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 Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 1:15 pm
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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2015 3:02 pm
The paths between lands varied, changing depending on where one was and where they chose to go. While the Cheshires set out from their homeland knowing where they stood, they had no way to guess where they were going. Somewhere else, somewhere better... A home that wasn't in danger of ending, at the least. The stories of the end of Wonderland were spreading, and more of their people were going in search of someplace new. It was no surprise that there were royals among the believers, even if the Queen was not. Katya believed the whispers and the evidence on the Oraculum, and she was determined to find them a new home. Irina was loyal to her sister; if that meant following Katya as she dove into LookingGlassLake, determined to see what lay through the caves beneath it... Well? She -and her sisters- would do that too.
Had done that, in fact.
With a final paddle of her paws and flick of her tail, Irina surfaced with a low exhale of breath, grinning as the soft cloud of air and water dispersed. There was a soft, secondary exhale from the white rabbit on her back, and an annoyed tug to her mane as he expressed his disapproval of the plan. Still, Katya had gone first, Oolong safely in her hat, and Irina couldn't let her sister be left in a strange world all by herself. So she'd followed, and there were more of their kin behind them waiting to come through... But that still left Irina searching for the Elder Princess, and wondering where she'd scampered off to.
The distant bank was lush with greenery, and there were mountains beyond that loomed in shades of charcoal and indigo. Snow caps of white were not at all surprising, in fact most of it seemed almost familiar. In a way, they could have easily existed in her homeland, especially if a hatter and a hare would come meandering along in search of tea. 'Is it supposed to be like this, or should it be different?'
Unsure of the land she had arrived in, the burgundy she-cat ducked low in the water, her ears folded low as she scanned the area for a moment. The coast seemed clear so she straightened, padding toward the bank with her head high above the water. Though Katya had gone first, she did not see any sign of her sister present on the bank.
Paws finally on dry ground, the Cheshire Cat took a moment to shake herself from muzzle to tail, careful not to dislodge the creature clinging to her back or the packs that she carried.
"She couldn't really have gone ahead without me, could she?" Irina murmured to the rabbit clinging to her back, glancing at the animal entreatingly. "She'd wait for us, right Chai?"
Busy shaking water from his ears, the bunny made no reply.
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Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 9:14 pm
Chai, the white rabbit that accompanied the burgundy Cheshire cat, did not seem particularly interested in the conversation at hand. Instead, he straightened the bow tie about his neck and began smoothing his vest, ears flicking and pink eyes narrowed all the while. He was clearly not at all amused about the journey, but seemed no worse for the wear as far as the Cheshire Cat could tell.
Somewhat unfazed by her companion's lack of response, Irina shrugged off his disgruntled silence and concentrated on shaking the water out of her ears. When the swish-swish of the pool was no longer distracting her she glanced around again, admiring the treeline even as she searched for evidence of her sister's passing.
"She went first, Chai." Irina pointed out to the rabbit, who had now withdrawn his watch from his pocket and was carefully winding it. "First in the lake went Katya, because she's the Elder Princess, that's why... Fine, more time for tea for the rest of us, says I. So in she goes, splish splash! And then? She should have arrived here first. I am certain we did not pass her in the water, and I did not see her in the cave... Though I truly thought I had seen a paw print, and mustn't it have been hers? Shouldn't I recognize my own sister's toes? My sister's own toes? You know what I mean!"
The rabbit, still winding his watch, made no reply... Though Irina hardly needed one to continue, and continue on she did.
"They seemed like Katya's paw prints, is what I'm saying. Besides! There's no one else that would have come from there to here so recently, and how did they get between us if they did? They shouldn't have, couldn't have! So they didn't, and the prints were Katya's. And here should Katya be! But she's NOT, Chai! Why?"
Without comment, Chai the rabbit gave a pleased nose twitch and held up the watch as it began ticking again.
Bewildered, Irina craned her head down to consider the time, and then shrugged. "We're early?"
She grumbled and then glared down at him, giving a low snort. "Fine, we're early. So WHAT? She still went first!"
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:09 am
They were going away. That’s what Kittredge had been told. Her sisters were going to go away to escape the madness. Kittredge had been more than happy to follow her older sisters’ examples and leave as well. But it was strange, they were only going away from one place and she was going away from two. As she stood pawing at the (normally glassy) surface of LookingGlassLake she wondered if leaving two places would somehow make this harder for her than for her sisters. Though, if that was true, her sisters must have been having a very easy time of it all because Kittredge didn’t feel particularly distressed. It was her duty to protect and fight and all she was doing now was narrowing her focus onto a very select group.
She stopped messing with the lake water after a short time and bent to seize her white rabbit around the middle as best as she could. It had been long enough, her sisters would have made it out the other side by now and she could get through the sunken caves without worrying about colliding with one of them. “Hime oo koh.” Kittredge tried to tell her little white friend but, as always it was very difficult to talk with a full mouth. She waited just a moment longer while Creampuff, her rabbit, secured his paws around Kit’s sleepy little dormouse. Once she was certain that everyone was together she dove in.
~*~~~*~
Kittredge’s head shot out of the water and she gasped for breath around Creampuff. She could hear both her rabbit and her dormouse coughing quietly. The trip had been a bit longer than any of them had anticipated but they had made it through. Her fur and mane were clinging to her in unpleasant ways and she found that she couldn’t see a thing past the whiteness of her hair. She shook her head very gently, just enough to shift her sodden bangs off of one eye without rattling her friends around. With her vision restored she looked around and immediately spotted Irina.
With renewed energy Kittredge paddled her way to the shore near her sister using her long tail to assist with steering. Once her paws touched dry land she set her friends down and set about licking the water out of her coat. As she worked the water out her bright blue-green eyes wandered taking in all there was to see… and also all there wasn’t there to see. She had barely gotten started when she noticed that their hat wearing sister wasn’t standing with them.
“Iri where did Katya go?” Kit asked abandoning her quest to be dry in favor of determining the whereabouts of their sister. “Didn’t she go first?”
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Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:02 pm
 After finishing the hymn and watching all of her sisters (except for Kit who she knew would want to be last) descend into the water Catri looked back over her shoulder and told Wonderland, “Sorrow and silence and dazzling bobbles have necrotic severance. Delight and wonderment follow peradventure. Valediction.” With that she cantered into the water with her rabbit Wrestling of Dragon and Tiger, more affectionately known as Tiggon, wrapped in her tail.
~---------~
With he tail waving high above the water so that Tiggon could get air Catri paddled to the edge. Somehow in the travels Kit had passed her Catri noticed. No matter. Plodding onto the bank soaked and shivering, Catri looked around. Where was Katya. She had been first to go in so she should already be here. She hadn’t gotten lost had she in the twist and turns of the ever changing paths? CAtri wondered with a little bit of fear that Katya had decided to return to Wonderland, but then dismissed that. Katya was determined and would not have changed her mind.
Kit was already asking about where Katya was, so Catri simply waited to hear the answer. For that matter, where were her other two sisters? Had she passed them as Kit had passed her? Frowning a bit before relaxing again, Catri remembered that her sisters were entirely capable beings that would find their way.
She lowered her tail to the ground so that Tiggon could get out and shook herself to get rid of some of the water. That left her fur all standing on end and Catri actually decided to leave it like that. When dry she could settle it back in place, but for now she wanted to look a little crazy. It amused her. Prancing about but careful to not step on the prints that seemed to be of interest to Irina, Catri proceeded to look around. The world seemed dull and familiar but clearly they all had not gotten turned around because it was different from her last look at… not home anymore. This new place was home. What would they end up calling it beside that, Catri wondered. It was not Wonderland but it could be as wondrous.
Tiggon gave Catri an offended look as if it was her fault that he was wet. Catri simply grinned back at him. It was her fault after all. But Tiggon had chosen to come with so it was his fault too. Turning her grin on her sisters, Catri considered their situation a little more seriously. “A disagreeable epilogue and a gratifying inception. Wouldn’t you concur?” Catri spun in place to indicate the surrounding terrain and stopping crouched looking back at the water. Not too seriously it seemed.
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Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2015 5:04 pm
Charlbury chase bristled at the edge of the water, fur standing on end and teeth gritted in distaste. "Water!" she hissed to Mr. Shuffle, her white rabbit companion. "How can they expect us to go through water? No no no no no." She tried to pitch this low, but it was not so quiet that her sisters couldn't hear her whine if they were close enough and had their ears open. She took one step in, shivered, and then another. Water was any cat's bane, and she was no exception. Mr. Shuffle sat on her back, seemingly unconcerned. He was just a rabbit, after all. They didn't have things to worry about like cats did.
Each time the water rose higher on her she wondered if she was making the right decision. Wonderland was ending, supposedly, but it wasn't happening right now. She could stay behind and see what happened. Maybe they had the prophesy wrong. Maybe things would go on as they always had, and things would be ever wonderful in the land of Wonderland.
These thoughts ran through her head as she plunged in deeper. Why was she doing this? She saw her sisters disappearing one by one in front of her. For a moment she hated them, resented them for forcing her on this journey she didn't want.
Then, she calmed herself. She could come back. She could always come back to her home, for as long as it still stood. These thoughts stayed with her as the water reached up to her chest, and then as she plunged underneath entirely.
~~~~~~~~
She emerged a drenched mess. She gave an indignant yowl. Water! They had forced her to go through water! Miserably, she plodded her way out, too unhappy even to look around at this new place they had discovered.
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Posted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 10:12 pm
"Silly bunny, always concerned about the time. Enough of that for now, down you go." Irina muttered fondly, catching Chai by the back of the vest. She carefully lifted him from her back and set him down on the ground, taking a moment to eye the watch again. "I know, I know Chai. It's always tea time, and that's good enough for me. The rest of it? Well, one thing at a time... If only you could tell me where Katya had gone!"
She gave a low snort, turning at the sound of Kittredge's voice. She wanted to dance forward and greet the youngest, all fondness and nuzzling, but Kit was a bit too serious for that. Especially with Katya missing. But how? How did she go missing? With her tall graceful ears and her twirly-whirly tail, and her fancy hat, how could she be lost? She was just ahead of them and now they were all here and she wasn't... It just, didn't really make sense.
'Honestly, Ekaterina... How have you already gone and wandered off? And why didn't you take at least one of us with you?'
"She did." Irina agreed with a nod and a sigh, glancing around and doing a headcount only to find the sister in question still missing. Turning serious eyes to the paw prints in the mud, the burgundy Cheshire Cat pouted. "She did go first, Kit, though it seems like she kept going... And left us all here and wondering. Did she say anything about that to you? I didn't think this was part of the plan..."
Her ears flicked keenly as Catri spoke, though Irina wasn't sure how much of it she understood. Katya always seemed to understand their sky-colored sister, Irina supposed that was good enough. At least in her books, and as LoreKeeper, well, hers were the books that mattered, right? "I suppose I shall agree indeed... Did you see where Katya went, Catri? Did she tell you she was going to run off?"
Irina's keen ears flicked back at the sound of the lake being disturbed and loud splashing, which suddenly made sense with Charlbury's yowling. 'Well, another sister safely through... Though she doesn't at all sound like she's enjoying the trip.' Irina grinned as she turned to make sure her emerald-pelted sister was well and merely grumbling to her companion rabbit. Though she wasn't sure if Charl was ok or not, the keenest hunter of them all appeared whole and unharmed, but miffed about the swim. 'Oops.. Not sure Katya mentioned that in the 'let's leave Wonderland and find a new home' speech? Sorry Char...'
"Sorry Char-Char." She grinned gently, flicking her tail at her bright green sister. "Are you ok? And Mr. Shuffle? Did everyone make it?"
She was pretty sure that Serafima was going to be the last one through the lake, so it wasn't surprising that she hadn't showed up yet. Still, Katya was the problem right now. Katya was the one who was lost.
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Posted: Sat Sep 05, 2015 8:54 am
Kit’s ears twitched unhappily at her sister’s confirmation. Katya was, in fact, missing. There was no doubting who made those tracks in the mud. Her tail began to flick back and forth as she approached the trail. She lined herself up so that she was standing directly beside her sister’s marks to see what she could make out. Nothing. What could have possibly drawn their sister off when the others would be following so closely behind? Nothing good.
“Of course she didn’t.” Kit replied starting to feel irritable. This was not at all how things were supposed to have gone. The plan as she’d heard it was that they would all travel through the LookingGlass and when they came out the other side they’d find a new home. It had been heavily implied that they’d all be waiting to make sure that the rest of the family made it through safely. Glancing over her shoulder she could see that Catri had arrived. Catri had surfaced not long after Kittredge had, which was odd as Kittredge had departed after her and hadn’t actually seen her sister in the passage. Those caverns were strange.
Hearing Catri’s thoughts on the situation didn’t improve Kit’s mood any. She had no idea what her sister was talking about, she liked to use far too many words that Kittredge had never heard strung together as a set before and she didn’t have the patience to sit down and puzzle them out just yet. Following Irina’s lead Kit just nodded her head in agreement before studying Catri closely. Katya hadn’t told Kit anything but perhaps she’d entrusted something to Catri trusting her riddles to keep it safe some nosy Underlanders that weren’t invited to the party.
The sounds of splashing and a distressed cry distracted Kittredge from the problem at hand, another sister had arrived and she sounded distressed. Kit turned about as quick as a blink to see Charlbury approaching the edge of the water. She was certainly unhappy but the water wasn’t red around her and she was moving as well as any cat would in water. Kit didn’t have to move from the spot to see that Charl’s distress was caused by being in the water; she did hate the water so. Kit’s training had often taken place in the middle of rainstorms and while she had hated it then she was almost grateful for it now. She was no longer bothered by the water even if it did make her coat feel uncomfortable.
Kit’s bright eyes scanned the surface of the lake as Irina went over to check on Charl’s condition. It was settling again, that meant that Serafima wasn’t as close behind as Kit had been hoping. That left two sister’s unaccounted for now. One was lost and the other simply hadn’t made it through and Kit wasn’t sure which scenario bothered her worse.
“Charlbury!” Kit called. “Did you pass Serafima coming through?” It was a long shot. If Kit had missed passing Catri then it was unlikely that any of them could have seen each other in the tunnels.
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Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 4:50 pm
Catri nodded in response to her sisters’ nods then spun one more time sending water droplets everywhere including on her sisters. But Catri recognized the seriousness of the situation because Katya had in fact not told Catri anything about planning to strike off on her own. There had been no way to plan what was going to happen in the new land and Catri, mistakenly it seemed, had assumed that they would all wait and explore together. But no, she thought a little unfairly, Katya has to strike out on her own. Catri dismissed the thought and accompanying emotion quickly though. Because it was typical Katya.
Tilting her head to the left, Catri said, “A robin flies erratically while a crow flies straight. But a cat? A cat explores.” That was as simple as she could make it for them. And it pained her to do so. But her sisters needed her to be less herself around them and more herself around Katya at that moment. Catri knew that it was in their instincts to explore new things to begin with, and that Katya would want to make sure it was safe for them, find some allies, or both. But Katya was, well, Katya and new to this leadership role so Catri was worried anyway.
“Kit!” Catri could see that Kit was paying attention to the water. Catri was also worried about the sister that was still in the lake but she needed Kit’s expertise. Catri pranced in place as soon as she knew that Kit was at least aware of her. She began to sing, “High low, form a bow, around the bend, we will mend. Follow the leader, not a bleeder.” Really, she was trying to be clear. She didn’t use strange words or anything. If the situation hadn’t been so strained already, Catri would have preened. “Watchful eyes are not alone.”
Now Catri turned to Irina. “A worried soul prevents the sun from shining.” That one was a little more obscure but Catri was trying to tell Irina that her ability to draw on the history might light the way of what to do now. Unsure if that had made it across, Catri continued. “Shining light allows for sight. Sight allows for height, who can be a knight.” Catri acknowledged, if only to herself, that she was not being helpful anymore.
So Catri turned to the last sister present. The one who had not said a word. Catri danced over to Charlbury and came along side her. “Water is wet.” Catri said that like it was the most sage thing to ever have been said. And with that she began to groom Charl. Wrestling of Dragon and Tiger just rolled his eyes at Catri and continued to keep grooming.
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Posted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 5:09 pm
Charl's sisters were all around her, questioning and looking and dripping and soaking. "We're not ok!" she said to Irina, as Catri began to groom her. She echoed Catri's comments with her own. "Wet! Water is wet. When you get in the water, wet is what you get!" She managed to regain enough composure to revert to her strange rhyming speech pattern, but she was too frazzled to make it terribly profound.
"And no Serafina," she replied to Kit. Even with her misery, her brow furrowed in worry. She looked around and sniffed for her final sister, but her waterlogged nose could detect nothing.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:04 pm
***
As she paddled through the last of the water and toward the surface, the silver and aqua striped Cheshire pondered the latest twists in her turny life. One moment she had been a Princess in a land that one had to watch their heads at all times, or be afraid to lose them, and then she was an outcast fleeing the wrath of the queen. And where could an exile go in the Wonderlands, when the Queen herself had an army to send after you? Nowhere but elsewhere, it had seemed.
Truth be told, and usually it was inside her own head, Katya had been a little less than keen about the whole plan to begin with. She did of course agree that Wonderland was headed for some disaster, but that of course was mostly because the Oraculum said so. And even if the cat that had brought that to her attention was not always the most reliable sort (Diamond Clan didn't rank very high in her estimation, they were all lazy and sharp-edged and too fond of shinies to be much use for anything at all) the scroll itself didn't lie. Couldn't lie, as far as she knew? Usually that was limited to those with mouths, and last she checked the Oraculum didn't have one of those. Though, it was Wonderland.
'Stranger things have happened, I bet.' Ekaterina Hopscotch admitted to herself as she stepped free of the lake and shook herself from nose to tail. She dumped Oolong out of the hat she had carried him in, then shook it as free of water as she could before tossing it up to land on her head. With a satisfied twist of her tail she took a deep breath of fresh air, and promptly caught the scent of something very interesting indeed.
Glancing over her shoulder, the Cheshire sighed sulkily to herself. Not a sister in sight yet, and if she wandered off without them she was sure indeed they'd make a fuss. "Well then... What's keeping them?"
The question was asked in a softly complaining tone, but was largely rhetorical. She was mostly used to spending time with her sisters -who knew when she didn't want the answer to a question she asked- and Oolong -who didn't answer regardless- and therefore didn't so much as bat an ear when no answer was forthcoming. Instead she flipped her tail a few times, sending crystal droplets in every direction, and took a few steps down the curving path that fate had laid right before her paws.
"We'll be back in just a moment, of course." She advised Oolong as she crept forwards. "Just a tick or two? A tock at the most! Nothing extravagant. And none of them are even here yet, so surely they won't have time to worry. Why, I bet none of them even know I've gone, because I'll be back so quick. You'll see."
As the rabbit was busy fiddling with his watch and therefore paying her no mind whatsoever, it was almost as if Ekaterina was attempting to convince herself of matters rather than her familiar. To be fair she was known to wander here and there, and she did like a good adventure as much as the next kitten... Mysteries were meant for unraveling and impossible things for believing and battles for being waged before tea. And it wasn't tea time, there was no battle to be seen (yet) nor sisters to hover over her in concern. So, she could take a peek around their new home, and be back with no one the wiser, right?
"Come on, Oolong. Let's have just a bit of an adventure first, and then we can have our tea!" She grinned, and on light paws went frisking up the path and round the bend just as bubbles began to form on the lake surface behind her.
***
(Flashback Post to Katya's arrival~ Irina post forthcoming)
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Posted: Sun Oct 04, 2015 7:14 pm
Irina perked her ears as Kitt asked Char about Sera, nose quivering thoughtfully. Well, wouldn't that be just like those two, to run off and leave them behind? "Maybe Sera saw Katya trotting off and followed her? That would mean no one is by themselves, even if they aren't here... I would feel better if that was the case. Even if it meant she went out of order or did something tricksy and none of us noticed."
Shouldn't we have noticed?
Irina wasn't a worrier by nature, as prone as she was to pranks and cons that could sometimes end in just a hair more danger than expected. Still, she was worried at the moment, because they were short two sisters and in a strange land. Could you be lost by virtue of not know where you're going? Certainly if you didn't care where you were going, it didn't matter where you went. That was just common knowledge, wasn't it?
Chai flicked his ear and brushed water from his waistcoat, giving her a speaking look.
"I thought as much." She agreed lightly with the look Chai gave, and then nodded faintly at Catri. "As sure as a clock ticks. Still, the creeping vine is often far away from the garden and I doubt any of the flowers notice."
Chai flicked his nose and shook his head, indicating that he had noticed perfectly well.
"Of course you did." Irina crooned, nuzzling him fondly before she looked back at her sky coated sister. "That's true..."
Ish.
Charl's half-drowned grumblings earned a sympathetic purr from the burgundy sister, though Irina hung back a bit from where Catri and Charl stood. "Maybe Sera snuck past us and she's with Katya. Them being twins..."
She shrugged as she let the thought trail off, in her mind she had said all she needed to. Those two had a certain something, even Irina couldn't guess when they'd vanish. And Catri, who usually seemed to have Katya's ear for one reason or another, didn't seem to fare any better at it. "Perhaps we should find a place to rest and make tea.... And that will make us feel better and have us in one place for when the others show up, hmm?"
Word Count: 374
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Posted: Mon Oct 05, 2015 11:36 am
Catri’s words were meant to be a comfort, Kit supposed. She could only suppose, however, because she wasn’t entirely certain what she had just been told. The message had clearly been for her as Catri had specifically called her name but Kit still couldn’t make heads or tails of it. Maybe her other sister’s understood Catri’s talk but Kit hadn’t had the chance to acclimate to her peculiar speech patterns just yet. Where she had been raised the folk were plenty odd but most of them still spoke straight, they did tend to be battle leaders after all, they needed to speak plain in order to be understood by all.
She just smiled at her slightly older sister and nodded her thanks, she was trying after all. Hearing her message to Charl, however, made Kit groan quietly in frustration. At least that had made sense. Charlbury, may her tea cup always be full, was kind enough to give the plainest of all the plain answers to Kit’s inquiry. She hadn’t seen their other missing sister either but there had only been one set of tracks.
Irina proposed that Katya and Sera were together. In terms of personal matters that made sense but the lack of a second set of tracks left Kit with her doubts. Perhaps they had each come to land at a separate section or maybe one had tread precisely over the others marks. Both of these seemed unlikely but it was something. To Kit it seemed far more probable that Sera simply hadn’t made it through just yet.
“Tea is good, yes.” Kittredge said thoughtfully. “Tea and cake. You know, I do believe today is an unbirthday. That’s a very good day to have cake, you know.” Kit’s stomach rumbled at the thought of pastry. She hadn’t packed any herself but perhaps one of her sisters and brought a morsel with them. She looked down to her two little pets and grinned. “Treacle. Creampuff. You must help Irina make the finest tea!” She said with jubilation as she nudged both of them towards her sister with a paw. “And no sleeping in the cups this time, Treacle.”
She was very excited about the notion of having tea in a new place but as she looked to the faces of each of her sisters she frowned. Two missing. It wouldn’t be a fact forgotten anytime soon. She had only just gotten to know them and already the number had been cut. Kit didn’t like that one bit.
“And after we take our tea we must play a game.” She declared with a purposeful swish of her tail. “It shall be a game of hide and seek where we seek what we have lost and bring it back to us!”
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Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2015 10:48 am
Catri didn’t quite huff, mostly because she was still grooming Charl, but she did exhale a little heavier than normal. At least Irina seemed to understand, but Carti realized that when talking to Kitt she would have to be… well, as least obscure as she could be. It wasn’t Kitt’s fault that she hadn’t been around so Catri wasn’t angry with Kitt. And Kitt had gotten the idea of looking for Katya herself. So all was good. And Katya might come back for tea and an unbirthday celebration. As Catri had tried to point out, there was no blood so it was unlikely that Katya had been attacked as she came out of the water. Because it would have been just like Katya to go luring the attacker away from the sisters.
Catri left her thoughts behind and turned to Irina after one last grooming of Charl. “The roots are always aware.” She nodded back at Irina. “Lovely flowers follow the sun, the sun follows the moon, the moon follows the stars, the stars follow the sun. Who follows the flowers?” It wasn’t really a question that needed to be answered then but Catri had a bit of a habit of posing random questions.
She missed Katya though. And Sera. Where was that cat? Clearly they couldn’t split up as Catri had been originally suggesting. Then all would be lost and no one found. Kitt was right. A tea and an unbirthday celebration were needed. Give them all time to think and Serifina to arrive. Then they all could look for Katya together. Catri had an inkling that their eldest sister was scouting out things. She shook her head fondly even though it would mean nothing to the others.
“A merry merry unbirthday!” Catri sang. “Tea for you, tea for two, tea for four, tea beings more!” Well, that was her hope anyway. “Tiggon, treats!” The rabbit would be able to find edible fruits better than Catri. Tiggon hopped away into the forest knowing exactly what his friend was asking. He would bring back the best berries he could find. They may not be able to have cakes but no tea was complete without some sort of treat.
Catri may sound as if she had no cares, but she was genuinely worried about Sera and Katya. She frowned out at the lake. What could have happened? The possibilities began to form in her head, and it was a dark path to walk down. The best of them was that she had simply ended up on a different shore of the same waters. The worst… Catri did not want to think about. That would simply be tragic and not all right in any way. If it were in fact true though, Catri would mourn Sera and celebrate even more for her sake.
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Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2015 4:52 pm
With Catri's final grooming, Charlbury was no longer dripping wet. She was still heavily damp, not a condition that she enjoyed, but she was doing a lot better. Distracted, she looked as Kitt and Catri decided it was time to start celebrating an unbirthday. Normally Charl would have joined them, but not now. Not while some of them were still missing.
She turned away from her celebrating sisters, pausing to sniff at the air. It was still hard for her to smell, but her senses were returning. There was the heavy stench of wet cat and rabbit in the air. They all had fairly similar scents and so it was hard to pick out individual smells. She thought she could detect Katya and Sera, but she had a hard time telling anything beyond that.
She took a few paces away from the group and sniffed again, but to no effect. Frustration and concern built within her. They were in a new land, and two of their sisters had just gone wandering off! They could have gotten eaten by a bandersnatch for all she knew.... And did they even have bandersnatches out here, beyond the looking glass? All of their lives they had lived in one world with one set of dangers. Suddenly, Charl realized how different life was going to be for them. Were they any better than caterpillars, helpless against the prying beak of the bird?
As if to prove her point, she heard a rather raucous bird squawking in the tree above her. Defensive, she glared upwards to see what was only a bluejay, shouting his song to defend his territory. She scowled. And what of her territory? Where would they find to call home here? Was every meadow, valley, and house already full to the brim with soquili, humans, and rabbits?
It all seemed so silly now. They were here because of the prophesy, but it could be just as dangerous outside as in. "Ward, ward against danger," she muttered to herself, still staring at the jay. "Ward against beasts, ward against strangers." Her sister's mirth was out of place in Charl's dark musings, and she found herself gritting her teeth. Every plant, animal, and mushroom could mean harm out here. Which mushrooms would make you taller? Which would make you die a slow and agonizing poisoned death?
Being damp didn't seem like much of a problem anymore, not in the face of everything else out here. Quietly protective, she stepped to shelter her rabbit friend between her legs. She would do what she could to protect and feed her sisters and their white rabbits, but she didn't know if that would be enough. If Wonderland had jabberwockies, there must be beasts just as fearsome out here...
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