Thread: A Warring Wonderland

Creaking from wooden carts that rolled by the dirt paths rumbled lowly. Most of which belonged to various merchants that wandered between the kingdoms to sell goods and get their hands on whatever they wanted at a cheaper price. All the while a black ball of fur floated between the trees landing every now and then while listening in on various conversations. The main topic was the war.

Various advances from different kingdoms, casualty count, who appeared to be 'winning', et cetera. Between the many carts and pass byers, it was what took up most of the conversations-- if there were any. The fur ball vanished and appeared again between different carts. From clothing carts to antique or food carts. There was some talk about the products, though not much gossip about specific people of great interest. Bored from listening to the same topic over and over again, a pair of paws landed on the grass covered ground before another.

"War, war, and more war," yawned Enz. "Same content and results for the past week regardless of where i'm going." He scratched his ear with his foot.

"It'd be nice if something new popped up to at least jazz stuff up. Never know what can happen. Huu huu huuu." The black cat walked along the edge of the path. Granted, he was no ordinary cat. Aside from his name, he was known as the Cheshire Cat. Black fur shining when sunlight hit him from past the trees, his red scarf swayed slightly as he walked.

Black, blacker, blackest,
And cold beyond frozen things.
Where is between when there is naught
To Life but fragile dragon wings?

Olive-green eyes muddled by pain and disorientation opened slowly. Often enough, Alysse dreamed of poetry, and when she awoke she had some semblance of what the dream had been about but now... well in this particular instant the fractured poem only added to her confusion. The world was a blurred streak of dappled greens against a blue sky. Slowly, she sat up, closing one eye and counting to five before repeating the same process for the other. Nope, all fine, no concussion here. She looked around and found herself in a ditch next to a path.

As she tried to piece together what had happened she saw something streak over her right hand. She automatically brushed it away assuming it to be a worm or bug, however it remained. Alysse stared at her skin as it became crisscrossed with tiny black lines as if an invisible hand were tracing a pattern over it. When it was over, there was an intricate black club branded on the back of her right hand.

"Right..." she muttered before picking herself up from what looked like a ditch.

The last thing she remembered was reading a book as she walked through the park. However, this did not look like the park. In fact judging from the peaceful silence and unusually clean air, she was nowhere near the city. Ok so that meant, A) she'd been kidnapped and tossed by the side of the road, B) she was dreaming, or C) she was dead. All of which were equally improbable, but sitting still wasn't going to get her any answers. After taking a brief moment to pick a direction she shoved her hands into her pockets and walked down the dirt path.

For the most part, Enz was planning on either visiting a kingdom, or finding some food. Whichever he decided on first. Neither really minded for him. His paws moved across the ground before the feline twitched his ears. An unfamiliar scent and noise from the background of the path.

A large grin spread across the cat's face. Was it in motion? Shivers tingled down Enz's spine in excitement which could send his black fur to stand on ends.

Huu huu huu. About time, Hatter, thought the cat as it vaporized into smoke, leaving nothing behind. His invisible presence floated around the path, before it came across a female in a ditch. Not a place someone would usually spend there time at the current time of day, if ever.

"Huu huu huu," laughed his voice, echoing without a source.

From under his reign of being invisible, he analysed her. Clothes, scent, and the like. For the most part, the clothes could pass for a Wonderlander. Her scent however, it was foreign. Not something one would find anywhere in Wonderland.

It became painfully obvious to Alysse that her Victorian Lolita cosplay was not suited for strolling through the woods, even if there was a convenient dirt path for her to follow. Judging by the angle of the sun, it would be getting dark soon. She had no shelter, no source of warmth, not even a nail file to keep the rough edges of her nails at bay.

Well damn, I did break a nail...

As she pouted over her chipped enamel she heard the soft echoes of a voice. Considering there was no wind, it was safe to say something or someone was stalking her. She considered her predicament for a moment. She didn't know where she would get food for the night, didn't know if she could start a fire without tools, and definitely didn't know if she would find suitable shelter in time for nightfall...

That's enough "don't knows" to win an election.

She wasn't exactly hungry yet, and she was thankfully not tired what with the nice concussion-nap she'd taken that afternoon. Alysse started looking at trees. Forests were dangerous at night, she would have to climb a tree, since it was relatively safer.

"Are you lost? Don't know where to go?" Enz's voice echoed in a similar manner as before. If he was ignored, he would go on observing the girl, if that grew boring, he could always do something else.

Eyes focusing on the girl's hand, he could see a black club. He paused to remember what it signified. Something that the Hatter had said. Not directly, rather indirect planning.

He smiled. So that was it. Though what to do, oh what to do. There were several possibilities he could do with the arrival of this 'Alice'. He knew there were four, but rather unlikely it would be if he were to meet them all. After all the Hatter would know when they appeared, and it was chance for Enz.

He had no way of knowing when exactly. Though, if he were to be near one, he could tell from how different they were. If he remembered correctly, they were all human. Clothing differences were possible, but there was also certain things that would tip them off as being from another world entirely.

Alysse heard the voice yet again but glancing around she noticed there was no one around to have uttered it. Ironically the first thing that popped into her mind was not 'Who's there?', or a slightly more rational 'Where are you, what do you want?' but rather...

"How are you doing that?"

It was ingenious really, she could hear his voice close by, but there were no speakers in the nearby foliage. As for his questions, she didn't know if they were meant to be sincere or mocking. She went with the latter to avoid complications.

"I assume you already know the answer to those questions. Are you bored?"

She glanced around searching for the source of the voice.

There was chuckling that rang before the air melted revealing a golden-eyed black cat that sat upon a low tree branch. From his perch he looked down at her.

"Oh how indeed? Is it magic? An illusion? A trick? What could it be, oh what indeed? Huu huu huu." Enz grinned and swung his tail. His eyes stared at the girl.

"Perhaps I do, perhaps I don't. Bored? Yes? No? It may quite be so. But the question is where will you go? A war is brewing, and time is ticking. Will you go East or West? North or South? Will you go neither at all? Will you try and follow tosses and turns to find your way home or stay in this Wonderland?"

Enz's ears flicked. It was a lot of questions to throw in the air, but it was Enz. Such things were common to his usual style of speech if questions were ever to show up.

Alysse said nothing as she stared at the cat curiously. He uttered something not unlike a mad rant.

I suppose my line here should be 'curiouser and curiouser'...

So she supposed, if the was a chatty cat with a skill for appearing out of thin air was any indication, this must indeed be Wonderland. Either that or she was having a psychotic break of some sort. She remained silent as she studied the sun and the surrounding woods. A cat was hardly a threat, even if he could vanish into thin air. Perhaps he could help... perhaps he'd been dropped on his head as a kitten. Didn't cats land on their feet? Well she supposed if something was wrong with it's tail, then that would seriously impair his landing. Perhaps it wasn't fully manifested. That made sense considering he'd been a kitten and all.

Were those two moons? She'd a mental image then of a two headed wolf howling at them. Or would a single headed wolf howl twice as hard with two moons? Now that she thought about it, she didn't fancy meeting a two headed wolf nor a doubly motivated one. It was inevitable then, she'd have to find shelter or perhaps some place high. No use asking the cat though, it was useless. Alas he was the only source of information. She supposed useless information was better than no information at all.

Only when her silence had drawn out long enough for it to be uncomfortable did she turn to the cat and give him a broad albeit plasic smile. When in Rome...

"Forward. Neither. Staying for the time being," she replied a little too brightly. "Where is the closest shelter? Is there food nearby? Do you suppose it will rain tonight? Do you eat vanishing mice or is that just a stereotype?"

Enz laughed and rolled off the branch landing on his feet.

"Neither North or South. Neither East or West. So be it." Her questions of shelter, food, and rain were ignored for the most part. After all, nightfall was approaching, though it wouldn't be a large problem for the vanishing cat for obvious reasons. The human that was with him, that would be another story.

"Huu huu, vanishing mice I eat not." Enz turned and nodded for Alysse to follow. Treading his way away from the path and into the forest he weaved under roots, and over branches before stopping to check if the stranger was following. If she did, then a guest the Hatter would have. If not, then he would vanish again and observe.

She gave the long swishing tail a sidelong glance. On the one hand she could stay in the middle of nowhere, or she could follow a strange cat.

Slow death, quick death...

It took a moment of indecision before slowly picking through the foliage and following the strange talking cat. Every once in a while she would pause and look up at the twin moons adorning the sky.

"Is there any point in asking where you're headed?" she mused as she flicked away an errant leaf that had settled upon her hair.

After seeing that the girl was following him, he continued on off the paths and into the forest. With nightfall on them various Wonderlanders were starting to stir-- and not the friendly kind either.

"Has there been any point in asking me anything so far?" mused the cat. He paused as snarling echoed in the far distance.

"Huu huu huu. Now whom might they be after. Be it us, be it an unwary traveller? Who indeed. Huu huu huu." Enz's golden eyes glowed under the moonlight before moving forward again. He kept moving forward, not minding the sounds of gnashing teeth and low growls. Aware of them, yes. Minding them, no.

Rustling sounds of leaves flickered in the air above from smaller Wonderlanders that roam the night. Deserters of kingdoms, and those that belong to none.

Alysse stared at the dissipating feline with a thoughtful expression. Either the cat was leading her to certain death... or it couldn't be bothered to give an explanation. Either way, the lack of information was beginning to irk her. She didn't like being ignorant. What was more, she hated waiting for information she found pertinent now.

"There was a point, you just chose to ignore it," she replied with a one armed shrug.

Off in the distance she heard snarls in the dark. A dark eyebrow quirked as she heard the inhuman sounds.

"Are you a Cheshire cat or a Rhetorical cat?" she finally sighed finding his questions tedious.