Hello, hello, hello! Am I trying to sound like the phone guy from FNAF? Yes, yes I am. It's not my favorite horror game, but it's not as bad as some people make it out to be. Anyways, you don't care about that, you want more content! So here's a new chapter!
-Static
/*\
When Alice arrived at the mansion, it was exactly as the invitation said. A private tea party.
After she'd been led to the back of the mansion, the girl saw a long table set with two places, one at the head where Blood was sitting, and one at the other end of the table. She assumed that place was for her. Aside from the two servants standing to the side with teapots, there was no one other than Blood and Alice present. She sat down, nodding a greeting at this evening's companion,
"Hello Blood," She stated a little tensely. He looked up at her, and responded in a much more relaxed manner,
"Hello Alice, welcome back to the mansion." She fidgeted in her seat as two servants stepped forward to pour each person a cup of tea. Soon enough, they walked away, and to her surprise, they went back into the mansion, instead of returning to their stations a good ten yards away.
"So, how have you been?" she asked, solely out of politeness. She let two sugar cubes plop into the steaming liquid and sipped. As much as she currently detested Blood, he'd remembered what her favorite tea was. That was more than she could say for Charles. She shook her sister's husband out of her mind. He did not matter to her anymore. Blood had taken his place in her heart, and just like before, her affections for him were fading.
As long as she could keep it that way, she would be fine.
"I've had few better days," the man had responded, "What about you?" And then he too took a long draw from his tea, black as always. Alice shrugged,
"Well I was just released from my sickroom at the castle not one day ago." She started innocently, but then narrowed her eyes at him. "I was suffering a bullet wound you see, and the moment I was allowed to go home, a pompous Mafioso demanded I attend a tea party." Blood snickered,
"I'm quite sorry to hear that. Did you need more time to heal?" She set the floral-printed cup down on it's stark white saucer.
"A little, but it is not like I'm nursing stitches anymore. That's something right?"
"Absolutely." And the Mad Hatter studied the girl - no, woman - and thought about what an interesting individual she had become. She had gone from the dainty little Foreigner, who needed the assistance and protection of everyone around her, to this powerful and fearsome creature whom the populace trembled before. However, she still retained a great deal of her innocence. She knew fairly little of the group that had made multiple attempts on her life. She had no knowledge of the fact that Ace had tortured her most recent assailant for three days straight. She would never believe that the Clockmaker had finished off that assailant via the same means. She didn't even know about the storm in the south.
She could have the world at it's knees in an instant, and yet the other Role-Holders of Wonderland were still protecting her.
The Hatter was broken out of his reverie when Alice said his name a little too loudly,
"Yes?" He asked, his gaze returning to the very woman he'd been musing on, Alice merely tilted her head, an eyebrow raised, the candlelight glinting harshly off her silver crown.
"What did you have planned for this evening?" she repeated, now that she had Blood's attention.
"Sorry?"
"...When we have finished our tea," She started again, slowly, "What did you have planned?" Still the man looked a bit confused, "Is courting a lot different here?" And Blood felt a little relieved.
Explaining things to Alice was not a new experience for him. He had even supplied half her education because the people of her other world were extremely stingy over what women should and should not know. When Alice had questions, he almost always had the answers she was looking for, and now was no exception.
"I see. Courting in Wonderland is much different than in your world. It's less...meticulous." He chose his words carefully, so as not to offend her over the vast culture-gap, "As a general rule, as long as the man is capable of keeping the woman alive and uninjured - you know how dangerous Wonderland is - the assignation is considered a success. The most planning put into such affairs is deciding on the safest destinations." As he reached the end of his explanation, Alice's eyebrows scrunched up a bit,
"That doesn't sound very romantic." She commented absently, her hands resting lightly around the cup. Bloods eyes glinted. He set his elbows on the table and leaned forward, resting his chin on his folded hands.
"If it's romantic you want, we can go someplace a little more...private." He suggested, his voice low, words weighed down with charm.
Knowing exactly what he was implying, Alice threw one of her heels at him.
/*\
When Ace showed up at their usual meeting place, he was deciding whether or not he wanted to take the defensive and have his sword ready. When Alice was angry, she could be rather unpredictable. One of two situations would play out, either Alice would attack, and likely inflict some pretty nasty cuts and bruises, or she would simply step out in front of him, cross her arms, and stare at him glaringly.
As Ace leaned against a tree, to avoid being snuck up on, he realized with a bit of relief that it was the latter option. For the first time since becoming the Knave of Hearts, he didn't feel like fighting, his objective was too important for such a disruption.
Kill her! The voice in his head screamed, Kill her NOW! It was a womans voice, the voice that had belonged to the Dame of Hearts, the woman who had held the role before him. As always, he ignored her, and stepped forward.
"Alice," He stated softly,
"Ace," she returned, nodding her head once in greeting, "Why have you called me here?"
"I wanted to make amends." She raised an eyebrow,
"And how, exactly, do you intend to do that?" Her head tilted back haughtily, a movement that irritated the man a little, but he suppressed the urge to take out his sword and swing. Right now, riling her up would not help the situation. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't care. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure why he cared now.
Deciding he'd mull over the issue later, he pulled his treasure out of his jacket.
Alice was surprised. Ace was attempting to apologize...with a book? She opened her mouth to question him, when he raised his hand. Nomally she'd be irritated, but this time the gesture held a note of pleading. Please let me make the first move. She decided to let the annoyance slip, and looked Ace straight in the eye.
"Go on," She quietly commanded. He said nothing and moved to offer her the book, then stopped. He was hesitating, and that caught a great amount of the girl's interest. She'd just returned from her evening with Blood, which had put her in quite a mood, but seeing Ace behave so shy, so reserved, as if he was offering up...something that was very precious to him, it completely erased Blood from her thoughts. For a moment she wondered if it was his journal, and upon asking the question, he seemed to retreat into himself a bit more.
"A little," He'd answered, "Have I ever told you about my life before I was the Knave?" She shook her head, hands falling to her side. No longer was she on the defensive. He'd broken through her angry shell with her curiosity.
"May I?" She asked, gesturing to the book. Observing the confliction in his eyes, she pulled back. Clearly this was something that made him vulnerable, if he was this uncomfortable, she would not pry. She stepped away, raising her hand in a surrendering gesture, but Ace caught her wrist.
"Come sit with me," He said, nodding to the log they always used as their own personal bench. After she had sat herself beside him, he hastily placed the tome in her hands. There, it was done, here was his apology.
"When I was a faceless," he started again, "I was an artist." He gestured for her to open, and the very first page, instead of a passage of writing, was one of the most beautiful drawings she had ever seen. It was an image depicting Heart Castle. It was done in pen, and it encompassed the very front of the building. It portrayed the roundabout, the staircase in, and the front of the castle all the way up to the stained glass windows, with a few hedges and guards making their presences in the sides of the image.
In the bit of surrounding hedges, it looked as if he'd captured each and every detail, every leaf and branch, and even a few roses in the tiny space of paper. The bricks in the roundabout had the appropriate amounts of cracks and spaces, the fountain was made up of gorgeous curves and shading, and the castle itself had been detailed to a fault. The stained glass looked real, Ace had shaded it so well, and the shining glare of the sun had been recreated perfectly. The sky and clouds were placed in a perfect state of eternal evening, the shadows and light contrasting harshly to give off the correct appearance. Had it not been for the shade of the paper, just a little off white, she might have thought it to be a photograph.
"Ace, this is-" she started, and then stopped, unknowing what to say. She flipped through a few more pages, taking at least a minute to absorb each and every image. Her companion wasn't sure of her thoughts. For a moment, he was a little afraid she didn't like the pictures. Finally, she looked back up at him.
"Ace, these are beautiful." She said, gazing at him in awe. In that moment, the Knave knew he had been forgiven, and even better, she'd appreciated his art. He smiled at her,
"Would you like to know the stories behind them?" She nodded her head eagerly, the sharp incisors of her teeth shining as she grinned back, just as wide. He scooted a few inches closer,
"Oh! Will you tell me about this one first?" She asked, pointing out an image of a few Mafia servants, detailed as though they were Role-Holders. He looked down at it in confusion, when had he...? Oh that's right!
"Sure, so I was on a mission for the previous Queen..." And Ace spent the next three time periods explaining the ideas behind each and every drawing in his sketchbook.
/*\
A few days later, Alice was sitting in the windowsill of the grand master bedroom of the tower, flipping through Ace's sketchbook. She still couldn't believe that her psychopathic friend was capable of creating something so beautiful, and yet here it was, this book filled with sketches, an unreadable signature on the bottom right corner of each page.
Then she heard someone approach the room. She quickly hid the book away in her dresser, and padded towards the door.
As far as she knew both her sisters were asleep, as it was their normal nap time. If it had been Nightmare, he'd have barged into her room instantly, begging her to hide him from Gray, who had managed to get all the paperwork from Clover Tower sent to hers. This also meant it couldn't be Gray, as he was probably in the office right at that moment ensuring the incubus maintained his responsibilities. Pierce was also not expected. He was still sleeping off his fourteen time periods of work. This left Julius, who was always welcome company.
She opened the door after three knocks rang out, and to her surprise, it wasn't Julius. It was her sister. Immediately she retracted her wings as tightly into her back as possible, her tail swinging around to hide behind the door.
"Lorina," She squeaked, "What are you doing here?"
/*\
Shortly before Lorina made her stop at Alice's room, she had tracked down the Clockmaker. It hadn't been that big of a task, there was a rather large storage room across from Alice's office. There was just one small window near the ceiling, but it was a decent enough size, and it was in this room that he'd set up shop.
There was a used desk sitting just underneath the centered window, and two bookshelves on either side of the carpeted floor. The top of each case was lined with books, but the rest of the space was taken up with small boxes full of clocks. The left bookshelf was filled with broken clocks, while the right was reserved for whatever timepieces had been repaired. He had been concentrating on tightening a screw into his current project when he heard a soft rapping on the door. A little surprised, he looked up and removed his glasses. Who would be knocking on his door?
"Come in." He answered. He was rather displeased with the disruption. If it was Alice it would be okay, but if it was that damned dream demon again...
When the door opened, he was graced with the sight of Alice's elder sister, a dressing gown neatly thrown on over her nightwear. Needless to say, the Clockmaker was surprised. He'd heard of her, had seen her, but had never personally spoken with her.
"How can I help you?" He asked, a bit confused and more than a little uneasy. The woman had said nothing after being invited in, she had promptly sat herself down in the chair opposite his desk. The chair that only Alice could ever get away with sitting in unscathed. She perched herself on the seat and stared at him intently, her vibrant violet eyes scrutinizing his every feature.
Julius had never felt more uncomfortable in his life. Being Alice's relative, he needed to be...nice. Before Alice showed up his life had been so much easier. He hadn't needed to be nice.
"How do you feel about my sister?" She questioned the moment his gaze flickered away from hers. He met her eyes once more, his eyebrows scrunching up, a dark smattering of red covering his cheeks.
"Excuse me?"
"My sister, how do you feel about her?" Her voice had slowed, and gotten just a decibel louder. Well, now he knew where Alice got it from.
"...What do you mean?" He asked. This was not a conversation he wanted to have. With anyone. Especially not the sister. He was desperately searching for an escape route when she rolled her eyes at him, finally breaking her nerve-wracking stare.
"I see how you look at her. I know you were taking care of her for the duration of our stay in Heart Castle. I watch how sweetly you treat her. I see how you converse, I know she thinks quite highly of you, and I daresay, you think equally highly of her." The Clockmaker had no idea how to react.
"..." Lorina raised an eyebrow,
"Nothing to say? You do not wish to be with my sister?" Her voice had taken on a dangerous undertone. "If that is so, then why do you spend so much time with her? Why are you living in her house?" Julius was officially freaked out. He had never dealt with a situation like this before and he had no idea how to react. Why did the sister have to be just as bull-headed as Alice?
"I...uh...um..." He was panicking, trying to find the correct string of words to appease Lorina Liddell, but instead of angering her further his awkwardness made her laugh.
"I see," she said, "You are careful with your feelings, just like her." Her eyes softened, "I came here to let you know that, if you wish it, you have the Liddell family's blessing to be with her." And with that, she stood up to leave, but just before she closed the door, she faced him.
"I have never seen her so happy as when she spends time with you, and you are so much better in the way you treat her as opposed to every other man we've seen thus far. You should not squander this chance." She stated, so softly that Julius almost couldn't hear her, and then she disappeared, and the door clicked shut.
A little uncertain as to what he was supposed to do with the extremely odd and upsetting incident, he turned his attention back to the clock.
What the hell just happened? He thought.
/*\
There we go, another chapter. Lorina is finally interfering in Alice's love life. Normally, I'm not one for writing romance, but it's The Country of X. There can't not be romance. But anyways, LEAVE ME REVIEWS! I NEED THEM DESPERATELY DX XD This chapter was a little rushed, so if there are any spelling/grammar errors I apologize profusely!
-Static