One pill makes you larger

[madcuriosity]

Who: Alice Liddell (the little) and YOU
Where: Kitchen and all over save the sleeper cabins
When: Grasshopper Day 2 through 3
What: Alice, being a Victorian child with a pretty terrible immune system, gets hit by symptoms of Voidsickness
Warnings: Hallucinations, fatigue, mild memory loss


A: And if you go chasing rabbits and you know you're going to fall [All over]

Alice was rather sure she kept seeing him. Just there and when she would turn her head to look at him properly, he would dash from her view, rather rudely, she thought to herself. Before he had the decency to at least acknowledge her before he left.

But he was always just there at the corner of her eye. She wanted to see him properly, speak to him, she'd call out but he was gone.

So Alice did what Alice does best where the White Rabbit was concerned, she chased after him. She called out to him, finally, she could see him. His little white tail peeking out from one carriage to the next. Goodness, how much faster he had gotten!

Now, the thing to know is that running indoors is never a wise decision, truly, Alice knew that. And running indoors in a narrow space such as a train is even less advisable, something Alice knew very well, in addition to the first fact. But Alice was quite set on getting the White Rabbit. Maybe he could tell her how to get everyone out of here because if HE was here then perhaps they could, at the very least, get to Wonderland, and she knew well how to escape from THERE.

In all her running though, Alice was only focusing on the white rabbit, which meant, when she slammed smack into another person, she could only topple to the floor, completely surprised.

"I'm terribly sorry," she managed to get out first as she sat up, a bit achy but otherwise fine. "I didn't mean to run into you. But did you happen to see him?" she asked, looking at who she had run into, feeling more tired than usual.

B: When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead [Kitchen]

Alice was in the kitchen when the accident occurred, though the incident was perhaps a better word if you asked her.

She was staring at a second batch of ruined cookie batter, and trying, with not the best of success, to not get upset. Eventually, though, as she began to pull out the ingredients and measure everything again, in a very rare fit of anger she shoved the entire mixing bowl away from her, and then winced at the thing slammed into the mixing cups and measuring bowls before it clattered to the floor, spilling the contents all over the floor.

"Oh no, no no no!"

C: And your mind is moving low go ask Alice [All over]

She was just so terribly tired.

At first she didn't notice it, no one really made her get up and doing anything but she found herself taking all sorts of small little naps throughout the day. And then she would just be too exhausted to do anything besides stare out a window, which was a problem because Dinah very much needed feeding and taking care of.

But she was just... so tired.

She set Dinah down on the ground, not even able to get up the energy to carry her.

She just wanted to sleep some more, and really every surface looked so wonderfully inviting.

So Alice could be found on the floor in the middle of a pathway, under a table, spread out across several chairs, underneath the shade of several potted plants, aatop the larger pieces of luggage, truly, anywhere, as she tried to just get a bit more sleep. Maybe then she wouldn't feel so tired, maybe her world would be a little less dizzy.

Dinah, her little kitty, for her part, meowed and gently pawed at Alice every time the seven-year-old decided it was time for another nap, trying to get her mistress awake, or at the very least, to sleep in her own bed.

Comments

[madcuriosity]

"I... I don't know. Maybe he found a way to sneak on like that monster shadow man. But I saw him. I know I did! I would know him anywhere! And if he's here, maybe he knows how we can all leave."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"We've found out who they were," Nita reassures.

"They won't be doing that again - we'll check the next car for your friend, though, okay?"

Hopefully Alice wouldn't see him leaping into the void or something next!

[madcuriosity]

Alice wanted to ask how did Nita know the shadow monster man would never do it again but instead was more eager to find her friend.

"Thank you, yes, please. Mr. Rabbit is very quick. We have to hurry or he'll be gone in just a matter of moments!"

She grabbed Nita's hand and began to pull. "Please let's hurry!"

[unfavorableinstigation]

Friends were indeed better to talk about!

Nita nodded, letting Alice move her with no resistance - she didn't want the girl to trip again, after all.

Internally, she turned to her own 'invisible friend' Bobo, any sign of this 'Mr. Rabbit'?

/I'm afraid not. I would hate to presume, however.../

Because that'd mean hallucinations, and not just in those who've been here longest.

Out loud, Nita sighed, but gave no other indication of her discussion with wizardry itself.

[madcuriosity]

When they got to the next car, predictably, there was no rabbit in sight. Alice, however, did not feel deterred by this and looked up to Nita.

"I, we must have missed him, he must be in the next car by now," because that was clearly the logical thing rather than him not ever having existed. "At how fast he goes, I dohope we can catch up with him! If only this silly train weren't a straight line!"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"... I could get us there faster," Nita admitted, somewhat hesitant.

"He can't go through the engine wall, right? What if we waited for him in Storage, while he thought we were out of sight?"

[madcuriosity]

"You can? Ah! With your magic?" Alice had never had magic used on her, at least, not that she was aware of.

"No no, he's just an everyday rabbit who can speak and wears clothes and has a house like a person might with a made.," as opposed to regular rabbits who can't and doesn't. "But he certainly can't go through walls and the sort. That's Cheshire who can do that."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Teleportation, yeah," Nita replied.

"Being on the train hasn't completely nullified it... I just can't take anyone off the train."

Or herself.

"Well, that's good to know. No matter how fast he is, walls will stop him."

[madcuriosity]

"How exciting! I'd love to try it! It sounds so-so magical. Yes, let's get ahead of him!"

[unfavorableinstigation]

With that, Nita crossed a hand to the other wrist and pulled on one of its charms. Tugging it fully out, the shorthand 'teleportation' circle made a neat little snap as it became a full-size spell diagram, the original charm retaining its form and jingling back onto the bracelet.

"Here," Nita said, placing the circle on the floor, as glowing blue characters flickered in and out; the spell diagram adjusting, at the peridexis' direction, to the exact coordinates in Stores that they could jump to safely.

The circle is large enough for both of them to stand in, and there are two circles within the structure as well.

"The circle over there is the one you stand in; the words of the spell'll adjust as you talk to better accommodate you."

[madcuriosity]

Alice does as she's told, standing in the circle, watching as Nita created the spell diagram. It was all very interesting! She had never seen real magic before coming here.

"Do I need to say anything? Or should I be silent? Can anyone learn this magic, Miss Nita?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"I'll recite the spell; the Speech itself can be learned but you have to be offered an Oath by the Powers to have this kind of wizardry; Samata's is a kind anyone can learn, though, if you want. Starting the spell now."

With that she plunged into the familiar-to-her language, and the universe around them got quiet to listen; that in itself might have been answer enough to the skipped question.

[madcuriosity]

Alice kept quiet and close to Nita, hugging herself a bit closer than she probably needed to. She had no idea how this magic worked but she watched attentively.

[unfavorableinstigation]

There wasn't quite a bang, as Nita finished persuading the world - the train? - to let them stop being one place and start being somewhere entirely separate, but the scenery change was quite complete; this was indeed the Stores carriage: its bottom level, in a spot by the engine wall.

Seeing that the spell took, Nita quietly scuffed out part of the sealing wizards' knot on the outer spell circle with her foot.

Looking up, she asked, "Are you all right? How was that for a first teleport?"

[madcuriosity]

"Ah yes, yes, I'm fine," she looked around, and waited patiently, or as patiently as Alice could, for the White Rabbit to come through the door.

After several minutes, Alice's brows knitted together.

"Where... Where is he?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"... Alice, you weren't looking out one of the windows at the void when you spotted him, right?"

Coming at this sideways seemed, if not the safest way to do it, then the only way to.

[madcuriosity]

"Hmm? Why should that matter?" she tilted her head. "I mean, what else is there to look at? We haven't an art gallery."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Might have to ask Rapunzel about that one," Nita said, briefly smiling.

"It's just... it's easier to see things that shouldn't be there when looking at the void, than when just looking at things inside the train. I haven't seen people in the void yet, though," she added carefully.

"I had visions like that long before I joined this train," she continued, after a moment. I hope this is the right tack to take...

[madcuriosity]

"I... I didn't- he's- no he's HERE. He's here, I saw him. Just because... just because of the void..." her brows knitted together. "No... no no no no!" her eyes started to well up with tears.

"I... I saw him. I'm not... I'm not making it up."

;;

[unfavorableinstigation]

"I'm not saying you didn't see him," Nita said, conviction in her voice.

"Just..." and she faltered.

"That no one else can. Not unless he shows up at a platform stop first."

Sorry!

[madcuriosity]

Alice shook her head, no no no no! He...

"He... he's... isn't he here?" she whimpered. "He has to be or... or..." she was starting to panic, her breath coming faster and faster. She was starting to hyperventilate.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita took a deep breath, stepping close to put her arms gently around the smaller Alice.

"Breathe with me, okay? That's it, just breathe."

There was no spell at work here, merely intent.

"Wherever he is now, whenever he does show up... we'll see him together, okay? I'll make sure of it."

[madcuriosity]

"But then... what have I been seeing if not him? Am I seeing things? Am I- I've gone mad, then?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"No more than I have," Nita said.

"People still get visions on this train - on a regular basis, even. I may not have seen him specifically, but that doesn't mean you're mad."

Nita made sure Alice could see her again, as she went on, "We can talk to Wen Qing about it if you want to be sure, alright? But you're not going to have to deal with this alone, whatever the truth is."

If Alice was going to get anything out of this conversation, Nita hoped it was that.

[madcuriosity]

"Wen Qing? W-Who is that? What do we do?" she sniffled and pulled a handkerchief from her pinafore pocket, wiping her eyes. "I-I'm sorry, I don't mean to cry."