Saving the Age of Wonder (Alice in Wonderland RP, IC)

[matryoshka]

|SAVING THE AGE OF WONDER|

Wonderland had always been weird and wonderful, for its inhabitants a place perfect for crazy capering, and magic always abounded. The magic was what kept everybody's wonder at the world intact, because not even the most well-versed sorceresses and warlocks could understand or control the mysterious power underlying everything. Even if the people faced unhappiness they never felt like the world was dreary, that life was pointless.
But now, frightening legends were spreading like wildfire, too fast to be completely curbed by the efforts of the Queen of Hearts. Everywhere, it was being said that the Age of Order is approaching. When nothing would happen that couldn't be explained by fundamental laws. Everything would follow rules. Everything would be 'ordinary'. Life as the inhabitants of Wonderland knew it, would be transformed- and not in a good way.
Some people said that the Queen of Hearts, who was currently ruling, would establish the Age of Order by the end of her rule. These people were swiftly executed by lopping off their heads. In these days when the citizens should have been treasuring the last days of the Age of Wonder, they were instead despairing. Their only hope was that the legends that sprung up in answer to those about the approaching Age of Order were true: Someone called Alice would traverse a dark portal to reach them. She would lead them in a revolution to overthrow the Queen of Hearts before she could muster enough power to curse the land with Order. The Age of Wonder would be saved.

|RULES AND CONDITIONS|
1. Follow the TOS.
2. Post once a week. Post once in two weeks at the very least. Though if you can write every three days or every day, that's awesome! DON'T post multiple times a day, it might be difficult for others to keep up.
3.Write at least a paragraph, so that others have something to work off of. Try to keep the grammar and punctuation mistake-free.
4. My rules for godmodding are different from the usual, because I want to allow space for creative freedom. The original, unabridged Alice in Wonderland was a crazy caper and I want this to be just as fun! So, you can make any event happen which logically follows. You can't control others' characters but you can control minor characters which aren't available to create profiles for and nobody is really representing ( NPCs: the Dormouse, for example.) If you've got ideas about how the RP could develop or what could happen next, PM me.
5. If you want to play more than one character, that's cool.
6. If you need to leave the RP, temporarily or permanently, please let me know so that arrangements can be made for your character(s).
7. Keep everything PG-13, or you can always take it to the PMs.

|PROFILES|
Available and participating characters are listed separately. Filled-out character forms must be posted here too, after I approve them. Even if only one or two character spots are filled, if we're ready to start posting regularly I'll begin the RP. Once all the character spots are filled I'll make its status private.
Note that I'm not including just characters from Alice in Wonderland but also its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. All the characters in the original books that aren't mentioned here, in either available or participating characters, come under NPCs.
Fill out the form and PM me. When I approve, you can post your profile here.

[b]Username:
Character Name:
Personality:
Appearance:[/b] You can describe or put an image, or both.
[b]Bio:[/b] At least a paragraph.
[b]Likes & Dislikes:
Extras:[/b] Optional to fill this.

Available Characters:

Spoiler

The Mad Hatter
The Duchess
The Mock Turtle
Cheshire Cat
King of Hearts
Knave of Hearts
Red Queen
White Queen
Humpty Dumpty

Participating Characters:

Alice and the Rabbit (matryoshka):

Spoiler

|profile 2: ALICE|
Username: Cucumbersome
Character Name: Alice Liddell
Personality: Dreamy, philosophical, restless, aloof, artistic. Thirsty for adventure. Costantly wanting to escape reality. Likes attempting to thin-slice people, and analyse them as she gets to know them.
Appearance:

Bio: She was brought up with few stories available, apart from fairy tales. However she and her sisters often went to a man called Mr Dodgson, a mathematician who was once involved in the clergy, and he told them crazy, delightful tales. He wrote her stories for Christmas in which she was the heroine, exploring a quaint place called Wonderland. It made her long to live her life as spontaneously and wonderfully as in the stories, and wish she could live her life off the beaten track and have adventures.
Likes & Dislikes: Likes nature and open spaces, fantasy, contemplating ideas on philosophy and psychology, literature, art, stories and literature. Dislikes dull daily grind, closed or congested spaces, narrow-minded people, the feeling of being alive but not living.
Extras: She has a pet rabbit. She likes him in an indulgent way but takes him for granted. She doesn't know he's no ordinary rabbit, but is soon to find out ;)

Knave of Hearts (Loxley):

Spoiler

profile 2: The Knave of Hearts
Username: Loxley
Character Name: Bernard de Saint-Omer
Designation: The Knave of Hearts, alias the Scarecrow
Personality: Quiet, introverted, courageous, kindhearted but with an edge of ruthlessness when he needs it.
Appearance:

The Knave of Hearts disguised as the Scarecrow

True appearance

Bio: The Knave of Hearts was raised to be the bodyguard of the Royal Family, as had been the case with his family's descendants for hundreds of years. He, like his father, was taught to fight, and fight well. The perfect gentleman, he was chivalrous, polite, and never spoke too much. In fact, very often someone would say he spoke too little, as often he believed it was better to say too little than too much. But his loyalty to the royal family remained beyond questioning.

Then, rumors began to spread that times were changing. A prophecy of sorts spoke of the arrival of a young woman to the Wonderland, who would end the Age of Wonders. Trouble came in the form of unrest. It was in the shadow of this that one day, the Knave of Hearts disappeared mysteriously.Nobody knew where he had gone, or why he had disappeared. Some say he had fled his duties, others that he had been murdered, or that he had gone to join the rebels. But nobody truly knew, not even the Royal Family themselves.

In truth, he left behind his former life as bodyguard of the Royal Family to find out the truth of the prophecies and rumors spreading, for himself. He donned the disguise of the Scarecrow, a mysterious gunslinger dressed like a scarecrow, traveling the Wonderland helping those in need, and banishing those who would seek to harm others. All the while, the trouble of the times they lived in grew worse, and the Knave of Hearts sought answers for his Queen, as always to protect her and her husband from those that would do them harm. As was his duty.

Likes & Dislikes: Likes fun and laughter, children, nature, solace, and good music, food and drinks, and of course, good company. Dislikes corruption and penalism, lies and deceit, and people who would harm others to further their own goals.

Queen of Hearts (matryoshka):

Spoiler

|profile 1: THE QUEEN OF HEARTS|
Username: Cucumbersome
Character Name: Zefanya
Designation: The Queen of Hearts
Personality: Passionate, ambitious, impatient, cautious and doesn't readily trust people. Has very strong opinions and ideals that she will defend at any cost. Afraid of romantic love. Values efficiency and productivity.
Appearance:

Bio: She was born the daughter of her father's fourth wife. She grew up watching her mothers in constant conflict due to jealousy, always vying for the King's favours. They shared his bed and wealth but could never grab his heart and win his love so completely that he stopped acquiring new wives for them. Zefanya resolved that she would marry a crown prince, and make sure he wouldn't even want another wife- and in this she succeeded. Her marriage with the King of Hearts was perfect for her- he disliked the affairs of state and worshiped her. Effectively, she was the one ruling the kingdom.
Likes & Dislikes: Likes efficiency, things getting done quick and properly, eating healthy food in large quantities, people who fight their way up. Dislikes meat, extreme heat and humidity, bad hygiene, clumsiness, gambling, repression, discrimination, dismissal of someone without giving them a chance.
Extras: She doesn't like cooking, except for baking tarts. She likes making the crust heart-shaped and filling rose-essenced jam in the middle. She has a constant craving for them. (She's also in love with the Knave of Hearts, but suppresses it very well, because she thinks venturing into love is like a moth flitting into a flame. Plus she's quite fond of her husband.)

 

[matryoshka]

|The Queen of Hearts|​

Zefanya wandered through the garden listlessly. There were a couple of gardeners balancing on a rickety ladder, painting white roses red. She cleared her throat loudly, and watched with faint amusement as they were startled and fell off the ladder, and gathered themselves up only to lie flat on their faces as a salute to her.
She walked up to them slowly, and distinctly saw Two tremble. She sighed; what they'd been doing was stupid but she had much bigger things to worry about. She usually stuck them in flowerpots for a day or two as punishment but today she couldn't be bothered. 'Get up,' she said authoritatively, and the two cards got to their feet slowly, Two quivering like a piece of paper (which he was) in the wind. 'Carry on- if that's organic paint,' she said and left them gaping after her.
She was supposed to hold court but she'd coaxed the King of Hearts to take her place today; he'd just have to pay attention in court for once and relay it all to her. She wasn't in the mood for listening to the nobles' drivel, they never came up with anything useful sitting and entertaining themselves in their luxury homes. She'd been disguising herself in plain clothes and exploring her kingdom, and she had people she trusted among the peasantry. In this way she came to know of the rumours, cloaked glossily as 'legends' and 'prophecies', that were doing the rounds, that everybody was taking to heart. She couldn't believe they believed that stuff. Sure, she loved rules, and order, and efficiency, it was safe and comforting. She often imagined a life with no surprises. But she wasn't sure how much she'd like it if she actually got it, and anyway how did they expect her to banish magic from the world? As though she had, or could acquire, such extreme power.
And then there was the Knave. She trusted him, she really did, but the 'love is blind' saying did not apply to her. She saw full well how suspicious his disappearance was, without her nobles telling her so. He was her bodygaurd, he was terribly important to her even otherwise.
He might have been kidnapped, but she'd gotten no demands. His captors could be using him in other ways than to obtain a ransom, but the Knave wouldn't readily give in to that sort of thing and he wasn't so easy to crack, he'd have escaped by now... she wasn't sure if she was overestimating him. What if it was him alone against a whole dark organisation? She'd sent her spies searching for him but now she was tired, with such unrest she didn't have resources to spare for the search.
He might have switched loyalties, betrayed her... sometimes she thought it was possible, sometimes she felt like laughing at the thought. But if he'd believed the rumours, then maybe it wasn't so far-fetched...
He might be dead. Zefanya gulped. She missed the Knave, his cute chivalry. More than missed him. If he was dead, she wanted to know right away instead of being stuck in this limbo of all the horrible things that could be. One thing was for sure, as much as she missed him she was angry at him. These were some of the worst times she was going through, and she needed someone with his sort of loyalty around. Someone you could look at and feel reassured, because they'll always be there.
Except he wasn't there. And she didn't know what to think of it. And she worried about it even though she knew she should actually be worrying about herself.