11039/Wonderland: Who Are You

Wonderland: Who Are You
Date of Scene:	10 May 2022
Location:	Wonderland (No, really)
Synopsis:	In which our intrepid Titans tumble into the fungal forest and stumble into a slugfest in search of answers. And someone's stash.
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, America Chavez, Irie West, Madison Evans, Gar Logan, Caitlin Fairchild, Kaida Connolly, Jonathan Sims

---

Terry O'Neil has posed:
WONDERLAND: WHO ARE YOU

"When I used to read fairy tales, I fancied that kind of thing never happened, and now here I am in the middle of one!" - Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 4


There were many ways to enter Wonderland, it has been rumored: some can visit in their dreams. Or, at least, they used to. Others have fallen down the places where this world and the others are thin, down through the layers of reality and into unreality- what some call 'Rabbit Holes.' Or, at least, they used to. Others, of course, simply strolled through the Astral plane, made a quaint detour on their way to Dream or Faerie (although a pit-stop is ill-advised, since the highway restaurants can't be trusted and there has been a recent explosion of gods slumming down in the search of this most *incredible* salad they have heard of) and simply find a convenient spot in the membrane where the boundaries are permeable, and it's off for a game of croquet...

Or, at least, they used to.

That is not the case anymore, as Nick Drago helpfully explained to the Titans in their planning meeting. Something... /someone/ has made access into (and out of) Wonderland very difficult. A membrane, a miasma. It was telling- even the fresh Rabbit Hole that the Rabbit and Hare had punched through on their way out with the Regalia had already been covered over. There was no way in or out-

Except for Troia's portal, which had been done in such a subtle way as to not draw the attention of this corrupting presence. Although America could most likely punch her way in, for the opening expedition it was considered best to go for secrecy and try to disguise their arrival.

Which also explains why Jon Sims, avatar of order and a /very/ well-organized mind is currently covered in a masking spell applied by Troia's portal at the point of entry, that creates a magical diffraction field around him, making him appear a close match to the native thaumaturgical insanity of Wonderland itself. Which, one would think, would be enough. But Vorpal made the argument that, as an avatar of order, Jon needed a little extra- just in case, you never know, better two birds in the bush than three in the hand, right?- and so the cat had covered Jon in his sparkliest, shiniest magical glitter from head to toe. Because it was either that, or have That Thing go after him for a snack once again.

The arrival point had been selected as well- Way north of the Tulgey Woods, their last point of entry, in the hopes that whatever lay dormant there would not sniff them out.

"Alright, everybody, you know the drill... we stay close together. Don't split the party, and if you notice something, raise the alert," Vorpal says, the first one to step through Troia's portal. "We're trying to gather data, not bruises."

The forest path is quite well-maintained, perhaps showing that it has regular traffic. Not necessarily a bad thing. The canopy is high, but the sun and blue sky shine brightly through it, nothing like the oppressive green gloom of the Tulgey woods.

America Chavez has posed:
    The arrival of a Starling is never a subtle thing and this time is no different.

THUMP!

    The very fabric of reality shudders under an impact from a pocket highway that only a select few are given the ability to traverse.

THUMP!

    Again, reality shudders under a tremendous impact that defies the laws of space and time as something from -Beyond- attempts to gain entry to this side of the universal barrier.

    THUMP!

    Sometimes it's five hits to cross the barrier between dimensions, but this time it's only three (like getting to the center of a Tootise pop) and a glowing blue-white star shaped portal appears as reality shatters under another impact from Ms. America and the woman herself flies through.

    She's dressed in her usual fare. Black leggings, bright red high tops, a simply blue tee shirt and her star-spangled jacket. Her hair, a mass of dark, unruly curls is held back from her face by a simply blue star patterned bandana. She lowers herself to the floor and eyes the gathering. "Hope I'm not too late" she says looking for the leader of this extraordinary expedition: The Cheshire Cat himeslf, Vorpal. Nevermind the fact that the young woman has been monitoring the situation -very- closely and has a more than supernatural knack for being in the right place at the right time--interdimensional super-heroine that she is.

    Noticing Terry already passing through the portal into the land of Chaos and LSD-fueled normalcy. "Oh. Good. Just in time," she says before taking to the air and following the man into the realm of his birth, hovering a few feet off the ground as she sides up next to him.

    Her eyes scan the scenery for any sign of danger or points of interest. "For the record, if we need to beat a hasty retreat, don't hold up for me. I can get out of here on my own just fine, even with the barrier mucking up the passage."

Irie West has posed:
    This is the first time Irie is going to Wonderland and she is, dare I say it, rather excited about this. An adventure! In Wonderland! I mean, Irie is /always/ excited about adventures, but the kind of adventures the Flash Family get into rarely involve punching a hole through the astral plane to visit a place of myth and legend. Punching a hole through space/time is more their speed.

    Somehow the sight of the forest is rather disappointing. "This is a forest," she says morosely. "I could, like, run to the Black Forest in Germany in about half an hour and get the same thing. Where's the zaniness? The wackiness?" She folds her arms and pouts. "This is boring, right, Mads?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison is busy having a fit of giggles over the serious Archivist being covered in sparkling glitter - but as they prepared to depart, she steps closer to them - reaching out with both hands to run them over one of their arms. Her hands come back covered in the stuff - and she then rubs them down her cheeks in streaks. //War paint.//
    Is it culturally insensitive? Possibly. But she doesn't seem to realize the potential problem.
    "Alright. I'm ready. Let's go!" She's dressed sensibly today - in jeans and a light sweater, with a shirt on underneath. Her boken are strapped into place at her side as she steps through the portal, and into the forest.
    "Nah, it's going to be great! We should have a contest - see who can bring back the weirdest Wonderland souvenir?" she suggests - before lifting up a rock to peer underneath it.

Gar Logan has posed:
Suited up, Beast Boy keeps close to Vorpal, or rather, makes sure Vorpal is kept close to him. Wonderland is full of the unknown, and while that may be fun in some cases, they have business to attend to first and foremost. There are still things to be done before the wild and wacky wonders of the 'land can be properly enjoyed.

"So, all nice and quiet, get in, get the info, and get back out, right?" He says nothing of the glitter on display. Better someone else than him.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin's not much better off than Jon Sims is, in many respects. A very well-ordered, disciplined person with a great affinity for science, logic, and reasoning. Not to mention a relatively recent encounter with an epically pissed-off archangel having imbued her with the raw white light of Heaven.

Fortunately she has her own resources to draw on. Her armor is lightweight Amazon leathers that bear the basic harmonies of Themyscira. Her pack is a heavy leather haversack. Instead of her heavy battle-maul she's appropriated an Amazonian spear and a shortsword, worn at her belt. The spearhead is carefully sheathed with a thin cloth of mystic origins, and the armor and weaponry are brass-colored with the signature ultra-hard bronzing used by Amazon smiths for millennia. Anything steel, metal, or mechanical is in her pack in the best estimation of a Faraday cage against mystical effects that the team could come up with. Even Caitlin's red hair is done up in a tight warrior's bun at the base of her neck.

She's one of the first through Terry's portal, and looks up to wave America in as the flying powerhouse joins the party. As the others arrive, she maintains a wary watch over the area in anticipation of danger. Being up in front is not unusual for her, but it's clearly got the redhead a bit out of her comfort zone to be the old hand here-- without even Donna or Richard around to do the job.

After Terry addresses the crew, she nods at him encouragingly, then raises her voice slightly to ensure everyone can hear her as she beckons the Titans in closer for last-minute advice. "Most of you have done at least one expedition with the Titans, but in case anyone's forgotten-- rule one is don't go anywhere alone," she says, looking to Madison and Irie. "Rule two: don't touch anything you don't have to. Definitely don't drink or eat *anything* you didn't bring through with you. If we get into a fight, get behind me an' America." She gesturs vaguely at the Latina powerhouse, clearly grateful for an extra set of sturdy fists. "This would be a bad place to get lost," she says, with a grim expression.

Once Terry signals the way forward, Caitlin steps up to the front of their little formation, ready to deter anything that decides the Titans might make for good playthings-- or snacks.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
"Or behind me!" Kaida declares as she suddenly appears before Caitlin, shield out and sword held behind her before she swings it forward and points in a direction, "I will stop all our foes and make them regret all the choices in their life that led up to becoming my enemy!" She nods and then casually flips her sword around and sheathes it, though she keeps her shield on her arm. She suddenly races up a tree on to a branch to look around.

"Honestly, though, I did have a fun idea! A really fun one!" She whips around her pack and flips out a couple of tiny bottles before sliding her pack back on and then leaps off the branch and holds them up, one toward Cait specifically.

"Open these up, each of you, please!" She nods her head, "It's got a little bit of a special perfume in it! Dab just a bit right on the side of your ankle, all of you, please!" She nods her head, "You won't really smell it but I will, Gar probably can, too!" She nods her head, "If you get lost, one of us can find you fast!"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon is, indeed, covered head-to-toe in glitter; he wore a Led Zeppelin t-shirt and old faded jeans as sacrifice to the cause. He's prepared mental wards to keep from reeling around drunk, and the masking spell helps; if Wonderland thinks he's one of theirs, then maybe the glitter won't do as much damage? He's brought his staff, but not his sword, since that's an artifact he got down in Duat when he was embodying Ra, so, probably an artifact of Order. He can always summon up a magical sword if need be. And barriers in place of the lack of superhero outfit, but again--if need be. Also, his hair's a riot of color now, teal and blue and gold, and his fingernails actually match.

    "Madison," he chides gently, "since when do Jedi wear war paint?" That's as much lecture as he's going to give on the matter. He's not really in charge. Either Terry or Caitlin are in charge. Probably Caitlin.

    He nods along with Caitlin's rules, and adds, "I can heal people and offer barriers if it gets to a fight, and portals back to one's home dimension--which means everyone except Terry and America, I think." If someone else here isn't from their Earth, he doesn't know about it.

    He glances around curiously. "Nothing of note except the pervasive magic in the air," he notes to Terry and Caitlin. There's zero animosity in his tone toward Caitlin; he's regarding her respectfully, actually, clearly deferring to her expertise in Titan-style expeditions.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry O'Neil says, "That's the idea-" Vorpal says to Beast Boy. Irie's misgivings probably do not last very long, for although the only thing she got from lifting that rock was to see that the ground was, indeed, very, very hard underneath for some reason, the rest of the forest is not as mundane as it appears. As they move along, the trees have very strange configurations- many of them have strange fruits dangling from their branches. One tree has weighty tomes that hang from it, with titles such as 'Arthashastra' and 'The First Treatise of Government' shining in gold across red leather covers. Another tree has sextants, astrolabes and telescopes, while another seems to have reams of music sheet depicting fingering exercises and solfeggio treatises, and so on and so forth. The trunks of the trees possess bark whose cracks seem to spell words- although they shift every time one looks away, but the words seem to be excerpts of paragraphs pertinent to the subject of the fruit of each tree. Across the open path, several Thoughs crash through the greenery, glance at the Titans and their allies with wide they-eyes, but quickly decide that they will continue their journey despite the fact of their presence, and scamper through the foliage once again.

Vorpal had original pondered bringing the Regalia with them, but then decided it was not a good idea. The Regalia had to be given to the King, but they first needed to find the path to him, and wandering around with such a precious cargo could be dangerous and attract undue attention.

"Good thinking, Kaida," Vorpal grins and stops for a second to dab some of the perfume on his ankle. As the party proceeds, they come upon a fork on the road. One path is covered in leaves and the light grows dimmer there under thicker foliage, while the other one remains as clear as day, well cared-for and maintained.

"Well, this makes-" The Cheshire starts to speak, but then there is the sound of an awful din coming from somewhere down one of the paths. It sounds like the sounds of battle, and someone crying out in distress. Looking left, looking right, the cat hisses, "Crap... which one?"

"

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Looking at the various sights, Kaida recollects the tiny bottles after everyone has had a chance to dab a bit of the perfume on. She puts them away before looking with a hmm at the strange Thoughs before shrugging and moving on. Her ear than twitches and she blinks several times. Her nose twitching next and then her eyes look around.

"Does anyone smell cookies?" She asks of the others before she scampers about, ears moving like a radar dish as she listens. At one point she goes into a three point stance, sniffing at the air before finally stopping and blinking.

"Wait a second!" She declares and calls out, "HEY! Over here!" She points at what simply looks like two trees close together but she looks down it, "Another path with battle sounds! And cookies!" She pauses by the 'large' table and stares but clearly the table is only large to her. It might be right sized for a toddler but certainly not right sized for a human. She casually sniffs at a cookie and eyes it. Each one saying 'Eat me'.

"Hmm, I don't like to eat overly eager food..."

America Chavez has posed:
    America takes her turn to lift up her legging and dab a bit of the precious eau de toilette of finding at her leg before lowering the legging back down and passing the bottle along. She eyes the forks. "So The Beast's castle or grand ol' Paris" she says with a grin looking between the two paths. "We could flip a coin. Random chance might tell us what way to go--" she stops mid-sentence and looks down at Kaida and the small, almost unnoticed path.

    "I remember this bit from the story..." she says with a smile. "And the song. And the movie. And... pretty much every iteration in between." She looks at Cait and Terry. "I'm okay going with the crew on this one. I'll follow your leads and provide what I can where it's needed. Though I'm not sure how much strength will be behind a punch if I'm toddler sized."

Irie West has posed:
    "You're /on/" Irie says, fist pumping at her best friend. She immediately starts zipping about, heedless of the sound advice of her elders. Somehow, she resists the urge to call out and bring attention to themselves to draw the weirdness to them. Otherwise she'll content herself with looking in bushes, up in trees, and under rocks. (All while safely near the group.)

    "Ooh!" She says, rejoining the group when Kaida pulls out the little bottles of perfume. "That's a really good idea!" She takes the tiny bottle and dabs a bit of the scent to her ankles. "I hope if I have to use the speed force it'll leave a trail for you to follow."

    For this outing, Irie is dressed in her Kid Flash costume, bright yellow spandex with red highlights and the famous flash symbol on her chest. If anything is going to attack, it'll probably target her first because she stands out like a sore thumb. Clearly, she didn't think about this beforehand.

    As they go on, her eyes go wide as the trees start displaying odd fruit. "Look, Mads! Books!" She rushes up to one and peers at the spine. Medulla Grammatice," she reads with a frown. "Sounds boring. Why is there a tree with boring textbooks in Wonderland? Shouldn't they be about weird things or things that don't exist?" Her eyes light up, "OOH! I wonder if there's a tree that grows Alice in Wonderland! That would be meta!"

    She looks up to Caitlin when they come to the fork in the road. She looks over at Kaida as she points out a secret way to go. "Want me to scout?" she asks, her tone turning serious. "I can get in and out before anybody will notice me."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Umm. Since right now, Grand Mo- err... Dr. Sims," Madison answers Jon in a cheerful tone, before they continue their stroll through the trees. "Oh. Em. Gee!" she enthuses. "Can I jump up and try to get a telescope, or a- whatever that is?!" she asks - pointing at the astrolabe. "Ooo! Or //both//?!" She looks to Caitlin for permission, bouncing on the tips of her toes, and won't move along until she has an answer. She will, however, dab a bit of the smelly stuff on her ankle.
    The cookies she studies dubiously before adding, "We should take one home. You know - for //study.//" Because what could possibly go wrong?
    "Literary advice is that we should take the road less traveled," Madison opines. "And we are in a story book so-" She points to the darker path.
    "FORWARD!"

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan gets some of that perfume, noting that the idea seems to be a sound one. Very small bottles, though. Anyone noticing anything out of the ordinary that requires use of enhanced senses, it's liable to be Kaida or Vorpal first, unless Gar takes on the form of an animal. Otherwise, his senses are not that much different than usual.

As they move along and some very Wonderland-esque things turn up, he shakes his head at the way it all just seems to follow exactly what would be expected of a place like this. Then, it's down to Kaida's alerting them of the cookies and the small passageway, and he begins to head back over there. "Huh..yeah. I heard something too. And if you remember the story, eating those is supposed to make you bigger. It was the drink that made you smaller. So...now what?" He picks up one of the cookies and squints at it, but does not eat it. "If that's true, we'd probably get above the trees if we ate these, but Kaida wouldn't."

Mice do seem to end up as test subjects quite often.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon looks around the trees full of books and paper with an expression of wonder. "This has got to be... something. Books are made of paper, paper comes from trees... fruits of thought? A forest of books?" He snaps his fingers, frowning as he tries to come up with the pun, but it's evading him.

    As Kaida comes up he dabs a bit of the scent on his ankle and hands the bottle back over, glancing toward the sounds of battle with a faint frown. As he comes closer, he peers down at the toddler-sized table. "'Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, 'and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'" He barely seems to note that he's quoting the book as he looks over the cookies on the table.

    They look between the table and the tiny path. Consider for a long moment. "If it makes us bigger we can see further. And if it makes us smaller we can go into the tiny path and see what the battle's about." They say this in much the same tone they used for quoting Alice in Wonderland. With much the same manner Alice might have. Oh dear.

    "I am a very bad example and none of you should follow it unless Caitlin says it's okay," he notes. "But I'm also probably the least likely to be hurt by this, given that I share a body with a god." And before he can think /too/ much more about the matter, he picks up one of the cookies and eats it, in a couple of bites.

    There is a sudden fall of glitter, *thwomp* onto the forest floor, as Jon... well, he doesn't /disappear/. He just becomes Kaida-sized. Tiny little Archivist.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin joins the others in daubing on the scent tracker, and gives Kaida an encouraging little fistbump when she does. It's a clever idea!

She can't catch Irie-- no one can-- but she can give her a firm look, and when Madison proposes a charge Forward!, Caitlin rests a hand on her shoulder. Not putting any strength behind it, but just laying a fraction of her weight to slow Madison's enthusiasm. "I really need you two to bring your A-game," she says to the two women, lowering her voice so no remonstration carries to the others. There's an uncharacteristic edge to her tone, though still far from hostile. "You're my ace cards if things go bad. That means I might need you right near me so I can call the play. All right?" She catches America flashing a smile at her and uplifts her chin in response to the Latina's words, and gives Madison and Irie a flashing look of reassurance. Also, each gets offered a conciliatory Pez candy from her.

What? Everyone likes candy.

She walks towards Jon as he eyes the candy, and rolls her eyes with a tolerant smile at his words. America gets an amused sidelong look and out the side of her mouth, in passing: "You asking me? At least you can /fly/. I'm gonna be using leaves for landing pads."

She watches Jon shrink. Well, he doesn't keel over and start gagging or vomiting, so that's positive. Caitlin exhales wearily and looks skyward in supplication, a mute prayer forming on her lips. "This is really unscientific," she complains, and takes a cookie. "I'm next, I guess," she says, unwilling to let Jon face *all* the danger alone. "Everyone take ONE bite."

And leading by example, Caitlin does just that-- and immediately shrinks to a 1/8th scale version of herself!

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan doesn't need to eat something to get smaller, but he would have to in order to do so and remain his usual self. As others begin to take a bite and shrink, Beast Boy frowns. "Okay, so that's not the way the story goes. If this is backwards, then drinking something should make us bigger again and who knows what else is wrong? We're gonna need to be even more careful, now. But I think we should go in there."

So, a bite is had, and he shrinks down to the same scale as the others, putting him still a couple inches taller than Kaida herself. "You just got a lot bigger!" he says to her, when the truth is the other way around. "Are we all going in, then?"

Irie West has posed:
    Now that she's been given the go-ahead by Caitlin, Irie picks up one of the cookies and gives it a tentative sniff. Deciding that it doesn't /smell/ bad she takes a bite of it, chews and swallows. "It's kinda dry," she complains.

    That's when the cookie kicks in. Her eyes go wide as something seems /off/ "Oh no!" As she shrinks her form blurs with Speed Force energy, lightning crackling and arcing off in a wide area. The table, plants, the ground and even the members of the Titans are touched by the lightning, sending tingles through their skin. Soon it all stops and a tiny Irie is left on the ground.

    "Oh no!" she repeats, her voice being a little bit deeper. Her costume doesn't seem to fit her as well anymore being a little *tight* in certain areas, and the arms and legs riding up on her. "Oh no! It happened again!" the now adult Iris West cries.

    "Okay, okay, okay," she breathes. "Now's not the time to panic. Wonderland first /then/ the panicking can happen."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Oh. Em. Gee - he's so cuuuuute!" Madison squeals, crouching down to look at the tiny Jon, and waving. "Pocket Archivist! What could be more handy?" She does not, however, actually pocket the Archivist because even Maddie realizes that's pushing consent much too far.
    Besides. She already Force-grabbed a telescope and shoved it in there without 'touching' it. Sure, it's making a suspiciouslly large lump, as it can only fold down so small, but there it is.
    As everyone started enjoying cookies, she grabs one herself and takes a bite, letting out a squeal of delight as she shrinks - and ending up nearly face-to-face with her best friend.
    "...Irie," she says with some dismay.

America Chavez has posed:
    America looks at the group taking cookies and shrinking down and shrugs. "I guess we're doing this then..." she says, taking one of the cookies and downing it in a few bites. The process results in a pint sized punch machine hovering a few inches above the ground instead of feet. She makes a fist and gives a few experimental punches. "Let's hope that this doesn't turn into a slugfest somewhere along the line."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"That, no Gar, that shouldn't be the way it-" before the Cheshire cat say anything, the team is tasting the cookies. Of course, there is nothing inherently /deadly/ about food in Wonderland per se- there are no bottles labeled 'Poison'. Although there are some labeled 'Poisson' and rest assured no-one wants to drink /that/, unless they really do have an urge to swim with the fishes no matter how foul it tastes.

Soon, the Cheshire has joined in, consternation on his face as he weakly says "It /shouldn't/ make you smaller-"

The path ahead is clearer now, and it seems to the team that they are surrounded by enormous Sequoias that vanish into the distant canopy. "I never thought I'd see the day Kaida was actually taller than me," the Cheshire says.

The path is tricky to navigate, due to fallen leaves the size of kayaks. As leaves have fallen, also some of the fruits from the trees have as well. Right beside the path there are tiny old-fashioned bicycles that appear to be circa mid-1800s with two wooden tires, a front fork, handlebars for steering, a saddle on wooden frame, and pedals on the axle of the front wheel each. A massive (to the party) book has fallen across the path, tilted upwards at an angle by having fallen on a rock. Its massive title says it is 'Sense And The Art Of Velocipede Wherewithal.'

The sound of the fight is clear up ahead-

And then, right above our party, voices call out to them with a gurgling, liquid quality:

"Trees passers!"
"Root them out!"
"Leaf this place at once!"

The cacophony of voices, similar to the voices ahead, is deafening as more and more join in. When the light filters through the trees, the shapes clinging to the enormous bark become clear: Tree slugs. At least fifteen of them. Each one is larger than your average party member (hush Caitlin), and in a coordinated attack they drop from the air, corpulent and slimy bodies landing with a wet 'blop'. The first one to land lands by America, and its body swings wildly towards her at a surprising speed in an attempt to impact with her.

"Crap!, regroup and defend!" Vorpal calls out, and finds two slugs attacking him from front and back. The first one manages to slug him right across the jaw, but he manages to dodge the second one by virtue of an incredibly acrobatic dodg--okay so he fell to the side, alright?

America Chavez has posed:
    America tries to weave and bob with the grace of a street level brawler but the slug is just too damn big and too damn fast (which isn't fair, really.) She takes the impact of the slug with a grunt but doesn't budge from it one bit. "Someone... get me some salt" she says flatly as the monstrous beast oozes on her clothes. Between the glitter from Vorpal and Jonathan and now this. She has every right to be more than a little upset.

    She flies into the air at speeds that rival hummingbirds and with comparably tremendous force flings the slug to the ground, it's unlikely that even the invertabrate could survive a throw from just shy of terminal velocity. "I swear to God that the puns of this place are going to get old really quick..." she mutters and moves to intercept one of Terry's duo of attackers to free the Cheshire to do his dirty work on his home turf.

Irie West has posed:
    It's a good thing Iris is a speedster, or else she might have been landed on by a slug. With a zip of the Speed Force she deftly dodges out of the way as a slug as long as she is tall lands *splat* not five tiny feet away from her. "Ugh. Slugs," she says, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

    The slug is surprisingly quick, bunching up to leap at her, but Iris is quicker, zipping out of the way. She zips back to it, her fists a flurry, sending out a series of punches too fast to see, but all it does is ineffectively *splurt splurt splurt* against the side of the slug and getting her hands covered in slime.

    "Okay. That didn't work," she says to herself. "Think, Iris. What else can you do..." She sidesteps another thrust from the slug as she thinks and finally comes up with an idea. "Aha!" She sticks her arms out and starts whirling them around at Speed Force speeds, creating a vortex to suck up and blow away the slug. She carefully aims and sends the slug flying across the field of battle to *splat* against a tree. "Take that!"

Madison Evans has posed:
    As the creatures begin dropping down towards them, Madison manages to pull one of those handstand-flips to get out of the way that, honestly, feel like they only should work in movies. Apparently she really //has// been training a lot - though who taughter her that...?
    "Whoa! These are big!" she exclaims, pulling out one of her boken to swing towards one of the slugs. "I - umm. This is their home, and are they intelligent, and should we really just be- Please let us go by, slugs! We don't mean you any harm!" she insists desperately.

Gar Logan has posed:
Being this small is nothing new to Beast Boy, but it is when he's still human. "Okay, now that we're in here we can..uh, wait. What is that?" he asks, eyes sweeping this way and that at the voices, already playing on words. Then the army of slugs make themselves seen and go on the offensive. "Not to be that guy, but if they're attacking first, we're gonna fight back!"

He tigers up, leading with a big swipe of a paw, though in this instance his size is still only close to equal to one of the slugs. It's going to get a bit messy if they're squishy.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin takes a four-step running start and delivers a professional footballer's kick with the inside of her foot. It hits hard enough to not just injure the critter, but also send it airborne in a (relatively) majestic arc out into the forest beyond. She doesnt' stop to admire her handiwork, either, and lunges forward to jam the butt of her spear under the one Madison recoils from. She sets her shoulders, twists, and heaves with all the power in her hips and back. Off it goes as well, hopefully landing far enough away that it will think twice about trying to inch its way back to the fight. Usually so careful about exercising her strength against people, Caitlin seems to have doffed the kid gloves when it comes to aggressive indigenous slugs!

Kaida Connolly has posed:
A blink at everyone being much closer to her size and then Kaida shakes her head. She then stares at Irie and blinks several times before she turns and starts walking forward.

"I don't know what any of that was about but umm, having you all at my size is kinda strange." She laughs a little, "I mean, I like it a little but this all seems very different." She shrugs and starts going forward with the rest, glancing again at Irie before looking forward.

"Uh..." She's about to ask Irie about that really strange statement about not again and whatever happened when the Slugs attack! She pulls her sword immediately and catches the attack by the slug on her shield and...barely moves. You see, these enemies are now on Kaida's level and so is everyone else.

While the small mouse might not be strong by human sized standards, by her own standards, she can heft around ten times her own weight, a bit more now really since she's been working with the Titans. A slug hitting her only makes her slide a few inches and she immediately rushes away before suddenly returning with a vengeance, shield first slamming into her slug foe to try to send that slug flying.

And then? She turns her blade toward another one and places the point of the blade directly at the slug's chest.

"You really wanna play this game more or perhaps just let us pass?" She then presses ever so slightly forward so that it fully understands the point.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon has shrunk down to be a few inches taller than Kaida, a little under a foot tall, and he's staring around at the way the world's grown--from his perspective--with very wide eyes. "Mind the glitter," he says absently as other people start to shrink down.

    "Unscientific?" he protests to Caitlin. "I had a hypothesis--the cookie would shrink me. I tested the hypothesis, by eating the cookie. Result: hypothesis was correct! The cookie shrank me." He grins at Caitlin. "I am a shrink. A shrink who has shrunk. A shrunken shrink. Wonderland does love its puns."

    To Gar and Terry he says, "I would not presume that anything here is going to go the way the story did. For one thing, when Alice went on a second journey, the entirety of the game had changed from cards to chess. For another, this is a land of dreams and chaos. It's probably best to approach this whole endeavor the same way Alice did: take what's in front of us and reason it out, rather than trying to follow a pre-existing map. Knowing Wonderland, it'll deliberately try to throw us off if we think we know what's going on."

    They look to Terry. "You do that all the time. You react to what someone's done or said, you riff off people exactly like--" And then there are slugs dropping out of the trees and they turn to stare at America. "...Exactly like that. Wonderland is /reacting to us/. Slugs, because you mentioned a slugfest."

    Rather than seem put out by this, though, he grins and pulls his staff off his belt, shaking it out so it snaps to full length. "Salt coming right up! I know I'm feeling salty today, but then I'm typically entirely made of salt." He thinks for just a moment, then spins his staff in a practiced manner, pulling barriers up around the group.

    Barriers that smell like salt water. Very, /very/ salty water. Basically, anyone with a barrier is now encased in salt, which should hopefully help with fighting the slugs.

    Really hopefully helping, because Jon taking the time to summon a barrier meant a slug dropped right onto him, and he struggles to get it off--but only briefly. Then the thing starts screaming at him and backing away. Something about 'as-salting' them. Huh.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Indeed, the slug doesn't do very well with America's toss. It splats on the ground, but it does not die- rather, flattened, it seems to be out of the fight, the fight has been knocked out of it, leaving it completely deflated. Because of how flat it was left, it barely retains its shape as it crawls away so slowly, it's positively slug-ish.

Irie's whilrwind sends the offending slug flying and splatting into a tree, with the result that the creature falls to the ground, curled up tightly and unmoving, only a quiet 'ow' leaving it.

The slug manages to harden itself prior to Gar's swipe, so it does damage, but not terribly deadly. However, seeing what America and Irie do, the creature seems to decide that ain't nobody got time for this and quickly curls up and starts rolling away, improbably, the trace of the tiger's claws across its body.

Madison's attempt at diplomacy seems to be going nowhere, as the slug attempts to slug her, and responds angrily: "We will not share with you! You must leaf this ve-"

It doesn't get very far, because Kaida's flying slug impacts it, and the two creatures are out for the count, collapsed on top of each other.

The battle wanes almost as quickly as it began when Jon goes on the as-salt, the remaining number of slugs squiggling away as fast as they can, leaving glistening trails, including the one Kaida was holding at swordpoint, which gives the mouse a nervous 'heheheheh', some mention about its grandmother being on fire, and a quick retreat.

And there goes Caitlin's slug, flying through the air with the greatest of ease, leavening a sparkling, glistening trail in the air as it spins and spins and spins- and it flies through an enormous bush.

And then there is the sound of very loud, inarticulate complaints, but not the voice of the slugs- this is a different voice a different voice altogether. Vorpal, having dispatched his slug after America helped him, turns around in the direction of the voice. "... wasn't that the voice calling for help earlier?"

It was. But right now it was calling something else altogether. I'll tell you when you're older.

"This way. Watch the... watch the slime," he says, with distaste on his face. He's the only one in the team walking barefoot, so he conjures up a pair of sneakers to traipse through the glistening, slimy battleground. It's very slippery.

Moving through the enormous bush, the party discovers a small circular clearing surrounded by bushes. Right in the center, there is an enormous (to the party, at least) red and white mushroom... that looks much the worse for wear, with several sections missing, glistening remnants of slime indicating exactly who had perpetrated this. Above the mushroom, suspended in mid-air via unusual tendrils of solidified mucus that criss-cross the open space and anchor themselves on the branches of the bushes, is a curious individual- a caterpillar, entangled and trying to wriggle himself free. The early cursing is excused by the fact that a trail of slime from his head to the ground, where an unconscious slug lies curled up, can more or less inform the party of what trajectory Caitlin's kick followed.

The Caterpillar stops wriggling long enough to glare at the party and, in a voice steeped in disapproval, asks:

"And WHO are YOU?"

America Chavez has posed:
    America is not having a good day. Her coat, shirt, and leggings are ruined and she isn't going to defile her shoes with more slime if she can help it. She hovers along, ducking to avoid knocking her head on one of the branches of the large bush. She draws up short at the sight of the large caterpillar. "Two questions..." she says looking around the clearing.

    She ticks off her fingers, "One. Where's the hookah?" Not expecting an answer. "Two. I hope one of you has memorized that poem for Absolem here..." She's not all grit and street smarts. She's dabbled in some culture (and she's been reading the entire saga of Alice ever since that first foray turned out so swimmingly.)

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison looks around the clearing, turning full circle before looking up at the catepillar. "Hello Mr. Catepillar hello! I'm Madison Evans! These are my friends! We're really very nice - but these slugs attacked us - were they bothering you, too? It really wasn't very friendly of them - did you bake the cookies we ate? They were pretty good - but I think they cold have used just a little more butter, actually, if you don't mind me saying so."
    She bounces up onto her toes as she talks, a friendly smile on her features.

Gar Logan has posed:
The green tiger pads along through the muck the slimy slugs have left behind while scampering to safety, securing the way forward in their search for answers. Tail lashes side to side, eyes sweep around, and he says, "I can smell something else ahead."

Soon, it's revealed as none other than the Caterpillar himself. With the mushroom there, and signs of possibly being attacked by said same slugs?

Then, there are two Caterpillars: the one already there, and Gar's own version, accurate down to just about every last detail. "Yo, my brother! Whassup? I'm the Caterpillar! Who are YOU?"

America's questions make some sense based on prior versions seen in books and other media. Madison's way of greeting comes with it, but Gar is apparently trying to just see exactly what his shift will cause.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
As she approaches the next part, Kaida sighs and looks at the Catepillar before shaking her head. She looks then to Gar and facepalms before looking then to Madison. Kaida looks around carefully before blinking slowly and looking again to Terry before saying.

"How...how does any of this help us?" She asks and gestures to the slug and then at the Catepillar before looking to Terry again, "I mean, like, what's the end game here? The goal? If it's just chaos, then I get that but this all seems rather aimless."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon quietly changes the barrier around America from salt water to nicely cleansing water, allowing for slug slime and other such gook to be cleaned away and her outfit to be restored. The water pulls away and then splats on the ground, leaving America nice and dry. It's one of the first things he really figured out how to do with his water; he grins a little and says, "You're welcome."

    A glance to Kaida and they say, "We're exploring, right? Seeing what there is to see. Sometimes the most direct path to understanding seems the longest."

    He eyes the caterpillar for a moment and then says, "I am Jonathan Sims. The Archivist. A piece of the universe trying to understand itself." He gestures at the Gar-terpillar. "That's an excellent question, though. Who are you, to ask?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The caterpillar gives each greeting member a disapproving look, until Garfield does what he does. It is not in vain that one of the maxims of Wonderland was to never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise. Garfield's sudden and unexpected mirroring seems to catch the creature unawares, and you can almost hear the record scratch as it tries to parse for a moment the question of his own existence.



"I- I mean- *I* am the-"

Jon's question comes in to tip things even further. The creature seems to be, briefly, at a loss.

"We're here to find out what exactly is going on from the mouths of the denizens. Hatter and Hare are too..." Vorpal purses his lips as he answers Kaida, "/Eccentric/. Yes, let's leave it at that, to really answer a questio-"

"C h e s h i r e"

The tone of voice going suddenly ice-cold causes Vorpal to stop and turn around to face the glare of those eyes.

"Returned, have you?" Twelve eyes squint, fixing laser-intense gaze on Vorpal. "So, so late."

The Cheshire cat gulps and slightly averts his gaze. "I'm not exactly-"
"Who you seem to be. That is evident." The creature almost quakes with anger, but it seems to refrain from doing so so as not to entangle himself further. America's question seems to be a good focus for it to step away from his anger some, and he answers bitterly: "Stolen. Purloined. Appropriated while I was entangled, that is where it is!"
"Never mind the Hookah," Vorpal says, "Can you tell us more of what is happening around here?"
"What is happening-" the Caterpillar says, "Is that I am still untangled and I am not being cut down. That is what is happening! That you are not recovering my Hookah!"
"Look, we need to know. No-one is going to get your Hookah back-"
"That is not possible. He is too preoccupied in the employ of the White King to be of any use to me!" the Caterpillar flails some, extending one of his limbs, "If you think you are to be trusted after you abandoned us? And you come back altered? How do I know you are not an angent of-" he pauses. He narrows his eyes further. "-- return what has been stolen from me. Then, perhaps, you will have the knowledge you need."
The Cheshire's shoulders slump, and he glances at his team mates.

America Chavez has posed:
    America blinks as her clothing is clean once more. She gives Jonathan a smile and a nod. "Thanks!" She quiets and listens to the exchange between Vorpal and the Caterpillar. When the Cheshire Cat slumps and turns to the team she shrugs. "Hey man don't look at me. I just know that the Caterpillar needs his stash back" she says with a grin. "If he has information we need then getting it sounds like what we need to do."

    She beams after that. "I like a good old fashioned quest. Reminds me of my time on The Shield back on Battleworld." She looks back to the Caterpillar. "I'm not the one with the blades among us, but I'm sure we can get you down. Did you happen to see who -took- the hookah?" she asks, glancing back to Terry briefly. Maybe he already knows?

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Returning stolen property is the right thing to do, anyways. It's //kind//!" Madison points out cheerfully.
    "If I had a lightsaber I could cut him down easily," the teen mutters - her hand still on one of her boken. "Somehow I don't think this'll do the job. Ummm... Hrm."
    She looks to the others present and then suggests, "...magic? Unless any of us really want to deal with slug snot."

Gar Logan has posed:
"Yeah, I thought that would get your attention," the Garterpillar remarks, a smug look on his humanoid face as he scuttles closer.

It's when the actual Caterpillar recognizes Vorpal for what he is and that whole conversation takes place that he pauses to mull over their options. "Well, we need to move on ahead and find what we're after, so if that means helping you, then you can help us. A favor for a favor, and the way I see it, we're doing you two. Getting you down, and finding your hookah. So, you owe us equally."

To showcase his goodwill, he crawls closer to work at freeing the Caterpillar so he can settle back in place. "I got this." For a few moments there are two on the mushroom before Beast Boy resumes his usual appearance and hops back down. He's learned not to try to make too much of Wonderland conversations Vorpal is part of. They can find out more as they go. "So, which way do we go?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin leans on her spear a little, watching the exchange with a vaguely bemused expression. It's not as if she has a great deal to contribute to the conversation; the rules of Wonderland are right up there with Gombar for being inscrutable.

"That math checks out," she chimes in, and nods support for Gar. Terry's silver tongue is taking the lead for negotiations, and Caitlin seems quite willing to provide a quiet but intimidating presence to support the other Titans. The Themyscirans are warriors of legend themselves and Caitlin's other harmonies certainly contribute towards deterring more reasonable entities from thinking any of the Titans are an easy target.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
Listening to the others, Kaida shakes her head and then sighs. She watches what Gar is doing and she leaps up to land on a spot near where one of the bindings on the catepillar is secured and she slices a few spots. She sighs and shakes her head before pointing at Caitlin.

"Do not tell the Amazons I am using their steel to cut down some pompous catepillar." She shakes her head, "I'm fairly certain that is not what it is for." She then leaps down after getting a few spots so Gar can keep working. She then slides her sword away and looks to the side, "This is beginning to seem less like Wonderland and more like a Series of Unfortunate Events..."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Something for something, nothing for nothing," Jon says with a shrug, agreeably enough, as they shove their hands into their pockets. "We get the hookah back, and we get information. We got you down, we get... something else. Does the White King have the hookah, is that what you're saying?" This addressed to the caterpillar. "That shouldn't be too hard, we've plenty of queens about to catch up to him. Terry and I should be able to handle that like a breeze."

    Is he saying he and Terry are queens...? Yes. He is. He's grinning, rocking back and forth on his heels, too. The glitter's starting to get to him. Oh dear.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Fine... fine." Vorpal sighs, "Bring on the goddamned quest."

Garfield's negotating, Caterpillar to Caterpillar, seems to open up to negotiations, along with Kaida's assistance.

"Very well. We shall strike a bargain then." The minuscule creature seems eager to be down.

"The thief made off west of here while I was entangled."
Vorpal frowns, "And what's in that direction?"
If the Caterpillar could look any more disappointed at Vorpal, he would be a nun. "West of the Fungal forest? The Giant Fields."
Vorpal's eyes widen. "That's... okay. We're going to need to regroup for that, get back to the Tower and plan." He glances around, "And have Nadia with us." And then it dawns on him. "... and grow back to our proper size first."
"My size is quite proper. Thank you." The insulted caterpillar begins to make his descent from the mushroom with unexpected celerity. "
"But if you must know- one size will make you grow, the other... well. You know." He pauses as he makes it to the edge of the clearing and looks over his shoulder. "Of course, the sides have changed. You will have to... experiment." He directs a glance at the much-munched mushroom.
Which is still glistening with slug slime. The Caterpillar smiles.
"Wait!" Vorpal calls out to the Caterpillar, "Where can we bring the Hookah back to you?"
As the Caterpillar passes through the vegetation, he responds:
"Find me at the Butter-Fly meadow. I shall be waiting for you."

And then, Vorpal's eyes go wider still. "Wait! Wait! Is what Jon said right? Does the White King have the Hookah?"
The last anyone sees of the Caterpillar is the tail end of him, vanishing into the greenery. "The White King? What a preposterous idea!" the Caterpillar's voice floats towards them out of the curtain of green, resounding with self-importance.
"The thief is the White Rabbit."