we’re all mad here

“tire swing kid!” she called out “anything fun going on? i’m bored”

@xalicethewonderx​

Starter for @chelseakatz

For once, Sally’s ability to become unnoticed –whether she liked it or not –had truly come in handy. As she stood out of the door of infamous journalist Ms Katz, she hoped her dripping wet black raincoat and umbrella (black, appropriate for a secretive mission) didn’t give the woman any troubles with her pretty hardwood floors. It was on a serious matter that she had turned to Chelsea Katz, but still, she couldn’t help but feeling just a little bit giddy with excitement, as if she was a secret agent trading important information. Which was half true, anyway. That is, if what she had heard was actually what she suspected it was.

Sally knocked on the door. She hoped Ms Katz was home.

-

chelsea had been down a dark hole of heavy research for the past month. so much so that she hadn’t seen the light of day in at least the past 30 days - even food shopping was delivered straight to her door. she was onto something with this recent stretch of digging and when she was onto something she was laser focused. that however meant that she may not have always been particularly thrilled on random knocks on her front door when she didn’t expect them. armed with a coffee and a pair of sunglasses on her face, chelsea opened the door to see sally on her front porch.

James was walking the town in a rather happy mood. He was currently engaged, had two kids to dote on - though he still hoped Peter would turn around and let him adopt him as well. Even though that must be awkward with him being engaged to a friend of his. Either way the man was happy as can be, and there was nothing that - before he knew it he bumped into something. He wasn’t sure what it was at first before realizing it was a trashcan. “Jesus, must have blown by that snowstorm.” Normally the trashcans weren’t lying around on the path.

@happieststarters​

-

chelsea had been out collecting some photos for the newspaper after the snowstorm had hit. something about the whole ordeal seemed bizarre. first the blue light, then the power went out and then the snowstorm hit. in all of chelsea’s time at redwood hollow, she’d never experienced any of that.  she wasn’t far off when she james “be careful, the snowstorm’s blown a load of stuff arounf the town. don’t want to you getting hurt”

@jamestheneverlandhook​

-

Naveen nervously licked his lips. “I’ll give you ten thousand dollars for it. Easy cash for a themed room what do you think?” He could only hope she’d be tempted by his offer. He really didn’t want to sleep in such a small clammy room. It wasn’t even themed.

-

“ten grand for a themed room. is it that important to you?” she asked. “why don’t you just pay the hotel the money for the themed room?” as much as ten grand would make a difference, chelsea didn’t take any bribes thanks to her integrity for her journalism. she didn’t need something coming out years down the line that she was paid off for someone else to get their way - no matter how small the action was she knew it would spin out of control. she knew how the industry worked inside and out.

-

Adam blinked for a moment before scratching his head in an awkward manner. “Yeah you see I don’t really work in this place so I’m not sure if James would like me requesting help.” Though he looked at the haste of things, and how desperate James was looking. “But what the man doesn’t know can hurt him. Sure, I can use some help in the kitchen.”

-

chelsea understood where adam was coming from. it wasn’t like adam owned the kitchen part of the hotel. at the mention of what james doesn’t know can’t hurt him had a grin crossing chelseas face. “great! thank you. i’ve been bored out of my mind since getting here and no ones talking about that light”

“Alright guys let’s put this bread in the kitchen, James could use our help.” Adam instructed his staff. James had asked him for some food that didn’t needed to be heated. Luckily with his baking habits Adam had enough to feed the town. He would supervise the kitchen so Smee and Tina would have less work because they’d have their hands full. “Excuse me, I need to get past you to get to the kitchen.”

@happieststarters​

-

she was bored and needed something to keep her entertained. no one was budging in providing any information about how the power went out, what that blue light was about, it was driving her mad. “sorry” she said, shuffling out the way “do you need a hand? i need a distraction and i’d be happy to help.”

“So this is the place we have to stay, not too bad.” Naveen said as he glanced around in Neverland. It certainly was crowded, but surely James would know to give him the best room available, he’d pay extra for it after all. That idea was very much short lived when he heard he wasn’t even getting a themed room. “Excuse me, do you know who I am? Hey you got a better room than i do, trade with me I’ll pay you.”

@happieststarters​

-

chelsea was on her way to get settled into her room after managing to get through the crowd to get her room assignment. she wasn’t going to lie, she’d lucked out when it came to her room, it was a great room. “you’re a guy that is sleeping in a hotel like everyone else here. nah, no way, i get a themed room. why would i give that up?”

@ceonaveenmaldonia​

After a long morning working the café, Tia decided she had earned enough tips to warrant a second coffee from a café that she didn’t work at. Even though the line was practically out of the door, she had enough time to wait. Jumping in line behind the red head, Tiana did her best to not be nosey, but some things were just unavoidable. Tiana peeked over her shoulder, glancing at the photos the woman had taken. She spotted a photo of one of the shops that had the cutest holiday decorations up and couldn’t help but let out an audible “Aww”. Realizing she’d said that right in Chelsea’s ear, she took a step back, trying to not look suspicious.

-

chelsea continued to flick through the photos she had taken while she was waiting. she didn’t mind the wait and the photos helped pass the time. she felt as if someone was a bit too close for comfort, the breath of them almost reaching the beck of her neck. that feeling was only confirmed when an ‘aww’ was very clearly said right in her ear. chelsea turned around to find the source “i’m assuming you liked one of the photos?” she grinned and let out a laugh. 

~

Alice hesitated, giving the woman a quick once over. Their sense of self-preservation wasn’t great, however. Any regular person would have apologised and left but Alice had to stick around and ask questions. “Why would it be hypocritical?” they asked carefully, entirely unaware of Chelsea’s profession. “I don’t think I’m always this curious, that would be exhausting, but–” Could they really argue against the claim? Reasonably, no. “I suppose most of the time I am. My sister says I ask too many questions, but never the right kind.”

Alice nodded, but felt silly for the admission. They turned their gaze away from the fence and down to their feet. “Strange, yes… I… Can’t really describe what I think it was, now that I can only see the tire swing. It could have been a very stout black bear. Or a python curling around a ball…” Their head shot back up again at the suggestion to go into the garden. Alice’s better judgement said that was a bad idea, but Alice seldom followed their own advice. “I can?” they asked, already making their way toward the gate. “Oh, but one really shouldn’t go into the gardens of strangers, should they?”

-

“because i myself am a curious cat.” she grinned and opened the back gate to her property and entered. “then you must be terribly tired from all that curiosity.” she smiled, looking over her shoulder at them “there’s never wrong kinds of questions just the wrong people you’re asking them to.”

she eyed the tire swing and could see where they could have made the observation. “it could be all of those. whose to say that it wasn’t and just changed back when you had caught them?” chelsea nodded at them “sure thing, feel free to. a tire swing that good should be shared. well i’m chelsea. chelsea katz; a full tire swing owner, a crispy m&m enthusiast and journalist.” she smiled and held out her had for a handshake. 

chelsea stopped at enchanted rose café to take a well earned break with coffee and cake but to also flick through the photos she had already taken. she clicked through each photo while she was waiting in the long queue since it was something to do while she patiently waited. 

~

Alice floundered for a reasonable answer, mouth opening and closing a few times like a goldfish. That hadn’t been the answer the expected at all, and could only mean trouble. “You live here?” Alice repeated. “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to trespass or anything, it’s just that– well, you see–” Oh dear, no matter their excuse they would just wind themself up in more trouble.

  “I don’t think it was the tire swing,” Alice admitted with a sigh, taking another quick glance through the slats. “Although, I suppose now that you mention it, it could have been the tire swing after all. But it looked much stranger a moment ago, and I can’t explain why.”

-

she smiled in amusement at the other essentially flapping at being caught sneaking around. “i do” she nodded “don’t worry about it, i’m fine with a curious mind. it would be hypocritical of me to think otherwise. are you always this curious?”

“strange?” she asked “what do you think you saw?” now chelsea was curious. “feel free to head into the garden to have a look at it or even have a go at it if you’d like”

Starter for @chelseakatz​

Alice was never very good at keeping their nose out of trouble, and today was no exception. Their father had sent them off to run a few errands, expecting Alice to return in a timely manner, but Alice had become so distracted by other matters that the errands had fallen by the wayside. Now, Alice was peaking through the fence of someone else’s back garden, absolutely certain that they had seen something strange going on just between the slats. It wasn’t technically trespassing if they weren’t inside the garden, was it?

Alice was somewhat startled at the sound of footsteps nearby and whirled around on their heels in a sad attempt at looking innocuous. Of course, curiosity won over sense in the end, and Alice simply had to ask; “Excuse me? Do you happen to know who lives in that house just over the fence?”

-

chelsea was at it again with whatever random idea had popped into her head. today was a vision pin board mapping out the latest story she was woking on for the newspaper. she had to go to the stationary store to pickup some more items for her board - just because it was for work doesn’t mean it couldn’t be fun and colourful. 

“that happens to be me that lives in that house. why do you ask? was it the tire swing in the back garden? because i’d understand the curiosity of that it’s a lot of fun”