A hat for Alice from the hatter himself.

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Who: Tarrant Hightopp & Alice Liddel (The elder)
What: A proper hat
When: Day 419
Where: Heimdall
Rating: PG to PG-13? There will be mentions of hats.

Well it had taken him a little longer than it usually would have to make the hat, but he was finally finished the project he had been working on; Alice's hat. His room in the Heimdall welcome hall had all but been taken over by the supplies required for his craft. The bed was completely covered and hidden beneath various fabrics, ribbons, spools of thread, and various tools for shaping and shaving. In the corner stood a mannequin that came from who knows where, and in a chair a sewing machine. Across the dresser tea pots and cups and tape measures with pins and glues. At this point there was barely any room to move, but as soon as he had finished the Hatter stood there bright eyed and immediately called Alice.

Of course he would have to wait for her to find her way there and so he made his way from the chaos of the room to the living area of the welcome hall where he waited for her to arrive. Keeping the hat safely tucked next to him as he sat there anxious, having forgotten to even take off his apron.

Comments

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Taking a sip from his tea, he can see that there is something on Alice's mind; or at the very least that she was not entirely feeling like herself.

"Alice, are you alright? You seem awfully . . . quiet."

[digophelia]

"Hm?"

She perks up. To say Alice had something on her mind would be putting it lightly. When she's not plagued by certain things, she tends to be introspective. For the most part, nothing terribly significant troubles her. She gently shakes her head, offering a reassuring wave of her hand, "Oh, no, Hatter! I am fine. I won't lie, I've been very tired lately in part of Mr. Maglor's help."

There would be a nervous laugh there if she was capable of it.

"Sometimes I don't sleep very well; it has been catching up to me lately."

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"Well then you should rest more. Or have more tea, it's the perfect thing for when you need to relax, or stay awake."

Depending on the tea and the company. Hearing this though he does add a lump of sugar into her tea, since she may need just a little more to keep her up long enough for them to talk a bit more.

[digophelia]

Alice makes the motion and verbal attempt to assure him she doesn't need sugar in her tea -- as that would be the proper adult thing to ask for. She stammers after it's in her tea and she can't do anything about it.

"Both are perfectly fine," If she can somehow stop the handful of bizarre nightmares and get rest as she's trained. Rationale would dictate she can't really squeeze out of Hatter's influence with tea.

Which means she should expect copious amounts of it whether or not she wants it.

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There are no problems that can't be solved by something that comes from a tea kettle. Well that is if you include a mouse sized Alice among those things.

But believe it or not, the hatter does have other answers as well.

"Maybe if Alice was somewhere comfortable you'd sleep better. Somewhere it's not so crowded and noisy."

[digophelia]

It helps that he's hailed from her childhood, from an extent, otherwise Alice wouldn't be so open to him about what is really going on, "Not unless you know how to get rid of nightmares."

Which had, ironically, increased more thanks to Pitch Black. And he was without his powers as well. She shifts uncomfortably, going back to drinking tea again; Alice isn't fond of sugars as much as she was a child nowadays. "Although I would be very happy to sleep in a quiet place, but I feel very safe with Mr. North."

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"Is the north not quiet? I didn't hear anything strange coming from that direction. But then Alice was always good at finding peculiar things."

Well if Time was a close friend once upon a time why not a direction as an acquaintance, it all made sense in a nonsensical way. Though the hatter really had no remedy for nightmares, no nightmares were not something so easily dismissed or forgotten.

[digophelia]

Alice is now drinking the tea that may be too sweet for her liking in hopes that it wakes her up. Soon. Even a nap out in the sun sounds really, really good right now. It comes up in a slight day dream that Alice has nearly misses what he says.

"Sorry?"

Oh, wait, he's asking about Mr. North and the rest of them, isn't he? "I suppose Mr. North has his moments, when he isn't teasing the Easter Bunny. And Jack Frost isn't also teasing poor Bunny, too. It can be a little chaotic, but. It's far better than Hel right now."

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A man with a title that is more a position or trade than a name, a bunny in place of a hare, and someone to tease the hare. ALICE REPLACED HIM! She was having tea with and staying with replacements for hatter, the hare, and Maliumpkin.

"Then Alice likes it there?"

Better than when you came and sat at his table?

[digophelia]

Unfortunately, Alice is a little slow on realizing that could potentially upset him. She doesn't really see the correlation with Bunny, Jack, and North, not yet. Not yet, anyway. Although to her defense, at least Hatter is told more than she would anyone yet, next to Pyro. Alice is friends with strange people, she should be used to it.

She just happens to lack on social cues at times.

"Well, yes," She confesses, again, very much at ease in talking to Hatter, "I share the same house with a Pitch Black. The boogeyman, as it were. I fought him twice and the second time, well... Mr. North brought me back after he found me on the streets. I left Hel the first time after he took the vorpal blade and slid it underneath my door. I went back to grab a picture of my family and he was there. I refused to come back since; I don't want to have anything to do with him or that place."

Hatter should know from her of all people that taking the vorpal blade is a very big deal. He unnerves her. He makes Alice's paranoid much worse and reminds her of horrible, horrible hallucinations, something Alice doesn't need right now. "After the fire giants, it's been terrible. It's why I decided to learn how to fight better. I want to defend myself if he approaches me again or the fire giants. I have my friends I want to protect -- you included. I'd never forgive myself if anyone I cared about was hurt on the account of my inability to fight. It's not like the Jabberwocky or card guards, sometimes."

Alice soon falls into silence after it finally dawns on her that, oh, no, Hatter. She doesn't want to replace him or push him aside, he's one of the few she can actually trust. "Oh, Hatter..."

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With the talk of pitch there a small spark in the hatters eye, much like with the knave the hatter felt that obviously it was someone he would not get along well with at all. And he would certainly do what he could to protect Alice from him, and keep him away from her. Though after a moment he goes to straightening up what few things are on the table, shifting the saucers and the tea cups back and forth as if to make some kind of pattern that would be unintelligible to anyone.

"It's good that Alice has found friends, especially if there are knaves like that around."

Little Alice had mentioned them as well, so apparently they were pretty good at keeping Alice safe and happy.

[digophelia]

"But you're still my friend, Hatter!"

She feels as if she has to reassure him of that, nervous that he could have taken that the wrong way. He'd be hard to replace -- no, he would be virtually impossible, no matter what version of him may stumble here. He's from Wonderland. Anyone from Wonderland that was untainted had to be the most important. She keeps that secret guarded to her heart, hardly uttering a word of how drastic it changed for both better or worse.

"I'm happy you're here with us."

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"I'm happy to be here with Alice too."

Hopefully he would be a bit more helpful, and he would certainly do what he could to help Alice since she had certainly did so much for all of them. Pouring himself another cup of tea it seems that he settles down a little. Turning the attention back to the reason that she had come to visit him.

"But you really must wear your hat on all the finest occasions, especially since it looks good on Alice."

It's time for smiles, not frowns.

[digophelia]

Doubly noted, at that. It allows her to at least breathe a sigh in relief. She would hate for him to be upset over something that is silly to her, but not even in the least for him. He gets a small smile from her, at last. She nods, even if she isn't sure where she would even wear something like that. Alice can dream!

"I promise," It makes her feel like an actual lady, of the sort, especially after what she had been through over the years.

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"Good, now then what else should I make for Alice."

After all he had a lot of free time, and he despite being aptly called Hatter he was quite skilled in making a number of other things as well. And seeing Alice smile, even a small one, makes him feel much better and secure so that there is no more worry about being forgotten.

[digophelia]

A gentle smile graces her lips as she just about finishes that cup of black tea. She's quiet for a minute, if not a little sheepish to even say. Alice will always be honored by such kind gestures, especially one of Hatter's hats. She lowers her head allowing her dark hair to mask part of her face, "I.. I don't know, I-"

She stammers, thinking of Maglor and how he's always offered requests to play songs. "You're just as bad as Mr. Maglor. But Hatter! What about yourself? What is it that you want?"

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"I want to have tea with Alice, and to work at my trade again. Which I'm already doing. Though I suppose it would be nice to see the queen or maybe have a good fudderwacken to celebrate the frabjous day."

Really the Hatter was more than happy to simply do what he was doing here, there wasn't much else he could do or needed or even knew to do. With the March Hare, Maliumpkin, or even Cheshire missing there weren't very many that would understand him.