What the Storm Brings --OUTDATED--

Part 5

[A/N: Now introducing the made-up term 'azuret' for a (male) person with blue hair]

~*~|Bright and Early|~*~

The sound of approaching footsteps did little to rouse Zet from his bored stupor –there were around seven hundred cracks and stains on the walls, ceiling, and floor of Jervis' cell, as well as twelve different ways that being called 'Cheshire Cat' made no sense to him, and... there hadn't been much for him to do while the Hatter slept– but when the door swung out from behind him, he couldn't help the startled shout as his body sprawled partially into the corridor.

A bewildered pair of dark brown eyes stared down at him, a sentiment he mirrored easily; the opening and closing of the light-grey-clad woman's mouth was funny to see, drawing a lopsided smile to his face with one of his upper fangs poking out. Moments passed in silence –neither the verdanet nor the brown-skinned visitor making any move to break it– until a muffled giggle from the bed snapped Zet back to full awareness.

"And so, together the Cat and the Hatter awoke. The orderly, however, seemed sure it was a joke!" Jervis smiled up at the woman in the doorway, pushing himself into a seated position. "But don't worry, have no fear, the Bandersnatch isn't here."

"Whazzanordalee...?" Zet mumbled –so maybe his mind was still a bit foggy– as he manoeuvred himself into a more comfortable position. Lying with his back arched over the raised lower rim of the doorway was far from pleasant. Then, he registered the rest of the redhead's comment. "And what's a 'bandersnatch', while we're at it?"

Tapping his chin in an exaggerated manner, the Hatter hummed. "Well, the Bandersnatch is a terrible beast who seeks to make your body its feast. An orderly, on the other hand, is one who works to destroy Wonderland."

That seemed to snap the black-haired visitor out of her confusion, to a degree. "Enough nonsense. Here's your breakfast, Tetch, and... whether you share it with your roomie or not is up to you. I don't have another serve." She held out a plastic tray, laden with what the verdanet could only assume was supposed to be food –it looked more like half-digested refuse from the guts of a diseased Axebeak– and Jervis took it without any complaint. "As for you," she jabbed a finger towards Zet's chest, "who are you, and how did you get in here?"

Waving a hand at Jervis to dissuade any offers of sharing –he really didn't want to touch that crap, if need be he'd eat his own limbs instead... they'd grow back, after all, and would probably be tastier too– he turned his attention back to the 'orderly'. "I'm Zet, and I got in here the same way I got out of the cell I was stuffed into."

Idiot, don't admit that. They'll find some way to stop you, now.

"Too late~," he flashed a grin at the empty corner opposite him. Looking back at her, he deliberately widened his grin to an almost face-splitting degree. "I don't like being shoved in places while I'm out cold, so I went looking for somewhere else to spend the night." Zet made a show of shrugging, leaning back against the wall. "Don't worry, though, I didn't break anything on my way out, or on my way in. Or, I don't think I did... if something broke, it wasn't deliberate. So, as far as I'm concerned, I didn't break it, especially if I didn't touch whatever did or didn't break."

Shut your mouth before you make a bigger fool of yourself than usual...

Seemingly eager to sooth the orderly's nerves, Jervis piped up with, "Cheshire Cat paid me a visit... that's not a problem, is it? Nothing happened that you need to worry about. If there was, well, I'd have given quite a shout." With that said, he returned to his –slop– morning meal, humming to himself and apparently lost to the world. In return, she levelled both of them with a glare; Jervis seemingly didn't even notice, and Zet simply let it slide without reacting.