(An: Well, then, here we go again. The places they're going through are based on the levels "Icy Reception" and the Wonderland Woods levels, if you were curious.)
(Remy)
We fall and fall and fall some more, and finally land in a pit of ice. "Ok, dis is gettin' seriously weird."
"Curious indeed," Alice agrees. "But at least I know the way out." She slides down the slope and into another room of ice, this one with a walkway of ice twining down the middle. It doesn't look all that stable. She jumps to it, and taps the way to the exit with one foot, looking cautious for the first time. "Well, at least it's not going to collapse this time." She gestures for me to follow and I do.
She leads on, talking calmly all the while. She also has a habit of spinning her knife on her fingers as she speaks. "So what happened before you came here? As in directly."
"Why do y' want t' know?"
"It might help explain why you're here. It could just be a random occurence; those happen a lot here."
I shrug uncomfortably. "Rogue and I had an argument. She slammed de door in m' face. I stood dere for a second, and den dere was dis flash of light and a noise like a wind and we were here. So y' do a lot o' walkin' here?"
"Yes, mainly walking and killing anything nasty that gets in your way," Alice agrees.
"I can see de travel brochures already," I mutter.
"It'll be interesting traveling with someone with a penchant for sarcasm," Alice comments as we walk out into sunlight. "You're quite different when Rogue's not around, aren't you?"
I blush and stammer. "She... disconcerts me, ok?" I look around. "Right... so we go from ice t' a garden," I mutter. "What de hell kind o' place is dis?"
"Excellent question," Alice says.
(Cheshire)
A BIT FARTHER AWAY, IN THE WONDERLAND WOOD...
The Woods appear to have been cleared of Card Guards, and that makes me wonder where they could be massing. Walking through them with their lack of enemies leaves plenty of time for speculation, so it seems. "It's almost unsettling how quiet it is here," I comment. "Why are you still upset with Remy?"
"Evah hear the phrase 'curiousity killed the cat'?" Rogue snaps, glaring at me.
"Of course," I reply, shaking my head. "Awful metaphor. Kindly decline from using it in the future. And the worst part of it is, everyone forgets the latter half, 'but satisfaction brought it back.'"
"Yah're not gonna let go of this, are ya?"
"Unless you tell me something more interesting, no, probably not."
Rogue sighs. "Well... it's just... it seems like everyone Ah trust does somethin' nasty ta me. Mah foster parents were both just tryin' ta exploit me, mah best friend... well she's another good example. Ah seperate mahself from most people so much that pullin' back's just a habit. Trustin' him Ah knew was a bad idea. He was a bad guy at first. Worked with this uber-bad-guy, Magneto. He flirted with me, kidnapped me, and then he joined the team. He would not leave me alone. Ah couldn't help it. Ah started ta like the guy. And as usual, just when Ah started ta trust him, bam! he goes off saying he's got to get married ta some chick down South."
"Sounds like a lovely relationship," I comment.
Rogue's eyes narrow. "Ya try not bein' able ta touch, and then have two best friends right in a row betray ya like that and then we'll talk."
"I suppose I can't relate," I agree, "having no friends, unless you count Alice..."
"And that's not really a 'friend' kind of relationship, is it," Rogue says with a smirk.
"No, and I wouldn't have it any other way." We come to the fork in the forest that leads to the Hatter's, and I'm reminded of my dream. I supress a shudder.
"Which one do we take?"
"To get to the Gryphon? We head left," I say, and walk down the path that says "To the March Hare." I wonder idly if the March Hare has reached home by now.
(Alice)
"It's too empty here," I mutter, looking around at the grass and the plants.
"Empty?" Remy asks.
"Usually this spot's full of ants and the like, even when Wonderland was peaceful."
"Oh, lovely. Giant killer ants. Dis place jus' gets better an' better."
"Always have a comment, do you?"
"Oui," Remy says with a faint trace of a smirk.
I shake my head and keep walking. "We go far enough, we'll come to the Centipede," I murmur. "From him the mushroom of life... perhaps the Cattipillar still dwells around here, even."
"What's so bad about de Cattipillar anyway? Y' always balk when we're told we should talk t' him."
"He's a lying, cowardly creature who does nothing but stir up trouble and smoke his hookah," I snap.
"Good reasons," Remy agrees, "but if he knows more den we do... y' ever hear de sayin' 'de enemy of y'r enemy is y'r friend?'"
"Yes, but what in the world would you know about it?"
"Ma chere, bein' a thief is all about backstabbin'."
"Don't call me that!"
"Desole. Habit."
This is going to be a long walk...
(Rogue)
Cheshire confirms what I've always known: guys are annoying. Maybe it's just the ones I know, but they always want to know everything about you and they never stay interested in anything for long.
"You think I'm annoying, don't you?" Cheshire says, jumping down from the tree he was climbing to get his bearings.
"Yes, Ah do," I mutter. "Perceptive, ain't ya?"
That smirk he wears isn't much better. At least Remy turns his smirk off once in a while.
"How much farther is it?" I ask.
"Not much," Cheshire replies with a shrug.
"Real helpful, cat boy."
(Remy)
"Ok, so now where are we?" I ask, cocking my head.
Alice dusts her hands off. She points at the large cave we're standing in front of. "That would be the Centipede's house."
"So where are we?"
"Where we're supposed to be," Alice replies, in a tone of increasing annoyance.
"So what do we do now?"
"Wait for Cheshire and Rogue to- Look! They're coming out of the forest now!" She points at two people emerging from the forest. Rogue seems to ask where they're supposed to go now, and Cheshire shrugs.
"Dey don' know where t' go, do dey."
"No, I don't think so... we need to give them some kind of sign to our position..." Alice thinks about it for a second, then pulls something out of her pocket.
"Is dat a jac- wait, I don' t'ink I want t' know. Jus' say it's subtle and I won't ask any questions."
Alice ignores this and tosses it. It tumbles a good twenty feet away and then exploding. It gets Cheshire and Rogue's attention immediately.
"Dat was as subtle as an axe without a blade."
Alice shrugs. "It got their attention, didn't it?"
"Oui, and anyone else's within fifty feet!"
Alice shrugs again. "There isn't anyone within fifty feet or we'd be dead by now."
Dis girl is exasperatin'... why is it dat I always get stuck wit' de women dat're hard t' deal wit'?
Rogue and Cheshire make their way over, Rogue pausing to eye the scorch mark the bomb left.
"Very nice. Very subtle," Rogue says as soon as they're close enough, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Alice shrugs for a third time and walks over to Cheshire. "That's the same thing he said."
Rogue eyes me with undisguised contempt and now it's my turn to shrug.
(All right, that was a bit more jokey than usual, but only because I've been wanting to play with Remy's more sarcastic side in this and my brain's sort of fried from too much math. I'll try for an ordinary update schedule (i.e. trying for every three days) but I can't promise anything...)