Through The Looking Grass

When the Jump had first failed, Alice had been terrified to put it lightly. The fear of losing her loved ones, the fear of losing the world, the fear of losing herself... They were what gave rise to that power of hers in that instant, weren't they? Yet even though she couldn't deny that panic had been the emotion puppeteering her then, she could still feel in her heart another sensation that had arisen in response to the crisis. At the time she was far too focused on her survival to pay any heed to it, but now that she found herself alone there was naught but the simulated ticking of a clock to interrupt her thoughts (and even that option on the device had failed to keep her mind from wandering). There were no mutants monstrosities, or hordes of eldritch horrors, or any of the countless other categories of miscellaneous dangers to distract her... There was just quiet. A hollow chamber and a hollow daughter both secreting a deafening silence that she was all too familiar with.

J.U.L.I.A. seemed to have taken the hint -- or at least James had -- and respected her wish to keep the details to herself in spite of her prior promise. It helped that they'd all be having a meeting soon enough anyway and needless to say she was sure her reputation of not being the most outgoing person had also contributed to the interrogation's delay. Although in its own way, the assembly was just as much a curse as it was a blessing. After all, if she didn't think most people would be sympathetic with her feelings than how could she entrust them to people who didn't know the slightest thing about Scarred Earth? No amount of monologuing about the Horsemen or edgy exposition about how miserable the past few years of her life had been would make taking comfort in the massacre seem any less fucked up. "Because it is fucked up." She muttered while burying her head into her knees. Who could understand a sentiment so easily skewed? Who the hell within her little circle of would-be allies was she supposed to blurt out her true feelings too? It was better to just bottle them up inside for now, bottle them up until she was sure it was alright to share...

Alice continued moping aimlessly for some time and all the while idly shifted from position to position on her bed. She eventually ended up resting on her side staring sluggishly out her window until something unexpected broke her from her routine trace.


The sight of the flickering blue door sent a spark of energy jolting through her body. The portal was ephemeral and transient, seeming to fade and dim with each passing second as if it could vanish at any moment, and catching a glimpse of pale foliage sticking just outside a crack in the entryway sent her scurrying downstairs as fast as she could possibly go. With Lucian and James both currently out at the moment, Alice didn't give an ounce of concern to the barrage of echoing booms that her frantic footsteps sent throughout the previously noiseless halls of the house as she stumbled outside and continued rushing toward it. "Wait! Stop, wait, it's me!" She cried out as she reached her hand outward toward the dispersing gateway and clumsily clutched the knob by the tip of her fingers. With a flourish, she flung it open and found herself blinded by the shimmering burst of cyan that engulfed her as she tumbled inward into a forest that she remembered quite vividly from her first visit.

A somewhat familiar voice cut through the dreary blue tinted fog that surrounded the room. In it's soft yet pointed cadence, came a feeling of tranquility amongst the sea of uncertainty that have become this young woman's life. Almost like a grandfather speaking from his deathbead. Should she follow the voice he would quickly set her eyes upon the desk that she had seen on that fateful day during the failed jump, behind its at the same old man bearing the same smile. The two women flanking his side's remaining silent.


Ignore let a small chuckle escape his unmovong lips. His bloodshot eyes locked into the girl before him and his grin seemed to widen slightly...."I am getting ahead of myself.... Now my dear, what is your name, and what brings you to the velvet room this evening?"

Igor's curt laugh was cut short by a violent coughing fit, through the gaps in his unmoving grin a small amount of a thick black fluid smelling of foul blood and rot seeped. He took a moment to dab the substance away with a cloth before continuing."I suppose there is some truth to those words, however this place is a room in much the same way your physical form is one. For it houses something ever shifting in appearance and composition. This garden you see before you is not of your world or of the Junction. It is of the soul of a being who has a very different destiny then your own. Was this your only question for me? Dear guest..."

“S-sir?” Alice stammered. “That’s… a first.” Was he just mocking her or was he that old? “Ah! Your mouth…!” That black ichor… aside from the first time they’d met, she’d seen it somewhere before, but where? “Are you alright? What is that stuff?”

Alice pondered Igor’s words with a contemplative look. Why did everything related to their powers have to be so cryptic and enigmatic? “…The soul… of a different being?” So this place was a manifestation of someone else’s soul? That part she didn’t have too much trouble believing at this point; what caught her attention more was Igor’s follow-up about said being having a “much different destiny” than her. Of course destiny was involved in this – there was nowhere she could really escape from that accursed word, now was there? “Well, I’m willing to believe that this room is a sort of soul-plane, but… who is this other being? And what do you mean by “a different destiny”?”

Instead of answering any of her questions, Igor’s expression turned lightly sour as he sighed at the sight of Alice’s own, as if something had changed in the span of less than a second. Suddenly and without warning, Alice felt herself growing more and more somnolent, until eventually it was a struggle to keep herself conscious. “N-no… wait… I… I have to know…”



Moments later, Alice found herself outside of the room she’d just entered; the door that once had stood open before her now closed tight. She couldn’t help but look longingly and dejectedly at it. What the hell had happened? What had changed? God, why couldn’t the people involved in this just be straight-forward?! In her frustration, Alice realized the appearance of the velvet room had interrupted her train of thought. Normally she wouldn’t mind something like this, but… this time around, she couldn’t help but fear there may have been a connection. Had Igor read her mind or something? Had her own denunciation of herself as a bad person caused this?

On impulse, Alice threw her hands downward with begrudging force, grumbling agitatedly as she did so. Comfort she may have found in the tragedy, but just as she tried to seize said comfort it was yanked away from her like a feather on a string by the enigma and impossibility of it all. As she walked away with her hands in her pockets and a heavy-hearted sigh, Alice wondered…