[ At least he doesn't react like everyone she's known in her past to react when she talks so openly of Wonderland. ]
It existed here too once, Jack, it was the beast of the Unseelie much like the Seelie's dragons. Long ago, it descended on the lands and created a famine and brought destruction. It hunted the dragons to extinction I've read. I think that it may come again in the war. There were others who very recently looked for ways to kill it and a man lost his life along the way.
But in Wonderland, it lived in the Tulgey Woods -- the bandersnatches, too.
[Hunted the dragons to extinction — oh, no, that's ... Never mind that for now.]
Alice. It's a part of this world. [Because he can see where her worries lie.] The names may be the same, but that doesn't mean it's your doing. There's a lot of messed up things in this place, and most of it has a way of getting into your head, trust me.
[ Apart of this world, sure, but it's apart of that world, too. She knows this, it's still difficult to accept. Maybe she does feel inadvertently responsible, in an irrational way, just because what it once was. ]
I don't want it in my head. I don't anything else in my head.
[ And therein lies the problem for her. ]
Is it really none of my doing? The Jabberwock in Wonderland was my doing. What if it is exactly how I remembered it, what then? W
[It's difficult to know exactly how to comfort her in this. Wonderland as he knows it was just a children's story, but this, seemed haunting for her. Almost like the darkness and loneliness that still haunts him. There's never an easy way to deal with that.]
If it is, it's still not your fault. They took us from our worlds and stuck us here by barely lifting a finger. They give us boons of the things we want, the things we need, sometimes things we've never even told anyone. There were dogs that dug deep into our very fears.
[It's almost like a realization for himself as he speaks. And he knows he's seen things like this before. It was almost like an amplification of everything he dealt with Pitch.]
Chances are it's easy for them to know the things we never want to talk about. Or even things like Wonderland. It's all a game for them, taking our weaknesses and throwing it back against us. But you're strong, Alice. Even if they try to hold your own world against you, you are so strong and you're gonna stand up against it and you are gonna kick ass and never let them take that part of you like that.
If a Jabberwock comes to this world, I'll destroy it here, too.
[ She will try. She will try to do it once again, resolving in her experience with destroying the other one. The gryphon risked his life to help Alice kill the Jabberwock, it's only fair. Her only hope with the similarities is that she can find a way to use the eye or the vorpal blade. ]
It doesn't matter if they bring me boons or my fears, things that were imagined simply shouldn't be. Someone tried to go deep in my mind, to exploit my fears and ruin Wonderland to destroy what was left of my mind. I won't let it happen again.
[ Wonderland is her mind, after all, what is left of her sanity is there. ]
So if anything does happen... just know that I cannot stand by and watch.
[He can only imagine the terror of what that's like. It's happened to him several times before, where something of this world has dug into his soul dragging out the depth of his fears and forcing it upon him, enveloping him in a dark, lonely world. To take something so personal like a protected memory or thought, even an imaginative world, it was going too far.]
Yeah, I know you won't. [And he doesn't blame her, looking to her with sincere sympathy.] And I'll make sure of it too. Whatever happens, you don't need to go through it alone, okay? I'm here with you too.
[ Alice falls silent -- she is about to say she does not want another involved, solely for what the Jabebrwock once meant. It was more than just a creation, it represented something much more sinister. How can she put that into words? It makes her look insane. ]
The Jabberwock killed the gryphon, he gave his life to help Wonderland. He never really did come back whole. [ Alice scoffs at herself, pushing her hair out of her face. ]
All of it in Wonderland. Now I know I've gone completely mad waiting for all of it to happen again, where everyone can see.
[There's so many more things different about Alice now that it makes the already existing worry squirm in his insides. There used to be so much peace with her. Where did it all go?]
It won't happen again. Not like that. Not like however you remember it to be. [Not that he has the confidence or knowledge that it will, but if there's something he's learned, it's to have hope.
He pauses for a moment, almost hesitant, before continuing.]
If ... if this does somehow relate to your imagination, in whatever capacity that is, then you just have to make the best of it. Imagine happy endings. Imagine a future where things get better. If these are pieces of your world, Alice, bring out the good parts of it for that to outshine the bad and that might come true too.
[ That seems so far and unlikely, yet, so did saving Wonderland twice to restore things. Things haven't been restored -- she's quick to correct herself on this. But it's the closest it's been to restored. Broken, but healing, like all parts of her mind. Alice nods, taking in a breath. She needs it, she needs to remember should something happen. ]
I will try.
[ She's too stressed, but she will put on a brave face to preserve the wholesome parts of Wonderland. ]
Jack, not all happy endings are good, there are still things that need to heal... but I will try. For the sake of my friends.
There's always gonna be things that need to heal. [He knows that more than anything. That's what his entire life is composed of.] But that's exactly the thing; they're healing. Which means it gets better. And you have to keep believing in that.
[That's really all anyone can do at this point. It's all he can try to do.]
And those friends will be there for you too. If you're ever in trouble, Alice, call for me, and I'll find you, okay?
[ This is why Jack is the best person for this sort of talk. He would understand this, a child's creation. Wonderland wouldn't become corrupted by a spirit like him. ]
I'll look for you. Thank you, Jack. Please... don't tell anyone. No one would understand better than you.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ At least he doesn't react like everyone she's known in her past to react when she talks so openly of Wonderland. ]
It existed here too once, Jack, it was the beast of the Unseelie much like the Seelie's dragons. Long ago, it descended on the lands and created a famine and brought destruction. It hunted the dragons to extinction I've read. I think that it may come again in the war. There were others who very recently looked for ways to kill it and a man lost his life along the way.
But in Wonderland, it lived in the Tulgey Woods -- the bandersnatches, too.
no subject
Alice. It's a part of this world. [Because he can see where her worries lie.] The names may be the same, but that doesn't mean it's your doing. There's a lot of messed up things in this place, and most of it has a way of getting into your head, trust me.
no subject
I don't want it in my head. I don't anything else in my head.
[ And therein lies the problem for her. ]
Is it really none of my doing? The Jabberwock in Wonderland was my doing. What if it is exactly how I remembered it, what then? W
no subject
If it is, it's still not your fault. They took us from our worlds and stuck us here by barely lifting a finger. They give us boons of the things we want, the things we need, sometimes things we've never even told anyone. There were dogs that dug deep into our very fears.
[It's almost like a realization for himself as he speaks. And he knows he's seen things like this before. It was almost like an amplification of everything he dealt with Pitch.]
Chances are it's easy for them to know the things we never want to talk about. Or even things like Wonderland. It's all a game for them, taking our weaknesses and throwing it back against us. But you're strong, Alice. Even if they try to hold your own world against you, you are so strong and you're gonna stand up against it and you are gonna kick ass and never let them take that part of you like that.
no subject
[ She will try. She will try to do it once again, resolving in her experience with destroying the other one. The gryphon risked his life to help Alice kill the Jabberwock, it's only fair. Her only hope with the similarities is that she can find a way to use the eye or the vorpal blade. ]
It doesn't matter if they bring me boons or my fears, things that were imagined simply shouldn't be. Someone tried to go deep in my mind, to exploit my fears and ruin Wonderland to destroy what was left of my mind. I won't let it happen again.
[ Wonderland is her mind, after all, what is left of her sanity is there. ]
So if anything does happen... just know that I cannot stand by and watch.
no subject
Yeah, I know you won't. [And he doesn't blame her, looking to her with sincere sympathy.] And I'll make sure of it too. Whatever happens, you don't need to go through it alone, okay? I'm here with you too.
no subject
The Jabberwock killed the gryphon, he gave his life to help Wonderland. He never really did come back whole. [ Alice scoffs at herself, pushing her hair out of her face. ]
All of it in Wonderland. Now I know I've gone completely mad waiting for all of it to happen again, where everyone can see.
no subject
It won't happen again. Not like that. Not like however you remember it to be. [Not that he has the confidence or knowledge that it will, but if there's something he's learned, it's to have hope.
He pauses for a moment, almost hesitant, before continuing.]
If ... if this does somehow relate to your imagination, in whatever capacity that is, then you just have to make the best of it. Imagine happy endings. Imagine a future where things get better. If these are pieces of your world, Alice, bring out the good parts of it for that to outshine the bad and that might come true too.
no subject
I will try.
[ She's too stressed, but she will put on a brave face to preserve the wholesome parts of Wonderland. ]
Jack, not all happy endings are good, there are still things that need to heal... but I will try. For the sake of my friends.
no subject
[That's really all anyone can do at this point. It's all he can try to do.]
And those friends will be there for you too. If you're ever in trouble, Alice, call for me, and I'll find you, okay?
no subject
I'll look for you. Thank you, Jack. Please... don't tell anyone. No one would understand better than you.