[hr]ATTN: [@The Irish Tree] (Eula) & [@Rezod92] (Kerry)[hr][hider=The Promises of A G.E.C.K. Wonderland (An Accidental Collab w/ The Irish Tree & Rezod92)]As the silence fell, Alice was of two minds once Kerry settled before her in a less-than-ideal squat to lock-in those crystal, hazel-like-honey eyes with her eyes; orbs that settled in a perfect shade of red like anger; like hate; like revenge with her diamond-shaped pupils

[quote=Kerry][color=fff79a]”You both fucked up. Royally and without a doubt.”[/color][/quote]
"[color=976f29][i]Tell me something new,[/i][/color]" Alice says, bitingly, a bit of tired venom in her voice, but no real pressure to back it up. "[color=976f29][i]I'm sure you have more to, so out with it.[/i][/color]"

[quote=Kerry][color=fff79a]”Is this the part where I judge you?”[/color][/quote]
"[color=976f29][i]At some point,[/i][/color]" Alice injected.

[quote=Kerry][color=fff79a]”Where I condemn your foolish dive into self-destruction -- ”[/color][/quote]
"[color=976f29][i]If you want,[/i][/color]" Alice sighed.

[quote=Kerry][color=fff79a]” -- take off this ring -- ”[/color][/quote]
"[color=976f29][i]Okay, little hasty, there,[/i][/color]" Alice says, catching the signs of trouble brewing.

[quote=Kerry][color=fff79a]”” -- and vow to have Gwen never see you before I forever cut you out of my life?[/color][/quote]
Alice sat up, stuff as a board, as she turned her body to face Kerry, "[color=976f29][i]You can't do that! You can't take her, or you! I won't allow it![/i][/color]"

Alice could see Kerry's expression unchanged, as she said:

[quote=Kerry][color=fff79a]”Well, sorry...”[/color][/quote]
The feeling of her heart sinking almost broke Alice, before Kerry concluded:

[quote=Kerry][color=fff79a]”...but that's not happening.”[/color][/quote]

Alice nearly set to strangling Kerry for her melodramatic pausing, before she was asked the most difficult question in earnest:

[quote=Kerry][color=fff79a]”Because what would that solve, Ali? What. Would. That. Solve?”[/color][/quote]
What would that solve? What was the question asking?

Running away with Gwen, away from her; from them; from... from... revenge?

Taking everything away but the all-encompassing, all-consuming, ultimate goal of revenge; of vengeance; of... validation.

"[color=976f29][i]I don't know. I don't... I don't think I have for a long time...[/i][/color]" Alice says, "[color=976f29][i]Every day is: left foot, right foot, march, and fight. A wastrel here. A scullery maid there. A windower. A lonely wife. A confused innocent. All victims of my sword, a different type, but just as deadly in its own way,[/i][/color]" she says, "[color=976f29][i]Only one squiggled her way beyond my defenses. Slippery, little Shoggoth. Darling, little Tekelili.[/i][/color]"

"[color=976f29][i]I don't know what anything would solve, but I know what killing [b]her[/b] would do. It is her fault. She sends them, Invitations of Hatred, and reveals me to those that want to harm me and mine,[/i][/color]" Alice says, reflexively pulling Kerry's head into her lap, as if protecting her neck from a decapitation-happy Queen, "[color=976f29]To defend what's mine, she has to die...[/color]" she swears, "[color=976f29]But, now, because I tried to return early, I fucked up the terms of my exile - ones I couldn't even remember.[/color]"

There was a sudden stirring, as Eula stood up, and crossed over from the foot of the bed to Carroll... and attacked her with a flick of the finger?

"[color=808080][i]What'd the hell I do!?[/i][/color]" Carroll shrieked, as she was knocked into her back, and Eula straddled her hips, as she launched into a lecture.

[quote=Eula][color=C48BD3][b]"Both of you seem to be misunderstanding the exile."[/b][/color][/quote]
"[color=808080][i]Oh, and how so, Miss Smartybolts,[/i][/color]" Carroll asks, dryly sarcastic, [color=808080][i]500 years is 500 years, not 499. That's clear as crystal.[/i][/color]"

Unperturbed by the interruption, Eula carried on:

[quote=Eula][color=C48BD3][b]"You just have to wait one year longer, correct? Win then, after a year."[/b][/color][/quote]
There was no way it was that simple. But... No... Right...?

"[color=808080][i]There's no way the exile is... actually just... going to lift after 500 years, and that's it...[/i][/color]" Carroll says.

Alice started to laugh, as the contractual wording of the spell played through her head. Five-hundred years. A hundred years for each toe. The Queen of Hearts really meant exactly what she said. "[color=976f29][i]How childish! How utterly childish! I feel so stupid![/i][/color]" she cackled, "[color=976f29][i]To be fooled by a child for so long...[/i][/color]"

"[color=808080][i]Well, what would you have us do, then, Miss Smartybolts,[/i][/color]" Carroll asks, taking Eula's hands; her arm reflexively transforming to complete the closeness.

[quote=Eula][color=C48BD3][b]"Train. Learn. Study the weakness of Lilim's. And this time, I will come as well. That should even the odds somewhat."[/b][/color][/quote]
"[color=808080][i]You would risk your life for what gain,[/i][/color]" Carroll asks, locking her grey eyes with Eula's crimson eyes, "[color=808080][i]Unlike these two dummies, you have no matrimonial or custodial obligation to such a task, as we are unwed and I didn't knock you up.[/i][/color]"

Eula would push forward, straddling Carroll as she pushed her onto her back. [color=C48BD3][b]"I don’t gain anything fighting for Shizuyama either. But, as humans have shown me, the right choice isn’t always the smart one."[/b][/color]

"[color=808080][i]I am neither of Shizuyama, nor Human. That logic isn't sound in this matter,[/i][/color]" Carroll says.

Another flick graced Carroll’s forehead, Eula’s half-lidded gaze indicating she really, really wanted to call her an idiot. [color=C48BD3][b]"Missing the point. I will join you regardless.”[/b][/color]

"[color=808080][i]Ow! Would you stop that!? And, regardless, my pommel, you owe me nothing of the sort![/i][/color]" Carroll groused.

Eula really considered going three-for-three on forehead flicks but settled with poking Carroll’s forehead. [color=C48BD3][b]"Since when did this become about a debt to repay?"[/b][/color]

Carroll would suddenly burst into slime and twist around Eula, slamming hurt into the bed, and reforming with her lips pressed tight to Eula's, aggressively making out with her, before drawing back, and growing, "[color=808080][i]I don't want you to risk dying for the sins of my mother and my own rebellion, stupid![/i][/color]"

A pause broke the conversation, before Eula broke it by kissing Carroll once. [color=C48BD3][b]"There is no risk. This unit can be rebuilt if you survive, or one of sufficient skill finds me. I do not know how old I am, but to wander for 500 years, unable to return home, to be made to forget…"[/b][/color] Eula clenched an open hand. [color=C48BD3][b]"Even a lilim must answer for cruelty. "[/b][/color]

Carroll narrowed her eyes, before caressing Eula's cheeks, "[color=808080][i]Fine. We'll be stupid together, then,[/i][/color]" before she kissed her in gentle earnest.

On the other side of the bed, a rather jealous Alice would turn her attention to the woman in her lap, and her life, and easily hoist her into her lap with a few vines and her inhuman strength.

"[color=976f29][i]Well, I can't just sit idly by with such energy in the air,[/i][/color]" Alice says, nipping Kerry's nape,  "[color=976f29][i]And, I can't let my Queen's Blade be a dummy alone, either.[/i][/color]"

Eula didn’t take much convincing to be stupid, and would all but drag Carroll under the sheets for another kiss that would kill most species with its length. …Priorities would eventually need to be established, but right now she just wanted Carroll to know she had her back. And front. And lips. 

Huffing, Alice had no intention of being shown up, and would take Kerry's lips for her own; resting a hand upon her belly to gently pulse Mana to her unborn.

[color=fff79a][i]Ugh….These two idiots, I swear.[/i][/color], Kerry thought, rolling her eyes as her husband and king made out with her, a gentle warmth emanating from the growing egg within her in response to her father’s touch.

[color=fff79a]”Eula’s right, though.””[/color], she spoke, pulling her lips away from Alice. [color=fff79a]”I’m with you to the end, Ali. That means if the Queen of Hearts is your enemy, then that bitch is mine as well.”[/color]

"[color=976f29][i]Oh, if you must,[/i][/color]" Alice says, leaning to Kerry's ear, as she whispered, "[color=0F52BA][i]I've never been that good at making you budge, after all. Just eating me.[/i][/color]"

As Alice spoke in that haughtily familiar voice, Kerry would realize that Alice likely remembered their prior meetings, including the training they did together.

"[color=0F52BA][i]Glad to see you still like the taste,[/i][/color]" Alice purred in her ear.

[color=fff79a]”Last I checked, I only ate a severed finger of yours the first time. But….you’re right about one thing…”[/color]

Kerry focused her attention on Alice’s neck. Licking, kissing and nibbling on the mad hatter’s flesh.

[color=fff79a]”....You do taste heavenly.”[/color]

"[color=976f29][i]Oh, I know I do,[/i][/color]" Alice says, tracing her right pointer around Kerry's lips. "[color=976f29][i]Such nice hue, like silky chocolate,[/i][/color]" she dipped her finger between them, "[color=976f29][i]But, I remember how much I loved seeing them stained by your tearing into me. Such a brutal, beautiful mercenary behind these pretty lips.[/i][/color]"

Alice pressed down on Kerry's tongue, "[color=976f29]If you are going to follow down my path, you better not die on me. I'll kill you, if you do.[/color]"

Kerry’s eyes became half-lidded as she closed her mouth on Alice’s finger, licking and savoring the digit like a candied delicacy. She looked at her lover and winked….

….before biting down harder.

Alice mewled, and smirked. "[color=976f29][i]Careful, now...[/i][/color]" she purrs, as Alice pulled Kerry closer, seating her over her sidearm. "[color=976f29][i]I might draw my sword in you.[/i][/color]"

[color=fff79a]”Oh, control yourself, Ali.”[/color], quipped Kerry, playfully as she gestured her head toward Eula and Carroll. [color=fff79a]”We have a prudish audience here.”[/color]

Alice snickered, as Carroll and Eula continued their, comparatively, chaste make-out session of not requiring oxygen like normal Mamono. "[color=976f29][i]I suppose, I'll respect the vanilla,[/i][/color]" she says, "[color=976f29][i]and quietly enjoy my chocolate two-scoop.[/i][/color]"

[color=fff79a]”Oh?”[/color]

Then it was Kerry’s turn to lean in and whisper in Alice’s ear.

[color=fff79a]”Did you like those two scoops when they were around that thick hickory-smoked ham rod?”[/color]

Alice's eyes lit up, and Kerry was suddenly rising in the air, as the Queen of Diamonds stood, and held her. "[color=976f29][i]I hope you didn't have plans for the afternoon,[/i][/color]" she says, "[color=976f29][i]That question requires a THOROUGH investigation that might take a few hours...[/i][/color]"

As she made her proclamation, Alice was already striding across her room, beelining, pun intended, for Kerry's.

The hornet’s laughter echoed through the halls as her lover carried her to her room/nesting grounds, leaving Eula and Carroll to their own slice of heaven.

Alice would turn that delighted laughter into raucous moaning behind a slammed door, choked closed by vines, while Carroll threw her arm at the door; the crimson scissor blade rammed into the floor, jamming it shut.

DND signs, if ever there was one.

At least, they would all be available, when needed.

After all... the future was fast approaching, as the liberation of Komatsu Bay allowed the Taskforce to go on the offensive, but the fact that the Heavenly Strike was still loose and used as a weapon, they were torn between the hammer and the anvil, and what to do first:

Take down the students of the evil Heavenly Strike users, or take the war efforts forward?

Whatever the choice made, in the back of their minds, Kerry and Eula had some security that Alice and Carroll were walking beside them in the same path.

...though, darkness loomed behind them, ready to overtake.

A year's time remained before the Queen of Hearts' Barrier would fall, and Alice and Carroll could return home to take their old war of revenge - with or without their current lovers. All the promises in the world meant nothing in the heat of the moment, after all.

They'd walked away from good things - Carroll from her happiness and family - lost everything - Alice, her castle and daughter in Summerheld - but never surrendered the fight in earnest...

...they've attempted to throw everything away naught but a short jaunt in time ago.

Next time, they'd just wait until they could cross without fail...

[center][i]Unless stopped...[/i][/center][/hider]