Once Upon A Time-[Advanced Roleplay] discussion

((pretty!))
Alice's side of the room:

Alice led Hatter into her dorm. Her walls were covered in picture frames containing some of the photography she had taken in her years at the asylum, others with preserved butterflies. She had books lying everywhere, and a small globe that the Head Mistress had given her. "Here we are Hatter, my room. Isn't it lovely?"

Hatter looked around the dimly lit room.
It was somewhere around midnight; weak moonlight shown through the windows, just enough to see by.
"It is!"
Her room was quite cozy.
And the pictures...they fascinated him.
Even though he couldn't see them all that well, he knew they were extraordinary.

"I knew you would like it! It's just the right amount of crazy and sane." She said happily, "Come sit!" She patted the bed smiling her biggest smile. Her eyes glowed dark blue in the dark lighting but her hair still looked white blonde.

That Hatter, or John (really, he was one in the same), sat down next to her.
The way she had put it was exactly the right way to describe her room.
Crazy and sane, mixed together in the exact right amount.

"So John, you missed me? I missed you too! I missed my big Mad Hatter, though, you may still be big, I'm not so little anymore." She looked down at her legs, kicking them in the air.

"I can see that. You've grown up some" said John, turning his head so he was looking at her.
He remembered her seeming small, but large too.
Eating mushrooms and drink-me potions can do that to you.

"That's right! I'm all grown up! I'm almost a woman!" She said proudly, flipping her hair over her shoulders. "Last time you saw me I was but a young child! Does it make you feel odd?" She giggled.

A woman.
The Hatter grinned.
"Hey, just because I'm older doesn't make me a man, correct? Same thing goes for you. But yes, it is quite...odd as you say"
He drew in a deep breath, then let it out.
"I've never felt this calm before. A bit normal"

"Do you want to try sleeping?" She asked him, squeezing his hand. "I'll be right beside you. You'll be all right." Alice didn't want to leave Hatter's side, but she knew she would have to soon. John would begin his new life soon, with new friends... Maybe a girlfriend.

"Okay...I'll try it" Hatter said, laying down.
He yawned, forgetting to pull the covers up and over him.
What was the first step?
Oh that was right.
Close your eyes.
John did so, squeezing his eyes tightly shut.

Alice giggled and pulled the covers over Hatter and laid down in front of him, her face right beside his. "Be more gentle." Her fingers brushed over his eyelids softening them.

The feeling of her fingers made him feel tensed and relaxed all at once.
"Now what am I supposed to do?" he asked, careful to keep his eyes closed.

"Now... Think of happy, pretty thoughts, and let yourself relax." Alice moved herself so her back was to the Hatter. "Here, cuddling helps, or so I've heard." She took his arm and wrapped it around her waist.

A strange feeling John had never felt before washed over him.
What was the feeling?
He couldn't name it.
Alice was warm....and she smelled good.
This was nice.
He started thinking of all the good times they'd had in Wonderland.
Every happy memory he had was with her.

"Are you thinking of happy thoughts?" Alice whispered, her hands resting over top of his. "That's the only way it works." She was oblivious to Hatter's feelings, as she believe that in his eyes she was still a little girl.

"Yes" Hatter whispered, smiling.
He yawned once more, a heavy, sleepy feeling falling over him.
A lone thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.
He tensed.
"What if...what if I have a bad dream?"

Alice frowned and turned so she was face to face with John. "Well, before I was sent to the asylum, when I had a bad dream my mum would give me a kiss to make me feel better. Maybe that would work on you." She suggested. Alice didn't see anything wrong with a kiss, she was far too innocent.

John opened his eyes.
"Kiss...where?" he asked, suddenly feeling nervous.
Wasn't there different ways, different places to kiss people?
He wouldn't know; he'd never been kissed before.
And why would he?!
He was the Mad Hatter.
Crazy, ugly, and horrid.

Alice giggled, "Well wherever you want silly! There's the forehead, nose, cheek, lips, neck, whichever you like!" She shrugged her shoulders and scrunched up her nose at him. "Don't you know that?"

The Hatter would have shaken his head, but he was laying on his side, making doing so impossible.
"No, I don't know. No one has ever dared to kiss me before"
He frowned then.
"Maybe you shouldn't. You will regret it once I get all weird and...mad again"

"Oh dear Hatter, you're my only friend, I would never regret it. You are wise, and kind, and loyal, and yes, mad, but I love everything about you." She reassured him. "Would you like to have a practice round before incase you have a bad dream?"

Well, he would like to know what to expect...
"Okay" he said in a hushed voice, staring into Alice's bright blue eyes.
Tired.
That was what he was.
John felt grateful that he wasn't spouting nonsense.
It must be because of the exhaustion.

"Hmm... Where would you like this kiss Hatter? From what I heard of the nurses at the asylum, the lips and the neck is the best. Though the doctors kissed me a lot, they said it would help my treatment. I'm not sure why! I didn't feel better, only worse." She said honestly. Alice was oblivious to how the doctors had abused her in many different ways.

The Hatter's face darkened.
"Evil little.....I will strangle them slowly, let them beg and scream and cry for as long as they remain alive. I will shout in their ears and whisper of how much they will continue to suffer, how much I loathe them, and then I will hand what is left to the over to the Queen of Hearts, and make her order their heads off"
He started giggling.
"Off with their heads!" he said in a high, squeaky voice.

Alice giggled and placed her hand on John's cheek, "Hatter, it's all right. They were only trying to help! Why else would they do that?" She asked obliviously. Alice's mind was always up in the clouds that she didn't see how beautiful of a girl she was, or how men fell over themselves when they saw her, but turned away when they saw she was crazy.

The Hatter's wide smile started to fade.
"Because you are beautiful Alice. Because their minds are sick in a bad way...."
He trailed off, eyes beginning to be unfocused.
It was so hard to keep the growing anger in check.
He wanted to hurt those 'doctors' all those people who had hurt Alice.
So much.

((Have you seen Alice? She's the first one on the Make Your Character thread!))

Alice frowned and kissed Hatter on the nose, "Hatter... John... Come back to me. Don't go back to Wonderland." She waved her hand in front of him, trying to bring him back to reality, "You think i'm beautiful Hatter?" She giggled and blushed red.

((No, I haven't seen her! I'll go look after I post this...))

Her voice brought him back.
John blinked, focusing on Alice's face.
"Oh, hi. How are you today?" he asked, the tip of his nose tingling.
Strange.
Why was it tingling?

"Oh Hatter, you're far too protective over me. I'm a big girl, I'm sure I can handle myself!" Alice shrugged her shoulders but didn't take her eyes off John. Did he always look that way? Maybe because he did not age but Alice had.

((Oooh, she's nice! :3))

His mind went back to what they'd been talking about.
Ah, yes.
"You can only handle yourself so much Alice" John said calmly, sighing a bit.
Didn't she know that she sometimes needed to be protected?
And by 'sometimes', he meant all the time.

Alice giggled and wrapped her arms around John, hugging herself to him, "John, you're too nice to me. Why are you so protective of me? Am I that special?" She looked up so their faces were inches apart. Alice knew the Hatter thought of her as vulnerable, and honestly she was very vulnerable.

It was starting to take a lot of effort to keep his eyes open.
"You are more special then you believe. You are like a star...bright...and light...makes me...happy"
His eyelids were heavy.
But he needed to stay awake; at least for now.

"Hatter, you're falling asleep. Let yourself drift to sleep! I'm right here." Alice reassured him, laying her head against his chest as he was so much bigger than her. Alice always felt safe with him around in Wonderland, and now that feeling was the same here. "You know, when you're here i'm not scared of the doctors anymore."

((I have to go now...continue later of course!))

"Wish...you would...kiss..me" Hatter mumbled right before he sunk into sleep.
His body relaxed and a peace he'd never felt before filled him.

Alice froze, had he really said that? But surely he only meant to scare away the bad dreams! Hatter would never see her that way, would he? She sighed and cuddled with John as she too fell into a peaceful sleep.

The rest of the night passed without incident.
Daylight streamed into the room (the blinds hadn't been drawn) and Hatter shifted a bit, still asleep.
He hadn't had any dreams at all, bad or good.

Alice moved in her sleep, she was having nightmares again. Of doctors, knives, and the Queen of Hearts. She started to mutter to herself, "No no no, they must be red! Not white! No! Not off with my head! Leave it all!" She started to writhe in her sleep against Hatter.

Hatter was beginning to wake up more.
He frowned a bit; Alice was making quite a fuss next to him.
Alice.
His dear friend, right here with him!
Warmth bloomed in the middle of Hatter's chest.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

His head suddenly felt fuzzy, but in a good way.
"You're here you're here you're here!" he whisper-yelled in Alice's ear.

Alice jolted awake. Sitting straight up and gasping for air. "Hatter!" She yelled out, "Hatter are you there?" Her eyes were full with visions of doctors and hearts... Maybe it was her own heart!

Hatter smiled sleepily up at her.
"I'm here, you're here. We're both here!" he said softly, blinking.
But the look on Alice's face....
She seemed afraid.

Alice crawled onto Hatter's lap and curled herself into a ball on top of him. "I had a bad dream." She whispered, staring at her hands. Hatter seemed so warm and real, it brought her back to reality.

Hatter sat up and put his arms around her.
"Bad dream...bad dream..."
He tried to remember what she'd said would help with that.
Oh, right!
A kiss!
"Where would you prefer?" he asked, patting the top of her head.

Alice was shivering but she turned to face Hatter, "Is this all right?" She asked cautiously, and she leaned down and kissed Hatter on the lips. Alice wasn't quite mature enough to realize kissed meant something. To her, it was a way for her mother to chase away bad dreams, and the doctors to "cure" her.

((I have to go :/ Bye...))

The Hatter's eyes widened.
The sensation was so foreign, like nothing he'd ever felt before.
Suddenly his heart was pounding hard and fast, heat spread over his body.
"Mmmph?"

Alice giggled and moved away, "What was that John? You're terribly difficult to understand with your mouth preoccupied." She patted his cheek, "Thank you Hatter. That did help very much." She wouldn't admit to feeling something different there. That hadn't felt like the doctors. "You were much gentler than the doctors. Of course, they were busy getting my clothes off to make sure I was still in good physical health."

Hatter groaned and put his head in his hands.
She didn't understand, didn't even know what this was supposed to mean.
He remembered what it was supposed to mean.
From before he was trapped in Wonderland.

"Mary and Tod were seen behind the school, KISSING!" one of the girls exclaimed loudly, clapping her hands together.
"Knew it. They'll probably be married by spring" said Sally, flipping her hair over her shoulder.
John cleared his throat, feeling awkward.
He really didn't want to be included in this conversation

Hatter gasped at the sudden memory.
He grabbed a blanket and pulled it over his head, than curled up into a ball, hiding.

Alice curled underneath the blankets so John and her were hidden under them, facing each other. "Oooohh it's like a big, comfy cave!" Alice giggled and pressed her nose against his, "Hatter, I should like to give you a kiss again."

Hatter whimpered and grabbed the 'ceiling', throwing it off of him.
He sat up and stared at Alice, who looked comical, just sitting there with a blanket pulled over her head.
"No no no no no. No more. Need to...understand. You don't understand"
He rocked back and forth, hugging his knees to his chest.

Alice pushed off the blanket and looked up at Hatter, her face was full of hurt. Had he not enjoyed their kiss? Did she do something wrong? Alice nodded, "May I ask what I don't understand?" She tucked her head down.