Night Stalking [Finished]

[Vyn]

Hatter didn't mind that she was off tune. After all, he sang all the time and was very rarely in tune. Not quite as horribly as she was, but he definitely didn't have a voice to brag about.

Upon entering the room, he glanced around at the various wall pegs which held his hats. The room, luckily, wasn't dedicated entirely to hats. A closest also held some clothes and, well...the only description for the rest of his 'attire' was costumes. So he liked to dress up, he liked to be fancy and to play with colors and, of course, his favorite accessory: Hats. It was where he got his 'name' after all.

Striding over he settled the teapot and the tray it was being carried on onto the nightstand and then flopped down smoothly onto the bed. Taking a sip of his tea, he watched Peaches take in the room as well.

"Heh... This is just a few of my doubles, really... So you can take whichever one you end up liking the best." He leaned over, literally flopping onto his back with his teacup carefully poised so that it wouldn't spill, and pointed to the mirror behind him. "The mirror is full length and all that, so you can admire yourself. ...And my tea collection?" He laughed warmly. "Lets stick to Hats this evening, I'll show you my proper tea set when you visit me in Corvistowne."

Abruptly he shifted once more, sliding onto his feet and setting his tea cup down. He was humming softly as he moved, selecting a hat from a peg and returning to stand behind Peaches.

"A lot of them are custom made, actually...and this one, try this one first!"

[Kiki]

Kari and Vyn receive 3 tokens each, to be redeemed in Ashwin's Shoppe. This will automatically be added to your recorded totals in the shoppe. Congratulations, and keep up the good RP!

[Kari Muffin]

He certainly was a floppy sort of man. Skilled with a teacup as well. Peaches was almost jealous, but she had her catlike grace to make up for it. Well. The catlike grace she had when she didn't fall flat on her face from lack of usage of her arms. That was another story entirely.

She sipped her tea, staring at these doubles. Peaches was still quite impressed. She didn't protest when he offered her the Hat. It was a rather interesting shade of red with a dark black band around it. And of course it had a set of cards in the band.

Of course it looked hideous with purple hair. She was like one of those old ladies from that nasty hat club. No thank you. "As much as I love the color red, I think it looks awful with my hair. I should probably stick with something that matches the rest of me... like... that one."

She carefully gave Hatter the tea before jumping to get a hat off of its hook. She popped it on top of her head, spinning around to face the Hatter. "How does this look in your opinion?"

[Vyn]

Standing behind her before the mirror, Hatter's thoughts momentarily took a dive for the worse...but he quickly revived them. One shouldn't think such things about guests... Eh, not quite that quickly, at least!

However, once he'd situated the Hat on her head his eyes winded slightly and his nose scrunched adorably. No, it definitely didn't look good. Taking her teacup and the Hat she had discarded, he tossed the hat smoothly back to its peg and watched it fall with unusual grace. Hatter just seemed to have a way with his Things. Teacups, Hats, and Mechanics. He watched her run to fetch another Hat with keen interest, actually sliding onto the balls of his feet before she spun around to face him.

This one was definitely better, smooth and black with a purple band around the base which accented her hair and eyes just right. He approved, he definitely approved. "Very nice!" He purred a little, rolling the sound on his tongue...almost as if imitating the purrs she had produced earlier without quite realizing it.

Hatter rather liked the way it sounded when she purred.

[Kari Muffin]

Peaches flat out giggled at his response. Oh my. That was quite a silly purr he had made. "Thank you. Since you seem to be quite enamored with the way I look in it, I may just have to keep it." She took a few steps to close the distance between the pair. She leaned forward to look straight into his eyes even if he was slightly taller than her.

"You don't know how to purr though." She grinned and tapped her finger on his nose before taking her teacup and backing away. "It would be difficult to teach a bird how to purr, but it's always worth a shot. You're close but not quite."

A random inappropriate thought crossed Peaches mind as she spoke about purring. She shook it off with a wave of her jacket sleeve. She was here for another reason entirely. Secrets. "Have you ever visited any of the courts, if you don't mind me asking?"

[Vyn]

Hatter grinned widely as she approached, quite enamored with the way she looked. As he'd said earlier, he liked a girl that could wear his top hats well. When she closed the distance between them, Hatter reached up and ran his fingers along her cheek. "Good, it suits you. I'd want you to keep it."

And then she tapped him on the nose and, for a brief moment, his face flushed. Oh my, had he been mimicking her? He hadn't meant to...but the sound was just so fun! "Ah..." He paused for a moment and then recovered smoothly. "I'm a quick learner, yeah? You could try."

When she moved to fetch his tea cup he in turn moved to refill his own. She was asking questions now, seeking secrets as they had intended to all along...but now she was mentioning the Courts and he...he would have to make some choices. Full truths or half truths? For her...he'd give her the truth. The Hatter settled down onto the bed once more, sipping casually at his tea for a moment.

"I don't mind at all." Not entirely true, the Courts were one of his few sensitive subjects, but he wanted to talk with her. He would get no secrets from her if he did not give up some of his own. "Yes, I've been in the Courts. Was born there, actually."

[Kari Muffin]

A wicked grin crossed the woman's face after she took a long sip of tea. She had half a mine to run and flop-hug the man. However hot tea usually discourage such actions. Instead she took a seat next to him on the bed, crossing her legs and setting the cup down briefly on her knee.

"Being born into Courts could be considered lucky or unlucky depending. You obviously weren't born into the Court of Hearts or I would know about you even if you're not supposed to exist. You couldn't be a Club. I doubt you're a Spade. So I assume from your abundance of charm at least one of your parents was a member of the Diamonds Court." She was satisfied with her math. Peaches had done enough spying and work for Cream to know a little about each of the courts.

The Hatter obviously wasn't in courts now for a reason. She wasn't going to pressure him into find a reason. Knowing that he was from a bit of royalty was a nice secret to know. "I always wanted to join courts since I was a child. Then again I came from a pretty poor family. My brother and I were born Jacks and every expected the world from us. We just wanted to get away from our parents as soon as possible."

[Vyn]

Hatter smiled once she joined him, but that smile twitched a little as she spoke. Wow... She was good. Could she tell all that just from his charm? Hell, he hadn't even realized he was all that charming! It was a nice compliment, and a very accurate guesswork.

"Well now! To think I thought you were impressive before. You're quite accurate there, I was born in the Court of Diamonds." To who, he would not say. A true challenge for Peaches would be locating who he had been among the Court members and, to his faint dismay, he was sure she would eventually figure it out. His past had been a bit bloody and while he himself had been a mere shadow in the background, the events surrounding him had been quite televised. "Don't believe it was entirely lucky in my opinion, what with how busy everyone was... A child as curious is I was just gets underfoot."

His smile quickly to its usual cheerful warmth as she continued. Apparently thoughts of his family were a bit dampening but he recovered from it well.

"Well it appears you've met your goal then, to join the Courts that is...and what of your brother?" Hatter had never had any siblings, though he'd always been curious about it. Family might've been nice, distracting at very least. "Did he make it into the Courts as well?"

[Kari Muffin]

"Putting pieces together is one of my talents. I have to say I'm surprised that I got it right, but it helps that I know a diamond or two who are excessively charming. You're on the top of the list now though," she smiled as she took a sip of of her tea. If he was saying that being born in courts was unlucky he must have had a rather bloody past. That seemed to happen quite a bit. Cycle of revenge and all of that. Underfoot children were normal. She had always been under her parents feet literally and figuratively.

Cheery smiles can only cover up so much distress.

Peaches visibly winced at the mention of her brother and almost dropped her tea cup. After a moment of her clearing her throat she placed her teacup back on her knee and put her hands on the bed. She had to play it a little less panicked and depressed than she was in her head.

"My twin brother is quite dead," She said as her grip tightened on the bed. "He was killed on our eighteenth birthday and left on the doorstep. I was the only one who managed to make it to Courts, sadly. Only reason I really go back "home" is to visit his grave." The woman could have choked on her words, but she was used to lying about how she felt about her brother. It still hurt.

[Vyn]

Hatter smiled, quite a bit proud of her assessment of him. Top of the list? Well then, that was a compliment if he ever heard one!

Yet, the pleasure of that compliment couldn't compare with what came next. He caught that look, that moment where her mask fell for a second and the distress shone through clearly. She'd lost her brother, it seemed, and a twin too... The poor dear, if only he didn't understand loss oh so clearly. Instead he set his tea cup back down, forgetting about the sweet Valentine's brew as he turned instead to his company. This time he didn't hesitate to slide his arms around her; she needed something more solid than the bed to lean on.

"I am sorry for that." He pressed his forehead lightly to her cheek and surrendered a secret equal to her own. She held it in a lot, he could see that, and so she deserved something just as important from him. "My birth mother and I were never close, she sent me to be raised by a woman in Corvistowne so that I would not disrupt her work in the Courts. I never had any siblings, and both of them are also quite dead now; the latter more recently so than the prior."