Owner	Pose
Donna Troy	(Continued from the party split in scene 10322)     "Don't worry Maddie, we'll make sure you're safe," Donna says with an encouraging wink. "Just hang back if things get a bit hairy, and remember that I'm the Brute Squad."     Whether Kaida chooses Emi's shoulder or Donna's, Donna gestures for Emi to take the rear while she takes the lead -- keeping Madison and her shoulder-Phantom between the three warriors as they make their way into the hallway marked 'This Way'. The walls are stone here, and the corridor well-illuminated by more of those teapot-shaped lamps in wall sconces at regular intervals. The corridor continues for some distance with no doors nor turnings, but seems to be weaving this way and that, with vision ahead never more than a dozen feet or so as the corridor curves around. The floor is littered with a light sprinking of straw, which will be somewhat inconvenient to anyone with treacle on their shoes.     The team has been walking down this apparently endless corridor for five minutes before there's any visible change -- a clock on the wall, with a pair of table knives embedded in it. The clock can he heard struggling to tick, the hands jammed up against the two knives so as to be reading 4 o'clock. "Everyone doing okay?" Donna calls back.     Not much further along, the corridor comes to an and with a pair of doors. Standing in front of each door is a guard -- both of them human-sized bipedal frogs dressed in fancy renaissance outfits with wide neck ruffs. When the team approaches one of the frog-men quickly stubs a cigarette out on the wall behind him and the pair come to attention, halberds crossed. "HALT!" one of them croaks. "You may not pass!"     "You may pass!" the other one insists. "But you must tell us who you are and what your business is here!".     "No, we don't care who you are," the first frog-man disagrees. "Just turn back and go away!"
Kaida Connolly	Since she's in the front, Kaida definitely chose Donna's shoulder to go with. She is only not moving under her own power because she'd get too far ahead too easily. She should, probably, wait on everyone else. As they pass the clock, she hmms out loud and mutters to herself. "Tea time..." She says to no one in particular before looking ahead and looking at the huge halberds and the frogs carrying them. When she spots it, she goes 'OOOoooooOOO!' and then suddenly is off of Donna's shoulder and is poking the bottom of the halberds. "Nice halberds!" She says to the more agreeable frog before she states simply, "I am Kaida Connolly and I'm clearly here for tea." And with that she just walks right past the frogs unless more actively stopped, partially because there's clearly enough space for her to pass at her size between legs, halberds, etc.
Madison Evans	"Aww - man. I've been tarred and feathered, only it's syrupped and strawed!" Madison exclaims - though she seems more bemused than horried by this turn of events.     Ever curious, the girl takes a moment to study the teapots, and with a tug - pulls one down off the wall. It's a wild-looking thing - with crab-like legs protruding from the bottom like it would walk away at any moment. "I'm gonna give this to my mother," she declares brightly as they proceed down the corridor. She pauses momentarily at the clock, poking at the knives, and considering pulling them free as well, before she continues on to see the frogmen ahead.     "Oh. Yes. I'm Madison Evans - if it please you, and even so, if it doesn't. And I've brought the tea! See?" She lifts her pot as evidence - as she tries to follow the mouse.
Michael Hannigan	If there is one thing to be said about impulsive teens, it certainly cuts down on the time it takes to choose a path. So upon his Madison perch he rides, observing the surroundings. As the frogs come into view and there appears to be two doors being guarded, the bird hurms. "So... what are you guys guarding?" He asks of the frogs.
Emiko Queen	Emiko troops along down the hall, pulling rear guard and keepign an eye out for anythign that might be approaching from that direction. The knives stabbed into the clock have her smiling, "Clever.. always tea time..." Then they're moving further down the funky hallway and she is doubly glad that Donna lofted her over the treacle, moving quietly across the strawn-strewn floors until they're halted by the frog guard. With Kaida and Madison trying to bluff past, Emiko calls out, "But we can't go THAT way," she jerks a thumb behind her, "we can only go THIS way!" pointing ahead through the door. "The sign said so. Besides, the Hatter sent us, and he's going to be at piping hot if we miss tea time." Her poker face could stump an empath, and right now she's working it to help get them through the door.
Donna Troy	Kaida can easily avoid the guards, but there's still a door stopping her from getting any further, and it doesn't give way to pushing. "No mice allowed!" the first frog man bellows. "There's no tea here, you came the wrong way, you should have gone That Way for tea."     "What are you talking about?" the other frog man asks him disbelievingly. "There's a tea party /right/ behind this door, and of course mice are allowed! Why, there's a mouse there already as the guest of honor!" He turns to Phantasm with a nod and continues "That's what we're guarding. A tea party."     "No we're not!" The first frog-man disagrees. "We are guarding the dungeons. We have no need of your teapots or tea! That's why we have such magnificent halberds, you see."     "Why would we need dungeons?" The second frog-man asks. "And if we did, I'm certain we would have been given less shoddy halberds to guard them with."     Donna pinches her nose. "I thought at first this was going to be one of those dumb 'one of us always tells the truth and the other always lies' things," she says. "But they're both randomly telling the truth and lying. I think they're just idiots."     "Madam!" The first frog objects. "We are not idiots, we are very intelligent frogs. "     "YOU'RE certainly an idiot!" the second frog interjects.     "I have a degree in Quantum Mechanics from MIT! And honestly I can barely remember a time you were wrong about anything, except for this right now." The first frog-man shakes his head in disgust, and tilts his head towards Emiko. "Oh. Well, that changes everything. If you're friend's of the Hatter, of course you can come in. Wouldn't want to keep the Hatter waiting for his tea."     He holds his halberd straight so it's no longer at guard, but the second frog keeps his firmly in place. "Are you mad?" he accuses his compatriot. "The Hatter is strictly persona non grata these days! We can't let friends of the Hatter in here!"     "He /runs/ the place!" the first guard says. "Alice put him in charge of the dungeons, remember?"     Donna holds up a hand. "Wait. Do you two ever agree on /anything/?"     "Of course we do!"     "Never!"
Kaida Connolly	Pushing at the door, Kaida huffs and then shakes her head. She notices enough of a gap and carefully adjusts her self to squeeze and stuff her head through. It's a little unsettling and weird but so are mice of all kinds. If one can squeeze a head through, they can squeeze everything! Of course, a moment later, her head pops back out and she huffs. "What's with all the doors?!" She asks and then pops back up and walks over to put her hands on her hips. She looks from one to the other and huffs more. "come on! Open the doors! If it's a dungeon, than clearly you should put us there for trying to get into the dungeon and if it is a tea party than clearly I'm very late and you should let me in and I'm a mouse!" She nods and looks back at the others before looking ahead, "So, either way, we belong in there!'
Madison Evans	"Are you both frogs?" Madison asks the pair curiously. "Are you both guards? Are the doors closed?" Or is she simply being much, much too logical about this?     "Hey - should we send you guys out some tea sandwiches when we get in? I think they have the ones with dill and cream cheese and cucumbers. Or maybe you'd rather the ones with the fly jam?"
Michael Hannigan	The raven looks between the two and then looks to the second guard. "I'm sorry. I couldn't quite hear the first guard over the bickering. Would he have said there's a tea party behind the door?"
Emiko Queen	Emiko looks between the two, back and forth they go, darting a glance up to Donna, then back to the others. She chooses to stay quiet for the moment to see how the raven's ploy works out. Leaning against the wall, arms folding under her chest and watching the frogs bicker back and forth.
Donna Troy	"I have no idea what he /would/ have said," the second frog replies to Phantasm. "But he said there was no tea party, because he's an idiot."     "I am no idiot, and there /is/ a tea party!" the first frog says. He shakes his head and stares at Madison. "Of course we're frogs. And guards. And the door is closed. And no. Why are you asking such silly questions?"     Don't be so rude to her!" The second frog complains. "They are valid questions, and to answer them properly: we are frog-MEN, not frogs. And we are custodians, not guards. Of these doors, which are not simply closed but locked. And not a one of you belongs in there! You may not pass!"     "We should let them in," the first disagrees. "The poor mouse will exhaust herself trying to climb under an infinite number of doors unless we agree to open the doors for them."     "We absolutely should not! They have no place in the dungeons!"
Kaida Connolly	A frown is on Kaida's face as she had come back out and they ignored her, for the most part. They sure acknowledged her actions but not her words. She takes a few steps back and then she points at one and then the other before saying, "Neither of you are even capable of opening the doors, are you? YOu're both weak and can't even pull the doors open. Admit it!" She shakes a fist at the pair, "You're both too weak to ever open the doors! Ha! Weaklings, weaklings, weaklings!" She leaps up to Donna's shoulder and laughs, "No stronger than a mouse! Frog-men? More like frog louse!"
Madison Evans	"Am I a girl? Am I human? Are we all alive? ARE YOU WEARING CLOTHES?! Are you holding weapons?" Madison continues to bombard the guards with questions - almost as soon as they come to her. After all, how they can deny the truth of such statements?!     "What color is the sky? Where does the sun rise in the morning? Is water wet? Is fire hot? And most importantly... CAKE OR DEATH?"     Because when you have a chance to quote the great Eddie Izzard... I mean...
Michael Hannigan	"Hmm." The raven looks to the pair as they seemingly switch statements to counter the other. Well, that rules out one possibility. The beak tip sways side to side along with the rest of the shaking head while he gives an audible sigh, "Do you guys agree to anything?"
Emiko Queen	Emiko maintains her silence, just watching with no small amount of amusement as one of their party mocks the poor Frogians, and another bombards them with question after question after question. She glances up to Donna and lifts a brow, "So. This is pretty normal for the team then? Marginally controlled chaos aimed largely away from us?"
Donna Troy	The first guard gives Kaida an offended look. "Madam mouse, I'll have you know we are might frogs indeed. Of course we could open the doors if we /wanted/ to. Why it would be a simple task for ones such as we!"     "Nonsense my batrachian buddy," the second guard disagrees. "These doors are magic, you see. Nobody, no matter how strong, could simply /pull/ them open. They open if we agree." He nods his head to Phantasm. "Which of course we do, sometimes. We agree to open the doors."     "We absolutely do not!" the first argues. He squints at Madison, and fires back answers even more rapidly than she asks questions. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Blue! East! Yes! Yes! CAKE!"     "No! No! No! No! No! Red! West! No! No! DEATH! Wait..." the second pales and steps back a bit. "Was that a real question? I don't want to die. I always wanted to retire to a nice lily pad in Florida with a white picket fence."     "Oh well done Maddie," Donna says with a wicked grin. "I think you just found something out they will agree on." She draws her sword with a metallic >snik!< and takes two steps forwards. Kaida's too short to threaten with halberds for getting close, but Donna is not and the two halberds come down, pointing at her chest. She reaches out casually and takes hold of the spike on one of the halberds, bending it upwards, and looks up at the frogs again, still smiling. "You heard her. Cake or death. That's your choice. Cake or death. Which one of you wants to pick death?"     The two frogs stare at each other for a moment.     "You could..."      "I'm not..."     "Cake?"     "Cake."     The two frogs both sigh in unison, and lower their halberds. The step neatly to the sides, one frog grasping the handle of each door, and pull the doors open for the group to enter.     Beyond the doors -- and perhaps to Kaida's surprise there appears to now only be one set of doors -- is a large room lines with open cells. A figure can be seen lying on the wooden pallet bed in one of the cells, and until she sits upright to blink at the visitors, just for a moment it looks as if it's Nadia. It's not, but she sure looks similar.     In the middle of the room is a table set for tea, though there's nobody seated around it, and the cake and pastries look a little mouldy. Lying on his back on top of a donut is a mouse, snoring impressively loudly. Opposite the doorway is another corridor leading into the distance.     "You!" The woman in the cell calls out. "Whoever you are. Get me the hell out of here! These idiots have locked me in here. I demand you get me out at once!"     Donna turns to Emiko and shrugs her shoulders. "This is a little weird even by our standards to be completely honest," she says. "Normally I just like to punch things."
Kaida Connolly	A huff and Kaida puts her hands on her hips, "Oh sure! I threaten people with my sword and they are all like 'You're just a mouse!' and 'Ow, stop stabbing my foot! Stop!' and 'Why'd I call her just a mouse? Why? Oh no, gurgle, gurgle gurgle, bleh!' but when you threaten them, they open doors." She sighs and shakes her head before looking ahead at the room and then blinks. "Oh, it was a dungeon and a tea party." And with that she is racing over to the table to examine the mouse and the food stuffs/teas.
Madison Evans	"Parachuting behind enemy lines! In FABULOUS make-up!" Madison declares triumphantly as they make their way through the doors. Apparently the role of Eddie Izzard will be played by Madison Evans tonight.     Once in the room and faced by the imprisonned girl, though, she lets out a quiet 'Oh,' and looks around at her companions, then to the girl again. "I mean... of course we'll get you out of here. Right? I- err. ...what exactly is our goal here?" she asks - leaning in towards Donna to stage whisper the question.     Yes. It is only NOW that Madison realized she leapt long before she looked.
Michael Hannigan	As the group goes in, the raven takes stock of the new environment. The woman yelling to be let free does seem concerning but based from what was going on outside the door they just went through, it's not necessarily a take things at face value type of place. Nick looks over to Donna, "Could you hold off on anything involving Miss Screamy over there? I'm going to see if I can ask the dormouse some questions." Request given, the bird leaps off of Madison's shoulder, doing a sommersault before making a diving motion. He vanishes as he enters the slumbering dormouse's dream. "Hello?!"
Emiko Queen	Nodding as the last question works, neither frog wanting to choose death, Emiko chuckles and moves past the pair with a small shrug, "There's always something to agree on." The sight of the woman in the cell has her frowning, however, and looking to Donna, "Alice, or Alisn't? I thought Theophilius said Alisn't is the one that has the regalia... if that's the case, wouldn't that make this the real Alice?" Then the raven is... going.. into dreams? Disappearing? She gives a small nod to Donna's assessment and murmurs, "Good to know. I can do a lot, but I'm not entirely certain how to handle all... this."
Donna Troy	"Actually I'm not sure we /are/ going to let her out Maddie," Donna says quietly as she walks into the room, studying the girl who vaguely resembles Nadia. "That sort of depends."     "HOW DARE YOU!" the girl screeches at Donna. "Don't you know who I am? I'm... I'm ALICE!"     "Alisn't," corrects one of the frog guardsmen, who have accompanied the five into the room. "She's Alisn't," he confides to Emiko. "There's no Alice. Or rather there's no Alice /here/. The whole thing was a dreadful mistake. Poor Theophilis." The two frog guards take seats at the table, and start eating cake.     It's a touch moldy, but it is much better than death.     "So you're the one who nailed the Hatter to that tree?" Donna asks Alice/Alisn't mildly. The self-proclaimed Alice glares at her. "He deserved it," She mutters. "He kept questioning me. Me!"     Phantasm dives into the dormouse's dreams, and finds himself in a scene not dramatically different from the one he had left, except that it is outdoors, the dormouse is awake and taking a bath in a teacup, and the Hare and Hatter are seated at the table, helping themselves rather chaotically to tea and cucumber sandwiches. "WRITING DESK!" the Hare yells, pointing at Phantasm excitedly with a fork, eyes revolving crazily.     "Do try to calm yourself!" The Hatter urges the Hare. "It's not time yet! Not time at all! Why I do believe it's still Octember!"     The dormouse stares at the raven and spits a fountain of tea lazily across his teacup tub. "Yo," he says tiredly, by way of greeting.
Madison Evans	"We might not be freeing her?" Madison repeats - looking a bit lost. "How do we decide if we're freeing her or not? I- uhh. ...think I may have jumped into this without the full story." She stands there looking a bit confused - still holding a teapot with crab legs sprouting from the bottom of it, and flame trickling form the spout.     She watches the two guards dig into the moldy cake and murmurs under her breath, "You're lucky we're Church of England." After all. One of them //did// say 'Death' initially.
Michael Hannigan	"Except, my notes are not flat." The raven murmurs to himself. There's a certain twist to the beak that would be considered unnatural in most places, but in Wonderland, who knows? Maybe it is to be expected. He lands upon the table, hoping overto the teacup tub. "Would you know who it is that resides in the cell?"
Emiko Queen	"Ah, thank you," Emi nods to the frogman that answers for her, looking back to the cell. "In that case, we most certainly are NOT going to release her. But who put her in there? And what happened to the Regalia?" She looks back to the frogmen as they eat, "Do you know how we could find the Red King?"
Donna Troy	Donna gives Madison a pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry Maddie, none of this makes any sense. I suppose how we decide whether to free her or not is to see how cooperative she is about telling us what's going on."     "I'll tell you what's going on," Alisn't says. "You're letting me out of here AT ONCE! And then you're going to help me defeat that idiot the Hare. That's what! He's the one who's behind all this. He put me in here! Let me out RIGHT NOW!"     "The Red King?" one of the frog guards answers Emiko mildly, blinking his giant eyes. "Oh I suppose he's still in Wonderland. I have to admit I have started to worry about what will happen now he doesn't have his regalia." He shrugs froggy shoulders and returns to his cake.     "Who resides in the... the cell..." the dormouse repeats inside the dream, trying hard not to yawn. "Who resides in the cell. No... no, I'll get it. Don't tell me! No clues. Let me think. Who's tall and short, makes no... no, that's not it. Hmm, I'll get it, I'll get it, give me a minute!"     "Asking riddles while Nero fiddles!" the Hare declares, cackling. The Hatter reaches over and bashes him over the head with a teaspoon, sending some of the straw the Hare wears on his head as if it was a hat flying. "It's not a riddle! He's asking a question!" The Hatter declares. "Calm yourself Hare, it's not even Februember yet!"     The Hare mumbles something inaudible, reaches into a pocket for a handful of fresh straw and puts it on his head, before baaaah-ing like a sheep.
Madison Evans	"Why would we keep her locked up, though? Is she supposed to have committed some sort of a crime?" Madison crinkles her nose and goes, "The food isn't even fresh here. I mean- well, I was saving this for later..." She slings a backpack she's been wearing all this time off of her back, so it hangs on just one shoulder, and opening it up - she pulls out a little paper bag with a fresh, and still warm cinnamon roll in it. "Would you like this, miss?" she asks politely, offering it over. "While the Titans figure out what exactly's going on. I'm sure if you're genuinely in some sort of trouble you don't deserve, then they'll help you out. They're heroes, you know."
Michael Hannigan	The raven looks to the Hatter, the hare, and the Dormouse. "Very well. I have two questions now. First. Who is the woman in the cell? Second. Who is the one you likened to Nero?"
Emiko Queen	Emiko nods to the frogmen again, "Thank you. Last question and I'll leave you to your cake." She points towards the corridor opposite the way they came in, "Where does that corridor lead to?" Catching sight of Maddie approaching the cell with Alisn't, she moves quickly to try and itnercept the girl, "Wait! Don't get too close to her. She absolutely deserves to be in there. She -nailed- a man to a -tree- and left him there, because he questioned her. This is Alisn't, and she's a trap. Everything about her is a trap. Maybe don't get in arm's reach of her? Just... toss her the cinnamon roll." Emi tries a smile because this is a VERY STRANGE situation and smiling is her default defense.
Donna Troy	Alisn't says something to Madison that her mother would no doubt disapprove of her hearing, but there's nobody around here to cover her ears. She does take the cinnamon roll though, snatching it greedily and taking a large bite.     "Oh we'll take her out with us Maddie," Donna replies. "And then hand her over to the police, perhaps. I believe she's responsible for all the trouble Metropolis has been having lately."     "How can it by my fault?" Alice demands with a look of outrage at Donna. "I'm not the one with the regalia, am I? Blame that stupid Hare! I can't /believe/ he stole it from me. He was such a /coward/ before, and then suddenly a few days ago he declared himself King of Metropolis, when everyone knows he can't be king of Metropolis, because I'm the Queen of Metropolis. Queen Alice the first! Damn that mad Hare, I should have known he was too mad to make a good minion, but he seemed almost reasonable at first"     The frog guards look up at Emiko. "Oh," the first one replies. "The corridor leads to the throne room. Hare's there. Probably having tea. After all it's /always/ tea-time here you know." The other frog guard starts to disagree but thinks better of it and shrugs before helping himself to another slice of cake.     In the dream: "Nero? Zero!" The Hare declares, while trying to shove a forkful of cake up his own nose.     The Hatter bashes him over the head with his teaspoon again. "Hare! Snap out of it! It already Apruary! It's not time for this amount of nonsense any more. You should have recovered by now. Calm down!"     "There's no cell," The Dormouse replies with a yawn. "Look around you. Funny you ask though. Every time I sleep, I dream that we're in a jail. Hatter's the jailer, but of course he's more interested in drinking tea. Alice told him to start putting everyone in prison, but he objected and said she was Alisn't, so she nailed him to a tree. Quite horrible. I kept telling Hare to do something about it, but he's far to shy and retiring."     "OFF WITH HER HEAD!" the Hare bellows loudly.
Madison Evans	"She nailed someone to a tree?!" Madison exclaims - seeming far more affronted by this fact than by the language the woman just used. "That's- that's not- THAT CATEGORICALLY IS NOT OKAY!" She glares at the girl now eating her cinnamon bun - and there's a part of her that very much regrets offering it. But it's rather too late now.     "Well," she says in a firm voice, as she puts her backpack back on. "We should definitely bring her to authorities, then." She waves a hand in the air towards Alisn't, and says with utter confidence, "You will come with us to face the consequences for your actions."     It's a real shame that she absolutely lacks any actual 'Jedi Mind Powers,' no matter how often she tries to make them work.
Michael Hannigan	The raven looks around. And then looks over towards the Hare. The March Hare. He nods to the Dormouse. "Thank you." With a backflip, he pops out of the dream, appearing beside Emiko, "Okay, So according to doormouse. Hatter's the jailer and Alice told him to start putting everyone in prison. He said no and called her Alisn't which led to her nailing him to a tree. Oh and Hare is pretty much gone fully mad. March Hare and all. He's probably at his most insane this month."
Emiko Queen	Emiko nods to Madison and gives a smile, "That's right, we're gonna go kick the March Hare's butt and take back the Regalia for the Red King so Wonderland goes back to JUST being Wonderland, Metropolis goes back to being JUST Metropolis... and Alisn't can go to jail where they will feed her appropriately and make sure she pays for her crimes." Then she's glancing to Donna, "Maybe we should leave her here until after we confront the Hare? Bringing her along could cause all kinds of trouble that we don't need if we have to fight a Mad, Mad, Mad Hare." See? Its three, because he's at his most mad, March is the third month... look, its Wonderland, roll with it!
Donna Troy	Donna nods to Phantasm. "That makes... as much sense as anything around here makes. Thanks." She turns to Emiko and gives her a nod too. "And that sounds like a really solid plan. With one small adjustment."     Donna walks over to the cell where Alisn't is imprisoned, and puts her hands on the bars. She stares at Alisn't for a few moments, then the room rings with a lound clang as she tears the bars out. Alisn't's eyes widen and she backs away. "I'm never leaving Gotham again," she mutters. "You lot here in Metropolis are crazy." Donna advances on her, and bends one of the bars around her leg. "Ow! What the hell? This is heavy!" Alisn't complains.     "That's the idea," Donna tells her. "You're coming with us in case this place starts falling apart or something like that. That kind of thing happens more often than you've thought, and Madi's right. You're being taken to the authorities. Now stay close and don't get us annoyed by trying to run away."     "FINE!" Alisn't declares, throwing her shoulders up, and dragging the heavy improvised manacle behind her as she comes out to join the team.     Donna nods in the direction of the corridor, and the Hare beyond. "Right. Everyone ready? Let's go."     (Continued in scene 10322)