[World Exploration] Wonderland

[passingmod]

Who: Everyone! Open to All. World inhabitants can be npc'd as needed.
What: World Exploration : Suggestion Info here
When: all through November and beyond
Where: Locations in comments, or add your own.

There are whole new worlds out there. Some people know this already, some are learning it for the first time. Tonight, it's a world of mystery where nothing seems to work entirely by normal logic and everything familiar from waking life can become different. Flowers have a temper and may not like being picked, animals wear dapper clothes, and all of them talk. Some of them are helpful.

Whether flitting around the edges of this world at the Rabbit Hole or the Entryway, caught up in the Mad Hatter's tea party, taken to the Castle of the Queen of Hearts, the Croquet Ground, or somewhere entirely different, it's Wonderland. Be careful: The signs shouldn't always be obeyed.

(Notes: This is a log to keep together threads exploring Wonderland. Relevant threads can also be made as separate posts throughout the rest of the month or beyond. Mostly, this is an experiment to see how a mass log will work for world exploring. As usual with OPN, it is entirely optional and creative liberty is fine and encouraged while working within the setting. Feel free to use the location notes as prompts, but also feel free to do something else entirely. More world suggestions always accepted here.)

Comments

[decaying]

[He caught her and set her down.]

Are you following me now, is that it?

[waterfell]

I just happened to be going by, and it looked like you weren't too happy with these flowers. [Entirely flippant.]

[decaying]

I heard the Queen had gardens. [And he'll pause for a moment. Hesitant.] Gardening is somewhat of an unofficial hobby of mine.

[waterfell]

It might be fun to join in for awhile! [Ami tilts the watering can, sprinkling it over the nearest bush. The paint slithers off the petals and onto the ground.]

[decaying]

You actually care about this stuff?

[waterfell]

Are you saying you'd rather see that deck of fools ruin the gardens completely?

[decaying]

Of course not. I'm surprised you care, though. [And he moves over a little closer.]

[waterfell]

I also don't like to see a place go to ruin. [Perhaps that is surprising, coming from someone like her. Ami doesn't seem to feel a need to explain herself more thoroughly than that.]

So, shall we remake it together?

[decaying]

Together.

[He has to admit, he likes you talking like that.]

All right. [He motioned for the next flower on the rose bush.]

[waterfell]

[The water helps to gently wash away the paint before it can do worse damage. Ami frowns as she examines the leaves.]

The paint will block the light needed for photosynthesis. [Idiot guardsmen. But the frown relaxes as she lets herself by amused by one thought in the midst of it all, though:]

If they thought their queen was angry over the color of the flowers, what about when she learns what they almost did to her whole garden?

[decaying]

On second thought, maybe we should leave it like that. They do deserve to have their heads cut off.

[waterfell]

She'll find another excuse to do that even without this. [Ami dismisses the entire idea with little more than a passing thought.]

Or are you saying you'd rather let the garden die to spite her, and them?

[decaying]

Now I'm definitely confused. [he's washing off some more petals.]

You can be a mystery sometimes, you know.

[waterfell]

What part of me is? [It really is unthinkable she'd want to keep the garden alive, isn't it?]

[decaying]

When we first met, you said a human life meant nothing. And yet a garden does? I'm not saying I disagree with you, I hate people, but I don't know you as well as I'd like.

[waterfell]

[If she was being more honest with herself, she might be able to say that it's because it had seemed important to him. As it is, she doesn't know how to answer, especially as those words finally make their way from hearing to understanding: He wants to know who she is. Her hand stops, with a leaf caught between her fingers.]

I also don't really know. [She turns her head, glancing at Kanda now.] I just felt it was something I wanted to do with you.

[decaying]

Because I told you I liked gardening? That would explain a little about you. [He could sense Ami felt a little out of her element, But what the heck. He understood. Kanda hated talking about private matters. It was a learning experience for them both.]

It's a scary thought, isn't it. Not knowing who you are. [Until recently, Kanda didn't know who he was so he could attest to the troubles.]

[waterfell]

[And with that, Ami froze. She stiffened, her head lifting involuntarily. In the rigid effort to control her reaction, she almost looked angry.]

I'm Mizuno Ami, a doctor. And I'm Mercury, a soldier. [But the things she tells herself she knows have never been as easy to accept and feel.]

[decaying]

[Yeah, Ami was probably freaking out about now. Kanda didn't want to continue this if it meant she would feel uncomfortable, but they would definitely have to talk about this at some point. They had done things, after all, things Kanda wouldn't have ever dreamed doing with just anyone. How strange to have kissed a girl before knowing who she was.]

You want some advice? Title's don't mean much. Title's explain what we should be doing, what's expected. We're not our title's.

[He was an exorcist but he hated the world more than he hated the akuma he was bound to kill.]

[waterfell]

[Slowly, she calmed herself so that she could listen to him. She even nodded. It was a small victory in keeping herself in check. But she'd already admitted she didn't entirely understand herself at times.]

They're a beginning.

[It was then that she noticed the remains of a single flower, crushed in her grip without her realizing it when she'd clenched her hands together.]

[decaying]

They're someone else's definition of who you are. You can do better. [He took her hand for her to not kill any more flowers.]

[waterfell]

[The words took her more off-guard than the gesture, and instead of pulling away, Ami found herself looking up at Kanda.

He understood the truth behind her words exactly.]

That's the point of all of this. I've decided the one to choose who I am and what future I make for myself, will be me.

[decaying]

Good. [And he slipped his lips into a very light smirk. At least she hadn't creeped out anymore.]

Let's get out of here. We have time.

[waterfell]

[There was a part of her very, very relieved Kanda was letting the topic drop. So Ami agreed, just a little too quickly.]

Where shall we go? [Thank you.]

[decaying]

Anywhere. It doesn't matter. [He'll just grab her hand and start walking.]