Alice's head was still spinning. After their escape from the Casino, being shot at, then nearly drowning, and of course, the flying, she's not exactly surprised at feeling a little light-headed. But the further they trail into the forest - headed back towards Charlie's camp - the dizzier she feels. Something roiling and warm uncurls in her stomach, spreading outwards towards her limbs, and she finds herself reaching out towards the trees around her to help maintain her balance. The rough bark scratches against her palms with each step, but at least she's still upright.

Charlie's singing grows a little more distant, though she's not certain if it's because she is simply lagging behind or if it's because everything suddenly feels much further away. But then Hatter appears abruptly at her side, asking if she's alright, and at a completely normal volume. Charlie must have wandered ahead, she decides. Perhaps she is just tired? They're almost at the camp though, so she tries to press on.

Hatter steps in front of her without warning, blocking her way and repeating his question. Alice realizes she never actually answered him the first time, and tries to formulate a proper response. When she doesn't answer straight away, Hatter reaches out to slide his arms beneath her own, her elbows pressing into his palms as he takes some of her weight, holding her steady. Alice finds herself leaning into his solid warmth and allowing him to support her, trusting him once again to keep her from falling. She actually feels a little bit better now that they've stopped walking, and there's a pleasant buzzing beneath her skin that's new, centered around where her arms press against his. But Hatter still looks at her with concern, the effect exaggerated by damp hair curling around thoughtful eyes. She had never really noticed before how dark his eyelashes were. Startled by the unexpected train of thought, she swiftly turned her focus to the lapels of his jacket instead.

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy. I'm probably dehydrated or something."

Hatter drops his head to meet her gaze. "You didn't by chance have anything to eat or drink during your little stay at the Hearts' Casino, did you?" Whereas before he had sounded more than a little worried, this time his question comes out seemingly exasperated. As if she should have somehow known better. She probably should have. It's finally starting to hit her how little she really knows about this world.

"They gave me something to drink, I remember. Before they put me in that room with TweedleDee and TweedleDum, or whatever their names were."

"Ah yes, probably one of Her Highness's special teas," Hatters chuckles humorlessly at his own pun, before his expression shifts into what Alice has come to think of as his 'lecture mode' face. The one he puts on whenever he has explain something 'obvious' to her, completely unaware of the fact that it's all complete nonsense. His smugness would normally annoy her, but underneath it all there's still real concern for her well-being. He's actually been surprisingly patient in answering all her questions, and far more forthcoming than Jack had ever been. She pushes thoughts of Jack to the back of her mind, not yet ready to deal with what she has learned about him. And of course there's the part where it was Hatter that came to her rescue. More than once. She's almost starting to find his cockiness reassuring. Maybe even charming.

Alice has to shake away the sudden memory of falling into strong, sure arms, of this strange new feeling of trust growing between, trying to focus instead on what he's telling her, "...it'll lower your inhibitions a might bit, make it easier for them to dig out those little kernels of information you hold in your skull."

She's surprised to find she's been leaning steadily closer to Hatter this whole time, only realizing just how close they've gotten when she feels the word "skull" breathed warmly across her cheek. She jerks back uneasily from their sudden proximity, forcing Hatter to grasp her arms more tightly to keep her from falling completely backward.

"Steady now, I don't think the intention was to have you literally crack open your pretty little head."

Alice is torn between her annoyance at his condescending tone and a curious sort of pleasure at being called pretty by this man once again. At least this time he wasn't making any pointed remarks about her wet dress. Up until just now she had mostly forgotten the state of her clothes, feeling warmer than ever beneath the sodden fabric. But despite the heat of her skin, she still finds herself shivering as Hatter drags her back towards him. It's an entirely innocent gesture, just like the many other occasions when he's pulled her out of harm's way, but for some reason it feels different this time. "So what exactly is in this stuff?"

"It's usually a bit of a mix of things - probably some Clear Conscience, so you don't think about what you're doing, a little Honesty, for the obvious reasons. And then sometimes just a splash of Lust or something of the sort." It's not his usual double entendre - or even a single entendre - but every word still feels as though Hatter is revealing some mischievous secret. Perhaps it's just the accent? Or maybe it's just him. She can feel his words rumbling through her, curling deeply within. Alice is hit with the sudden urge to press her ear against his chest, to feel those ridiculous words reverberate beneath it.

"Why Lust?" Of course it snaps into place the moment she says it - the reason for her over-heated skin, the odd tingling where Hatter's hands circle her arms, and the even stranger urge to curl up against his chest. She even knows the reason for putting it in a sort of truth serum, understanding that she wouldn't normally ask such a bold question of a relative stranger. But that wasn't right at all. Hatter wasn't a stranger, was something more like an ally, or maybe even a friend. A deeply attractive friend, her traitorous mind supplied.

"Surely you've noticed that people are much more…pliable when they stop thinking with their brains and start thinking with other parts." Despite Hatter's attempts to put the subject more delicately, his voice still manages to conjure to her mind scenes of a much more graphic nature. She shuts her eyes against the sudden onslaught, but it only makes the images more vivid.

"Starting to feel the effect then, eh?" There's that teasing again, expecting her to contradict him, to tell him he's mad for even thinking it.

Instead she breathes out a soft "yes". There's the Honesty, apparently. She's no longer entirely sure. She feels as though she could have denied it, if she really wished to, but for some reason she wants him to know she's feeling this. Maybe just to shock him a little, to give Hatter a taste of his own medicine. Or perhaps it's for the small thrill she feels at the sudden heat in his gaze. It's gone almost as quickly as it appeared, but there was no mistaking it, even through whatever haze she's in. And so she's surprised to feel him pulling away, though he doesn't seem to go very far. He simply moves back to her side, threading her arm carefully through his own, avoiding any contact between their skin.

"Well, we best be getting you back to camp to sleep it off. I'm sure Charlie will notice our falling behind soon enough." And just like that he's back to his cavalier self, even if his voice seems a little less steady now than it had before. Alice tries to focus on the path before them, rather the smell of freshly cut grass and soft leather that radiates off Hatter, or the surprising firmness of his 'sledgehammer' arm. Hatter's right, she just needs to sleep off whatever this is. She's already faced a murderous ceramic rabbit, an evil Queen, and a Jabberwocky - how hard could it be to fight off a little Lust?