The tale of Alice is an intriguing tale.

A curious little girl follows a white rabbit and ends up in an upsidedown world where running gets you nowhere fast and the trails are set to singing roses. This little English girl comes across so many strange and odd people and things, the ones who made the most impressions on her leaving a quizzical impact. She deems this world to be utter nonsense after traversing through it all, growing up in the process, as many experts like to say. Alice in Wonderland is a tale of growing up and becoming a young woman, they would say.

Of course, many experts tend to have a rather selective memory and subjective views. After all, who wants to believe that a man who wrote such a wonderous story was, in fact, a man who had an ulterior motive for creating this story...?

What if, in fact, he had done it to capture the real Alice?

Of course, this was all speculation; nothing really confirmed Lewis Caroll's indecent love of the young Miss Alice. However, it was true that he had based his Alice upon the young Alice of whom used to accompany him along with her sisters to picnics and boat rides during the summer.

Ah, well. As if it truly mattered when it came to things like...this.

The literature department had put some of their students on researching Alice and Lewis Caroll and then, quite suddenly, Freya had this strange idea fo her dearest younger sister. You see, older student had a bit of a problem, concerning her spunky younger sister...a...complex, if you would, where it involved her stalking the pink haired girl, knowing absolutely everything she was doing and butting in every chance she got. Most thought that Freya Williams was simply a doting, smothering odler sister. Persephone Williams, the object of Freya's unwanted attentions, typically thought this behaviour was annoying and wanted it to stop!

Ever since Freya found out that Persephone was at the same school as her it was always one thing or another and she was starting to have the opposite of separation anxiety. People might see her as a frigid woman with no sense of humor whatsoever (thy would b soemwhat right), but Persephone had grown up with her and knew exactly how psychotic Freya could be when pushed. Being away at school for a whole year hadn't bene enough, it seemed, to break the silver haired woman's 'bad habit'.

Somehow, she had gotten into her homework and found out about the Alice assignment and snuck into her dorm room during the dead of night...To change her clothes!

She was decked out in a frilly light blue dress with a cute little frock and apron. Even a lacy white bonnet had been made to her size and then tied onto her head. Persephone had to check her underwear, too, and foudn that Freya had also altered what sort of undergarments she wore--they were bloomers. Very, very, very frilly bloomers. Worst of all, when she woke up to this girlish, baby blue nightmare, there was Freya, spooning her from behind. At about six in the morning on a Saturday, Persephone let out a scream loud enough to wake up the dead, before storming out of the dormitories to let off some steam (as well as to escape Freya's clutches).

So, there she was, sitting alone in her little garden in the forest, trying not to be spooked at this early time, dressed like bloody Alice.

Persephone swore that if Freya had suddenly developed a Lolita complex in the time they had been apart, she would find a way to get off the island, because that was just too creepy and weird--even by her standards.

Persephone pulled at the bonnet that was on her head. It was a bit uncomfortable, she had to admit and she felt like the thing would fall off of her head at any moment, what with it being so precariously tied to her head with two ribbons. Just where in the world had Freya found this dress anyways? The costume division of the theatre department? Frowing, the young woman tugged at the skirt and it many petticoats keeping it aloft, defying all laws of gravity. The material wasn't stiff, so it wasn't likely that a lot of starch had been used; had there were, the pink haired student would have noticed. Starch on clothing always did make her itch.

"Curiouser and curiouser," she said, rather in spirit of the costume; a line she would normally not say. When Persephone realized it she let out another fustrated scream to the Heavens. She would not let Freya get to her! The student swore to god that the day she cracked and fell into one of Freya's weird games was the day she'd march down into the Greek underworld and let the god Hades have his way with her. And since those myths weren't real (that she knew of anyways), that wasn't going to happen! Not by a long shot!

Standing up, she brushed off the frilly skirt of grass and leaves, then inexplicably shivered. Odd, considering that it was a rather warm morning and it wasn't as if a breeze had passed her or anything. The cold felt like an inner one; a chill that ran up her spine. Although one could easily connect this sensing evil close by, Persephone affiliated it more to feeling her sister's eyes on her. Then again, to a younger sibling, their older sister's 'Big Brother' gaze was probably likened to a form of evil in and of itself.

God, she wished she was an only child.

Preparing for Freya's sudden appearance, Persephone was quite surprised when a rabbit appeared out of nowhere. And even strnger...it seemed to be pink.

"Curiouser and--No! Stop that Persephone! Don't give in to Freya's weirdness!" she chastised herself. She couldn't help it though; she felt somewhat compelled to quote Alice as she had been doing it for the last while during many of her literature classes. And while dressed as the character herself, it wa hard not to get into the spirit of things. However, Persephone was adamant into not giving into her older sister's rather twisted games and she thought that this rabbit was possibly a part of them.

Although...I don't think Freya would have gone so far as to dye an innocent bunny's fur pink! she thought, taking a step further to investigate this strange animal.

Crouching nearby, the girl tilted her head to the side as her brows furrowed at the rabbit's peculiar behaviour. The way it held itself was much too proud and haughty; like a nobelman of some sort. She couldn't help, but giggle at the thought; a noble rabbit--how decidedly funny! Something glimmered in the pale morning light, catching her eye and she found that there was a chain. Oh, she thought. Did the rabbit have an owner? Perhaps this wasn't an elaborate ruse on Freya's part and maybe a pet of one of the other girls? Whoever it was, she would have a stern talk with them about treating animals properly...

"Oh!' she cried out in surprise as the furry creature went quickly on its way.

Had it gasped just then when it looked at its watch? Persephone decided she had read Alice once too many times. Gasping rabbits!

"W-wait!" She gave chase to the strange marsupial, in the hopes of discerning its identity. Its pink fur, its mannerisms, the chain and watch...it had to belong to someone, right? And now it was loose in the wilderness of the island! Its owner was probably worried sick, so she gave chase, running after it right into the bushes. "Come back! Please! I won't hurt you!"

"H-hey!"

"Mister Rabbit!"

"Where did you go?!"

"Yikes! Oh, boy. Tripped on a root again..."

"Wah! Where's Freya when you need her! She could help me catch this rabbit!"

It seemed like forever since the blue clad girl started chasing after this strange rabbit. It felt like she had been running in circles, going this way and that way, tripping over large tree roots and over her own feet in trying to catch the pink bunny. It was quick! Every time it looked like she cound pounce on the little fella, it hopped right out of her way and out of view, forcing her to run further, faster...just like Pan wanted. Her chest was burning from exertion and her sides hurt, but the young woman was quite a stubborn one; the type of person who finished what she started and by golly, she was going to catch that rascally rabbit!

After taking a nosedive once again, she carefully sat up, sighing as she lost sight of the rabbit again. She rubbed her knees and brushed off the white socks she wore of dirt and dust, taking a second to register her surroundings and realizing one crucial thing, other than having lost the rabbit again.

She was lost.

To the left, she saw a pond with cute little froggies hopping about inside. To the right, she saw a small distance of tall grass, sprinkled occasionally with wildflowers. Forward and back, she saw trees and trees and more trees. Persephone's wide blue eyes were filled with worry as she tried to remember if she had ever been to this place and came up with the obvious answer. She didn't.

"Well, feet, no point in not going forward," she said to herself, getting back up and looking around. Now, she knew which direction she had gone in, but where was that curious looking rabbit? "Hmm...I wonder...maybe I should start singing show tunes in the hopes that cute little woodland animals would come aroudn to help me in my time of crisis..." As she finished her rather sarcastic sentence, she spotted a flash of pink and whirled around to spot her rabbit not so far away at the foot of a large willow tree. Her eyes widened as it pushed aside a boulder bigger than it, revealing a deep, dark passage downwards. Probably big enough to fit Persephone, she thought, should she entertain thoughts of going down a hole...

A hole...

Persephone's jaw dropped right then and there as the bunny looked at her and spoke, before ducking inside the hole, leaving a very perplexed Persephone behind.

"N...No way!"

It was a bit hard to swallow. Could it be all coincidence? It surely couldn't be Freya's work; no matter how psychotic and obsessive the silver haired woman could be there was no way she could have prepared all of this so quickly! So...what could this mean? Should she go forward, or go back? What awaited her down that rabbit hole?

Curious as to what was inside, Persephone went to the base of the mound and poked her head inside. Darkness. Not much else. Perhaps nothing to be afraid of? It seemed like it would lead to some cavern below. And theat should be safe enough and hadn't she wished to get away from her sister for the next while? But she was a bit indecisive, still. Follow the pink rabbit, or not?

"Alice was a little girl, who went down a rabbit hole and traveled through a Wonderland...and survived it. Surely a big girl like myself will be alright?" She had to admit, the idea of going into some strange land was appealing and she had gone out originally to escape Freya's clutches--what better and ironic way than down into this rabbit hole? And if it seemed to stretch, she could explore a bit. Exploring new parts of this strange island did have its upsides, she thought. And an adventure sounded like a good day to pass a Saturday.

And so, without another thought, Persephone jumped in!

Must resist the urge...must resist the urge...must resist the urge!

"...." Persephone peered around.

She bit her lip, her face screwed into an indecisive expression.

"...I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore."

There, she said it. Now she could get on with her life.

The fall had been long--abnormally so. She had assumed that, perhaps, her mind had been playing tricks on her and that going into the rabbit hole would lead to nothing special. A small cavity in the tree, perhaps; a tunnel that led into a little den filled with other little creatures she could coddle and coo over in a girlish manner. Apparently, her curiosity had gotten the better of the pink haired young woman this time as she fell, fell, fell, fell...

The sisters Williams were well studied, although it seemed that the younger sister was more interested in myths and legends than the elder, who put all of her efforts into the arts. Persephone had studied upon Greek mythology because of her mother, because of her own name; it didn't take much to think that Persephone would have thought to look up Norse mythology, which inevitably lead her to runes. And runes was what surrounded the walls as she contineud to fall. What she thought of it, she couldn't really say. This whole affair had been bizarre from the get-go and whether or not she recognized them matter.

What did matter was that she wasn't where she originally was.

"Looks like I got myself further lost," the young woman said to herself, slipping off of the half bed and looking around in a curiosity she couldn't quite help. How come there were only half of everything in this room? Everything was sliced up perfectly in the middle--and it seemed this peculiar pattern also extended towards time as well! That grandfather clock clearly said twelve o' clock, and yet...it stopped at six chimes! "Curiouser and cur--" She stopped herself just in time, although with that quote coming to mind, she suddenly felt like she was missing a half of something herself. Being here in this strange place, Persephone missed Freya and wondered if the older woman was worrying herself sick about her sudden disappearance.

Despite their differences and disagreements, they were still sisters after all and it was quite clear that Persephone was quite the 'baby sister' still.

Her fingers brushed against the spines of the half there books on the half-shelf. One title caught her eye and she furrowed her brow, thinking to take it out and skim a bit of it. Humans: Myth or Reality? What an odd subject for a book! Just as she reached out to take it some strange chattering disturbed her and quite suddenly, the pink haired student found herslf bombarded with words and questions from a rather cute looking sprite. If she weren't being so rude by pointing her finger at her face, she would have randomly grabbed her in a hug...

"HUGGING STRANGERS IS INAPPROPRIATE ACTION FOR A LADY! INTRODUCTIONS ARE IN ORDER BEFORE ANY PERSONAL CONTACT CAN BE MADE!" Inner Freya yelled at Persephone. It was a random memory of Freya when Persephone had randomly hugged a new student before introducing herself. A weird thing to be remembering, but her memory was right. Introductions should be made...

"Um, no I'm human. My name is Persephone," she said, not sure if her being human was a good thing or not in this place. She'd have to remember to ask, although she had her own weird suspiscions. "And, well...My hair used to be one shade short of white. My big sis calls it 'platinum blonde'. Anyways...I...um...dyed it pink, because I like the color." She paused a moment, pondering over something. "And I'm afraid to ask, but...what is this place and do you know if I could get out of here somehow?"

"OW!"

Goddammit, Freya. Way to bunch my hair into pigtails for other people to grab and pull!

Persephone rubbed her head where it ached as she dutifully tried to listen to this seemingly hyperactive sprite explain some very weird things to her. Like where exactly was Elunaria? And how did she get out of it and back home where Freya was most likely chopping heads and and screaming bloody murder. Whose bright idea was it to send her to the same school as her overprotective, sociopathic sister again?

While Persephone took a seat on half a chair (that miraculously stayed up despite her sitting on it), something dropping out of her pocket. It was a rosary; it was white and the beads seemed to be pale, pale pearls the color of snow. Bending down, she picked it up, recognizing it as her older sister's rosary. How did that get in there, she wondered, but then stuffed it back into her pocket as Nieoka continued to spout absolute nonsense about how she was supposed to clean up 'Wonderland', ushering her towards a door.

"Hey, wait a minute. What do you mean clean up Alice's mess?" Persephone demanded, not really comprehending everything being said to her. Nieoka spoke much too quickly and didn't listen to anything the pink haired student tried to say at all. Bring order to chaos? Order back to chaos? What? It was all terribly confusing and before she knew it, she was standing in front of some tunnels with nothing, but half a torch.

The young woman groaned, slapping a palm to her forehead. How did she get into these messes? Couldn't she climb back up to where she came? She vaguely remembered Nieoka speaking about how there were two ways with this crazy world and she had already used one of them; in. Now, to find he way out, which obviously wasn't the same way as in. She merely had to pick on tunnel and move forward, but which one to take? The girl in the lolita dress stood there for a small while, quietly debating her options with herself under the light of the half-a-torch lighting her way.

Left? Right? Up? Down? Carrying the light towards them, they all looked the same: dark and endless and it disheartened Persephone a little. Why should she be the one to clean up someone else's mess? And a made-up character to boot? She wanted to get back home as soon as possible. No side quests for her!

"Which way...?" she murmured to herself, looking between left and right and deciding on those two when she saw a familiar flash of pink go past her in another tunnel. "Ah! It's her!" It as the rabbit again--that rascally little critter that she had followed, thinking she belonged to some unfortunate student. Had Persephone known this whole thing would have happened if she followed it (the chances of a Wonderland scenario were rather thin after all--dress or no dress), perhaps she would have gone the other way, forcing Pan's hand and having the whole affair done and over with, but no. Curiousity got the better of her and she followed.

Bring order back to chaos...

"Ha...sounds like Human Sacrifice Alice," she said aloud, starting to give chase to the pink rabbit again. Since it knew a way to her home, perhaps she could ask it to bring her home? "Four different Alices...each contributing to the creation of Wonderland...the first Alice was bloody...the second Alice made the place crazy...the third became its queen...and the last..." She shook her head. She certainly hoped she wasn't the last 'Alice' in this story here! In that song, no one truly knew what happened to the last Alice--a pair of twins--except that they were to 'wander for all of eternity' and that could have been interpreted in many different ways. Death was one of them and Persephone had no intention of dying or staying in this place forever.

"Hey! Rabbit! Come back here!" she cried, trying to get the bunny to slow down. Unexpectedly, the pursuer didn't watch where she was going and tripped on her own feet while turning and doing a rather ungainly faceplant.

Persephone was quite nervous when it suddenly became darker once again. She gave a startled cry of dismay when her torch went out, its flame flickering until it no longer lit her way through the tunnels in her attempts to chase down the rabbit. She stood there, stunned that such a thing happened...until her attention was turned to the darkness behind her; the light in the not so far away distance furthering the paranoia suddenly creeping up on the girl. Perhaps she had seen one too many horror movies where the protagonist or several cast memebrs would die from being attacked from behind, or that she truly believed in demons and ghosts after all. But for whatever the reason, ever since she was young, Persephone was afraid of what laid in wait for her in the dark...of what she couldn't see.

It was like a looming presence she couldn't shake and she propelled herself forward, trying to escape back into a world of light.

Her heels clicked on the marble tiling, bringing her attention down a moment to stare at the floor, which had been meticulously waxed. She could see the semblance of her reflection in its shine. The maiden raised her gaze and glanced around, taking in the chandelier above her first. It stuck out to her in a such a large rom filled with so many doors. It was like a vortex, she thought. An elegant design in black that made her think of a black hole sucking in everything around it, the black metal twisted in two layers, like a pinwheel. On each end was a candle that burned brightly, filling this spacious room with light.

She looked around the hall, her soft footfalls echoing in the seemingly empty room. She had seen the glass parlor table and took note of the little key that sat there. The student examined it, wondering if it would fit into the locks of one of the doors. She kept it on hand as she did a circle around the room, inspecting each mahogany door and being puzzled over the strange lettering on each label she came across. This was much like the room of doors, she reflected. A bizarre room indeed, only slightly less topsy turvy. At least the laws of gravity seemed to be obeyed here and the doors lined the walls, although not the walls themselves. And sometimes she would take to trying the key out, but to no avail. The locks were either too big or too small.

Where did this key belong?

Finally, she came across the small gate, which was quite the curious find amongst the others as it didn't quite fit with the rest of the room, as odd as that sounded. She touched the doorframe, wondering where this could lead to. Certain death? Or another area of this strange place? Exactly where had Alice ended up after the hall of doors again?

"Ugh, I should have paid more attention to that part," she bemoaned. From the Catterpillar up to the end of the tale of Alice, Persephone remembered well enough. As for anything else before that and after Alice went through the door...Hmmm...

Getting a bad feeling about what she was going to do, she tentatively knocked on the door, to see if she got any strange reactions or if anyone was on the other side. If all was clear, she would try the key on the door...

"Holy crap, a talking door!" That was the first thing that escaped the young woman's lips. Surely other, more intelligent sayings could have left the girl's perfect pink lips. Perhaps an elegant, tiny lttle gasp of surprise, or a cute little squeak as she jumped back, possibly tripping on her own feet and falling backwards and showing off her fine array of petticoats and frilly bloomers as she went down. But no. Although she had expected something, the shock of actually coming across a door that talked was still a novelty idea to her and had to have the appropriate reaction to it.

Both the original Alice and Freya Williams would have shook their heads at the pink haired student's lack of decorum.

Finally, Persephone managed to stop gaping and ask what she wanted of the door.

"Oh, sorry about bothering you, but...could you tell me what's behind...you? Er...the door?" she inquired. She wasn't sure if this gargoyle was the door itself, a spirit in the door, or something else entirely, so she had to generalize things as best as she could. She crouched in front of Charc, trying to look him in his beady yellow eyes, although she did find her gaze wandering to the gargoyle's smaller form. He wasn't unlike the gargoyles on some cathedrals she'd seen, but somehow...he looked cuter than them. Maybe it was the ears...yes, those elven, pointed ears. It made the little living statue...adorable. "Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself," she added, suddenly remembering one of Freya's lectures yet again. "My name's Persephone, by the way."

As an afterthought, she thought she should ask about that person, since it would seem that she was stuck in this place for a while and was most likely going to be pulled into god knew what. The rosary fell out of her pocket again and she put it onto her wrist, trying it around there so it wouldn't accidentally fall off. Some of the beads were wrapped around her hand and when she made a fist, they left an impression in her palm.

"And what do you know about someone called 'Alice'?"

A slightly hysterical laugh came out from Persephone's lips. She was pretty much close to crying herself, but her sheer stubborness and 'foolhardy bravery', as Freya would put it, wouldn't allow her the luxury--not until she was out of this strange place. It was a weird practice--people normally cried and trembled when they were feeling scared or threatened--but she often felt that tears should be saved for the end; she would not cry until it was all over. Or at least, not cry so soon into the 'story'. And as it was...Persephone knew it was going to be a loooong while before she would get out of this crazy place.

And Charc was nice and not at all nuts like that sprite she had met before. And adorable, too. She wanted to give the door-goyle (Persephone was in the habit of making up silly names on the spot for alost anything) a pet, but thought against it. Even if she had introduced herself, the little guy would have probably thought it extremely demeaning of her to treat him like a pet.

So, it would seem that she had somehow landed in Wonderland. Well, so far, with all the craziness she had faced, she supposed being in the illustrious place of bizarreness shouldn't be too beyond her imagination right now. Talking pink rabbits, hyperactive sprites, rooms filled with the strangest of objects!

A curious thing that he didn't say 'Wonderland' entirely, stopping halfway on saying it and calling it Elunaria. Hmm...hadn't the sprite said something to the effect of 'Eunaria' being fae speak for something else? It must be another way of saying Wonderland! But why couldn't they say the actual name of the place? Hmm...

She should be careful as curiosity killed the cat and Persephone could only pray she got out of all of this alive....and with her head still on her shoulders. Since it seemed like years since Alice had come to this place, she hoped that it meant that another Queen of Hearts was in rule and not the...'chop' happy one...

"Oh," she said softly, frowning a little when he mentioned no one really talked to doors. "Well, I suppose it isn't common practice, but if someone is capable of speaking, it's only right to speak with them isn't it? And since I gave you my name, won't you tell me yours?" She gave the gargoyle a dazzling smile, doing her best to be friendly and polite. Being nice went a long way, Freya often said.

The young woman sat down in front of the gargoyle, intent on making conversation, while also gleaning as much information from him as she could. He would get a conversation for once and she would get a bit more knowledge of the world she had landed accidentally in. She brushed out her skirts in front of her, trying to sit primly like the Alive girl she was dressed up as. Wouldn't hurt to have the appearance of an innocent young maiden. "Well...have you always been interested in being a door? It can't be terribly exciting...Are you made out of stone or are you made of flesh?" Here was her curiosity getting the better of her again, but she reached out and traced a satin gloved finger (yes, Freya even put those on her) along one of the gargoyle's ears. "Hmmm...curiouser and curiouser..." She didn't bother to stop herself this time.