IT'S TIME FOR TEA

Jackie’s face went from one of humble doe-eyed wistfulness to one of confusion. What exactly was this person saying? Nightmares and dreams…everything about this woman screamed wonderland. That was something of a white whale for Jackie, who knew wonderland offered countless priceless items but whose people were immune to trickery merely because they were all insane. She dropped the act and raised an eyebrow, “Let me guess, you’ve been eating too many mushrooms?” 

Tabitha was pacing backwards and forwards. She’d been tossed out of her dorm at the university by one very scary looking girl, much taller and angrier than Tabitha could ever hope to be, and was now stood a little way away from the campus, hiding among a throng of trees and plants. 

“This is so not good.      At all.          No way.             In fact this is really really awful.                 Oh god.                     Oh god.                         What do I do?                               Oh no.…”

“Aww yes, what shall ya do? What shall you do? What are ya gonna do?” The hatter repeated . She pulled out a pocket watch and swung the clock back and forth for a moment before blue hues flickered up at the girl. Getting up from her spot the blonde picked up her dress and made a beeline towards the girl. The fabric cascaded behind her, trailing her as if she was ghost. “goin’ to hide in the trees, is that what you’re goin’ to do? Hmm? I’ll ask again What do ya want to do?”

“ remind me again what the   whole point of this dreary   event is besides making   me to break off a horn and   shove it through my skull . ”

                       he bemoans , taking advantage of the passing                        alcohol and helping himself to his eighth glass                        of the evening . couldn’t they have provided a                        wine that didn’t reek of cheap ? he’d even take                        a nice chianti at this point . but alas , the swill                        would have to do for now .

“ do you think they know how   obvious their costumes are ?   i do believe subtly is foreign   on this side of the barrier .. ”

“which would hurt more? breaking off the horn or shoving it threw your skull? what an interesting question?” the blonde mused with a low hum. she began to circle the man, kicking her heels against the pristine floors. “sometimes i don’t think they know a lot of things, they pretend to know but they don’t and that’s the problem. just pretending.”

“Oh my gosh!” Jackie looked up at the castle like it was the first time she’d ever seen it. She’d been there every day this week and probably lifted half the valuables in it, but no needed to know that. “Wow, it’s so big,” She took a deep breath and looked around a little helplessly. Just for good measure, she bit her bottom lip. “I wonder if…do you think they really want VKs to come in?” She pouted slightly, posing as the complete damsel in distress. Just another VK who always secretly wanted to be good, right? 

Julien was sitting against a tree, sunglasses on now that the winter was gone, playing his guitar. He should be in class but the idea of going bored him and so here he was now humminh a tune under his breath. “Fill my heart with song, hmm hmm hmmm hmm hmmm…” He couldn’t remember most of the words of what he was playing but it was nice but he could care less just happy to be playing. The humming stopped as he saw in the corner of his eyes he was being watched. Turned his head, he continued strumming. “You’re more than welcome to take a picture of me if you’ll like.” The young prince said. “But it’s a little weird you’re just staring at me.”

“    uhm   ,    excuse    me   ?    i’m    sorry   ,    but    you   cannot    be    here   .    this    place   is    for    employees   only    .    ”

is this for employees only? but does that mean for this stories employees only or if you are an employee? because there is a difference and you are not making it clear if there is a difference, so therefor i am in the right.”

“I can make tacos. I make really good tacos.”

“YOU CAN MAKE TACOS!” Excitement rushed over her. “Why didn’t you start with that!”

“Tacos. of course how could i be so dumb.”

Reaching out she patted the pirate on the shoulder. “not dumb, just didn’t know. shall we find some tacos.”

“What kind of treats then?”

“tacos. duh. what else would you feed a swordfish?”

“ pandora , i need you to focus   on something besides cake .   this is a very serious matter . ”

                    a frown for the hatter , rather upset at her behavior                     and unbridled madness lurking within her . as much                     as she liked the girl , there was no time for silliness .

“ we need to figure out who’s   behind this winter . if we can   unmask them , then we can   stop them . and get auradon   back to normal and back to tea .  ”

with a sharp change in tone the hatter only tilted her head and folder her hands under her chin, as if she was leaning on something. “i can multitask.”  blue hues eyed the other blonde with intensity, of course she stared for a just a moment too long. without warning her manner changed once more. “what if it’s a machine. a machine gone all wrong! i see no reason for it to be one of VKs. everyone jumping, jammin’ to conclusions. bit of a silly thing for a vk to live on the dreadful isle and make themselves suffer even more when they can have all they want here.” she paused twirling her pink hair, with a small pause. “huh, framing someone is not nice. suppose i could also eat raspberry jam.”

“as long as there’s not too many had,” he corrected, taking another sip of the disgusting liquid. the immortal could not get drunk so a beer had been a poor choice just to keep up pretenses. however, it was free since his former friend now had bought it for him. “i find that unlikely but it’s fine. i can be on my way sooner.”

“but what is too many? are you talking about having too much tea because i am going to real with you, one cannot simply have enough tea. are you talking about the poppy pop. cause that’ll make you bop bop bop. or the kind of drinks that make you tell the truth. some drinks you should never have enough and others.” she rambled on for a moment. “i bet they got stuck in a bottomless pit. but don’t worry. they’ll pop out of it soon enough.”

“Okay I’m down. How do we do this new fun sport?”

“We have to find a swordfish. And then we name them. The thing about swordfish is they liked to be bribed with treats.”

Ollie screamed too. her daddy never let her scream but this was fun. she waves and jumps up. “I fantastic! I two!” She holds up four fingers. Hyun laughs and puts down two of the fingers and she nods. “I like you name too.” He smiles and picks ollie up, putting her on his shoulders. “I’m buying.” he says. “It would just be nice of me. I’m Hyun by the way. Son of oogie boogie.”

Pandora clapped in delight at the child’s reaction. The blonde came from a family with a childlike wander, and usually it was met with annoyance. “Two whole years! I know I have some candles in here, and then we can celebrate your unbirthday, unless it is your birthday I have a set for that to.” She smiled. “The Mad Hatter is what people call my father, I call him dad. Oogie Boogie is of the Halloween nature, correct?”

“So you really think you can beat me at sword fighting. I could kill you in one go. You’re so weak.” 

Pandora pursed her lips and put her hands on hips. “I said swordfish racing. Duh. We play it in wonderland all the time. Race the swordfish.”

Hyun screams when she jumps down in front of him and his daughter. “Oh fuck. I mean crap. Cake? Me and ollie are always up for cake.” He says as ollie jumps up and down. “This is Ollie by the way.”

“what a scream.” and then she screamed back with a giggle. looking down at the child pandora gave a wave. “hello small creature.” she then curtsy and nodded at her hat. her friend the mouse popped out of her and also waved. “i am pandora, your name ollie is fantastic.” she looked up at the man now. “too the cake shop!”

luca continued to frown at the strange woman, annoyed by her lack of concern. the other person was still slightly dazed so he snapped his fingers, waving them away. “leave before i change my mind.” the ak nodded, turning tail and running away from the two. “i don’t like sweets,” he stated gruffly.

pandora paid no mind to the other person, already dismissing them from her thoughts. she was fascinated by this strange staring boy. gaze like a painting, always watching, unnerving. fun. “that’s dumb.” another tilt of her head, blue hues watching him, surveying him. “crackers then. i’ve those too. or if you want i could pour you a cup of tea.”