trying to make the pieces fit ((Buffyverse plot))

[slayers_desire]

There was a small gathering of people in the room, doing things that might seem normal. Drinking coffee. Reading a book. Checking sites on the computer. Talking with their neighbor.

But this wasn't a normal day. And despite appearances, these people were all preparing to help save their world.

Most of the 'Scoobies' were here... Xander, Connor, Wes, Lorne, Spike and even Willow had come down for the event. There were others there too... Victor Allen, Clark Kent and Edward Elric.

They were all here to figure out how to create a new Seed. They already had a few clues to go on... but there were still a lot to discuss.

The most recent revelation came after Illyria had deceived the group, and put Clark and April right into the heart of the White Room. Where their memories were taken from them. They had fought free... and now April was more determined than ever to find a way to save her world.

((posting order: April, Clark, Victor, Ed))

Comments

[victormakesart]

She leans in, whispers back, "They totally get cookies. But then, I'm very, very fond of them."

She takes three 'cookies' and places them on three little plates.

Sip-sip. "We need to do something else, I know. Can I go next?"

[fmalchemist160]

Ed doesn't move to join Victor at the table; he'd prefer to stay as far away from Drusilla as possible. Dru's right—he doesn't like her much. He glances over at Clark when he asks her who she really is, then frowns back in Dru's direction, watching for her reaction.

[slayers_desire]

"I can be whoever I need to be, and am who I am because of the need." Drusilla answers softly.

She smiles at Victor. "Aren't you a smart little lamb. You are next. The task might be easy on your own, but you don't travel alone."

April listens for a while. Then speaks softly. "I think she is the conduit for the White Room. This room was used by Wolf, Ram and Hart to communicate with mortals through a conduit. But since the Demons fled when the Seed of Wonder was destroyed... the conduit must be acting for something else."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark doesn't look down at April, though he's sure that Drusilla, or the conduit that looks like her, will know he's communicating with her. Because of the need... I wonder if the form she's chosen is part of the tests. You're the Key, and she was your mother.

[victormakesart]

She wraps both hands around her tea cup, nods her head. "It's been very good to meet you and Miss Edith. I hope she starts behaving soon. I think it might be time for us to go to the next door, though."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed blinks, spotting the connection immediately: April's the Key, and Drusilla was her mother. The Conduit apparently decided to go for something symbolic. "The Mother," he says. "The Conduit is acting for the Mother. That must be why it's chosen to look like Drusilla."

[slayers_desire]

April smiles. Clark was pretty close to realizing what Ed just blurted out. That must be it. The Mother has chosen Drusilla to test us for a reason.

Drusilla blinks for a second. Then states simply to Victor. "There is no door for your turn. You are already in the woods."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

More of her metaphors. Clark's been listening to what Drusilla has been saying, and he's not seeing the same sort of thing as they've experienced so far. Nothing has come back from the past to haunt them just yet. "I don't see any 'wolves.'"

[victormakesart]

Her eyebrows shoot up, her lips twitch into a smile. "Rock and roll, then. How do I start?"

Clark says exactly what's on her mind, so she looks attentively to Drusilla for the answer.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed frowns a bit. "Who said all of the tests would be the same?" he tells Clark. "Maybe there are no 'wolves' this time. Maybe the goal this time is different." He looks over at Drusilla. "The... illusions, I guess, we experienced when we first came through the door. That was one of the tests, wasn't it?" He lays his left hand on the Alchemically-sealed pouch containing the hope gem. "We—" he stops himself, remembering how Clark had been singled out for the Courage test, and what Drusilla had told Ed about it 'not being his turn anymore' when they broke free of the illusions. "—I had to find reason to hope in the darkness, didn't I?" he finishes.

[slayers_desire]

"The lambs would have stayed lost if they did not have hope. They showed courage by facing their wolves. No more wolves." Drusilla pours Miss Edith another cup of tea. "There is no start button."

"Their tea is getting cold..." She pouted softly.

April approached the table, then carefully sat down. "Everything we faced was for a reason... I think this table is here for a reason."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark follows suit, not sure why, but trusting April's feelings. He meets Ed's eyes for a moment and nods towards the table in silent invitation. "We might as well." He isn't sure what this test is going to produce, but he's willing to see it through, and that seems to mean playing along with the 'tea party.'

[victormakesart]

A flood of disappointment. Ed had to find hope in the most dire circumstances, Clark had to face their very worst memories with courage and dignity and... she has a tea party to conduct to prove her worth.

How very... feminine.

"So, Miss Edith, what do you do for a living? Are you a lady of leisure?"

[fmalchemist160]

Ed follows Clark practically the moment Clark begins to move, keeping eye contact with Clark for a moment and giving him a nod in reply. He trusts both Clark's judgement and April's—there's no hesitancy to his movements at all. He sits down beside Victor, shrugging out of his coat for the moment and leaving it draped on the back of his chair. Apparently it's rude to sit down to eat while leaving your coat on.

[slayers_desire]

There is a small smile at Drusilla's lips when they all sit. And even more eerily, a similar smile appears on Miss Edith's doll face.

The scenery around them changes. Until they are sitting at the tea party in the middle of the woods. The table grows bigger too, with more seats added and more chairs available. Miss Edith herself... grows bigger until she is person-sized.

"Don't be disappointed Miss Victor. The game has started."

"This... has a very Alice in Wonderland vibe." April whispers. She has been in the mind/ world of an Alice (a good friend of hers, who is dating a different Victor).

[kalel_ofkrypton]

That's almost a relief, Clark thinks to her privately. Since I had to get Courage, I was starting to think this was the Wizard of Oz. He'd much rather handle surreality than the nightmarish memories they just went through, odd though this is.

[victormakesart]

"I dig it," she says, and far from getting creeped out by a human-sized, moving doll, she looks fascinated. How she'd love to take samples of the plantlife. How she'd love to hop up and start exploring. "This is kinda awesome."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed starts violently when Miss Edith speaks, immediately tensing, the change in scenery only adding to the surprise. Once he calms himself down, he exhales, and mutters under his breath, "Games. Lovely... I'm not too fond of Alice in Wonderland..."

[slayers_desire]

I always did favor the Cowardly Lion over the other two with Dorothy April flirts softly with Clark.

Miss Edith stands up. She gives that creepy smile again, before almost disappearing... except for her smile. "Follow the story."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark eyes the floating smile with no person attached. "Alice in Wonderland indeed..." It's easy to tell who's the Cheshire Cat in this story.

Follow the story... which story, he wonders?

[victormakesart]

"Ah, the Cheshire cat," Victor says, standing, (crack, pop, crack go her knees and hips) and she stretches her arms above her head. "I do hope this makes me the Hatter."

"So, we're kinda mid-story right now. After the tea party, Alice goes to the Red Queen's croquet game and causes a ruckus. I say we just start walking."

So she looks for the first opening she can find in the trees and she starts to lead the way. She feels like, this place being what it is, the area they need to go to will sort its way out.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed scowls at Miss Edith as she disappears, but rises to his feet and pulls his coat back on, following Victor through the woods. "I'm all for causing a ruckus," he says with a small smile.

[slayers_desire]

As soon as Victor identifies herself as the Mad Hatter, a very ridiculous hat appears on her head.

"So we will just have to face the Red Queen?" April wonders. She met a very dangerous Red Queen in Alice's Wonderland world.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark takes notice of the hat. So, this place is at least somewhat responsive to changes. And since it's Victor's 'turn,' maybe that's why she was able to influence this place into assigning her the role.

"I doubt it'll be as easy as it sounds."

[victormakesart]

"Amen, my brother," Victor says, in response to Ed's sterling endorsement of ruckus.

And the hat! That joyous hat. She really hopes that she'll be allowed to keep it. She moves forward, ever with that limp, ducking under branches, brushing aside leaves.

For the first time since they've entered the white room, she looks like she's entirely in her element. A surreal landscape where much depends on words, on wit, and on innovation. This is her battlefield. This is where she wins.

"That's the crux of the story, where Alice is forced into the very authority she avoided at home, where she has to face an over-exaggerated female figure, where she has to deal with rules that she finds ridiculous. It's the closest Alice gets, in Wonderland, of being back home."

"Oh, probably not so easy, but this is the kinda thing I can do. Heaven forbid I get assigned a marathon."