You're All Late For Tea! [Sebastian]

Curled up in Hatter's throne of a chair, Alice looked up from the book she was reading to watch the snowflakes float lazily down outside the window. The Hatter was down at the docks this afternoon, picking up a new supply of crockery. Alice had forgotten the life-span of cups and plates wherever the March Hare and Hatter were concerned.

The smell of baking filled the air - the Hare was baking once again. The sounds of crockery smashing and his mad ramblings to himself could be heard from the kitchen, making Alice smile. She was home. Home for good.

She tore her eyes away from the winter scene, pouring herself a cup of tea and taking a sip. A content smile crossed her lips as she returned back to her book. It was wonderful to be back...

Snow. Endless fields covered with white, deep snow. How Sebastian managed to end up in this whiteness even heaven couldn't tell. And now he knew that next time magic needed to be used carefully.
He missed his little sister and felt terribly guilty for creating mess that drew them apart and got him in a white covered land.

Tired, hungry, confused and really soaked. Waking up covered in snow wasn't the best way to greet the world after endless darkness. And Sebastian was frozen to the bone as he finally noticed some sign of life in a form of a house.

The sound of smashing crockery and flying cutlery is oddly soothing... Who would have thought...? Alice mused, resting her head against the back of the chair as the lines in her book began to blur. The warmth of the tea shop, the smell of fresh scones, the snow outside the window - it was all looking to be a perfect recipe for sleep.

The tinkle of the bell announced a visitor stepping into the store and the blonde bolted opened an eye to gaze at the newcomer. Seeing that it wasn't Hatter as she'd thought, she bolted up outright and gave the man a smile. Which wavered when she saw his state. "Welcome to 'The Mad Hatter's Tea Party'. Please, take a seat and have some tea..." she greeted him, pushing herself out of her chair to go pour the man some tea. "Are you ok?"

Despite his weakened state Seb flashed a smile. The place sounded and smelled nice.
The cute girl's voice kept his mind on reality, as the warmth of the place made him feel sleepy.
"Well, I'm still in one piece and breathing, which is the okay part. But not sure about the rest." he mumbled, letting his fingers tiredly play with his longish curls. "It's just so cold out there. Are we in North or something? Canada could be this cold. But I don't remember snow in New York." Sebastian kept talking, now with slight slurr, as his tongue started to loose connection with his still possibly frozen brain. Shoot. Not even magic worked. "You have tea, right? So you must be having scones too." Sebastian kept talking-mumbling, his brown eyes dancing around.
He definately didn't like winter. The reason why was quite obvious. Cold made him feel sleepy and mostly acting loopy.

"Scones? Scones?!" the March Hare burst out at that moment, wild-eyed and cackling like the maniac he was. "Here's yeh scones!" he threw several of the baked goodies in Sebastian's direction before slamming the plate down onto the table and skulking off to the opposite end of the table to pour himself some tea. An amused uttering of "spoon" could be heard, followed by a manic giggle.

"You were saying something about scones?" Alice asked with a laugh, having caught the scones that had so narrowly missed the stranger's head. She'd become an expert at catching scones and ducking cups lately. "Here, eat. And drink," she told him firmly, placing a scone in his hand and pushing a steaming cup of tea towards him. He looks close to losing conciousness... the girl thought worriedly.

The places he'd mentioned sounded familiar. Alice remembered looking them up in her father's atlas back at home. She'd loved that atlas of his. It was in part responsible for her craving for travel and adventure. "Nope, not Canada and not New York either," she replied brightly, sitting herself down next to him. "You're in Armonia." She poured herself a cup of tea as well. Well well, so he's from the same place I am... Not city-wise or even country-wise, but he's from There...! she thought with some delight, rather happy to meet someone that wasn't from Armonia or Wonderland to begin with. "And you've arrived in the middle of Winter, as you can clearly see."

Seb's eyes went wide and round at the commotion that suddenly burst after his mention of scones. He couldn't even muster a word as they were caught by Alice. Was that a regular occurrence? Looked that way.

He felt the scone is his hand and his eyes wearily travelled to his tea. Wow, when did that happen? Oh right, just.
Get a grip, Seb, his mind scolded him again. So he took a bite of scone and sip of tea. Maybe some fueling will help.

The girl seemed knowing places Sebastian mentioned but at the completely foreign name his eyes widened again.
"Armonia?" he blurted out before realised that. "Winter for sure." a tremble shook his body. No doubt winter.

Alice giggled at the stranger's terror over the Hare's outbursts. "Before you ask - yes, it's like this all the time. And no, we can't do anything to calm him down. Not that any of us would really want to - it would be much too boring if he were sane," she told him with a grin, happily munching on a scone herself. "You get used to it."

Seeing the man shiver, she got up and threw another log onto the fireplace, watching the sparks that flew from it. "There - you should start warming up rather soon. Pass me your coat and shirt, I'll hang it up to dry." Ooh, how very inappropriate, Alice - asking a young man who's not courting you to strip his shirt off. Tsk tsk, the proper (Victorian) part of her brain chided her.

Oh quiet, you. I'm only trying to help him warm up, not flirt with him.

"Yes, this place is called Armonia. The city of Wonderland used to be the next city over, if you know it. Well, it's not there any more. But never mind. Like I said, this is Armonia. Lovely place. Full of magic and magic-folk. It's wonderful. What brought you here?"

Seb's mouth formed an 'Oh' at the explanation of Hare's antics. However, it wasn't the weirdest thing he'd ever seen, if a guy wearing mostly underwear and eating leaves counts. And few more people at party who were undressing in the middle of a street after scoring all the toilet paper rolls into neighbour's bushes over the fence.

"I see. The moody one, I guess." Sebastian said, now calmer. "Yeah, I got used to Mommy's flower bum and Daddy's rockets. And having hyper sister should've had prepared me already." curly head smiled and finally sipped his tea.

"Thanks." he thanked. Slowly some part of him started to defrost and soon he may be able to get his magic powers decent.
At the woman's request Seb unceremoniously started to get out of his soaked coat and shirt.
For some reason he blushed rarely, or at least twice less than his sister. But then again she was the one with big beautiful wings that could actually carry her in the air. He had only vague memories of flying with wings.
"So, Armonia, huh? Sounds like a song title. And full of magic..." a spark ignited in the young man's eyes. His smile grew wider. "Perfect place. Didn't even know it existed."
"Accident with magic. Tried to teach my sister but it got out of hand and got myself and possibly her too teleported from our home." Sebastian told. Yeah, like loosing control over a spell could be called an accident when you're on verge of exhaustion. His mind screamed angrily. Well, he needed better practise.

Alice grinned at his words, adjusting his clothes near the fire so they wouldn't burn. "I wouldn't say moody as such. Just crazy. In the most complimentary sense possible," she chuckled, looking over to where Hare was entertaining himself mumbling and chuckling nonsense to himself.

She wandered back over to her seat and downed the rest of her tea. Popping some sugar cubes into her cup, she topped up it up with tea before doing the same to Sebastian's. "Yeah, this place is wonderful. I love it here. I didn't know it existed either, till I came searching for its neighbouring city only to find that destroyed. So I got brought here. Finally got reunited with all my dear friends..." She smiled happily at the thought. Yes, she missed her family back home, but this was so much better.

She frowned slightly at his tale. "Ohgosh that's awful! I really hope you can find her again. What was her name? You never know - she might have been transported here too. Especially if she's magic too..."

"Of course." Seb grinned. Now he was covered only in his white undershirt and wasn't shy about that at all.
"Does he throws things too?" he asked curiously. Hare still seemed rather weird to Sebastian, though he didn't judge.

Sebastian smiled at Alice and took a sip of his tea.
Then he spoke: "So there're more cities around?" Maybe it was just more than one city, the place seemed having more surprises than Sebastian expected. "Glad you have your friends here. Guess noone quite will miss us at home." Seb told thoughtfully.

"Yeah." brown eyed man nodded. "Her name's Alastoria. Wouldn't slip by unnoticed. Flaming red hair is most obvious feature along fairy wings. She's mostly wondering around by herself and singing something and playing with ribbons. And if she's not hiding you'd spot her from miles away." he described his joyful but shy sister. He so wished he was here too. At least family reunion would be something to look forward.

"Oh yes!" Alice nodded eagerly at the question. "He throws things all the time. Has very good aim, too. Ducking out of the way becomes second nature around him. I've become very good at catching scones mid-flight," she said proudly.

"Well, as far as I can tell, there's at least three. But I am more than certain there are bound to be even more around. There's Armonia, Wonderland - which is now in ruins and cannot be counted as a city even more, which is a terrible terrible shame. And there's the Shadow Citadel - they're the ones that attacked Wonderland in the first place and began a war with it," Alice told Sebastian, pausing for breath. "The King is fighting of the Shadow City for now, so at least Armonia's safe for now..."

At the male's description of his sister, Alice giggled. "Well, she certainly sounds like she'd be hard to miss. And she certainly sounds lovely and full of joy. Rather rare in people these days, I've found." She sat back in her chair, looking thoughtful. "I haven't seen her, unfortunately. I'm sure I wouldn't have forgotten her in a hurry if I had," she said with a giggle. "But I'll ask around, maybe someone may have seen her... Speaking of names, I'm Alice. And you are..?" she asked, realising that she hadn't yet introduced herself.

"Oh. So it's absolutely normal here. I see. Probably not worse than ducking out of way when broom sticks fly around." Seb mused. He started to like the place even more.

"Wow. That's... that's, uh... wow." he reached up to scratch his head as if the movement could help his brain move faster with processing, but it only worked as a discovery of possibly a bad bruise on his scalp. Had he fallen head-first or something? The curly head mused.
"So this is a real world full of magic." Sebastian more stated the obvious than asked. Well, duh, are you blind man? He once again rubbed his head as if that could affect his brain.

"Yeah, that bundle of joy is impossible to not notice. And I've tried that stunt for ages. She just glows from energy. And those hair... impossible to miss even in completely dark and mute room she'll be like a light bulb." fondness could be heard in his voice talking about his beloved sister.
"Nice to meet you Alice, I'm Sebastian." he smiled brightly. Fairy or not, didn't matter, with or without wings, wasn't important- he felt comfortable and fluffy now. At least with some more time his brain will hopefully wake up and put defrost onto the rest of his body which now still felt too sluggish for his liking.

Alice giggled at the man's words and gave a shrug. "You get used to it. Not just to him," she started with a nod towards the Hare, "but also to Armonia and to the world of Ziemia. I take it that magic wasn't a regular occurrence in your world...?" she asked. Doubtful. Magic seemed to be a subject that would get you either shunned in all of society or sent to a mental asylum. Neither of which seemed like pleasant options. "It definitely wasn't in mine. Just the mention of it would make people look at you like you've just sprouted a second head and that head had said something unbelievably foul." It was much nicer here, much much nicer.

"Sebastian - lovely name," the girl commented with a smile. Settling into Hatter's chair she was silent for a moment as she ate and drank, before finally looking up at the man again. "I'm sure you'll find her. Though probably best to start looking once the snow has settled down..." She took another bite of scone, washing it down with sweet warm liquid. "Where are you staying?" she asked suddenly, as the thought occurred to her.

Seb smiled knowingly. Yeah, he was sure once his energy is back and he stops looking like kicked puppy things will start turn on brighter setting.
"Oh I'm sure. Got used to my sister after all, and school, and life without wings." he said. Oh yeah, this place already felt different. "You guessed right. Our world thought I'm total nerd and my sister weirdo. She had to deal with her wings though. I was just that nerdy guy with funny sense of style." Sebastian chuckled. He liked dressing differently than most guys, choosing more colors and accessories. Usually vibrantly colored skinny jeans, some funny looking t-shirt and colorful jackets along some funny elements hung around his neck as a necklace, and of course funky footware.

"Thanks." he smiled at the compliment, almost blushing. He wasn't a shy person, usually, but sometimes he did blush at nice words or things done.

"Yeah, I hope so. Hopefully our link still works. There were times when we could locate each other but dunno if it still has that effect." he mused playing with his hair, fingers absentmindedly twirling the locks. "Staying? Uh..." he suddenly realized he had just appeared out of blue into a pile of snow. "Well, I uh... don't know." the young man stumbled over his words a bit. His hand reached for tea, looking for the inviting liquid to move his brain a bit.

"Nerd?" Alice repeated, a look of confusion crossing her features. "What does that mean? I have never heard such a word before..." Maybe it was an American thing. She surely had not heard such a word in England during her years growing up there. "And it definitely must have been hard for her, growing up with a pair of fairy wings in a non-magical society," she mused with a sympathetic frown. It probably was just as bad as all the looks and murmurs Alice had gotten every time she'd started talking about another one of her fantastic ideas and thoughts or about Wonderland. If not worse.

Swiping some jam off her scone with her finger, Alice sucked on her finger contemplatively. She could just hear her mother fainting over Alice's very un-Victorian manners, wherever she was. A lady would never behave like that, according to her mother. Alice smiled at the thought. "Well, if worst comes to worst, you could always hang up 'wanted' posters," the girl volunteered with a shrug. "Or 'lost' posters, though that sounds more like she's a lost kitten or puppy." The girl giggled. Didn't sound too far from the truth; the lost girl sounded like she definitely had the energy of the aforementioned creatures. "Besides, I doubt that the link you have with her will work very well. Not while you're in such a state health-wise..."

She swiped again at the jam and once again brought her finger to her mouth. "You have nowhere? Well, no, I guess you wouldn't - having just arrived here... I'd offer you here, but we have no spare rooms. And I don't think the Jingleglompers enjoy company in here during the night. That's when they go hunting," the girl rattled on. "You could try Nancy's? She runs the tavern. She usually has a room or two available. And I'm sure if you explain what happened she'll let you stay there free of charge for a night or two..." She refilled her teacup then slid the teapot towards Sebastian. "I can take you there later, once you have warmed up more."

"Uh... well, it's American term of those that aren't criminals or punks, don't listen rap music so loud that windows can break and aren't generally partying types to craziest expression." Sebastian explained. There were more terms classmates tend to describe him but he was certain not all the population was familiar with most American vocabulary, he could recognize English being more conservative and polite type of society.

"I'd say she wanted to be like me, but I told it's no fun in that. Besides it wasn't like we couldn't get her avoiding PE by making up some medical excuses. Mom always had friends to ask." he mused. But Sebastian was sure that the girl was raised right. She knew the cruelty of the world but never lost herself because of that, he'd done quite a job by telling how much fun is to be different and that it'd work better when she's older.

Seb watched Alice licking off her fingers. Screw the manners, it doesn't matter when parents aren't watching. There was the time Dad kept trying to teach him some gentleman behaviour.
"Believe me, she can pull off kitten part very well. There was still one of those carnival costumes around." the curly haired young man laughed. He probably will figure something out, maybe even magical.
"You think?" he asked, then looked at himself. "Yeah, probs you're right about that. Performing such magic had taken a lot out of me, especially during winter." he agreed.

Sebastian made a slurping sound, accidentally, emptying his cup, then thought for a moment. "So there's someplace with hearth and hot drinks plus a free bed? I'd like to see. Probably will need to do some tour around the place as well." he wondered. He smiled at Alice and took teapot, he really needed another cup.