“That is such a shame, both of them were working hard to control Red when she started acting out.” said the Hatter, shaking his head slowly “Her majesty always had a bad habit of attracting troublesome children, like the one that ruined the court case over the stolen Tarts!”
This message was last edited by the player at 03:55, Fri 07 Aug 2020.

“No, they never did” responded the Hare, lowering his head in a moment of silence “Such a shame”

Joe kept a neutral look on his face as he digested the information provided..or attempted to at least.

Ok so if I remember right the King and Jack of hearts was still around in the book..but the rest of it?! Pastries? Icing? Stolen tarts?? Hang on...the knave of hearts he stole those tarts maybe or was that something else...dammit...here's hoping somebody else gets that reference

Joe looked over at Jemima and let some of his confusion show before taking another sip of the seriously tasty blue tea.

Jemima arched an eyebrow at the look from Joe, then, perceiving it to be her cue, calmly placed her teacup back in its saucer with a soft chime of china against china.

"Ah yes, the infamous Alice. What ever did happen to her?"

Well at least they knew what happened to the king, though dead and mad (put the priority where you will), he was unlikely to be any help.

However... Alice had escaped. The cards had piled atop her and she had woken up. How it was perceived on this side, well therein might lie a clue to their own escape. True, afterwards Alice had returned to Wonderland. That second time, Alice had taken hold of the Red Queen and shaken her, triggering the second escape. Jemima shuddered. She'd been hoping to avoid the Queen entirely, but it was seeming more and more like an inevitability. She looked around the table at her party (adventuring party, tea party, here one and the same) and felt some little relief that, unlike Alice, she wasn't facing this nonsense alone.

“Oh you knew her?” said the Hare, ears turning towards Jemima “Charming child, little slow but still. Well the same thing that happens to anyone who steals from the Queen, she was captured and executed.”

He took a small candy out a bowl which wiggled slightly before the Hare bit down with his large teeth.

“Why are you all wearing different clothes?” said the Hatter dramatically, pointing at all who were at the table

“None of you are dressed the same, some of you look like you're ready for bed! Only that one looks up for a tea party, is it night time out there?”

"Where I'm from, that is correct Hatter. Finished work for the day then it looks like I fell asleep on the sofa after dinner given I have clothes on"

"I think I fell asleep partying," Julien remarked, unconcerned. He was more focused on the Alice bit. Caught and executed? Not if he remembered the story correctly. Well, perhaps they thought she had been executed when she had, in fact, woken up.

"Might I ask, on the subject of Miss Alice, have you seen proof she was, in fact, executed and not... oh, I don't know... vanished or somesuch."

These two were nuttier than a squirrel turd, and probably wouldn't even think twice about the directness of that question.

“Well obviously I haven't seen it personally of course,” said the Hare in a drawling voice, looking at Julien like a child “But a few that have passed through here have said they have seen her head on display in the Queens gallery”

He took a sip of his tea,

“Such is the fate of all who she disapproves of. I suppose you could visit but I wouldn't recommend it”

“I would be nice to get out once and while” said the Hatter “But then the tea would get cold!”

He opened his mouth and laughed hysterically, the Hare joined in the din and the two cheered and exchanged wide eyed looks of sharing an inside joke that was apparently hilarious. They laughed solidly for nearly a minute before stopping, the Hatter turned to Julien,

“I see good humour is lost on humans as usual. Anyway we are far more interesting than her, people with bodies usually are”

"Huh..." Julien said slowly, stirring his tea with one long finger then sucking it clean in thought. "Her head... how... interesting. Though, as you say, not as interesting as people with bodies. Or hares with bodies, for that matter."

He glanced at his companions - the ones he'd woken with, not the others. He wondered, was the head some other Alice? Or the same Alice in some other timeline? Or... something else...? This whole situation was like the story, but at the same time not like the story, and it wouldn't at all surprise him, in fact, if Alice's head was on a pike somewhere in the Queen's courtyard.

"Tell me, then, what did you think of Alice, when she visited with you?"

The two looked in silence for a moment, staring at Julien while thinking, the Hatter tapped his chin with his finger,

"Well.... she was.... a little dull, she was rather rude and didn't really like our little party. She came and left very quickly. It was sad, we don't often get visitors that stay for long"

"Probably because there's never any time" said the Hare with a laugh that the Hatter joined in on, another inside joke...

"Alice was a simple child, far too many things went over her head.... shame the axe didn't"

Another roar of laughter between the two.

Time? half a mo..wasn't there a conversation about time between these characters and Alice in the book.....now what was it....

Joe looked over the table and picked out a small muffin to put on his plate before pouring another cup of tea, looking over to see if any of the others desired a refill.

"Well, most people would not wish to impose on another's hospitality for too long, that would be a bit rude? Time does have a habit of running away from people when they are occupied"

The two roared with laughter, at the comment.

"Run away from you!" said the Hatter while wiping away tears "What a hilarious jape, Time left this party long ago"

He pointed to a clock hanging on a tree, the golden rim still shining as if brand new but the hands stood still at 4:30. He returned to the laughter with the Hare, the blood vessels in his eyes clearer now.

"Just because Time has left you doesn't mean it won't hound your guests," Julien pointed out, shaking a finger slightly at the Hatter. "Indeed, if Alice's head is now on a pike, it would seem Time caught up with her, sure enough."

The Hatter raised an eyebrow at Julien,

"The hounds will not bother you here, Time won't set foot near this table." he paused and sat back in his chair "We had a... disagreement long ago"

A slight movement of her head indicated to Joe that Jemima didn't want a refill. She picked up a napkin and brushed the crumbs from her fingers.

She murmured, "If what we believed to be true, is, then I imagine the child's head didn't end up on an actual pike. Contrarywise, if what we believed to be true isn't, and what we've been told is, then..." she lifted her eyes to the Hatter, "disagreements with time might be the least of our worries."

Alice had been in a dream, or so Mr Carroll had written. She'd 'escaped' when she'd woken up and until now, Jemima had been rather hoping that this would be the case for herself. She frowned at her cake crumbs. She couldn't remember a dream that had been this vivid. Not ever.

"Running out of tea, running out of cake, running out of time, running out of hospitality..." she shook her head as though to clear it, placed the napkin on her plate and stood. "I thank you both, for all of the above, but I do believe that we should press on before we run out of anything else," like sanity.

Joe nodded slightly at Jemima and made sure to savor his muffin as much as he could while downing it in 4 bites. Back to the twisted maze it seems!

Raising his teacup, Joe saluted the Hatter and Hare with a polite "Sláinte chugat!" before finishing off the rest of his cup

Julien glanced up from his tea and his food and shrugged. He didn't mind moving on. He took up his hat as he stood, sweeping another bow to the Hatter and the Hare before he strode off after his companions.

"Wait for me!"

"Running out of time! Ha!" remarked the Hatter, pointing at Jemima with his little finger while holding a cup before bursting into laughter with the Hare joining him "That's a good one."

"As for Alice, well I'm sure she disagrees with her head being being cut off as well"

"I don't know many who do agree with it dear boy" said Hare with a snigger "But I suppose everyone has their hobbies... dramatic or otherwise"

Jemima, despite the decisive and, alright, slightly dramatic exit (though of course, nowhere near as dramatic as losing one's head!), had no intention of leaving Julien or anyone else behind. After only a few short strides, still within earshot of the table, she whirled to face her companions, wrinkled-shirt-clad arms outstretched.
"Well I don't know about anyone else but that didn't do much to help," this was a lie as the tea had helped her hangover immensely, "beyond making me doubly sure that facing the Queen," one finger now jabbed in the direction of the red spire, or at least where she thought it was, "is going to be, to coin a phrase, our end-game, and we're nowhere near ready. It doesn't fill me with confidence that we've had at least two warnings about time now, too." Both hands dropped to her sides with a soft 'phwap' of defeat as she waited for the others' opinions to be voiced.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:32, Fri 01 Jan 2021.

Julien nearly crashed into Jemima, so abrupt was her halt. He managed not to, balancing on the balls of his booted feet briefly before he rocked back onto his heels and stepped back a pace. He reached up to adjust the sit of his hat.

"Endgame? You're talking like this is a video game." A pause as he considered that analogy. "Not that you're wrong. It's kind of... working that way too, innit?" He sucked his teeth briefly. "Alright, so if we do think of it that way, and you're right about the... not being ready part... then obviously we have to... level up. How do we go about that?"

Walking away from the table one can still hear the clink of china and the pouring of tea behind them, yet with one more step the sounds are gone. The beautiful living trees with their lush foliage are replaced to the more familiar black burned remain. The beautiful stone path now cracked and covered in dirt. Ahead the sky is no longer bright but that sullen overcast gold where time was indiscernible.

You realise now that you feel neither less hungry or thirsty than when you first sat down at the fabled table.

Looking behind you can no longer see the table where you were just sitting, just the winding path you followed from the meeting with the cat. Though from the corner of your eye you could swear you saw figures walking behind you, only for them to disappear the very moment you step over that threshold back into the wastelands.

They looked so familiar.

END OF CHAPTER