#WHICH MAKES ME SO NORMAL IT'S HONESTLY INSANE HOW NORMAL AND HINGED AND SANE AND FINE AND OKAY IT MAKES ME FEEL

[stormyoceans]

something something phum admitting he likes peem first but peem saying the words i love you to phum over and over

[undercoverclover]

Welcome To Wonderland

Part 1

Genre: Mentions of death, Fluff, Angst... 

Word Count: Part 1 & 2 6.8K

Pairing? Red King & Alice 

-My twist on Alice In Wonderland for the Tell A Fairytale event by @acewriters!-

Laying in the sun under the giant oak tree, feeling the sun warm my face, I set the book down and look around. The late summer breeze blew my hair around my face causing some of my hair to go in my mouth. I tie some of it back in a loose ponytail and pick my book back up. Midday was always my favorite time to come outside and read.

Getting lost in the pages, I read until I feel my eyelids droop.

“I’m late, oh gosh. Why am I so late on this really important date?” I hear someone say and I wake up startled. It was just me, my friends had left for the day and weren’t supposed to be back until tonight… Nobody else was here.

“Stupid watch, why are you not working properly? You are why I am so late!” I hear this time louder. I get up and peek around the tree. There’s a man with dark green hair, wearing a white button up shirt, black slacks and white nikes. He was walking almost jogging and kept glancing at a watch and shaking it. Does he think that’s going to make it work better?

I’d never seen him before, but maybe he’s cutting through our yard to get somewhere.

“Excuse me, sir?” I call. His head swivels around and his light brown eyes meet mine as he comes to a halt, “Yes? Can I help you?” He replies hastily.

“Are you lost? Are you sure you’re in the right place?”

“Yes, I am well aware of where I am. Thank you for asking. Now, I must go. I am very very late for something and it’s really important.” He starts walking again and disappears in the woods near my house.

“Curiouser and curiouser.” I say to myself. I walk towards where the man went and try to see if he’s within eyesight. Stepping on something hard, I look down. The man had dropped something. I bent down to pick it up… It’s a pendant! ‘To Rabbit.’ the back said. I quickly look up to see if I see him. I don’t see him though, but I need to give this back to him. I put the pendant in my pocket and stare in.

Even though I’m nervous he’s crazy, I start heading into the trees where I thought he went in. Staring and not seeing the man, I began walking.

“Hello?” I yell as I walk. “Sir? Are you here? Hello?”

Walking deeper into the trees, I notice him really far ahead. “Sir! Wait!” I yell, but he doesn’t hear me. I begin jogging but lose sight of him. I continue towards where I saw him last and notices the canopy overhead is getting darker. I can barely see now so I grab my phone out of my pocket and turn on the flashlight. Looking ahead, I notice a dark wood door a few feet away on the side of an enormous oak. It looked like it had seen better days. The door itself had scratches on it and the knob was beyond rusted.

“What’s this?” I walk up to it and hear the man speaking to someone on the other side. How in the world is this possible? I’m going mad!

Just as I’m about to yell for the man, I hear his footsteps jogging away.

“Oh fudge!” I turn the doorknob and it won’t open. I try again frantically, but push on it this time as hard as I can. It reluctantly opens with a loud groan. I thought it was going to fall off its hinges. Opening the door it’s lighter, like I didn’t just walk into the side of a tree that was cloaked in darkness..

What is going on? Where am I?

I turn off my flashlight and notice a path that continues for who knows how long.

I hear voices and duck down to hide behind a shrub. I don’t really want to find out if they’re like the man since he seemed weird enough. For all I know, I have evil forest people living near my house.

Peeking between the branches, I see twin teenage boys standing off to the right, seemingly in conversation. That is, until you hear their conversation…

“Let’s go find the caterpillar guy.” one says.

“No, he always smells like smoke.”

“That’s because he always has his pipe with him and smoking it, smart one.”

“Like you pay that much attention.” The teens get into it and start wrestling with each other. I take that as an opening and sneak away. Getting clear, I continue on the path.

I guess all of the people I find here will be crazy.

I walk, noticing little animals here and there. Most of the time it was quiet.

“Oh great. Now I’m even later. I swear after this I am buying a brand new pocket watch.” I hear in a familiar voice.

“Hello?” I say, hearing the man I’d previously lost.

“Can’t talk right now. Must hurry! I’m so so late.” He says, finally coming into sight. As quick as he was in my sight, he was gone again down the path. I, once again for an unknown reason, try to follow him. I had no idea where he went but I guessed down the path so I took off that way. Coming to a halt, I’m in a dilemma. The path splits off into a few directions….

Attempting to figure out where to go, I grumble to myself.

“Where’re you goin’?” I hear from above.

I look up, startled and notice a man sitting on a branch in the tree, “Honestly? I haven’t got a clue. I’m following the strange man with the green hair, did you see which way he went? Which way should I go?”

Taking a look at the man, he was quite handsome. He had black curly hair and brown eyes.

He seemed cat-like to be honest. I don’t know why, there was just something about him along with a mischievous look in his eyes.

“I’m not sure, maybe you should ask the Mad Hatter and March Hare.” He smirks at me, nodding in the direction.

“Mad? But, I don’t want to go around people you call Mad....”

“Oh, you can’t help that. Almost everyone here is mad. I’m not exactly sane myself.”

“Is anyone really completely sane?” I ask.

“That’s a good question. You’ll just have to search and find out for yourself.” He swings down from the branch and turns towards me, “See you later.” He smiles at me, canines showing and leaving a lasting image in my mind as he takes off into the forest.

"Wait!" I yell towards the retreating man. I look to the direction he showed me earlier and sigh. I guess that leaves me meeting the Mad Hatter…

I start walking, unsure if I should continue or turn back. Looking ahead, the feeling in my stomach told me to go on, but my head was telling me I was insane and I should turn around and go home.

A few feet up, there's a brush pile that blocks the way and looks insanely hard to get around. Knowing it's either that or going back, I stop at it and look back.

"Hmmm. It doesn't look very thick. Maybe I can push my way through?" I say to myself.

Grabbing two branches, I pull out to try to move it and the whole thing opens like a door.

"This just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser."

Walking through I hear laughing, singing and teacups clattering. I smile because it sounds like they're having a great time. Walking ahead, sure I'll find someone to ask about the man with the pocket watch, I come across a small house, covered in different fabrics and colors.

Outside, there were 2 men sitting at a long fancy table that could hold at least 10 people. I guess the table wouldn't fit inside. The table was filled with different types of teapots, teacups, snacks and a cake. They sat there laughing and pouring tea into different cups.

The man on the left, I'm assuming the Mad Hatter, had blonde and pale red hair. It was curly but most was underneath a black beanie that had two cheetah print ribbons hanging from the back. He wore a green puffy jacket and white pants that looked like it had smoky patterns.

The man on the right, which in turn would be the March Hare? He had normal hair, black but a red beret on. He wore a blue, pink, and white tie-dyed hoodie with overalls. As he laughed I noticed the sun shining on his face glistened at certain angles, he has sparkles placed on there.

"No! No no no. I'm telling you, there's no way! Absolutely no way I would help him anymore! He drives me absolutely mad!" The mad hatter says.

"Drives you mad? You're already mad!" I look to the hare and he starts laughing at his own joke. The mad hatter takes his shoe off and throws it towards the other man. Barely missing him but hitting the teapot and breaking it, making them both laugh now. "Well, there goes that one!" The hatter laughs.

At that second, the March Hare looks over and spots me, dropping his smile. I stand there frozen, nervous of how they will react.

"WELCOME! WELCOME! Come! Come sit down." He smiles again, motioning me forward.

"Oh look, a guest!" The Mad Hatter says, clapping excitedly. I walk closer, trying to be ready in case I need to make a run for it. I take the seat closest to the way I came, "Hello. Sorry to bother-"

"No no. Don't worry you're not bothering us. Do you want some tea?" The March Hare says as he waves his hand in the air to dismiss my statement.

“Yes, I’d really like some. Thank you.”

“So, tell us. Who are you?” I hear from March Hare. I wonder why they call him that? He pours me some tea and I take it from him, nodding in thanks.

“I’m Ali.” I say and take a sip.

“Well, Ali, what brings you here to this area in Wonderland?” The Mad Hatter asks.

So I’m in Wonderland? That’s a rather curious name. I wonder why they call it that.

“I was following a man that came into my yard, he dropped something and I wanted to return it.”

“Oh?” They say in unison and look at each other.

“And what did this man look like? What did he drop?” He asks next.

“He dropped a pendant. It said ‘To Rabbit’ on it. So I assumed it was a gift and he wouldn’t want to lose it.”

“Ah. So he was out this way! I thought I’d heard him!”

“We could have stopped him then! He’s probably on his way to the King’s! We should have warned him!” The Hare said slightly panicking.

“We could have. But, he didn’t stop to say hello this time. Not like he normally does, so he must have been running behind on his normal routine.” The hatter stands up and starts pacing, speaking incredibly fast.

“We must find him. Maybe we can warn him before! Maybe the cat can warn him! Ah hah!” He says getting anxious and excited clapping.

“Excuse me? What do you mean? Warn him about what? He kept saying he was late.”

“Oh, oh dear Ali, the king wants his head of course!” He laughs causing goosebumps on my arms.

“Why would he want that?” I exclaim. “Why, my dear do you know nothing? The Rabbit did something no other has done and the Red King called him a traitor! The Rabbit has no idea the king wants to behead him. The Rabbit allowed a-” His eyes go wide staring at me. He looks me up and down and gasps.

“Oh dear. Oh no. Oh no no no.” He repeats. He looks over to the other man and motions to me with his head. The other man’s eyes look to me and he clasps his hand over his mouth. They scramble up next to each other delving into a conversation I couldn’t hear. They each took turns eyeing me, turning their head towards me every now and then.

Maybe they are crazy.

“Ali, are you from here?” The hare asks, looking anxious.

“I am not? Is that the issue?” I ask, trying to piece the puzzle together.

His eyes go wide and he nods.

“She’s not harmful Hatter. She’d have already done something if she were.” He says, still staring at me, seemingly looking through me.

“No? I wouldn’t harm anyone. I just wanted to return something the Rabbit dropped.”

The Hatter sits down with a wild look in his eye and begins to look at me like the Hare. “I think you’re right. Maybe we should tell her and send her on her way?”

The Hare nods and the Mad Hatter starts telling me about how this isn’t the first time that the Rabbit had let an outsider in. It’s not on purpose in any case but he’d been warned that if it were to happen again, he’d be sentenced to death. The sad look in his eye seemed genuine. He continued to say that the last time it was a little girl about 7 years old that had wandered in. . She had been found and the Red King, the prince at the time, had been giving her food and shelter until the queen found out. The Queen was furious. She wanted to kill her then, but the prince stopped her. She was instead marked with a heart shape on her wrist and thrown in a dungeon. The prince was beyond upset, he didn’t think she would make it. The next few nights he would sneak her food and apologize. She was freed as soon as we could and the Rabbit told the queen she’d died. She had left by way of the Rabbit and us, unbeknownst to anyone else and with the Hare’s luck, so the Red Queen wouldn’t take her head. The dreadful woman being who she was, told the prince that she’d beheaded her before he rose for the day and called us insane for trying to say otherwise! Evil witch! She banished us to the outer surroundings of Wonderland. The prince grew spiteful at his mother and us for allowing her to be beheaded, choosing to believe her. He turned cold, then becoming king after she passed, he claimed he’d never allow any other outsider to even so much as step foot into Wonderland or he’d kill them.” He sighs.

“He’s had his heart in pieces since that day. He was only 5, he knew no better, but to tell him that? And for him to hold onto it for that long? She meant something to him.” Hare dropped his head, patting his eyes with a tissue.

I felt a twinge of guilt in my heart and a tear slid down my cheek. I grabbed a tissue and dabbed at my eyes. “So the king wants to behead the Rabbit? For a mistake? Because someone, well because I found my way in?”

“No, because the Rabbit was careless not once, but twice now and the first time his best friend was taken away from him. This time he doesn’t want anyone from the outside world in here at all and will behead both of the ones who are in the wrong according to him.”

“But it wasn’t his fault! Nor was it yours! I wondered why they called you mad. Now, I understand. Wait,” I say, stopping as my thought process caught up, “are you saying that he knows that I’m in Wonderland now?”

“Yes.” They nod grimly, “you need to leave.”

“I can’t. I have to find the Rabbit. It’s not his fault! Either time it wasn’t his fault.” I had the sense of urgency to find the man with the green hair. I felt responsible. I rub my wrists and look at them.

“I’ll leave, just as soon as I go and explain that there’s a hole in his defensive tactics to keep outsiders out and that’s why I found my way in.”

They look at me like I’m insane, “I’m not going to let someone die for me. I’m going to save him.”

“He’s going to die, as will you if he finds you. It’s best if you just leave and never come back.” The hare says.

“I have to try. Help me?” I ask. They look to each other, communicating in some sort of way.

“As much as we want to, we can’t. The guards would get us before we even got close to the castle” The hatter says. I get up, thanking them for the tea and take off on the trail in the direction I’d been heading.

Walking, I feel nervous and shaky. I continue rubbing my wrist, feeling the heart shaped scar I’d wondered how I’d gotten when I was little. Now? Now I know a piece. I want to know more and I have to make things right.

It gets darker the further I walk and I grab my phone to use my flashlight. I have no idea what time it actually is, but I’ve been walking for a while now and was starting to get tired.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I hear in a familiar voice. I look around not noticing the man from earlier that day.

“Hello? Where are you?” I reply. The cat-like man, who the Mad Hatter called the Cheshire Cat oddly enough, stepped out from behind a tree, eyeing me carefully.

“I’m on my way to talk to the Red King.”

“Now, why would you do that? You have no business in this direction. Return to where you came from.”

“I will, once I’ve spoken to the Red King.”

He half smirks at me, showing one canine, “It’s a death sentence, Alice.”

“How do you know who I am?” I ask, wondering if he was listening to the tea party.

“I can be here,” he turns and points to a high tree branch, “or there. You’ll never see me, unless I want to be seen.”

“Good to know that you eavesdrop as well.” I begin walking and go around him. He grabs my arm, smiling and winks.

“Be careful what you say to him young Alice. He’s not the prince he was.” He turns and takes off into the trees, disappearing in seconds as the darkness envelops him.

“How- what just happened?” I stare off to where he had been. I had questions.

I continue on down the path and my flashlight shuts off. I scramble to turn it back before I get too anxious because I’m not a huge fan of being alone in the dark. I see something out of the corner of my eye and push the flashlight button. There stands two small bear cubs, eyeing me. They weren’t much but they looked sad. Their fur was severely matted and they were skinnier for an animal. Once I shined my flashlight more towards them, they ran. I start walking again and wonder how long I've been out here.

I see little animals scurrying across my path, some stop to look at me and I notice how they all look so sad. I want to hold them to be honest. I feel tears well up in my eyes because of the sights in front of me.

Just when I thought I was going to be out here forever, I notice stone walls in front of me.

“This must be the castle.” I say to myself.

“It is.” I hear behind me.

“Cheshire! You have got to quit sneaking up on me like that.” I say, placing my hand on my chest.

“Nevermind that. Leave, Alice. Do not worry about the Rabbit.”

“I will not leave and it’s not just for the Rabbit!” I exclaim.

“It’s for you too? After all these years? You’ve made it out of here once, I’m not sure they could do it again.”

“Cheshire? How do you know all of this? How do you know me?”

“I warned you. Don’t come this far. He’s not the prince you knew. He’s mad. Even more so than the rest of us.”

“I have no idea what’s going on. I can’t remember anything from then. Nothing. I have to know.”

“Then so be it. If you really must know, wait for the gates to open and the guards switch shifts in the tower. I hope for your sake, that you don’t get caught.”

Every time I’ve ran into him, he’s seemed crazy, but now I wonder.

“I hope you’re the one that can stop this mess. Or maybe you’ll be beheaded yourself.”

“I- I will try my best.”

The man turns around and darts off, jumping over the bushes and into the night. I walk to the other side of the bushes where he’d just jumped and lean against a tree. I drift off to sleep before I begin to dwell on what he had said.

I wake to the sound of a trumpet. It’s signaling something. It’s barely light outside but I can see. Looking around, I see the gates had opened and men were marching in and out. I see the last ones march in and I jump to rush in the gate. Looking around with no idea where to go and praying I don’t get caught, I see a maze of rose bushes. I run to them and hide in between walls.

The roses were a mix of red and white. Except, the red ones weren’t naturally red. They had a red liquid dripping off of them. I didn’t want to think what it could be. I’ll stick with thinking it’s paint to spare my mind.

“That’s all it is. He painted the roses red. Nothing else.” At that moment, I hear a man’s voice that sounds familiar. “I swear I didn’t mean to do this your majesty. Please forgive me! Please!”

“No! Silence! You’ve let someone in for a second time and you want to be forgiven again? How am I supposed to know that it wouldn’t happen for a third time, Rabbit?” I hear a man yelling. Is that the king?

I peak around the corner of the wall of roses, looking up to the side of the castle. There’s a huge platform covered in red and black tapestries with the man I wanted to save, bound in stocks. The executioner stood at the back while a man in a red button up military jacket and black pants spoke to the Rabbit. Many men, women and even some children stood below the platform to watch this man be sentenced to death. I don’t understand people.

“You did not pay for the last one, this time you will.” he said as he motioned for the executioner. I had to act fast.

[stormyoceans]

top5 puentalay kisses/hugs?

im pretty late with this but i would never pass up a chance to be annoying about vice versa so here we go!!!!!!! (also im not sure if i was supposed to pick only one of the two but again I SIMPLY CANNOT PASS UP A CHANCE TO BE ANNOYING ABOUT VICE VERSA IM SORRY)

TOP 5 PUENTALAY KISSES

1. greyllery kiss in episode 8. this is their first mutual kiss after two one-sided kisses, three almost kisses, three cheek kisses, and one forehead kiss. not to mention the hugs, the cuddles, the promises, the sleeping in the same bed, the taking a bath together, and i could go on but imma stop here before i get involuntary committed. we waited so long for this kiss and when it finally happened it was everything we could have ever asked for and MORE: the confession, the music, the parallels with the glasshouse kiss, the fact that it happens when the lights are out because they love each other for who they really are and not for the body they inhabit, puen's single tear......IT'S PERFECT.

2. glasshouse kiss in episode 4. i know having a one-sided kiss for second place doesn't seem fair but in my defense this kiss makes me go through such a plethora of human emotions that i feel like i need to go lay in the dirt for several hours to climb down from the sheer manic unhinged rabid energies that got me going on. y’all must be tired of hearing me say the same things over and over again about this kiss but. the build up!!!!!! the emotions!!!!!! the music!!!!!! IM NOT EVEN KIDDING WHEN I TELL YOU THIS KISS IS MY ROMAN EMPIRE.

3. beach kiss in our skyy episode 2. our skyy may have given us only one kiss but WHAT A KISS IT WAS. it feels like a sum of all their previous ones, the cycle closing with a recollection of the past and a promise for the future, as the kiss itself lets us know that no matter what's gonna happen from that moment on, they will always love each other like the very first day. and if the reminder of the drunk kiss in episode 2 wasn’t enough to drive this point across, the song they used during this scene is the same as the one they played during the greyllery kiss, which you know. [FEMALE HYSTERIA]   

4. foggy glasses kiss in episode 12. honestly can't think of any other scene in television history that was able to so perfectly portray a fictional character being left breathless, lightheaded, and weak at the knees by a kiss. the way puen is holding talay's head with BOTH OF HIS HANDS to keep talay in place which barely gives talay any time to take a breath...... the way they're so close and entangled in each other that you can barely tell where one starts and the other ends...........this kiss literally be turning both me and talay into the 🥴 emoji every single time.

5. reunion kiss in episode 11. it was a tough choice between this one and the bathtub kiss in episode 10, but in the end i had to go with their first kiss in their real bodies, not just because of this, but because there's so much love and comfort and reassurance packed in it. this kiss is the meeting of two souls who have missed and found each other again. it's the promise of being together for the rest of their life AND I FEEL SO NORMAL ABOUT IT IT’S HONESTLY INSANE HOW NORMAL AND HINGED AND SANE AND FINE I FEEL ABOUT IT.

TOP 5 PUENTALAY HUGS

1. reunion hug in episode 11. LITERALLY THEE SINGLE MOST SCENE EVER IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION IT CHANGED THE TRAJECTORY OF MY LIFE THE FOUNDATION OF MY PERSONHOOD AND THE CHEMICAL MAKE UP OF MY BRAIN. puen says "you must be very tired. from now on, things will be okay," and that's exactly the feeling this hug conveys: everything will be fine, you're home now.

2. comfort hug in episode 6. my grasp on the english language is too limited to even attempt to put into words what this hug did to me the first time i've watched it. it made me mentally deranged in ways so profound they will only become apparent years down the line. to this day there are people out there wondering why talay even likes puen and the urge to shove this scene under their nose is immeasurable. FIND YOURSELF A PARTNER WHO WILL LISTEN TO YOUR FEARS, GIVE YOU COMFORT, AND HUG YOU THROUGH THE NIGHT TO MAKE YOU FEEL SAFE!!!!!!! (@GOD ME WHEN)

3. reconciliation hug in episode 7. I NEEDED THIS HUG JUST AS MUCH AS PUEN DID TBH. talay initiating any kind of physical affection always feels incredibly special and precious, and it is so much more here because this is him finally realizing that puen's feelings are sincere. this hug is the turning point of their relationship as talay implicitly accepts puen's love and confesses his own. it’s just so emotionally satisfying [SOBS]

4. back hug in episode 12 and in our skyy episode 1. LOOK I KNOW IM CHEATING BUT. THE DOMESTICITY THE COMFORT THE TENDERNESS THE AFFECTION THE ADORATION THE SOFTNESS THE WARMTH THE PARALLELISM THE ROMANTICISM THE SOULMATISM THE TRUE LOVISM OF IT ALL. YEARS LATER THEY'RE STILL THE SAME.

5. hourglass hug in episode 12. the hourglass with the sand that doesn’t fall!!!!!!! i don't want time to go by without you!!!!!!! from this moment on it's you and me!!!!!!! ‘city’ playing in the background!!!!!!! the moon watching over them!!!!!!! WAILING WEEPING HOWLING SCREECHING CRYING SOBBING SCREAMING--