[Thread] Let the dice fly

[feline_nonsense]

Characters: Cheshire Cat (AU), OPEN
Where: Around Econtra
When: Daytime
Summary: Cat's gone a-prowling, who will he find?
Warnings: Cat has a tendency to appear and disappear, and the personality-switch may catch you unawares? Otherwise, none.

Comments

[payitgladly]

The sound of the voice so nearby did indeed startle the Cleric into quick movement. His head and most of his body spun around to stare directly at the large feline perched so near his fingers. The hand jerked away and played idly at his side with nothing particular. The movement was quick and startled--but the Cleric's expression was not, and neither was anything after that. His muscles settled into a relaxed position shortly after the initial excitement.

He stared impassively at the Cat for a moment then his eyes turned towards the water and his own honey-brown orbs stared at the green ones staring back at him with an unblinking intensity. If anything this man was a Black Ace, but his profession, and even the mere title of "Cleric," more likely screamed Red Jack. Or was that Cardinal despite the lack in the deck...?

He blinked once and although he had no real answer for the Cat he did his best anyway. "Teetering on the edge of chaos and equilibrium," he replied softly. The next words, however, were more firm. "Literally? The middle of the city: the plaza. But you already know that." Pause. "What manner of creature are you that speaks without a human tongue?"

[feline_nonsense]

Well this was interesting. This stranger was one of a whole, no broken bits about him, a stone where there should be a face. But Cat had a suspicion, a little piece of a thought, that that wasn't the way things were supposed to be. Perhaps this one had been made too, chiseled away like a chess piece until that was what he was.

Cat turned to look at him, properly, no longer the cracks in the water that the face didn't have. "A good answer," he replied, customary grin widening, "But if you were me, you would find that they are one and the same, tumbled one over the next."

So many questions to ask, the world between your paws, looking and looking like a crystal ball. And yet... "I am a dream," Cat replied with a grin, "One to whom self-awareness is no stranger. If and when that happens... anything's possible."

[payitgladly]

Preston shifted his gaze from the water to the actual form of the cat shortly after Cat did so. It wasn't phased by the wide grin on the feline form but he did seem to pay particular attention to it. It was an unusual sort of smile for a cat--very familiar yet too wily even for a cat. Disturbing.

"I do not agree. They are complete opposites. My society and myself are based upon total equilibrium while chaos is something both forbidden and largely fought against by my people," he replied seriously.

This part caught even the stoic Cleric by surprise. He tilted his head to the side curiously and a small frown formed in his confusion on the matter. "I do not understand. 'A dream'?"

[feline_nonsense]

Cat laughed, a hoarse little sound of one long unused to laughter, belying the constant grin. "But you are not a Cat," he replied, and you cannot slip from one--" his fur rippled and went white, long and lustrous, perfect without a hair out of place, "--to the other."

In an instant, Cat was Cat again, the shape he took most often these days, gray and black, long and lean and skeletal. The Red Queen had taken its toll on Wonderland, and Cat was no exception. He'd grown up a little too.

Did a rock dream? Could a boulder sleep? Could a stone weep? It was like a riddle, but not entirely. Enough for Cat to tip his head and flick an ear. Like a stone indeed. Others might have their own Wonderlands to fall back on, but this one? No, Cat supposed he did not, could not, have a haven of pretend. "A dream is a wish your heart makes," he replied airily, sense out of nonsense as per his trick of trade, "I am real and not real at the same time. Born of a thought, sheltered in the mind, taught all its secrets and let out to roam."

[payitgladly]

Again the Cleric was actually startled at the sight of the feline changing color and beauty. He was amazed and his eyes showed the natural curiosity in a luminous shine that hinted at green within the golden brown. In that regard he was actually much like a cat; he was a very curious sort of fellow, even in his emotionless state it seemed.

He hand reached out a little as if to pet the lustrous white fur but two things stopped him. First, his own politeness that would have waited for permission before actually touching. And second, the fact that Cat changed back almost instantly. His hand faltered at that, and then fell back to his side.

Again Preston frowned at the reply. He didn't quite understand. A dream--the word 'dream' itself--was not beyond his comprehension. But something more? Something that was a wish come true? Something real, but not? That made no sense. Especially to him. Maybe in another state of mind, with emotion to back him up, the nonsense would have at least sounded good if full of riddles. But as it was...

He shook his head. "How can you be real and yet not? What thought? ...Who's?" he asked the last not so much for Cat but to himself, as if he wasn't certain which question he should be asking now.