Alice opened her eyes. She sat up, rubbed her head to chase away the faint ache in it, and looked around. The place she found herself vaguely resembled a cave, but the queerness of it left her convinced that she was indeed in Wonderland.
"Good morning, Alice."
She looked up to find a crimson-haired man standing a short distance away, eyeing her with curiosity. More eye candy already, wasn't she a lucky girl... "Well hello, handsome. How do you know my name?" She adopted an innocently sensual pose.
A smile put crinkles at the corners of his ruby eyes. "Everyone knows Alice. All of Wonderland has been waiting for her... for you."
"I guess that'll save time if I don't have to continuously introduce myself," Alice giggled. "But who might you be?"
He held one arm across his torso and bowed. "Joker Braze."
"Pleased to meet you, Joker," said Alice, offering her hand so he could help her stand. "Would you mind showing me around?"
Joker chuckled and pulled her up. "That's really the Cheshire Cat's role, but since I'm the only person here, I suppose it won't hurt anything if I play kitty for a bit."
"Thank you very much." Alice continued to hold his hand even once she was solidly on her feet.
"You're an interesting one, Alice..."
"Why do you say that?" she asked, with a grin to let him know she took 'interesting' as a compliment.
"Any other girl in this situation would be crying from loneliness and confusion, wouldn't they?"
"Well, I'm not any other girl, now am I? Besides, I know what's going on so I've got no reason to be confused, and I've got you with me so why would I be lonely?"
Joker chuckled and led her out of the cave. After they had walked a short distance, he gently pulled his hand from her grasp. "Kyle should be showing up any time now..."
"Who's Kyle?" Alice asked, sounding almost eager. "And why should him showing up keep us from holding hands?"
"I'd rather he had the reasons for that explained to him before he decides to throw a spell at me, thanks all the same," laughed Joker. He took a step back, and then looked over Alice's shoulder. "Speak of the devil..."
"My Alice," purred a new voice, and a pair of arms wrapped around her in a snug embrace.
"My, aren't you a bold one?" Alice remarked in a satisfied tone. "I'm guessing you're Kyle."
"Kyle Knock, the Cheshire Cat," the voice agreed as a pair of lips moved closer to her ear than was strictly appropriate for a man she'd just met.
But Alice just hummed and reached up to run a hand through his hair, teasing the cat ears that she found there.
A sound almost like a moan escaped the cat boy. "My Alice, I missed you so much..."
"I missed you too," Alice replied, giggling.
A bark of laughter came from Joker. "The two of you have never met before, and yet..."
"Oh, hush, Joker," Kyle grumbled like a petulant child. "I've been waiting for Alice so long, and now we're finally together."
"She's an interesting one, though," Joker remarked. "Any other girl would be fighting to get out of your arms right about now. And probably wailing about the proper way to treat a lady."
Kyle nuzzled his face against Alice's neck. "I'm not worried about the 'proper way to treat a lady', because there's only one woman I care about... And that's you, Alice."
Alice gave a sigh as if he had said something especially romantic. "You flatter me so, Kyle..."
"Stay with me forever, Alice," he whispered in reply. "I'll make sure you won't regret it."
Joker snickered, not at all embarrassed at witnessing their rather steamy first meeting.
"Take your hands off her, Cheshire Cat!" roared yet another voice.
Kyle stiffened, but didn't move since Alice seemed to be enjoying his affections.
"Oh, there you are, Luke," Alice said calmly as a black-haired man in a top hat and old-fashioned suit came stomping towards them. "How are you liking Wonderland?"
He came to a stop, a betrayed look in his jade green eyes. "What are you doing, Alice?"
"Enjoying the wonders of Wonderland," she answered sweetly. "And I do hope there are more yet to come."
"More wonders? What do you mean?" Luke demanded.
"Well, I've only been here a few minutes, and look at all the hunks I've collected already." As she spoke, Alice waved her hand at Joker, at Kyle, whose arms she was still happily residing in, and at Luke himself. Then her face took on a more serious look and she let go of Kyle. "Turn me loose for a moment, Kyle dear."
The term of endearment and the phrase 'for a moment' seemed to pacify him, and Kyle released her without argument. She moved to a spot where she could face all three of them at once, gave Kyle's sandy brown locks and amethyst eyes an approving look, and then spoke.
"The Spinner of Tales has brought me here to be his Alice in Wonderland, and he is allowing me to have any man I like. He even brought my childhood friend along from my old world, because precious Luke is so devoted to me..." She paused and blew a kiss at the Hatter, causing him to blush and duck his head as if to hide under his hat.
"So here's how it's going to work... You don't own me. None of you. But if you want to be mine, I have no objections. The only rule is that you have to share. You can be jealous if you want... I think it's kind of cute. But no possessiveness, okay, darlings?"
"Anything my Alice wishes," Kyle agreed immediately. His tail swished slowly, drawing Alice's attention. How funny that it was covered in purple fur instead of matching his hair and ears... She quickly snapped herself back to reality.
Luke hesitated a moment, then grudgingly nodded. "If that's what makes you happy, Alice."
Everyone looked at Joker, who grinned. "I said Alice was interesting, didn't I? Of course I'm going to stick around and observe more."
Luke scowled. "That doesn't answer whether you'll play by the rules."
Joker laughed. "There's only one rule. Don't monopolize Alice. I don't think I could break it even if I tried."
"I'm glad you understand," said Alice. She glanced over at Luke. "Of course, a guy would have to be stupid to try monopolizing me when I don't want it... He'd have to fight all my other boyfriends for the right." With that, she walked over to Joker and pulled on his tie until his face was within kissing distance.
Luke averted his eyes, unwilling to watch his lover tangling tongues with another man. "All right, all right, I get it. I can't have you all to myself. Can you stop rubbing it in?"
"Of course not," said Kyle, actually sounding somewhat sympathetic. "In a situation like this, she's going to be rubbing it in every time you turn around, whether on purpose or by accident. That's just how a complex relationship like this works."
Luke sighed. He braved a glance at the still-kissing pair, then quickly looked away again. He would try to get used to this, but it was going to take some time.
