Sarah~
Another empty box flew across the room, landing in a pile now large enough to encompass the entirety of the large balcony just outside the bedroom. A warm summer breeze made its way easily through the opened French doors causing Sarah’s fallen tendrils of hair to dance around her cheek bones. The majority of her morning was being spent unloading box after box as she attempted to find room to organize her old life amongst the new.

Sarah still couldn’t believe she was thousands of miles from where she grew up all of her life. Virginia was a stunning state, surrounded in lush beauty far comparing to the open planes of her hometown in Texas. There weren't unbearable summers, or tornadoes to worry about....still...looking at a picture of her friends she couldn’t help but feel a twinge at her heart.

Sarah reminded herself she had to be positive. If one started to let themselves think the glass was only half full they would never make it out of the rut. She merely shook her head as if sending the negative thoughts beyond the reach of consciousness, never to return. Putting the picture on the shelf she thought, ”This is a good thing. There are endless possibilities here. I can paint, have adventures...a new start.” With this she finished unpacking, stacking the mass of cardboard outside into a pile taller than herself. Deciding to reward herself by painting, she searched for her art bag to no avail. No matter how hard Sarah looked around she couldn’t find it. Instantly, she searched the house for her dad, following the sound of a hammer, “Dad do you know where my art supplies is?”

Needless to say, after being given several dead ends and dishing out much parental harassment she finally was told to check the attic. Climbing the rickety ladder, she was greeted by a stagnant atmosphere and dust. Waving her hand in the air to shoo away cobwebs she located the string leading to the light, illuminating the room. Muttering to herself she scanned her surroundings, “I swear if I fall through this roof over this I am going to Spartan kick my dad into a well.” Sighing, she carefully made her way over the rafters, only allowing her feet to make contact with sturdy two by sixes, until making it to the portion of the attic that had a functional floor.

It took several minutes, (and a variety of sassy comments) but Sarah as last had her hands upon the box with her name plastered in dark black sharpie. Opening the lids she grasped the bag (leaving the rest of the contents to worry about later). Giving a small pull she found it rather reluctant to come with her. Tugging harder, the bag slipped free causing her to lose her balance, collapsing to the floor with a loud thud. Stunned for the moment, her pride felt no penalty as she at last had her prize. Announcing she was fine to concerned parents, she held her trophy up with a smile but was distracted, noticing an odd glow coming from the distance. Confused, she crawled towards the illumination to only to find a small door encased in light.

The average person, in finding a small glowing door, would more than likely high tail it, never to return to the attic again. Sarah was no such coward, turning the knob she simply mentally shrugged What is the worst that could happen? Carpe Diem and all that jazz. . Crawling through the entrance she continued on for what seemed like forever, until she at last saw a small light in the distance. Coming out the other side Sarah found herself surrounded with clothes, and hats stranger than she had ever seen. “Where am I?” she questioned aloud, standing and dusting herself off. In the distance she saw a peculiar fellow wearing fake rabbit ears. “Excuse me sir….”

Katrina~
The garden was behaving unusually lively today, many of the plants appearing to be agitated for reasons Katrina herself could not entirely understand. From her understanding there was not to be a storm coming in today and the Queen’s troops were not scheduled to be coming through for the next few days. She did her best to speak to each of the plants in the hopes of calming them down, but even they did not know what was coming. Worry washed over her for the moment, a natural reflex to the fear of anything that could happen to those closest to her. She stared at the town for a moment, eyes wandering the Wonderland until resting on the woods. She sighed knowing there could be nothing to prevent the unexpected, one can only go with it.

Focusing on her work once more, she placed on a pot to boil for tea before going onwards to water the plants. She was always meticulous in her gardening her duties, her pride shown in the beauty of it. It was a nice day out, the weather warm, but not too hot. The trees were dancing, and horseflies ninnied, chasing one another round and round. There was so much life here, one of the reason Kat first fell in love with the location.

After watering she grabbed a basket, starting to fill it with sweets for Chess to take back to his home with him. Taking glass bottles she filled them with the liquid from the waterfall; she never knew what he tasted when drinking the liquid, it could be different each time. Placing lids on the bottles she placed them in a line on the bottom of the basket. From there she collected candied roses, snazzleberries, peaches, plums, and variety of other fruit from her trees. She rearranged them again and again until she was pleased with the overall aesthetic appeal.

While lost in thought Katrina suddenly remembered her teapot, which was now screaming at her from the stove. Running in, (in a rather spazzy gape one might add) she placed her basket on the table, turning off the fire wiping her forehead in relief, “Kat, you have got to quit being so scatterbrained or you are going to end up burning your home down.” Sighing, she began to hum as she placed the teabags in pouring the liquid into several cups. She always liked to have the tea prepared in case she had visitors, the Hatter in particular hating to wait very long for his tea.

Continuing her humming, she proceeded to place the cups on a tray with sugar and cream. Adding finger sandwiches, she placed the assortment on the counter and grabbing a cup herself took a sip moving towards the kitchen window looking out towards the majesty of the Red Castle wondering once more what could be coming in Wonderland’s future.

Hatter~
Paperwork, paperwork, and more paperwork. Oh how the Hatter hated such tedious affairs. Sheets covered his desk, overflowing from around it in piles like a sea of white. To onlookers the area probably appeared to look as though a natural disaster recently struck, no order to be found in the mass. For Marcus D. Hatter, on the other hand, every slip was in its place, and every place had its slip. If one of the White Kings men came in in this moment the Hatter could produce whatever they desired in moments.

Closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, Hatter groaned while leaning back in his seat simultaneously. Tossing the papers in the air with his free hand he couldn’t keep from complaining, “Had anyone of mentioned I would be drowning in papers for the rest of mile life just to own a town I would have simply called them mad! I should have stuck with hats but NO I decided to work myself to death…”

Rising from the massive chair he placed on his pea coat, grabbing hat from a peg and placing it on his head. “I must get away from this room, it’s stifling.” Gliding down the hall he muttered to himself, “If only I had been born a disappearing cat I wouldn’t have so little to do and so much time to do it in…” catching himself in the phrase he laughed, pondering, “No that’s not right. Flip it, reverse it. That’s what I am.” At last, he made it to the main hall, yelling to Doria dormouse he was going on a stroll to patrol the town. Today was going to be curious; he could tell.

He waited for the massive mansion doors to open and made his way across the vast courtyard, his shoes clicking against the cobblestone as he stepped onto the street. He already decided to check each of the shops to make sure all was in order. More than likely a few store owners would talk to him and then his executive duties would be done for the day. He had nothing to check in with the King about and the Queen herself had not sent any scouts as of late, or rather the Hatter knew about that is. There was no need. The Hatter protected his 'Alices' well.

Momentarily, he was thrown into a deep pit of despair, not something all that uncommon with the ever varying Hatter. The original Alice. He could remember the first day she appeared here as if it just happened. She was one of the bravest girls he ever came into contact with, slaying the Jabberwock as if it were nothing but a balloon to pop. How many times had the two walked down this very road together laughing with one another over peculiarities. In the end, he was not enough for her and she returned to the real world, something he could never wrap his head around. Perhaps it was one of the many things to cause him to be such a mad fellow.

As the memory passed, Hatter's mood once again changed to that of indifference then joy; similar to a pendulum he could never remain in one emotion for long. With this change of pace his mind wandered to what he would do with the little free time he had, deciding to himself where he would go once he stopped patrolling. I do believe today is her unbirthday….as is it MY unbirthday. This calls for a celebration. His mind span in circles at all the possibilities, but first he must tend to his duties. Today would be curiouser and curiouser indeed.

As he stumbled through the doorway that had been disguised as a mirror, Dayo looked in awe at the clouds that surrounded him. He was flying, floating in the clouds! Maybe he was a wizard after all! He was still holding his deceased mother's umbrella in one hand and his teddy bear Orion in the other. Despite being fourteen years old, he loved that bear to pieces.

Hoping to fulfill a childhood fantasy, Dayo reached out towards a cloud, in hopes of being able to taste it. He knew it was a scientific impossibility, but-

...a piece broke off.
It tasted like bubble gum.

Why did it taste like bubble gum?! It was supposed to be WATER! Floaty, puffy, cotton-candy-looking WATER!

"This is a scientific impossibility," Dayo said calmly to nobody in particular, and paused to rethink his entire existence. Was science all a lie? Was he being lied to his whole life? Nah, this must be a dream, right? As he pondered the nature of truth, he noticed that the clouds seemed to be getting closer. This was odd: had they been moving towards him this whole time?
Hey, wait a second, he wasn't flying...
He was falling.

So he did what any rational person would do given this revelation: he screamed like a madman and flapped his arms like a wounded goose.
"I don't wanna die," he moaned, half of him wondering if his sister would miss him when he was supposed to be helping her make dinner, while the other half wondered if the dirt would taste like chocolate.

Then he got a stupid idea. It was so dumb, so daft, so ridiculous, but the ground was becoming more and more visible and Dayo wasn't eager to get up close and personal. The altitude must have been making him giddy. He opened his mother's umbrella, shut his eyes, and hoped it'd work like it did in cartoons. Maybe someone would get a laugh out of his gory death when he failed and died, or at least a free umbrella.

When he floated, he knew that the world had lost its marbles.

Sure enough, the umbrella behaved like a parachute, and soon he was falling at a nice, leisurely speed. Confused, dazed, and feeling totally disoriented, Dayo floated down to the ground, pleased...

...then let go of the umbrella too early and landed on his bottom outside the Hatter estates.

This had been a weird day, Dayo summarized mentally.

Also, the dirt did not taste like chocolate.

Hatter~

If there was anything in particular Marcus did not expect while making his way through the town it would have been to hear screaming about death and seeing a boy falling from the sky. Spinning around in a 180 to get a better view he could only chuckle to himself “Cloudy with a chance of teenage hormones. I do believe I’ve heard of this ‘Raining Men’ before.”. Although, Hatter himself had no way of knowing if men really did rain from the skies of their world. Truthfully, he could not imagine it being practical...making nothing but a mess if they didn't land well.

Lifting his hat off his head he grabbed the teacup resting there and gave it a long sip, wondering if the boy was going to splat against the ground or if he too had something up his sleeve.

He definitely won’t be able to fly like that. The form is ALL wrong. The butterflies and the rocking horseflies had a better stance than the flailing figure in the sky. Under the assumption the boy actually would survive it would be the Hatter’s duty to introduce himself.

Hatter predicted the projectile would land somewhere in the courtyard, then taking another sip he started on his way. When he was all but sure of the male ‘Alices’ death the boy pulled out an umbrella and floated softly down. Whereas most people would have been confused or wondered why he didn't try to use the object sooner Marcus could only see the irony, laughing to himself, He stopped himself from raining with an umbrella! This boy is mad.

Walking up just in time to see the stranger lick the dirt he couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “This isn’t Katrina’s garden. The ground hear isn’t edible and honestly probably isn’t even that clean….I mean I do shampoo it once a month but it has been some time.” He was lost in thought for a moment and then remembered his manners.

Placing the empty cup back into his hat he placed the fabric back on his head a smile widening across his face, “But you have nothing to fear. See we are all mad here.” Bowing slightly he added, “The name’s Marcus D. Hatter, just call me Hatter.”

---

Dayo was still dazed, and more than a little bit giddy from falling so far, but the Hatter's words snapped him out of his state of confusion long enough for him to have an existential crisis. His brain appeared to have shorted out from the shock of not tumbling to a messy, messy, splattery demise. "Where...? How? Alive? Hatter. Shampoo. Dirt. 'Course." He snorted to himself.

He blinked.

He blinked again.

"Oh, wait."

Then he began making connections.

"You're called the Hatter? Why would you shampoo dirt? That's absurd. Illogical. Interesting, but still dumb."

He continued, on a roll. "How did I get here? How do I leave? Where is here? Wait, wait don't tell me, this is all a dream. Any second now my brother is going to come and laugh at me, right? But how come my umbrella stopped me?"

He spat out the last traces of dirt, and his cheeks darkened slightly. That'd been really dumb. "That was thoroughly disgusting. A proper dream would have chocolate dirt."

He stopped. What if it wasn't a dream?

Nope, his brain refused to accept it. This was not reality. This was simply his mind making little fantasies after he'd read one too many chapters of Through the Looking Glass.

Well, if it was a dream, he couldn't do any harm, right?

"The Hatter," he pondered aloud. "You're taller than I expected. And you have nicer hair."
@Midnight Howl

Hatter~
By all this is the most blundering of an male ‘Alice’ I’ve ever experienced since the first one first appeared. Crossing his hands over his chest he moved one hand to place his chin on while he evaluated the situation. This boy seemed to be even more bonkers than Angel himself….and that was saying something indeed.

“Well, I simply must shampoo the dirt otherwise it will be dirty and I can’t have my dirt dirty don’t you see? That would be absolutely absurd! Unheard of! Although, I never expected one to come along and have a taste of it either. You are a curious fellow…Mr. Whoever You Are.” On the last note he freed the hand from his chin, waving it in a circular motion in the air.

The Hatter had never been hammered with quiet so many questions at once and he tried to answer them as fast as they originally came out. “You fell from the sky. I don’t know how you leave per say. Here is Wonderland, I’ve told you didn’t I…Did I? Perhaps I did when I didn’t.”

“As to this being a dream I suppose it is a dream to be in Wonderland. Wonderland is quite like a dream…however, this is real and you are really here. As to if you are really dreaming. I’d say you are only dreaming if you think this isn’t real…”

Marcus had no way of knowing what the boy was comparing his height too. He had never seen the young man in his life. Still, he took the compliment and offered to lead the young man inside, showing him where he would stay the next long while.

How many more may be coming? This was the most he’s seen in a long while.

@JJFABBY

---

Dayo considered this new information. As expected, it was delightfully (read: infuriatingly) cryptic and provided little to no definite information. Now not only was his sense of reality skewed, but he really had no idea what was going on. And as for the whole 'dirty dirt' thing- Dayo didn't even want to question that.

He clutched his umbrella protectively as he looked around this new area he was shown. He wondered what would happen if he went to sleep in a dream, but decided it was irrelevant. He wasn't even positive if it was a dream anymore. Note to self, he thought to himself, question nothing. Find out on your own.

The Hatter seemed nice enough. Sure, he was confusing, and sometimes very frustrating, to talk to. But better than nothing, right? And if there was a Hatter, that meant rabbit-men and cat-men and Tweedle Whatsits. He wondered if there was a monarchy too, and felt a vague fear of being beheaded, but couldn't dwell on for the time being. "I guess we might as well go inside," Dayo decided finally. Maybe he'd find a book or something.

He wanted time to examine the umbrella as well, but he wanted to do that in private. The chocolate dirt thing had been dumb, but the umbrella idea had been spot-on, and he wasn't sure why.
@Midnight Howl