The Perk [Friday morning]

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

It was now looking as though the whole teaching thing was going to happen, and as in all things in her life, Irene was attacking the idea with a sort of single-minded bent towards organization and thoroughness. Feeling quite recovered after the events of the weekend, she'd trekked out to the Perk this morning with her laptop in tow, and had cozied up in a corner to try to put her half-formed ideas towards a syllabus.

She kept getting distracted by the need to add things in, though -- every time she wondered whether something might be inappropriate, she realized that was probably all the more reason to include it, really. But that didn't mean everyone agreed, and it was only when she heard some discreet coughing over her shoulder that she realized that she was possibly looking up the not-most-public-safe things in a highly public place.

And clearly the answer to that was to angle her computer so that no one else could see her screen. It wasn't her fault that other people had hangups, really.

[open!]

Comments

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Please, darling, look at me. Of course I'm usually the one being asked," Irene said with a raised brow, shaking her head. "But it's probably best to learn from both sides, yeah? For thoroughness."

And because it would fill up a whole class that way.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"Hey, maybe there was some lovely lady that caught your eye but was far too shy to approach you," Hatter said, shrugging. "Then, you've got to take the initiative yourself, don't you?"

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"And I have, in cases like that," she said, with a genuine little smile. "But I also don't usually keep the shy ones around for long. Not really my type."

Mostly because 'shy' wasn't really compatible with her lifestyle.

"Are you the asker or the askee, in general?" she added, curious. "I could see it going either way, what with the droves of women you surely have trailing around after you, and all."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"I do whatever the situation might call for," he said vaguely, waving a hand in the air. "Dating oysters was a bit...off limits for awhile."

And he'd never been that fond of anyone from Wonderland.

"So, I'm a bit out of practice."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Why?" she wondered, actually curious. "I mean, why the dating prohibition? Something to do with their...oysterness?"

She was still determined to figure out what the hell he meant by that. He'd clearly been taking something from people, but it wasn't the easy answer. Hm.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"something like that," Hatter confirmed which confirmed very little, actually. "It wouldn't have been good for business. I would have been taken away from my shop."

And other things, of course.

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

She frowned at him, thoughtful. "You're being coy," she noted, mostly because she hated not having answers to things. "But being a workaholic's certainly a fine reason for avoiding such things. It's been my excuse for years."

And the fact that her work made it difficult to maintain relationships except with extremely secure people.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"Am I being coy?" He tapped his chin and looked perfectly innocent. "Hadn't noticed. I thought I was providing perfectly reasonable answers."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Mmm-hmm. So, are all people oysters, or just the dim ones?" she asked, figuring that she might as well just try asking things directly. "Because I'm not sure that referring to prospective young ladies that way is going to do you many favors."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"All," Hatter told her, shrugging a shoulder. "And I'm I'd be able to spin the word if I accidentally slipped and used that word on a date with an oyster."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

She smiled, sitting back a little and considering him. There was something that'd been niggling at the back of her mind since she'd learned what that word meant, and his use of it only made her wonder more.

"You talk about oysters as though they're separate from you," she observed, mildly. "Like you're not one."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

He didn't say anything in answer to that but his smile widened a bit and his eyebrows arched up. Was that a non vocal answer or just amusement at her trying to figure it out?

Maybe he'd tell her and maybe he wouldn't.

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Fascinating," Irene decided, smirking. "I suppose your not being entirely like the rest of us would explain a lot."

She meant it as a compliment.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"Does it?" Hatter dropped his chin in his hand and kept smiling. "And what does it explain?"

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"Why you don't know how a bloody mobile phone works," she said with a serene little smile.

Among other things.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"What an interesting conclusion you've managed to come to," Hatter said, smiling at her. "Perhaps you're right. I can confirm that I am not and will never be an oyster."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

Irene's smile widened, like a child who'd just been told she got an A on her exam. "And yet you mingle with the likes of us, all the same."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"Just because I'm not an oyster doesn't mean I don't like you lot," Hatter said, shrugging. "Most of you are quite interesting. Some more than others."

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"What are you?"

She couldn't not ask. It was in her nature to look for answers, when the questions were this interesting.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"I'm from a place called Wonderland," Hatter revealed, showing that he could sometimes just be outright and honest. "You won't have ever heard of it because the only way for you lot to get to Wonderland is through a mirror."

Yep.

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

Irene just sort of openly stared at him for a long moment, waffling between whether she wanted to call him crazy or not.

But the pieces were falling together too neatly for that, and it had bloody rained little sea monsters yesterday, so...it wasn't exactly out of the realm of possibility, she supposed.

"Wonderland," she repeated slowly. "As in -- as in Alice in Wonderland."

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

"...how do you know of Alice?" Hatter asked, narrowing his eyes at her now. It was a complete giveaway that she'd struck gold with that deduction. "I knew an Alice once. Served her tea."

But, he was rubbing his chin and looking at her fairly intently now.

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"I don't know her, I -- " Irene's head was spinning, because this was insane. "Oh my god, you're the fucking Mad Hatter, aren't you? Oh my god."

That realization probably shouldn't have taken her this long, but she'd only realized that characters from children's stories were on the table.

[teashopconman.livejournal.com]

Hatter tilted his head at her, eyes still narrowed while he tried to figure out how she was just figuring all of this out so suddenly.

"...yes." He hadn't heard that full moniker in awhile but that didn't stop it from being true. "Are you a mind reader or something? Or are my exploits just that legendary that they've reached this place before I did?"

[begmetwice.livejournal.com]

"No, it's a bloody children's story!" she said, eyes wide. "Everyone knows about -- well, about Wonderland, and Alice falling down the rabbit hole or going through the looking-glass or whatever, and chasing the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts and -- well, and you, I guess. But...it's just a story."

She didn't really believe that, not anymore, but that didn't mean she'd fully accepted this as truth, either. It was insane.