but as I told you... I didn't chase the white rabbit!

[heartgatherer]

Who: The Alices and Clock
What: Open the first door and see what you find. Hopefully it's a key... maybe it's something more.
Where: World One - The Country of Clover
Warnings: General violence and disregard for life.

 '▒▒▒▒▒, you fool... it was all just a dream'...

If she could have thought that to herself, then she might have believed it. Here were the high vaulted ceilings of Clover Tower that she'd grown so used to since the shift to the Country of Clover. And yet her name was still lost to her. She could not think it... could not say it... It was as though someone had stolen it entirely, as odd of a thing as that sounded. That was all she needed to know to prove she wasn't dreaming. Then that meant it was as the rabbit and cat said-- in order to retrieve the rabbit's keys, they needed to enter the doors and the door took them straight into peoples' hearts.

This one no doubt was supposed to be her own. How else could this place be replicated so accurately? None of the others should know a thing about Wonderland. After all... this was her dream. Her messed-up, embarrassing, dangerous... oh no.

Outside the window the forest, the castle and the Hatter Mansion were all as they should be. But what had happened to the others? If they had been split up, there was no telling what manner of characters they might have met. While they should be safe as Outsiders, Clover has never seen any other Outsiders. Like this, there's no way to be sure they're safe.

Whatever's happened - this is no time to be sleeping. She needs to verify what's going on in this world and the whereabouts of the people that entered with her. If this was a true and accurate reflection of the world that she knew, then she needed to warn them of a great many things.

Down the tower stairs she goes... to investigate the fate of herself and those who had gone with her.

Comments

[bakegarasu]

In the garden, it was night. Wasn't it just day? Maybe it was, but it didn't matter. It was night now. Otoha crept along, watching this intruder - this mouse. Silent as a cat, he padded along, waiting for him to pass by...

... before striking. He leaped out from behind a bush, sword drawn and ready to stab the mouse through the chest.

[frozentear]

It suddenly got dark. Very, very dark. What was going on? He started to look at the sky to see what had happened when something - someone - jumped out from behind a bush at him. Without thinking, he threw something at it to scare it away.

Wait, wasn't that his gun?

Fuck.

He tried to back away as quickly as possible, but, well, backing up is never very fast.

[bakegarasu]

He grinned and sliced through the air, knocking the gun away and coming back to stab Sebastian through the stomach in a single quick motion. He crouched, and then pushed up, letting the sword do the work as he cut upwards towards the other's breastbone.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. He could feel it down the sword, in his own chest. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Time to die.

[frozentear]

That hurt. That hurt a lot, so much that it was hard to think. As he began to fall, still partly suspended by the sword, he saw his blood spilling out of him and knew he was dying. He had never wanted to die, no matter how much he was tired of life... but for some reason, it didn't bother him right now.

If anything, this made him wish he still had the gun in his hands to inflict the same amount of pain on the man in front of him. But it was lying over there, in the grass. He started to reach out, as if he could grab it, but his arm became weak and fell to his side.

[bakegarasu]

He watched the other's eyes, watched him realize what was going on... but this didn't matter, did it?

No. Not really.

He pulled out the sword and kicked out, trying to get Sebastian to fall to the grass. The garden could use some more watering, so why not use his blood? It would work, surely.

"One point." It was all a game, after all.

[frozentear]

Sebastian fell easily, blood splattering across the bushes and grass. Everything hurt, but the hurt was beginning to fade out with his vision.

Something flew across the grass, hitting the man's leg on the way over before stopping in front of Sebastian. Oh... his gun came back. Weakly, he wrapped his fingers around it, and although he could barely lift his hand - fired it at an upturning angle, trying to hit the one who had sliced him open.

[bakegarasu]

He hissed as the pain worked its way up his leg. How did people deal with this? He stepped back, the bullet hitting him in the side, and fell to his knees as he tried to deal with it.

"Dammit..." Why did pain have to exist? Why did he have to feel it? He never had before... why now?

[frozentear]

There was just enough time to see the other man fall to his knees, just enough time to feel satisfaction at hitting him through the pain. Sebastian's vision went grey, and finally drained of energy he closed his eyes.

And his breathing stopped.

NOTEBOOK SCRAP 1

[worldkeys]

While Otoha is busy entertaining himself with his pain and other problems, several strange, shadowy figures made of inky, sticky blackness will appear around Sebastian's body. They move unnaturally, like odd creatures. They cannot be touched or interacted with, nor harmed.

One of the smaller figures digs into Sebastian's flesh, removing the Clock within, that has ceased its ticking. The others, of varying sizes, pick up his body.

They will spare a hollow stare at Otoha for just a moment before the figures, and Sebastian's corpse, disappear into the murky shadow of the ground. They take his clock with them.

A short while later, Sebastian will reawaken inside Clover Tower. When he does, he will find a scrap of paper next to him. The handwriting is completely foreign, no one recognizable. It reads:

"The ant told me
that the frog is bad."

The Notebook Scrap will remain inside Clover Tower, unable to be gotten rid of or disposed of, nor harmed by any outside forces.

[bakegarasu]

He huffs in annoyance at the pain and watches the figures. Fine. They'll take it away? That's fine with him. Less mess. He stands, a bit wobbly, and goes on his way.

Time to keep moving.