(Untitled)

[the_guardsman]

Another one back from the dead. He seems well enough, which confuses him as he recalls the Cat, the fatal marks that the feline assassin left him. He does not let his confusion show on his face though as he moves, carefully and a bit uneasily. "My Queen? Princess? Dodge

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[youthfulbravado]

This? This is an INCREDIBLY stunned Dodge.

While he had thought Alyss and Hatter were dead, there had been no bodies. No closure... his father he had watched die and had burried.

"You can't be Sir Justice... I burried my father ten years ago." The young man informs. "At any rate, you at at the Mansion. It's not in Wonderland, or anywhere a Wonderlander has heard of."

Admittedly, the man looked very, very much like the image of his father he remembered so well...

[the_guardsman]

He regards the young man before him with the air one has when they doubt the speaker's words. He crosses his arms and raises a brow. "I am quite certain of my name, Young Man. Do you know the way back to Wonderland? I'm afraid I've left my Queendom at a rather inopportune time..." He mutters something about a Cat, sighing.

[youthfulbravado]

"I do. Or part of the way. I can't find the puddle I arrived in from the Pool of Tears, but I will. And you would be of little help to the Queendom alone at this point... especially considering you're dead."

[the_guardsman]

"Is Queen Genevieve well? Did Hatter manage to take her from the fray? What of the Princess, and my son? Do you know him?" He's stumbling over words as his mind races. He needs to be there with his son and the other Guardsmen and the Queen and he can't very well aid his people here.

[youthfulbravado]

Unfortunately for everyone, his people are in need of far more than simple aid.

"The Queen was murdered. Decapitated by her sister, Redd. Hatter was able to save Princess Alyss, though Wonderland doesn't know it. We all thought she was dead, until I came here and saw her for myself."

"As for your son..." This is strange. All of it. Here is his father, for there's no doubt about it now, the same as he had been before he'd been murdered.

[the_guardsman]

As Captain of the Guardsmen he looks more than a little horrified. "I shouldn't have gone after the Cat. I should have stayed put..." Though likely moving for the Cat was the best he could have done, and nothing could have prevented the fate.

"Is he well?" a note of worry.

[youthfulbravado]

"If you hadn't, something less noble would have taken your life sooner or later. Very, very few lived to tell about that day. I'm convinced I only lived because you died... and I was incredibly lucky even then."

"Well enough... he's grown quite a bit from the boy you once knew."

[the_guardsman]

And you cannot fool a father for too long, "grown" makes everything snap into place and he takes the young man by the chin to study him, frowning deeply at the scars across his cheek.

"...Dodge..."

[youthfulbravado]

Dodge stands with his shoulders back and his back straight and tall to be studied by his father, eyes diverted respectfully.

"Father."

[the_guardsman]

"Look at you. All grown up." He drops his chin. "You're too skinny." He decides, but not without a degree of affection. "Brief me. What have I missed?"

[youthfulbravado]

"I've been hoping to fix that since coming here." Dodge promises. There's been very little food available to the Alyssians of Wonderland, after all.

"Redd has taken over the Queendom. She's a tyrant, nothing is left of the old times. It's the exact opposite of Queen Genevieve's reign... As wonderful as she was, Redd is just as vicious. There is a resistance against her, but we are not doing as well as we were."

[the_guardsman]

"Good boy."

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "I suppose we were foolish to think the peace would last. That's never been Redd's way. As long as she's alive she won't let it be."

[youthfulbravado]

"Now there's hope, though. Alyss isn't dead like we thought, and she's old enough to take the throne..."

[the_guardsman]

"Is the Princess well?" He asks. "She was with Hatter, yes?"

[youthfulbravado]

"Alyss is well. She's here, but so is Hatter. I haven't seen him yet, but she said he's here. We're working on finding the way back to Wonderland."

[the_guardsman]

An approving nod and he paces a bit. "You are well? What happened to your face?"