before the storm begins {open}

[Deleted]

Here was Alyss, hiding away a major reason why she loved Dickens so much, but it appeared that Milo wouldn't have found that odd at all, if his response was any indication. Her own eyes widened and she was about to respond very eagerly, probably bringing up how not only it was a portrait of the society, but just how it held such important messages...but then Milo appeared to shrink away and start mumbling that he himself liked Twilight and Jules Verne. Alyss blinked, wondering just what happened to make him seem so shy about his own books.

Now, Alyss had heard of Twilight, and had a vague idea of what it was about, exactly. Truthfully, this mostly happened because one day, she and Della happened to be at the bookstore together and Della noticed a display of books like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights with oddly vague pictures of flowers that she wasn't sure what they'd have to do with either novel. Della was less than amused and was really annoyed that that the author, something Meyer, had tainted the good names of perfectly well done classics, and when Alyss asked about how bad Twilight could have been...well, it seemed to annoy her roommate even more. Alyss chose to never ask too much about it again, and decided that she'd avoid learning more about the book than she absolutely had to. So...perhaps that was the reason for him being shy about liking Twilight...but why be shy about Jules Verne? She knew that more of his works had been published between this really odd timeline she was in now and the London that she knew, but from what she understood, he was highly respected...

Well...she couldn't very well let a good conversation about books die, now could she? "Well, I know about Verne. He was pretty revolutionary himself. I'm fairly certain my roommate would slaughter me if she found me with Twilight though." There she managed a weak smile before deciding she would test the waters with Dickens there. "But you're right, you're absolutely right about Dickens...the fact he shone a spotlight on the poor, especially, considering how most people had little desire to pay that any attention..." Anyway, she wasn't about to make this all about her.

"So, Verne. Which is your favorite?"

[Milo Thatch]

When Milo wasn't being socially awkward, he was usually over-compensating for being socially awkward, and that was definitely the case here. Why had he said that thing about Twilight? Now she'd probably think he was incredibly girly - which was okay if you liked that sort of thing, but Milo had spent his whole life assuring people that he was, in fact, going to be a man someday, and people who were already standing on some habits and quirks that made them look a little less definitively manly probably shouldn't go around exacerbating the problem by declaring his love for the favoured literary work of teen girls. Oh, well. If she assumed he liked boys or something, it wouldn't be the first time, and that way he wouldn't have to worry about the whole assuring her that he wasn't interested in a relationship, blah blah blah. (That always got awkward because if you said something like "I'm not really interested in anything right now" and the person wasn't interested in you in the first place, you sort of looked like a conceited a-hole for assuming as much).

Whatever the case, he was perfectly happy to move along and talk about Verne. He knew the answer to her question; he had a well-worn copy of the book to prove it. Thank goodness she hadn't asked about Twilight or he wouldn't have had a clue because he actually hadn't read the books.

"Around the World in Eighty Days." he answered promptly. "I love it...I always have. Just...seeing all those things, and the places, it always felt like...I don't know, it made my life seem kind of normal in comparison, and let me tell you, my life was really not normal." He laughed, almost easily, and felt another little bit of tension drift away into the air. "It's funny, that's not the book you think of when you think of Verne because everybody imagines him more in the science fiction aspect of his work. Which is accurate, too, because, you know, he wrote a lot of that too, but Around the World has always been my personal favourite. I love his other books too, though."

[Deleted]

Alyss was already finding this conversation rather interesting, and admittedly, her interest was sparked even more at his answer. She had to say, she...oh wait. She had never really talked about books with anyone but Della before, that was why she was so glad to have met Milo. Still, she had a feeling that you didn't often hear people say they liked Around the World in Eighty Days the best. She imagined that people would certainly prefer Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea or A Journey to the Center of the Earth. She honestly didn't find all of the science fiction nearly as fascinating as most would, actually. After all, she watched those inventions get sent to the Dull World. She hadn't appreciated it nearly as much as she should have as a child, but how was she supposed to know that the Invention Faire would be one of her last days...well...she hadn't known she was happy. But God, she really was...

She laughed as well when he said that his life wasn't normal. "Is anyone's, really?" Perhaps she was speaking from a biased perspective, but there was no possible way she was going to tell him her life story uninvited. She was fine with explaining when asked...well, not fine. After all, the last time she had, the world received Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass while she just sat there feeling so very betrayed and alone. "But...yes, that's a very good choice. You're right, not a lot of people acknowledge it as much, especially not when so many of the technologies he mentioned ended up being right." Alyss couldn't help but wonder if it was possible that someone in Wonderland thought it'd be clever to plant the ideas in Verne's head. It seemed like the sort of thing Wonderlanders would do.

"Still, I think everyone sort of wants to...get away from it all for a short while, and I'll admit, there were times when I wished I could travel anywhere that quickly." There was an irony in what she said, of course: she had travelled that fast. Faster, even, as it was between dimensions, after all. Still, there was one thing she could say that would relate to her very well. "It's...you know, the sort of escapism that has a level of escapism in the narrative too...does that make sense?"

[Milo Thatch]

Milo didn't have a lot of friends he could talk about books with, either. Audrey, well, she wasn't around the school anymore, but she wasn't really the book type, she was more the learn by taking things apart and putting them back together type as far as he could remember. Kida had been pretty interested in reading books once Milo had gone about teaching her how to read her own language, but that had been slow going at first. As he thought back on the various friendships he'd had, and the outcome of most of them, he realized that he already knew the answer to her next question.

"No," he said, "I guess nobody's really normal at all. Everybody wants to think they are, but normal to one person is probably freakish and deranged to somebody else. All arbitrary, I guess. Mine's just been pretty hectic. Here today, gone tomorrow, China the next day and then back to London or wherever for a conference, off to discover lost civilizations by Christmas. Not exactly a stable home to grow up in, but I didn't mind it. It was just…in Around the World, Phileas Fogg went to so many places, even more than I'd ever been, that like…reading it made me feel like there was always more room for adventure, for seeing new places, even when I'd seen so many of them myself."

Escapism within escapism. That was extraneous enough that Milo could totally be fascinated by it, which he was, pondering the depth of it for a moment.

"Yeah! Yeah, it totally makes sense! Like, you read it because you want to get away from your crazy life, but the person in the book is kind of…all about the same thing, sort of? Sometimes I wish I could write something like that, something like…the rest of the people could relate to, but I have a feeling my life isn't quite believable enough for that." He laughed, scratching at the top of his notebook with one fingernail.

[Deleted]

How people perceived normalcy was certainly something Alyss knew a thing or two about. Wonderland had once been normal to her, until she was ostracized for insisting on its existence. Then she acted as if she didn't believe in it at all, and apparently that was normal. And come to think of it Dodgson or Carroll or whatever he was calling himself these days acted as if he was just a normal man who loved to make children smile, but he was really a thoughtless, fanciful man who really needed to grow up and learn to not use the secrets of people who trusted him for profit. Did everyone live a facade like this? It would explain why it was so difficult to find good people to trust...

"Absolutely, it's all a matter of perspective, and...they can be so different for everyone," she stated, perhaps betraying that she knew from experience. Then again, surely everyone did, right? No, she was assuming that most people figured it out just because she had at such a young age. Sort of ironic, she supposed, considering she was just saying how different everyone's point of view could be.

She nodded at his point about how much certain books did relate to people. "Well...perhaps that's actually a good thing? It's the same thing, but it's almost from a distance..." But then he said something interesting...he wasn't sure if anyone would believe his story if he were to write it down? Well...perhaps he was right (although she had no way of knowing what strange things had happened to him, she knew better than to assume he didn't have some sort of exciting backstory. It seemed most of her fellow students did), but...

"Trust me Milo. It doesn't necessarily need to be believable," she mused, and while she didn't want to appear any more solemn (after all, it wasn't every day she had such a pleasant conversation. Why should she ruin it with angst?), her tone grew softer and her eyes went far away, if only for a moment. It was funny, really, the fact that she had exactly what Milo apparently wanted...it was just a very twisted form of it. She hoped that if Milo got his wish, his story wouldn't be twisted around until it was so unrecognizable that it was insulting.

"I mean, people seem to prefer things that aren't so believable. Aren't most stories based off of real events often twisted anyway? I dare say they would just assume that was what happened and enjoy your ability to spin a yarn." Her heart was feeling somewhat heavy...that wouldn't do at all. She was going to have to pull herself together, obviously. She couldn't afford to ruin such a nice conversation with her own angst.

[Milo Thatch]

It doesn't need to be believable…she said, and Milo pondered that for a minute. She was right. It was certainly possible to relate to something fantastic and unbelievable. He knew he'd done it himself on many occasions. It didn't have to talk directly about events you'd experienced in your own life, as long as there were parallels every now and then you could get something meaningful out of it for yourself. But what Milo didn't want was for people to read his life story and assume he'd just made it all up to please an audience. He wanted it in the biographical section of the library, not on the young adult fiction shelves next to books about vampires and hobgoblins.

"I know…I mean, I know people can relate to stuff, even if it isn't true. That's why so many things are popular these days that are completely out of this world. But my story, it is true, and I don't know if I could handle it if people took it and put a shiny holographic cover on it showing…I don't know, a hollywood actor as me, made it into a movie while I'm sitting here just thinking "no, that's not the way it was at all, you've got it all wrong."

He glanced over at her, about to ask if she knew what he meant, or if she at least understood why he thought it was a risk, but suddenly she looked a million miles away. And Milo, who understood dead people much better than he understood live ones, tried desperately to figure out what that might mean. Maybe he'd said something that reminded her of something she didn't want to be reminded of. Or maybe it was a nostalgia sort of thing, like something she did want to be reminded of but it was such a good memory that she got lost in it.

And then he wondered exactly what he could say to make whatever it was better…if it needed to be made better, and he realised that any minute the class was going to start and it was going to be frowned upon to be speaking any longer, and he had a crazy, insane thought that had never occurred to him in his whole life - skipping class. Except it wasn't really his class, so it wouldn't really be skipping, but still…

He stood up abruptly, and stood there for a few seconds awkwardly before he decided on what it was he was going to say.

"Um, you know what? Let's…let's go to lunch now." That didn't sound very inspiring for his ultimate act of rebellion. "I mean, I'm eighteen years old and I've never done normal things that normal kids do, I've never skipped class, and if I'm really being honest, I've never read Twilight either. So let's…let's skip class and go to lunch early!"

Up at the front of the classroom, there was the sound of someone clearing their throat, and Milo looked up to see the instructor looking at him with a rather dubious frown. Milo started to say something, but it came out as an unintelligible squeak, and he sat down hard back in his desk, blushing furiously.

[Deleted]

It took all of Alyss' efforts to keep her expression neutral as he talked about how Hollywood (what? Yes, she knew about it, she had been in this anachronism of a school long enough and look at her roommate) would treat his own story. Good God, if only he knew just how much she did understand. A part of her was wondering if perhaps she should tell him...tell him that she was that Alyss...er, Alice. Then again, from what little she couldn't avoid regarding her story, apparently most people knew she was real, they just thought that she and Carroll were the greatest of friends. Oh, if only that were true. For a while, sure, but it certainly didn't last past that dreaded book's publication...and sadly, she was fairly certain he still didn't know what he had done that was so wrong. But Milo...she was starting to realize that he might be someone who would really understand that, simply because he asked that question.

She finally pulled herself out of her thoughts, thinking that perhaps she would say it, admit it willingly to another human being for the first time in her life...

"Well...yes. Yes, I think I could understand that."

Or perhaps not.

Well, it wasn't as if it was the most important thing in the world, right? She had gone this long without actually telling someone her story herself and it...it had served her well, right? Why should it be so different here?

Yet stories wanted to be told. It was why she told Dodgson all of that in the first place. It had burned her...but if he had already said how he hated the idea of someone getting his story wrong...

Before she could make an actual decision, he stood up and she was snapped out of the process. She puzzled, about to ask him what he was doing and...offered for them to just go get lunch now. Well, that was a surprise...she was fairly certain she had never skipped a class before...

Come to think of it, why hadn't she? It wasn't like it wasn't something just about everyone did at least once, and besides that...there was a little part of her that relished the idea. It took her a moment to realize it was a feeling similar to what felt like lifetimes ago, back when she would imagine gwormies in Bibwit's drink and generally wreak havoc around the castle...she had once been such a rule breaker and look at her now.

Yet she saw the instructor coming...and you know something? She didn't want this idea to be ruined. It...this was the first time she had felt the least bit rebellious in the past decade...the closest she felt to being the naive little six year old who thought life was all fun and games...she could feel it slipping away as Milo sat down...

And that was when she did something that she could scarcely believe, but that same decade had made her a remarkable actress and the fact was, there were times when she simply had to get away from the people who she barely liked.

So when she suddenly looked very pale and Imagined a bag full of what appeared to be, well...the retching noises would give you a general idea, there wasn't going to be much of a doubt in the instructor's mind that it'd probably be wise for her to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"I...could someone walk me to the infirmary?" she said as pathetically as she could, her gaze falling towards Milo and if she didn't think it would blow her cover, she would have probably winked by now.

[Milo Thatch]

Milo was pretty sure he was just rambling on about things no normal people would ever have to worry about - who really worried about hollywood misinterpreting their lives? But anyway, at least she was being nice about it, all understanding and stuff, even if she couldn't relate to it and such. And then she…she played along with his little "rebellion" better than he could have hoped. She didn't chicken out the way he had, nor did she let his chickening out deter her.

But golly, did she really have to make herself vomit? That was dedication right there. Milo was quite impressed, to be honest. All he could think of that he'd do to get out of a class would be to pretend to swoon or something. Maybe say there was something in his eye. Speaking of eyes, his were about the size of the moon at the moment, as he scrambled back to his feet, raising his hand in a half-hearted flailing kind of way.

"I volunteer!" he blurted. "Um, I'll take her. To the nurse. She obviously needs it, I mean, look at her, she's just like…throwing up there, in that bag and stuff, she needs somebody to look at her and maybe she's sick. I'll do it. Here, come with me. I'll just walk you right over there." He took a light hold on her elbow and started towards the door.

Just keep walking, if you just keep walking they won't ask questions, don't look back. he told himself, trying to keep his pace steady and casual. And he did exactly that, he kept walking until he had her clear of the door and out in the hall, and he pulled the classroom door shut behind them with a very satisfying click.

"Oh my gods." he said, one hand fisting in his hair. "You just…that was amazing. You didn't have to…I mean, throw up your breakfast. Now you're gonna be really hungry. You can have my lunch if you want, to make up for that, I mean, I'm not that hungry, so…wow. How do you even do that? I can't even make myself vomit by shoving a finger down my throat, I have pretty much no gag reflex at all."

Then, as if it had suddenly occurred to him, he gave her another look of concern, and added "Wait, are you actually feeling sick, because…Sorry, I didn't even ask, that was awful of me. Do you really want to go to the nurse?"

[Deleted]

Again, if Alyss weren't still acting the part of a sickly girl, she probably would have found herself almost...giggling at Milo scrambling for words. Let it be known, she hadn't giggled in years, just like she hadn't pulled mischief like this in years, so the fact that she had gotten close to both at once really should have been overwhelming, but instead she was just resisting the urge to smile, up until she was certain that the instructor wasn't going to see how her lips were twitching up, and up, and up, until there was a grin that might make some of the mischief makers over at this school have a field day. The fact that Milo went on rambling (but hardly in a bad way, she didn't mind his chatter at all, to be honest) didn't exactly help matters and while she was trying to figure out how to get a word in, something remarkable happened.

She let out a full laugh. Not a chuckle, the kind of laugh that was contagious, the kind of laugh that, had she a lover, might have been what he would try to get out of her as much as possible. In the midst of what might have been no short of a miracle, she said, a grin on her face, "Milo, I didn't really, I was just faking it. Believe me, I..." And that was when she truly realized that she was actually...happy. "I probably couldn't be better. You don't need to worry about me," she finished, her voice a little softer, but her grin no less genuine.

Then she turned away, facing forward, letting out another laugh, but covering her mouth like she was worried that if she let out too much, this feeling would vanish. "God, I can't believe I..." She was cut off by her own giggle, and yes, it was an actual giggle, and then she turned back towards him. "Anyway, c'mon, we might as well take advantage, right? Certainly can't let my little trick go to waste!"