Lennon's Wonderland 10

    "So what shall we play?" Mock Turtle asked.

    "A dancing game." Gryphon said simply. John couldn't help but snorting at the thought of Neil or Mal dancing randomly dancing on a beach. He watched as the two debated over what kind of dancing game, deciding on something John remembered vaguley from the book called the "Lobster Quadrille".

    Except when the Gryphon and the Mock Turtle prepared themselves to play, they didn't grab any lobsters, as there were none on the beach, and instead merely danced around in the sand, growing closer and closer to the water as they did so.

    "So... how exactly does one win this game?" John asked.

    "Not sure... whoever touches the water first," Gryphon shrugged, "With... their tail!"

    "That's not fair!" The Mock Turtle lamented, "Your's is so much longer than mine!"

    "Well I guess I'll win then..."

    "Gryphon!"

    "Fine... first to touch the water with their knee!"

    "I hate my knee... it's not the knee of a proper turtle but a fake turtle..." The Mock Turtle moaned and both John and the Gryphon rolled their eyes. With the water approaching, John noticed the Gryphon take a much larger step and this resulted in their rythm being thrown off and the Mock Turtle stumbled, his foot landing just before the water's edge instead of in the water.

    "Did you do that on porpoise?" the Mock Turtle cried.

    "No, not at all." The Gryphon blinked innocently.

    "Don't you mean purpose anyway?" John asked. The Mock Turtle ignored him and this time he took a bigger step, the water reaching mid-calf on his leg. The Gryphon glowered and threw his leg out, landing deep enough so the water reached his knee.

    "That's not fair!" The Mock Turtle cried as they broke apart and hurried to retreat from the cold sea water, "You cheated!"

    "No I didn't!"

    "Yes you did!"

    "Did not!"

    "Did so! Now I'll never tell you what you want to know!"

    "Now, now, no need to be so hasty. Listen, you can sing one of your songs after you tell us alright? Is that fair?"

    "Fine..." The Mock Turtle pouted and reclaimed his seat on the rock by John, who watched the entire exchange while trying very hard not to laugh, "What do you want to know?"

    "Why Cheshire went starkers out of the blue."

    "He already was! That's not a beneficial question!"

    "Alright, why he tried to take the Duchess hostage and disrupted the Queen's croquet game without having a good reason." Gryphon sighed, "And soon please, we want to be back in time for an execution, should there be one."

    "You really think they'll execute Cheshire?" John frowned.

    Gryphon shrugged, grinning as he said, "I doubt it, but you never know-stranger things have happened."

    John snorted, "Right..."

    "Will you two hush?" the Mock Turtle snapped, "I know you're busy having genuine conversation but for a mocking fool such as me it is difficult to get a word in."

    "Right, right," Gryphon said, turning back to the Mock Turtle, "Now, what of the Cheshire?"

    "Oh," Mock Turtle waved a hand in the air, as if waving off a fly, "The idiot cat has probably sneezed and sweated the pepper off by now. I imagine he's hiding in the Queen's gardens now trying to avoid her majesty."

    "That's what Hatter thought as well." John nodded, "Might be a bad place to hide though don't you think? Wouldn't that be the first place the bird will check?"

    "The Queen is not a 'bird' Alice." Gryphon said, causing John to roll his eyes, "And no, I bet the Hatter will find him first-or the Hare, uncanny how close those two can be when the Cheshire is in trouble huh?"

    "You'd think that Long-Eared fellow had a hand in half his wrong doing." Mock Turtle laughed.

    "But that's ridiculous, the Hare's to good a chap."

    "Just hangs around mad people."

    "Oh, obviously."

    "Back to the question hmm?" John snapped, looking between the two creatures as they regarded him with something akin to annoyance-not that John cared, they needed to stop acting so loony.

    "Right, well," Mock Turtle sniffed, "I don't think the Hatter will have found him yet, or the Hare."

    "And why not?" Gryphon frowned.

    "Why the trial they're holding now."

    "For Cheshire?" John asked.

    "No silly," Mock Turtle snapped, "For the Queen. Apparently someone's been slipping their hands where they don't belong."

    Wondering if this was some sort of dirty innuendo, John felt a slight heat rise to his face before he was yanked to his feet and forward by the Gryphon.

    "Ow! Oi! Where are we going?!"

    "The trial of course! And quick, before he starts singing!" Gryphon grinned, turning to wave back at the Mock Turtle, who'd just stood, folded his hands together, and taken a deep breath with his eyes closed. From him issued an odd sort of wailing noise, and from that John thought he made out the word 'Soup' but then he was yanked upwards into the sky and all he could hear was his own screaming and the Gryphon's laughing.