Every Queen Needs A King?

[save_us_alice]

Alice ports into the Nexus and finds herself a comfortable couch to sit on. She's frowning, looking rather annoyed (and possibly worried) about something. Once she's seated, she pulls out her cards and starts shuffling them, mostly to have something to do with her hands. "What is the best way to distract someone from talking about marriage?" she

Comments

[issueswithdad]

Mordred walks over, looking Alice over. A girl? Why would someone that young be brought to the Nexus? It doesn't matter that much to him, though. She has a question. Was that the only requirement?

Hell, Mordred's bored. He's fine with answering the question of this child. "I'd suggest that you simply divert her attention to something else. If she brings up marriage, talk about a fault of hers. If that doesn't work, make yourself entirely repulsive to any potential suitors."

[save_us_alice]

Yes, a girl, and Alice doesn't think of herself as a child. She's 18 now -- technically, she's a young woman. Hence the whole talk about marriage. "Oh, I've made some attempts -- tried to get her talking about her new dress patterns or hats or her friends. . . ." Alice shakes her head. "I was just wondering if anyone had any other suggestions." Then she smirks. "As for making myself repulsive, I don't need to work on that. Not many young men would fancy a girl who was in bedlam."

[issueswithdad]

Mordred simply raises an eyebrow at that last remark. A girl who was in bedlam...he didn't want to know why she was there. He really didn't want to know. "Well, sorry I couldn't be much help. What not to do for marriage was never really a problem for me." By virtue of him not being married yet.

[save_us_alice]

And Alice doesn't particularly want to talk about it. Everybody's happy. "Oh, that's fine," Alice tells him, picking out a card from her pile and flipping it between her fingers. "It's a rather specific question, isn't it? If you've never had the problem. . . ." She amuses herself by making the card vanish and reappear. "How can you know how to answer it?"

[issueswithdad]

Mordred gave a few small golf claps as Alice made the card vanish. It only seemed appropriate. "I don't know how to answer it. I can only answer based on how other people reacted when dealing with marriage. I've got four older brothers, after all. I should know at least a little bit about the ways of life."

[save_us_alice]

Alice grins a little at the applause. "Four older brothers?" she repeats. "Quite the family. I don't have any siblings myself, so I can't ask them about it." Her expression turns thoughtful. "Though perhaps I could ask my cousins. They might have some sort of useful advice."

[issueswithdad]

"It was indeed. With five boys running around, my mother had her hands full." His mother. Morgause. He missed her at times. "But yes, asking your cousins sounds like it would be a good idea."

[save_us_alice]

Alice chuckles. "I can imagine. My own mum often said that I got into trouble enough for three children myself." She nods. "They're all married now, but I would be surprised if they hadn't gone through something like this beforehand. Lionel lives the closest, and he's the most recently married -- I think I'll send a letter to him."

[issueswithdad]

"There we go." Mordred smiles. Finding a chair, he sits down in it, reclining. "They'll know a lot more about things like that than me."

[save_us_alice]

"Particularly since they've lived with her all these years," Alice says, half-jokingly. Figuring now is as good a time as any, she decides to introduce herself. "I'm Alice Liddell, by the by."

[issueswithdad]

As he was before her time, the name meant nothing to Mordred. "Mordred. Pleasure to meet you, Miss Alice." He nodded towards the girl, instead of getting up to kiss her hand or anything knightly like that.

[save_us_alice]

Alice is fine with a nod. "Very nice to meet you as well," she says, returning it. "Do you visit here often?"

[issueswithdad]

Mordred shook his head. "I don't come here as often as I would like. Still, I come here from time to time."

[save_us_alice]

"It's like that with me," Alice says, examining the Queen of Hearts card in her deck for a moment. "Whenever I feel I can get away. Of course, I've also come here without meaning to -- my first trip here was an accident."

[issueswithdad]

Mordred nodded. "Likewise. My first trip here, I had no idea what was happening. Now, I think I've got this under control."

[save_us_alice]

Alice grins a little. "Me too, though I'm half-certain this place will find yet another way to surprise me. Whenever I think I'm getting too used to this place, I remember that bomb that splattered me with strawberry tarts."