Situated in the exact center of the second balcony, the Royal Box offered an excellent view of the dark stage and the orchestra pit. The guard had pushed Alice in with a gruff order she didn't understand before closing the door.
Instantly, her eyes lit upon the familiar scruffy brown hair and she scowled. Maynard turned in his seat to glance at her, sniffed, "Oh... It's you. Why are you here?"

"Jabberwock wanted to bring me."

Maynard huffed, settled down into his chair, and then murmured, "Who else?"

"Bander, March, Hatter. That's about-"

"You mean Imagine, no?"

"Well... yes, but I call him Hatter."

"Stupid, ignorant maggot. Can't even use a real name, can you? Too complicated for you."

Alice reddened before sitting in a chair and crossing her arms, "I'm not a maggot."

"Oh? Then prove it to me!" challenged Maynard, glaring at her with narrowed black eyes.
Alice fell silent, lost for ideas, and Maynard smirked, "Exactly as I thought. You can't unprove your own existence, Alice."

"Why are you picking on me?" she complained finally after a few seconds of silence.

"Picking on you? I tease everyone, you forgot that. It's just how I work." Maynard stood, strayed over to her, and bent down, eyes glittering as he stuck his face up close to hers. Extending a finger, he pushed up her chin and sneered, "And... You might say that I specifically taunt you because you are pretty. You also have my dog of a brother's heart in your hand. Think how fun it will be to break it."

Alice pushed him away angrily, "You're doing this because of Hatter?"

Grabbing her face, he forced her to look at him again and said slowly, "No... I'm doing this because you're-" Alice kicked out, heard him yelp, watched him stumble back clutching his thigh. Hissing through his teeth, Maynard nursed his pain for a few moments before advancing on her, eyes furious, claws ready to grab her. "You little-"

The door opened, Jabberwocky came in, distracted. Seeing Maynard frozen in his threatening position, he narrowed his eyes and growled, "What are you doing?"

Maynard instantly fled to his chair, sat, crossed his legs as if nothing had happened, "Nothing."

"Alice, is he bothering you?"

Alice glared at Maynard before lying, "No."

"That's good then." Jabberwock stalked to the central tall chair, brushed off a small ribboned wreath that lay on its seat, and then slumped down, claws digging deep into the beautiful ebony armrests. He glared out over the seats, that had begun to fill, and then muttered quietly, "Hey... Maynard... Are there going to be guards at every door?"

"Huh? No, Uncle. Just the main front and back doors. The side doors will be open for the other viewers."

Jabberwock pursed his lips, mulled over this informationg, and then sniffed, "Tell me, is Bander looking for a new wife? I haven't seen him actually dress up for a while."

Alice blinked. Dress up? Bander was always dressed up!

Maynard replied pleasantly, "Well... Actually, I think he is. He's been telling me he wants another son. I can just guess that he's looking for another wife to give him one."

"Hm... So than I'll have six nephews."

"Seven, if you count Imagine. More than that if you count Uncle-"

"I don't." snapped Jabberwock.

Maynard shut his mouth, cast a glance at Alice, stood with a pained sigh, and then went up to the door. He opened it, about to leave, but bumped into March.
"Oh! I'm sorry! I'm-" March trailed off when Maynard reached up and ran his hand across the top of his head in sudden curiousity. His smile died down to an annoyed frown as Maynard, enthralled with the fur, continued to pet him.

Hatter slapped his hand away, "He's not a pet."

Maynard blinked before chuckling, "Oh... Imagine... Alice and I were just talking about you."

Hatter shoved past him, pulled March in, and then turned to Maynard with a suspicious look. "You're lying."

"No, I'm not. Alice says she likes you."

Instantly, Jabberwock stiffened, slowly turned his head to glare pure hatred at Hatter.
Hatter, however, ignored him, face turning a bright pink as he glowed in pleasure, "Really?"

"Yes." Maynard stepped out, closed the door with a chuckle.

Bounding over, Hatter plopped down in the chair next to Alice, leaned over his armrest, over hers, and pressed in close. "Really? You like me?"

Alice shivered, her heart beating furiously as her mind raced around in circles. "Um... Yes."

Instantly, Jabberwock was behind them, shuddering with rage. Grabbing Hatter's collar, he dragged him up out of the seat, thrust him away, and then dragged Alice to his lofty, kingly chair. Sitting down, he pulled Alice on his lap, locked her in with his arms, and glared at Hatter, daring him to try to take Alice away from him. Hatter stared at him, dumbfounded, and then huffed angrily. Taking a seat, he pulled it up to Jabberwock's left side, set it down, sat. Growling deep in his throat like a feral cat, Jabberwocky clutched Alice to him and cast a wary glare to the stony-eyed Hatter.

March sighed, sat down in Alice's old seat, "Well... I am now officially ashamed. Both of you have reverted to being immature in a fight over a girl."

Bander came in, carrying two wine bottles in a hand. Behind him, a servant followed carrying goblets. "Hey, Jabberwock! I got wine... Why's Alice on your lap? She's not going to stay there the entire time, is she?" Setting down the bottles, he hastened to uncork them with a claw and poured a glass quickly before handing it to his brother.

Jabberwock downed it quickly, handed it back for more, still stared icily at Hatter, "No, but she will not be sitting anywhere near Hatter. I don't trust him."

"Not this again..." Bander handed back the goblet, full, "You two just act like little kids around each other. Why do you-" He gazed at the empty wine glass held up to him for more and then sighed, "Should I just give you the whole bottle?"

"Yes."

Handing the bottle to Jabberwock, Bander turned as Jabberwock sipped at it happily. "Now... Where did Maynard go?"

Maynard came back just as the opera began. The beginning symphony nearly deafened Alice and she sat sullenly with her hands clapped over her ears. Thirty minutes passed, Alice grew lost in lilting words, loud music, and the constant dancing that abruptly broke out in the middle of a sentence, so it seemed.
Desperate to escape, she finally stood, started creeping for the door, but Jabberwock grabbed her hand, ripped his ecstatic eyes from the stage, and whispered, "Where are you going?"

"To the bathroom." It was the truth; she had a mounting urge to relieve herself.

"Have Bander take you." Jabberwocky released her hand, snuggled into his chair, and resumed watching the opera, enthralled.

Tapping at Bander's shoulder, Alice murmured, "Will you take me to the bathroom?"

Bander had his feet propped up on the railing of the balcony, a small spyglass pressed up against his eye. He shushed her, ignored her question.

Hatter was asleep, amazingly, and March had already disappeared, running from the loudness of the orchestra because of his sensitive ears. So the only person left to ask was...

"Maynard, I have to go to the bathroom. Would you take me?"

Maynard slowly glanced behind at her, blinked, and then staggered up. He trailed after her as she vanished out into the hall.
A guard glanced at her in curiousity before sharply saluting when Maynard came out. The prince yawned, showing filed white teeth, "Well... I didn't know that it was going to be Sevoray again. I wouldn't have come if I had known... Oh well... Guess I"m stuck with you then... So... Bathrooms?"

"Yes. Do you know where they are?"

"Why should I tell you? I still have that bruise you gave me a half-hour ago. It's blue! I went to mirrors and checked. Blue and purple!" Maynard crossed his arms and bared his teeth.

Alice bounced up and down, pleading, "Please? I have to go to the restroom!"

"Ha ha! You look funny doing that!" Maynard glanced at the guard, who was eying them curiously, and then muttered, "I'll show you." He started down the hall.

Alice followed him slowly, watching his hands twitch in and out of his pockets, messing with the edges of his shirt, and finally reaching up to mess up his hair back to its usual scruffiness. "That a habit of yours?"

"Huh? What?"

"Your hands?"

"Oh. Nah. Just something that happens." Maynard turned into a side hall, strolled down halfway, and then pointed at a plain wooden door, "Lady's restroom in there."

Alice quickly went in, locked the door. After a few minutes, she fumbled back up the laces of her dress before opening the door and stepping out.
Maynard grabbed her from the side, twirled her around as she yelped, and then flicked at her frightened face, "You're too easy to scare."

"You freak!" hissed Alice.

"Hmm... I can accept that. So... What do you want to do now?"

"Huh?" Alice's eyes widened.

"I don't want to go back and I can tell that you don't want to either... So, what do you want to do?"

"... I don't know." Alice sighed in relief.

"Want to eat? There's a restaurant in the opera's basement."

Alice suddenly stiffened before asking, "Are you inviting me to dinner?"

"Sure, why not? Royals eat free. I'm hungry, besides, and I really, really want to eat. And I can tease you over dinner. It'll be fun."

Alice grimaced, "So there is a reason. I'm just someone to be teased?"

"Yes."

"Then no. I'll just go back." Alice whirled around on her heel, started stomping away.

Maynard pounced upon her, dragged her back, "No, you don't! I'm not going to go get fat alone! C'mon! Please?"

"Take back what you said about me being a maggot first!"

"If it satisfies you. You're not a maggot."

"Thank you!" Alice ripped herself from his grasp, brushed herself off, and then smiled mischieviously at him before punching him playfully. "See? Wasn't so bad!"

Maynard scowled at her before grabbing her hand and tugging her down the hall, "Chocolate cake, okay?"

"That's fine."

The 'restaurant' was more of a cafe', housing small two-person tables and an unnoticed violinist playing solo in the corner.
Maynard had ordered two chocolate cake slices, one for Alice, one for himself. However, he scarfed his down in record time and began to reach over to steal small bites of Alice's.

Chewing thoughtfully, Maynard said, "You know... I've been working on that picture."

"The one of Jabberwock?" Alice glared at his hand, which was once again straying over to smuggle another piece of fluffy cake to his mouth.

"Nah... The one of you."

Alice glared at him, "You tied me up, I remember. I still despise you for that."

"Yes, I know, but it was such a good picture. I've taken off the ropes and stuff, but I still need to get the rest of your body. Soon? Before you leave?"

"I'm not going back into your room unless I have someone with me."

"Than bring someone. I hate to leave a picture unfinished, even if it's one of a disgusting Wonderlander."

Alice frowned before retorting, "You're the weird ones, going around executing people and eating them!"

"Oh... So you heard?"

"About what?"

"About the Eaters?"

"Yes."

"You know that I'm one, right?"

Alice gazed at him in stupefication before sniffing, "You're lying."

"Why does everyone ask me that?" complained Maynard, scowling. "I'm a perfectly fine Eater. I fufill my quota every Sunday and, still, people don't believe me."

Alice looked down at her cake before asking stupidly, "Why are you eating cake then?" She couldn't help but think of Hatter and his lust of blood. March was okay.

"We don't have to eat flesh every day. Just Sundays. So... Yes. I prefer cake to meat." Maynard reached over , claws outstretched to steal another part of her cake.

Alice whacked it with her fork, watched him hiss and draw back. "This is my food!"

"Oh... Come on... I'm treating you."

"You said 'royals eat free'."

"Well... yes... But you wouldn't have come if it hadn't been for me."

Silence descended for a few minutes, the warbling voice of the violin clawing its way into Alice's mind. Shaking her head, she sighed, put down her fork. "So... you're an Eater?"

"Yes, and a pretty bliddy good one, too!" Maynard said fiercly, eying her cake longingly.

"Do you know that Hatter's an Eater? Well... used to be an Eater?" Alice asked.

Slowly, a look of surprise came upon Maynard's face, his mouth twisting up before dropping open, his eyes widening before glazing over, his hand frozen on the table. "Imagine? Wait, what? He's not an Eater."

"In Wonderland, he was."

"But..." Maynard stammered, "W-Wonderland doesn't even have Eaters!"

"Under the Jabberwock they did."

Maynard mulled sullenly over this information for a while, biting his lips before asking, "Is that why Father continuously denies him meat?"

"I guess so."

Suddenly, a broad, malicious grin spread across Maynard's face, his eyes twinkling in eager planning. "Oh, I can work that into something!"

Alice glared at him suspiciously, "What are you going to do?"

"I'm not going to tell you. Why would I do that?"

"So I can warn Hatter."

"Which would completely ruin everything for dear brother." Maynard clapped his hands together before kicking Alice underneath the table.

Bending over to glare at his scuffed-up boots, Alice straightened after a moment, saw her plate gone, and then glared at Maynard, who was wolfing the chocolate cake down, "You are so selfish."

Maynard paused and then pointed out, "But you got half of it." He speared a small cube of it with his finger, flicked it at her.

It missed, but Alice flinched as it plopped on the table in front of her. "You know... You've already ruined one of my dresses. Please don't get chocolate on this one..."

"Ruined? Why ruined? You can always just get another." Maynard flicked another piece at her, which landed on the top of her hands.

Brushing it off, looking at the brown smear it left behind, Alice replied, "But Jabberwock goes through so much trouble to get me these."

Instantly, Maynard choked on the piece of cake he was swallowing, hacked it back out on the plate, stared at her in dumbfoundment, "Trouble? You are kidding, no? Uncle is the King, not some lord or noble, but the King. If he wanted to, he could march up to me and say, 'Maynard. Get undressed, give me your clothes, go running around in the town's streets wearing nothing but a helmet.' And... I would have to listen. As King, he can order any of us around, except ambassadors, since they have immunity, and the council, because they get three valid actions a month. So, this month, they've already used up one with the marriage, so they have two left, which puts all the more power in the King's hands."

"That's stupid. You wouldn't actually go running around naked, would you?"

"Actually, I would." Maynard crooned sarcastically.

Alice gazed at him for a few moments before giggling, "Okay... That'd be really funny to see, kind of. I'm not... making fun of you or anything, but the way you put it was funny."

Licking his lips, Maynard stabbed his fork into the cake, avoiding the already-chewed up part, and held it up in front of his face, regarding it in mock curiousity, "'Oh, look, Mister Cake. Maynard's going to eat you. Let's all giggle like Alice does'." He popped it into his mouth, shot a mocking glare at her.

Alice laughed, "You're mean sometimes, Maynard, and, then, at others, you're really weird and funny."

"I suppose that is a good thing." sniffed Maynard before flicking another piece of cake at her.

This one thudded against her dress and Alice's laugh died off as she hastily tried to wipe it away. It left icky brown smears as it parted from the ornate silk. "Ah... You ruined it."

"Look who's selfish now."

"I'm not selfish! I just don't want to put Jabberwock through any kind of trouble!"

Maynard leaned forward and growled, "Why? Because he's your daddy? I put may father throught most kinds of trouble every day!"

Suddenly furious, Alice leapt up, stormed away, hands clenched into little fists at her side. Maynard stared after her before glaring down at the last piece of chocolate cake, huffing, and standing up to run after her. Sprinting, he reached her side, stepped in front of her, stopped her. He sniffed and crossed his arms, "I'm sorry if that upset you."

Alice glared at him fiercly, "Why are you apologizing? So I can nurse my 'selfish' feeling back to health?"

Maynard couldn't help but add a snide remark to his apology. "Okay, so you know you're selfish now, now come back and talk."

"You are so horrible." Alice pushed him away, headed for the staircases, heading for the quiet moan of instruments.

Maynard grew livid that she wasn't listening to him. "Alice! You come back here right now!"

"Or what? You'll eat me?" called Alice snidely.

Maynard was lost for words before smiling. Hurrying once more to her side, he grabbed her hand, pushed up against her, and whispered, "Or I'll find time to stalk you everywhere you go in the castle."

"You do that!" Alice ripped her hand from his grip and began to mount the stairs, leaving Maynard behind with a confused smile on his face.
His heart was clenched in fury, but also in liking. Finally, a girl who reacted somewhat to his insults and tauntings! She was fun to mess around with! With a happy sigh, Maynard turned, headed back for the restaurant. He might as well eat dinner.