He sort of had a feeling that she was trying to figure him out. He didn't like the idea of that, but at the end of the day it was just typical Chess. If nothing else he didn't have to worry about her having bad intentions.

"You know how often I'm here. There's always some ingredient or rarity somebody is after." Wonderland was a good place to be able to get to, basically. "So it made sense. I'm also sort of shooting for the idea that if I ever run into her Royal Heartlessness that she might be a little more sympathetic to someone who isn't entirely an outsider."

He grimaced a bit. He didn't want to be considered an insider either.

"I also needed to have a place to take girls when they sprain their ankles."