Shall We Play CROQUET? {Our Hero/Open}

[Alice Liddell]

Alice Liddell sighed once more on another sunny day in... Wonderland.[/b] "I'm all alone.."

She wasn't certain how many times she had paid a trip here. They always turned out to be peculiar visits; situations she hoped to escape from.. But today it was empty, which caught her startled. The smoking Caterpillar was not perched on his yellow mushroom. Perhaps he took flight as a butterfly. Alice couldn't even chant to the routine hit song "A Very Merry Unbirthday to You!" from the spinning tea cups... "I'm really alone," she spoke to herself gloomily.

Something hit her feet... a soft pink furball. She bent down and grasped it tightly. But the minute her tiny hands started to 'suffocate' it, it immediately wriggled out of her hands and uncurled. It had a face, a curious one that stared right into Alice's own curious eyes. That was no furball! But.. a hedgehog! "You there! What do you suppose you're doing here?!" she demanded, peering down at the pink furry creature with a glare. Hedgehogs had posed as a slight annoyance to Alice, due to the fact that they were horrible balls in a game of croquet..

Alice took a moment to stare at the new place she had just entered. A croquet court!

[Our Hero]

Meanwhile, Our Hero had somehow stumbled into Wonderland as well. He wasn't sure how exactly he got there, but the place itself looked like a lot of fun! He curiously started looking around, searching for anything fun that would catch his eyes.

He eventually made his way over to a croquet court and started eyeing it. As he was doing so, he saw some fellow flamingos. However, Our Hero didn't know these flamingos. They were definitely not the ones from his flock. In fact, these particular flamingos didn't even speak.

"Hey, are you new here too?" Our Hero asked them. There was no response. He tilted his head. "Can't you talk at all?" he asked again. Nothing.

Our Hero looked around some more and saw a little girl nearby. He decided to ask her where he was. He went up to her and asked, "Hey, girl! Do you know where we are?"

[Alice Liddell]

Colorful sorts of feathers were clustered together at the end of large croquet ground. A yellow long neck stuck straight up, with its two eyes peered at Alice. It had the queerist beak.. like that of the insane Dodo. It also gave a familiar giggle - like that of an cheery infant. "Oh, yes! The flamingo mallets!" she exclaimed to herself, snapping her fingers to the recollection.

She turned to the timid groundhog that huddled on the floor. An amusing idea formulated as she smirked with mischief. "Croquet, anyone? Well, don't mind if I do.." Hopefully this afternoon's game would not turn into a riot..

Alice quietly made her way over to the large flock of colorful flamingos huddled together. She grabbed ahold of a baby-blue colored flamingo - there was no way she playing with the pink one again. That beast was much too painstaking to maintain! As she grasped the blue's long stick-legs, someone spoke up..

"What? What?! Cheshire Cat?!" Her eyes scanned the entire ground for the caller.. Ugh.. was that cat playing hide-and-seek?! She looked back at the flock, only to find that a pink flamingo was talking to her.. "Aghh!!" Due to such fright she immediately let go of the blue flamingo's stick legs. Her free hands now cupped her face as she gasped, also having had jumped back five feet away from the flock. "Who do you suppose you're talking to?"

[Our Hero]

Since Our Hero could understand the oddly-colored flamingos just fine, he was having a lovely conversation with them. They were telling him all about the Queen and their version of the game of croquet. Our Hero decided he definitely didn't want a part of it if that's what the game amounted to. However, the other flamingos told him all about how they always mess around whenever it's someone's turn to put. The pink one had told Our Hero all about how he even turned Alice into the putter one time!

"Well, that would be a lot of fun! And I do love breaking the rules!" Our Hero declared. He decided to stick around for the game. If anyone needed him, he was there waiting amidst his fellow flamingos.

"I do have one question though," he asked them. "Why do you find everything so funny?"

They explained to him how it's the only way they're really able to have a good time there at the croquet field if they look at everything in a positive light. That way, even the Queen's constant screaming of "Off with their heads!" wouldn't be too much of a burden to them.

"I see," said Our Hero. He continued watching, waiting to see what would happen next. As he was waiting, Cheshire Cat appeared right in front of both Our Hero and Alice.

[Alice Liddell]

"Oh, how rude! To ignore someone when she has just asked you a question!" snapped the child, as the pink talking flamingo turned his attention to the other 'normal' (erm, no, ridiculously giggling) flock of colorful flamingos. She crossed her arms together, tapping her left foot as she stood there with an unpleasant face. She loathed the state of being ignored, unless it would only lead her to more trouble, such as losing her head to axeing packs of cards.

The talking flamingo appeared to ve conversing with the fellow flock, continuing to mutter words in English. The flock however, only responded in their own native tongue, of which Alice could obviously not comprehend a word. She heaved a deep sigh of impatience. They weren't talking behind her back, were they? Her eyes squinted as they darted toward the flock, suspiciously..

"If you don't mind, I believe a game of croquet is in session," she sternly reminded the chattering flamingo. "Are you going to play or not?"

Suddenly, a pair of smiling white teeth appeared before her pink face. It was also pink, a bright purplish pink, with two ominously wicked eyes. "Mr. Cheshire Cat! Not you again!" she spat at his face.

[Our Hero]

(Sorry it's so short. I'm actually supposed to be studying right now!)

"Oh yeah," Our Hero said, turning towards her. He had forgotten all about their game of croquet since he had gotten so busy talking to his fellow flamingos.

They both went over to the starting area to get ready to play the game. Our Hero had remembered everything the other flamingos had told him and decided to try to have a little fun of his own with Alice as well...

[Alice Liddell]

Poof! The cat's grin was gone. "Oh, it's probably just some foolish antic! He'd best be getting some guests lost in the grounds of Wonderland. I know for sure I won't!" she grumbled to herself.

There on the grounds only stood a flock of flamingos, and just one girl. "Well, this is quite disappointing. I'm the only one actually participating as a contestant.." she mused out loud, lightly chuckling to herself. She faced the talking pink flamingo that had just conversed with the other flock. "Excuse me, sir. Do you happen to play croquet? I really do hope there will be someone to challenge in a casual game."

The blue flamingo Alice had grasped earlier now stared at her with fright. Oh yes. He wasn't going to escape just yet.. Once again, she grasped the blue fellow by his stick legs. He trembled with fright, attempting to shake the girl off. It hollered and screamed like a bird in such pain. But before even she could be overthrown, she grasped its beak tightly as it silenced. "No, I will not be used as a mallet in this game..." she reminded him, glaring right into his eyes.

"Now, where might a hedgehog be?" The child scratched her blonde hair.

[Our Hero]

"I've never actually played croquet before," Our Hero said, answering her question. "But it looks easy enough. Especially with the other flamingos helping me out!"

He turned to the other flamingos and gave them a "sorry about this" look. He knocked one over with his foot and propped it up upside-down. The flamingo didn't seem to mind too much since he knew he was helping out another flamingo. In fact, he chuckled in delight.

"Okay, so do you want to go first? Since this is only my first time and all?" Our Hero asked the girl.