bonjour! {the same old bread and rolls to sell

[MJ]

Was there anything better than the scent of fresh bread in the morning?

Alice greeted the occupants of the bakery with a broad, sunny smile as she breezed through the entrance, the small bell over the door tinkling in cheerful accompaniment. Some of the regulars shot her fond glances in return; the girl might be mad, their expressions seemed to say, but she’s our madwoman. The sight of the diminutive blond with her disarming grin was not a new one. Newer patrons seemed less kindly inclined and more contemptuous. Alice seemed totally oblivious to the stares as she propped herself up against the long wooden counter, not noticing or not minding the flour that settled on her sunflower-yellow gloves.

She leaned in close to the young man behind the till, a newly hired fellow who looked more than a little bewildered. "Good morning." she said quietly, with the air of one imparting a grave secret. He didn't seem quite certain what the proper response was and remained silent, staring at the wall behind her uncomfortably. Then the girl pulled back and took a long, slow breath, eyes fluttering shut.
"The scones smell delicious." she remarked without opening her eyes. "I'll take a couple of those, please, and if Master Richards has any blueberry muffins left I'll have to steal one."

The shop lad nodded with the air of one humoring a small child as he spun into a blur of motion, eager to get away, and Alice smiled charmingly at him. She paid and accepted the baked goods, still warm from the oven and soft as clouds. If heaven had a taste, it could definitely be found in Richards' pastries, she decided. She gave the boy a fond little pat on the head before drifting off to her usual table. He watched her for a moment, expression somewhere between amused and intrigued, then ducked back down behind the counter.

The thin female settled herself carefully at a table for two near the windows, posture erect as the corset required and skirts fanned about. Feet ducked up beneath her, she carefully held a napkin lest any crumbs fall onto her clothes. Though the colors were a bit outlandish- the fabric was a fairly reserved green, but the red ribbons shrieked 'notice me'- the dress itself was conservative. The neckline was high and the hem low, even if there were a few grass stains on the back if one was looking closely.
No one usually got close enough to tell.

Alice sighed as she bit into the first scone. The expression on her face was one of near bliss, and she gave the impression of almost purring. She'd always found pleasure in the simple things. The warm bustle of the bakery around her and a delicious scone in hand were more than enough to make this a wonderful morning indeed.
It was no wonder she came here so often.

[The Hatterdasher]

The theme, because it’s too good to pass up. XD

Wait for it.

Wait for it Hatter. It won’t be long now.

Hatter Redd stood on one side of the large oak front doors of the school, knowing his brother stood on the other side of the doors. Both of them were quiet, listening to the sound of silence. Not yet. Just wait. Hatter held his breath as he looked at the clock in the hall, then toward the back of the school. He and Dodge had been disciplined very badly the other day, and for once, it was for something they actually didn’t do. So they were getting even, as a show of thanks to the headmaster. It was now eight fifty-nine A.M. a few more seconds, and then…

BOOM!

With a sound to wake the dead, its vibrations reaching all the way to the gypsy camp and even the town, a firework went off in the Headmaster’s study. Hatter let out a whoop as the doors burst open and the shattering of glass was heard. Students flooded the halls, eager for a look at the headmaster, blackened with soot. A wave of black powder was all over his office. Dodge had built the firework well, he had to admit. Hatter was the one who placed it and lit the fuse, set to burn slowly and quietly for half an hour. The boy craned his head to see over the crowd of students. The look on the headmaster’s face was priceless. He burst out laughing. The students at the back of the crowd turned around. All were female. They mouthed the word ‘You?’ and Hatter nodded, before he pressed a finger to his lips. They looked at him with admiration, which was the look he lived for. He lit the other fireworks then and tossed them to the side. The girls covered their ears and Hatter ran through the doors, whooping and shouting as he ran toward the town to hide.

He knew the headmaster wouldn’t be able to tell who had done it. They never used fireworks before this, and he couldn’t blame them without evidence. True, the girls could tell, but he knew they wouldn’t. Hatter knew his brother wasn’t far behind as he called over his shoulder to him. “Split up! Meet back at the bakery!” It was then that Hatter took a sharp turn off the path, ducking through the trees as he took his shortcut to the town. The boy ran through the town, laughing his ass off, not caring if the villagers thought he was crazy. By the time he got to the bakery, he was out of breath, but still somehow laughing. Spotting a girl inside, he sighed, still chuckling to himself as he ran a hand through his hair. As the co-leader of the Love Struck, he found it his duty to look her over.

Hatter went inside, spotting the cashier as he went over. He was still out of breath, but he managed to get an order in. “A coffee, please. And… A crepe. I really want crepe.” He chuckled to himself, as if it was funny. The lad seemed a little scared of him. “Hmm. Make that two crepes, please. Bag one.” The lad brought him his food and drink. Hatter took it and paid before moving to sit with the girl. He noted that there were only two chairs, and she was already occupying one. Ah, well. Poor Dodge would have to grab his own.

“Mind if I sit here?” He asked, sitting anyway as if he belonged. He gave her a genial smile before pointing to her with one finger. The others remained curled around his coffee. “You go to Florence’s, don’t you? I think I’ve seen you.” He took a sip of his coffee, hoping she’d ask about the explosion that Florence’s just gave off. He’d be able to woo her with him and Dodge’s antics.

All before breakfast. That took skill.

[/color]

[MJ]

That was definitely an explosion, Alice decided.
It had been only vibrations first, an ominous rattling of china and circling disturbance in teacups. Then came the BOOM, and the shop around her seemed to erupt much as the noise did, people jumping up or crouching down to hide, fearing eminent doom and disruption. The boy manning the counter threw himself down behind the flour. Afterwards there was only silence, an awed, ringing expectation. Alice took another bite of her scone and hummed tunelessly to herself, one hand tracing the wood grain of the table. As though that were a cue, excited chatter spread like wildfire- it was a bomb, a firework, the wraith of a god- it was at Florence's, the place was a smoking crater, only the left wing was gone, there would be more to come-

The scones were very good today. The thin girl stood still amidst the chaos and stared dreamily out the window in the direction of Florence, imagining she could see a cloud of thick black smoke. Alice was quite certain it was in one piece, for the most part, if only because there hadn't been any screams. She settled for watching the villagers with wide, interested eyes, like a child at a pantomime. Thus she spotted the boy before he entered the shop, and nodded a bit before easing the chair away from the table for easier access.

Most girls might have been bewildered by the sudden intrusion, possibly even offended. Alice seemed delighted. "Good morning." she told him with a cordial nod of her head, one pale hand reaching up to curl in the wisps of hair at the back of her neck. It was a recently developed gesture; she could no longer chew on her hair as she'd used to without some improbable acrobatics and a bit of useless snapping.

"I do go to Florence's." Her smile brightened as though this question made him terribly clever indeed. "And it is nice to know I can be seen. Invisibility is ever a worry of mine." Alice's light, dreamy tone often made it difficult to tell if she was being earnest, in her own odd way, or mercilessly taking the piss. Most tended to believe the former, if only for their own comfort.

The blond let the hand with the half-eaten pastry drop to the table as she turned to glance out the window once more. Passerby seemed to have calmed down, for the most part, though a nearby tree was housing a surely terrified cat in its banches. "Curiouser and curiouser," she mused before turning back to the boy. "Was it a firework, then?" she asked him, head tilted to the side like a curious bird.
Alice quite regretted missing the show.

[The Hatterdasher]

If Hatter had been around to see the shop clientele to drop to the ground, he probably would’ve burst out laughing. Alas, he didn’t, so he’d never know how his firework had caused such a ruckus within the town. He did, however, notice a few people glancing at the school now and again, which showed that his firework hadn’t gone unnoticed. Good, Dodge would be impressed to know. He took a bite of his crepe and let out a groan of satisfaction. He hadn’t had a crepe in quite some time. It tasted wonderful.

Her answer, and the way she answered, made Hatter smile slightly. He was a fan of people who were odd, because he himself was odd, and boring people were just that; a bore. He swallowed his crepe before continuing, a smile on his face. “Invisibility would be a problem for some, but if you think of all the things you could accomplish while you’re invisible that you can’t when you’re visible, it almost seems worth it.” Almost was the keyword, because he could think of a few things about being invisible that he wouldn’t like. “The only issue would be is when you’re sitting down and someone thinks the chair isn’t occupied and sits on you. That would be bothersome.” He took another bite of his crepe, suddenly ravenous. If Dodge didn’t get there, he might have to eat his too.

Ah, the fireworks. He was happy the question pertaining to the explosion came up so early. A twinkle could be seen in his eye as he leaned across the table, smirking. “Indeed. It was a firework. It was placed in the headmaster’s office, and the fuse was timed for half an hour, so it would go off exactly at nine. There was that loud boom, then shattering noises, which was all of his degrees and hanging documents falling down, I’d assume, and everyone came running out into the hall to see it... His office was covered with soot, and I know this because…” He looked around as if he was expecting someone to be listening. Nobody was. They were all too busy with their idle chatter. Nonetheless, his whisper dropped even more as he spoke. “I set it off with my twin.” He leaned back in his chair, smirking deviously as he pushed his hair back. “Mischief managed. But don’t tell anyone.”

With that, he took another sip of his coffee and thought of a change of subject, as if his setting off a firework was unimpressive. It wasn’t, but he had done better pranks and now that it was out of the way, he thought about more impressive things to add to the headmaster’s humiliation. A bucket of pink paint on his door, set to fall when he came out, for example. That would’ve been a nice touch. Still, he pushed the thought away; tucked it aside for later use. “Anyway. That is a very bright outfit you have on there. Did you get it tailored just for you, or did you mange to stumble across it somewhere?”

[blythe]

<sup>Oh, Dodge was mad. No. More than mad. Dodge was downright pissed off, halfly at Hatter and halfly at the silly crying girl who blocked his path and got him dragged into one of the random classrooms for questioning. A sooty covered Headmaster was not the sort of thing anyone wanted to find bearing down on them after doing the thing causing that sort of bearing. Hatter had muttered the meeting destination, but his little exclamation was going to have teachers rushing down to pick up culprits at the bakery. So, Dodge had to stand there for about twenty minutes, deflecting interrogative questions and throwing the blame off onto a pair of twins by the names of Llewelyn and Llewelyn Bishop before he was allowed to go and meet his brother at said bakery.

Really, twenty minutes of doing anything was always boring and Dodge disliked nothing more than being bored. In his mind, Hatter owed him about five crepes, two muffins, a cake and twenty brownies to make up for the first five minutes. After that... well, he might be broke, and that meant Dodge would have to spot him the rest of the money it'd take to pay Dodge back. Oh, hush. It made sense in his mind, and that was all that counted. Jamming his hands into his pockets, he began the trek down to town, muttering dangerous threats under his breath.

So, it was a small while later-- he ran after he got so far-- Dodge burst into the bakery like the streets were on fire and the king had died and scanned the occupants looking for a redhanded, redhaired young man. "Hatter Madigan Redd!" he exclaimed, brushing his shoulders off to rid himself of some black powder before stalking over. "You bloody git! 'Split up! Meet at the bakery!' Have you ever said anything more incriminating? While you were running off laughing, I had a jolly good time with the Headmaster."

Then his attention turned to the young woman with a small blink of surprised before his face spread into a smile and his hand extended. "'Ello there! Name's Dodge Redd. I'm the smarter, more handsome, funner twin."</sup>

[MJ]

Alice thought about it, but she wasn't quite sure what she'd do if she were invisible that she didn't do normally. She tended to go about doing whatever she so desired, regardless of whether or not people were watching. Being invisible would only make things a bit more inconvenient. Crowds would be terribly trying, and she'd surely be even more clumsy without the ability to see her feet. "Oh, that's happened to me before." she said with an absent wave of her hand when he mentioned the not-so-empty seat. The girl had surely seen her, but had made a point of ignoring Alice up to the point where she'd nearly squashed the smaller girl before saying something scathing and running off to join her friends. Alice had continued working on her needlepoint. "It's not so bad."

Well, that conversation had definitely sparked his interest. She only half-listened to the redhaired boy's actual words, watching his animated expression and the glimmer in his eyes. Quite dramatic, really, expecially when he lowered his voice to that ominous whisper. He'd make a marvelous storyteller, Alice decided. Or perhaps an actor.

She looked down at her dress as though she'd only just noticed it, blinking in surprise, then held out her gloves to compare. "Oh, this. I replaced the ribbons. The other ones were a terribly boring blue, and Anya needed them for her doll's hair. It worked out marvelously for the both of us." Red was so much more...cheerful. "Though you do stumble across some marvelous things." she told him with a smile.

That was when the door burst open, and a person who could only be his twin- or a clone? Who was she to judge- stormed inside. Alice shook his hand with a surprisingly firm grip as she smiled up at him. "You two have quite the flair for dramatic, did you know that? I think a duet of maniacal laughter would be exquisite if you had the time, though," and here she glanced around the busy bakery, "Perhaps in a venue with better acoustics." Somewhere else- not because the other people there would think they were odd, but because the sound wouldn't carry. Such decisions were the epitome of Alice.

"Is funner a word?" she inquired and gestured at a nearby empty chair, silently implying that he should seat himself. Alice ignored the superlatives, instead focusing on the introduction itself. So it was Mr. Redd and Mr. Redd, then. Hatter and Dodge. Alice quite liked the names, though they didn't exactly sound like names. That might have been the very reason she was so fond of them.