fandomtownies | The Perk [Friday morning]

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.

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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?"

"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.

"Looking Glass," he said because he didn't know about any bloody rabbit holes and that Looking Glass was a giant pain in the ass. Other than that, he recognized (albeit the names were different in some cases) everything she was talking about.

"A children's story?" he asked, frowning briefly. "So, my adventures have already been recorded?"

Maybe that had been Alice's doing. "You're not incorrect, though. Which is just bloody strange. You've heard of me? I suppose I should be flattered."

"You're depicted a bit differently in the story," she said, still staring at him dazedly. "Usually with a hare, at a tea party."

She raised a brow, looking for confirmation

Hatter made a face.

"Mad March? You're referring to Mad March, aren't you?" He shook his head. "Bloody bastard. Tried to kill me, tried to kill Alice. I would never invite him over for tea. Dormouse might but I'd set her straight fairly quickly."

"Holy shit," Irene breathed. "Holy shit, it all makes sense."

She was suddenly struck by another realization, her eyes going wild again. "Oysters," she breathed. "Like the poem, with the Walrus and the Carpenter -- 'The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things/Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings.'"

Not that she expected him to necessarily know the poem, but she did and holy shit. "This is amazing."

Hatter wasn't sure if he liked being so...openly known about or if he liked it a lot. It was strange when he'd been keeping such a low profile but having someone know him this well was a bit of an ego stroke, actually.

"That does seem to be connected, doesn't it?" Hatter said because he didn't know the poem but he did know the Walrus and he did know the Carpenter. "They worked together, the Walrus and the Carpenter. Back in Wonderland, of course. I never heard them reciting poetry but I didn't know either very well."

And some of the things he did know were not his to tell. "Do you need a paper bag to breathe in, Irene? I feel a little exposed right now, you knowing all this."

"It's not just me," she told him, shaking her head. "It's a wildly famous story, luv. My daddy gave me a copy when I was a little girl, but it's been around...almost a hundred and fifty years, I think? Like the mid-19th century. Disney made a bloody animated picture in the 60s."

She went to her keyboard, starting to look it up on Wikipedia for him, but paused and glanced over. "Sorry. Sorry, this is probably even more weird for you."

"A hundred and fifty years?" Hatter repeated, frowning. "Huh."

It wasn't often that he came up short for words but this was an instance where he couldn't really avoid it.

"I don't know what a Disney is." Which probably wasn't a surprise. "But, you read about me when you were a little girl? Waiting for me to come around that long?"

He had to keep some of his humor right now. Had to.

She shook her head, calming down a little bit. If he was disoriented, too, it somehow made it better. "That's right," she agreed lightly. "I always liked you. The Hatter in the story asks Alice probably the most famous riddle in the whole world, and I do love a good riddle, particularly one that doesn't have an answer."

She closed her computer, because she wasn't going to freak him out by looking up the synopsis on the internet. "I didn't know this was possible."

"Yes, well, join the bloody club," said Hatter, rubbing his forehead underneath his hat and laughing a bit. "What becomes of me, do you know? Is there an ending for me?"

"As far as I know, you and the March Hare are still having your tea party with the Dormouse, and asking each other why ravens are like writing desks," she said with a little smile. "But I'm not entirely sure that the story I read is...you know. Wholly biographical."

For one thing, he was much cuter than the Mad Hatter was usually depicted. And for another, he usually didn't wear a bulletproof vest under his clothes, either.

"Well, Mad March and I will not be having any tea parties," he told her, shaking his head. "Dormouse and I might organize something if I ever make it back there but who knows? The tea shop might be a bit...out of business whenever I get back there."

What with the oysters being free and the lack of human emotions to sell anymore.

"Why?" she asked, folding her hands under her chin. "I mean, you didn't come here on purpose, did you?"

Given the way he talked about...oysters, she hardly thought he'd want to spend time living in their midst overmuch.

God, this was so weird.

"I didn't, no. I meant to go elsewhere but he Looking Glass is a right cock sometimes," Hatter said, rolling his eyes. "As for my tea shop, that requires telling you even more than you already know."

"Fine." Irene actually relented easily on that one, if only because she was still reeling from the whole Wonderland thing. "Just so you know, in the poem about the Walrus and the Carpenter and the oysters? They lure the little dears away from their oyster bed with promises of fun, and then eat them all. So. Be careful with that term, once other people cotton on to the whole...you're the Mad Hatter, that. Someone dimmer than me might figure it out from there."

Not that she had really figured out the particulars, but it wasn't looking exceptionally good from where she was sitting.

Hatter waved a hand, seemingly not too terrified of people figuring out what he meant by oysters or who he even was.

"Look how long it took you to figure out who I am," he had to point out. "And I bet you'd still just be thinking of me as some charming man in a hat if I hadn't mentioned where I'm from."

It was so strange to think that he was known outside of Wonderland by people who weren't Alice and had been for a very long time. It was just mindbending to even think about.

The Perk [Friday morning]

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