Hiatus!

[paper_knight]

Hey all!
As anyone who has open threads with me might have noticed, I've been having really hard time keeping up with eway lately due to some looming personal deadlines. And since it's going to get worse before it gets better, I'm putting Mark on hiatus until early December--by which a few of those deadlines will have passed, and hopefully things will be a little calmer.

Since that's a long time to be away, I'm also taking advantage of the situation to send Mark home for a canon update, which has really been a long time coming. He'll be coming back post-death, with a couple of important caveats that basically boil down to Not-a-Big-Daddy, after the example of our lovely Sinclair. I'll get into the exact details of that after Mark comes back.

As I mentioned above, I do have some outstanding threads, and I am really sorry to the people I'm leaving hanging. If any of you would like to plot out or handwave something, drop me a comment or a message here, or grab me on AIM--my username is missingrache. (Please please don't be shy about it! I love the players and the characters here and even if I'm burned out on play, I'm happy to talk about things!)
On a similar note, Mark is kind of a paper-hoarder, and he's got a ton of Wonderland notes and (dated) statistics and old event mementos lying around, so if anyone would like to have a rummage through his things before the Mansion eats them, let me know and I will give you details.

And...I think that's it! Thanks to everyone who's been patient with me, I hope you all have a great Halloween (I am going to stalk the hell out of whatever event is brewing), and I'll see you later!

Comments

[oversight]

Oh, Mark, Blake will wonder. Sob.

Honestly, I would love-love-love an opportunity for John to get near Mark's notes.

Also, can I say how infinitely glad I am that you're sticking around? I nearly had a heart attack thinking this was a drop post, haha.

Best of luck, in any case!

[paper_knight]

Awww gosh well I certainly feel loved, thank you <3

If John wants to go through Mark's files, we can say he dropped by to talk about...event stuff? Traveler stuff? To say a casual hello? And found the door hanging open or something, conveniently soon enough after Mark's departure that his things were still around.

Anyway, to sum up what Blake might find:

Mark has a file of notes and personal observations specifically on Wonderland's events, starting with the second one he experienced--which was in October 2010. There are a few gaps--events whose nature he didn't fully understand, or that he somehow missed out on, or files that were damaged or lost. But the bulletin board is generally a pretty good guide, if you reimagine it with lots of underscores and exclamation marks scribbled on top of quickly typed drafts. Mark thinks we have an unusual number of events that seem designed to pit resident against resident--to create violence and division, or to encourage residents to take advantage of their multiple lives, to hold life cheaply.
He's noticed that some event-generated impulses are easier to identify and resist than others. Events that rewrite/overwrite his memory upset him, and the notes relating to them will tend to have a lot of redacted personal wordvomit in there with the facts. (Who is he if his identity is so malleable? If he can be made to forget his family so completely at the drop of a hat???) He's also noted that fog and doors seem to be commonly repeated themes. Also chess, but that one goes without saying. And wow boy does Wonderland like to celebrate holidays and changing seasons. It's really very human--which makes sense when you think of it as a possibly-sentient construct of combined memories, etc etc. (Crackpot The-Mansion-Is-Sentient theories go here.)

Along with event-journaling, Mark's made a few attempts at taking a Mansion-wide census--asking people when and where they're from, and how long they've been in Wonderland. This file is out of date, as arrival frequency increased beyond Mark's ability to keep up (and my ability to make every census post different, haha). However, Mark's figured out the existence of casts, basically, even though he doesn't have the word for it. He thinks that Wonderland likes to abduct connected people, for reasons unknown. Perhaps shared memories are more appetizing? He's also noted a preference for the United States, Japan, and the early 2000's, GOSH what is up with that?

There's a file for speculation on mirrors/the mirror side/the mirror rebellion and its aftermath. Notes on NPC characters and monsters (Mark's been here for two rounds of Jabberwocky now, woo) will also be here, as well as any wild scribbling Mark did while trying to figure out the chess riddle thing this past summer.

There's a file relating specifically to the 0perator and its victims--from back when Wonderland had a Marble Hornets cast. This hasn't been updated in a while, since the 0perator seems to be gone for good. But he'll have done some compare/contrast work on Wonderland and the 0perator--both have strong ties to memories and forgetfulness, as well as surveillance.

And finally there's a file regarding his own story pre-Wonderland--he wrote something out for his own reference, in an attempt to guard against memories getting eaten or overwritten by events, much good as that's ever done him, as well as any and all information regarding Rapture/ADAM/Little Sisters/the Protector Program he's been able to collect from castmates since coming to Wonderland. Some of this will take the form of notes taken by Benny Stango--a castmate whose files Mark borrowed. This'll be older paper, a different hand and tone, generally more skepticism all around.

SO YES Blake is welcome to skim copy or borrow any of that, and if you need me to be more specific or to find links or anything just let me know ^^

[oversight]

Ahhh, gosh, thank you so much for typing all of this up!

Blake is going to be particularly interested in... well, just about everything, because Mark is like his hero. T_T

I really look forward to having a chance to play with you again. I hope we can do something amazing in December upon your return! In the meantime, I'm always available for whatever, even if you just need someone to chat with. <333

Best of luck, dear!

[paper_knight]

Adfgkff thank you you are so sweet <3

[nascensibility]

/SCREAMS INTO THE VOID

[nascensibility]

...okay no but really we already talked about stuff so she'll release the seahorses and keep the Cindy drawings and hold onto those notes and gladly share them with John Blake if he wants 'em y/y

[paper_knight]

YYYY thank you especially for taking pet duty Mark and Evie can have a goofy conversation about sentimentality regarding pets and babby!art in December it'll be cute.

[oversight]

Yes, please, sharing is wonderful! Blake will even share some back (though, not all, obviously, ahahaha).

[nascensibility]

I MADE A POST let's write some sads

[oversight]

Ahhh, omg, so sad. T_T