entranceway | Video & Action / Accidental

[Erik appears over the video feed, expression serious and slightly troubled. He is not wearing his helmet and he's visibly conscious of the fact. He doesn't know where he is, he doesn't know how he got here, and he also doesn't know that he's inadvertently broadcasting a video. It's the start of a great day!]

Mystique, if you are hearing this I request your immediate response. This applies to any other member of the Brotherhood. Contact is immediately required from all of you. Emma, if this is your doing and I'm walking around in one of your illusions we are going to have words.

[He closes his eyes, rubbing his brow briefly and looking momentarily drawn. He sighs, relaxing his shoulders with visible effort. And if it is not an illusion...]

...Charles, I would not turn you away if you hear this message, my friend, nor any from your party. Whatever this place is -- working together would put us all in a better position.

[He can be found wandering the halls of the Mansion, having woken up in a room on the fifth floor.]

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[ While everyone else is out hunting down a sword, Natasha playing around on the Network, because apparently this place has wonderful timing and is dropping new arrivals on them again with something about to start. The man speaking is unfamiliar to her, but she flicks a video feed open to reply all the same. ]

I'm afraid your Brotherhood might not be here, and none of those names sound familiar. Except for Emma, but as far as I know, the one who's here isn't capable of making illusions. You're in Wonderland, friend.

[He frowns down at the device and, unintentionally, the woman who is now talking to him. Oh, so it broadcasts images as well, at a quality far beyond what he's accustomed. He takes a moment to familiarize himself with some of the controls, noticing where he made a mistake earlier and has apparently broadcast his own face, instead of just his voice as he had intended. All this is seen through the flickers of emotion that cross his face before he focuses on the woman wholly, considering her reply.]

Is Wonderland a code word for something? Who are you?

I'm Natasha Romanoff. And I wish. [ Her smile is rueful as she shakes her head. ]

No, it's actually Wonderland. Like the children's story or the Disney movie, whichever you happen to be more familiar with. Pretty much everyone you meet here has been drawn from their own time and world by magic - or science, that's still under debate, depending on who you talk to - and we're all still looking for a way home.

Magic. [The flatness of his tone should indicate just how much weight he puts in that theory. His brows furrow, they were all still looking for a way home?]

How many are here? How long have you been here?

[ She is all too familiar with that tone. She'd used it once herself. ] Magic. And trust me, that's not even the strangest thing you'll encounter here.

I don't have an exact number for you. People come and go too quickly most days for that. We don't control who stays or gets sent back, Wonderland does that all itself, without us knowing why, exactly. I've been here about five months now. There's some that have been here for a few years.

[That's not at all what he wanted to hear.]

A rough estimate will do.

[He presses his lips together in a thin line, thinking.] Would you call this a prison? Do you know why you--we're--here?

More than a hundred. Probably less than two. And yes, that's very rough. We haven't exactly taken a census recently.

In a way, I suppose that's one term. Although it's the most comfortable prison I've ever heard of. We're contained to a space, but all our needs are met. The cupboards and closets are magic. If you think about what you want and open the door, you'll usually find what you need on the other side. It's not perfect and occasionally the magic has a bit of a sense of humor in how it fulfills your request, but for the most part, it's a working system. The rooms are the same way when you choose one for yourself - it'll often resemble your room from home or something close to it. The kitchens and dining room work the same way with food.

As for why we're here, there's a lot of debate about that. I haven't heard one definitive answer, but the popular theory is this place feeds on our memories. Not in an immediately noticeable way, but every few weeks this place has what we call an event. Usually it's spun out to replicated someone's home world or something that happened to them in the past. Sometimes they can be dangerous and other times they're just plain silly. The magic that builds it is reflected in what happens and can span anywhere from people turning into animals or teenagers going back to school or knocking us all into the wild west. Which sounds far-fetched, I know. Some of this needs to be seen to be believed and I don't blame you for being skeptical. It takes everyone a while to come to terms with it.

Either way, in the aftermath of the event, whoever is responsible for the creation of it is often missing a memory. The name of a word or a place. Sometimes it's not completely gone, just the concept of it. I had someone explain it to me like they could remember a place, could picture it in their mind, but they no longer had a name for it, no matter how much they wracked their memory.

I've heard it speculated that these memories are part of what fuels the magic in the place. Then again, we also have the Queen of Hearts who dwells on the other side of the mirrors and it could just be her sick sense of humor, as well.

[What it sounds like is an illusion. Charles is as astoundingly powerful telepath, Emma herself is incredibly gifted, and they are both able to waltz around the brain as if it were no more than a playground. He didn't have his helmet so what if he was the victim of a powerful telepathic attack? What if they all were and this place was the mental construct of some powerful mutant?

...This could also be called stone cold denial but he won't be entertaining that possibility today.]

That's...fascinating. I don't think I'll accept magic as an explanation but it sounds like someone very powerful is pulling the strings. This so called Queen of Hearts, maybe.

I didn't introduce myself before, you can call me Magneto.

[ he doesn't believe her. Natasha doesn't need to be a telepath to read that in his expression and reaction as plain as day, but she doesn't take offense. She hadn't believed it either, and he'll come to his own conclusions one way or another. She's alright with that as well. Maybe he'll discover something they wouldn't think to look for. This place is renowned for bringing in interesting and unexpected surprises, after all. ]

An odd name, but I'll remember it. Good luck, Magneto. I hope you find your friends. If you have any more questions, you can feel free to find me any time, either through your phone, or down in the training room we have set up on the first floor. I spend most of my days down there.

Noted. [He considers asking about mutants and humans, asking which one she is, but he resists. It may be a better idea to gain his bearings first before drawing that line in the sand.]

You are very well informed, thank you for your help.

It's sort of what I do. And you're welcome. If there's anything else you need, let me know.

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