Why is he even here? He can't even say anything that actually has to do with us... That's reasonable. Deryn thought bitterly, a bit annoyed with the man who, she was sure, was insane. There was no place for this nonsense in Wonderland, and she was intent on keeping it out. Maybe she could spare the young woman who could represent the Ligente and keep logic and intelligence in the very world they lived in.

"To want Wonderland in ruins is like wanting the very shelter around you to crumble, or to go blind when there is just so much to see in the world." she hissed, cocking her head to the right. A look of anger twisted up her face, but only for a moment. She didn't want to explode on these people- they'd probably just shrug it off or maybe just call it an excuse for war.

They were unpredictable, and Deryn found it distasteful to be unpredictable. The only case she accepted that she couldn't change was that Kaylee was a bit insane. She would help the girl become a little bit more reasonable, but it was a slow process.

With a great sigh, she put her arms behind her back and looked to the other people in the meeting area. "Shall we get this meeting started?" she requested.

"What? you want wonderland in ruins......no no that can't happen after all wonderland is far to lovely for you to ruin it. Why just look around, the trees are in bloom the flowers are branching out even the animals crooning." Seth said to them as he waved his tea cup about, the tea sloshing over as he did so, he stood up and tapped his cane on the ground before he started to walk around his stump a bit, mumbling random things once more and saying things like they shouldn't ruin wonderland when it is perfect.
He stopped in his tracks and looked towards Kaylee and Deryn when they came upon the trio, he gave a grin, though Camette's grin puts anyones' grin to shame. He walked over to the two, teacups in hand, stopping just far enough away before offering the tea to them. "Welcome to my tea party, have some tea. Though don't let Mick that live sod have any. The lazy sod, just sleeps day and night, makes you wish you had his life." he said as he laughed, walking back to his stump after they took the cups, pouring himself some more tea before drinking, looking at the cadaver once more. "To bad we are all dead......so we will never know the joys of life. he said as he sighed, having a longing look in his blue-grey eyes as he continued to look at the long decaying body.

Terra swung her legs as a few moments passed before the two they were waiting for entered the area. She grinned at the grey haired girl and waved.
"Hello, Kaylee! Is so nice to see you again." she said, her voice in a cheerful tone. She kicked her legs in the air and pushed herself off of the stump to stand. She tossed back her long white hair and frowned when she saw Deryn.
As much as she liked people, she was not very fond of Deryn. The girl was too uptight and nothing like a girl in her opinion. She would tolerate her though, under professional circumstances.
"Camette, shall we start the meeting?" she asked as she spun to face the cat-boy, her eyes wide and questioning. She was ready to find out who she would belong too for the war, and she wanted to get this wait over with, but she didn't mind staying in the dark though. An anticipation ran through her blood and she sat down down quickly with a grin on her face, excited to find out.

"Yes... Kaylee." she said, hesitating only a little bit to try out the new name. She smiled some as the words touched her lips, but she quickly wiped it away as she began to step on the fallen gates.

The once beautifully sculpted gates were now rusted and mangled, and it was a tripping hazard. Even though she was light on her feet, Deryn was not as agile as a fighter should be- though she'd never admit it.

They entered a forest and walked down a very well trampled down path. No grass grew where they walked, only pebbles and leaves littered their way. A sudden question came to mind as they were well on their way, but the clearing stopped her from asking it.

The Meeting Grounds were a sad place to Deryn, but she loved the oversized chess pieces she remembered training on when no one was around. She sighed at the memory and turned to the other three in the clearing and her hand went directly to the knife attached to the belt on her shorts. She sent a glare at everyone before turning to Kaylee. Don't do anything stupid, I beg of you... she thought, but she kept it to herself, trying her best to trust the crazed girl of reason.

Kaylee would never admit that Deryn's words had a hint of truth to them. Never would she concede defeat by saying, Yeah, you got me. You thought of it before I did. Never.
She almost burst out laughing, however, when her fighting history was questioned. Oh, there would be no doubt that she'd gotten into more fights than she cared to count (and that was saying something), but in how many had she prevailed? Eh, about the equivalent of one fourth of the total.
But she'd leave that information in her mind, resting alongside Yeah, you got me and I'm wrong.
She smiled at Deryn. "I've fought before. Experience is the best training, is it not? Now... Let's get a move on."

Despite Camette being insane himself, dang that Hatter was difficult to follow. He took in one deep breath, trying to calm his racing mind, then walked over to the body. "Hmmm yes. Seems like he's quite dead." He giggled for second, but cut off, clearing his throat. "Ahem... As I was saying..." He walked away from the distracting cadaver, shaking his head.

"As Terra so quaintly put it, Wonderland has fallen to shambles. It never quite recovered from the war, but that can change. That's what I've called you here for, heheh." Camette raised his left hand up, disintegrating it in giddy anticipation. "Heheh... Let's just wait for Alice and Deryn." He purposefully never called Kaylee by her name, merely her ancestral equivalent.

Fire nymph? Terra smiled. I kinda like that..." she thought. She glanced at the hatter before sighing and skipping over to a stump. "The Dormouse and Alice shall be here soon. They would never miss out on a meeting as such as this." she said, plopping down ungracefully onto a stump. She kicked on leg over her knee and leaned on it, putting her elbows into her thighs and cradling her chin in her small palms.

"Tea?" Seth said to Terra in a confused way as he looked down at the tea cup, frowning as he tried hard to think, something clicked in his head for a few minutes as he just threw the broken tea cups over his shoulder, not caring where they hit and only leaveing the perfect whole ones left on his stump. "You little fire nymph, this isn't tea, it is just merely lemon grass boiled in water." he said in a very sane way as he waved his hand over the good cups left, motioning for them each to take a cup and drink some as he picked one up him self and drank it.
"Why yes.....red hair never suited me. Ah not dead....but we are all dead very much so i am afraid.....why just look at Mick over there....the poor live sod." he said as he shook his head, pointing to a decaying body that was off to the side of one of the chess pieces, clearly what ever had clicked in his brain before was broken once more, swinging his cane in a slight circle as he looked around them, a frown on his face. "What no alice or dormouse? Bad enough the hare had to take care of his hair." he mumbled the last part about his once ever present friend, still off in his own little world.

Terra drew her attention away from Seth to Camette. "Oh, no. My dear brother won't be joining us today." she said with a slight shrug. She sighed and put her right pointer finger to her lip, just to think for a moment. "But he could come in at anytime, dare I say. Who knows?" she finished off her speaking with a slight grin.
She spun away from the hatter, twirling to the middle of the circle- singing once more.
"London's bridge is falling down
And yet on the other side of town
A princess has just lost her crown
The King has fallen to the ground
All the King's horses and all the King's men
Were just illusions made to bend..." she stopped herself and frowned. She could usually improvise well when she could think straight, but there was something off. She glanced back at Camette.
"What shall we do about Wonderland, much less a place called London? It is already in shambles... but who shall rebuild it?" she asked. She strode up to the cat boy and tilted her head curiously. "Who, love?"

Camette grinned at Seth, bowing ever-so-slightly. "So, Seth, you've died your hair, once again?" He giggled, in a masculine sort of way, somehow, and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "The reason I called you here was not-" He stepped down and away from Seth, glaring at him. He wasn't exactly angry, but more irritated. Sure, the guy was mad, but tea wasn't the only purpose to life. "-To have tea time. Additionally, I am not a dead little cat. Not even close."
He turned to Terra, "Ah, yes... Thank you so much for joining me. Will your brother be following soon? Or are you on your own?" Camette smirked a bit.

Terra smiled politely at the hatter, somewhat displeased by his entrance. When he had begun to hum a tune that seemed familiar. She walked over to him and leaned over a cup of tea.
"Dear hatter? What kind of tea is this?" she asked, her bright eyes catching on the little light in the dim forested area. She was somewhat thirsty, but she wouldn't take the tea anyway- seeing as it could easily be poisoned.
She was a girl to be polite and sweet, so she tried to make conversation with the few people there. She glanced back at the cat boy and smiled, her lips twitching some. She looked back at the hatter, just a bit curious.
I hope he really isn't drinking blood tea... she thought, imagining the crazed hatter's face dripping with blood from his tea cup. She shivered some at the thought and pushed it away gently, allowing it to settle in her mind for later reference.

The currently black haired male was dress in a simple suit, his can clacked on the rocks as he fingered the tea pot that was on the end of it, mumbling random incoherent phrazes as he walked towards the meeting place. He adjusted the top hat on his head that had random things he had collected from the enemy decorating it. "No tea? It is tea time. Oh no dear thank you, i will take blood tea." he said as he walked into the clearing, giving a demeanted laugh as he took the top hat off for a breif moment and ran a hand through his long hair, twirling his cane around.
"Blood, blood...everywhere.....ah why the meeting you dead little cat." he said to him as he took a seat on his tree stump that was decorated for tea, humming a little song to him self as he prduced different types of tea cups and a tea pot that was steaming, pouring tea into each one. Not caring that some of them were broken and one was just a handle, he looked as if he was going to a funeral, maybe a wedding, it was hard to tell when his suit looked as if it was made from other bits of cloths that were random and who knew where they came from so it is better not to think about the blood spots on it.

"Thank you for taking my idea into consideration." she said with a light smile. "Well, we never know what's in store... Or what lovely Wonderland has planned for us." she said, stopping to wait for Kaylee to catch up with her.

"Yes ma'am, we should be getting there soon if the roses let us pass." she said, walking just a bit faster to check the gates. No one... And the roses have gone quiet... What has happened? she thought, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

She pushed open the gates and watched as one of the large rusted metal doors just fell from its hinges. She blinked for a second before muttering, "Huh." and kept on walking. Her right hand slid into the pocket of her shorts, her thumbs catching on the outside. She loved these shorts, but it was a shame that she didn't have another pair.

"Have you ever had training in fighting, Kaylee?" she asked, looking back at the girl.

She laughed softly, leaning against the wall, until she realized that Deryn was being serious. Her smile disappeared. "No. No no no, and more no. The mad hatter might be a problem, but alone he'll be as insignificant as an ant. As for him getting a hold of any Gemini, well, that's not even something worth our time. Any amount he puts out for those avaricious leeches, I can double it. Sell off a jewel or two and suddenly he has no army except for his rag-tag team of lunatics."

Kaylee waved her hand dismissively, scoffing again. "If he attacks first, we have to defend and then change over to offense. It'd be smarter to go with my idea." She smiled a little bit. "Okay? Okay. Let's go."

"I've been here for a while, love. I'm sorry for surprising you." she said, her voice light and giggly. She kicked her legs and leaned over her knees, to get a better look at Camette. "Its always a pleasure to see you. So you wish to negotiate terms, or are you going to skip out once more?" she asked, raising a playful eyebrow. She loved messing with the madness- it made her feel like she was in charge at times.
Her orders were to negotiate terms, but with whom was left up to her- or the prices. She smiled at the half cat boy and then jumped off of the tall pawn piece and floating over to the circle of tree stumps.

"You seem so out of it, love, what's the matter?" she asked, circling her stump, dragging a finger to follow one of the rings. She then sat down- no, plopped down onto her seat, tilting her head to the right.

"Well, getting angry is too easy for me..." she was testing the waters. "Kaylee. My grandfather just asked me to treat you with the utmost respect, so I am obeying his last wishes. Taking orders for me is not hard... But please allow me to make my input." she said, her voice's pitch dancing around like a musical instrument.

"If we kill him right then and there, what about the Mad Hatter, or the others? What is he gets a hold of the Gemini first? We will most definitely be defeated quickly." she cleared her throat. "If he attacks first, then we shall counter attack and defend cleanly." she glanced at the girl, finding her attire something she kind of liked. Kaylee's style of dress was girly- something Deryn wished she could be.

But, long hair and frivolous dresses get in the way during a fight- so it shouldn't matter to her, right?
Wrong.

Camette, hearing the tune, perked up one ear. Now, where had he heard that before? He couldn't quite place it. He decided not to let his mind linger on it. After all, it was more than likely his mind was playing tricks on him. If the noise and beautiful singing was really there, then his mind was probably just creating a familiarity with it.

"Hello?" He called out, swinging his tail back and forth below him. This place always gave him the creeps. It was like there were eyes everywhere, trained on him, watching for him to expose a weak point.

And just as he did a little sweep over the trees, he startled a little, spotting Terra. "How did... When... Blast it all! Just..." Camette shook his head, focusing on her. He didn't know how he missed her before, but now he couldn't keep his eyes off her. "Um, well then! Hello, Terra."

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "I'm glad I'm not the only one that hates his guts. It would make reforming Wonderland really difficult." A small giggle here, and then she was twining together her pig tails, wrapping them together and coiling the rope of hair.

Deryn's question, if she was being brutally honest with herself, had caught her off guard. She knew that she was going to try to act amiable for a bit, maybe lower twitchy Camette's guard before attacking, or possibly just plain out declare war. She knew that even if he tried to stop it, it would come either way.

But what exactly would she do?

Instead of puzzling over it, she just smiled at Deryn and chirped, "I'll kill him of course."

She scoffed the slightest bit as she stuffed her hair into a yarn knit hat. "Jeez. You're so stuffy. I mean, not that I mind, because, yeah, routine's a marvelous thing and keeps people firmly rooted in reality, but you can't go through life with a 'yessir' and a 'yes-m' attitude or else you'll go mad. I mean, finding balance is key for keeping your sanity." Kaylee let out a hefty blow of air once she ended her small lecture. "Balance." She demonstrated while walking, putting both arms out to the side and acting as if she was on a balancing beam.

She only got to the great entrance door before she faltered to the right and stopped her acting. Afterwards, she walked normally.

She took a step back as the door flew open. Watching the blonde girl walk out with a serious look on her face, Deryn had to smile. It was just too strange for the girl to try to act serious.

"Yes, Miss." she said with a slight bow. She was like a knight, or a servant, doing as told whenever. But, even though she did everything as told, she couldn't help but question the girl's orders. Sometimes, she was allowed to offer her own opinions and make the girl change her mind and realize how Wonderland really works.

"Friend indeed." she grumbled at the thought. Her boots clunked against the tile of the never-ending hallways and echoed through-out the whole palace. "What is it that you plan to do at this meeting, Miss?" she asked, curious about how Alice was going to approach the situation.

As much as she wanted to just march in and chop off that idiot's head right then and there, she knew they couldn't. His followers were even more dangerous than him, and if outraged, could possibly kill them all.

But that was why Deryn was holding onto the little bit of sanity left in her mind after her grandfather's death, using what logic she had to help the deranged girl make Wonderland right.

[[It's okay, we all make mistakes. ^^" Me included. My last post just happened to occur more in the woods than the meeting grounds, so I placed it there.]]