We're All a Little Mad // OxO // Closed

Aliana let out a laugh, "Of course! Right is the right way to go."

Hatta winked, and kept walking. He tipped his head a little, but didn't stop walking.

Aliana let out a giggle and followed after Hatta scurrying slightly to keep up. She didn't the maze was going to be that bad.

Hatta smiled at her and kept walking. The walls were far too high to see over, made of smooth stone.

Aliana gingerly put her hand out and began to run it across the right wall as they walked. She had always loved doing this when possible and never quite understood why. She could look up to see the sky, but that was about it.

Hatta kept his gaze fixed ahead. He swallowed, eyes narrowing for a moment.

Aliana looked at Hatta and saw the clear signs of worry, "What do you see?"

Hatta shook his head. "Nothing." he replied. "At least, nothing important."

"So it was something?" Aliana asked softly. She would drop it after he answered this one question.

"Nothing important." Hatta repeated, shaking his head slightly. He didn't look at her. Didn't tell her what he had seen at the edges of his vision.

Aliana dropped the subject after that. She pulled her hand away from the wall and held herself now worried once more, "Sooo, how do you keep the tea in your hat hot?"

"Oh, it's hot when I put it in there, and it stays that way." Hatta replied with a graceful shrug.

"That," Aliana thought for a moment, "Makes a lot of sense."

Hatta blinked. "It does?" he replied slowly, incredulously.

"I mean," Aliana bit her lip as she tried to find an easy way of explaining it, "If you think of the inside of your hat like a time capsule where time moves either really slowly or not at all it makes perfect sense for it to not get cold. Living objects within bring time to the place as they have the concept of time, but a kettle of tea doesn't have that same concept. So, in essence, your hat is a timeless void unless something alive or with a concept of time enters."

Hatta blinked quickly, staring at her. "I uhm…didn't think about that." he replied slowly. "I just assumed it was magic and didn't question it. I mean, it is magic, but…" he shrugged.

Aliana had a little grin on, "I've figured out even Wonderland magic as some hint of logic in it. If you understand the logic, then you can do a lot of things."

Hatta chuckled. "Mm. I see." he replied, and shrugged a little.

"Are you doubting?" Aliana asked tease evidence in her voice. She let out a little giggle, "It's fine. It's my little way of coping with the craziness in this world."

Hatta's eyes flickered at the last part, and shrugged. "Mm. We all have our own ways." He replied. Some of us go mad, and then we fit right in.

"I," Aliana realized her mistake at the last moment. She went pretty quiet as she responded, "Sorry."

Hatta shook his head. "It's fine." he replied softly, still walking across the floor. "It doesn't matter."

"You were bothered by it," Aliana said quietly twisting her sleeves slightly, "So it does matter."

"Aliana. You just made a mistake in word choice, okay? It was an accident. It doesn't matter." He replied, shaking his head.

"I, okay," Aliana caved in a little. She still felt bad, but Hatta wasn't bothered by it.

Hatta sighed softly, and tugged on the sleeves of his shirt, shaking his head a little.

Aliana was quiet as she messed around with her backpack. She didn't know what to say.

Hatta kept walking. "I don't know how long this will take; we might need to camp out here." he said.

"I figured so," Aliana responded softly, "It's a maze, we could be in here for days."

Hatta nodded. "Yeah. That's what the tent is for." he replied with a shrug.