curious

♜ IV ♜

When Harry is done eating, we leave the Chip Shoppe. My wrists are still bound to my back, but he keeps himself so close to me so that no one would be able to tell. The cloth isn't around my neck or mouth anymore, so we're making a sort of progress.

"Come on," I say, "There has to be something you're not telling me about yourself. You haven't yet told me anything."

"There's nothing to tell," Harry says lowly.

"Of course there is," I say. "Like, what is your favorite color?"

"I dunno," he grumbles. "Probably red."

I groan quietly. "Red? Red is so generic. Everyone likes red. Now it's just a boring answer."

"Oh yeah?" he asks. "What's yours then?"

"Blue."

"Blue?" I hum and nod. "That's basic too."

I shake my head. "Not any blue. An ocean blue color. You know when you look out into the ocean and you see the line where the dark blue and lighter blue meet? That is my favorite color. It is such a rich color, and yet it isn't too loud of a color. It isn't shoved in your face when you see it. It's almost relaxing."

He shakes his head. "You have too much time on your hands."

"Sometimes I believe that I don't have enough time," I say. "Time doesn't give more time. I've met him before, he's an asshole."

Harry raises his brows at me. As if he's surprised that I called Time an asshole. Or maybe the fact that I'm talking about Time as if he is a person. He is, of course, I've met him.

We continue walking in silence, except for me saying 'curiouser and curiouser' when we pass some interesting people and places.

I see a flash of bright red curly hair. I know that hair anywhere. We only have about twenty pictures of him on the mantle alone.

I stop short, making Harry run into me. He's about to say something to me when I shout, "Hatter!"

When he snaps his head around to look at me, his eyes widen slightly. "Alice?"

"Aris," I correct as he walks over to us. "Alice is my mother. She's told me so much about you."

Hatter smiles fondly at me, tilting his head to the side a little. Harry glances between us. "I have the perfect hat for you," Hatter says after a moment. "Do you like tea?"

I smile brightly and look up at Harry hopefully. He shakes his head. I give him some puppy dog eyes. He stares down at me before huffing and nodding.

"Yeah, okay," he says. My smile grows as I lean my head on his shoulder quickly.

"Lead the way, Mr. Hatter," I say.

♜

Harry and I have to stay close together because of my tied hands. We follow Hatter to a hat shop. Him and I make conversation on our way there. Harry walks and listens, although I don't believe he cares all that much.

We enter Hatter Hats close behind the Hatter. "We shall have tea before the hat," he says, glancing at us. "You two stay awfully close to each other, don't you?"

I smile and Harry keeps his bored expression. The room we walk through has muted green and yellow paint on the walls and the trim. The ceiling is arched upwards. Both the floor and ceiling is checkered, while large and fake hats hang from the ceiling.

We follow the Hatter out the back door to a long table with foods and tea on it. Two others sit at the table, fighting over whether the Jabberwocky was actually powerful or not.