Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aw damn it, she wasn't going to be able to get out of answering this question, was she? She listened to Rhys' and Seren's responses, and of the two, she opted for something more similar to the Mist's.

"I am Ligaya delos Santos. But I'm called Joy. I'm not feeling particularly joyful right now, because I'm someone who doesn't like Wonderland. I'm someone who has been here, who escaped this place, and I'm not interested in sticking around any longer than I have to. I'm angry that I'm back here, and I'm not very good at dealing with my anger without it involving my fists in someone's face or their knee in my gut but I'll take a fight against a Jabberwock or the b***h Queens of this place if it means I get the ******** out of here."

And she too was granted a mushroom that she would keep for later as they passed through.

Rhys listened curiously to Joy's response, for the first time learning things about the woman that weren't so obvious on the surface. When she was finished he blinked at her silently, wondering for a moment what to do with his thoughts before just tucking them away much the way he did with most thoughts he didn't think he really needed to bring up at all. He filed it away as "Things About Joy" and left it there.

He watched Seren be her usual supportive self and smiled fondly at her, happily taking her hand again when she came back toward him. "I'm sure I made the right one," he whispered back, "'cause I kinda meant I found you after joining Deus." His smile turning more amused as he added, "Maybe I'm a little kinda poetic, too?"

The brunette gave a chuckle before looking up and noticing that the path had finally cleared for the three of them. Turning to Joy, he asked, "So I'm guessing we go down this path?"

Seren clung gently to Rhys' hand and murmured back "You are just as poetic as you need to be, love." The way he always made it clear to her how important she was in his life, how happy he was to have her, made her feel incredible every time. She had no idea how to handle it, sometimes, how good and wonderful he could make her feel. She was used to feeling like an afterthought, or unwanted, or an annoyance. He made her feel like the opposite of all of those things, and he really was the best thing in her life.

When the path appeared before them, she tilted her head curiously at it, studying what appeared before them as they made their way down it. She noted a maze to one side, what seemed to be a tunnel of sorts to the other, and in front of them... A bunch of Card Soldiers trying to paint the roses. She winced, remembering how that had gone for them in the book she had read as a child, and wondered if she could help them at all. When Joy moved forwards to help them, however, she made a soft noise of concern, and made her own decision.

She turned to Rhys and said "Babe, I am going to try to help the Cards, and Joy, get this done. If you do not want to paint the flowers, I will rejoin you when we are done." She leaned up and kissed his cheek again, then gently pulled her hand free of his.

[ Final Day - The Queen’s Throne Room. ]

Joy was glad that Seren and Rhys stuck with her to help paint. It felt like they had planted even more roses since she remembered, why couldn't they get the colors right? But with her two friends helping out, they made good time.

"Thanks, you two. I, I know I've been kind of bitchy since we found ourselves here. I think I'd have been a lot bitchier if I'd been all alone." She still wasn't quite her usual self, the memories she had of this place still hurt and she hadn't quite managed to fully get over them.

Aria Starstone

_ p a o cx

[ Final Day - The Queen’s Throne Room. ]

Seren beamed at her boyfriend for joining them in the painting, and when they were done, and had regathered together, she slipped her hand into his, giving it a warm and loving squeeze, her eyes gently shining at him. She loved the fact that he was, despite how gruff he might seem to be to others, honestly a good hearted person, who would help others. He was, in her eyes, one of the kindest and sweetest people she had ever met, and it amazed her to think that she was the girl he had fallen in love with. She was the luckiest woman alive, in her mind.

She turned to look at Joy when she spoke, her eyes quiet with thought. She remembered the mention of the name "Cap'n" and Wonderland being involved, from a night close to two months ago in her room, and she remembered how Joy had seemed sad when she talked about him, to the small extent that Joy HAD done so. She considered the situation, and reached over, pulling Joy close into another hug, silent but supportive for a minute. Finally, she gently let her best female friend go, so that she did not make Joy feel strangled.

"You clearly had previous experience of this place, Joy, and equally clearly, it was not all good, if it was good at ALL. I do not blame you for not wanting to be here again, and being angry at the universe for making you have to go through it. I am not mad at you, just to be clear."

The painting was an interesting task to say the least, and Rhys was glad it was over soon enough and he rejoined the two ladies huddled by the entrance to the castle. He shot Joy a smile first as Seren took his hand, and then turned to his girlfriend to quickly pull her in for a little hug. He'd kept himself in check since they got there but she was just a little irresistible sometimes, so he thought this little lull was a good time to show a little more of affection than he had been up 'til then.

And then he let Seren pull away to comfort Joy again, nodding along as she spoke.

"Yeah, if your last trip here was s**t then it's normal that you wouldn't wanna be here. I don't even wanna be here, and I've never been here before. Since I am here though, just glad it's with you two." There was a certain level of comfort he was at with these two women that he didn't have with anyone else, so it was always a relief to go through mission or weird things like this with them. Granted, if given a choice he would rather they didn't go through anything overly traumatic--like the whole Kim dying thing, for instance--but what was life on Deus without traumatic things happening to everyone Creation could get its hands on? So if he had to go through things with two other people, he would for sure pick Joy and Seren in a heartbeat.

"Anyway, our path's clear so we can probably go on in."

He suggested and decided maybe he could take lead this time without realizing that they would get caught as quickly as they did. They barely made it back out...and he nodded to Joy. "Yeah...yeah, you take point this time."

Seren was looking up at the sky, a pissed off expression on her face. Off With Their Heads? How dare that self involved, angry little IMAGINARY QUEEN! She took several deep breaths, battling her temper, a thing neither of the two people she was with had ever actually seen her lose... And losing it here seemed like a terrible plan, especially if there were any headsman around who might decide she was being disrespectful to the b***h Queen, and try to kill her for it. She did not have Diwata with her, and she did not have any real clue how to fight with anything else, let alone bare handed.

After she managed to calm herself down, she took a few deep breaths, and took Rhys' hand again, looking between the two. "That seems like a good idea, Joy..." She finally said, in a slow way, her voice showing the hint of the level of pissed she had been just a moment ago, but the edge that was there was also fading with each word. "I am sorry I was such a ********' klutz and attracted that horrible individual's attention. I believe that between the three of us, though, we will find a way to make this work. All three of us, we are way too tough and tough minded to let HER stop us."

She gave them both a slightly fierce grin after those words and leaned a little against Rhys, finally back to something closer to her normal self.