White Queen: First, there's the room you can see through the glass - that's just the same as our drawing room, only things go the other way. I can see all of it when I get up on a chair - all but the bit just behind the fireplace. Oh, I do wish I could see that bit... I want so much to know whether they've a fire in the winter. You never can tell, you know, unless our fire smokes, and then the smoke comes up in that room too.

KillTheKat: ... I guess you're still on that Alice in Wonderland trip, huh Hel?

White Queen: Yup. But it's not like I can help it, since The Animatrix came out and I finally read the bnook it's been inevitable.

White Queen: *book

KillTheKat: And I bet you're still convinced The Matrix exists, huh?

White Queen: Well, what if it did, TK? You never can tell...

KillTheKat: The Matrix and your Sanity are one - Inexistent.

White Queen: You're a funny man...

White Queen: Listen... I'm gonna go for a while, okay? If you do end up seeing Marx, tell him I'm soorrryy, but I simply do not have the patience to wait around until four - o - fucking clock in the morning just to hear what he has to say to avoid a long distance call, must not be that important.

KillTheKat: THAT I can do, I'm playing Tetris... I'm hooked, I'll be up on this caffeine binge for AT LEAST another three hours, so I'll relay that...

White Queen: Thanks much n.n Well... I'm gone, see you.

KillTheKat: Yeah, adios.

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THE//WHITE//QUEEN

A yawn. The girl stretched, mouth agape in an overly loud groan, arms above her head, trying to make things in her room a little less quiet, A little less dark. The music had stopped, opting not to stand and begin the CD over again, she sat in her room, the only illumination coming from her flat screen monitor and the Stereo System's clock, 2:34 AM. Everyone was asleep. She could tell, the pacing footsteps in the hall had gone, another nervous night, more tension.

Her single mother had come home from another botched date, a nervous wreck and more angry than she had been with the last dead beat she picked up at the local bar or laundromat... Fate's always had a funny way with single mothers who have sixteen year old daughters, apparently...

Her name really wasn't Hel... it was just an alias she identified with, like most people in their message board-irc-community. She even knew God to be a twenty-four year old programmer from Brooklyn, New York. It was just simply the way it went. Her real name was indeed Alice, finding it a source of egotism and power that she both resembled the fictional character she loved, and became an icon among a sea of Matrix admirers, knowing enough knowledge to rival any hardcore fan. And to think, when she was young, she hated that name...

Thirsty, she shuffled into the hall, away from her tiny out-of-the-way room, careful not trip over the phone cord that ran under her bedroom door... pathetic, she still had dial up, there just wasn't enough money for a cable modem hookup out in the middle of nowhere, even if it was just her and her mother. Dial up would do, at least she was connected.

In the living room, the VCR was on a blue screen, meaning the movie had finished and rewound. Curious, she couldn't remember watching anything, perhaps her mother had... The sleek black rectangle sat in the carpeted floor, blinking display a perpetual 12:00 AM. The cassette poking out through the opening, she shoved it back in with her toe, the internal motors kicking in and preparing for an audience. Standing impatiently, waiting for the Motion Picture's Association warning to fade, thirst called more harshly than before, and she left the muted set for another round of Coca Cola and 94% fat free, reduced butter, reduced salt popcorn. Yuck.

She could hear the movie starting in the next room, so turning to stand in the hall that spilt to the living room and the bedrooms, she watched the title appear, Appocalypse Now!... a rather intriguing movie, she did always adore the acid dropping surfer, Lance. Her quote on the boards had been

"Not COOOOOL!"

for three weeks prior to viewing it for the first time, and she has since had an odd infatuation with The Doors.

But, she was indeed burnt out on it, and turned back to her room again, carrying a cold and stale bowl of popcorn and a plastic cup filled with fizzy, room temperature coke. Thinking it would just be better to wait for Marx to show, still feeling as ominous as she had earlier, she tapped a key and waited for modem noise to clear, just to hear the sweet sweet sound of an AOHELL Welcome.

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Her buddylist consisted of five or six important people, and the rest aquaintences from her IRC chats. For profile purposes, she'd listed herself on her buddylist as well, for easy access to view herself, to see if she was becoming unhappy with a static profile... one thing that could be said about Hel was that she always changed, and always had interesting profiles. So, the total amount of people online from her thirty something list of people, happened to be KillTheKat, White Queen, and If lt Bleeds. Marx was online... Hel's eyebrow arched, "It's isn't four..." she thought, turning off her away message and IMing her new found friend from a role playing session in a late night Cowboy Bebop channel...

White Queen: Riddle me this, batman. Why couldn't you just call me? I thought you had minutes left on your card...

... A long pause, there was no reply for several minutes. She was beginning to get agrivated... while contemplating signing onto AIM and warning him fifty million times, his message finally came up. But... it made absolutely no sense.

If lt Bleeds: To the looking-glass world it was that Alice said, I've a sceptre in my hand, I've a crown on my head. Let the looking-glass creatures, whatever they be, Come and dine with the Red Queen, the White queen, and me.

White Queen: Rather funny, my love. I can quote that book as well as anyone, but you still haven't answered my question.

If lt Bleeds: I want to meet you. I want you to meet me, at that little diner in that town you live not far from.

If lt Bleeds: Give me three days, and meet me there...

Granted, Marx was quick... but she was quicker. She just wasn't about to agree to terms she didn't quite get... inquisitive as always, she continued reluctantly.

White Queen: One question... Who's your Red Queen? You're not going to be alone, are you?

But it was too late, Marx had left, and she'd recieved an AOL error saying that this member was not currently online... Fuck. She rubbed her eyes, and IMed a final goodbye to TK and frustrated with the utter slowness of her computer, poked the power strip on/off button with her foot, opting to go to bed and contemplate rather than spend another sleepless night looking at Solitare. Three days...