Heyya! Heyya! This be AIWF888 bringing you guys yet another chapter of 'Two Girls in Heartland'
Chapter 10! Oh wow I cannot believe it!
No.
Seriously. I'm having a lot of trouble believing I actually got as far as chapter 10.
Sister: *bluntly* I didn't even think you'd get past chapter one…
Me: YOU'RE MY SISTER YOU SHOULD BE TRYING TO CHEER ME ON AND SUPORT ME! I know I always do….
Sister: no, no not really.
Me:…okay then…moving on to the disclaimer: I don't own Heart/Clover/Joker no Kuni no Alice.
If I did, we would have had an anime out by now! =_=
(no seriously this needs to be an anime!) I DEMAND IT!
Sister: just get on with the story already you stupid otaku.
Me: RIGHT!
…
Chapter 10: Girls Day out!
Jay's P.O.V.
I was eating breakfast with Alice and Nightmare in the Clover Tower kitchen deciding what I was going to do today. Hmm…let's see now I've gone to the Amusement park at least a thousand times already and when I'm not there, I'm here, so that leaves the Hatter's and the Castle… I pondered. Well, I hadn't seen Vivaldi in awhile maybe I'll visit her!
"Hey Alice!" I said happily. Alice perked up from her pancakes and looked at me.
"Hmm?"
"Let's go visit Vivaldi today, we can also bring Ray along since I highly doubt she's gone anywhere since April Season began." I said excitedly. Alice pondered on the idea for a moment before nodding.
"That does sound fun-wait, why wouldn't Ray have gone any place other than her current location?" Alice asked. Nightmare and I exchanged glances before sighing.
"She couldn't play a game of cards if her life depended on it." I said blankly recalling my last visit to the Hatter's mansion. Nightmare nodded in agreement.
"But wait, if she can't play cards then how are we suppose to get her to the Heart Castle?" Alice questioned. I paused for a moment before face palming.
"Gah! I didn't think of that! Ray! Why you no play cards?!" Nightmare chuckled and waved his hand to silence me from further ranting and shouting.
"You won't have to worry about that. The Joker Card has been put into play this April Season, so you all wont have to worry about that." Nightmare said. Alice and I both gave him confused glances.
"The Joker Card?" Alice asked.
"What's that?"
Nightmare sighed and started to explain.
"The Joker Card is something only used in extreme situations for outsiders, like Ray. If it's completely futile for an outsider to change the season, the Joker is to give them a card that will allow them to pass freely into any territory they please, without having to play the Joker himself."
Alice and I both nodded.
"So Ray was handed the card?" I asked. Nightmare nodded. I couldn't help but smile and try to hold back my laughter. Something like this would happen to Ray, I mean I knew she was horrible at cards, but this is ridiculous.
"I agree, there have barley been a handful of outsiders who weren't able to change the season like Ray, it's like a one in a million chance." Nightmare laughed and soon Alice and I had joined him.
"Yo! What so funny?" Ace said happily walking in. I shook my head.
"Oh nothing Ace~" I said cheerfully getting up to put my plate away. I washed my hands and walked over to Alice.
"Ready?" she took a last bit of her pancakes and nodded.
"Yeah just let me put this away and we'll head over." Alice said getting up.
"Where you guy's going?" Ace asked leading against the doorframe.
"Oh, Heart Castle to visit Vivaldi, but first we were going to stop by the Hatter's Mansion to pick up Ray." Alice said brushing her hands on her apron.
"Cool, can I come? I was just about to head over to the castle anyways?" Ace asked. Alice and I looked at each other and shrugged.
"Sure, I don't see why not, just try not to get lost." I said. Ace laughed and gave me a thumbs up.
"No problem! I never get lost!" the knave laughed. The three of us stared at Ace blankly before shaking our heads.
"Ace…there's never a moment when you aren't lost." Nightmare deadpanned. Ace just continued to laughed and Alice and I lead him out of the Tower.
…
We didn't have to stop by the Circus to change the season since Ace was with us. Which I didn't really mind too much, it's a nice break for once…even if it was Ace.
We arrived at the mansion quicker than I had thought we would, since Ace normally has a habit of wandering off on his own, but this time he stayed with us just smiling and taking in the view.
We were surprised to see Dee and Dum at their posts, but they looked…different. Well for one thing they looked older-no they were older. Dee had long hair tied back in a low ponytail. Dum had short hair with two clips. They both wore identical black business looking suits and had their axes out, which wasn't really that different. But it was still quite shocking.
I glanced over to Alice and Ace who didn't look very surprised by this. We walked up to them and they ran over to us. The twins looked happy to see Alice and I, but not so happy to see Ace…
Actually, the moment they saw Ace, they pointed their axes at him and started threatening him.
"What do you was stupid knight?" Dee (I think) growled. Dum (I think) nodded in agreement. Ace just laughed and put his hands up in defense.
"Hahaha! Relax I asked Jay and Alice to take me to Heart Castle after we pick up Ray." The knight said, smile never fading. "But if you want to fight, I'll be more than happy to beat you two up, again~" Ace smirked reaching for his sword.
Alice ran in between the three and putting her hand up to stop them from charging at each other. I walked over to Ace and hit him up side the head.
"Aww~ what was that for?" Ace asked smiling. I just glared at him.
"For provoking the twins." I growled. Ace laughed and we all just sighed and shook our heads. Alice turned to the twins and smiled.
"Hey guys, we came here to pick up Ray, is she here?" Alice asked. Dee and Dum smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, her shift should be over in a bit, I'll go check." Dee said as he ran inside the mansion to go look for our strange little friend. I frowned when he said, "shift."
"Ray has a job, jeez, I'm surprised the whole mansion hasn't burned down yet." I said blankly. The sad thing about that statement is I was completely serious.
"No, Jay, I'm pretty sure that would be you." Alice deadpanned. I laughed and nodded.
"Yeah, she said it would keep her from searching for something call Narnbia or whatever in the back of her closet." Dum shrugged.
"Narbia? Oh! You mean Narnia! -Dang it she did find it either!" I pouted. Ace laughed at my reaction and I just glared at him
"Don't make me punch you."
"What is Ray doing?" Alice asked moving on. Dum shrugged.
"I think Boss said that she was working for the head maid or something. She's allowed to do anything as long as it doesn't involve cooking, paper work, and clean windows." The red-eyed twin listed off. I snickered a bit when he said the things that she wasn't allowed to do.
"Why windows?" Alice asked confused. Dum sighed.
"A little while ago, she was put on the task of cleaning the windows on the fifth floor, some how when she was near the top, the latter got knocked over and she was hanging on to the curtain railing while also trying not to drop a bucket of water for a good hour or so."
Alice stared at him blankly even Ace's smile faded for a few seconds, but then quickly returned. I just face palmed. I thought that stuff only happened in animes!
"As for the other things, she just to trust her not to do those." Dum finished. I nodded. Ray couldn't do paper work, she would end up exactly like Nightmare-minus the whole being sick thing, and as for cooking…well…she could bring a cake to life with her very presence, we all learned that from last Mother's Day.
I shivered slightly just thinking about it. Worst Mother's Day ever! We all turned to the entrance of the mansion when Ray and Dee came walking out. Ray smiled when she saw us and ran over. She was no longer in her gray-black punk-goth dress I saw her in last time. Now she was back to her normal green panda hoodie and jeans.
"Hey guys, what's up?" she asked cheerfully. Alice shrugged.
"I wanted us to go over to Heart Castle and hang out with Vivaldi, since we haven't seen her in so long, plus you, young lady need to get out more." I said dramatically pointing to Ray. She looked at me with a deadpanned expression before slapping my hand away.
"Fine whatever, sounds like fun, I want to see what the castle looks like during spring time anyways." She mumbled. I blinked curiously at her.
"How'd you know the castle had spring?" I asked. She shrugged.
"It just seemed like the type of season that the Heart Castle would have, I mean when you don't really think about it, it does make sense." Ray stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Alice and I just stared at her blankly.
"When you don't think about it?" We asked simultaneously. She smiled innocently and nodded.
"Yep, when you don't really think too hard about the stuff here, it kinda makes sense~" she chirped. Alice just sighed.
"That answer is so you Ray." I mumbled. She blinked and titled her head to the side a bit looking very confused by our reactions.
"Hu?"
"Never mind. Now let's stop talking and get going! We're burning daylight here!" I fist pumped. Alice, Ray, and Ace nodded in agreement.
We started to walk away when the twins pulled Ray back for a minute. Alice and Ace started to go on a head but I stayed back and watched. I smirked slightly when they both hugged Ray and said something to her. She immediately started blushing. Aww~ I thought happily as Ray walked over to me blushing.
No.
Seriously, if her face were any redder, it would be purple.
"Hmm~ Now what was that about?" I teased and Ray's face went maroon.
"S-s-shut up! It's nothing!" she shouted and punched me in the arm. Ray was always so much fun to tease when she's embarrassed…even though she always ends up punching or kicking me.
"Okay~ But I'm so not letting this go~" I laughed and ran ahead as she started to chase me. I quickly used Alice as a human shield, who protested and Ace eventually separated us.
…
After a few minutes we managed to reach the entrance of the castle. Ace said "bye" and we made our way into the heart-covered palace. The three of us walked down a few halls before running into a maid. She told us that Vivaldi was in the throne room giving the orders for executions, and gladly lead us to her.
Luckily, the executions had only just begun, so Vivaldi put them on hold in order to hang out with us. Thankfully the poor faceless servants were let go free of their charges, whatever stupid little thing they may have been.
"Come with us, there is something we wish to show you two." Vivaldi said leading us down a certain hallway. I noticed there were very few faceless the further we walked, before we reached a large pair of pink doors.
I frowned at the choice in color. I was never a fan of pink, I preferred blue. TARDIS blue to be specific. Vivaldi opened the doors to one of thee most amazing, yet horrible things I had ever seen.
The secret room filled with plushy toys!
I let out a fan girl squeal of joy and dived head first into one of the many mountains of stuffed animals. Vivaldi and Alice laughed at my reaction while Ray wandered around staring in awe at the cute little stuffed animals. I emerged from the mountain of toys I was in with a plush puppy in my arms.
It was a cute little beagle with black button eyes. I hugged it and looked at the amazing toy that I had just found. I SHALLE NAME HIM: FLUFFY THE III! I thought proudly and rolled down and off the pile of toys, which was a lot of fun. It was like rolling down a grass-covered hill, only of soft, fluffy plushies.
Vivaldi and Alice were sitting on the floor laughing. Alice was holding a cute little tiger, while Vivaldi was holding an old, worn out looking bear. The color had faded, probably from years of playing and had black little buttons for eyes.
I could have sworn I had seen that before in a few of the pictures Ray had shown me from the game.
"What do you think?" Alice asked happily playing with her little stuffed tiger. I hugged Fluffy The III tightly and stared at them blankly.
"I flipping love this place." I said dead serious. I was in heaven. The only thing keeping this from being my heaven was the girly pink walls. Other than that, yes, I would have thought I had died and ended up in heaven.
Ray came over with what looked like a skelanimal panda. It had a few bright neon stitches and a cute little red heart right in the center. It suited her. She sat down with us and started to play with the little skull panda.
"Hmm, we forget when we got that, but it's cute, so it's acceptable." Vivaldi frowned looking at the stuffed panda Ray had. Alice looked at kind of scared of it and went back to her tiger.
"There are toys like this back in our world called skelanimals. I absolutely love them; I have at least 12 in my room, and a few key chains, along with the skelanimals calendar~" she squealed with delight.
"When did you get all them?" I asked. I only show her one skelanimal puppy and she was hooked. Maybe I shouldn't have done that… I thought thinking I may have just signaled for the Mishapocalypse.
"Oh, I ordered them off of Amazon for my birthday last year, but you've never seen them since I keep them in my closet and only take them out at night when I start to voodoo-I mean when I want to play with them without my dog nearly chewing them to bits~" she laughed cheerfully.
We all just stared at her, before returning back to our toys. Vivaldi said that this was her own personal room, which she kept all to herself.
"Very few maids know of this room, so you must keep it a secret!" she said harshly and we nodded instantly.
"Sure no problem. I wouldn't want to boy's ruining this." Ray said darkly. Vivaldi nodded in agreement.
"Yes, they can be very annoying, and if they were to find out about this, it would ruin our reputation and we would no longer be taken serious." Vivaldi said in a tone just as dark as Ray's.
"Don't worry about it, it'll be our secret!" I said cheerfully. We all laughed at this and started to talk of girl stuff.
After a few minutes I realized that Vivaldi was so flipping cool. I now understand why Ray sees her as a role model. Not only dose she not mind beheading people, she's also really awesome and understanding, like…one of those cool older sisters or cousins.
The time turned to noon a few hours later and Vivaldi got up and looked out one of the large windows. She dropped the stuffed bear and frowned. She then turned around and crossed her arms looking at Ray and I. We both flinched as she looked between the two of us.
"Hmm…the events will be starting soon…" She mumbled.
"The events?" I asked looking to Ray and Alice for answers.
"Did either one of you get cloths to wear for the events?" Vivaldi asked seriously. Ray and I shook our heads. Vivaldi smiled and clapped her hands together happily.
"Good, then we shall go into town today and start shopping for you two!" the queen declared happily.
Ray and I both paled the moment those words left her mouth. Shopping?! This heaven has just become a living hell! I thought grimly. Ray's face has a bluish tint to it and I'm pretty sure mine's did too.
Alice just smiled, like she didn't mind it at all. Damn your annoying female mind!
"If were gonna go shopping can we at least stop by a book store?" Ray asked blankly. Vivaldi pondered on it for a moment before shrugging.
"Sure, we do not see why not. We have been meaning to check if the next book in our favorite series has out yet anyways. If it has not, we shale behead the author." Vivaldi said with an odd look of determination in her eyes.
I shivered slightly while Ray looked up at her in awe. I pray for that poor author whom ever they may be. I thought giving them a silent prayer in hopes that they wrote the queens book.
…
Vivaldi had to get changed into something other than her normal clothes and told the three of us to wait outside the room.
We stood in silence waiting for Vivaldi to finish changing. I looked out one of the large glass windows and gazed around at beautiful scenery. Everywhere you looked were soft pink cheery blossom petals on pure white tree bark.
The sky was light blue without a cloud in the sky and the grass was a lush shade of green that would probably make Ray swoon. I mentally laughed at the thought and leaned against the glass.
But, my smile soon faded as I continued to gaze around. There was nothing else but the cheery blossom tree. Sure, there was a mountain or two, but…that was it. I could no longer see any sign of the other territories other than the Circus. It made it seem like they the Amusement Park, Tower, and Mansion never even existed in the first place. I hated thee feeling in the pit of my stomach that I felt whenever my thoughts wandered over to this subject.
I was a mix of sadness, isolation, and…well…loneliness. I felt as though I had been cut off from civilization other than the people around me. It made me feel hallow inside and began to wonder if Alice and Ray felt the same thing when they looked out the window. Did they see what I saw? Did they feel like this also?
I shook my head brushing a side such depressing thoughts. That wasn't me. I walked back over to Ray and Alice who were casually leaning against the walk.
Ray was tapping her foot impatiently and crossed her arms glaring at the floor. Alice was just staring at the ceiling lost in thought.
It was another few minutes before Vivaldi immerged from her room in a business like suit. Her curly hair had been brushed out into soft waves and she wore a cute little hat that sat off to the side on her head.
"Well? What are you three just standing there for, let us be on our way!" the queen demanded.
We followed her around sneaking down the hallways trying not to be seen. I felt like a flipping ninja with all this sneaking around and pulled down my domo hat so it was just above my eyes. Now I feel like a really ninja! I thought proudly.
We were leaning against the wall as a few faceless maids came running by probably looking for Vivaldi. Alice looked to be the only one not enjoying being a ninja.
Both Ray and Vivaldi were smirking viciously and rounded the corner and Vivaldi came up to a certain candleholder hanging on the wall. She looked to the three of us and put her fingerer to her lips.
"This is our secret passage way in and out of the castle. You cannot tell anyone of it. No one but us knows of its existence." Vivaldi whispered. The three of us saluted her and gave a quick "Rodger." Before Vivaldi pulled down on the candleholder and it quickly opened up to a dark musty staircase.
…
After a few minutes of walking down the dark passageway, Vivaldi pushed a small pile of rocks that opened up to the outside world. I squinted at the sunlight and held my hand up to my face and blinked rapidly trying to get my eyes to adjust.
In front of us were a bunch of trees that leaned in to form a path. It was dark and eerie, but also kind of cool. I looked around but saw no guards. We must have ended up on the other side of the castle… I mused.
Vivaldi led us down the darkened trail and then stopped when the path broke off into five different sections.
"Each path led's to either the Amusement Park, The Clover Tower, The Hatters Mansion, The Circus, or the town. We discovered this when we were much younger and have continued to take it ever since. No one else but us and you three is aware if its existence. We planned on using it in case of an emergency, or a path to sneak into one of the other territories. So do not inform anyone of this!" Vivaldi ordered.
The three of us nodded and agreed not to say anything, since we didn't feel like being beheaded today. The Queen of Hearts led us down the path that led into town and we emerged into an ally in the middle of the shopping center.
I looked around slightly awed by what I was seeing. It was like a mall, yet at the same time, it wasn't. There were stores that stacked up on each other, that stood net to each other, and there was also what looked to be escalators that reached the stores on the second or their floor. The buildings themselves reminded me of the ones I would see in the Amusement Park.
There wasn't a street or anything just big crowds of faceless people mostly consisting of women, or men holding women's shopping bags. They had my sympathy.
We walked over to a near by bench, one of the few that weren't taken. Alice, Ray, and I sat down, while Vivaldi stood up to go over the plan with us.
"There are ten event in total you will only need four different outfits for each. The first event will be the Circus; it is there that the Joker will decide which territory will go next. Then, there will be another performances and the Jokers shale then decides the next territory to hold an event. The process shale continues until the final event, which shale be The Jokers last Circus performance and April Season shale end. You will need something to where to Tower and Circus event, a costume for the Hatters, and swim suit and cover up cloths for the Amusement park, and finally a dress for our ball. In between shopping time, we shale also look at other stores other than clothing ones, like a book or cute toy store that we approve of, any questions?"
The three of us shook our heads and Vivaldi smiled. "Good. Now let's go~"
…
We started off with something to wear for the Tower and Circus event; since it would be the outfit we wore the most often. Vivaldi said it must be stylish, yet comfortable at the same time. Which was a lot harder than it looked. Especially when you're someone who is against fashion! I thought bitterly browsing down the racks of frilly dresses.
I had gone through several different outfits, all disapproved by Alice and Vivaldi, who were judging for Ray and I. I told them both that I was against dresses and I would die before they got me to wear one for anything other than the ball. Vivaldi said she wouldn't let me wear anything other than a dress for that.
I continued to brows, and then found a cute plaid skirt with black ruffle underneath and blue belt that matched the plaid pattern. There was a plaid bow on the skirt as well and I then noticed the black shorts that were underneath it as well. A skort! That could work~ I then found a cute black tee with printed words like "Rock Star" and a skull with a few blue zebra strips crossing over it. I then found a cute black hoodie with white wool inside and around the bottom and around the hood. There was also a cute blue sash that was pinned to left sleeve, like Haruhi Suzumiya. I picked up a blue headband, some tights and a pair of blue and black converse and rushed into the changing room.
I came out with my hair in pigtail and Vivaldi and Alice stared at me a little shocked by my choice in outfit. Vivaldi stepped towards me and had me turn around and then smiled.
"It looks nice one you. We approve." Vivaldi declared and Alice nodded in agreement. I smiled happily. Finally!
Ray also came out of the changing room wearing a cute black and purple Goth-gothic Lolita punk rock corset dress. The corset was back with a black string that tied it together down the middle. Just above that was a black and purple-checkered pattern that looked like it continued underneath the corset and connected to the skirt. The shirt itself, looked like the ones from a sailor school Cosplay outfit. It was black with purple and black paid indents and one of the panel of the dresses skirt looked like a bat with the words "Punk Rave" and cursive writing around it and ended about 3 inches above her knees.
She also wore a cute black leather choker and ripped stockings that ended just below her knees with white boots and a black crop hoodie to complete the look.
"I couldn't find it in green so I went with purple, how dose it look?" She asked shyly. Alice and Vivaldi stared at her for a moment before catching her in a tight, bone-crushing hug.
"Absolutely adorable, you must wear this to the event, we refuse to let you wear anything else!" Vivaldi said with a serious face. Alice nodded in agreement.
"O-okay…just…please…let go…now I-i-…can't b-breath…" Ray coughed out starting to turn blue. I sweat dropped at the scene in front of me and just shook my head.
Vivaldi and Alice eventually let go and we changed back into our normal cloths and checked out. Next we moved onto more summery cloths for the Amusement Parks event.
I got a cute dark blue one piece with a white little skull and cross bones on the side. Cover up wise, I had chose a simple light blue hoodie with white shorts and white flip-flops. Ray got a green and black plaid two-piece with removable straps. Her cover up was a bright green tee with black shorts and sandals. Alice also got a light blue two-piece since she said she was in need of a new swimsuit, Alice also got a cute little light blue sun dress with yellow flip-flops. After that we at down at a little near by café to relax a bit.
"Okay, so we shale take a break from cloth shopping for a few hours and look around for some books and stuffed animals. After that we shale then presume to look for Halloween costumes and a dress for the ball." Vivaldi said as our waitress came back with our drinks.
I had gotten a hot-chocolate, extra hot, while Vivaldi got tea, Alice ordered coffee, and Ray ordered what looked like green soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top with a weird heart shaped straw.
I happily started to drink my hot coco, which wasn't as good as Gray's, while Vivaldi and Alice started to chat about other things that I didn't understand, or even bothered trying.
I sighed happily and looked around at the people who were walking by. I've never really had this much fun shopping before, maybe it because it the first time I was shopping without my mom or older sister and instead with friends, which was indeed something I had never done before. Meh. Whatever.
I smiled to myself and glanced over at Ray who looked a little dazed and was playing around with her heart shaped straw. I then took note of the light blush on her cheeks and smirked now knowing what she was thinking about~
I carefully leaned over to her making sure she hadn't noticed and stared at her only a few inches from her face, waiting for her to notice. Vivaldi and Alice had taken notice to this and were trying there best not to laugh out loud.
After a few minutes of her not doing anything, I moved her glass a little and then poked her waiting for her reaction. Few seconds later, she had a delayed reaction a moved her glass back. She turned to glare at me and then nearly fell out of her chair only now realizing the close proximity.
Vivaldi and Alice, no longer being able to hold back, stared laughing their hearts-er clock and hearts out. I smirked in victory and Ray just growled and sipped her soda looking drink in embarrassment.
"What the hell was that for, you idiot." She demanded. I just smirked and shrugged.
"You were spacing out so me, being me, I had to snap you out. So annoying you seemed like the best answer." I said happily while she just continued to glare draggers at me. I then leaned into her ear and whispered about what in knew she was thinking about. Ray's face turned red on spot and tried to punch me in the arm.
"I was not!" she shouted. I just shook my head smiling happily.
"Liar~" I mused and took another sip out of my hot coco.
"We are lost, what are you two arguing over?" Vivaldi asked.
"Nothing!" Ray said, but I put a hand over her mouth to stop her from saying anything else.
"Oh no, you were not thinking of nothing. You see, our flustered little friend here was on cloud nine, just thinking about a certain pair of twins at the hatter's mansion~" I tease while Vivaldi smirked happily with this new information.
"Hoho, is that so?" the queen said happily while Ray's blush deepened. I nodded.
"Yep~" I said happily while Alice just drank her coffee seeming happy with the conversation.
"There is nothing going on, you three are just imagining things!" Ray denied crossing her arms looking away. But we all knew better and we continued to tease her until we thought she had enough and moved on to book shopping.
…
The bookstore looked very much like a library. Each genera was organized in alphabetical order and there were several floor filled with books on old looking wooden shelves.
I felt a tear come out of my eyes. It just so…so…BEAUTIFUL! I took a deep breath taking in the papery smell of books and started to look around. By the time we were done, I have gotten over ten or twelve (possibly twenty) new books, while Alice got about four or five, Ray got two or three, and Vivaldi got one. Luckily the next book in her romance novel had indeed come out, so that poor author, whom ever they may be, was spared.
We then went to the toy store and looked over all the cute little dolls and stuffed animals, but Ray ran out of the store when I showed her a cute little clown doll, so we didn't get much browsing done there. Mostly because we had to chase and track Ray down.
…
After a few more hours we resumed shopping for cloths. We walked into a Halloween store that had two floors, one for women, and the other for men. The female floor was at the top so we took and elevator to get there.
We got off the elevator; Ray ran rushing out browsing all the rakes searching for the perfect costume. Alice and Vivaldi also went looking for costumes as well, instead of just watching Ray and I pick something out.
A few minutes later, Alice had picked out a cute red riding hood costume which was a white dress that ended at her knees with a red apron and red hood that went down to her ankles.
Vivaldi had picked out a witch costume. It was a blackish-purplish dress that ended at her knees, a black cape and a witch's hat with a cute orange ribbon that wrapped around the base. Simple yet elegant.
Ray had gone completely Cosplay and had some how found a Haruhi Suzumiya outfit, which included the headband and brigade leader sash. How she found it is beyond me, I guess something's are better left unknown…
I one the other hand think I had the best costume ever. I was going to be: a bunny vampire! Yup, awesome, right? It was basically a white suit with bunny ears and a vampire cape and fangs. The other three stared at me with deadpanned expression but said nothing. They knew that they couldn't change my mind not matter what. (A/N: my friend asked me to make her a bunny vampire. DO .NOT. ASK. WHY. I honestly have no clue what goes on in that girls mind! O.O)
After we checked out our costumes, we came to our last store of the day. The Dress Shop. This store had dresses in all shapes and sizes. Some of them made Lady Gaga's outfits look normal.
We all branched out into different sections to look for cute dresses for the ball. I don't like dresses that much, but even I have to admit, they had some pretty cute ones here. Once we found our dresses, we would have to get them fitted and then we would have to try them one and see if the measurements were correct.
Vivaldi said they were pretty good at stuff like that here and only takes a few minutes. I looked mostly at the blue ones, since blue was my favorite color, but sadly there weren't a lot of dark blue dresses.
Eventually I found a beautiful light blue dress. The top was plain with gray, silver, white, and dark blue beads sown together to form a beautiful pattern that wrapped around the waist area, and the bottom flowed down to the ground. The texture of the dress was smooth, soft, and silky. I pulled it out and held it in front of myself in the mirror and I smiled. This…could actually work.
I had someone fit it for me and the other had found their dresses as well. Alice had gotten a cute purple dress, which had two straps on either side with purple bows. It bunched together at the top and at the hips. The purple stopped at the hips and black replaced it and flowed down to the ground. Alice also got a pair of purple gloves that went up to her elbows.
Vivaldi wore, according to Ray, the same dress she wore in the Heart no Kuni no Alice movie, Wonderful Wonder World during the ball scene. The only difference was that instead of wearing red gloves that reached her elbows, they were black. I personally had never seen the movie so I was just going to take her word for it.
Ray had chosen a light green strapless dress with a few beads at the top of her dress. There was a light green flower on the left hip from which the res of the dress flowed down into a beautiful ball gown, which suited her perfectly and the color was a nice break from the bright, blinding, neon colors that she usually went for.
We had gotten our measurements and then went to a near by coffee shop while we waited for them to be altered.
Our seats were on a balcony over looking the streets below. The Dress Shop was right across from us, while the busy shoppers ran around beneath us. I enjoyed the view while trying to ignore my aching feet.
I've never shopped so much before in all my fifteen years alive. I asked Vivaldi if this was normal for her to sneak out and go shopping like this.
"Of course, being in that castle with all those useless faceless all day is most annoying. We sneak out to entertain ourself for we know that if we didn't, we would go mad." She responded.
"Hmm, I can imagine that." I mused. When she put it like that, it did make sense. I guess being Queen doesn't really give you a lot of free time to yourself, especially in the middle of a power struggle.
I then heard the sound of music ringing through the streets and the busy crowd down below started to get louder. We all perked up and look down to see what looked like a…parade?
"A parade?" I asked confused.
"W-with c-c-clowns." Ray hissed and hid behind me. But I ignored her.
"Yes, the Circus is in town, this is just advertisement for the Jokers show." Vivaldi said sipping her tea calmly. Alice didn't really look too surprised either.
"Oh, I see. This is just giving the people a little taste of what will actually be happening in the show?" I asked looking around in wonder. Vivaldi nodded.
"Yes, and this is only the beginning…" She said in an ominous tone that sent shivers down my spin. I continued to look around before spotting a familiar red head with a jingly hat. I smirked and looked down at Ray who was still hiding behind me.
"Hey, look, there's White!" I said cheerfully. Ray glared at me and peaked out from behind my shoulder a bit.
White looked up and spotted the four of us. He smiled and waved. Alice and I waved back while Ray gave him a simple two-finger salute before hiding behind me again and Vivaldi did nothing but gaze down at him blankly.
White glanced down at his belt before sighing and moving on. I frowned. Wasn't that how he communicated with Black? I had never met the darker Joker of heard him talk, but from what Alice told me, I wasn't really sure I wanted too.
The circus had finally moved on and we went back to the shop. Our dresses were put on hangers that were covered by a white plastic sheet for protection. They were then folded carefully into cute little boxes and handed to each of us.
And with that, we gathered all our bags and headed back down to the ally way from which we came from and into the woods and down the little paths that connected to each of the territories. I sighed, a little disappointed that our fun together was over.
The day switched to sunset and Vivaldi said she had to go back not being able to hid from the staff any longer.
"We should do this again sometime, we very much enjoyed your company." The queen said happily. Ray nodded in agreement
"Yeah, I need to head back and get some sleep, my shift starts again tomorrow morning, see ya!" Ray said and then headed down the path that led to the hatter's mansion.
Alice and I nodded as well.
"Goodbye Vivaldi!" Alice said starting down the trail that led to the Circus. I sighed suddenly remembering that we needed to change the season to get back to the Tower.
"See you soon!" I waved back and started to follow the older outsider. I glanced back quickly and noticed that the other paths had disappeared other than the one we were heading down.
"Curiouser and curiouser…" I mumbled before continuing on.
…
Well, I know that this wasn't the best chapter, it as actually more of a filler than anything else, but I needed to put it in because there were some things in there that will come in handy later.
Also this is just a little heads up: My updates (unfortunately) will start to get a little slower than usual. Why? Because I only have a two or three weeks left in school before I get out and I'm also graduating and there's May Procession, and exams so I'll be extremely busy trying to cram everything in.
Also please note that for those of you who have read me story 'Hello Again' I not going to be updating it for a while, but that DOES NOT mean that I'm not continuing it. I refuse to give up on a story, I'm just one of those people who can't type up more than two stories at once
So I'm sorry this chapter wasn't that good, but like I mentioned earlier some of the stuff will come in handy for later on in the story
Until next time; Please Read and Review! ^^