Into Wonderland

[Rina]

She followed behind with such silent footfalls, Takashi had to occasionally glance at the shadows trailing along the walkway to be sure she was still following. Perhaps he had become so accustomed to his own booming footsteps that the steps of a female simply paled in comparison in the means of noise. After all, she was a petite little thing and probably weighed less than a feather while on the other hand, he was but an inch short of reaching six foot and without a doubt weighted more than that feather.

He carefully strode up the cobblestone path, ears straining for any noise that would give away to her movement. He attempted to hush his feet, but to no avail. They rang out as loud as they ever had as if they were mocking his futile attempts to listen for the woman behind him. Bloody things.

The walk up the hill to his castle was brief considering it was only a ways to go from his tea table and the fact that his legs easily carried him upward in long, accustomed strides. He almost wondered how Katanai was fairing up, but pushed the thought past him. She seemed more than capable of handling her own. She had a certain air around her that gave off the impression she was a dignified young woman and would be damned if anyone was to belittle that fact. It was interesting to say the least.

Upon arriving at the mansion, he paused briefly to stare into the reflective surface of the turquoise marble constructing the structure. After briefly checking to see that his bangs were still in place—a sort of perfected disheveled state—he glanced over his reflection’s shoulder to search for his company. It would’ve been stupid for her to refuse such an offer. After all, it didn’t appear as if it were every day that she was offered accommodation by that of a royal.

After seeing the faint reflection of Katanai trailing a few steps behind, he allowed a small smirk to tug at his lips. So she was an intelligent woman, after all. But then again, he could hardly blame her choosing to tag along even if she wasn’t particularly fond of him. Wonderland was a foreign place to her and she hadn’t a clue of what secrets lay beneath the surface.

“You know,” he drawled as he made his way over to the pair of doors marking the entrance of his castle. He laid his hands on the silvery handles, tugging the doors open. The duo stuck at first, but once they slid out of their closed state, the deep mahogany door swung open to either side of the Hatter. “If the rumor is correct, perhaps you know more about Wonderland than you allow yourself to believe,” he proposed, waltzing inside.

He arrived in the center of the foyer, adorned with white tiles for the floors and marble encasing the room’s walls with flecks of black on a smooth, white backdrop. He liked the color white, but never thought to envelope a complete room in the color. His interior designer insisted that the pallid materials would blend together nicely and create a very regal atmosphere fit for a king. He was a pushover and agreed to it.

Takashi removed his hat and after shaking out his flaxen tresses, delicately placed his top hat atop the regal hall table that sat adjacent to the staircase. He was careful to avoid disturbing the ceramic vase that sat in the middle of the table as a home for a single red rose—the only color in the room beside the white marble and mahogany hues of the doors and table. He carefully turned back to the door to await Katanai’s arrival.

[Kitty]

Katanai was pleased that even with this new body, she was able to remain silent with minimal effort. For a brief moment, she had begun to fear that her sense of stealth would be dimmed. Living even this brief period without her cat-like deformities was an experience she thought she would never have in her life. While she did enjoy catching a glimpse of her own shadows and reflections that showed nothing more than a normal young woman, she was also determined to find out what new attributes she would gain in battle. Perhaps her tail had somehow given her better balance. Perhaps it was just an extra appendage to be potentially sliced through by an enemy. It was all a game for now--finding out what her new strengths and weaknesses were. A game that would prove vital when the time came to engage in battle.

Granted, she had no idea when battle would be necessary in this strange new world. She always seemed to have the possibility of fighting on the mind. Perhaps it was something to do with some sort of psychological damage done when her parents were murdered, or maybe it just came with being an assassin. Either way, she tread silently down the cobblestone path ahead of her.

In the short trek from the tea table to the mansion, she noticed that the regal "gentleman" ahead of her had quite an intense footfall. Even without her sensitive feline ears, her head was almost to the point of aching with how loud his feet hit the cobblestone. For a brief moment, she raised her arms to her head and gently massaged her temples. Was he trying to scare her off? At the same time, his heavy traipsing down the path allowed her to relax her guard ever so slightly. Walking as loudly as he did, it seemed highly improbable that he would be able to sneak up on anything. If he were to attack her, she would certainly hear it coming.

The path away from the gardens was short, yet a bit on the steep side. Katanai had little trouble keeping up with the Hatter even though she was remarkably shorter than him. Somewhere along her path to adulthood, she taught herself to take swift strides that were just long enough to advance her forward without appearing strange. When needed, of course, she could always decrease the length of her steps. This came in handy when tailing a slow-moving person in a crowded area. All in all, she was able to walk at any pace she set her mind to.

As they approached the turquoise building, Katanai watched the back of the Hatter as he approached the doors, which he pulled open in what she considered an over-dramatic way. She admitted to herself that the outside of the building was quite a sight to behold, between it's peculiar color and smooth, well-kept marble. The inside, she figured, would be equally as impressive.

Her wandering eyes snapped back to the Hatter as he spoke:

“You know, If the rumor is correct, perhaps you know more about Wonderland than you allow yourself to believe,”

The comment caught her slightly off guard, causing her to pause for a brief moment in contemplation before following him into the building, her eyebrow quirking upward. Was he having another moment of nonsensical thought, or was he trying to play with her? Takashi was frustratingly difficult to figure out. Deciding not to wonder about his statement for a painstaking amount of time, she asked a simple, "What do you mean by that?"

Her curiosity almost made it difficult for her to admire the room that she found herself in. The design was very simplistic, inspired by a very "modern" theme. The black and white color palate was very appealing because of the drastic contrast. She pressed back a small smile as she realized that such a design seemed perfect for Takashi: someone who was half "charmer," half mad.

As much as she would have liked to deny, his strange mannerisms intrigued her just enough to want to know what his story was. Though she was not sure she could procure such personal information from him in such a short span of time as her visit would be, she silently decided she would never pass up an opportunity to uncover any new information, be it on Wonderland, the other three kingdoms she had not seen, or Takashi himself.

As the Hatter laid down his had, a small splotch of color beckoned her to turn her head in that direction. She spotted a single red rose, kept neatly in a vase. There were no sprigs of baby's breath or greenery to accompany this rose. It was as simple as that: a crimson flower contained in a vase. In a few strides, she walked over to it. After examining the flawless petals with her similarly crimson gaze, it occurred to her that he had earlier mentioned a "Queen of Hearts" which the flowers seemed to unanimously dislike, yet he admitted to being fond of. With a new curiosity to find out about Wonderland and it's inhabitants before leaving, Katanai decided to offer up another question. After all: she would be leaving as soon as she awoke.

"Tell me about the Queen of Hearts," she said lightly, more so urging him to willingly disclose the information than demanding it from him. In order to validate her sudden question, she looked up from the rose to meet his gaze, obviously referring to the flower as she added, "I take it this is a token from her, if not something you put here."

While she did not know the roots of his "fondness" for her, be it romantic, kinship, or a simple pact between two kingdoms, something about the flower before her seemed to draw her in enough for her to ask about the Queen, reveling the thoughts going on in her own mind. A moment or so after the question passed her lips, she realized how entirely off topic it seemed. The Hatter's sort of madness seemed to be nearly contagious.

[Rina]

“What do you mean by that?” She inquired.

Takashi almost laughed at her curiosity. It wasn’t common in Wonderland to question; each citizen was taught at a young age to comply with whatever the Heads said. Instead, he offered a small smirk and shook his head. “Ah-ah,” he crooned, “Rule one of Wonderland is to never question anything.” He stretched out his arms, welcoming an unknown semblance. “You just have to go with the flow,” he advised as he spun around in a whimsical circle.

After his circle, as he laid down his hat in its usual spot he noted that her attention had been captured by the single crimson rose housed in a simple vase. After carefully examining the flower, she spoke up. “Tell me about the Queen of Hearts,” she said, glancing up from the rose. Meeting his gaze, she added, “I take it this is a token from her, if not something you put here.”

A soft chuckle slid through his lips. “Oh, her.” He had half a mind of chiding her for requesting more information, but in actuality, she didn’t necessarily question him. Perhaps she was a quicker learner than he had anticipated.

“If you must know,” he continued slowly and deliberately, “then I suppose it is my duty as a host to indulge you. Come,” he beckoned her with an outstretched hand indicating the staircase.

He ascended the staircase leisurely, allowing enough time for Katanai to shadow behind him. Each step he took was precise and calculated, for if he stepped on a mahogany stair in the incorrect spot, he’d have to backtrack and start over from the bottom landing. It was an odd ritual, but he found himself performing it for as long as he could remember. Perhaps he had been alone for so long, he had simply acquired the odd practice to keep himself pleasantly occupied. Or perhaps he truly was as mad as his notoriety had become.

After a few moments of silence occupied only by the resonance of his footfalls, he arrived at the landing. He strode along the hallway, hands in his pockets, head tossed back leisurely to allow him nonchalant glances at the whereabouts of Katanai. He doubted she’d wander off to steal from him, but at the same time, his mansion was quite the peculiar place. Without his guide, it would be easy for a newcomer to become lost within the expanse.

A few strides had brought them to a door near the landing on the right-hand side of the hallway. Pushing the door open, he advanced into his library. It was dark and rather unkempt, mostly due to the velvet curtains drawn tight against the windows and the fact that he had rarely visited the room. He was quite fond of the customized shelving units, but having them stretch toward the ceiling made him feel as if he were drowning in rows upon rows of novels. He’d often stop inside to gather a few books or two before retiring to his usual spot in the garden but throwing his books upon the leather ottoman had accumulated a pile of novels that discouraged him from cleaning up after himself. Instead, the mountain had toppled over, spilling onto the floor and allowing a few stray books to end up cluttered on the sofa.

“You’ll have to excuse the mess,” he warned as he made his way over to a marble hearth. Turning on a light switch beside the fireplace ignited a dim gas-fueled fire that illuminated the room in soft flickers of orange. He always kept the heat on low because of his distaste for warmth, but considering he had a visitor, he allowed the flames to warm the room. Wandering over to the window, he drew the curtains aside, revealing the darkening sky of Wonderland. Surely he had been right in his calculations that Time was being quite fussy.

“So you wish to know more about the Queen of Hearts?” he questioned, undoing his tie from his neck and tossing it onto his desk. After a few moments of rummaging around in the drawers, he landed upon a photo and brought it over to Katanai.

In the picture stood a young woman adorned in a white ballgown. The collar on the dress stretched from a crimson bodice to the nape of her neck in an assortment of pleats, framing a platinum updo of curls. The crimson in her bodice was continued in bands of pickups on the skirt and were reminiscent of the shade of her lips, which were pursed tightly to form a tight line. Sapphire eyes peered out from long eyelashes, boring through the camera with a disdainful stare.

“She rules the Eastern portion of Wonderland,” he explained. “She’s attractive but bitter,” he added with a fond smirk.

[Kitty]

“Ah-ah,”

The tone he was using with her was almost sickening. It was if he was verbally wagging a finger at her, and she did not appreciate it in the least. He was beginning to play his silly, supposedly charming games once again, so it seemed. Her brow furrowed in disapproval as he spoke up in an almost sing-song way.

“Rule one of Wonderland is to never question anything. You just have to go with the flow,”

Soundlessly, she watched him twirl in a circle, head beginning to pound once more. Pressing her index and middle fingers to her temple in an attempt to soothe the pounding, then rested her thumb against the side of her chin. Her interest began to drain and instead, she filled with annoyance. Not only did she dislike when people made unnecessary, exaggerated motions, but she hated being deprived of information--especially when it supposedly had something to do with her.

"That's a foolish rule," she commented sharply and bitterly. She was not in any means willing to play around with the Hatter. With each tick of the clock, Wonderland began to lose it's shimmer of innocence and gain the sickening taint of annoyance. Katanai was used to being able to look around, analyze, and understand any area she entered. Now, she was in a place unlike any she had ever been to before and she had to deal with this spinning baboon of a "nobleman."

Letting out a deep exhale, she urged herself to calm down. There was no use getting so violently annoyed by this man. He was, as the flowers put it, "simply mad." It was not entirely his fault; his brain was wired in a different way. Not to mention, he was raised in this strange place, so everything here seemed quite usual to him. Gently biting at the inside of her cheek, she tried to take a step outside herself and analyze the situation a bit closer.

It was foolish to think for even a moment that the Hatter would provide boundless information to her. There was no possible way that he should be able to describe everything in this world that was different from her own. If a person from a different universe were to walk into the gardens of base, she knew that she would develop a headache ten times worse than her present one if the wanderer constantly questioned what was happening around him and begging for answers.

She was unsure what it was about the rose that drew her attention so closely. It could have been a number of things--the sweet, noticeable fragrance, the soft-looking petals' contrast to the jagged thorns, or even the pigmentation that reminded her of fresh blood. Regardless, her eyes locked in on it until she dared raise a question to the Hatter once more; this time, she was sure to cloud her curiosity with the guise of a gentle demand for information.

As her eyes locked with his once more, she could almost feel him consider the question that she had just asked. A soft, deep chuckle escaped him, almost as if he were amused by her remarks.

"Oh, her."

Takashi truly was curious. Just a moment ago, he was dully defending her from the harsh commentary from the flowers. Now, it was as if the woman only ever crossed his mind when she was in the same room. Katanai almost began to doubt the connection between the two of them that she detected from his earlier comment. He spoke again, this time in a calculated, drawn out manner.

“If you must know, then I suppose it is my duty as a host to indulge you. Come,”

With her eyes, she followed his gesturing to a staircase. With a small nod of consent, she found herself following behind him once more. When they first approached the stairs, she expected him to break straight through the floorboards with his first step, being his footfall was so remarkably heavy and loud. However, rather than traipsing mercilessly upward, he seemed to be carefully placing his feet on the steps.

At first, she followed his lead, carefully placing her own feet in the exact spots where his own had been. Perhaps they were rigged with hidden traps in case of someone raiding his mansion. Then, she happened to step an inch or so off course. Her breath caught in her throat for just a moment before realize that absolutely nothing happened. Almost daringly, she placed her other foot on the same step. Still, nothing happened. With that, she was able to write off Takashi's way of stair climbing as just another one of his less-than-sane quirks.

She had been so foolishly focused on ascending the staircase that she hadn't even taken in her surroundings before another door was pushed open. Instead of a carefully polished black-and-white marble room like the last one, she was led inside a dark, cluttered study of some sorts. She felt like a tourist in a large city as she looked up at the skyscraper-like bookshelves. These shelves were quite obviously custom-made. Other than the small piles of forgotten books tossed in clusters around the room, the place was quite remarkable.

"You'll have to excuse the mess,"

The Hatter broke the silence and her head instinctively turned in his direction. Standing to the side of a beautiful (albeit dusty) marble hearth, he flicked on a light switch. In an instant, very realistic (if not actually real) flames lit the hearth and the room, stretching and filling the room with warmth. It was a welcomed feeling, being the mansion was a great deal cooler than the garden had been. The Hatter continued his process of working the room back into a less "trapped in time" state, opening the heavy velvet curtain to unveil the dusky Wonderland sky. It did have a sort of charming quality about it. Once again, the Hatter was the one to break her train of thought.

“So you wish to know more about the Queen of Hearts?”

For a brief moment, Katanai was quite disturbed by the rapid nature in which he suddenly loosened and removed his tie, throwing it dramatically to the side. It was entirely improper of him, if she had any say in it. Once again, her eyes hardened into a sharp, disapproving gaze. However, the sharpness melted away bit by bit as her curiosity was peaked by his searching through the masses of drawers. She kept her body on guard the entire time, knowing that if he were to pull out a weapon, she must be ready.

Instead of a gun or knife, he pulled out a picture frame. He handed it to her, soundlessly urging her to examine it herself. Her eyes lit as soon as she noticed a vaguely familiar pair of cerulean eyes that held a deep sense of contempt for whoever had taken the photograph (if not for the entire world). Her garb was regal and beautiful, but the hardened expression on her face said that this was not what she was fond of wearing. Her hair was wound into a curled updo that was nearly as tight as her own pursed, blood red lips. The hues of red were very alike to what she had noticed in the rose from downstairs. Lost in examination of the photograph, she did not even look up immediately when the Hatter spoke.

“She rules the Eastern portion of Wonderland,”

It was quite obvious that this young woman was in full power of her kingdom. Even when taking into consideration the fact that this girl was very likely younger than Katanai herself and, in this particular photograph at least, forced into unnecessarily frilled robes, she possessed a look of cold, hard strength. There was something about her that Katanai couldn't help but admire, even without having ever spoken to the young lady.

“She’s attractive but bitter,”

A small smirk lit her lips and, as she glanced up at the Hatter, she noticed his facial expression was similar to her own. Perhaps he simply admired her stern nature. Judging from his character, this possibility seemed highly unlikely to Katanai.

"An ally of yours, I take it."

After having her questionings were chastised in his annoyingly playful way, she would be very careful to pry for information mainly with remarks, statements, and observation. She was not a fan of pointless games, but she would be willing to lay her cards down when it came to games of the mind.

[Rina]

Takashi watched with a silent satisfaction as Katanai seemed to be caught up in the examination of the picture. He had often stared at the picture for what seemed to be hours upon end, wearing down the edges of the photograph with constant handling. There was just something about the Queen of Hearts’ eyes that captivated him and made it difficult to put the picture down. Perhaps it was his madness mesmerizing him. Or perhaps he was just lonely.

“An ally of yours, I take it.”

Another chuckle escaped from his lips as they slanted into a smirk. “An ally?” he repeated. “Why, she hates my guts,” he replied, offering a smile. With a final glance at the photo, he brought it back to his desk, gingerly laying it inside one of the top drawers. “Then again,” he continued, making his way over the sofa and draping himself over it, “Tera hates everyone’s guts.” Again, he chuckled.

He sprawled out on the sofa and was suddenly reminded how exhausted he truly was. Normally, he would have taken a few catnaps outside in the garden but Katanai’s appearance had riled up Wonderland and made it nearly impossible for him to catch the opportunity to sleep. With a lion-like yawn, he raked his fingers through his hair. Perhaps he’d request a haircut someday soon.. Or perhaps he’d grow it out a bit longer.. But if it grew out too much, his vision would be impaired..

Suddenly, he remembered he had a guest in the room and patted the ottoman beside the sofa. “Hn, come sit?” he murmured in a drowsy invitation.

Locking his hands behind him, he created a cradle for his head and stared at the ceiling. “She’s my sister,” he began, fixated on one of the grains of vaulted ceiling. “Tera,” he specified. “We weren’t supposed to be siblings and because of that, no one knows of our relationship.” He slipped a hand over his face, murmuring a muffled, “Why am I telling you?” before letting out a quiet “Hn.”

“Hey, you’re not going to stay, anyway—in Wonderland, I mean—so it shouldn’t matter, hn?” He reasoned, returning his hand behind his head before continuing. “Our parents are illegitimate. Our father was the original Hatter, and our mother was the Queen of Hearts. They were supposed to be enemies but fell in love and saw each other in private. When she had me, she was originally planning for a daughter to inherit the Hearts kingdom, but because I was a boy, I was sent to live here with my father to inherit the Spade kingdom. Then two years later, she had Tera.

“I’ve only seen Tera in photographs; it’d be too risky for us to be seen together. But I’m still waiting for the day when we can finally meet.” With a small smile tugging on his lips, he diverted his attention away from the ceiling to glance at Katanai. In a sense, he felt satisfied getting his family’s secret off his chest, but at the same time, he was trusting a complete stranger with a secret only he and his sister knew about. For once, he felt as if he had dived off the cliff of madness to completely submerge himself in insanity. He was truly losing it.

“Hey, now you have to tell me something about you and your world,” he murmured, reaching out to finger a strand of her hair. It was a peculiar shade of silver that he decided would fit in splendidly in Wonderland.