A collaboration between myself and my beta, Will. Enjoy.
The Frabjous Day party was in full swing when the Hatter snuck off. Somehow, despite finally bring about the downfall of the Bloody Big Head, he just didn't feel like celebrating. Besides, there were things to do, now that Time had forgiven him and started moving again, and he didn't want to offend the poor fellow so shortly after being forgiven- he might really be stuck at tea forever next time.
Thinking of tea, he realized that the Tea Party clearing was in very, very bad disarray. It would need to be tidied up before they could use the tables again. He set off in the direction of Thackery's house.
Tarrant had never been too good with cleaning, but decided the best way to get rid of this mess would be to save any tea-worthy china and then bundle up the rest in the stained table cloths and start afresh.
So he had- beginning at the first table he came to when he stepped out of the clearing, he set to work dumping plates of pastries onto the cloth and stacking the plates on a chair. He added serving bowls and tea cups and saucers and cream pots and sugar bowls and sugar tongs and teaspoons and teapots to the pile, stacking them in a crazy, precarious tower that looked ready to fall at any moment. When all the still-useful items had been cleared away, he gave the tablecloth a sharp tug, pulling it from the table with a satisfying crunch of broken china. Then he tied it up tight, swung it a few times round his head, and released it. The improvised sack flew into the forest, broken tea cups and smashed tarts flying from the poorly tied top to splatter and smash across the tree trunks as Hatter laughed.
He went on to the next table and repeated the process, happily flinging food down with relish, pouring cold tea onto the tabletop, and stacking the china in even more improbable towers. A second stained and dirty tablecloth sailed away into the trees, soon followed by a third as the Hatter worked himself up into a cleaning frenzy.
He had almost finished the fourth and final table when he came to the teapot before his own seat. He upturned it, expecting tea to splash all over the cloth, but instead a large quantity of thin, silky blue cloth fluttered out and pooled on the table.
The Hatter froze, teapot still raised, and stared at it.
He hadn't expected this. He'd quite forgotten about it, in fact. It had only been three days, but it felt like months ago that he had shrunk a Small Alice even further and stuffed her- oversized dress and all- into the teapot to hide her from the Knave of Hearts. He'd made her a Tiny Alice dress from a scrap he'd pulled out, but the rest had been left, forgotten, in the teapot.
Hesitantly, Hatter placed the teapot back on the table. He reached one hand out for the fabric, snatched it back as though the innocent blue cloth had suddenly grown fangs and snapped at him, and finally picked it up. With the material in his hands and all thoughts of cleaning driven from his mind, he sunk into his customary armchair.
He ran the length of fabric back and forth through his hands. A little piece of Alice. He had a little piece of Alice all of his own now. And for it to be cloth- something he had definite talent with- was simply marvelous. The possibilities were endless. And it truly was a good piece of cloth too, and a good size.
He could make an Alice Hat with it, or trim an Alice Hat in it. He could make an Alice Dress and use this for trim. He could cut some into little squares and trim them with lace to make Alice Handkerchiefs...
Which he could use while she was gone. He got a sudden little thrill at the thought of being able to carry an Alice Thing around in his pocket. It wouldn't be as good as carrying a Tiny Alice around in his pocket, but it would be nice...
Yes, there really were endless possibilities.
~...~
The Frabjous Day party was in full swing when Mally suddenly realized she couldn't see Hatter anywhere. Deciding this was probably because it was difficult to pick out a specific pair of ankles in a sea of ankles, she had opted to try higher ground. When she couldn't see him from the stool, she tried a chair. When the chair wasn't high enough, she tried the table. It wasn't until she had finally scrambled up into the branches of an obliging cherry tree and still was unable to find his lovely Hat that she began to worry.
He could be somewhere else, going mad. He could be back at the Endless Tea Party Table, waiting for Alice again. He couldn't just sit and wait forever!
So she had enlisted the help of Chess and Thackery, and they had set off to the Tea Party clearing.
The trek there did little to calm Mally's nerves. At first it was just the worry, but when they got close they could see the signs of a fit. Pastries littered the path, shards of china were stuck into tree trunks, and she saw one embroidered (and horribly stained) tea cozy in a bush. But the most ominous thing was the silence. There wasn't a sound from the clearing ahead, despite the victims of the Hatter's rage scattered about.
Finally they broke through the trees. Mally gasped.
The Hatter sat calmly in his chair, still brightly colored, hands moving, and grinning at nothing. His eyes gazed unfocused over the complete mess of the table before him, while the other three were cleared off entirely. He was surrounded by haphazard and dangerously tilted stacks of china which were placed here and there on chairs and occasionally on the ground.
Chess appeared over Hatter's shoulder, peering down at whatever it was he was doing with his hands.
"What have you got there, Tarrant?" the Cat drawled, rolling over to gaze at it upside down. Hatter startled a bit, but lifted the blue cloth up for him to see.
"A bit of Alice." He lisped happily. "An Alice Thing. More properly, an Alice Dress. The dress she was wearing when you brought her. I was thinking of what I could make with it."
Chess chuckled, but didn't explain, his grin widening as he got a good look at the cloth. "Really?"
"It's quite a nice, largish bit of silk, you see. No need for it to go to waste sitting in a teapot."
Still worried, and knowing Chess couldn't be trusted to ask the proper questions, Mally butted in. "'Atter, wot 'appened 'ere?"
Hatter startled again, only now noticing the white mouse picking her way around smashed scones and bits of pottery. "Hello, Mally! Spring cleaning!"
"Wot?"
"Now that Time has forgiven me, I decided I had better not Waste him, and hurry and clean the table. We've been having tea so long it was most filthy, and now is as good a Time to start afresh as any."
"But where'd ya go and put all th' linens an' thin's?"
"They were quite spoiled, so I threw them out. I saved the good china though." Hatter pointed and giggled just as a grand crash, followed by clinking echoes sounded. Mally whirled to see Thackery standing by a now collapsed pile, holding a spoon he had rather unwisely extracted from the precarious structure.
"Spoon..." the Hare pronounced, eyeing the piece of silverware with suspicion and mistrust.
"What do you plan on making, Tarrant?" Chess reclaimed the Hatter's attention, reaching out to bat at a ripped and dangling length of trim. Hatter snatched the cloth out of the Cat's reach and clutched it to his chest. He gave Chess a look oddly reminiscent of the one the Hare was giving his spoon, but Chess only grinned wider.
"I'm not certain yet. There's quite a lot, you see, so if I'm careful I may be able to make several things. At first I was thinking about making a hat or a dress for Alice when she returns, but then I thought I might like to make something I can use, to remember her by. Just until she returns."
"Such as...?"
"Well, I could cut some into squares and make handkerchiefs. I could replace the ribbon on my Hat, it's gotten rather ratty lately... I thought about making a pillow case, but that's not quite what I wanted. But I think I shall use at least some of it to make myself and new neckcloth. Wha's sur funny, ye slurvish cat?"
The last came out in growling Outlandish, as Chess had, upon hearing the word 'neckcloth', burst into spasms of uncontrollable laugher, rolling about in the air over Hatter's right shoulder and positively howling. Calming himself slightly, the Cat disappeared and rematerialized on the Hatter's other side.
"I do apologize. I was suddenly struck by the idea of Alice returning to see you dressed in a neckcloth made of that."
"An' tha's funny why?"
"Tarrant, please, look at what you are holding. Honestly, with your skills at clothes-making, I'm surprised you haven't noticed."
Confused now, Hatter held up the cloth again, this time turning it so it hung by the shoulders from his hands, once more recognizable as a garment. He rubbed the fabric with his fingers and stared intently. Chess chuckled at the look of dawning comprehension, accompanied by the subtle whitening of the Hatter's already pale skin.
Finally, he lowered his arms ever so slightly, so his face could once again be seen over the neckline of the dress. His eyes were wider than normal as he stared at the smug Cat.
"That's right, Tarrant." Chess drawled, "That is one of Alice's Underthings."
The Hatter dropped the slip like a hot brand.