Welcome to Gaia! ::

[1273 + 4 = 1277 Damage! ]

3/5

"Feeling a little worn out...," panted Clopper.

[1287 + 8 =1295 Damage! ]

Turn: 5/5

"Looks like I am done...," said Clopper as he sunk down.

...

There was just a card left...

"A heal huh?" said Clopper with a small smile to himself. Looking up, he spotted Undying=Borg .

"Here you go sir!" said Clopper as he tossed his heal to the other. "Good luck!"

The world then went dark.

1345 Cumulative Damage + 12
Fragments: +1
Turn: 1/5

IBB was more than happy to attack this Red Queen with the goal of taking her down. And possibly dancing on her grave. Possibly. Withdrawing her Pierce card from one of her many pockets, the tiny Hatter used it at once to buy herself just enough time to snag her Pocket Card and order it to send in her Lupia to provide some quick healing.

Grunting in satisfaction as Pierce managed to p***k the Queen, IBB was darting around, looking for openings to try and score some damage with her cards.

1366 Cumulative Damage + 3
Fragments: +1
Turn: 3/5

The sudden appearance of a new, tenth card caught IBB slightly off guard, but she found she rather liked that it kept her from getting too banged up. She liked it even better when the mass of cards she'd been chucking at the Red Queen began to glow and then morphed into a bat-wing bow. Grinning, she fired off an arrow, pumping her fist in the air as it struck the Queen. Okay, so the damage was akin to that of a paper cut, but hey! She had a spiffy bow.

1374 Cumulative Damage + 4 = 1378
Fragments: +1
Turn: 5/5

March Hare was starting to look a little tired. Frankly, IBB was starting to feel the same way. She needed to rest or she wouldn't be any good for anything. With a final volley of cards, she scooped up her Hare and darted off to find a place to rest and get herself taken care of.

Sweetm00n nodded as the replies came back. Don't overthink a situation that seems hopeless, just keep moving forward in the only direction available. It wasn't the same as giving up, if you kept your eyes open and alert for any way to change things, if and when they become available. It seemed her guild had - or at least one person in her guild had the same idea as her. Hopefully, the rest were following suit.

< TO BoiisonFIYAH: Sounds like we're all doing this for the same reason, then? And who's Ul? >

Turning back to focus on the battle, she looked around at everyone. They were all fighting this queen, for various reasons. She had felt, when she heard shadow - she glanced down at her friend's list - shadowstep, or 'the grumpy one' in her head declare that they 'wouldn't play the game any longer' that it wasn't really the best option for her. Maybe, despite the way they had been utterly eviscerated by ALICE, they actually did have a plan to stop her, and would sit these battles out. But she wasn't totally convinced. After all, if they had some way to hack out of the game, why were they still yelling angrily at ALICE? No - they were probably not a step further than she was in actually breaking out of this construct. If they really were going to withdraw from playing, that would just mean they had given up trying to find a way to fight.

Focusing her attention on one wounded character, she let out a volley of heals and moved to defend. Taking the damage, she looked down at the two minis following behind her, defending and healing as she went. She had wished to bring Otoderpo, but she was certain his attack would be nothing on the boss, and didn't want him to get separated. Scanning the battlefield, she hurried on to the next person needing assistance. As she did so, she finished patching up the brickwork foundation of her choice. This wasn't just the right path, it was the only path. She was heading in the right direction as always, and if her mother knew what she was doing she would be utterly 100% behind the ghoul.

Normally she didn't have this worry, this 'am I making the right decision', because she had spent so long planning every part of her life. She had charted each day, how long it would take to reach points, what she would do to get there, and she had shown it to people (her mother) and people had approved (her mother) and people had told her that it was right, and that she was on track (her mother). Now though, all she could do was imagine the familiar face in her head, telling her that yes, what she was planning to do, what she was thinking, the path she was choosing was right. She wondered how everyone else made decisions. It must be scary to just have to guess on your own.
[504 words]

cumulative: 1528 astra here



Would it be better to sleep forever? He admitted that he did not know if he was currently sleeping now, he could only assume he was somehow. Had he not experienced a number of nightmares now? He could not dream if he was not sleeping.

The question rolled in and out of his head at varying frequencies at varying times. Never waking up unsettled him because it was unchangeable. Once he stepped through the door, even if he looked back he could never return to the land of the living and conscious, but there were days—and as the weeks passed he found the days knocked on his doorstep more and more—when he felt it would be better to curl into bed and never crawl out from beneath the sheets.

Too many days he used to find himself staring at the white-washed ceiling while his alarm clock buzzed incessantly next to his ear. Too many days R0GU3 struggled to climb out of bed and shrug on his clothes, to slip on the sunny smile he always wore, but somehow it always happened, and then he would run through his daily cycle on autopilot mode until once more he fell onto his mattress.

If he closed his eyes, moved his body to the very edge of the bed to leave room for another, stretched out his fingers and imagination, he could feel a slender hand slip into his. Cold at first, but gradually growing warmer and warmer until it spreads to the rest of his body and he can fall asleep, murmuring between soft breaths if I could sleep forever…

And now he was here. If he stayed here in Wonderland, could he sleep forever and still be awake in his mind? Would this be his perfect solution? It was hard to say. If he stayed here, would everyone else leave him behind after they finished the game? Would he be left all alone again, again, again? There was always a difference between being left alone and alone. The last thing he wanted to be was alone.

He eyed the red queen with wary eyes as he decided to take a step back to clear his head. By now, his mind had wandered so many times over the course of the battle that he had to question how exactly he was still standing well and alive. The rabbit could vaguely recall a fellow faction player healing him. He stared at his gloved hands with wonder in his eyes. He was still alive. Granted, he had already died once in this game and he had respawned. Even if he died he would just come back, right? Then everything would be okay just like he said they would be (though in the back of his mind a voice whispered that no matter how many times he said everything would be okay, everything would never be okay when was the last time he had been truly okay?) And with a sigh, he stepped forward to clash with the queen again.

Words: 507 = 50 damage