Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been a decent afternoon, all in all, as far as working through the day went. Numbers were down in the cafe but that seemed to be the trend for most of the mall. With the increasing number of disappearances going on in the city, it was a wonder that people were still bothering going out at all. There had been little reassurance from Destiny City's finest and even fewer answers from the news stations.

Still, coming to work brought a sense of normalcy back into Daniel McKay's world, which was currently trying to spin its way out of sync from varying outside sources.

Cookies and coffee made life simple. He needed life to be simple, even if it was just for a few hours.

The display had been easy enough to fix up, the motions coming second nature to the young man as he slid the case door closed, resting the tray against his side as the tongs were replaced in their dedicated home. They were running on a skeleton crew today, but considering the lack of customers... well, he was even considering offering his shiftmate the rest of the afternoon off. No sense in forcing her to linger if there was nothing to do but rearrange the display case (and he'd already done that three times by now).

"Kat?"

Pushing open the swinging door into the backroom, he looked for his companion. She'd taken a five (who could blame her, really) while he'd distracted himself with the display case. The lack of response was mildly concerning - maybe she'd put in her ear buds?

A flash of black and pink caught his eye and his head turned, just in time to see a glimpse of something in the break room mirror. It was angled to where he couldn't see it entirely, but whatever it was, it had disappeared the moment it earned his full attention.

Setting the tray to the side, he absentmindedly wiped his hands on his apron before making his way towards the break room. He called her name again, a little louder this time - no response. Nothing.

Well that was concerning.

Turning his head around the corner to the break room, he opened his mouth... and then closed it. No one.

His attention was drawn back to the mirror, the flash of black and pink still replaying in his mind. Leaning forward, he peered into the reflection. Eyes narrowed - he could have sworn he saw another sudden burst of pink...

What followed happened too quickly for his poor mind to process. Danny didn't think he fell but he wasn't pushed - either way, he soon found himself toppling forward, disappearing into his own reflection before even a startled gasp could slip out.

There wasn't even time to exhale.

One moment he was in the back of the cafe, then the next he was tumbling down the figurative rabbit hole into a darker, more ominous room. Headfirst, he hardly had time to raise his arms to shield himself as the young man careened into a solid shape with a large OOFTH.

Rolling onto the cold ground, it took him a moment to collect his bearings. Wherever the mirror had led him to, it was much darker and barren. His head was spinning, but the flash of pink was back - only more steadily.

And in the form of Katrina Halloran.

The young woman's voice rang in the back of his mind as he tried to focus and not completely freak out. "Store? No, I..."

One hand fell to the back of his head and blonde hair ruffled as he rubbed the sore spot. This was... he didn't know what it was. Weird. It was weird, to say the least. Kat didn't seem to be wigging out - that was good, at least. She was safe, he was safe. This was good.

Right?

"Where are we?"

Wonderland?

Underland?

Were there really such places?

Danny liked to read as much as the next person (or at least the next book loving person) but this was a ridiculous concept. Surely not - maybe this was just some weird entrance to a basement of sorts? Did the mall have a basement???

Kat was safe and that was the important thing. She didn't seem concerned (though maybe she hit her head a little too hard?) but she was thanking him for... well, for doing nothing, really and it had him scratching the back of his head awkwardly as one shoe scuffed the floor.

"Looking and saving are two different kinds of things, Halloran."

Glancing around, he could already guess that things were looking bleak. "In your five minutes here, did you happen to find a way outta this place?"

"Not a peep. Saw a flash of pink and then whoosh."

His hand moved out in emphasis of the sudden burst of color that had caused him to tumble in after her into this strange, unusual world.

Green eyes watched with curiosity as she examined the wall that they'd both passed through. It didn't seem to waver, not like the mirror had before they were both eaten by the inanimate object. In fact, none of the mirrors seemed to give way, when he tested them, leaving him to wonder how in the heck they'd both managed to wind up in such a predicament.

Out of habit, he dug into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, just in case for any miraculous reason his worked when hers hadn't.

Nope. No bars, no service, no way to attempt contacting the outside world. Well, crap.

"I guess we're just gonna have to wait it out until someone finds us?" He sighed, trying not to think about what was happening in his store while he and his employee were stuck in this bizarre place. Shuffling his feet over to one mirror, he turned and slumped against the smooth surface, taking a seat on the ground. "Not exactly the most ideal way to spend a break, I admit."