CHAPTER 3 : FOREIGN-NAPPED

~It is not the strongest species that survives,

Not the most intelligent,

But the most receptive to change~

(Charles Darwin)

Lyvia's POV

Blood had pulled that gun faster than Elliot could munch down a slice of carrot cake, and though expected, the action had caught me off guard. The harsh stinging on my cheek was a solemn indication that the cold metal bullet had grazed it, a form of castigation by Blood Dupre.

"That is quite the offer Lyvia, anything is such a powerful verb." Despite the biting sensation, I managed a shadow of smile. "So it is." Blood frowned.

"And if I ask for your life?"

"If you give me Alice, I wouldn't kvetch much."

"Are you sure? Foreigners are indispensable afterall, once dead there wouldn't a replacement for you."

In contrast to his guarded gleam, my eyes shone of mirth. "Of course there is. Just ask Peter White to pop one up here, isn't kidnapping foreigners his forte?"

"You have a disturbing sense of humor." Don't we all? His gun switched back to its cane vessel. "What business do you have with Joker?"

My voice lost all traces of amiability. "None of your business." Dupre was getting more annoying by the second.

"However you see it Blood, you're only left with two choices, you either shoot me dead here, or you smarten up and take up my offer. If it's the former, good luck dealing with disposing a rotting carcass, brilliant experience I tell you, as I'm sure you know that our corpse doesn't merely disintegrate into clocks, we let nature do the work for us." Blood looked uncomfortable at this. "If it's neither, I will be in Wonderland for quite some time, me and Alice are bound to have a rundown sooner or later. I don't think it'd take much convincing for Alice to lead this poor lost old me into Jokers territory, do you?"

Blood snorted. "Are you blackmailing me?"

"Oh no, I wouldn't dare." My pearly canines peaked through my simper. I wiped the residue blood that seeped through the streak wound with an index finger, lifting the appendage to my parted lips, lapping the red plasma with the tip of my tongue. It tasted like rusted iron. "Admit it Blood, you need me."

"I should shoot you dead for that sort of insolence."

"But you wouldn't. Not to a foreigner."

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THE FOREST

"We're going on a trip to my favourite rocket ship, zooming through the sky, little Einsteinnn!", I sung merrily, red umbrella twisting precariously beneath my fingers as I dragged a blue dressed girl with my other hand.

Day changed to twilight soon enough, and Alice seemed perturbed by the darkening sky.

"Worried?", I asked.

Alice only nodded slightly. "I'm afraid nighttime might come for us, it gets dangerous in the forest at night."

I spun to face the shorter girl. "But night is when all the fun happens?"

"But it's Wonderl-"

"Because it's Wonderland". A glint of burning firewood caught my vision. "Look here's one right now."

Just as I assumed, the Knight of Hearts made his entrance. Unwelcomed brute hands gripped my shoulder from behind. "Hey Alice" His eyes made a squint while he smiled broadly, until it turned towards me, and they shone of curiosity. "Who's your friend?"

I decided to introduce myself. "I'm Lyvia".

I reached out a gloved hand−not in fear of his large calloused hands breaking mine, but because he's an unhygienic son of germ who had fingernails spooning dirt, like fat Aunt Roodie spooning macaroni. I did my best to match his smile nonetheless.

This Ace guy clearly lacked any sense of personal space as much as hygiene as he stood too close for what was considered appropriate till I had to tilt a good length up to see his mischievous eyes looking down on me. I do know that his somewhat carefree attitude could be intimidating as much as uncomfortable when misused.

"You're a foreigner right newcomer?".

"So that means you have a heart right, Miss Foreigner?". I imagined how many repeating conversations I'd have to make around here.

"I do. I also have a set of kidneys, lungs, bladder, liver; the full organ combo. You name it, I have it. Why, are you buying?"

He blinked once, then he laughed. The laugh set an echo in the stillness of the forest, the sound travelling far. At least he's got a sense of humor.

The laugh drifted to light chuckles. "You're funny."

"So my psychiatrist had told me."

A blur of pink and purple jumped from a tree planted behind the humored Ace. The colour was so bright and vivid, and it moved so fast that the mash of purplish pink burned its way right into my eyehole sockets. Another of those role holders I've yet to meet.

Pinky acknowledged Ace first. "Hell, where you've been? Vivaldi's turning the castle inside out looking for you. Death counts are increasing-" then of course he noticed me, the unfamiliar face in Wonderland.

His tail swished vigorously from one side to another. "Lyvia! The new foreigner right?"

"News sure travels fast." I smiled politely.

"It's rare that we have one foreigner in the game, there's never been two."

This roleholder is as unreserved as the last one I concluded, when he checked me out unabashedly from where he stood. "You're pretty."

That side comment threw me off for a second. I racked my brain for a way to respond kindly. No. Nah. I don't know how to respond to that. "Thank you. And you're… pink." Ah, should of left it at thank you.

"She's a funny foreigner, right Boris?" Ace slung an arm around the Cheshire cat's shoulder, his hand caressing the pink boa. That boa looks fluffy, almost as if came from the fur of another animal. Boris rocked that gothic-emo black and pink look, piercings and all. Okay Lyv, less time admiring, more time moving.

"We'd love to stay and chat more, but I'm afraid Alice and I are on a tight schedule, and we should really get going."

"Ah, I should be going to. Knightly duty calls." With a wink and a wave, Ace disappeared behind the bushes, leaving us with pinky.

"The castle's the other way, you airhead!" the cat groaned.

"Anyway, where you headed?"

"The circus. Or the jail really, whichever we find first."

Boris gagged. "Uh, why?"

"Confidential business, my cannibal furball fiend." His head tilted to his right, not getting the inside joke.

"You joining us?"

"Ughh no, we don't associate ourselves with Jokers around here."

I shrugged. "Suit yourself." My umbrella made a dip before settling securely on my shoulder. This was my 'I'm ready to get down to business' gesture.

"Hey, wanted to ask for sometime now, but what's with the umbrella, it's dusk? What ya' need it for?"

"I don't." I gave a crooked grin. "It's Gucci."

Alice and I walked for about a mile longer until we reached a signboard pointing the path towards the circus. This was a long walk, I am now angry and to top it off hungry. I am hangry. A hangry me is a delusional me. "I want a gingerbread house right about now, I don't care if an ugly witch threw me in an oven, least I'd be fed."

Alice gave me that strange look again. "You say the weirdest things."

"Not if you've read Hansel and Gretel. I forgot what century you came from, thought you read fairy tales too."

All of a sudden, Alice stopped dead in front of me. Black figures which are void of faces, and whose body was more liquid than solid swarmed the vicinity collecting clocks from the blanket of red mass that stuck on the grass and flowed through its crevice. Afterimages.

There was a cracking sound, like glass breaking as I took my first step forward. Looking down, sure enough it was a clock that I had stepped on. I felt several afterimages turn heads at me. "Alice, go!" I commanded.

"But you.."

"Now!" the tone left no room for argument. "They're harmless, they're only after the clocks." I only heard running footsteps from behind, indicating that she had wisely heed my request.

The afterimages drew closer to me, albeit slowly, and slightly curiously. I took wary step backwards. These clock retrievers reek of the stench of blood and something akin to burning gas. Disgusting. Any appetite from earlier was immediately laid waste.

One afterimage in particular drew particularly close. These creatures don't walk, more like they're floating, shaped helium gas without the balloon. It drew an inch, then two, and then there was darkness. The ground was no longer ground, instead was a black underground tunnel that whipped my feet from balance and I fell down, fast, till I felt cold pavement beneath my torso where I landed on my front.

"Well shit. Look what dropped into this shithole."

Ah, so I've arrived.