disturbing my P E A C E [Open]

[six of diamonds .]

She could have easily been criticized for causing a disturbance.

After all, she certainly wasn't been helpful to any sort of croquet game. She obviously wasn't there to watch said game. (And anyways, the current game was several yards away, far enough for her to be safe for the time being.) From where the game was, she was practically invisible, but the flaming hair seemed to give her away as being a card. Luckily, nobody had purposefully aimed for her. Still, seeing as she wasn't helping whoever was playing to win, it was surprising that nobody had commented upon her presence. She figured for the next few moments, while the game hovered closer, she would be quite alright where she was.

If they got there and somebody disagreed, she had her drawing utensils.

She could picture her excuse. She would smile innocently. "But, but I was drawing for the Joker, of course." And then they would feel ashamed of their words, well, most of them, and leave her alone. Anybody who knew her better would have disputed, but she figured that none of them would protest in the first place. The Six of Diamonds would be free to sit and draw and contemplate, not that she was doing much of the latter.

She dragged a dark brown colored pencil harshly across the page. Her brow creased, an anger that was almost uncharacteristic, but it softened soon after as she slowly moved a light peach color on the paper. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no," she muttered slightly, pausing to sigh. A small frown carried onto her face as she pulled yet another pencil out in an attempt to fix what had been a hedgehog at the time she had drawn it. Now? Well, now it just looked like a lopsided ball. She sighed once more as she attempted to fix what she viewed as a ruined drawing. "That will not do, will not do indeed."

She had just cast a glance up for a moment, when she saw the animal flying through the air. Six gasped, her eyes wide, and flung her supplies down. She quickly leaned back in the wooden chair she had dragged out from the kitchen, causing it to tumble backwards. She covered the top of her head with her hands as she landed with a thud, quite painfully still sitting, and slammed her eyes shut. As she began to hear the laughter of other citizens, she quickly tucked her legs up and rolled off to one side. She slowly sat up, horrified, and gathered her art. "Th-that was not very nice, not at all!"

And with that, she huffed off in the direction of the gardens, her cheeks blazing.

Maybe someone along the way would be nicer than those other cards.

ooc;; I swear, I don't bite. I just have long intro posts. ^___^;;

[knaveofhearts]

"Hm...I could...no, that won't...Maybe..." the Knave of Hearts muttered as he wandered around, thinking of more ways to steal tarts from the kitchen. "I could...But then...I'd have to.. Ah!" He snapped back into reality just in time to avoid walking into the six of Diamonds. "So sorry," he said with a slight bow. "Wasn't paying attention. Never really know what you might walk into here in Wonderland, y'know?" Of course she knew. She was from Wonderland, after all. "Hm? What's that?" the Knave asked, noticing Six's art. "A picture? May I see it?"

[six of diamonds .]

The Six of Diamonds beamed. She gave a slight nod, then dropped her knees in a mock-curtsy. "Of course, there's always something new to pop in, or up, or even down. Always something new, indeed," she mused. A fitting comment, especially based upon all of the new humans who seemed to be falling down into Wonderland. She felt like she recognized him, but she wasn't sure. All of those figures she had seen in the courts eventually blurred together. Not to mention the fact that most that she would have recognized were changing in appearance, even that silly White Rabbit looked human!

"A drawing, yes," she said, as if clarifying something. Six slowly held out the picture of the croquet fields, casting a glance back in the direction she had stormed her way over from. She continued to hold her package of pencils close, as if too afraid to release too much of her supplies and canvas. "It isn't very good, but I didn't want to stay around and try to correct it. It isn't the safest of places to simply sit." Her nose crinkled slightly, and a small frown situated itself upon her face. "Not that it ever was, of course. Hedgehogs are hedgehogs, no matter what they are being used for." She flashed another smile for only a moment.

[knaveofhearts]

"Really...I always rather liked hedgehogs," the Knave said, looking at the drawing. "Croquet, though, I was never very fond of...Anyway, your drawing is very good for something that isn't very good." He quickly took a step back to avoid being hit by a hedgehog that had been hit a bit too hard. After tossing it back to the field and making sure his guitar hadn't been harmed by the spiky creature, he realized that he hadn't even introduced himself to the other card yet.
"Ah, but where are my manners?" he said. "I haven't even given you my name! I am the Knave of Hearts, though most just call me Jack."

[six of diamonds .]

She beamed one more time. "Thank you." Her voice was rather soft, and she looked down. She could feel the heat creeping into her cheeks, but it was dashed away as another hedgehog came into view. Now she realized how dreadfully awful her decision to draw out among that silliness was. The Six of Diamonds cast a glare back at the direction of the current game and narrowed her eyes slightly, but remained silent about it. Surely the goal was not to aim for them! She knew enough about the game to know that either someone was horrible at the game, or they weren't really trying to win.

She nodded slowly. The Knave? The one who was accused of stealing tarts? She was partially amazed she had remembered that, but of course, it was the first time Alice had arrived on the scene with the Queen. "Pleasure to meet you, Jack." A pause before giving her own name, shrugging. "I am the Six of Diamonds. Well, Six, normally." The Six of Diamonds smiled faintly, glancing once more at the croquet game. "I would be in the garden, but the dark flowers aren't really to my liking." Her nose crinkled once more at the thought of attempting to draw black roses. They certainly would look worse than what she viewed as her morbid attempt at a hedgehog.

[knaveofhearts]

"No, I don't particularly like them either," the Knave said. "But the Rose Garden does make for a good meeting place..." he trailed off, remembering that he was supposed to meet the March Hare to tell him his new plan to steal more tarts from the kitchen. Oh, well. That would have to wait. Well, it didn't really have to, but it waited anyway. Time was much fonder of the Knave of Hearts than, say, the Hatter.
"Well...If you really don't like the black roses," he muttered. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a paintbrush he'd found in the garden. "Here," he said, handing the paintbrush to Six. "You seem to be a better artist than me. You can paint the flowers any color you like. Maybe even a color you don't, but I wouldn't recommend it." He would have promised to take full responsibility if the other card got in trouble for changing the flowers, but he knew it was a promise he probably wouldn't keep. Mostly because he would probably forget that he made said promise in the first place.

[six of diamonds .]

"Oh my!" Her eyes lit up as she slowly took the paintbrush. She tucked the drawing under one arm as she situated a place among her package of art supplies for it. "I'm not the best painter out of the cards. But..." She paused, glancing down. "Th-thank you." The Six of Diamonds nodded quickly, beaming. Despite the fact that normally stuck with drawing, she had no doubt that she would be posing problems to the Joker and his silly need for the roses to be painted black. Who needed black roses, anyways? At least when they were red, they had a color that looked good on roses. Although, Six was a little biased, being a Diamond...

"If you don't mind me asking, what brings you out here? You don't talk like you're out to play a game." Especially not after he had mentioned not being particularly fond of croquet. At first glance, he had seemed flustered and distracted, but that had quickly evaporated. She shrugged off any paranoia, what would he really be doing that would make her suspicious anyways? She shook her head slightly. All of this business with the humans must have been getting to her or something, making her even more worrisome over the Diamonds than normal. It was foolish. "I apologize if you do not wish to disclose that information." She laughed slightly, and the last sentence had almost a teasing tone to it.

[knaveofhearts]

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't really know what I'm doing here," the Knave said, obviously unaccustomed to being perfectly honest. "I'd been wandering around the Hedge Maze, thinking of ways to get away with stealing some tarts from the kitchen, and next thing I knew, I was about a second from walking into you." Apparently being lost in thought actually can get you lost. Well, that's Wonderland for you. "Of course, I could be lying to you. I'm very good at it," the Knave said. "But even if I did know what business I have here, how would you?" He was completely aware that this, like many things he said, made no sense. But nonsense is all one is likely to hear in a place like Wonderland.

[six of diamonds .]

She nodded slowly. "Well, I'm not sure what you would gain from lying." She shrugged slightly. "I am sure of where the kitchen is, and that it's certainly not this direction." The Six of Diamonds smiled slightly, a small bit of laughter creeping into her voice. She wasn't completely sure of everything he had said, but she hoped she had gotten enough of it to comprehend what was going on. "Not that I'm incredibly experienced in the art of tart-thievery. Not from the Queen." It was obvious from the way that she spoke that she still valued the Queen of Hearts much more than the Joker, if it hadn't already been evident from her dislike of the dark roses.

"Well, I suppose you could have wandered into worse areas. Like the Wood. I'm sure that would have been a trickier situation to get out of." Six nodded some more, her eyes wide at the thought of letting lost in Tulgey Wood. She didn't often leave the castle, she could only recall one time, and even without being very far it had been difficult for her to find her way back. "Although, I'm sure some of them would be perfectly content to help with the tarts."

[knaveofhearts]

"Tricky situation to get out of, eh?" the Knave replied, smirking. "I suppose so. For just about anyone besides me, as I do spend quite a lot of time there and know it as well as I know the kitchen."
The Knave, easily distracted as he was, began to walk off, thinking of new ways to steal more tarts and of new melodies to play on his guitar.
"...Oh! Of course! How could I forget?" he said, suddenly turning back to Six. "For you," he said, presenting the other card with the last of his ill-gotten tarts from his last trip to the kitchen.

[six of diamonds .]

The Six of Diamonds nodded slowly, her face blank as if it were a grave realization. It made sense. She wasn't one to really leave the castle often, but she assumed that there were probably countless others who did. They probably didn't feel as bound to the Queen as she did, despite the fact that she held virtually no power nowadays. He didn't really seem like a card who would stay put. She knew the grounds perfectly, and several of the hallways inside the labyrinth of the castle. Still, if she were to be anywhere else, the odds would be against her. She had guessed she would become hopelessly lost, and it would take quite some time to get back to where she felt she belonged.

Her eyes lit up at the other tarts. "Oh my!" Six was likely to make a fuss about the way he had gotten the tarts, but she made no mention of it. "Honestly? Thank you, sir." She bit her lip as she took them, feeling slightly ashamed at her behavior. Her face once more lit up as she spoke again, glancing down at the art supplies at her side. "I feel dreadful about giving you nothing in return. Perhaps my drawing? I could make a new one, a better one, I'm sure." She nodded eagerly, beaming as her excited words formed. "After all, you have given me the paintbrush and the arts, and I've yet to return the favor." She nodded once again, as if this last statement justified her blissful excitement.

[knaveofhearts]

"Oh, I simply couldn't take something from a lovely lady such as yourself," the Knave replied, smirking. "Hm...If you wish to repay me, then...well, just don't turn me in for stealing those tarts and we'll call it even."
Dodging another projectile hedgehog (the other cards obviously weren't very good at croquet), he sat down, already distracted, and began absentmindedly playing his guitar. Between his dastardly tart-thefts, guitar playing, and the fact that he was completely out of his mind, the Knave of Hearts was never left with nothing to do.

[six of diamonds .]

The Six of Diamonds shook her head frantically. “Oh, heavens, no, of course not.” Who would she turn him in to? The Joker? As loyal as Six was to her beloved Queen of Hearts, this foolish human was not one she wanted to obey. She wouldn’t turn around and turn the Knave in. She couldn’t! However, there was the nagging feeling that perhaps it would be inquired upon her as to who stole the tarts. If it were from her darling Queen, then Six would have felt obligated to reply. She’d never been a very good liar, and if she refused to answer the Joker, than it was possible that the Queen would step in. Six was not blind to the rumors of the power Joker held over the Queen. “Not if I can help it.” The last part was softer, almost ashamed, as he eyes averted themselves to the grass about an inch past the tips of her shoes.

Silly, silly sense of allegiance to the Queen!

Most of the other cards had given it up, either leaving or pledging themselves to the Joker.

When Jack sat and began to play his guitar, the Six of Diamonds tilted her head slightly to one side. An instrument? She couldn’t recall the last time there was real music. The Joker was interested in these odd little musical habits. Something ghastly called “rock and roll” came up in conversations about music. Six found them highly illogical, though Wonderland wasn’t much better, but she could at least comprehend music that flowed through Wonderland. The humans had also introduced her to something more classical, something more suiting of her personal taste. She had heard the Hatter owned a record player that could play these “old” songs, but she had never ventured far enough from the castle to see it. She frowned ever so slightly as she watched

“I haven’t met many musicians, but you’re quite good, you know,” she said after a moment, her voice soft. She nodded quickly, eyes wide. Her eyes flowed back to the spot near her shoes, as if she regretted her outburst. Her cheeks tinged a slight red color, but it faded rather quickly. She glanced to her drawing and its pad of paper, frowning slightly at it.