Welcome to Madness - [O//A]

[The Night Faery]

Alice frowned in puzzlement, but the idea didn't seem too impossible-- leastwise, not any more impossible than an invisible wall disguised as a fence. "That's funny," she said. "I never thought about not doing something in order to do it."

Obligingly, she pushed herself up onto her knees and turned herself around to face the fence, brushing little flecks of dirt off of her pinafore as she did so. After casting a glance back at the caterpillar, who was hardly noticeable now on his little mushroom, she put her right hand out to the fence and turned it sideways so her fingertips were pointing straight between two bars, one on top of the other. Slowly and cautiously-- for these sorts of situations always required the utmost caution-- she pushed her hand straight through the gap and out to the other side.

Quickly, she pulled it back and turned to the caterpillar with a grin. "It worked!" she cried excitedly, lowering herself back onto her stomach so she could hear him in case he had any other bits of wisdom to share.  

[Azure Caterpillar]

Caterpillar smiled slightly, in an almost smug way. "Of course it did," He said while exhaling smoke. "Now it will be quite easy to get into that city."

He still was unsure if he wanted to go to the city though; but eventually he would have to find out what was going on. At least he could easily get by that fence in any case. Looking at Alice again, he decided to tell her how to go about getting there.

"One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter," He explained, puffed a few times on the hookah and said; "The mushroom." as if he knew exactly what her next question would of been.

Now the question was... did he want to explore that city himself?  

[The Night Faery]

"Oh!" Alice cried in delighted surprise. Then, looking at the little cluster of mushrooms: "Which one?"

Before he could answer, however, she decided that if one of them could make her grow bigger or smaller, then most likely all of them could do the same. She gingerly reached out and plucked a mushroom from the ground, turning it over in her hands, almost scared to take a nibble.

She looked to the city, then back to the caterpillar. As cautiously as she had stuck her hand through the bars in the fence-- perhaps even more so-- she asked, "Master Caterpillar, sir-- would you like to come with me?"  

[Azure Caterpillar]

That was something Caterpillar hadn't thought of; he had already decided that he'd be exploring the city alone, but now this Alice girl had proposed otherwise. His instinct was to say no; after all he was typically a loner by nature. But... whoever did this to the land obviously wanted to keep Alice away from the city, but why?

He might get more answers traveling with Alice than without. Caterpillar gave her an inquistive look. "I would not," He said abruptly. "That city doesn't seem welcoming and I dislike traveling." Closing his eyes for a moment, he sighed. When he looked at her again he continued with; "But I shall come with you; I want answers too."

He then pointed to the mushroom she was holding. "Its quite safe to eat that you know."  

[The Night Faery]

Alice frowned, unable to help but be hurt by the caterpillar's begrudging acceptance of her offer. She wasn't all that terrible for company, was she?

She eyed the mushroom again, quite warily despite her curiosity. But then, she supposed, whatever it did to her couldn't be as bad as keeping her locked up in a little meadow. She brought the edge of the mushroom to her lips and took the tiniest bite, immediately dropping the rest into her apron pocket.

Quite suddenly she felt her body begin to shift-- but it was shifting the wrong way. Her bones began to ache as they stretched and pushed her up taller, taller.... "Oh, no!" she cried, putting a hand to her face, which was now at least a foot above her shoulders. Biting her lip, she fished the mushroom out of her pocket before she stretched too far away from it to reach, taking a small but decisive bite directly opposite of where she had taken her first.

The process reversed just as suddenly, and she stared at her toes, watching the ground come closer and closer until she was not looking down, but rather up at the caterpillar. When she stopped shrinking, she turned around in a circle to get a bearing of her surroundings, then stood on her toes to get to eye level with him and said, "Things are quite different from this perspective."  

[Azure Caterpillar]

"They are not, its your perspective that is different. You have changed, not your surroundings." Caterpillar replied, took a few more puffs from the hookah and then set the hose down. "I suppose you'll be wanting to go to the city straight away?" He asked, but didn't really need an answer.

Caterpillar looked at his hookah and frowned; he didn't want to leave it here. But perhaps if he himself grew taller after getting out of the fence, he could keep it in his pocket. He then began thinking that he needed a way to change the hookah's size too. Caterpillar began contemplating this; quite forgetting that he had asked Alice a question.

Before long though he got down off the mushroom; but not before taking a few pieces of it for when they got away from the fence. He also took the hookah, holding it carefully as it was rather important to him.

"Shall we be going to this city then?"  

[The Night Faery]

"Yes, I suppose we shall," Alice said, nodding and even favoring the caterpillar with a smile. She had decided not to begrudge him his discomfort; she understood that caterpillars must be happier in meadows and trees rather than in cities, where they were apt to be caught beneath somebody's shoe. However, with this new growing and shrinking ability, being tread upon would become much less of an issue.

She started through the grass, which was now much taller than she-- or as the caterpillar had reminded her, than which she was now much shorter-- toward the fence. The trip seemed far longer than before, but then again her steps were much smaller. Periodically she checked to make sure the caterpillar was actually coming with her-- it would be an awful joke if he had decided to let her get lost in here.

She pulled up short when she found herself facing a smooth black pillar of iron, and tilted her head back as far as it would go to try and see how high it went. "We've reached the fence," she said to the caterpillar, disregarding the obviousness of the statement.  

[Azure Caterpillar]

Caterpillar hadn't found it difficult to keep up with Alice; he thought he might have, as human's are usually rushing about all over the place for some reason or another. Once Alice had declared they had reached the fence, he gave her an annoyed look. "I know."

With that he looked toward the gap between the iron bars, the city streets were beyond and they did not seem welcoming. What an unusual place; and to think, it appeared over-night... or at least seemed to.

Without a word, Caterpillar proceeded through the fence, reaching the city beyond. The change from earth to street was most annoying. He turned to face Alice. "This city is rather gloomy, don't you agree?." He asked; waiting for her to follow.  

[The Night Faery]

"It seems to be so, yes," Alice agreed, nodding her head as she peered out through the bars at the rundown buildings and busy people. She was afraid, certainly, but again her curiosity overpowered her fear. "Of course, that might just be our perception. Maybe it's not really so gloomy after all."

She stepped between the black pillars and joined the caterpillar. "It's odd, I don't believe I've ever been here before in my life, but I feel like somehow I know this place."  

[Azure Caterpillar]

"Maybe you do know this place; perhaps you just don't know you know it yet." Caterpillar seemed to say rather randomly, while taking a piece of mushroom out of his pocket. He wasn't too interested on staying this height while in a city.

Making sure to hold onto the hookah, he ate the mushroom; and ended up growing to exactly the height he had wanted. Caterpillar looked at his hookah and sighed, placing it in his pocket. He wouldn't be able to smoke it for a while. From this height he could see the city more clearly, and he agreed with his original thought; it was unwelcoming. Although he didn't find changing his height to be strange, he wasn't all that keen on being this tall.

Remembering Alice, he looked down; wondering why she hadn't eaten the mushroom yet. "Are you waiting for something?."  

[The Night Faery]

"Oh-- no," Alice said, staring up at the caterpillar. Then, much louder-- she realized her voice wouldn't carry at that height-- she asked, "What if I grow too tall or not nearly tall enough?"

But even if he had heard her, he didn't seem like he was going to answer, so she sighed and withdrew the mushroom from her pocket, nibbling what she hoped was the Tall side. Indeed it was, and thankfully she stopped growing almost exactly when she wished to; she was a bit too tall, perhaps six feet, but she would still be able to walk through doorways, so it would have to do. She certainly wasn't about to experiment with another bite of the mushroom-- she quickly dropped it back into the apron pocket.

Dusting her hands nervously on her skirt, she looked to the caterpillar once more. "Where shall we go?" she asked. "I'm not sure where to start."  

[Azure Caterpillar]

"We start at the beginning; and this street seems to be the beginning," Caterpillar replied, looking down the empty street. "For a city, its very quiet." He commented, then turned to Alice; why did she ask him such questions? He'd never been here before, he wasn't sure where any of the roads went; or what kind of people they might come across at that.

But this girl was stubbon; he'd eventually have to give her a proper answer anyway. "I think this way." He said nodding to the street he had mentioned before, although to be honest he wasn't keen on any of the ways; they all seemed the same; gloomy and depressing. But they had to start somewhere.  

[The Night Faery]

"I suppose it is quiet," Alice agreed. She hadn't really thought about it, but he was right. Of course he was right; he seemed like the kind of creature who was very nearly always right. Anyway, she appreciated his sudden directness, and started in the direction he had indicated.

"I don't suppose caterpillars drink tea, do they?" she murmured, stopping to peer through a dirt and cobweb-encrusted window at a table, where on the linen rested a china tea set. Steam was coming in wisps from the spout of the pot, and she hungrily eyed the cakes on the plate beside it.

Suddenly she shook her head and turned away, though with a good deal of reluctance. "But I don't suppose whoever is having tea in there will want to help us, either," she said. Her mood had darkened considerably, and she stared at the ground in front of her as she walked.  

[Azure Caterpillar]

"No, we don't." Caterpillar replied while glancing at the window for a moment; at least it proved there were actually people living in this city. He wondered if they were as ominous as the city itself. Though he had to admit the cakes looked quite edible to say the least.

He watched Alice carefully, her mood had suddenly changed to match her surroundings. "You are not content?" He asked; thinking this city was having a negative effect on her. That or she just wanted the tea and cakes.

"It is... the first sign of people we've come across though." Caterpillar added while calculating if it would be wise to bother whoever the tea set belonged to. Though in all honesty he didn't think anyone would give them much information anyway; the inhabitants themselves probably didn't even know what was going on.  

[The Night Faery]

"Oh, no, I am," Alice began, but she stopped there, and took a long moment before speaking again. "At least, I think I am, but maybe I'm not. I don't know what I am. I don't even know who I am anymore."

She looked up at Caterpillar's rather human face and felt her lip quivering as if she might cry. "I rather thought I was the only one here-- I always thought this place was special, like nobody else could come in and change everything. But I suppose I was awfully wrong about that." She sighed. "Not that I mind sharing, but I just wish I knew how all of this happened." She gestured to the street and buildings. "I keep getting that feeling where I think everyone's keeping a secret and I'm the only one who doesn't know it."