?" alice tried to turn the question back around to him, a delicate knit of her brows drawing them a bit closer together. she wished that it were easier to read him, that she could see exactly what it was that lingered beyond the pointed questions. but she supposed if it were that easy, he would not be himself.
still, alice would give him an answer. this felt like one that was harmless enough. "no, i don't think so. i'd quite enjoy more peace around these parts. and despite the crowd for tricks or treats, i don't think i would be the only one. but i suppose i can't speak for everyone." what would it truly be like to find peace in that way? even her wild imagination felt lacking in that regard.
