Round 1: Return from Ankh's Heart to the Hub

[worldkeys]

Who: The Alices, and the White Rabbit.
What: Everyone is returned from Ankh's Heart. YOU CHEATERS, YOU.
Where: The World Hub.
Warnings: A lovely bunch of cheating cheaters that Rabbit is, frankly, not sure if he should applaud or be exasperated about.

When they return, the White Rabbit seems like he can't decide if he's annoyed or impressed.

"... Another one, is it? Well... that was at least marginally faster than I'd expected you to go, compared to last time. Maybe I'll get them all back in a decent amount of time. I'll unlock the next Door for you, then."

As always, of course, he fully expects they're going to pester him with random, stupid questions. At the very least, he seems in a better mood than last time.

Comments

[worldkeys]

[ The misty figure snickers. ]

Oh? I never mentioned your soul, but... all right, Alice. Then, there's no chance of a deal.

[bakegarasu]

Well, I don't have much else here.

[It's kind of a problem... hm.]

You could take an arm, as long as it's not my sword arm.

[worldkeys]

[ A shake of the head... sorry, Otoha. ]

Oh, Alice. You're trying so hard. The harder you try, the more inclined I am to make you feel pain twice as hard... hee, hee, hee.

[ The figure will reach out to touch Otoha's forehead, suddenly. Will he try to run? ]

[bakegarasu]

[It's tempting, but no. He doesn't run. He's never run.]

[Never, ex... cept... no. Never.]

[Right?]

[worldkeys]

[ When the figure touches Otoha's forehead, he will experience a brief moment of strange electricity through all the nerves in his body, like all his senses have... heightened, suddenly. Then they'll move their hand downwards, toward his arm. They run a finger over it, and as if stricken by a knife, it will slice open. The wound isn't very deep, but he will bleed, and it will hurt twice as badly as it usually did.

The figure will draw back, giggling. All pain Otoha feels will now be magnified twice as much. ]

[bakegarasu]

[He shivers, frozen in place, and he's suddenly aware of all of his nerves - a connecting system of lightning and flesh. It's... odd, and then the figure is moving again, but he should move but he can't and -]

[And then his arm slices open, and he screams, trying to use his coat to staunch the blood flow. It's agony, and as much as things had hurt before this is so much worse. He falls to the ground, trembling, trying not to throw up. It hurts and it's nearly blinding and there's tears in his eyes and he can't do much more than growl in an attempt to stop screaming.]

[It's hard, so hard, and he can see the red staining his coat. He reaches underneath to check on it but the instant he touches near the wound it's agony and he draws it back, shaking and staring at the blood on his hand.]

[worldkeys]

[ They watch Otoha's reactions and laugh, laugh away, moving back in a wispy way, giggling. He's only bleeding just enough, after all, but his reaction... it's so satisfying to them. ]

Poor, poor Alice. If only you had offered something worthwhile...

A little boy went, into a barn,
And lay down on some hay.
An owl came out, and flew about,
And the little boy ran away!