Snippet #2451279

Alice turned to Peter at the same time the Queen did, and the sight sort of made her want to giggle. He was floundering, and Alice found it hilarious. She understood why he might be overwhelmed- any male with properly functioning hormones would be. The queen was pretty, after all. And, also, a bloody queen! But not The bloody queen- the bloody queen was exiled, Alice. Bloody big-head is gone to the outlying areas of Wonderland, won't ever return, Alice's mind reminded herself, and she rolled her eyes at it. Well of course, but it's a term, she thought in her snobbiest voice back at her mind before returning to Wendy and Peter and the world of right-and-properly-sized-real-things.

Peter was doing no better with the Queen's question, and for a prince he did not have many manners when it came to how to act around royalty- or girls, for that matter. Alice supposed she couldn't blame him- Neverland didn't have any girls, according to Wendy. Real girls, at least. The mermaids counted as 'girls' but Wendy assured her they were too mean to be considered real women of any rank or making.

"Your majesty, we'd like to go to Neverland. Alice might think it was her mistake, but I'm not so sure if we had the spell quite right. I could have made a mistake, myself. So...if you could, your majesty, could you help us get to Neverland? If that's all right, of course. And it doesn't... offend" Wendy interrupted Alice's thinking of what qualified a real woman (Aside from being born a girl, of course. So far the 'right and real' woman was as follows- classy, elegant, versed in manners, could operate in any situation, was always decent even in sleep, never swore, and never outwardly showed large amounts of emotion. And frankly, Alice found no use in abiding by those rules, and didn't, so she proposed she couldn't be a real and right girl, but that even though she couldn't be both right and real she could at least be real and that being born a girl and not half-fish would have to cover that part) Alice was thankful Wendy had taken over for Peter-the-fish-out-of-water, but she was slightly confused as to why the Queen would be any sort of offended. To Alice's memory, all the offence-taking genes ended up with the red queen.

"Of course I will do my best..." the Queen's next words were cut off by a bowl of hot soup flying over their heads and clanging to the ground. March yelled something to the effect of 'soups on' before Alice figured it would be okay to lean up again.

"Dinner's ready. Why he can't use a bell is beyond me, even. Now, I'm sure you all are famished and, if it wouldn't be a bother, you should stay for dinner. I'll look into my library later to see if I can't find something to help you- though it might take a bit. No one but The Rabbit travels between worlds and that's his family secret. I've never attempted," the queen said as she leaned over to pick up the glass bowl that had- miraculously- not shattered.

"Thank you kindly, miss. As long as my error can be righted, I'm sure a little food couldn't hurt," Alice said before waving at Peter and Wendy to follow her as she walked over to the kitchen and grabbed a bowl and a plate. Food worked differently in Wonderland- always did. The place kind of ran on a 'fend for yourself' basis after all, even if it was diluted in the safety of the Palace. Plates were limited (March broke most of them, so only so many survived) and Alice had learned that if you didn't get a bowl you would get a teacup and eating soup or- heaven forbid- pasta from a teacup was an odd experience, especially if you got a cracked cup. She grabbed a bowl for the Queen as well before passing it to the white-haired woman in question, who smiled at her before reminding her that she fended for herself quite well without her champion to protect her from the dangers of plate-grabbing. Alice nodded as she walked back to Wendy and Peter with her bowl clutched to her. Even if they didn't eat just yet, securing tableware was very important and she was not eating soup from a cup, again. Champions got no special treatment around the dinner table in Wonderland.