[Plot] The Wonderland Complex

[Basil Benson]

His legs too weak to carry him, others had to do the moving for him. Twin someones much stronger than himself on his best days drug him back into his room lenthwise, once he was too tired to fight against them. They dropped him into a corner, to stare at his own, sorry reflection in the mirrored walls of his room.

He resented these walls. They put these in here to keep an eye on him when he tried to make sure they couldn't. He hated to see himself in them, and had several times tried to shatter them. One time with his own head, after they took to straight jacketing him to keep him from harming himself. They're quite bouncy. Miracles of modern science, really.

A docile, feminine voice came on over the intercom. "Hopefully, you'll feel inclined to play kinder soon."

"Fuck off." he hissed under his breath.

"I do wish you'd stop. This is exactly the sort of defiant behavior that brought you here. You know that, don't you?"

He really didn't. He couldn't remember much of anything these days, including how he ended up here. He didn't even know why he felt so terrible. There wasn't a scratch on him according to the mirror walls, though he could remember he fought like hell against several of the orderlies and gave them a good run for their money before this happened.

The voice must have taken his silence as further defiance, and added - "I know you're upset, scared, lonely... But this place isn't so bad, once you get the swing of it.

And when you learn to behave yourself, you'll be able to make all sorts of new friends here.

Goodnight Patient 37A. Pleasant dreams."

The lights were struck out, and he laid there in the darkness on the floor.

There were so many things he could not remember, but there was one thing he didn't seem to forget. Music made him feel safe. And so he sang in a tiny voice, to keep himself from crying.

"She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour 9:00 a.m.
And I'm gonna be high
As a kite by then
I miss the Earth so much I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight
And I think it's gonna be a long, long time
'Til touchdown brings me 'round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh, no, no, no-"

[Basil Benson]

The days blurred together in his time here, but over them he learned to adapt. Just as she said he would.

Once he'd learned to play nicely with the orderlies, they started letting him into the gymnasium for exercise. It was a fairly sizable room, but he was always alone here. Sometimes, the orderlies would come in through a door from across the gymnasium that she would never open for him, even if he pleaded her to. She assured him that when the time was right, she would allow him access to the other side. She claimed there were others beyond it, and if he continued to play nicely, he would eventually be allowed to be around them.

He didn't remember if he particularly enjoyed exercise before, but these days, it was something to do at least. He mostly worked on his core muscles. He'd read somewhere that if one exercised, it was exceedingly important to work the core. He would spend time on the punching bag just to keep up boxing form, but without someone to spar with it wasn't exactly educational in any way, a mindless slog to pass the time.

The more he behaved, the more he was given. Personal items for his own grooming, books, even music. Lately, she had been waking him with music every day, and was really starting to nail his tastes. This morning his day started with a familiar bouncy chord.

Don't get me wrong
If I'm looking kind of dazzled
I see neon lights
Whenever you walk by

Over the music, her voice rang out. "Good morning Cheshire."

"Good Morning my Liege." He greeted cheerily enough, if slightly groggy from waking.

"At your leisure, please make yourself presentable and make your way to the gymnasium."

"Yes ma'am." He replied as he got out of bed and went to brush his teeth.

He'd be humming the tune for the rest of the morning. He made his way to the gymnasium without the assistance of the orderlies. He knew the way, and since he no longer fought with them, they allowed him to walk of his own volition. These guys were incredibly ill humoured, not unlike palace guard. But he'd promised himself he was going to get these guys to crack eventually, and this morning was yet another opportunity. He could see them standing outside the gymnasium door at the other end of the long hallway that lead from his room directly, and a smirk painted across his face. After a moment, his humming turned into singing, and he strutted towards the pair dramatically.

"Once in a while
Two people meet
Seemingly for no reason
They just pass on the street
Suddenly, thunder showers everywhere
Who can explain the thunder and rain
But there's something in the air-" He sang along to the music in his head, powerwalking towards the duo in front of him. In a moment and without hesitation, he was dancing up on one of them, literally an inch from freak dancing on the poor bastard. he knew the moment he made contact it would be bad news, and he wasn't looking to get his teeth knocked in, he was just trying to make them laugh. He kept singing, now making direct eye contact with the orderly he'd engaged with as if he was singing for him.

"Don't get me wrong
If I come and go like fashion
I might be great tomorrow
But hopeless yesterday-"

When it was apparent to him that neither of them were going to budge, he decided to give up, for now, twirling away from him to move into the gymnasium.

"Don't get me wrong
If I fall in the mode of fashion
It might be unbelievable
But let's not say so long
It might just be fantastic
Don't get me-"

As the automated door to the gym slid open, he found he wasn't alone.

There were people in here. People who were not orderlies. And he froze like a deer in the headlights.

[Alice]

It was difficult to say how long the man had been standing in the doorway before a small hand gave his arm a shake from the side.

"Hey beanpole, whats the matter?"

The woman to his left was at least a foot shorter than him if not more, with messy black hair that looked as though it had once been cut short and was long overdue for a trim. She stared up at him with big blue eyes, dressed in white scrubs like all the others, though they seemed to hang a little baggier than most on her - likely it was difficult for them to get something in her size. Like him, a tag dangled from her earlobe, this one reading 9A.

[Hatter]

Another woman in scrubs, this one on his right, smiled pleasantly at the newcomer. Her hair was tied into a ponytail with what looked like a rubber band. Her tag read 5-H.

"It's okay kiddo. We don't bite," she said with an American southern accent, chuckling, "Well, at least I don't."

[Basil Benson]

Basil did jump a bit at they approached him.

There was no reason for them to ever guess that the attractive if vaguely neurotic young man had ever been anything but visible as he reached up to tuck back his longer than normal hair.

"Uhm, Hello.

I'm-" He paused for a moment, trying to recall his name.

"Cheshire?" He ended, making it sound like a question more than a statement.

[Alice]

"Are you sure? You sound like a Dormouse to me." The short woman stated, looking the tall man over curiously as she circled him. Her voice had a bit of a twang to it as well, but not that American one. At the same time it wasn't British either. Australian maybe, or South African?

"But most of us get a little mixed up about who and what we are when we first arrive. That's just how it works here."

[Basil Benson]

"Are you Roman?" He asked with a tinge of amusement in response to the dormouse comment. "Because you're certainly sizing me up like one."

[Hatter]

"Yeah. And you're the Ceaser salad," 5H joked.

[Alice]

9A scrunched up her face in visible confusion.

"I don' get it."

[Basil Benson]

"I was making a joke that you were looking at me 'like a snack', or whatever it is the kids say these days." He was smiling, but it was clear due to his entrance that it was the nervous sort.

[Hatter]

"It's alright sweetie, not everyone understands humor," 5H said sweetly.

[Alice]

"Well, someone has a high opinion of themselves." The shorter woman said in a faux-grumpy tone, complete with crossed arms. "Who would eat a Dormouse? I'm Alice, not Dinah."

[Basil Benson]

"Romans." He stated casually. He'd noticed others about the room, but had no intention of interacting with them unless they approached him.

[Hatter]

"Hold on. Wasn't Alice my name?" 5H asked the air with a confused expression, head tilted in thought.

[Basil Benson]

Cheshire furrowed his brow at the comment and looked down to his scrubs.

37C.

C?

Wasn't it A before?

Alice was wearing the A now.

"My letter changed. Maybe they changed your name?

Were you naughty and they demoted you?" He asked, sounding mockingly scandalized.

[Alice]

"Oh no, not a demotion." Alice quickly interjected. "Your number is lower after all, so they must have much higher standards." It could mean that, or something else entirely, it was unlikely that the girl knew much more than either of them about it all.

"Oh, is this your first day among the Court? You'll have to show your friends in Genpop! I hope they won't be too jealous."

[Hatter]

"No. I mean..." she said, losing her train of thought.

"Oh well!" she exclaimed cheerily, "Better being the Hatter anyhow. More tea parties that way."

[Basil Benson]

"What's genpop?" Cheshire asked, sounding confused.

"I wouldn't hold my breath. I haven't had a good cuppa since I've been here.

I don't think." He replied to Hatter.

[Alice]

Alice tilted her head curiously at the tall young man. "Ehm, Genpop is... everyone here who isn't in the court. I think it's short for 'general populace'. You know, the other people you were rooming with before you got your own room?"

[Hatter]

"Good riddance to being packed like a sardine, eh kiddo?"

Another day of that and I'd have murderized the lot of 'em!

Hatter shook off the faint whisper in her head with a small shake of her head. It must be about time for her meds.

[Basil Benson]

"I...

I've never had anyone in my room but me."

[Alice]

"What?!" Alice asked incredulously. "That is so not fair. I had to room with the Guinea Pigs for two months before I got my own room!"

[Hatter]

"Well, someone's got friends in high places," Hatter said, sizing Cheshire up for the first time.

"Didn't peg you for special."

[Basil Benson]

Going somberly quiet, the young man shifted uncomfortably and reached up to brush the long side of his hair out of his face.

"Perhaps it's because I'm dangerous." He offered in a conciliatory tone.

[Alice]

Alice looked at Cheshire with an apathetic expression that would not have looked out of place on a Tibetan fox.

"Kitty, why do you think the rest of us are in here? You're more like a plastic spoon that's been dropped into the knife drawer."

[Hatter]

"Although... it is the ones that don't look dangerous that you have to watch out for," Hatter conceded.

[Basil Benson]

Cheshire knitted his brow in defiance, though after a moment, his face twisted into a smirk.

And then he was just... gone. Disappeared into thin air.

[Alice]

Alice was about to debate that point with the Hatter when Cheshire's disappearance caused her to jump backward with a startled little gasp. Soon however she began to clap her hands with a grin.

"Oh, how marvelous! Now I understand the special treatment, I don't think the name of Cheshire has been so apt before."

[Hatter]

Hatter, too, applauded.

"Oh, now that's just perfect!" she laughed. Then she looked around the room for a target for her power.

"Get a load of this," she smirked before dissolving into a cloud of black mist that flew away as if on the wind.

It swirled into a weight machine. The stacked weights moved up and down like a mouth in time with a cartoonish yet somehow menacing voice that sounded very little like the woman they had just been speaking to. "About time she let me out. The weight was killing me," the voice tittered. Although it lacked the psychotic quality that landed her there, this wasn't a healthy shift in persona.

[Basil Benson]

Cheshire continued to be 'gone' and after a few moments, the pair started to forget who they were speaking with.

Until he spoke again. "Neat!"

[Alice]

Alice hugged herself and rubbed her arms when she saw and heard the animated weight rack. "That voice always squicks me out."

Already on edge, she jumped with a start at Cheshire's voice.

[Hatter]

The cloud left the weights and swirled into an exercise rope. Coming to life like a snake, it rose up as if under the power of a snake charmer.

"Ssstupendousss, isss it not?" Hatter's dark side hissed softly.

[Basil Benson]

"Mmm, Most definitely" He assured Hatter, not yet fully aware of what exactly he was addressing.

If Alice was spooked by the voice from nowhere speaking, it'd be that much worse when she accidentally backed into the body of the disembodied voice as she shivered. If she looked up or behind her, she'd find Cheshire looming over her with his neck craned to look down upon her. Visible again, his face wore a concerned expression.

"What did you mean by 'I don't think the name of Cheshire has been so apt before?" He asked, placing special emphasis on the last word.

[Alice]

Alice backed away from the Hatter-rope instinctively, which put her back up against the invisible man. This time she let out a little cry of fright before she collected herself, his serious expression helping to get her sorted.

"I, well, I've met one other Cheshire before. And there've been other Hatters, Knaves, even Alices before me. Or at least that's what others in the court have told me. None of us are the first, our tags say so, see? I'm the ninth." She pointed to the plastic tag hanging from her ear that read "9A".

[Basil Benson]

"Oh, sorry luv." He replied at her nervousness.

Cheshire fingered his own ear gently, only just remembering that he had one on him too.

37C. He looked down at his shirt to confirm.

"Wait... There's been 36 other Cheshires?"

[Hatter]

"Nyahaha! Didn't you know? We're expendable, kid," the voice laughed. The mist poured out of the rope and condensed back into Hatter.

"Sorry about that. I get... odd when I use my power," she said.

[Basil Benson]

As soon as Cheshire registered fully what Hatter had said to him, he looked sick to his stomach. Backing away from Alice quickly, he clasped his hand to his mouth. His staggering and the distant look in his eye suggested he was suddenly feeling incredibly light headed.

[Alice]

"I really don't like it when you're like that Hattie, I wish you didn't say things like that. You don't know for certain that it's true. They could've gotten better and been sent home for good behavior."

An unlikely prospect, but it seemed like what Alice was holding out hope for.

[Narrator]

"Yes Hattie. You do have a propensity for being incredibly.... macabre?" A new voice stated. Three others had entered the room while Hatter was making a distraction with her abilities.

One carried themselves with a air of dignity, as if he was somehow better than the others assembled, and not just another patient in the same mental ward. His dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail to keep it from taking over his face. He was cleaning a pair of spectacles with the edge of his top and moisture from his own hot breath.

He was an attractive young man with soft features, though much like Cheshire himself, living in here was taking a toll on him physically. And while he had dark and handsome down, the tall bit... not so much. He was a rather average sized British man, clocking in at exactly 175cm.

He bore the tag 3P.

One was a small mousy looking girl, but not smaller than Alice. Her light brown hair was a mess upon her head, and her dark eyes bore deep sleeplessness circles around them. She flopped down on the padded gymnasium floor and seemingly began to doze while she was still set upright. On her shirt was the moniker 6D.

The last was perhaps the creepiest of the lot, depending on your perspective. A tall, blond, faceless entity hopped up onto the pommel horse, seemingly taking no notice of the already assembled group.

Or maybe they did. It was really hard to tell.

Their unusually long, slender fingers seemed to glide into the handles in an otherworldly fashion as they lifted themselves feet over head, and.... just decided to hang out there for some reason?

It bore the combination of 1K. Depending on one's interpretation, such a low number could mean one of three things.

1: This was the first of it's kind to ever make it into Wonderland.
2: Number did correlate to how many people before you had been rehabilitated, and this entity had been here a very long time.
or 3: If they were expendable, this particular entity was a very hard commodity to expend.

They didn't seem to be offering any insight into the matter however.

Of course, only Hatter and Alice were certain which one of the trio had spoken to them, since they were familiar with this new lot.

[Hatter]

"Yes, I'm the creepy one. Not the flippin' Slenderman," she said, shuddering.