Welcome to Madness - [O//A]

[The Night Faery]

Alice's eyes widened, and she again forgot to stay mad at the caterpillar. "You think there's something else? Something other than this dirty, rotten, run-down old city?" she asked, becoming more animated with excitement and curiosity even as Caterpillar turned around and started moving away from her. "You mean other than the queen, of course, don't you? Do you think whatever it was that was watching us went there?" She took off running after him, and due to a slight miscalculation of the number of steps her long legs might require, she ended up having to backtrack a few paces and walk with him more slowly.

"You know," she said, feeling a bit lighter of spirit, and unaware of just how much her attitude had changed, "we could make quite an adventure out of this. I know you don't like tea, which could make things somewhat unpleasant for those of us with more... people-like qualities... but I don't see any reason why we can't work together to try to figure this out. Maybe if we could go back to the place with the lights, we could ask the man there for more information? We just need to get the Professor, and Bai, if she'll come with us--"

Suddenly she stopped short, and looked around in confusion. "Where... are they, anyway?"  

[Azure Caterpillar]

Caterpillar was slightly amused at Alice's attitude change. "The creature watching us before is no longer in this city; I am quite sure I know where it is... and that location seems very different from this one." He replyed, though his focus of attention seemed to be wherever the other location was. But as Alice kept asking more questions he lowered his antennae and looked at her.

"An adventure? This isn't a fairytale," Caterpillar said, but not in a harsh way. "however; I do believe working together to find the answers is a far more effective way of going about this." He sighed. "Is not being fond of tea such a set back for humans? I'm a caterpillar, why would I like tea?" Sensing she might just ask why a caterpillar would smoke a hookah he decided to change the subject.

"The Professor and Bai were back there," Caterpillar looked behind them but the other two wern't there; infact the street was dark and more foreboding than he recalled. "Hm. Actually I am rather unsure where they are." With that he continued in the opposite direction.  

[The Night Faery]

"Well, why would a caterpillar smoke a-- Hmm," Alice said, dropping the end of her question and looking around with a steadily deepening frown of puzzlement. "Where could they possibly have gone? I don't imagine they would have gone to that place with the lights together, of all things; and anyway, when we went there we didn't actually disappear from reality!"

She released a little huff and toyed with the corners of her pinafore. "Well, I must say," she pouted, although she tried not to let the new conundrum get in the way of her mysteriously brightening mood, "it isn't particularly nice to run off and leave people standing and wondering where you've gotten to."

Naturally, she saw no relevance between this situation and the one that had occurred only a few minutes previously.  

[Azure Caterpillar]

"No, it isn't," Caterpillar replyed with a frown. "I don't wish to go searching for them. If they've run off somewhere then so be it." He wasn't about to look around a huge city for two people he'd only just met when they were just about to leave the place. "Alice, we will find the gates to the city before anything else gets in our way." He said; the strict tone to his speech returning.

Caterpillar continued onwards; he wasn't entirely sure where the exit from the city was, but certain it was somewhere in this direction. He was adamant about getting out of the city; it really wasn't a nice enviroment. After all, Bai worked for the Queen and who knew what exactly the Professor was doing. Now he was far more interested in leaving the city and hopefully finding some answers.

"I wouldn't worry; if they wish to find us... they will."

((I was thinking about keeping the Professor in the city if anyone comes back to the role-play, but I don't mind bringing her along if you think that would be more useful. Where is everyone anyway? o.o ))  

[The Night Faery]

Alice wasn't sure that she was convinced by the caterpillar's argument, but she decided that in matters such as these, it was wisest to trust the elder in the group. Although... quite frankly, Caterpillar didn't look all that old, he just acted that way. What was the term her mother always used? Precocious, that was it! But who was her mother?

"Well, that sounds fair enough," she said, trotting beside Caterpillar and nodding as he spoke. "Although I haven't known any cities that had actual gates; they were always metaphorical." She paused, then added, "But then again, I'm not really sure I've ever been in a city before, so I could be quite mistaken. And anyway I want to get out of here just as badly as you do. I miss my tree.... Were you familiar with it? The one in the meadow. The nice one." She frowned. "Well, the only one now...."  

[Azure Caterpillar]

Metaphorical or not, it was the best way to refer to the exit, Caterpillar was sure of that; though he wasn't that interested in the terms used by humans. Letting Alice ramble on, he replied to her every so often when a question was asked, all the while making sure to check every street or ally they walked by; incase something was lurking in the shadows.

"I do recall a tree; though I don't often visit them," Caterpillar replied. "Some caterpillars like trees quite a lot, personally I was quite happy with the vegetation in the mushroom forests..." He trailed off for a moment; the forests had seemed so much smaller than he remembered, just as with Alice and the meadow she kept talking about. "Anyway, if you're keen on trees... I'm quite sure you'll be meeting a lot of them soon. Though I sense they may not be the kind of tree you are fond of." He said with a slight flick of his antennae.

"I think we may be close to the exit; but I can't tell for certain at the moment." Caterpillar added, hoping they would soon be out of the city; he was keen to talk to the creature that he sensed before.