Work never stops so why the hell should I? Jackie rubbed her head in aggravation as she walked through the town, having no particular destination in mind. What am I supposed to do, just go out and have fun?
The thought of Aria and her image continued to wrap around her thoughts, never giving her a peace of mind as she aimlessly walked around. Aria … is sketchy. For sure. But she knows a lot more than Jackie does as to what is going on here in Wonderland. I will have to come up with a list of things to ask her before I see her again. The only problem with that is that there is no telling where or when that wild woman will pop up.
"Hey Jackie!"
The engineer's thoughts were interrupted by a cheerful squeak coming from Pierce who quickly approached her and, without any shame, gave her a hug and a kiss in the cheek.
"Jackie, you look so cute when you space out! I was heading for my favorite spot for a picnic. Wanna come?" The mouse asked in such a cute way that Jackie couldn't say no. She minded his hugs and friendly kisses but he meant no harm in them so she took them without much complaint.
" … yeah, sure. I need to do something on my vacation, right?" She didn't have anything else to do so might as well take the chance. A picnic sounded like a nice change of pace.
They continued walking with Pierce excitedly talking about all the cheeses he has. Jackie didn't try too hard to pay attention as her thoughts drifted towards the strange green eyed foreigner. It's really bugging me how she seems to be everywhere but nowhere at once.
But if she was in Wonderland before, wouldn't Cyan have some records of her? Jackie stopped short, pondering the idea. In that entire library he has to have some knowledge about Aria. I will have have to follow up on that after this … or I could go now. She thought about it before shrugging it off. Maybe she was just being paranoid. She'll ask Pierce first and, if his answer isn't satisfying, she'll go see Cyan.
Aria's words and questions were as mysterious and disturbing as the girl's ability to appear and disappear in the blink of an eye, and even though Aria seemed to be on her side, Jackie was having a hard time digesting what Aria had told her so far. Next time she would need to ask Aria to explain herself better.
"Are you alright Jackie? You were spacing again," Pierce timidly asked as he sat down and prepared a blanket for the picnic. Jackie pinched the corner and helped flatten it out before taking her seat, watching Pierce unpack his lunch.
"Hey Pierce … how is the game actually won or lost?" Jackie asked quite bluntly. She just needed to know.
"Mhh! … chu … don't worry Jackie, just play the game," Pierce smiled at her and dismissed the issue too easily. Instead he took a big bite of a hunk of cheese, looking more than satisfied as his tail gently patted the ground.
"But I'm curious," she persisted, "If you know something about it tell me," she said, depending on his weaker will to break at one point so she could suck some information out of him.
"But you already know that you have to wait till Alice finishes her game so yours can start," he looked away before looking back at her with a sheepish smile, "and when your vial fills your game ends you can go home. You just need to wait, chu."
"Do I?" She pressed, staring into his bright eyes. Pierce noticed her cold and suspicious disbelief. He stiffened and went frantic.
"Yes, yes! You need to wait for the vial to fill up!" He cried, clearly beginning to panic. Jackie's eyes gleamed at this panic.
"So you do know! Tell me!" She cried, lunging for the mouse and tackling him to the ground.
Pirce let out a terrified squeak as he struggled in her grasp, feeling her arms lock around his waist, "tell me! Tell me I feel like I'm going crazy over here!" Jackie needed to know. What Aria said made her uneasy and Pierce's frantic attitude was only fueling her paranoia that there really is another way out of Wonderland. But if that was the case then that meant that everyone had been lying to her all the time.
"Eeekk!" Pierce entered into a frenzied panic and managed to slip out of her grasp with more force than he ever showed before. As soon as he was free he ran away in fright, from either what he didn't tell her or by thinking he had hurt her and she now hated him.
"Get back here! You coward!" She shouted with a huff, grabbing her stuff and stomping off. Forget it, she would just go hunt down another Role Holder and ask. Jackie got up and started off to town, leaving the picnic supplies behind and knowing Pierce would return for them later. Right now she needed to find another Role Holder with a relatively weak will to break.
Jackie trotted through town, heading back towards the Amusement Park in hopes of finding Boris. Out of everyone he seemed like the best choice next to Pierce to ask. He's playful and might give up information through hints and riddles, at the very least. Jackie looked up as she walked down the street and, just her luck, saw Boris walking towards her with a grin slapped on his face.
"Hey Jackie! How is the vacation going?" Boris said with a cheeky grin. He had heard the heat had gotten hard on Jackie to the point that she had even hallucinated. He was absolutely curious about what this hallucinations entailed and if she was still having them. Jackie went straight to him with a decisive and mildly crazy look.
"What's the other way to get out of Wonderland?" She said outright, firmly grabbing his arm. Boris paused, blinking in surprise.
" … mrah? What?" His pupils became a pair of dots at the blunt and direct question.
"Someone told me there was another way to leave Wonderland without the game. That I didn't need to wait and could back whenever I wanted. What is it?" Jackie pressed, determined to get the answer.
" … uh … Jackie, who? There's no other way," Boris said as he scratched the back of his head and tried to appear aloof and scarce. However his ears were completely perked and his tail lashed from side to side. This little kitty knew something.
"Liar." She accused, looking him in his kitty eyes and seeing the unease on his slitted pupils.
"Man, Jackie, what's gotten into you? The heat must really be frying your brain," Boris sheepishly chuckled, poking her forehead, "you must wait for your vial to fill up. Just that. Don't get impatient. As soon as Alice's game end you can start playing."
"My brain is not fried!" She growled, grabbing his tail and pulling on it. She was sick and tired of people telling her it must be the heat getting to her. The Role Holder's unease was only adding more support to what Aria said. She … but was Aria lying? What reason would that girl have for either lying or telling her the truth? If she could go back at any moment then why hadn't she gone back herself? More so if no one remembered her.
Didn't she want to go back home? Or maybe she was seeking answers too? Like when she had asked Jackie about what she was going back to? And why was she so intended on hiding from the Role Holders? would they really hurt another foreigner? In any case, why did this question she was asking made them so visibly uncomfortable?
Ugh, I don't know-! She kept her outer calm somehow, loosening her grasp but holding firm, "is it true that if the foreigner leaves all the Role Holders lose the game?"
Boris's eyes went wide. She wasn't supposed to know that.
"Who told you that?" Boris quickly countered, pulling his tail out of her grasp with sharp eyes, "Jackie, who was the one that told you that?" His almost angry borderline panicked expression made Jackie falter, rethinking the things she's been told.
"J-Just some person I ran into - or, she ran into me - oh hell I don't know who she was but the way everyone is avoiding the question is making me think that she's right about what's going on! Boris, please, please as a friend can't you tell me what's going on?" Jackie pleaded.
"Can't do Jackie. This is a game you must play," he said dryly, his cat eyes darting around the area as if he would find the one who told Jackie these things. He had to find out who. A Role Holder couldn't have done it, that was breaking a major rule.
"So you DO know-! Tell me!" She cried, grabbing his tail and yanking with all her might. Boris had more endurance than Pierce but she might be able to find out from him what she wants to know, "Tell me or I-I dislocate your tail!" She groundlessly threatened, grabbing the base and holding firm.
"MRAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Boris screamed, struggling to get away as his cry drew the attention of passing faceless.
Finally, Boris used all his strength to kick Jackie away from him. She ended up hitting a column from a building a meter or so away. He was about to jump and see if she was alright but her angry gaze and the promise of harm on his tail made him flee instead. He could apologize when she was calm down.
"I want to know, dang it Boris get back here!" She shouted, furious and desperate as she darted after the fleeing kitty. Tell me these things are a lie. Don't act like they're true and then just run from me.
Boris didn't wait. He didn't want his tail dislocated and her maddened expression pointed that she could actually do that. The chase was fast and Boris was surprised that Jackie was managing to keep up. He needed to end it and get away to give her time to calm down. He just needed a door. The chance came when at some point he went inside a run down building in the shady part of town and, when she opened the door to enter after him, he was already gone.
"He must have used a door, dang it!" Jackie was breathing heavily from the chase, feeling her legs trembling from the sudden run.
"Avoiding your questions? Typical. You shouldn't be so straightforward," Jackie spun around, spying Aria leaning against the wall with all her gear on like some sort of cyberpunk statue staring at her, "I told you that they'd be … evasive. They don't want you to go back and will try everything to prevent that. You are just a prize to win, Jackie. In a way they are predators and we, foreigners, are their favorite prey. "
"How did you always appear out of nowhere? Where were you?" Jackie was surprised by her sudden appearance and still distressed about what had happened with Boris and Pierce, "so are you honestly trying to tell me that they don't actually care for me at all?" Jackie breathed, sounding almost pained. She knew it. She knew she was just a replacement for Alice and after mulling over that fact when she first got to Wonderland nearly drove her crazy until she decided that she had to let it go and just … play the game like they all wanted. But why had she just accepted that? No, no that's not it! Boris was her friend and so was Elliot. And Gowland. Those aren't lies.
"I've been nothing but honest with you, unlike them." Aria didn't move at all and that digital voice didn't passed any tone inflection that could disclose the female's intentions, "it's your part in the game to make them truly care. Maybe they do … some of them. But they still want to win. That's their main motivation and interest, its a competition against themselves and the other holders and against our drive to go back to our world. And as long as they believe that Alice's game is going on, Alice will still their main point of focus." Aria turned her head, her words held heavy distaste that no distortion could hide, "don't trust them that much. Know that they ... they sent me to die because of Alice or get her out of the way. I've been in way too many death situations here. Mostly any time I went near any of them, so I wouldn't advise you to trust them much. And that was just the start of it."
"So … this is your game right now that's going on? But how - what the - gosh dang it, this is some heavy dark crap going on!" Jackie hissed, running her fingers through her hair as she paced back and forth, thinking hard about what Aria was saying. Is all of this true? They are all … this heartless?
"Things are more grittier than you can imagine. And yes, It is my game ... I can tell you more," she, the devil in a metal suit, tempted as she metaphorically held out the forbidden fruit for Jackie.
"STOP, just stop," Jackie said, interrupting her, "let me … le-let me soak this in first," she breathed, walking back and forth as her head began to achingly thump.
Aria nodded and remained still, waiting for the other foreigner to get her thoughts together and speak to her again. Jackie needed to let the information sink.
"This, t-this is just crazy! How in the hell is Wonderland set up like that? The mechanics of it all? Running on … a Role Holder 'winning' and catching a foreigner? That-that's insane! Inhumane! I mean yeah that makes complete sense seeing how the hell Wonderland is set up and all from all the guns and clocks and running and factions and bombs- b-but that's crazy!" Jackie breathed, continuing to rant out loud while refusing to look at Aria, afraid that just looking at her would evoke more questions than her mind could handle at the moment. Just then, someone entered the building and saw her ranting at thin air. The Role Holder paused, watching Jackie pace back and forth and muttering things under her breath before shouting out loud.
"... This freaking world is crazy! It's not true! I-It can't be!" She shouted at the ceiling, not know what else to do.
"Jackie are you all right?" a voice interrupted, startling her. Jackie turned around at the sounds of the deep voice. Right in the doorway stood Julius Monrey, the clock master, with bags full of gears. She quickly looked around but the armored person was gone again.
"I saw you running into this place." Julius said. He noticed her looking around as if looking for someone but the place was empty and it was so small that it was impossible to hide fast enough since the moment he entered the place, "Were you talking to someone?"
" … Take me back to the tower please, I need someone down to earth right now." Jackie begged, grabbing his sleeve to make sure he can't slip away from her. She desperately needed someone to talk her down from this insanity boiling in her mind.
"Why not use someone else … understood," Julius heavily sighed, rubbing his forehead in annoyance, thinking that this was troublesome. Those eyes were so desperate he didn't have the clock to tell the girl no. She was normally a very level headed person but perhaps Wonderland is getting to her at the moment. It shouldn't take much to calm her down but women are often so troublesome.
In the shadows of the streets Aria's cloaked figure looked at this and smiled below her helmeted mask.
Whoa! Jackie's crazy! XD what do you think is going to happen in the next chapter? 5 REVIEWS for the next chapter~!