Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Countess climbed out of the carriagewith the help of one of the servants and then headed for the doors. "Come along Alec, sweetheart. Shyla, hurry up! We don't want to keep the King waiting now do we?"

"No, of course we wouldn't want to keep his royal highness waiting." Alec scowled as he climbed out of the carriage and then turned to help Shyla down. He tugged roughly on her arm and said, "Move it." Shyla stumbled slightly and then recovered her balance. "Yes, Milord." She said and followed after him, her head down. Alec sighed and then strolled aliong after his mother. "This is going to be awful." he muttered.

Shyla quickly followed after the two of them, trying to keep up. She looked from side to sdie as she went, trying not to stop as she saw something interesting. "Wow," She murmured. "This place is amazing." She blushed and looked down as Alec turned to glare at her. She kept her eyes down after that and followed quietly.

"Oh Hello my dear nephew." The Countess said as she entered the room where the king was waiting. "How are you doing today? Quite well I hope." She smiled sweetly. "Oh! Here comes your cousin, Alec. Alec say hello." He muttered a hello and then looked away, grimacing. Then she turned back to him as Shyla came through the doors. "Ah, and here is Alec's new hand maiden, Shyla. Shyla come over here."

Shyla walked over, keeping her eyes down. "Hello and good day to you, your Highness." She said softly and curtsied. "It's an honor to meet you, your Highness." The Countess smiled approvingly as she curtsied, thinking, That's it, that's it. Just go on flattering him.

At that Murphy scowled. "Because the only people close enough to him either won't, can't, or both." Murphy's scowled deepened. "I'm one that can't, the young Count Alec is another one like me, though he'd insist on becoming the King and we'd have another tyrant on our hands," Murphy spat, glaring into his tea. "The White Rabbit can't cause any physical harm and neither can the Cheshire Cat, though they can do harm in other ways." To each other, Murphy thought, a slight shiver running down his spine. The Rabbit's last birthday as one that he'd been invited to because of his status as Mad Murphy Madigan and the King's bodyguard. It had been a truly frightening experience and not one he wished to repeat. "To put it in the roughest, most vulgar terms I can, I'm the King's bodyguard, the Rabbit is a slave of his with an ace up his suit sleeve, the Royal Cards are bitches and suck-ups, and everyone else is just a slave." Murphy downed the cup of tea, and then, scowling, the downed the pot as well, straight from his feet.

The Rabbit scowled at the Cat. "I suppose, Miss Marie, that it is like 'spidey-sense', only more painful and directed at the diaphram instead of the eyes." Jenny backed away and tearily blinked up at him. "Are you going to die?" she squeaked, rubbing at her eyes to wipe away the tears leaking from her eyes. "No no, dear, I cannot die. However, there have been many times when I have wished I was able," he gasped. My last birthday, for instance, he thought, inwardly scowling. The Other-Sider was in no danger at the Palace at that current time, otherwise he would be uncapable of speech and most likely balancing himself upright as well.

[No, silly! It's 'cause he is a superhero and runs around in colorful spandex, skin-tight suits all night long, with his underwear ontop of his tights! xD 'Least Spiderman's got some sort of decency.]

The White Rabbit glared at the Cat before answering Marie's question. "It is because I connected that koi pond of yours, Miss Marie, to Wonderland, as per my duties. I have not enough time to go stalking anyone," the Rabbit hissed, glowering at the Cheshire Cat. Stalking! Oh the indignity! "Humpty had a great fall, caused by one Cheshire Cat." The glare to the Cat now would have burned a whole straight through his dark tan fur if the Cat had been paying any sort of attention whatsoever. "The Wonderlanders are too afraid to fight back against the King of Spades. Considering who was in power before him, they're afraid that they might get a worse tyrant than the both of them and figure since the King of Spades doesn't cut off people's heads that the King of Spades is a far better tyrant than the next one will be and are content to stay under his control."

Luna shook her head. "The only good tyrant is a dead one," Mae muttered to her. Luna nodded, smiling at the figment. "Mae says the only good tyrant is a dead one," Luna relayed.

Murphy half-smiled. "I like this Mae of yours, Luna. By any chance does she want to be an acotr of some sort?" The blonde girl shook her head, confused. "Ah, well. Should've known this Mae was too good to be true." Murphy sipped his tea after refilling the cup.

Tommy tapped his foot, rain drops spalshing on his head. "So we need an army of soldiers willing to fight for us to death, a leader, a map, a strategy for battle, and a replacement for the King of Spades," he mused.

"The only replacement for the King of Spades is Alice Liddel, and she swore to never return to meddle in the affairs of Wonderland after defeating the Queen of Hearts, he aunt," The White Rabbit said, correcting Tommy's thoughts.

Tommy nodded, sitting down on the wet grass with his long legs crossed. "In that case, we need to find a replacement for her and maybe a small group of people to infiltrate the Palace and kill the King of Spades with his pants down." Jenny winced and yelled 'EWWWW!' in a very loud and high-pitched voice. "Oh posh, Jenny! It's the point of the phrase that matters, not the literal meaning! Here it means to catch him unwawares. Perhaps this other person from our world can keep him distracted long enough for us to go in and slit his throat . . ."

Fred had been unsually quiet so far. "No, let's burn him!" Fred cackled. "Let him be a lesson to any other tyrants that want control over Wonderland!" Fred giggled, rolling back and forth under his mushroom.

Mae nodded. "That's actually a good idea, Fred. We'll have to to it during a really public event, though, like a wedding or something . . ."

"As a matter of fact, the King of Spades is looking for a bride. An Other-Sider in particular," the Rabbit said.

"So we just plant Marie or Luna into the Palace and make the King of Spades want to marry whichever one we plant in there and then soak his clothes in oil and the Fred can light him on fire," Jade said, watching Luna start pacing.

"But that leaves out who replaces the King and the other Other-Sider," Tommy said, his eyes glaring into the ground, deep in thought.

Luna abruptly stopped pacing. "That part is simple, you see. Whoever the King marries becomes the ruler of Wonderland. And as for the other person, why, we just convert her to our side!" Luna was grinned and ran over to Marie, ducking under her mushroom. The nine-year-old blonde pulled a shocked Marie into a tight hug. "You make such good inspiration!"

[Since our friendly neighborhood Midget isn't here, I guess I'll play the King of Spades.]

The King smiled almost maliciously. "Well isn't that nice," he said, mock-sweetly. "I'm afraid I must be going soon. The Rabbit should be here soon, unless he's late again as usual, and I really must deal with him as soon as he arrives. Madigan should be with him as well and a few other guests of mine."

"Perform?" he said, the word catching his interest. He clapped his hands once and a line of playing cards appeared, scampering over to the King in fear. "Get the girl a stage," he commanded and the cards set to work immediately, none wishing to invoke the King's wrath. "Why, I'm certain the White Rabbit will be a while with his truancy problems and Madigan will be a while because of his," the King scowled, "obsessions."

Seeing the green tinge to the girl's cheeks, the King of Spades waved away the playing cards and they disappeared as silently and quickly as they had come. "Sing," he commanded, used to being obeyed at the drop of a hat.

"Nonsense! Quit being modest!" the King said, waving his hand dismissively. She was a beautiful girl, as his cousin had implied. Beautiful and obediant. Absolutely perfect, aside form the fact that she wasn't an Other-Sider. Perhaps when the White Rabbit and Madigan came back with the Other-Siders he'd tell them he changed his mind and wanted to marry this girl. What was her name? Ah, well, he'd ask her after she sang for him. If she sounded as good as his cousin kept saying she did, then he probably would marry her. But what if her obedient, almost frightened sature was just a mask and she was part of the rebellion? He wouldn't put it past his cousin because Alec was very jealous of him and his crown. The thought of another being jealous of him sent shivers of pleasure down his spine. However, the Countess was one he never would have suspected of being trecherous(sp?).

No traitor could ever have such a lovely voice. He turned to Alec. "And here I was, thinking you were bragging." A smile lit of his face in and eerie sort of way. The King of Spades looked like a starved cannibal that just caught an obese(sp?) little kid.