Old as Time,
Long foretold,
We know how it ends,
before it has grown old.
By the hand of our Queen,
Our hearts shall be redeemed...

September 4th, 2010
London, England...

What was once a peaceful capital city for all ages is now a land without children, as England soon is starting to become as well. With each new child it claims, the range of the P3 Syndrome gets broader and broader and will continue to until all of England, and eventually the world, becomes affected by this comatose-inducing disease.

However, for Alice Crowley and Adam Smith, this isn't really a concern. They were far past their childhood, and in Alice's case, in her college years while Adam just started his junior year of high school. As they go about their normal lives, they see the city has also been unnaturally normal, considering the pandemic of P3 Syndrome. Since it only affects young children, the people of London probably trying to ignore it, not worried due to either not having children, or having children that are too old to be affected. It's almost amazing how people can care less about this kind of disaster, so long as it doesn't fall on them either. However because of this, the city is aging and anyone not within their age are either older or in the hospital under a comatose.

While Alice has no real reason to be directly concerned about it, Adam spent every waking moment before sleep worried for the children at the orphanage, already claimed by the P3 Syndrome. Deep down, of course he wants to help cure this illness and wake the children, but with the orphanage closed, the only thing he could do about is go through school normally, with the prospect of going to medical school afterwards.

As they're both about ready to start her classes tomorrow, they head off to bed early for a good night sleep, hoping to have a good year ahead of them.

However, right at the stroke of Midnight, they, and others within the town, would suddenly feel strange. A pulse, that would make them normally jump out of their sleep as if reacting to a jump scare, would push through their minds, and their dreams would fade away to black. Yet it would feel as real and deep as if it was in fact reality. Then, in front of them, a light shined through the darkness, revealing some kind of giant rectangle, and despite there being no light anywhere else, they would be able to see themselves within this rectangle, clear as day. A full-body mirror, perhaps? The reflection becomes more and more transparent, and beyond it, what should be absolute darkness is in fact what appeared to be some kind of...land, a beautiful green forest, its beauty somewhat ruined by the grey clouds covering the sky, blocking out the assumingly blue skies and sun, but seeping the light of day through it. If they looked behind them, they would find nothing but black, yet the land in the rectangle was still there. This wasn't a mirror, but a window it seems.

Suddenly, without warning, they would be pushed, or rather pulled, into this window by an invisible force, going right through the window, feeling almost a refreshing feeling upon contact, as if passing a wall of calm water, before they all land on the meadows before them. If they looked around, they would see that they indeed landed in the strange land, appearing to be a beautiful summer woods by the looks of the number of incredibly massive green-leaved trees around them and the pleasantly soft though oddly tall and large grass on the oddly felt texture of the dirt on the ground. Alice and Adam, in particular, needed a little bit of time to catch their breaths and realized what just happened, noticing that there were other people in this patch of grass besides themselves, when the sound of moving plant life and footsteps was heard.

If they look, they would see a small figure walking up to them, covered in the tall grass, but revealing itself as it got to them. The figure appeared to be a little white rabbit with red eyes and what appears to be a red coat of some kind. Besides the coat, and the fact it was on its feet almost as if standing up like a normal human, it looked like your ordinary bunny rabbit, size and all. It simply looked at the humans, taking a closer look at them before pulling back and sighed.

"Hmm...Well, this is... disappointing to say the least. Why, they look no different from any other human." It said. Unless there was also an incredibly good ventriloquist nearby, there was no doubt that this Rabbit just talked, its mouth moved to talk as he shakes his head. Alice jumped when she looked up to see it. Adam simply looking at it in awe while looking around; so many questions was going through his head that he couldn't think of which one to ask first. Alice on the other hand... simply looked at the Rabbit in awe, poking it on the head to see if it's real, and sure enough, she could feel the soft fur and hard skull beneath it.

"...Please stop that." He simply said in an irritated tone.

"...Who...What are you, and where are we?" She asked.

"I am simply a White Rabbit, I have no other name, nor a need for one, ...and this is a place known as Wonderland. And you....You!" The rabbit simply said, but after getting a good hard look at Alice's face, he jumped back and stared at Alice with widened eyes of shock.

"...Me, what? Is something wrong? ...You look like you've seen a ghost. ...Wait, I should be the one looking shocked at the talking rabbit here!" Alice said. The White Rabbit stared for a little while, before blinking, clearing his throat returning to a more formal posture.

"...It's nothing, I...simply didn't expect to get an adult here." The White Rabbit responded

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Alice said, somewhat annoyed at him clearly calling her old.

@The Jest

The High Priestess - Meredith Fong

"I think the rabbit thinks you're too much of fuddy-duddy for Carroll," said a bright, lightly accented voice.

From the tall grass beside Alice, a youth clad in a black, furred jacket suddenly sat up, blades of green having managed to find their way into her flowing locks of hair while she wasn't looking. She gingerly reached up to pull a dead leaf out of her fringe, moving it in front of her vivid red eyes. The girl blinked twice, brows furrowing in confusion. For a second, it appeared as if she was about to say something, but evidently she had decided against it, for instead she pushed herself up from the cold dirt, arms swinging lightly as she got used to standing up again.

Standing up.

The thumb and forefinger of her right hand gently pulled away from one another, dropping the leaf that they once held. Meredith Fong watched as it fell, another thought seeming to occur to her as her eyes followed the leaf's slow descent. She'd stood up pretty easily, right? In her dreams, it was always really hard to run or stand or climb because the blankets (and the pull of Earth's gravity) were in the way. Except she hadn't faced any iota of difficulty when she had gotten off the ground (which was remarkably realistic in how cold and grass-and-dirt-like it was). That wasn't anything she had experienced in a dream before.

Unless it was an incredibly vivid one, but she was able to question herself about it being a dream too, so maybe it wasn't a dream?

She leaned over, stretching her arms out towards her feet with a light, pondering hum. There was the sensation of her muscles exerting themselves, which definitely wasn't something that was very ... she searched her brain for a right word ... dreamy? Meredith shook her head; dreamy was probably an adjective that worked. If it was a dream, which was something that was being supported by her wearing her outdoorsy clothes instead of her PJs, then it really was a vivid one.

That was exciting!

A Carrollesque talking rabbit, very realistic grass, some other people who all looked very unique and distinct, if this was the result of her brain doing cartwheels while she was off dozing in the land of REM, then she had to give it a gold star. It was a very ten-out-of-ten creation.

Meredith stood back up, her arms now stretching behind her head instead. Her gaze slowly surveyed her surroundings, settling upon the girl next to the rabbit. She hadn't gotten a good look earlier (mostly because she was lying on the ground, and that certainly was a weird way to get into a dream), but now that she was on the same vertical axis as the one described as unexpectedly adult ...

"You don't actually look too old," she remarked, cocking her head to the side with a smile. "Actually, you don't look that much older than me, unless you really aged gracefully?"

Snow Cecil found it easy to multi-task, these days.

With his trusty laptop, he pored over the latest medical reports relating to the P3 Syndrome, as well as mathematical equations relating to high-end physics and treatises on occult theory. What he was doing was unorthodox and unscientific, but he accepted it even as he took steps to hide it from anyone who might pry, even his parents. But that was okay, as said parents, despite their love for him, were distant; they have always been.

"Snow?!" his mother called out from the bottom of the stairwell, "I think it's time to sleep? If you want to, of course." For a brief moment, Snow was tempted to say that he wanted to, but knew that it would be bad for him; lack of sleep might cause his judgement to lapse. So, the boy, already in his pajamas, recorded a few last notes and saved his work. Then, he shut down the laptop, went to his bed, and was out like a light as he lay down.

He snapped into alertness, not the fake sense of alertness one got from a 'false awakening' or 'dream within a dream', but rather true wakefulness, even though by all rights, the boy should be feeling the pull of gravity and the enfolding presence of blankets. Snow smiled as he analyzed the situation, analyzing what the White Rabbit said and not focusing on the two young women talking to it - no, him.

Snow looked at the White Rabbit, and took notes in his mind. The rabbit seems to know the young woman, but gave a plausible alternate explanation for why he was surprised. Nevertheless, he made a small pause before giving said explanation, which points to it being a lie. He also spoke about being surprised at getting an adult. Could he be...no, we need more evidence before getting any conclusions yet.

He walked over towards where the two girls were talking to the rabbit, and cleared his throat. "I'm a child, Mr. White Rabbit. And I know enough about Wonderland to tell you that you've just brought us into a land of weirdness, madness, and danger. I also know my tropes, and they all point towards you taking us here. But what exactly is here? The people around me are real people, distinct. Therefore this is not just a dream."

Snow stared the White Rabbit in the eyes. "My hypothesis is that we are within a shared mind-space, a phenomenon that points to something..." he looked around, embarrassed, "Psychic. Our minds are all linked together and are able to communicate with each other, but why?" Or it could be like the Matrix? Are we actually in a virtual reality?

The boy dismissed those doubts. Any technological explanation was actually more complex than the simple one: That something magical - and not the good kind - was going on. But now he had to remember Alice in Wonderland and its symbolism, and he hadn't read that since he was eight!

A further look towards the rabbit, before Snow absent-mindedly petted it, feeling the soft fur and the skull beneath just like Alice had. He would then turn to the aforementioned Alice, as well as Meredith and say, "Tropes say that warning you all of the imminent danger we face like an hysterical tool would be counter-productive and not raise our guard more. Nevertheless, I still need to tell you all that we are in immediate danger. Now, feel free to not listen to me until actual danger strikes."

He then looked at the various adults who were presumably in the process of getting up, and said again, "Now if you will all excuse me, I will wait behind those larger and physically stronger than me until the Trope-foretold danger comes; as a weak waif, I don't think I can be of any use in a straight combat."

And true to his word, he decided to seek out the largest person who was lying down/getting up/already standing and step behind him, still upright instead of jittery. This person would be Luke LaMotta. However, to further show that the boy wasn't a coward, he also looked for a stick or rock or anything he can use as a weapon.

A most efficient use of his time.

@CriticalHit@Windstormugly@Suku@Avant@Etranger@Gummy1295@Duoya@Petulant@Loki Odinson@CronicCrystalis@The Jest

The Sun - Crobalt Nicholas "Cronic" Crystalis

As the evening rolled by, Cronic was presently sat in a sort of study, a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other. Quietly scribbling away, the brown-haired man was simply writing up his notes on the individuals who he'd just finished helping on their way to a better life, though he marked one down with "Weekly contact required to check progress and arrange additional support if necessary."

Once that was done, he then closed the book and stashed the pen away before checking the time.

"Seven hells, it's that late already?" He said to himself, the clock hands saying 11:00 PM. Having a quick stretch and letting out a yawn, Crobalt stood up from his desk and proceeded to his bed room to get washed, changed, and ready for bed, and was asleep half an hour after he'd checked the time in the study. His hair always looked a spiky mess in the morning, but some of his lady friends found it attractive, so he scarcely bothered to fix it.

In the runup to midnight, he was having a simple dream; All the folks he'd helped thus far had come to give him their thanks, and allow him to see how they'd gotten on. He was garbed in his usual attire when he was out and about; His dark blue suit jacket like trenchcoat with matching trousers, a dark grey shirt with a light grey tie, and black, brown soled shoes. All of that pleasant dreaming ended when he got dragged through the glass at Midnight though. The sudden change in scenery had caused him to faceplant the ground though.

"...Well. This was certainly unusual. First time I've had a dream where I get dragged through a glass window after a sudden blackout." Crobalt said as he got up and dusted himself off, gazing around at the people around him... His attention caught soon after by the talking White Rabbit, and listened to all those talking. He then slapped his cheeks to see if that would wake him up, to no avail.

"...Okay... Not sure what's going on here, but I hope it wasn't that cheese sandwich I ate today." Cronic said, walking over to the White Rabbit and the rest of the people around him. Unlike the others, though, he didn't reach down to pet him. Rather, he was simply observing it from a distance.

"So, uh... Anyone have any idea what just happened?"

Nicola Khumalo

Nicky was having the weirdest dream. She'd had some weird dreams before, but she could usually make sense of them. The one she'd had where she was a fairytale princess floating through the air casting spells on people had come after listening to Taylor Swift's "Today was a Fairytale". She didn't know what she had seen, heard, or did to prompt a dream about a forest with a bunch of random people standing around. Not to mention her attire for this dream was all too typical for her. Why wasn't she wearing something weird and wacky to fit this weird and wacky setting? This seemed like it was going to be a really boring dream.

That turned out to be completely false when Nicky caught sight of the clothed rabbit. That was funny enough at first. Then it talked. Now the dream was really getting bonkers. "Oh my god, that's amazing!" She blurted out as she bounded up to the rabbit, sparing no thought for the others near her and talking aloud. She immediately whipped out her phone to take as many pictures as she could of this spectacle. It was only after reflexively going through the motions that she realised it wasn't even operating. She tried smacking it, turning it back on, anything to get it to respond, but nothing worked. This really was going to be a boring dream. What kindof dream was it if she couldn't even take pictures of a talking rabbit? She inevitably gave up on taking pictures, choosing to sit and wait sullenly for something more interesting to happen.

@The Jest

Strength - Chase Rivers

Gentle summer breeze. The sensation of soft dirt and grass beneath him. Chase opened his eyes, the sight of tall grass, trees that reached for the sky, grey clouds. With ease that somewhat surprised him, somewhat jolted him awake, he stood up. Inspecting himself as he dusted the dirt off of his backside, he found himself in his usual work clothes. Instead of the clothes he had gone to sleep in on his day off. He looked around himself, eyes glancing over the others present. Everyone was very distinct, none of them people he knew. In fact, most were teenagers. This felt too vivid, too real to be a dream. He listened to the blond child, obviously the youngest one present, go on his monologue about dangers and tropes. How this was a dream and danger was imminent. He felt like dismissing these claims as the wild imagination of a child, but... something nagged at him at the back of his head. Especially about this not being a dream. It most certainly did not feel like a dream.

Feeling the familiar weight of his pack of cigarettes against his thigh, he fished out his cheap lighter and a single cigarette from the confines of his clothes and lit it. Taking a long drag of his cigarette, he looked at the white rabbit. It was surprised to see adults here, meaning... he dreaded the conclusion his mind had come to. The ones who had come here before would have to have been the...

The child victims of P3 Syndrome.

And if they were here, that meant they were now comatose as well. With the sudden addition of over a dozen victims outside of the usual age range the Syndrome struck, London would fall into panic. Adults could now be affected as well. Chaos would ensue.

"Old man... you better find me."

The first thought that flashed through his mind was: This ain't my bed.

Next came that classic little line from 'The Wizard of OZ'. Liam wholly blames sleep-deprivation, disorientation and mild dizziness for that thought.

Blinking grey spots away from his vision, he took a second to register the feel of soft ground pressing against his back and the cool moist sensation seeping through his T-shirt. Yeah, definitely doesn't feel like his bed. Breathing in deeply once, he didn't catch the familiar, faint artificial blackberry-scented freshener in the air. Instead, he is met with the smell of fresh earth and a myriad of aromas that wouldn't be out of place in a national park. Grass tickled his palms as he braced them flat on the earth to push himself up into a sitting position before leisurely getting to his feet. Noticing the jeans and sneakers he was sporting, Liam frowned. Groggy as he was, he clearly recalled changing into his sleepwear before hitting the sack.

So what was this? A dream? A hallucination? The grass and soil felt rather real. His texture of his clothes and the weight of his shoes too. His mind certainly wasn't capable of conjuring such realism. Unless whatever is happening is similar to that event a few year ago...

The frown turns into a scowl as he shoves that train of thought away. He didn't have time for this. He had so many things to do. Taking care of the kids, finish looking over the pile of stuff his grandfather left for him, going through all the emails from various interested parties regarding the P3 Syndrome.

Exhaling a quiet sigh, he takes the time to study the other individuals in the same situation, all in various stages of awareness and attentiveness. Most were around his age, judging by appearance alone, but there were a couple of adults. Liam scrunched his nose lightly as the gentleman in a bartender outfit - he assumes, at least - a few paces to his right puffs on a stick of cigarette, the strong scent of tobacco wafting towards his nose. And of course, the bunny. A white rabbit in a fancy coat that walked on its hind legs like a human and talked. Yeah, he wasn't hearing things. It talked.

From this distance, he could distinctly hear the short exchange between the rabbit - seriously...'The White Rabbit'...rip-off Wonderland, anyone? - and the woman rubbing its head, as well as the monologue from a blonde kid and various other short exclamations or snippets of murmured words arising from the group gathered here for reasons unknown.

"Haven't got the faintest clue." Liam murmurs in reply to the brown-haired man's question as he crossed his arms. Gaze flickering between his unfamiliar surroundings and the walking, talking bunny, he lets out a low, humourless scoff. "Besides this being a cheap parody of "Alice in Wonderland", that is. I mean, we've got the White Rabbit over there. Now all we need to do is wait for it to pull out a stopwatch and start running away before following it down a hole and I guess we'll find out."

The dream always started the same way.

He would find himself trapped in a dark room, with only a door of light at its end to illuminate the strange scene. As he advanced toward it the room itself would try to stop him by doing any manner of things. A previously unnoticed rope might launch towards him and attempt to restrain the boy, or perhaps the room would mysteriously elongate. Regardless of what happened, the dream always ended the same way too. He would finally reach the strange door and right before he could cross its threshold it would slam shut and trap him in blackness. The boy stopped mere steps from the door, awaiting the same fate that had befell him every night. Yet tonight was strangely... different. Upon closer examination the door of light had become a mirror of sorts? The boy's confused reflection stared back at him, before giving way to a scene of a verdant forest overshadowed completely by dreary grey clouds. He expected the door to slam shut and plunge him into the shadows yet again, but instead he felt something yank him through the window and he fell into the outside world.

Rhys opened his eyes shortly after the impact, and his sight was met by the same colossal emerald coloured trees and all encompassing grey clouds. Shifting himself to a comfortable sitting position, he quickly discovered that he was not alone. All around him other people, who were far too intricately detailed in their appearances for them to be mere figments of his mind's creation were also getting up. Most were around his age, perhaps they had all just experienced a similar ordeal? Rhys was content to sit and observe for a short while until a white rabbit showed up and began... speaking to a few members of the group. A talking rabbit... This is either an incredibly vivid dream, or I have truly gone mad. Rhys internally mused as he forced himself to his feet.

Once the ground was beneath his feet once more Rhys noticed yet another oddity. Why was he wearing a white button-up shirt and black trousers? He could have sworn that he discarded these clothes prior to dozing off! It was a trivial annoyance considering the situation, but an annoyance nonetheless. He listened in on the rabbit's conversation with one of the others and caught the mention of the name "Wonderland". He was about to interject before a blonde-haired boy beat him to the punch. He went on about Wonderland and made a few good points. Indeed, if this was the same Wonderland that Rhys was thinking of, there would be weirdness and danger in spades.

After the boy's monologue had ended, Rhys's thoughts drifted back to himself and he noticed a small clump of earth clinging to his shirt. He flicked the soil from his attire and advanced towards the two ladies and the White Rabbit.

"Pardon the interruption ladies, but I do believe that age should be among the least of our concerns right now." He looked towards the supposed "Adult" of the pair before resuming. "Though for the record, you do not look old whatsoever in my opinion." Rhys turned to face most of those who were conscious before continuing, "I have not even the foggiest idea of what has happened to us, but I think we should be focusing on another matter. Rather than bother with the specifics of what, I personally would like to know why." Rhys turned and walked towards the White Rabbit before addressing him. "Pardon my assumption, Mr. White Rabbit. You seem to be the one among us who knows the most about our current state of affairs. If you would be so kind as to enlighten us, that would be greatly appreciated."

@The Jest@CronicCrystalis@Loki Odinson@Crimmy@Petulant@Letter Bee@Duoya@Gummy1295@Etranger@Avant@Suku@Windstormugly

"This isn't any bloody dream of mine..." Hector muttered to himself as he took in his new surroundings. It all looked so disgustingly puerile, like something a child would dream up. Hector was not the kind to dream of frolicking in some verdant forest with a motley crew of strangers. Whatever this was, he sincerely doubted it was a dream. Although that was the conclusion he had reached, he did not assume that this "talking rabbit" was on the level. Many of the others appeared to be conversing with it as though it was the most normal thing that had ever been. Just because it was standing in front of them didn't make it legit. Hector could think of plenty of other things it could be than an honest-to-god talking bunny, and none of them gave him any comfort here.

"So, uh, while you're taking in all these questions..." He spoke up, directing his speech to the "rabbit". "Would you mind giving us one good reason to trust anything you say?" Even if the rabbit was somehow real, that didn't mean they could trust it. Stranger danger was king, even for grown adults. Putting blind faith in the first thing they saw here was tantamount to disaster.

@The Jest

She had been adjusting to this entire country.

It had been a few days since she arrived in this country. She had been an exchange student from Japan, having wanted to move and enjoy another country on top of eventually becoming a very good photographer and artist. She's always loved art and she was excited to be here for the school. She would then plan to apply for the University Studies in London next year. That is if everything had gone well.

Regardless, Hitomi was confident but yet, very nervous. Going away from her longtime home was pretty scary, especially since she had lived in Japan all her life. It was her first time ever out of the country. She had gotten adjusted to her new home. She seemed to like her host family so far as they seemed very kind. It had been a long day of exploring the city and getting settled in and she found herself drifting to nearly until suddenly, she felt herself being lifted suddenly. Nothing had picked her up it was just this presence feeling. She was alert instantly. Her brown eyes, widening in shock at the sudden movement. What was happening to her?

Her anxiety increased before seeing a light of some sort, noticing she could see herself in the reflection. Her brown hair was messed up a bit and she was standing on the ground now. In a meadow looking land. The sun shined bright in her eyes. She covered her eyes with her right arm, trying to adjust to the light when she looked down, noticing a White Rabbit.

And then it talked.

She jumped, nearly falling over but was able to balance herself. Gasping, she realized she wasn't hearing things. Her breathing increased, staring down at the rabbit.

"Y-You talked." She breathed, trying to force her body to relax. This was really weird. It was like they were in Wonderland of all places.

Maria Kusonoki

"Well we are certainly not in Kansas anymore." Maria said aloud as she looked at the odd gathering of people. This place was odd and with that said she started to question her sanity those people didn't look familiar and she was sure that rabbit spoke. "I'm not mad but yet I must be otherwise I wouldn't be here." I am sure this is some kind of bad joke at best it has to be there is no secret world behind the mirror its as foolish as a app that summons demons. She thought to herself yes rationalizing was getting her nowhere and she knew that but in the end it made her feel so much better about herself in the long run.

Softly Maria looked around "I am sure no dream should be this realistic I am pretty sure on that." She said once more not towards anyone but mainly for herself she was trying to rationalize something and it wasn't going very well in the long run. Looking closer at the rabbit she muttered once more "Yup definatly not in Kansas anymore." She said which meant that perhaps she was going mad or perhaps she was already mad? Or there was some secret meaning behind this that can be explained though she did not put a lot of stock in that one being true.

Jeremy Hart

Most dreams are simple, the minds way of dealing with all the things happening each day, and whatever useless things that the mundane individuals brood and worry over.
This dream had so far gotten a bit too childish, though it somehow felt more real.
As Jeremy stood up and got his bearings he noted the various youths exclaiming their surprise at the situation, in particular the talking white rabbit. Which didn't surprise him as much, it was a dream after all. And various kids reflecting over how wierd the situation was only highlighted that his mind was very much aware of itself. He was after all above those he had obviously projected his thoughts about into the dream.
It did however make him interested in where the rabbit came from. And as he had such clarity of mind, he could that see the kids and whatnot around him didn't remind him of anyone he knew. And he did remember most of his students.

"Hm, will this visage change anytime soon or will I have too be annoyed at kids in my sleep as well?" Jeremy said. Not particularly loud, but anyone standing close enough would hear it. Not that it mattered, they were all part of his dream.

London

Another day in the darkness of solitude, another night in a hollow, empty room, with not much more than a bed, a table, and a kitchen in the back. Not a sign of a computer, or even a tv in there, let alone anything else. Tyler Blackmore completely cut himself off from the outside while he was here, and he was fine with that.

Honestly, he doesn't quite understand why he even bothers going out for anything. Why he should not just indulge completely in the deadly sin of sloth until he dies alone; a fitting death he feels. It's not like he likes his recently appointed job, it's a normal nine-to-five working at a grocery store, with a normal wage for it. But no matter how much he feels he should die for what he's done on that fateful day, something inside of him, something he can't quite explain, keeps him in the struggle to live on with his life, something that prompted him to help others and give money to those in need, without waiting to get any gratitude for it before walking away. As he lays himself in bed, if only for a fleeting moment, he stopped thinking about his life, closing his eyes in the hopes that maybe his dreaming could help him escape his past.

...It never does.

Trauma of any kind has a tendency to fester in the subconscious of the mind; even if the conscious tries to forget the subconscious never does. As such, every night he is found struggling in his bed, moving back and forth as if never finding a comfortable position to sleep in, as his mind relives the catastrophe he experienced. Every night, he knows what's going to happen, and tries whatever he could to keep it from happening again, but by either natural or unnatural means, it never works, and he has to see that explosion and hear the screams of agony from those his explosive burned to death every night, over and over in a self-made purgatory.

But this time, this time was different. As he crawls into a fetal position, trying to shut his eyes from flames, and cover his ears from the screams, he began to notice the light starting to go dim, the screams becoming softer and softer. He opened his eyes and ears, and noticed that, instead of that location, he was now in a void of black, and nothing but silence to accompany it. He tried to think this was a dream, and command his physical eyes to open, but they never did and he only sees this complete darkness. Tyler didn't much believe in a god, nor believed in an afterlife; what he's seeing and hearing now, nothing, is exactly the kind of thing he expected would be seen when he died. In which case, did he die? Did this constant repeating experience finally just up and killed him? His thoughts were answered in a way he did not expect. A shining light broke through the darkness, somewhat hurting his eyes. He squints in order to look at the source, and while it took a little while for his eyes to focus for the detail, he saw it: A mirror, a rather fancy looking one at that. As he floated towards it, though, he began to notice that, unlike other mirrors, it was not reflecting himself from its surface, but rather, a forest of some sort. Tyler looked back at the darkness, checking if it was reflecting the scene behind him, but it was still darkness.

This was interesting for him, even before the incident, he knows he never had a dream quite like this before, well, maybe he did and he just doesn't remember, but it couldn't have been this...vivid for his mind. Our of curiosity, he touched the surface of the mirror, looked fascinated as it ripples like the surface of water. Pushing his finger forward, he managed to push his hand through the surface of the mirror, again, like water. He tried to pull it out, only to notice that he could not, and that something from inside the mirror, something he couldn't see, was pulling him inside. Tyler had plenty of strength from his days in the army, but even that was like nothing, as he could not pull himself from the mirror, and was inevitably thrown in.

His neighbors may have noticed it now, the moving of his body and the groans he lets out were both silenced. If they ever looked inside, it may have looked like Tyler, for once in his life, was actually sleeping peacefully.

---------------------------------------

Butter Daisy Forest

Tyler managed to land further inside the forest, a surprisingly large distance away from the others. He didn't scream while he did, more fascinated than horrified at what was happening. Because of this however, his landing would be hardly noticed by the party gathered everywhere else. At the very least the White Rabbit and Alice didn't notice it, Although Adam did spot something falling from the corner of his eye, when he looked over to see what it was though, it was already gone from his sight.

Speaking of which...

Alice looked at everyone getting up, amazed by how many people are now here, people she has never seen before has entered this place, and by the sound of things, did so the exact same way she did. Was this truly a dream? It seemed impossible for it to be otherwise, and yet, here they were, ...the compliment of her age by a few of them were appreciated however.

"Why...Thank you." She said to them, giving a shy smile before shaking her head and looking towards the Rabbit again. The others were right, while her beauty being called into question from her age was a personal problem, they needed to focus more on what the hell's going on around them.

The actual kid of the group seemed to pull an effort of figuring it out...in a rather bizarre way of doing so. While Alice tried to smile and ignore the oddities of what the kid was saying, Adam simply raised an eyebrow at the kid.

"Yeah... this has to be a dream. No normal kid would talk like that in reality." He thought, as he too looked at the rabbit, his ear perking up as he heard the other man who came in, who appeared to be just as convinced of it being a dream as him. Adam gave a short glare towards him, and then back towards the Rabbit.

It was right about when one of the females of the group decided to try and take a picture of the White Rabbit with a phone that does not work, that the White Rabbit began to realize that, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Most of them were staring like they never saw a white rabbit before, unaware that it's his human like tendencies such as standing on his hind legs and talking that made them so fascinated with him.

...And it was getting annoying fast.

Thank the sea of souls that there were at least SOME of these people who were able to ask some decently acceptable questions about the scenario, such as asking him what's going on, and if he can even be trusted. The fact that Hector called said trust of this rabbit into question did not phase the rabbit one bit. Thinking seriously and logically for a minute, he actually knows for a fact that humans have never seen something in their world quite like him, so it's not that surprising that they wouldn't trust him at first glance. He then immediately pulled out a pocket watch with a lid covering the actual watch, opening it up midway so as to check the time on it...pretty much solidifying what Liam said about the rabbit.

"...Whatever information I can provide, I'll be happy to. But for now, there's no time to explain. For the sake of information, you're in the Butter Daisy Forest...or at least just outside of it anyways, and we're not out of the woods yet. Reasons for trust aside, something terrible is coming this way as we speak, and we need to get to safety now before it arrives." The White Rabbit explained.

"Something, ...terrible?" Alice asked.

"Perhaps you didn't hear the pale guy over there, but that's not how this is going to go. You can't expect us to go anywhere with you if you don't give us a reason to believe you're not some predatory monster or something." Adam said to him.

"A monster!? How rude! I'll have you know I am just as sophisticated as any human on your side."

"What do you mean on OUR side? Where exactly are we?" Adam then asked, interrupting the rabbit.

"I told you there's no time to explain right now! We need to get moving to safety before he comes!" The White Rabbit said.

"Before WHO comes!?" Adam said back.

@rebthewriter @CronicCrystalis @Loki Odinson @Crimmy @Petulant @Letter Bee @Duoya @Gummy1295 @Etranger @Avant @Suku @Windstormugly @CriticalHit

Strength - Chase Rivers

Need to get to safety? The little kid's words play back in his mind. The rabbit knew more than it was letting on, to be sure, but if they were really in danger, then...

The hairs on the back of his neck rose. Feeling a pit of dread in his stomach, Chase forced himself to look away from the others deeper into the forest. Nothing. Just massive trees and extraordinarily tall grass. He let out a sigh of relieved tension. What had gotten into him? Being scared by a few words, honestly... Feeling at ease, he took another drag of his cigarette and almost swallowed it when a mass of black, writhing tendrils and mist landed with an awful noise by the edge of the clearing.

"I'd assume that's... him." He said quietly, not sure anyone heard him. The mist and tendrils soon dissipated into nothing, revealing a more humanoid figure. He was monstrous in size, he had to be over eight feet tall and nothing but rippling muscle. Wearing simple black trousers, the man was topless with the exception of two sleeves strapped with belts on his hands. His black hair was tied into a ponytail. This would not scare Chase much, even if his size was a bit unnerving. It was those gleaming yellow eyes that set him on edge. The man's gaze was set on the White Rabbit.

"White Rabbit. Why are these humans here? It's time to stop this childish tantrum and come back to Queensland." His voice was tense, like honey on gravel as his eyes swept over their group before locking on the rabbit again. "No... why is she here?"

The Sun - Crobalt Nicholas "Cronic" Crystalis

"I think we already went down said hole, judging from the look of this place." Cronic said to Liam, before returning his attention to the white Rabbit... And the arrival of the unknown man from the mass of mist and tentacles.

"Ladies, gents, now would be a good time to book it out of here if you don't want to take on a humanoid mountain of muscle!" Cronic said in response to the arrival of the unknown, but clearly unfriendly individual in front of them.

"I'd like to think that I could at least hold the line for a time to buy the others a chance to escape on an ordinary day, but we're in an unknown land, with a talking rabbit, and an eight foot behemoth of a man. Normal kind of went to pot a while ago." Cronic thought to himself, turning on his heels as quickly as he could, and took off as fast as his legs would allow.

Snow Cecil found a large stick just as the White Rabbit, by saying 'On your side', confirmed that this was another world, and followed that up with confirmation of an imminent threat. Said threat came from a strangely human-like and humanoid figure in an outlandish costume whose eyes were frightening and sparked a sense of danger in the boy. More importantly, this mysterious figure - an enemy? - gave hints that he and the White Rabbit used to be on the same side before the latter betrayed their common faction for some reason. Maybe because said common faction was kidnapping kids; it's obvious this was where the P3 Syndrome were taken.

"Everyone!" the boy said as loudly and clearly as he could, "Follow the White Rabbit's advice - Run! Do not try and hold this guy off, do not try to reason with him, flee to the woods!" But even as he began to walk backward, seeking the cover of the woods, his mind could not stop analyzing. There we go again, the black-haired and eyed woman who had surprised the White Rabbit seems to have a special status among these folk.

A decision was made; self-preservation had to be delayed. Snow sifted his stick to his left hand, and rushed over to Alice to grab her right wrist with his own right hand. He would then try and pull her back, hoping against hope that she would run with him, as he said, "Everyone, make sure this woman is safe! Don't ask why but she's important to these folk! Guard her with your lives!"

He kept pulling at Alice as he did so.

@CriticalHit@Windstormugly@Suku@Avant@Etranger@Gummy1295@Duoya@Petulant@Loki Odinson@CronicCrystalis@The Jest

The day had been an exhausting one so far - He had started his run at 4:00 AM, and proceeded to run for the next 4 hours without pause. He only stopped for a green light, as he knew his mother hated when he simply ran across the street when it was the crack of dawn and cars could hit him. He tried to resume his run when the light turned red, but upon lifting his legs, he immediately fell to the ground. Swearing, Luke realized he had stopped running while waiting for the light - his legs were incredibly tired after the run, and he had lost track of time and been running for longer than he planned. Sighing, he rose to his shaky feet and, after a great deal of difficulty, he made his way to the gym he worked part-time at.

He barely had time to shower and change for his shift at 9:30 AM, but luckily, he only had to scan people's memberships cards today. Thankfully, the manager had taken mercy on him and had made his schedule a lot less intensive - school was just around the corner, after all. Luke continued to work, pausing only occasionally when no one was coming in so he could massage his ankles. He had planned to do some dead lifts later today, but he knew that his mother would yell at him if he did in his current condition. After an 8 hour shift, Luke clocked out, and made his way home.

By 6:00 PM, he had arrived to his large home. He had never brought any friends over, having felt that they would be too intimidated by his wealth. Hell, the friends he does have don't know anything about his family - they most likely assumed that he was a poorer kid, considering how he usually dressed. Entering his home, he was greeted by the maids, who proceeded to cook dinner. Mother, as it seemed, was at a board meeting, and wouldn't be home for a few days. Sitting down to another, lonely meal, Luke finally made his way to his room at 7:00.

There was little to do - He practiced the breathing exercises that Dr. Matthews had instructed him to use when he started feeling poorly. Opening his eyes, he realized that it didn't help much.

Luke looked into the full scale mirror in his room, the one that his mother installed when she made a futile attempt to give him a more fashionable wardrobe. He appeared normal - at least, his upper body did. At the bottom of his torso, his legs devolved - mere vestigial strings, shaking delicately underneath the large girth and mass of his body. Sweat dripped down Luke's face as the small, noodle-like extremities began to grow thinner and thinner, growing exponentially smaller and smaller, until he could hardly see the flesh - even the bones began to compact, shrinking smaller than a thread-

Luke was on the ground. A foul stench hit his nose as he realized he wasn't just on the ground - he was lying in a pool of vomit. Rising slowly, almost uncertainly, he called for one of the maids, slowly making his way to the bathroom. When she made it the his room, she called out.

"You know I'll have to contact your mother about this, right, Mr. LaMotta? She told us to call her when this happens to you."

"I know... Let her know that I'm alright. I hate when ma has to worry."

Gripping his hand into a tight fist, Luke began to clean himself up. He hated feeling so weak, having vomited on the ground over stupid tricks his mind was playing. It was childlike, and it sohuldn't have any effect on him in the slightest. He ate a significantly smaller meal, chicken and oats. It was stupid to be so scared of something that was just his mind playing games with him... Jst him being weak...

Even while he thought this, he was extra careful to avoid eye contact with the mirror as he slipped into bed.

He didn't expect what awaited him when he awoke.

---

He had felt a small pulling sensation. He saw, in front of him another him - another Luke. He was in a void, and he sighed slightly. Not this nightmare again...

Unlike other times, however, this Luke was static. After what felt like hours, but was only a few seconds, the figure faded - In it's place, there was a rectangular reflection. The other Luke had simply been his own reflection. Nearly a solid minute passed, before a scene played out on the mirror's surface.

Green meadows, very fluffy clouds, and an expanse of warmth that felt almost unnerving. Closing his eyes, hoping for the dream to end soon, he felt himself launch into the mirror - he didn't even have time to open his eyes and see what catapulted his frame into the object. Whatever it was it had to be pretty strong, to launch someone of his size and strength so easily. Next thing he knew, Luke had landed inside of the strange world.

---

There seemed to be a small group of people, with Luke near the the right side of the group. Without warning, a small creature walked up to them - a rabbit. Or at least, a creature that looked like a rabbit. He was the first to open his mouth - or, at the very least, whoever was using the puppet had decided to talk first.

"Hmm...Well, this is... disappointing to say the least. Why, they look no different from any other human."

Quickly, a response followed from a girl nearby, wearing a sundress.

The creature, apparently using the alias "White Rabbit", introduced them to the "Wonderland." Luke silently reminded himself to not order chicken form the supermarket he usually went to - this was obviously a fever dream caused by food poisoning. And the day before he started his Senior year... Hopefully this wouldn't last long.

The others in the group began to converse ,going on about things like "Psychics" and "P3 Syndrome." Luke chuckled to himself - he heard about that terrible phenomena a few weeks ago on the news, and a man came into the gym today saying that his son had fallen into a coma 4 days ago. Luke's brain must have been trying to really scare him, or this was on hell of a dream.

Finally, the rabbit began to speak again.

"...Whatever information I can provide, I'll be happy to. But for now, there's no time to explain. For the sake of information, you're in the Butter Daisy Forest...or at least just outside of it anyways, and we're not out of the woods yet. Reasons for trust aside, something terrible is coming this way as we speak, and we need to get to safety now before it arrives."

There was a bit more talking, but Luke couldn't hear it - he had already begun to snicker, and by the time they said "monster" later in the conversation, it had erupted into full-blown laughter. It was barely between hard inhales that Luke was able to speak.

"This is- This is the funniest goddamn fever dream I've ever had!"

Rising to his feet, he continued.

"'Butter Daisy Forest?' 'Something Coming?' If this wasn't some dream I was having, I'd give this a 10/10, cause only something this ridiculous would happen in a children's show."

Luke continued to speak, speaking over a Taller, blond man as he did so.

"For god's sake, if this 'Monster' comes to a place like 'Butter Daisy Forest,' how bad could it possibly b-"

Luke was cut off upon seeing the mountain of a man - Luke's head only came to his chest, and he was about at muscular as Luke - No, he looked even more muscular. While this alone was intimidating, Luke knew more than anybody else - The taller you are, the more muscle you need to pack on in order to look intimidating. For someone of this size, he was clearly a man of strength and power...

God, Luke felt stupid. Why was he scared - this was a dream. A very, very realistic one, but still a dream. A smaller blond kid began to encourage everyone to start running, and while Luke would normally love to, there was a slight problem.

Luke's legs ached horribly, and if he started to run for his life without stretching first, he might pull a muscle... maybe worse. If that happened, and his mom came home early, she'd take him to the hospital... it was just what she did whenever he was hurt...

Luke wasn't going to the hospital. If he needed to run, he'd jog... yeah, it'd hurt a lot, but this guy was clearly heavy. The while his legs seemed extremely muscular, they'd have to carry his massive weight no matter what. Luke could outrun him, even if it hurt a little...

Reaching for his leg, he began to breath in through his nose, hold for 10 seconds, and breathed out through his mouth. Just like Dr. Matthews taught him... His legs felt fine right now. He couldn't have one of his episodes now.

Not on the off chance, the incredibly minuscule possibility that this wasn't a dream.

Maria Kusonoki

Maria was a lot of things stupid wasn't one of them if something was coming that scared someone and in a unknown situation you normally defer to them for experience right? Well in that case the person happened to be a talking rabbit well she was going to listen to it no matter how stupid or outrageous it sounded. "I'm going to trust you rabbit for now I am pretty sure this is some bad nightmare based on alice in wonderland but no time to argue it seems" Maria said this was way past her comfort level but she had to adapt in this case it could mean her life? She was still unsure if this was meant to be reality or a fantasy created by a feverish dream. She did have a slight cold so it was possible right? One thing was for sure after this she would get answers even if she had to play the rabbits game for awhile.

@The Jest

The High Priestess - Meredith Fong

All the sensations was really working against the "dreaminess" of the dream she was having, if it was actually a dream in the first place. Was it a really vivid dream, or had her PJs been stolen away and replaced by stuff in her closet without her even knowing? That was a question that she didn't know the answer to, but Meredith didn't know if she could get a solid idea to what was true any time soon. Everyone else was just as confused as her, and she couldn't really blame them. People who were figments of her brainwaves would think like her, right?

She let out a ponderous hum. She really had to give it to her brain; the sheer verisimilitude was making it almost indistinguishable to reality (or maybe a mass hallucination?). So the jacket-clad youth decided on her course of action. If she couldn't tell if it was real or not, then she would just have to be safer than sorry, er, it was better for her to be safe than sorry - Meredith shook her head, squishing her palms against her cheeks. What she wanted to say was: it was better to be safe than sorry, so she'd just have to treat everything in this place as real!

So, that meant she was definitely in a place called the Butter Daisy Forest, although maybe she was misunderstanding that. And if the rabbit who was most familiar and knowledgeable with this place wanted her to run, then she'd run, right?

That buff, Australian fellow seemed like a good reason to.

Meredith immediately turned, legs pumping as she broke into a run.

"W-What?"

The sudden hit of reality that this was not a dream hit Hitomi as if she was getting hit by a bus. Wonderland? Wasn't that like some kind of fictional world? How was this supposed to be real?

But it was, but what did the White Rabbit mean by that they had no time to waste? What kind of danger did they all fall into here? Who was it?

The sudden arrival of the eight-foot-tall male caused Hitomi's eyes to widen in horror. She found herself tripping over a twig behind her, landing in a seated position, having her arms to support her fall. Her breathing increased; her expression of horror and shock had remained, firm and terrified. How in the world? What was going on here? She assumed that was what the white rabbit had been talking about just moments ago. The look in his eyes made her feel like her heart was about to jump out of her chest.

She agreed with the White Rabbit now. There was no time to explain, but she was still questioning it. Her mind was still racing at suddenly being pulled into the unknown. You couldn't blame her, really. She was still taking all of this in. Getting thrown into a world that she had no knowledge had been scary to her.

Her instincts kicked in, immediately finding herself breathing heavily from the anxiety that had been building into her small, skinny body. Fight or flight.

It was obviously not for the fight. It was definitely flight. There would be nothing they could do to that man. She stood to her feet quickly before she bolted in the direction with the others who had already started to run. It was run or die, and Hitomi really didn't want to die just yet.