Alice stood gazing at the key to her sister's door she held after she pushed Bumby in front of the train. It was finally over. Her mind was now safe, and the man who had destroyed her life and the lives of many other children would no longer hurt anybody ever again.
"I hope you had a good reason for what you just did." A young man's voice said from the far end of the platform, making Alice whip around, shocked. She was sure that there hadn't been anyone there just a moment ago!
With barely a thought, the reassuring weight of the Vorpal Blade was in her hand as she studied this new complication.
He stood straight backed and confident, not worried in the slightest at the sight of her. Unsurprising, really, considering he couldn't see the Blade, it existing only in her mind, though she clung to it like a safety blanket. He only saw a pale, filthy girl who, admittedly, had just murdered a man.
Eyes as green as emeralds gazed at her intently, seeming to glow with some sort of light. His hair, black as a raven's wing, looked somewhat unkempt, though on him it looked like it was meant to be so. His skin was pale, but not unhealthily so, contrasting interestingly with the rest of his features. He dressed in a sharp black suit that would have made Bumby look at him enviously, his vest a dark green with silver accents that contrasted nicely with the rest. On his head he wore a hat that tied the entire outfit together. All in all, he looked like a nobleman, the type of boy that would have schoolgirls, no matter the age, sighing and pining. Only his calloused hands gave away the lie.
And yes, he was a boy, she realized. She was almost shocked when she realized he was likely a few years younger than her own nineteen years, he stood so surely.
She heard Cheshire's voice whisper to her. "Be very careful Alice. There is something different about this one, and now, he holds your freedom in his hands. We know not what his intentions are."
As Alice turned to face the boy fully, she tightened her grip on the Vorpal Blade. She would not go back to the gaol. She would not! She had just freed herself from Bumby and his damage. She would not lose it all when she just gained it back!
Briefly, she despaired. Would the universe ever tire of seeing her suffer? Then she steeled herself back. She'd had enough of running from her problems. She'd face this head on.
"I assure you, young sir, that I had very good reasons for what I just did." She said crisply, no sign of her inner turmoil showing in her voice.
"Indeed? Considering what you have demonstrated so far, I believe that there's definitely more to this than meets the eye." He responded, voice calm. He had a nice voice, she absently noted. Then her brow furrowed slightly. What she'd demonstrated? What did he mean? "Now why don't you put that knife away so we can talk about it?"
Alice's mind screeched to a halt, like a train such as the one that had finally ended Bumby had derailed. Was he telling her to put away the Vorpal Blade? "You… You can see it?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Of course. I can see that, and the pretty blue dress you have on. I'm sure anybody could. Your target certainly did. He was even more surprised than I was when it appeared."
Alice reeled. They could see her dress? That was impossible. Her dress, her knife, they were imaginary, things her mind made up that she used to make herself feel better. They were not meant to have a presence in the real world.
She heard a satisfied chuckle. "Oh Alice, I always told you. You are special. More than you know. And not just because you have me in your head." Cheshire said in his normal, self-satisfied tone.
Alice hesitated before moving towards the pillar she was standing next to. As the boy watched she hesitantly ran the edge of the Vorpal Blade against the brick. She stepped back and stared at the shallow scratch that was left.
"I take it you didn't know you could do that?" He said, sounding almost amused despite the serious look still in his eyes.
Remembering the situation and setting aside this revelation for now, she responded, holding the knife ready at her side, just in case. "I have your word you will not try anything?"
"I promise I will not do anything to you, at least not till I know what's going and why you did what you did." He seemed to hesitate before continuing. "Besides, you aren't the only one around with interesting abilities." He held a finger up in demonstration, and to her surprise a small, black flame hovered above his fingertip.
Alice stared once again, unsure if she was imagining what she was seeing. A part of her began to think that she was imagining this boy, another delusion of her broken mind.
"You are not." Cheshire's voice came, reassuring her with a surprisingly direct answer. "You have reclaimed your mind. Though wounded, our Wonderland is safe, at least for now. Nothing such as him lurks inside it."
She took a breath before letting the knife disappear from her hand even as his dark flame did the same. He smiled. "There, that's better." He looked around at the subway platform. "I think we should take this talk someplace else, though. The flat I'm staying in isn't far."
Alice eyed him but nodded, ready to summon the Vorpal Blade, or something even more dangerous, back to her hand should he have any malicious intention. "Very well. Lead the way, if you'd please."
"Er…" He eyed her. "We might want to do something about your outfit first."
She blinked. "Why? It is infinitely better than the rags Pris Witless gave me."
He blinked at the odd name, something she admitted she'd once done as well. What did one have to do to have the surname 'Witless' foisted on them and their descendants? He shook it off quickly though. "Well, there is the fact that the apron is covered in splatters of blood, which might worry the passerby slightly."
Alice looked down, seeing what he was talking about. It had never actually registered to her, but her apron was indeed covered in blood. She furrowed her brow. He did have a point. Going out in public in blood covered clothing would probably alarm some people, now that she knew they could see it.
Well, considering it was made from her mind, perhaps she could alter it? She focused on removing the blood. Thought of the apron being pristinely white, only the black symbols on the pockets being the extent of the color. The bloodstains wavered, but returned to existence shortly afterward. She let out a small sound of irritation.
"Don't focus just on the blood or the apron." The boy (she still didn't know his name, she realized) said, sounding oddly knowledgeable. "Your outfit, while looking like several different pieces, I believe is a complete set. It all comes together. So focus on the entire outfit and how it should look sans blood."
She nodded slowly and looked back down, focusing on an image of the entire outfit as he'd said, and then thought of it without blood. She felt some resistance, but slowly the blood began to fade, until finally the outfit was pristine.
"Much better." He said with a smile. "Any trouble with it?"
Alice shook her head. "Not much. I have to concentrate to keep it clean, but it is not too difficult."
He nodded before beginning to move past her to the exit, making her tense. "Understood. You can let it go back to normal once we reach my flat. That way your full attention can be on our conversation. This way."
Alice waited till he passed her by a few paces before moving to follow, palm itching, ready to stab her knife into him if it became necessary. She hoped it didn't, however. She had already inadvertently killed Witless, and outright murdered Bumby. That was more than enough deaths on her mind, no matter how deserved they might have been.
They walked through the streets of London, and Alice was frankly amazed by the change clothing could make on peoples' perceptions of a person. Before, when she'd been dressed in the rags Pris Witless gave her, they'd ignored her at best and treated her like something inhuman at worst.
Now, they gave her and her companion small smiles and nods, like she was suddenly worth something because she looked like she came from a good household. She wondered absently if she had ever judged anybody similarly before the fire. If so, she felt deeply ashamed for doing so.
Soon they reached a large, well maintained residential building. The doorman opened the door for them, nodding them in, and the boy nodded back to him with a smile as he walked in, Alice following a bit more closely now. They proceeded up the stairs to the third floor and he pulled a key out of his pocket as he led her to a door at the end of the hallway. He opened the door and invited her in. "After you." His smile didn't reach his hard eyes as he watched her carefully. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised. It's not as if she trusted him at all either. She nodded and stepped into the room.
Gazing around she noted that it was rather spartan. There was nothing to indicate anybody lived here at all, no personal touches beyond a cat curled up in a sunbeam by the window she only absently noticed, though something tickled at her mind regarding it.
As if knowing the direction her thoughts had taken he answered her unasked question as he shut the door. "We've only been here a day, so there's not much here. You can let your control over your outfit go, by the way. BB, wake up!"
Blinking and wondering who 'BB' was, she saw the cat begin to stretch, blearily opening its eyes. That was when she realized what had caught her attention.
The cat was green.
She'd never heard of a green cat before, but there it lay, stretching as it was roused from its nap. It turned its head toward them. When it saw her it paused and let out a questioning meow.
"I encountered her in the underground. Trust me, I had a good reason to bring her up." The boy (she still didn't know his name!) said as he removed his coat and put it on the rack. "Now get up and ready so we can talk to her."
Alice opened her mouth, about to ask him why he was conversing with the cat like it would be part of the upcoming interrogation when the cat began to… shift. Its limbs began to lengthen as its body grew. Its front paws grew into hands, and its back paws into feet. Its fur receded till only what was on its head remained, and finally its face morphed into that of a human boy.
Alice stared, unable to believe what she was seeing. Where there had once been a cat was now a human boy, even younger than the other she'd followed. At least, she thought he might be human. He was still green. Green skin (or at least face, as the rest of him was covered by his odd outfit), with darker green hair on top of his head, and green eyes of a different shade than hers or the other boy's. The fact that he also had pointed ears did not escape her.
He wore odd attire, a sort of jumpsuit that was nearly skin tight, exposing his lightly muscled body far more than was proper, colored black and purple with a belt made of some sort of silver metal around his waist. He wore grey gloves on his hands, and odd looking footwear the same colors as his outfit.
"Well now, this is most interesting. It seems to me, dear Alice, that these two must have quite a story to tell. But caution is still paramount. We know not what other abilities they have in reserve. Be ready for anything." Cheshire said, sounding more than slightly intrigued.
The green boy grinned at her, showing he had small fangs. "Yo. How's it going? Name's Beast Boy."
She blinked at his odd manner of speech (he had to be American) before responding slightly incredulously. "Beast Boy? I highly doubt that, if only because no parent would be so foolish. Your true name, if you'd please?"
Beast Boy raised an eyebrow at her before glancing at the other boy, who was chuckling lightly. "Sure, guess it can't hurt, considering the situation…" He grinned once again. "Garfield. Garfield Mark Logan." Before she could respond he turned to the other boy. "You know Harry, I didn't expect you to find a girl you wanted to bring up so quickly. I'll go wander around and get out of your hair, kay? "
It took her a moment to realize what he meant, but Alice tensed and called upon her Vorpal Blade and let the blood return to her apron as she moved away from the two warily, knife held up and ready as her eyes narrowed. "What!? Is that why you brought me up here!? To, to take advantage of me with blackmail? Because I will tell you now, I will not submit!"
Garfield yelped and scrambled back in surprise while Harry (well, at least she finally had a name) sighed tiredly and massaged the bridge of his nose. "BB, you moron, that was a stupid thing to say right now."
The green youth held up his hands. "Sorry, sorry! It was a joke, I swear! Nobody is going to do anything to you, much less something like that! Promise!"
Alice eyed them dangerously before turning her gaze to Harry as he spoke. "Honestly, miss, all I want to do is find out why you did what you did and if I need to involve the authorities. I have no intentions towards you beyond that. Beast Boy simply has a bad habit of making crude jokes and speaking without thinking."
Slowly, carefully, Alice brought her knife down to her side, still ready to use it, but no longer openly threatening. "Very well. I will believe you… for now. But I'll be watching you, so do not try anything."
Harry nodded as Garfield let out a sigh of relief. "Understood. Why don't you take a seat and I'll make some tea so we can talk."
As she sat down at the small nearby table the boys walked into the kitchen area. She could make out Garfield whispering to Harry as the latter began gathering teacups and tea leaves. "Dude, what the hell!? She suddenly had a knife, and she's covered in blood. Where did you find her?"
"I'll explain in a moment, BB. Go sit down." Harry said in a more normal voice. Garfield sighed but did as told, sitting opposite Alice, arms crossed and eyeing her. Soon afterwards Harry walked over, setting three teacups on the table, along with the sugar and milk. Alice eyed the cups, slightly confused as the water within looked tepid at best. Her eyebrows rose, however, when he tapped his finger against a cup and steam began to rise. He did the same to the other cups before dropping the leaves in. He slid a cup over to Alice, then did the same for Garfield, who made a small face before taking it, leaving Harry to pull the last one to himself as he sat.
The sat in silence for a minute or so before Harry sighed. "Well, we should probably get started. BB already introduced himself, so I guess it's my turn. My name is Harry Potter. I practice magic."
Alice eyed him. "…Alice Liddell. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She added more out of habit than for any other reason. "Magic? Truly?"
Harry smiled and waved his fingers over a teaspoon, making it suddenly change into a surprised looking little snake. The snake flicked its tongue out a few times before Harry changed it back. "Yes, magic."
"I… see…" Alice said slowly. She then turned to Garfield. "And you can turn into a cat. Is that magic too?"
Garfield shook his head. "Not just a cat. I can turn into any animal I want. And it's a side effect of my parents using an experimental serum to save my life from a rare disease, not magic."
Alice blinked. "Any animal?"
Garfield grinned and nodded. "Yep."
"Fascinating…" Alice said slowly.
Garfield turned to Harry. "So, dude, what's this all about?"
Harry let out a small sigh. "I arrived at the underground station as planned in time to see Alice here push a man in front of the train. I figured finding out why she'd kill a man would be a good idea."
Garfield blinked at Harry before turning to Alice, eyes slightly narrowed. "Okay… I'll trust your judgment in not immediately calling the police." He leaned back in his seat. "So, what's the story? And it better not be 'I thought it'd be fun.'"
"Of course not!" Alice snapped before stopping and taking a deep breath and a sip of the surprisingly good tea. "Bumby was a monster, and that was the only thing I could do to stop him."
Harry and Garfield glanced at each other before turning back to her. "I think you should start at the beginning, Alice." Harry said.
Alice looked down, collecting her thoughts. "Eleven years ago my family died due to a fire in our home while we slept. I only survived because I jumped out of the window of my room and landed in the snowdrift outside." Her grip on the teacup tightened as she remembered, the memories made worse by what she'd realized not that long ago.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Alice." Harry said softly, and Garfield nodded in agreement, looking somber.
"Thank you." Alice said before continuing. "The event… damaged me." She said, not liking to admit it to virtual strangers. "I spent the next ten years in the Rutledge Asylum. I was… in bad condition due to the trauma…" She turned her arms and looked at her wrists without thinking about it, remembering the cuts she'd made with the spoon. They had healed and hadn't even left a scar, which is what the doctors had expected, but she could still remember the way the blood poured out.
She did not notice the boys glance at each other darkly, both guessing easily what her actions meant.
She snapped out of her recollection and took another fortifying sip of tea. "I did, however, manage to recover enough that I was released from the asylum not even a year ago. A woman by the name of Pris Witless, who worked at the asylum, helped me find a room at the Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth." She scowled. "Of course, now I know that wasn't an altruistic action on her part." At the boys' looks she continued. "Witless expected to be able to extort me for money thanks to a false confession of being the cause of the fire I made during my time in Rutledge with the help of Bumby. I'm sure she even knew what he did at Houndsditch, though I have no proof."
"Isn't Bumby the name of the guy you killed?" Garfield asked, watching her.
Alice nodded. "He was the head of the orphanage, and the psychiatrist. He was working on me with the remnants of my experience with the fire." Her hands fisted. "At least, that's what he led me to believe. In truth, he was erasing my memories with hypnosis, trying to leave me an obedient puppet. A doll."
Harry leaned forward, fingers interlaced as he watched her. "Why?"
Alice let out a breath. "I only just recently managed to throw off his influence and recover my memories. Bumby has been using the orphanage for his own purposes. He used hypnosis on all the children to do the same as he was doing to me before selling them off into prostitution to pedophiles."
"WHAT!?" It was surprisingly Garfield who shouted, standing up and slamming his hands onto the table. "He did what!?" He snarled, looking far more dangerous than she had ever expected from someone such as him.
"Beast Boy." Harry said quietly, and Alice glanced at him to find some sort of smoke leaking from his eyes. In spite of that, he spoke calmly. "Sit down. Bumby is dead. He's been stopped. And unless I'm wrong Alice has more to say."
After Garfield did as told, breathing heavily in his rage, Alice continued. "You are correct, there's more. I remembered that he was the cause of the fire that killed my family. Apparently he was infatuated with my older sister, Elizabeth. That night, he snuck into our house and into Lizzie's room." She closed her eyes. "Then he… he…" She grit her teeth. "God, I still remember the sounds, even if I didn't understand them at the time…"
She was startled out of her memories when she felt a calloused hand talk hold of hers and looked up to see Harry holding it, a reassuring smile on his face. It was almost unreal to her. When was the last time someone held her hand with the sole intention of comforting her? The fact that it was a strange boy she only knew the name of made it all the odder. She took a deep breath and gave Harry a small, thankful smile anyway. "In any case, once Bumby… finished… he started the fire in order to cover up what he'd done."
"And so he was trying to remove your memories in order to make sure that there would be no one who knew, since you didn't do him the favor of dying." Harry said. "Yes, I can see that."
Alice nodded. "When I confronted him in the station, he pointed out that nobody would believe him over me, as he was a respected man with a perfect reputation, while I was known as the mad girl who killed her family. Especially as he'd already disposed of the evidence." She shrugged lightly. "So I only had one option left in order to stop him, and I took it. I'm not sorry."
All three were silent for a time before Garfield sighed, leaning back into his chair again. "Alright, now what? What're you gonna do?"
Alice shook her head. "I… I don't know. I haven't had a chance to think about that. I just needed to stop Bumby."
Harry and Garfield once again looked at each other before shrugging. "Alright, we'll take care of you." Garfield said, grinning.
Alice's eyes widened and her jaw dropped open slightly. "W-what?" She asked, shocked that these two boys were offering their help so easily.
"We can't exactly turn away from someone in need." Harry said with a smile of his own. "We'll explore your options and help you support yourself in the meantime. We have plenty of money." He crossed his arms, beginning to think. "Besides, it would be best to not only see what we can do about the orphanage and the kids still there, but also the kids Bumby previously…" His face twisted in distaste. "…sold."
"Definitely." Garfield said with a nod, a dark look in his eyes.
"I…" Alice began, unsure of what to say. "Who… who are you two? Where did you come from?" She ended up blurting out, too confused for anything else.
Garfield's face turned back into a grin. "We're heroes from the future."
Harry took a sip of his tea before chiming in. "Well, BB's a hero. And we're from another reality entirely, not just the future."
Garfield turned to Harry, looking surprised while Alice blinked in disbelief. "You mean we aren't in our own world?"
Harry shook his head. "I checked. Hogwarts isn't where it should be. All that's there is an untouched Scottish forest and lake. The magical society I come from doesn't exist here."
Garfield groaned. "Bummer. That makes things harder."
"What in God's name are you two talking about?" Alice finally said as she regained her faculties after the surprise.
Harry turned to Alice. "We come from the time of late in the year of two thousand and seventeen. That would be about one hundred and forty two years from now." He took another sip of tea, seeming amused by her shock. "However, certain landmarks that were in existence during this time aren't there, leading us to conclude that we are in a separate universe entirely: a world that is close to our own, but with some differences, such as people and events being different or not happening in the first place."
"I... see…" Alice said as she struggled with the idea. It was certainly strange, but honestly, was it truly the oddest thing she'd heard of within the last hour alone, she asked herself? "And you are heroes in your own world? This is an actual profession, then?"
Garfield shrugged. "Kinda sorta. Usually people with abilities like mine and Harry's either use them for crime or to stop bad guys. For most heroes it's something they do on the side while disguised without any sort of payment, though some teams do get funding from either governments or private companies. My team, the Teen Titans, is financed by a larger group called the Justice League, so we're full time heroes."
"And there are many people with abilities like yours?" She asked, fascinated in spite of herself as she continued to struggle with her disbelief.
Harry nodded with a smile. "Thousands of people around the world who get powers and abilities in a variety of ways, like Beast Boy. Then there's also a segment of the population that is born with the ability to use magic. We have our own schools and society, and generally keep to ourselves. I've given up on being a conformist, though, so I don't hide like they do."
"I am having… a bit of trouble with this…" Alice admitted slowly.
Harry and Garfield chuckled. "Don't blame ya." The green boy said as Harry got up and moved to a leather satchel she hadn't noticed in a corner of the room. Out of it he drew what seemed to be a hard piece of odd material she didn't recognize. He brought it back to the table and opened it, showing it to be to pieces connected together, the bottom one covered in buttons with letters and symbols on them, like one of the new typewriters that had just been introduced. Harry grinned and pressed one of the buttons, causing the top part to light up.
Alice leaned back, blinking in surprise even as she heard Cheshire make an intrigued noise. "What is this?" She asked as a photograph appeared. It was a photograph unlike any she'd seen before, in full, realistic color, crisp and perfect.
The photo was of Harry and Garfield along with four other young men and women. The most eye catching was a large, dark skinned boy who looked like he was half made of metal. Even part of his face seemed to have been replaced. Her eyes went from him to a girl with orange skin and hair wearing a positively scandalous outfit that was hovering above the others, smiling widely. Underneath her was another boy, this one in an odd outfit of green, red and yellow with a small mask over his eyes. The last figure was another girl. This one had odd, greyish skin, with purple hair and a black diamond on her forehead. The rest of her body was hidden by an indigo cloak.
"This, Alice, is a computer." Harry said as he did something with his fingertip on a small square under the buttons, making an arrow move across the image. "It's a machine that's use for various things, from entertainment to business to schoolwork. They're essentially indispensable where we're from." The image changed to a great many small photos. He moved the arrow to one of them and suddenly it became large as well. It showed a city filled with truly massive buildings of steel and glass, and Alice couldn't help but feel awed. "I figured showing you some pictures of our home will help you come to terms with things."
So they proceeded to show her more photographs of people and places. There were many people in odd, colorful outfits (though to her, even the people in what she presumed were everyday clothes looked strange), and many amazing places. One, however, took her breath away. "What is that?" She asked as she saw the circle of blue with white, green and brown, even though she had a feeling she knew.
Harry smiled softly. "That's what the Earth looks like from space." She briefly turned to stare at him in shock, and he grinned. "Yes Alice. Not only does man learn how to fly, but we manage to reach beyond our own world, reaching even Mars."
Alice turned back to the image, drinking it in, a small smile on her face.
Some time later the demonstration finally ended when Alice let out a small yawn. "Excuse me."
Garfield shook his head. "It's fine, Alice. From what you've told us you've had a very long day. Got any place to go to rest?"
Alice's face fell slightly and she shook her head. She had no place to go, at the moment. All her bridges were burned. The only option was her Nan, and much as she loved her, she wasn't willing to go through with what that would entail.
Garfield glanced at Harry, who nodded as he set aside his computer. "Alright, you can take the bed here to get some sleep."
Alice looked at them in surprise. "Truly? Just like that?"
Harry shrugged. "Sure. It's not like I can't make another bed to sleep in, and you seem like you could use it. We can go over your options going forward when you wake up. Beast Boy and I need to discuss what we're going to do anyway."
Alice was wary. Despite what they had shown her and how kindly they acted, she'd just met these boys, and her trust had been shattered many times. Still, she was so tired after the events of the last few days, and she truly did want to believe them.
Finally, after a minute or so of thought she slowly nodded. "Very well, I will accept your offer. Thank you."
The boys nodded and led her to the bedroom and gave her everything she needed. A short while later Alice lay in the comfortable bed, gazing at the ceiling, feeling herself slowly relax. She tensed up again when she heard noise come from the main room, but after a moment she realized it was music. Music unlike any she'd heard before, but music for certain. It wasn't bad, she decided, just different.
As her eyes finally slid closed and sleep took her, she heard one last bit of song that set her at ease.
Carry on my wayward son,
There'll be peace when you are done,
Lay your weary head to rest,
Don't you cry no more
Yay, done!
It's a mark of how much more comfortable I am with character interaction that this is slightly longer than usual but took me less actual writing time.
So, not much happened here, honestly. This was mainly to introduce Alice to the guys, and to explain her circumstances to those that haven't played her games. Which, by the way, you really really should.
Not much is actually going to happen action wise during our time in Alice's world. After all, the events of her games are over, and even if they weren't, they mostly took place in her mind. Harry and BB can't exactly help with that. It'll mostly be dealing with the fallout and preparing for the next world, including letting Alice experiment with her abilities.
In other things, to the ones who have expressed that they don't want me involving myself in Worm: sorry, but this fic, while I enjoy having you all read and review on, is ultimately about what I enjoy and where I want to lead the characters. If you don't like a particular world, not just Worm, then I apologize, but I'm going to do what I want. Much as I'd dislike losing readers, I'm not forcing you to read.
Besides, Worm gives me interesting possibilities. Imagine the team, after having been to the Worm-verse and maybe even dealing with Scion, arrive in the My Hero Academia world, which, superficially at least, has the exact same fucking premise. Can anybody say paranoia?
To those who noted that Harry seems a bit too carefree/quippy so soon after Silent Hill, I'm actually trying to develop that into a plot point. Not sure how well it's going though, but we'll see.
In mostly unrelated news, since this chapter is mostly American McGee's Alice related, I thought I'd share something that I found during my research for it for those interested.
Apparently American is trying to drum up interest for a new Alice game. Sadly it won't be Otherlands, which pisses me off because I love the idea. Instead it's a prequel set during Alice's time in the asylum. He's planning to crowdfund so he can develop it independently from EA, just licensing the IP from them (because fuck EA, it's because of them we didn't get Otherlands). The plan so far is to begin the campaign in October of this year, the time before being used to prepare assets for presentation. So I call on all Alice fans to keep an eye out for it, so we can see about getting it funded. Cause I really, really want more.
I think that's it for the moment. I'm happy with the interest this story is getting. We hit 300 reviews. That gave me warm and fuzzies. So let's keep going. Review, and look forward to what else I bring you.
Till next time.