Its surprisingly hard to get the right mix of Alice in Wonderland "zany and whacky" without it becoming incoherent and cracky. Also, there's an after-credit manga page that I pulled from to get the designs (Keiichi/Ace of Spades, Mion/Shion as the White/Red Queen, Satoko as the March Hare), though Satoshi was originally the Mad Hatter and Rena the White Rabbit.

June 20th, 2021

Rika was very well-acquainted with time, having once been accused of murdering it when she tried to sing at the Red Queen's gala. Time, however, was incomprehensibly unharmed, though Rika might often wish otherwise, given as that eminent lilac-haired personage was fretful, chattery, and obsessed with cream puffs. Still, far be it from Rika to contradict the edicts of the Red Queen, which were often delivered via the end of an ax, and then as angry postage when axes proved ineffective at injuring the accused party. Rika was one such escapee from the queen's justice, though "justice" was certainly a loose term when applied to the queen –as loose as the lid of a teapot that wasn't stuck together with jam.

And since she was doomed to be stuck together with Time until someone glued that particular teapot back together, well, Rika certainly had no intention of not enjoying herself.

The garden was well-laid with all the accoutrements of a tea party –minus the guests– with pots and pots of steaming tea of various types, and oodles of chairs around the crisp white-coated table (black tie being deemed far too gloomy for such a young piece of furniture.) Spread across this vast surface and amongst the plates and pots were three-tiered cakes of settings, with jam before cream and cream before jam, dainty flower cups with porcelain painted on their curving sides, and of course the knives and forks with which to cut the finger sandwiches.

The rustic and orderly scene of picnic-y peace was almost instantly ruined by the Hare as she bounded onto the table and through the crockery in pursuit of a wailing Time.

"I'll trap and cage you, and then we'll see what cruel things you have to say about my Hatter!" Satoko cried, swinging a watch on a chain like a knight's mace as she sent the butter dish flying into the nearby hedgerow.

"Hau, hauhauhau! B-but I'm not even the one that said she killed me!" Time squeaked, splashing through several cups of tea and sloshing their contents all over the table's brand new cloth. Rika was going to have to send an apology for ruining its Sunday best.

"Satoko, enough!" she roared from the head of the table, banging her flower down so hard that the petals wilted. "A nice world it is, when a murderer and her victim can't sit together for a nice cup of tea!"

"Sorry." the Hare whined, her fuzzy ears drooping down around her face as the watch swung slack at her side. Time, cowering behind a particularly large cake of platters, peeked around her fingers nervously.

"Sit down and have some tea, the both of you." Rika huffed, pouring a new stream out of the nearest pot and not particularly caring whether it was empty or full. "We'll have guests soon, and I'd like to show a nice face!"

Satoko immediately began polishing the face of her watch, stepping down off the table to sit at Rika's side. Time crept around to her other side, picking up a tartlet and munching away –she'd gotten a taste for such things in the Red Queendom, though how anybody got away with swiping such things from the Red Queen, Rika wasn't sure.

Speaking of which…

The White Queen didn't appear heralded by trumpets, for that wasn't her way. She'd have them herald her as she left, and she'd thank Rika and the others for a wonderful tea party before she sat down, and thank them for inviting her as she got up. Her green hair was twisted up under a bonnet, and behind her came her faithful knight, the Ace of Spades, ready to tell everyone what she was doing in reverse.

"The Queen is grateful to being invited to such a wonderous tea party." Keiichi said as Her Majesty Mion sat down and commented on the wonderful time she had had during this tea party.

"More of your tricks!" Satoko cried, swinging her watch with deadly force across the table as Time squeaked and ducked. "She's going backwards!"

"On the contrary, she's already gone." Keiichi sighed, and Rika groaned with him, pulling the brim of her hat down over her face.

"What a wonderful party~!" a voice singsonged from the trees above, and Rika tilted her hat back again, peering under the brim to see the Cheshire Cat sprawled across the branch of a nearby tree, slitted eyes twinkling and her purple-bow-tipped tail twitching merrily. "Adorable! I could just eat you all up and take you home~!"

"EEK!" Satoko and Time cried as one, diving under the table: for besides her timorous disposition, Time also possessed the ears and instincts of a Dormouse and Satoko –being a Hare– was not much better. Rika sighed again.

"The only thing you'll use your mouth for at my parties is tea." she said primly as Lady Mion took up her flower and then gestured for Keiichi to pour her a cup. "Could you fit a cake or two inside that grin, or would that be too much?"

"I might have to pop it off and see." Rena chimed, fading off the branch and onto a chair, which still left plenty more at the table. Rika hated to make it self-conscious by gathering all the other pieces of furniture at one end, even if they only ever had the three guests besides themselves.

"A riddle!" Satoko said, ears popping up from under the table first before the rest of her followed, peering cautiously over the edge at the Cat. "A riddle game to distract our guests!"

"Hempel's Ravens." Lady Mion said, dusting her fingers for crumbs before reaching for a cake.

"There's never been a riddle contest yet that my lady hasn't won." Keiichi said proudly. "She always knows the answers before the questions are even asked."

"Interference! Interference!" Satoko shouted, taking her seat again and banging her spoon on the table like a judge's gavel. "The prosecution does not recognize the credibility of answers provided by a person in reverse, persons of more than one mile in height, or sneaky manipulators like Time!"

"Who's more than a mile high?" the Cheshire Cat asked, licking some jam off her fingers around her ever-present grin.

"The Caterpillar, probably." Rika answered, refilling her tea from the same pot and deciding that it would be Oolong now instead of Darjeeling. This felt like it would be an ooh-so-long conversation, and she always like to coordinate. "Puffing on his pipe all day long."

"T-the Lady Hatter answers the first riddle correctly!" Time announced, quavering a little under Satoko's eyes.

"A riddle has been answered! A riddle has been answered!" Rena cheered, her tail wiggling from where she crouched in her chair. "Cheers to the Lady Hatter!"

Keiichi applauded politely, as did his Queen, though she applauded, of course, in reverse, pulling her hands together before putting them apart.

Clatter and chatter eclipsed the long white-coated table as the various inhabitants clamored for this idea and that, losing ideas and finding them in equal measure, picking up so many threads of conversation that a conversationalist would lose their wits trying to weave it all together into a tapestry. But still, merry threats and even merrier greetings aside, the tea party was enjoyed long into the night, when everyone but the White Queen lit candles and continued needling one another.

9.08 AM, USA Central Time