OOM: Meeting Alice

[friend_i_hope]

He's never liked Ratty. And it's not just the smell. You live in Wonderland long enough you get a sense of who can and can't be trusted. And Ratty's got that stink about him too. That stink that says you should guard your teas and loved ones around him because it'd take about a drop of Happiness for him to turn you over to the Suits.

Fortunately, Hatter's got more than a drop, and Ratty's story about an Oyster named Alice...

Well, he may not have mastered basic hygiene, but he's smart enough not to offer something he can't deliver.

(Hatter's perfectly aware that it can't be the Alice of Legend, but the coincidence is too much to ignore all the same.)

He tells Ratty to bring her in and quietly sips his tea while he waits.

His chair is faced away from the door when they enter, but he can still smell Ratty.

"Would you like a cup of tea?"

Comments

[oyster-alice.livejournal.com]

"Chase," she corrects automatically, glancing between the two men. "His name's Jack Chase."

She doesn't like this at all. She fidgets a little, not quite knowing what to do with herself.

[friend_i_hope]

"She needs help," Hatter says, distinctly aware of how tenuous their position here is. "I thought of you, Dodo."

"Really," Dodo answers, finally stepping out of the shadows. "And why would I want to help your Oyster, when you know that bringing her here puts us all at risk?"

Now that's just...insulting, really. "Oh, please," Hatter says dismissively. "I've spent years smuggling more dangerous things than this down here."