All in a Golden Afternoon - Hollow Bastion - [Complete]
Alice languidly placed herself underneath a tree in one of the castle's gardens. She finally had a good amount of free time, since all of her staff was back to full health and were making up for lost time
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So to make it up to the monkey, he decided he'd take a walk through the gardens with him. Abu was screeching happily as Aladdin walked through the courtyards. Perched precariously on his shoulder, the monkey was looking here and there, perhaps hoping that there was some manner of fruit or nut that had fallen from a tree that he could collect.
Speaking of trees, it wasn't long before the two happened upon one that had someone underneath. It was none other than Alice, one of the Princesses of Heart. Aladdin knew her, of course, being married to Jasmine and all. She was the youngest of the group, so Aladdin had a good deal of respect for her. She'd taken all the work and done it diligently. On the other hand, it was depressing that someone so young had to be put to work--but war called for such things.
He headed over to her, a smile on his face. "Hey there, princess. Getting some fresh air?"
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She liked every one of the other Princesses' husbands, but Aladdin was the one whose company she enjoyed the most. He was more informal and down to earth than the others, which made him much easier to speak to, since she was so young. Plus, he had a monkey, and Abu was absolutely delightful.
"How have you been?" she asked politely. It had been a while since she had seen him, since she had been busy for a good amount of time. His pleasent demeanor always brightened her mood, though she was usually in a good mood to begin with.
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He supposed Kairi was going to be a Princess of Heart, too. She was also fun to be around, though he was sort of relieved that he wasn't playing babysitter anymore. First her, then Namine... It had gotten rather tiring.
"I've been okay. I miss Jasmine, but I think she's going to be back soon... She might be back already, actually, but she's just busy giving reports and all that." He shrugged, watching as Abu leaped off his shoulder to greet the girl.
"A gummi ship crashed on the outskirts of town today. There was... one survivor, so I brought him into the infirmary. I also ran into someone who might be joining the military, so I got him a room in the castle," he explained. It felt wrong to talk to someone so young about death, but he knew that Alice was used to that sort of thing by now.
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She giggled at Abu as he approached the girl. She patted him on the head and offered him a piece of pound cake she had in her apron pocket. She really did think Abu was simply precious. He was far more intelligent than Dinah, that was certain!
"Oh, goodness! I hadn't even heard of that! How horrid. That was quite good of you to care for that man. He must have been so upset. I have been meaning to visit the infirmary and help out. I should do that soon, I think." She had to admit, speaking about death was becoming too common of an occurance in Alice's life, and she hated it. She didn't want to get used to talking about it, but she also understood it was just a part of war, and she should just accept it.
"It's nice that we're getting more military recruits, though. We need all the help we can get!"
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Abu was hardly aware of Aladdin's worry, though. He snatched up the cake in a split second and was nibbling on it as if he hadn't eaten all day. (Which wasn't true. Aladdin had fed him before he'd headed out to check on that crash.)
"Be careful if you go visit," he said with a small sigh. "He's a little off, that one. His name is Bakura, though." He figured it would be best if someone checked in on the guy, though he wasn't sure if Alice should be the one to do it. Then again, who could truly get upset with someone as sweet as her? Well, Aladdin got the feeling that if anyone could, it was Bakura.
"Yep! And hopefully the general will be back soon with some more." Though an influx of recruits would mean his classes would be fuller--though that wasn't a huge deal.
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She grinned slyly. "Off? I'm quite sure that I can handle 'off' people," she replied. She was sure this man couldn't be any worse than the people she had encountered in Wonderland.
"Oh, I haven't met the General yet. What's he like?"
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Even if he tended to miss that ratty "home" of his sometimes.
"Oh, that's right..." He smiled crookedly at her. "Still, he might be dangerous. Just be careful. Though there should be a doctor or a nurse in there, too."
...And the same mistake was made twice in a period of a few hours by two completely different people. This time Aladdin was able to control his laughter. "It's a woman, actually. And she's... very good at what she does."
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At this point, Alice was more mumbling to herself than anything. She realized how rude she was being and snapped back to the conversation.
"Oh! I'm terribly sorry, I thought the general was a man. But I'm sure she's just splendid. There really are a lot of good people working for the war."
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"Everyone makes that mistake. No worries. She'll probably be back soon, so you'll probably get to meet her." He was rather surprised that she hadn't met Integra, in fact. He'd figured all of the Princesses of Heart had...
"And yeah, we've got a lot of dedicated people here," he agreed with a nod. "But it's good that more people seem to be trickling in."
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In truth, Alice was the only Princess to have not met the general yet. Alice wasn't too fond of hearing about what went on in the military. It wasn't that it was so dreadfully boring, it was just that she really didn't understand much of it at all. Besides, if there was anything the general spoke of that pertained to Alice, the other Princesses were sure to let her know. "Yes, I really should try to meet her finally."
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"If you find the time," he agreed with a nod, beginning to play with the grass absentmindedly. There hadn't been much in Agrabah, save at the rare oasis here or there, so having so much of it around to pull at or simply look at was nice. The climate in Hollow Bastion was definitely better than what he was used to. "I mean, you must be busy... And so is she." Everyone was except for him, it seemed. He always ended up with nothing to do--and it was even worse when Jasmine wasn't around.
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"Yes, it seems all of us have too much to do. I would much rather have the free time that you do!" Alice wasn't saying this accusingly at all, she was just expressing her small amount of envy for the prince.
She sighed and leaned back against the tree again, brushing her hands over the petals of a patch of flowers next to her.
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Then again, with the lack of free time his wife had, he figured he was better off. Besides, he didn't qualify; his heart wasn't that pure.
"Hopefully we'll start winning this war and you won't have to work so hard, right?" he said with a half-shrug and small smile. It wasn't fair. Her childhood was basically going to waste. That didn't sit well with him, especially since he hadn't had much of a childhood himself.
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Alice was naive. Even though she was forced to grow up a little more quickly than normal, she was still a child. She didn't fully grasp all the complexities of war in general, let alone the one she was involved in. It didn't make sense to her why this war couldn't just stop.
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And at the moment, things were just getting worse and worse. They could only hope that something would come along that would change the tide of battle.
What that was, Aladdin didn't know. He wasn't sure if anyone did.
Pulling his legs up closer to his chest, he glanced at Alice and searched for something to say. "We'll just have to see," he offered lamely.
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The conversation had gotten a bit too depressing for the girl, so she figured it was time for a change of subject.
"Aladdin, tell me about your past," she said curiously. Alice had heard about Jasmine's life numerous times. She had heard all of the Princesses' stories. But she never really had the chance to speak with any of their husbands, and she was sure they had different stories to tell.
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