|
|
Post by Meryck on Apr 9, 2010 23:58:23 GMT -5
"I do hope so. I'd rather not have to rescue him from a dungeon again." The albino sighed, blinked, then waved the fly away from her face. "Oh, shoo! Pesky rocking-horse-fly...." She sighed again and coughed. "Uh, anyway. As I said, the Duchess has always used far too much pepper in everything. Best enjoy what little fresh air there still is in Underland while you can."
|
|
|
|
Post by Glyph on Apr 10, 2010 0:13:07 GMT -5
"So... That really was a rocking-horsefly?" Hope blinked dumbly, then shook her head, "Why am I so surprised? I've been seeing strange things since I first arrived... I'm traveling with one of the most ridiculous ones of them all..."
"Hope, how could you?" Tabor gaped at her, looked positively scandalized, "Alice doesn't deserve that kind of gossip!"
"I mean you, and you know it," the girl replied through gritted teeth, blowing a strand of hair from her face and shaking her head exasperatedly at Alice. Then she smiled (and Tab, coincidently, frowned) shaking her head slightly, "Oh, I think I'll be alright. I was breathing things far worse than too much pepper in that ship's galley."
|
|
|
|
Post by Meryck on Apr 10, 2010 0:20:09 GMT -5
"If you say so." She didn't seemed fazed at all by the bickering- she was used to worse. Usually in a Scotsman rant. She turned back around, ducking under some ivy and hopping over another rock, wincing as her sword clanged on it. "Oi...really need to watch where that sword's going...."
|
|
|
|
Post by Glyph on Apr 10, 2010 0:35:30 GMT -5
Crawling under the same ivy at a bit slower pace, Hope tossed a glance Alice's way.
"Mmm, I used to have the same problem all the time." She shot Tabor an angry glare; he smiled back innocently, and darted ahead to hold aside a curtain of moss for the girls. "The only real solution would be to strap it down in a sheath or a belt, but I suppose that's kind of out of the question considering current events..."
Somewhere up ahead, there came a loud curse, and Hope's head shot up in alarm; but after a moment spent listening to the growl, she only scowled. Tab had gotten his shoe stuck in a hole. Typical.
"Oi, he's an idiot." Shaking her head, she found herself looking once again toward Alice, and the sword she was holding. "... Not to seem nosy, but why are you carrying around a sword?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Meryck on Apr 10, 2010 0:47:51 GMT -5
"Oh?" Alice blinked down at the sword, gave a nervous chuckle, and looked back up, grinning awkwardly. "Have you ever heard of the Jabberwocky? And if you have, would you believe out of all people, I'm supposed to kill it?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Glyph on Apr 10, 2010 0:57:22 GMT -5
"Well," Hope began slowly, taking her time as she clambered over another decent-sized rock, "yes and no." She stared ahead (Tab had grown awfully quiet up there), chewing her lip thoughtfully. "I was told of a Jabberwocky by my father, along with several other things, but I'm not sure if it's the same beast you're talking about... Though by the talk I've heard, I get the feeling it's awful close."
Sweat was making her glasses slide down her face, so she paused for a moment to straighten them, and looked up at the pale girl in a mix of curiosity and concern, "Either way, you actually have to slay that thing?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Meryck on Apr 10, 2010 1:20:30 GMT -5
"Unfortunately, yes. Apparently, only the Alice and her Vorpal Sword can slay the thing. As I've said, I'm Alice. And I'm carrying the Vorpal Sword. Which basically makes me THE Alice." She sighed, readjusting the stolen hat. "So.... I'm the only one who can slay it. That's how the natives are going about their thinking, anyway. I even got a Scottish rant in my ear about it!" Another sigh as she looked ahead. "Not that I blame Hatter, he's gone so much further round the bend, the poor dear....Are you okay up there, Tabor?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Glyph on Apr 10, 2010 1:38:59 GMT -5
"... Wow. That's just... Wow." Hope shook her head--in her opinion, prophecies and legends just ended up causing more trouble than they were worth, and Alice's just seemed to epitomize that. "People sure put a lot of faith into a name, don't they... Not that I'm saying you aren't "the" Alice, but..." She shrugged, sounding a bit bitter, but she was cut off anyway by Tabor, who decided to take that moment to pop out of the brush at them, covered in mud and leaves.
Hope stared at him, but didn't dare question it; instead she clambered over a hillock as best she could in a dress, and looked questioningly back at Alice, "So your friend's a hatter?" A pause. Then a small smirk, "Would that hat you're wearing happen to be one of his, then?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Meryck on Apr 10, 2010 1:46:36 GMT -5
"Oh, not ONE of his. HONESTLY his. Swiped it right off his head while he wasn't looking." Alice let out a mischievous giggle, hopping over a log and not caring how gangly she looked while doing this in a dress. "I never understood why he made such a fuss over it- he looks much better without it." She adjusted the hat on her head again. "I'd be nicer and not wear it, but he'd throw an even bigger fit if I gave it to someone else, and I have nowhere but my head to put it."
|
|
|
|
Post by Glyph on Apr 10, 2010 2:01:36 GMT -5
"And I'm guessing this is a pretty common thing, then?" Hope grinned, pausing when the brush cleared out a bit to stretch and look around. At first glance, everything looked normal--it was when she took a closer look that she noticed eyes on things that shouldn't have eyes and wings on things that shouldn't have wings and that the mushroom she'd just stepped over may or may not have been a little house complete with chimney...
"Hey, Alice?" Tab paused just long enough to lean against the trunk of a vividly colored tree and pull on his shoe (which had apparently came off several times already judging by the sheer amount of mud in it), "Hate to sound like a tourist in my own country, but do you know if this wood has a name?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Meryck on Apr 10, 2010 14:36:25 GMT -5
Alice sighed. "A long time ago, it was Diamond Woods. But now, what with everything that has happened to it and Underland...." She glanced over at a cracked rock, watching the water roll out of the malformations as if it were crying.
Come to think of it, if you looked closely, that's what all the rocks were doing.
"Everyone just calls it the Vale of Tears now...."
|
|
|
|
Post by Glyph on Apr 10, 2010 22:52:49 GMT -5
"That... That's horrible. Has all of Underland been... been damaged like this then?" Now that Alice had pointed them out, Hope noticed other things, albeit little things like the altered rocks, but that seemed just as out of place and wrong in the wood as the weeping rocks did... Almost as if the forest were grieving. Hope tore her gaze away, looking incredulous. "Just how far has this Red Queen's influence spread?"
"Far enough for her grubby hands to spoil everything decent, apparently." Tabor muttered, wrenching his boot on with altogether more force than what was necessary. Damn, why hadn't he left the Island sooner? They're had been rumors, of course, the trickle of information from the mainland, but he'd had no idea of just how extensive the takeover had been. If only he'd been more... Well.
Tab huffed, resting a foot against one of the stones, testing to see if it'd hold his weight. He glanced at the girls again wryly, and for once the wild hair didn't turn it into a joke, "So, do these mean we're in technically enemy territory, then?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Meryck on Apr 10, 2010 23:03:54 GMT -5
"Like I said, all ways are Her Ways, which means all lands are Her Lands, except for the small strip of castle and grounds she banished her sister to." Alice shook her head. "Nothing for it until the army's ready." Still, her face ached for her childhood treasure- no her childhood HOME. She shook it off.
"Not that that's gonna stop Xavier any time soon."
|
|
|
|
Post by Glyph on Apr 11, 2010 0:00:09 GMT -5
"I'd like to see her touch the Snark's Island." Tabor hissed suddenly, and the look in his eyes reminded Hope once again of just how not human he was. "I really hope she's tried."
"I suppose you're thinking of the Boojum?" She couldn't help but sneer, and glared contemptuously when he simply smirked.
"And the Bandersnatch. And the JubJub-Nasties. And the sheer cliffs and hair-trigger rockslides."
"Savage."
Hope's expression changed, venom melting to lip-biting the moment she looked away; it seemed that any animosity she had was reserved for the Snark. "Oh? How far along are they, then?"
Perhaps she wasn't a part of this world, but she certainly didn't like the idea of it yielding to the same fate as this wood under the Red Queen--that there was a opposing force massing somewhere was a... well, comfort wasn't exactly the word. Hope shook her head slightly, looking apologetically at Alice, "I'm sorry. Just listen to me--I sound like a naive little schoolgirl."
|
|
|
|
Post by Meryck on Apr 11, 2010 0:16:06 GMT -5
Alice blinked at Hope, tiredly. Slowly, a wide beam came over her face. "Oh no. You sound like a perfectly sensible young lady. You'll have to quit that if you want to make it anywhere here. I think they never bothered to invent sensible." She clasped her hands behind her back, and took in a deep breath. Blinked, giggled.
"Uh-oh. Pepper. We're close."
|
|
Your friendly neigborhood admin.
