Down the Rabbit Hole Again

[Nephriel]

So, what I'm looking for here is a few people to join me on a twisted journey into Wonderland... It's going to be a guessing game at what is real with us trying to decide as we go, kinda a Sucker Punch meets Alice deal. This version of the story is going to be a mash up of several books, comics, and games I've played based on a twisted Wonderland. So, if something sounds familiar... it probably is.

Anyway, the story is that Alice Liddell had a child and her line was carried on to Taylor Croft, my character. When my character hit puberty she, like all of Alice's decedents before her, started having delusions. She starts hearing animals, bugs, and even plants talking to her. She tries to shut them out, but with no luck she ends up admitted to a psych ward through a series of events I'll explain later. However, after meeting several others who seem to be having the same delusions she becomes certain that she and the women in her family before her weren't crazy after all and that instead they are cursed. So, the group is trying to find a way to break their curse. More info on that is to come in the play...

I'm not sure yet which direction I'm going to go.... Having Original Characters wandering Wonderland or having them see each other as Wonderland Inhabitants since it's a shared 'delusion'. If I go with the Wonderland Inhabitants idea then I have some ideas for everyone's 'issues'.

The Cannon Character Version

Cheshire Cat: The clever and mischievous kid who hides behind his/her smile and who tends to talk in riddle and give cryptic answers to anyone he/she doesn't like or simply when he/she is agitated.
White Rabbit: The kid obsessed with manners and not being late. Gets very upset when he/she is... has breakdowns.
Dormouse: Possibly a shy and very nervous boy/girl that everyone believes to be autistic. Is skittish and avoids being touched.
Mad Hatter: The boy/girl obsessed with hats whose mood swings rival Alice's and who tends to go off on tangents.
March Hare: Obsessed with tea and won't eat or drink anything that isn't in a tea cup. Throws things when cross.
Caterpillar: NPC Wonderland version of their therapist unless someone has another idea for him/her.
Duchess: NPC, probably the cafeteria lady.
Card Guards: NPCs
Red Queen: ?

I included The Truth About Alice, so you guys can see the kinda dark roads I'm willing to take and so you can see the background (most of which was taken from American McGee's Alice) that got us here. I intend for this to stay PG-13 and therefore in RPG's parameters despite the darker aspects. High-end casual players who are able to post once a day and at least two or three six sentence paragraphs are preferred. Don't be scared off by the amount of story, it covers two game summaries. I won't ever expect that much out of you, lol.

The Truth About Alice

Once upon a time there was a girl named Alice who was very curious. Though she had an older sister, the years between them were many and so Alice often played on her own. To fill the void of playmates she began to dream and fantasize all day and all night about rabbits with waistcoats and pocketwatches, vanishing cats with luminous grins, and talking flowers. She would imagine her Wonderland any chance she could and was a very lively and playful girl even if she was a bit shy and introverted. One night, as she played in Wonderland, her house was set ablaze. The official report stated that her cat, Dinah, had knocked over a lamp in the library. In her room, Alice was daydreaming about Minotaurs sneaking into her home and had just dozed of listening to her sister's mumbling through the bedroom wall when Dinah leaped onto her chest and woke her to find her room filled with smoke.

Still clinging to her stuffed rabbit, Alice ran from her room only to find the blaze in the hall cutting her off from her parents whom she could hear screaming for her to get out on the other side of the blaze. Alice went to Lizzie's room, intent on waking her sister but the door was locked and the handle burned her hands. She screamed for Lizzie but her sister never answered. With the heat burning her skin and the smoke stinging her eyes and making her cough Alice retreated back to her room to find Dinah digging at her latched window. Opening her only means to escape, she followed Dinah out the window, down the lattice, and into the yard. She was standing outside her home, burned and covered in soot, still clinging to her rabbit when the authorities showed up. It was hard to say how long she'd stood there listening to her parent's scream, unable to help, until the screams had finally stopped. Police tried to speak to her but all she did was ramble about Minotaurs, talking cats, and a rabbit being cross at her parents for being late for tea.

Alice was taken to Rutledge Asylum by the authorities when, after days of rambling nonsense between crying and sleeping she succumbed to a violent fit of rage and tried to slit her wrists. This gave her Nanny, who had taken her in, no choice but to call for help. Then, she suddenly quit responding altogether and seemed to drop into catatonia. Over her time in Rutledge the Doctors and Nurses tried a variety of potions and treatments, none of which were effective. Then, feeling sorry for the girl, one of the nurses washed and stitched her old rabbit back together. After the rabbit was thoroughly repaired and white from washing once more, the nurse returned the rabbit to the girl in hopes it would ease her troubled mind. Instead, Alice seemed to suddenly wake from her catatonia even if it was only to start speaking fevered gibberish to the rabbit. She began to draw fantastic and morbid images of Wonderland and have moments of wakeful alertness during which she could be randomly violent and had to be restrained just in case. When she wasn't violent, Alice could be extremely charming if a bit cryptic and still altogether mad. She began telling stories about Wonderland and how she planned to defeat the Red Queen for twisting and destroying her world. All the psychiatrists could guess was that the Red Queen was another possible way for Alice to see herself and that she still blamed herself for her family's death... A type of survivor's remorse and that Wonderland was a way to escape the reality of her trauma.

After ten years in Rutledge, Alice seemed to suddenly return to reality with no help but her own. She began speaking clearly and of sane matters, she began eating and walking outside, and even seemed to be slowly coming to terms with her guilt. She suddenly asked the nurse to remove the rabbit and refused to speak of the toy and no longer drew at all. Slowly she seemed to come to terms with her guilt. Her psychiatrist, Doctor Winston, kept the rabbit despite... thinking that perhaps in time she'd want it back. As her progress increased Alice was finally released from the Asylum and was proclaimed cured, though Doctor Winston was reluctant to claim credit for her recovery. In an effort to help her survive in the outside world Alice's former Nurse set her up in a Home for troubled children run by Angus Bumby. Bumby began a new form of treatment when Alice's dreams of Wonderland began to return after someone unknown sent her a picture of her family when Alice had thought everything had burned in the fire. The new treatment was hypnotherapy... something he did for all the children in the home to help them forget their troubled pasts. However, the more she tried to forget the worse her nightmares became until she suffered another break with reality.

In the end Alice discovered Bumby's real reason for wanting her to forget when everything came back to her. Bumby had been an undergrad in the Academy where her father taught Psychiatry, he seemed to take quite the interest in Lizzie, Alice's older sister. Lizzie, however, had no such fancies for him and actually expressed discomfort in being around him. After a time, Lizzie confided in Alice that Bumby had caught her in a bathroom in the Academy and had tried to make forceful advances which Lizzie had equally forcefully declined with threats of alerting the authorities. Angered by her rejection, Bumby had snuck into the Liddell house in the middle of the night. A only half awake Alice had mistaken him for one of her fanciful creatures and had went back to daydreaming, not knowing that the sounds from Lizzie's room was Bumby. Having done what he came to do he killed Lizzie and locked her bedroom door, taking her key as a sort of twisted memento. Then, he'd taken an oil lamp and had thrown it into the library, intending to kill everyone in the home to cover up his crime... Having awoken to the truth Alice confronted Bumby at the train station where he was planning to depart on a business trip. It was there that he smugly reminded her that no one would believe a crazy young girl over a well respected member of the community. Alice pushed him off the platform and into an oncoming train, then her worlds (Reality and Wonderland) seemed to merge into one. A few years down the road, Alice met a man who loved her despite her odd mood swings which laudanum seemed to ease. They got married, though right after having her daughter Alice's husband brought home a stuffed white rabbit for the baby's crib. Alice was said to have had another break with reality that same night and jumped out her bedroom window and broke her neck.

[Dragonbud]

This is a pretty cool idea! I would probably reverse the dormouse if we go with canon characters

[Nephriel]

Good to have you join! Once I see if there is interest I will get a character sheet layout up. :)

[Ink-berry]

This sounds pretty promising, so you can count me in.~

Also, I call the white rabbit. c:

[Phloem]

I'm interested. Probably gonna take the March Hare, if possible. c:

[Whirlwind]

Interested (particularly in the Chesire Cat ^_^)

[Nephriel]

All right! I will have the cs up later today for you guys. :)

[Nephriel]

Oops double post.

[Diminuendo]

I'm interested... if you're still accepting, that is. The Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter sound pretty cool to me.

[Dragonbud]

I propose that Dormouse, Hatter and March Hare make their own little posse.

[Whirlwind]

Dragonbud said
I propose that Dormouse, Hatter and March Hare make their own little posse.

I can see them snapping with one hand, tea cups in another...

[Nephriel]

Alright so:
Dragonbud has dibs on Dormouse
Whirlwind has dibs on Cheshire Cat
Phloem has dibs on March Hare
The White Rabbit is still Open
Diminuindo has dibs on Mad Hatter
That leaves Caterpillar and Duchess as NPCs and I figure the red queen can take on aspects of everyone's issues... I'll clarify what I mean by that later in the story. :)

Here is my CS, you guys can use it to make your own. I kept it simple... if you think of things to add, let me know.

PS: Keep in mind, I warned you this would take some darker PG-13 twists... My CS is an example.

Character Sheet

Name: Taylor Croft

Alias: Alice

Age: Seventeen

Personality: Is nervous around large groups and gets easily agitated and she has occasional emotional outburts making her prone to depression or fits of violence. It's hard for her to form attachments with others but those she does become attached to she is extremely protective of. She doesn't really care about societies rules, she goes by her own set of morals which can sometimes make no sense. She tends to drown herself in music and art of any kind and avoid social situations altogether.

Diagnosis:
Suffers from mild Sociopathic tendencies and stress induced delusions seeming to stem from Schitzoaffective Disorder.

Appearance:


Background:
Taylor spent the first half of her life with her mother, a drunk and a druggy too busy trying to drown out the voices in her head to pay attention to her daughter. Her mother's habits meant there was always someone sketchy going in and out of the house and Taylor learned to stay out of sight for her own sake. After her mother's overdose, Taylor was sent to live with her father and her half brother. For the first time in her life, Taylor knew what family felt like... what home felt like. Her only problems were the kids at school.

After years of learning to make herself invisible it was simply a habit despite how pretty she might have been. She avoided being around anyone she didn't know well, which was anyone aside from her brother, and tended to completely ignore the teachers and any authority figure in favor of her drawing or music. Add to all of this her random emotional outbursts and her nervous agitation around large groups and you have the makings of a true introvert. Her awkward behavior made her the target of the popular kid's pranks and it only further pushed her into her shell.

After her brother had a car accident Taylor's behavior and mental stability took a severe nose dive. Losing one of the only two people she was close with eventually led to a nervous break down. Her father found her chasing a butterfly around the yard in the middle of a rainstorm, with gardening sheers. She was shouting that it wasn't her fault and yelling 'off with your head' when he'd tried to stop her. In the end she'd accidentally sliced his hands with the sheers and lost it completely, if she hadn't already, at the sight of blood. She'd frozen up, wide eyed, whispering that he was painting their roses red. Taylor's father, terrified that she would hurt herself the next time, finally gave way and decided to send her to the hospital before she could. Once there they put her on xanex, lithium, and ambien and it seemed to stabalize her moods and calm the delusions it didn't get rid of them completely.

[Dragonbud]

I'm just about finished with my sheet, but I'm also really tired. So I'll post it in the morning. Im my background section I'm including a bit about the March Hare and the Mad Hatter because I didn't think it would be a stretch to say they've met each other in their time here

[Ink-berry]

Actually, I think I'm going to drop out of this roleplay. I... don't think that's how tragic backstories / mental illnesses work.

[Nephriel]

Check out ptsd and schizophrenia.... my mother had schitzoaffective disorder caused by ptsd and heard voices and had episodes anytime she was overly stressed. Also she had bipolar 1 and 2 so severely she was borderline multiple personalities which is a disassociative disorder also caused by ptsd. Trauma can cause loads of mental problems.

[Whirlwind]

Something we could add to the CS is what all they've been diagnosed with. Their mental conditions.

[Ink-berry]

I'm not saying trauma doesn't cause problems. I just feel that your character's backstory is too romanticized.

[Nephriel]

Romanticized or dramatic? This rp is supposed to be a twisted mess. ^_^ Sorry that doesn't work for you.

Also, I am editing my profile because losing her brother AND being messed with in the same night is over much. That I will agree with. Being tired and writing often doesn't mix. -Shrug-

@Whirlwind - Agreed. :)

[Whirlwind]

Name: Aria Toole

Alias: Cat

Age: 16

Personality: Mysterious, wise, helpful and at other times infuriatingly annoying, optimistic, intelligent, mischievous, clever, cheerful and enjoys cheering others up, always smiling, social, enjoys singing random poems and songs in the middle of conversations, confusing even to herself, philosophical/thoughtful, rather likes to play puppet master as well, steering others towards disaster or hope

Appearance:


Background: Aria grew up in a home with 6 other siblings, various boys and girls. She was the second to last, and always eager to get noticed, without getting in trouble for acting out at the same time. Her parents barely noticed her however, rather busy taking care of everyone, but her teachers certainly noticed the little pale girl with unnerving blue eyes and a grin always on her face. She liked to hide in corners, just smiling to herself and talking to imaginary friends. But it didn’t mean she was anti-social. In fact she was the most social girl in school. It didn’t mean she made friends easily though. She often spoke in confusing sentences, with words too big for a girl her age, leading the other kids to call her a freak and avoid her if they could outrun her. When someone was upset though, she was the first to hug and comfort them.

Her teachers suggested she take an intelligence test to determine what grade she actually belonged in, and she ended up drawing a cat out of the multiple choice bubbles. They let her take it again, and she actually tried. She got to skip 4 grades. Then when she ended up in 5th grade at the age of 7, she got put right back in 1st because of her ‘social maturity’. She would burst out in the middle of lectures random poems or song lyrics, and then simply ask a teacher a riddle when they would get on to her or ask her why she did that.

Once in high school, Aria caught the interest of the psychology teacher. Though he only taught seniors and Aria was still a freshman, he asked to tutor her in psychology after school. He ended up falling in love with her, and she manipulated him into killing his wife in order to be with her, basically just to see what he would do. They ran away together after he did so, but got caught. When Aria was investigated, she simply claimed there were multiple paths one could choose in life. Obviously her lover had chosen one with consequences. Being 15 years old, she was still a minor and couldn’t really be charged with anything, though her teacher was put away for a long time.

When Aria returned to school, she was called a killer and whore, though she just laughed manically at those who said those things. The other students had always avoided her, despite thinking she was rather nice if kind of freaky, but now many hated her. Of course, when she was confronted one day outside during lunch, things turned a little ugly. A senior boy called her out and said she was a freak. Aria simply giggled and said all the best people in the world are freaks. He tried to hit her, but she was quick as a whip, and pulled his shirt up and over his head as she jumped over the top of him. As he fell to the ground, shirt over his face, she leapt onto his back and started carving things into him like ‘meow’, ‘freak’, ‘whore’, ‘this way’, ‘that way’. A couple of teachers pulled her off him, bits of his flesh hanging from her nails as she grinned, eyes wide as they took her away and admitted her to the psych ward of the hospital.

Diagnosis: Psychopath, Bipolar, ADHD

[Ink-berry]

Nephriel said
Romanticized or dramatic? This rp is supposed to be a twisted mess. ^_^ Sorry that doesn't work for you.Also, I am editing my profile because losing her brother AND being messed with in the same night is over much. That I will agree with. Being tired and writing often doesn't mix. -Shrug-@Whirlwind - Agreed. :)

Both, but I find it too romanticized for my tastes.

And that's understandable. c:

Anyway, I'll just awkwardly leave now. Bye bye.