eachdraidh | 001 ♝ video ♝ open to both courts

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001 ♝ video ♝ open to both courts

[ While the small stack of books in front of her have certainly come from Caer Scima's library, Ariadne is in her room within the castle, seated on her bed. Asleep with its nose sticking out from her back, head resting on an open book, is a bandersnatch cub -- rather like a cat, it appears to have decided to 'help' her research. ]

If you could protect something -- say, a building -- from anything, what would you protect it from? I've thought of fire, high winds, earthquakes, mosquitoes, falling trees, and hail so far.

[ In the background, the door to her room appears to open slightly; with the wind, perhaps. ]

I'm an architecture student, back home, and there are a lot of possibilities here.

[ She looks like she's about to say more, but just then a glowing red imp leaps onto her head, screeching and yanking at her hair. The bandersnatch cub jerks awake and Ariadne screams, the locket flipped over so that all that's shown for a moment are the sheets on her bed. It's turned up again a moment later, falling onto the floor and on its side this time, followed by a loud thwack.

The imp falls to the ground, dazed; in the next moment, a thick, leather-bound book with a pawprint on its spine slams into it a second time before the bandersnatch cub races forward and grabs onto the imp's legs, shaking its little head and growling in a way that would be adorable if it weren't trying to maim something. ]

Oh, don't- [ before the locket is closed by the hand reaching for it, there's the sight of broken skin and blood -- sharp little imp teeth had found their mark. ]

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Well, I'm sure that-

[ The imps are annoying. She doesn't mean to completely ignore Ariadne's words, but her eyes light up to see the cub lying there. Alice gasps. ]

A bandersnatch?!

[ Oh. Hello Alice. ]

I think that's what he is, yes.

[ Just don't mind her trying to get the cub to stop pulling on the imp. It's not quite old enough to exist solely on solid food, but even if it were, she would really rather it not eat it on her bedroom floor. ]

[ Once more, Alice can take refuge in the fact something looks as exactly like she remembers it, unlike the knave of hearts. Her memory on Will is fuzzy. Alice starts to get excited when she sees it, a soft, sad smile drifting across her face. ]

That is a bandersnatch! A baby, no less! What is it doing here? The last time I saw of one was through the looking glass-

[ She stops herself right there, looking fondly at it through the locket, absolutely wistful. ]

The poor thing! Where on earth did you find it?

Out in the forest.

[ It's nice to see Alice smile, and Ariadne manages to scoop the cub up away from the imp and onto her lap. It gives her wrist a helpful lick. ]

Its mother had been killed -- hunted, probably -- and I found him inside the den, all skinny and cold. I couldn't just leave him there.

[ That takes the smile away from her; these beings from Wonderland are sacred to her, in sense. She frowns. ]

Its mother? Hopefully by none of the hunting party's antics, I hope? They're harmless creatures, you know, they're just like dogs. Oh, that's dreadful, absolutely dreadful.

No -- it looked like it had been at least a day when I found it, and that was during the hunt.

[ She may not feel quite the same way about the creatures from Wonderland -- seeing as she's never been -- but she does think that it's horrible that its mother was killed. ]

A hound with a litter in the kennels has nursed it a little bit, and it's been playing with some of the puppies. We can't bring its mother back, but we can keep it healthy.

So there is more of them out there and possibly jubjub birds.

[ She's mostly musing to herself until she snaps back into reality when she hears what Aridane said. It hurts to see it like that, something so little. ]

And what will become of it after that?

Jubjub birds?

[ It's adapting well, at least; the cub has decided to nestle into Ariadne's lap, squealing a little when she has to move one of its paws to keep its claws out of her leg. ]

Well, it won't really know how to hunt. I'll keep it, if I can.

[ Damn it, between Korra's dogbear and the bandersnatch, Alice wants something. The horse she's road on has been her number one company, her new friend. Alice looks a little disappointed she can't be there. ]

It's nothing.

[ Better than the Jabberwocky by any means. ]

I know a bit of them, if you want to know more. It is from my world, in a matter of speaking.

[ At least she's taken to the horse. Ariadne would be glad that her suggestion hadn't been a terrible one, if she knew. ]

That'd be great. I've been trying to read about them, but- well.

[ Then a glowing imp happened. Also, it's hard to read when the object of your study keeps sleeping on the books. ]

You'll have to meet him sometime.

I would like that very much.

[ She loves animals, that much is clear. She's been talking to the horse, even apologizing for riding on him. ]

I miss them.

Celegorm and I are trying to learn its language.

[ She has no idea how well it'll go for her, but that doesn't mean she won't try. ]

If it works, I can teach you a little?

[ Oh. That very, very social guy she keeps seeing around here. He seems to clash with Maglor's warnings and is almost a polar compared to Feanor. Alice makes a face. ]

Learn its language?

[ That is insane. ]

Why? I mean that... bandersnatches come from a very strange land, you know. That would be madness.

[ Sadly, she does not question the idea of learning an animal language, just the idea of learning a language from a Wonderland animal. ]

[ Celegorm is... complicated. She needs to talk to him about not torturing people, but it's a rather unpleasant thing to bring up to someone who's been your friend and who has cried on you. ]

Well, he's only little, so maybe the- er, strangeness hasn't settled in as much?

[ Rubbing the cub behind the ears, she adds, ] Celegorm says he sounds a little like a bear, but not exactly.

Strangeness or madness, whatever suits your fancy.

[ And suddenly, she remembers the warnings for both the bandersnatch and the Jabberwocky. If anything, the bandersnatch didn't seem that much different from the gryphon and the mock turtle. She's skeptical and yet- ]

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son,
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch,
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch."

At least its young now.

[ She hums, again, to herself. She's whimsical in her thoughts of her childhood and the bandersnatch conjures that old memory. ]

Does he now? Will you both promise me to treat it well? They're harmless, despite what anyone says about them. What you should be concerned more for is the Jabberwocky, not a bandersnatch.

Edited 2014-06-06 06:19 (UTC)

[ Jabberwock? She knows that name -- remembers the Tooth all too clearly, rotting and making anyone who got too close rot, too. ]

I promise. He will, too.

[ Celegorm certainly better, at least. ]

And I don't think we'll have to worry about the Jabberwocky.

[ At least, she hopes not. ]

[ She hopes so, too. ]

I would hope not; I've slayed it.

[ That's another matter entirely as Alice inclines to her head to the side. ]

Is he Maglor's brother?

[ this is all going to be very awkward somewhere down the line ]

I think so. I haven't spoken much to Maglor, honestly.

[ They had hunted worms in the cellars together, but so had Grell and Anders and there hadn't been much time for talking. ]

And is Mr. Celegorm well?

[ She asks because she's genuinely concerned for this man she spoke to briefly, not so much Celegorm because she didn't see his reaction to his father being here. Only briefly. There is something going on there and Alice isn't sure whether or not that they are, indeed, in trouble.

Perhaps if she talked to Tauriel into breaking off or worse...

In great peril. Alice could scoff at that. Something happened here before she arrived and she's not to confront Feanor about Maglor's words, not yet. ]

I... think so.

[ She needs to talk to him, but- well, Celegorm had been so full of light during the hunt and the feast before that. It's difficult to reconcile that view with what she's heard of him torturing someone, of the elf who had captured Elrond before that.

It had been difficult reconciling her views of Cobb and Arthur with the masked thugs who had yelled at Fischer, too -- but she had been able to say it was acting, then. ]

But that'd be a better question for him.

[ That would involve actually talking to him and being social. Still, she takes it consideration after everything. It's not something she's completely vested into, not yet. His father is her main concern right now and it's not out of worry. It's about watching her back. ]

Well, he seemed in good spirits, which is good. Is he always that boisterous?

He seems to go on and off.

[ He's certainly someone who feels emotions quite strongly, that's for sure. ]

I think he had a little too much to drink at the feast.

[ Oh. One of those. She thinks of a few of her former fellow patients who were the same way, who would fly off the handle at a drop of the hat. No, that's too extreme of a comparison -- Alice quickly quells the thought.]

I could tell. I'm sure he's usually a pleasant fellow but there's only so much one can take before they find that person collapsed on the ground sobbing somewhere. Usually sailors, but he was almost there.

[ Everyone around the Mangled Mermaid is ridiculous. Alice having never seen drunks in her life seems to automatically think of them. ]

Have you known a lot of sailors?

[ For some reason that's what Ariadne latches onto the most out of that. It lets her not talk about Celegorm, at least. ]

Not of my choice, but my nanny does. Her clientele is usually accumulated with sailors.

[ Oh, wait, that burned down, didn't it? ]

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