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”But I don’t want to go among mad people.”
”Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
”How do you know I’m mad?”
”You must be, or you wouldn’t have come here.”
”Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
”How do you know I’m mad?”
”You must be, or you wouldn’t have come here.”
~♠~♣~♥~♦~
Aetas made his amazing announcement to take them all to Chessland without fighting or anything, and what did they do? The Hatter said something annoying and then everyone else just went back to their own things. How annoying. Aetas really really hated these people. As the talking started up again, the Rabbit propped his hand on his chin, running his fork through his food. He wasn’t really eating anything, and he wasn’t really hungry, but he forced down a few bites because the Hare’s mother kept coming up to him and asking if everything was alright and then getting that little half-smirking look on her face, so he ate to appease her and make her go away.
He was just feeling depressed. Aetas thought he carried depression well. It suited him somehow. He could carry it off. If he ever got out of this alive, he would have to work on honing this newfound talent of his. Surely being depressed all the time could be good for something. Maybe he could become a hermit. Someplace dark and empty where the Queen wouldn’t be able to find him and take his head, and he could live with just his memories to make him even more miserable. Ooh, didn’t that sound like fun.
Aetas sighed and wondered when they were leaving.
As it turned out, they weren’t leaving soon. It took another fifteen minutes just for everyone to finish eating. Then there was putting the breakfast dishes away, and then there was gathering everyone together so all the Hare’s many, many, many cousins and nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles and who knew what else could say goodbye and wish them good luck. Aetas hung back from the mob, but he had a few people wish him luck and give him disturbingly intimate hugs. Considering he didn’t know a single one of them and he was still leashed up and therefore couldn’t escape, it made for an uncomfortable goodbye.
And then, finally, thankfully, they were given a moment of breathing room in the yard. They all just sort of stood there for a moment, and then Aetas realized that the Hatter was staring at him. Not with those eyes that made Aetas uncomfortable, just staring, like he was waiting. But what would he be waiting for…?
Oh. Right.
Aetas had offered to take them to Chessland, pretty much betraying anything he’d ever promised to the Queen.
How could he forget?
”I’ll need my staff,” was all he said. This sent the white Tweedle into a round of protests, because the white Tweedle apparently thought Aetas was utterly untrustworthy and was going to run off as soon as he had said staff. As if. Well, the Rabbit would have run, but he doubted he would get very far with this stupid leash still on. Eventually, the white Tweedle handed it over, and Aetas ran his hands down the polished wood. It had been a while since he’d made a Rabbit Hole. He had to remember how to do this…
Muttering under his breath, he made a vague circular shape in the ground around him with the end of the staff. Then he stood there, frowning, wondering why it wasn’t working. Did he say something wrong? He was sure he’d gotten it right---
Oh. There it went.
The ground dropped out from under him, and he sank like a stone. Dahlia, still holding one end of the leash, was pulled in after. Apparently that was the cue, because when Aetas glanced up, everyone else was falling as well.
The fall was…to be blunt, it was boring. It wasn’t like there was much to do as they fell down a seemingly endless hole. It was a slow, gentle fall. If he had to say, it was kind of like jumping up, and then floating gently down…except he hadn’t jumped up in the first place and the floating lasted forever. The feeling made him slightly nauseous, which was why he preferred traveling through the mirrors, so he took out his watch and wound it up. When the winding for the day was done, he just stared at the clock face, counting the seconds and minutes and cataloguing how late he was for the Queen’s morning breakfast briefing.
Exactly ten minutes later, the fall did eventually end. Aetas landed on a checkered floor with a soft ‘oomph’, immediately tucking and rolling against a wall. A few moments later, the Hatter dropped down. Then everyone else, leaving an untidy mess of people with the Alice on top. Snapping his watch shut, Aetas put it back in his pocket and picked up his hat, brushing it free of dirt. ”Welcome to the Room of Doors,” he announced in a bland tone as everyone else sorted out tangled limbs.
It was indeed a room of doors. Vaguely circular in nature, the walls were covered in doors. Big doors, small doors, ornate doors and simple doors. There were doors within doors. Doors a mouse could fit through and doors with doorknobs almost at Aetas's eye level. And this group should feel honored all over, because there hadn’t been anyone in here who wasn’t from the Kanin clan since the original Alice all those years ago. This crowd, of course, didn’t seem impressed in the slightest, and the dark Tweedle asked which one led to Chessland, which just made Aetas sigh. Did no one appreciate history anymore?
Lots of doors meant lots of possibilities. Aetas had to lap the room a few times to even find the doors that went to Chessland. And there wasn’t just one door, either. There were lots of doors, opening all over Chessland, and some of these doors hadn’t been here the last time he’d been in the room. A glance over his shoulder made him quicken his pace at the annoyed/impatient/expectant faces, and he tapped randomly on the various doors, not knowing which one he should pick. There was no way to tell from here where in Chessland the older Alice was, and there was no way to pick a door that would open to the right place. For all he knew, he would pick a door on the opposite side of Chessland. Aetas really didn’t want to pick the wrong door. The Hatter scared him.
Eventually, he just chose a door at random, pulling a key apparently out of thin air (another one of those Kanin tricks that had been implemented after the Alice girl got in here. It was decided that it was a bad idea to just leave keys to the Doors lying around.) He pushed open the door, stepped out into Chessland, then held it open for the others to come through. The door apparently opened out of nothing, the doorframe standing in thin air, and when the last of the group was through and Aetas shut the door, the door and doorframe vanished as if they’d never been there. Aetas made a vague gesture at the tangled growth around them. ”Here. Chessland. Happy hunting.”
By happy coincidence, the door he’d picked opened not a hundred yards from Ever’s super secret hideout, but of course, he didn’t know that.
He was just feeling depressed. Aetas thought he carried depression well. It suited him somehow. He could carry it off. If he ever got out of this alive, he would have to work on honing this newfound talent of his. Surely being depressed all the time could be good for something. Maybe he could become a hermit. Someplace dark and empty where the Queen wouldn’t be able to find him and take his head, and he could live with just his memories to make him even more miserable. Ooh, didn’t that sound like fun.
Aetas sighed and wondered when they were leaving.
As it turned out, they weren’t leaving soon. It took another fifteen minutes just for everyone to finish eating. Then there was putting the breakfast dishes away, and then there was gathering everyone together so all the Hare’s many, many, many cousins and nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles and who knew what else could say goodbye and wish them good luck. Aetas hung back from the mob, but he had a few people wish him luck and give him disturbingly intimate hugs. Considering he didn’t know a single one of them and he was still leashed up and therefore couldn’t escape, it made for an uncomfortable goodbye.
And then, finally, thankfully, they were given a moment of breathing room in the yard. They all just sort of stood there for a moment, and then Aetas realized that the Hatter was staring at him. Not with those eyes that made Aetas uncomfortable, just staring, like he was waiting. But what would he be waiting for…?
Oh. Right.
Aetas had offered to take them to Chessland, pretty much betraying anything he’d ever promised to the Queen.
How could he forget?
”I’ll need my staff,” was all he said. This sent the white Tweedle into a round of protests, because the white Tweedle apparently thought Aetas was utterly untrustworthy and was going to run off as soon as he had said staff. As if. Well, the Rabbit would have run, but he doubted he would get very far with this stupid leash still on. Eventually, the white Tweedle handed it over, and Aetas ran his hands down the polished wood. It had been a while since he’d made a Rabbit Hole. He had to remember how to do this…
Muttering under his breath, he made a vague circular shape in the ground around him with the end of the staff. Then he stood there, frowning, wondering why it wasn’t working. Did he say something wrong? He was sure he’d gotten it right---
Oh. There it went.
The ground dropped out from under him, and he sank like a stone. Dahlia, still holding one end of the leash, was pulled in after. Apparently that was the cue, because when Aetas glanced up, everyone else was falling as well.
The fall was…to be blunt, it was boring. It wasn’t like there was much to do as they fell down a seemingly endless hole. It was a slow, gentle fall. If he had to say, it was kind of like jumping up, and then floating gently down…except he hadn’t jumped up in the first place and the floating lasted forever. The feeling made him slightly nauseous, which was why he preferred traveling through the mirrors, so he took out his watch and wound it up. When the winding for the day was done, he just stared at the clock face, counting the seconds and minutes and cataloguing how late he was for the Queen’s morning breakfast briefing.
Exactly ten minutes later, the fall did eventually end. Aetas landed on a checkered floor with a soft ‘oomph’, immediately tucking and rolling against a wall. A few moments later, the Hatter dropped down. Then everyone else, leaving an untidy mess of people with the Alice on top. Snapping his watch shut, Aetas put it back in his pocket and picked up his hat, brushing it free of dirt. ”Welcome to the Room of Doors,” he announced in a bland tone as everyone else sorted out tangled limbs.
It was indeed a room of doors. Vaguely circular in nature, the walls were covered in doors. Big doors, small doors, ornate doors and simple doors. There were doors within doors. Doors a mouse could fit through and doors with doorknobs almost at Aetas's eye level. And this group should feel honored all over, because there hadn’t been anyone in here who wasn’t from the Kanin clan since the original Alice all those years ago. This crowd, of course, didn’t seem impressed in the slightest, and the dark Tweedle asked which one led to Chessland, which just made Aetas sigh. Did no one appreciate history anymore?
Lots of doors meant lots of possibilities. Aetas had to lap the room a few times to even find the doors that went to Chessland. And there wasn’t just one door, either. There were lots of doors, opening all over Chessland, and some of these doors hadn’t been here the last time he’d been in the room. A glance over his shoulder made him quicken his pace at the annoyed/impatient/expectant faces, and he tapped randomly on the various doors, not knowing which one he should pick. There was no way to tell from here where in Chessland the older Alice was, and there was no way to pick a door that would open to the right place. For all he knew, he would pick a door on the opposite side of Chessland. Aetas really didn’t want to pick the wrong door. The Hatter scared him.
Eventually, he just chose a door at random, pulling a key apparently out of thin air (another one of those Kanin tricks that had been implemented after the Alice girl got in here. It was decided that it was a bad idea to just leave keys to the Doors lying around.) He pushed open the door, stepped out into Chessland, then held it open for the others to come through. The door apparently opened out of nothing, the doorframe standing in thin air, and when the last of the group was through and Aetas shut the door, the door and doorframe vanished as if they’d never been there. Aetas made a vague gesture at the tangled growth around them. ”Here. Chessland. Happy hunting.”
By happy coincidence, the door he’d picked opened not a hundred yards from Ever’s super secret hideout, but of course, he didn’t know that.
~♠~♣~♥~♦~
~The~White~Rabbit~
