Al was startled from his gaze. As much as he tried to make sense of it, he simply couldn't. Had the current swept him down river? Had he been unconscious? The sun shone with radiant beams, which was fine of course, barring the fact it had been evening when he had jumped. Instinctively however, he knew, on some level, that he was a long way from anything that slightly resembled home. As if to confirm suspicions, he was greeted by the strangest man he had ever laid eyes on.

It wasn't his appearance that distinguished this man, but his manner. The loose gait in which he carried himself would seem uncomfortable and awkward on anyone else, but for this man, it was his natural state. His distant, unfocused stare never seemed to truly meet Al's own gaze, but instead hovered just around the edge of eye contact, as if the consequences would warrant some disaster.

And then there was the talking.

Al winced.

[b]"You're going to have to slow your roll, buddy," [/b]Al replied. [b]"And you're speaking to Allen, not Alice." [/b]Even as he said it, Al still tried to put that together in his head. None of this was making any sense. He ran a nervous hand through his still soaking hair and moved to stand up, still shaken from his incident. His eyes swept over the scenery again. It's as if every color was truer in this place than it had been five minutes ago. Green was somehow greener here.

In a lot of ways, it wasn't too dissimilar to what he remembered his childhood vision of heaven being after a sleepy session of Sunday School. Maybe this was the risen Christ come to judge him. Perhaps he had actually succeeded in ending things.

[i]If only. Successful suicide is the only sin that cannot be confessed.[/i]

He reached a hand out to the strange man. "[b]Well, if I can call you Hat, I suppose it's only fair that you call me Al."[/b] Even then, there was something that compelled him to trust this unknown individual. There was also the part of him that said it would be a foolish thing to trust him entirely. [b]"Wonderland you said? I'm assuming you know where I should go?"[/b]

[i]Well, if this is death, heaven, or some crazy dream/vision, why not see it through at the present?[/i]