Round 7: Two in a crowded room while others fade away (1/3)
Title: two in a crowded room while others fade away
Team: AU
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Miss A
Pairing: Jia/Min
Summary: In a world full of thrills and wonder, Jia loses sight of what's real.
Author's Note: Thanks to my awe/usome team, who will take over the world one day by upending ass. Also many thanks to the mods for hosting this! :D
This story has been kicking my ass since February, so it's a huge relief to finally post this. Since there's a lot of allusions, I feel compelled to state that I don't own stuff, because really, I don't. The title is from a song by The Cab. Also, I am completely aware of the fact that many of my puns are on the English language when the characters are, in fact, Korean. (I am writing in English though, so.) Generally based on this supplementary prompt, though the inspiration was from the song - saying, "I'm so high," tends to make me think of drugs. And, well, if you know anything about the AU I used....
Prompt Used: GD&TOP - High High
The mid-afternoon breeze sweeps through the fields, ruffling the grass in the valley below. Three girls appear at the top of a green hill, dashing down into the clearing with the wind right behind them.
Two of the girls are decked in pink dresses with bows in their black hair, but the third is wearing a blue sundress, white-blond hair free of any form of decoration. She's running and laughing, as the two dark-haired girls try to catch up to her, barely at her heels.
"Stop... Jia... stop!" yells one of the girls. "I caught you hiding there! You can't... You can't just run away!"
"But I am!" the blond-haired girl laughs, looking behind her and throwing them a grin.
"That's not fair!" shouts the other. "She beat you fair and square, Jia!"
Jia giggles and glances to them again. "I didn't think you liked to kiss ass, Fei!" she teases. "What, is there something you want to tell Suzy?"
Fei nearly stops and sends Jia a contemptuous look, her cheeks flushing red with embarrassment. "That was mean!" she says, now going after her faster than ever.
Jia laughs again and calls, "Don't let your knickers get caught in a bunch-"
"Watch out!" shouts Suzy.
Jia turns back to the front, but a second too late, as her foot slips on a rock in the middle of her path. Then suddenly she's flying through the air, dangling helplessly as her body is pushed forward by some invisible force behind her. She's about to close her eyes to brace herself for impact-when a small hole in the ground suddenly catches her eye.
It's on a little grassy mound, barely covered up by a log, but still large and visible and wide enough for her to fit inside. Curious, Jia tilts her head, observing it... she hadn't seen it before. What could possibly be inside?
Then the unknown force is pushing her harder than ever and she finds herself being forced headfirst into the hole... she squeezes her eyes shut, waiting to be met with a face full of dirt and grass...
...and then she's falling...
There's a rabbit.
He's wearing a petticoat. A large watch is hanging from his wrist as well, though it's much too dark to tell what time it is. The rabbit's eyes are red and staring at her intently.
Jia blinks.
She's sure she must be dreaming. Rabbits don't wear petticoats, much less wristwatches. Jia rubs her eyes, pinches her arm and wills herself to wake up.
The rabbit's still standing there.
He doesn't make a move to step closer to her, much less say anything; so Jia takes the time to take in her surroundings. The rest of the cavern (which apparently she's in) is dark, so it's a wonder how she can see the rabbit in great detail anyways. But when she looks up, she sees a faint white hole in the distance. That must be where the light is coming from. That must be where she had come from.
Jia looks at the rabbit again.
"Hello," she says, because it's the polite thing to do.
She stands up and pats down her dress, brushing any dirt or stains aside; astonishingly, though, her dress is as clean and smooth as ever. She looks back to the rabbit, whose whiskers are twitching in anticipation.
Perhaps he hadn't heard her? She tries again.
"Hello, how do you do?" she calls out to him.
"You!" he suddenly squeaks.
Taken aback, Jia stops moving. "Me?"
"You don't belong here!"
The rabbit's ears flick upward for a millisecond, as he continues to stare at her, gaze glossy and fixed. It reminds Jia of herself when she's at one of her lessons-but no, she mustn't think about her lessons right now, she must figure out where she is.
"Excuse me?" she says to him. She must have heard him wrong.
"You don't belong here!" the rabbit repeats. His eyes suddenly turn wide, frantic. "You don't belong here!"
Jia merely stares at him for a few more seconds, before huffing and turning away. "Well then," she says, glancing back at him. "If I don't belong here, would you mind telling me where exactly I am?"
But before the rabbit can open his tiny white mouth to speak again, another figure enters through the shadows. The figure is a bit bigger, around Jia's height. From the light in the distance, Jia can see that it's a black-haired girl.
The rabbit stops moving at the new presence. The girl grins to Jia upon catching sight of her; the girl's lips are astonishingly bright red.
"Sorry," she says, walking toward the rabbit. "Was my pet bothering you? He does that a lot."
She bends down to pick him up. The rabbit trembles slightly in her arms, as if he would pay every arm and leg to get away from her. The girl rolls her eyes, noticing, and drops him back down on the ground.
"Creepy little fucker, isn't he?" she says to Jia.
She kicks the rabbit from behind. The rabbit yelps. The girl chuckles.
"Come on, you dumbshit, let's go," she says to the rabbit, and then starts walking off into the darkness.
The rabbit turns around and looks at Jia for one last time; then after a second, he's disappeared as well.
Jia stares at the spot where they had been, mouth open in surprise. Then suddenly she calls out, "Wait, where am I?"
But the girl and the rabbit have disappeared. Jia is alone now.
***
It takes Jia several seconds to regain her composure, before she decides that she can't stand around in here forever. So after a moment, she walks to the space where the girl and her pet had gone, hoping that maybe she'll run into them again.
But this thought stops suddenly when she makes her way past her shadows, and finds herself in the middle of a forest. The forest pauses as well, as if noticing her presence. And Jia takes the time to, once again, look around.
Trees are scattered everywhere, branches and vines encircling them. Faintly, Jia can see a little path ahead where an apparent clearing has been made, although it may just be a natural coincidence. The animals and plants are all whispering to each other-about me, Jia thinks as she makes her way past a growling shrub. They don't seem to be plotting against her, though. They actually seem to be more afraid of her than she is of them.
With this idea and a newfound confidence in mind, she makes her way along her observed path. The animals are all glaring at her, though they don't make any move to attack her. However, they don't seem to be normal animals-Jia peers down and squints at one sitting beneath a leaf off the path.
It appears to be a frog, but second glance and Jia can tell that it's not a frog at all. Well, technically. Its hind legs are certainly of a frog's, though its green face seems more brown close-up, and two little horns are sticking out of its head. Jia realizes what it is at once.
"A bullfrog," she says aloud.
Startled, the bullfrog leaps up, swells, and then bounds off through the grass and the trees. Jia gazes after it thoughtfully, before continuing on her way.
The sound of a melody catches her ear soon afterwards. Jia glances around, to see a small garden on the edge of the wood. Normally, she would have wondered what a garden is doing in the forest-but she'd already seen a talking rabbit and a literal bullfrog, so it doesn't catch her too off-guard. Interested, she walks over to the garden; she's always liked flowers.
It doesn't take her long before she realizes that the flowers in the garden are singing, an orchestra of a cappella voices. The roses are in one corner, the tulips in another: none of them seem to be paying too much attention to her, caught up in their song. Jia watches with a slightly dazed look on her face, enraptured by the song.
When it seems to be over, Jia can't help but to call out, "You sound lovely!" They deserve to know, she thinks. Flowers always deserve attention and praise.
But when the flowers turn around and see her, they shriek immediately. "Weed!" they call out. "Large, scandalous weed-not here, not here, not for us!" They attempt to run around and duck out of sight-which is sort of ridiculous, Jia thinks, as they're pretty much attached to their roots.
Sighing and feeling a little less enthusiastic, Jia continues on.
She ends up on a beach. That is, the beach had appeared out of nowhere, though when Jia turns around she still sees the trees behind her, as if they're still in the middle of the forest. She speculates on this for a little, before deciding that this clearly isn't a normal place and she shouldn't question the geography of the land-if a beach wants to be here, it can be here, and Jia isn't one to stop it.
She walks along the shore, wondering how long the beach stretches out. She doesn't cover too much distance until suddenly, she spots two figures prancing at the edge of the water, far, far away. Surprised, she runs toward them, calling out, "Hello!" As she approaches, she realizes that one of the figures is a large walrus, the other a man.
Jia runs as fast as she can; the walrus and the man hadn't seemed to have noticed her. But before she can open her mouth to speak again, two more figures appear right in front of her, and she ricochets right off of them.
Picking herself up from the sand and rubbing her ribs, Jia gets up to see that two large identical boys have blocked her path. Their collars are tucked up, their rice-bowl shaped hats red, and they're staring at Jia like she's a large, seven-eyed purple dinosaur.
"Hello," Jia says cautiously, approaching them slowly.
"Hello!" says the boy on the right.
"How do you do!" chirps the other.
Jia continues eyeing them warily. "I don't suppose you can tell me where I am," she says.
"You shouldn't be here!" says the boy on the right.
"You don't belong here!" adds the boy on the left.
Jia sighs. "So I've heard," she murmurs under her breath. Then she says to the boys, "Perhaps you can tell me how to get out-?"
"We don't tell anything!" says the boy on the right.
"We never tell nothing!" says the boy on the left.
"We don't tell nobody anything!"
"We tell nothing to nobody!"
"We hardly ever never tell nobody nothing!"
"We tell everybody barely never nothing, no!"
"We don't tell nobody nothing but anything."
"We tell nobody anything and nothing, never."
"It's tell nobody nothing-"
"No, it's not tell anybody anything-"
At this point, Jia's head is hurting and she tunes the boys out before glancing around. But nothing's changed, and, as usual, Jia feels utterly and completely lost. She briefly wonders if Suzy and Fei are worried about her, although they rarely do; she's always been able to go about her business by herself.
But she feels a bit scared, anyways.
"Thank you!" she says loudly to the two boys, who are too busy bickering to notice her. Sighing once again, she turns around and heads off in a different direction. Those two boys should be grateful, she thinks. She had thanked them when they had done absolutely nothing to help her. Or maybe they had done anything but never nothing-her head hurts again, so she shoves these thoughts to the back of her mind.
***
By the time she decides to rest, her feet are sore and aching. After all, she had probably walked more kilometers than she had ever walked at a time in her entire life, and had gawked at everything she'd encountered on her way through the forest. And after seeing a large old woman chase after a baby, and then seeing the baby turn into a pig, Jia knows that she should probably stop before she loses her head. Out of all the curious (and curiouser) things she'd seen, this had probably startled her the most.
The moment she sits down on a nearby rock, someone speaks from up in a tree.
"Giving up now, are you?" says a sly voice.
Jia doesn't bother looking up, and instead stares at the dirty ground beneath her feet. "I'm not giving up, I just need some time to rest," she says.
"But you're giving up for now."
Jia glances upward to see a lone smile perched on a tree branch; she blinks, and suddenly a cat appears behind it. It takes a while for Jia to realize that he's the owner of this smile, and his mouth stretches wider the longer Jia stares at him.
"I'm sure I'm not giving up," she finally says. Her eyes rake over the Cat's purple-striped fur. "And who are you, anyways?"
"A Cat," the Cat replies, and Jia snorts; the Cat looks at her scornfully above his grin and continues on. "Cheshire, to be precise, although I am the only Cat in this forest for it to matter."
"I'm Jia," says Jia in an attempt to be civil. She bows her head in a slight curtsy, from sitting down. The Cat eyes her.
"Strange little one, are you?" he finally says.
"I'm not strange!" says Jia indignantly; she shouldn't have tried to be polite.
The Cat smirks. "You're rather normal," he says.
"I'm not normal either!" Jia shouts, for being called normal is being called not special, and Jia believes that she's certainly special in some sense.
The Cat's grin grows wider. "Make up your mind then, are you normal or not?" he says.
A thought suddenly occurs to Jia, and her defiant stare is replaced by a thoughtful one. "You... You can speak, can you?" she says dumbly.
"The last time I checked," the Cat says, his eyes glowing with amusement, "I could sing as well. Though I'm not sure if you'd like to hear that."
"I was wondering," Jia says, ignoring this statement, "if you could tell me where exactly I am. Or what way I should take."
"You should take your way," the Cat says helpfully. And when he sees the glare on Jia's face, he adds, "Of course, there are many ways through this forest. There is my way, a fool's way-which is to say your way-and his or her way. But I do heavily recommend the Queen's way. It is rather fetching."
"And which way would that be?" Jia asks, pointedly ignoring the Cat's ruse about her being a fool.
"That way, of course." The Cat points further into the forest. "You'll have to get through the Mad Hatter's house, first."
"The Mad Hatter?" Jia asks blankly, looking to where the Cat's paw had indicated. Far off, she can see a cottage in a small clearing of the wood.
She turns to speak to the Cat again-but the Cat is dematerializing, disappearing into the air. Quickly, she shouts, "Wait, wait! Don't go! I still don't know where I am!"
"You're in this world, of course," says a voice by her left ear; Jia spins around to see the Cat floating right behind her. "It's not your world, and you don't belong here. But perhaps you'll be of some use."
"Some use?" Jia stares at the Cat, stunned; but he only winks before slowly fading away again. His body and his stripes leave him, and his face is the last to go-and then nothing more is left of him, except for his wide, shimmering smile.
***
Jia trudges through the wood. She's probably being stupid, taking advice from a talking cat of all things-but it's the only thing she has, she reminds herself. Besides, it's not like he'd lead her into any danger, or else she'd squash him to death by sitting on his fat stomach.
She finally makes her way in between two trees before she's at the cottage the Cat had indicated earlier. The cottage looks like any other old cottage she would have seen back in her own world, but before she can fully examine the house, she hears a loud noise coming from the back. Startled, Jia jumps and glances around, wondering what it is.
Carefully, she makes her way around the side of the house, listening intently for any threatening noises. It's after a moment when she finally realizes that noise is actually singing. Even more curious now, she peeks around the corner to the backyard.
A large long table is placed directly behind the house, covered up with a pink tablecloth, and is lined with plates and kettles and silverware and food. All of the dishes are clanging merrily along with the beat, as a man in a large top hat and a human-sized Hare sing.
"Happy unbirthday to me!
Happy unbirthday to you!
We're as dandy as we can be
To us, happy unbirthday three!"
"Um." Jia attempts to clear her throat. But neither the Hare nor the Hatter seem to be paying any attention. "Excuse me," she says loudly.
Everything suddenly falls silent. Then a kettle hoots in response.
The Hatter shushes the kettle and turns to Jia. "Who might you be?" he asks suspiciously.
"I was, um," Jia starts, but then movement at the end of the table suddenly catches her eye. Someone else is there. And that someone else is coming towards her.
As the person approaches, Jia realizes she's looking at a girl... a very familiar girl... with short black hair and bright red lips...
"You're the girl from the tunnel," says the girl, grinning at Jia. Her teeth are shockingly white.
Jia nods absently. "And so are you."
The girl holds out her hand, still grinning. "I'm Min."
"I'm Jia."
Min tilts her head to the side and observes her. "Lost, are you?"
"How can you tell?" says Jia, her eyes widening.
"I can always tell," Min says smugly. "You're definitely not from here, too. You smell it." She sniffs the air precariously. Jia tries to catch a whiff of her body as well, wondering if she's giving off some sort of strange odor.
"Oh, don't worry," says Min, as if reading her mind. "It's not terrible at all. It's actually quite nice."
"Oh. Well thanks," says Jia.
The Hatter, who had been watching this exchange with the Hare, can't seem to contain himself any longer and suddenly blurts, "Come celebrate with us!"
Jia glances around to the pots and pans clanging around, hooting approval at the Hatter's words, and she smiles a bit. "Okay," she says, and the pots clang jovially, even louder. "What are you all celebrating?"
"Unbirthdays!" The Hare grins. "It's all three of ours-" and he points to the Hatter, Min and himself "-and it's only reasonable to celebrate."
Jia glances around to the three faces beaming at her. "What's an unbirthday?"
The Hare falls over. The Hatter gasps. Min smirks.
"Why, a non-birthday of course," she says to Jia. "Is it yours too? It'd be delightful if it was." The light dances in her eyes.
Slightly dazed, Jia nods and stares at Min's face. She hears the Hatter and the Hare cheer zealously behind her, but her gaze is focused on Min's dark eyes, her pale milky skin and her bold red lips. She's suddenly aware of the little space between the two of them.
Then Min breaks it, turning to the Hare and saying, "Oh, Hare, have you seen the Dormouse lately? I have an unbirthday present to give him."
"I dunno," the Hare says, shrugging. "Maybe he's in one of the kettles." He indicates the pots on the table, and his eyes glint, perhaps in excitement with the idea of smashing them all open.
But Min is quicker; she grabs the nearest kettle-a large gold one-pops the top open, and shakes it rapidly, letting out a loud clattering noise from inside. Jia looks on in trepidation as Min continues shaking the kettle around, and then turns it over, releasing something small, grey and furry from the top.
The Dormouse lifts its head and looks around, lidded eyes half-open. "Huh? Is it over?"
"Not nearly, my friend!" the Hatter says with a beam, scooping the little creature up. The Dormouse yawns into the Hatter's hand, and then curls up in his palm, promptly falling asleep.
"Here, gives this to him when he wakes up," says Min, pulling out a small box from out of nowhere. Jia looks at curiously as the Hare takes it, greed in his eyes. Min slaps his hand swiftly. "And don't you dare think about opening it."
"Okay, okay," says the Hare. He glances to the Dormouse again. "He's not much of the party type," he whispers to Jia, and Min giggles. Jia glances to Min, and manages to force a smile on her own face, though she's not quite sure what's amusing about the situation.
"Well, are we just going to stand here like ducks all day?" the Hatter says suddenly, toppling the Dormouse into a nearby teacup and looking over at them. "Come! We must have something to eat!"
"I'm not very hungry," Jia says truthfully, but while the Hare says, "Don't be stupid!" and the Hatter beckons them over, Min merely grabs onto Jia's wrist and leads her down the table.
"Here," she says, shoving her into a seat before taking the chair next to her. "You should try the pound cake."
Jia blinks. "Pound cake?"
"You know." Min rolls her eyes. "Surely you know what pound cake is."
"Well, yeah," Jia manages to splutter out, "bu-but it's only for the rich."
"And what? We're not rich?" the Hatter says indignantly.
"We are very rich indeed!" the Hare adds.
"Rich in wealth!"
"Rich in power!"
"Rich in character!"
"Rich in taste!"
"I'd like to know how you know that," Jia mutters under her breath, and she hears Min snicker.
"Well come on then, try some," says Min, scooping up a piece of a large brown cake and dropping it on a plate in front of Jia.
Jia looks at it warily, but when Min nudges her and says, "Go on," she can't help but oblige. Gingerly, she picks up a fork that seems to have appeared out of nowhere and digs into the cake. It tastes warm and sweet in her mouth, thick against her teeth, and Jia quickly swallows for a forkful of more. But as she continues eating the cake, she notices something odd: each piece seems to be getting a little bit heavier and heavier, until, it seems as though the last piece has the density of a bowling ball.
After staring at her piece of cake bemusedly, she glances up-only to see that the Hare, the Hatter and Min are all staring at her intently.
"Well?" says the Hatter.
"How was it?" asks the Hare.
"Do you like it?" says Min.
"It's good," Jia replies, "but a bit odd. Why is this last piece so heavy?" She lifts up her plate as if testing it, and is surprised when she feels like she's lifting up thirty times its weight.
Min snorts and rolls her eyes. "Because it's pound cake, duh. It's supposed to weigh a pound."
"What?"
"A pound!" the Hatter says excitedly. "A pound cake weighs a pound!"
"Never more or less," the Hare chimes in.
"No matter how much you eat-"
"-no matter how big the slice-"
"-it's never a quarter or a half pound-"
"-just always a pound cake-"
As they continue to chatter on, Min turns to Jia. Her eyes glint..
"Forgive them," she says. "They're a bit mad."
"Mad?" Jia echoes.
Min nods, and then sighs as she looks around. The Hare and the Hatter have stopped blabbering and started bickering. Min watches on with mild interest, before turning to Jia again.
"You never told me where you were from."
A little startled at the accusatory tone, Jia hesitates for a moment. but when she tries to speak, she has no idea what to say. "I... I don't know."
"You don't know where you're from?" Min, of all things, chuckles. "That's rather unfortunate. Where are you going, then?"
"I..." Jia pauses again, and Min sends her a look that says don't tell me you don't know that either. Determined to prove her wrong, Jia stammers, "Well-Well, the Cat said that I should take the Queen's way-"
"The Queen? You mean the Red Queen, right?" Min says immediately. "The Queen of Hearts."
"...sure," says Jia, looking at her warily.
But then Min beams. "Great! I know how to get there. You must need to go to the palace. It only makes sense."
"Yes," Jia finds herself saying suddenly. "It does."
They sit there silently for a few more minutes, with Jia wondering what exactly they're doing and why they're not moving yet. The forest seems to be as still as ever, though the Hare and the Hatter have moved on from having conversations about nonsense to prodding the Dormouse awake. With nothing else better to do, Jia turns to Min once more, a question on the tip of her tongue.
"I... I've been seeing things all day. Here," she clarifies at the bemused expression on Min's face. "Is this normal?"
"Well," says Min very practically, "I'd be concerned if you couldn't see anything, you know." She chuckles.
"That's not what I meant," Jia says impatiently. "I mean, the strangest things-like illusions, hallucinations, just things I don't think are... are real."
"Well that's concerning," says Min in a pleasant tone. "Because everything here is real. It's okay if you're crazy though. We're all a little mad here."
The wan grin that spreads across her face makes Jia feel a bit uncomfortable, and she fidgets in her seat nervously. Min takes this silent opportunity to press her palm to Jia's forehead, making Jia feel like her skin is on fire. Then Min withdraws her hand, and then without warning, suddenly kisses Jia's cheek.
"You're cute," says Min, smiling. And before Jia can even formulate a proper response in her head, Min grabs her hand and says, "Let's go to the Red Castle."
***
"What is this place?" Jia asks as she steps around an old tree.
Min is concentrating on hopping over a large rock. She glances at Jia. "Home," she answers, before leaping and landing on the other side of the boulder.
Jia's breath catches in her throat as she watches Min's black hair brushes against Min's cheeks. She finally finds the words to speak.
"Yes, but what exactly is home?"
"You don't really expect me to answer that, do you?" Min's red lips curl. She looks back ahead. "Home is different for everyone. This, to me, is home."
Jia is a little bit thrown off by Min's answer. But either Min doesn't notice or doesn't care, because then suddenly she grabs Jia's hand and runs fast, faster than the speed of light. Jia feels like she's left her body behind as the wind rips around them, and everything turns to a blur.
It's the strangest thing Jia's ever seen. One moment she's walking at a steady pace-the next, it's almost like she's flying. She can barely see what's going on at the side, like looking out the window of a fast-speeding train, with Min as the conductor and their legs as the wheels. Jia does her best to try to trust Min with where she's going with this, although a slight feeling of fear overtakes her. She does her best to ignore it though, and instead attempts to talk to Min.
"How... do you..." Jia gasps out. But Min doesn't turn around, apparently not hearing her. As Jia gets dragged around she can feel herself getting more and more weary by the second.
Not up for collapsing, she tries to wrench herself out of Min's grasp; but Min's hand is so tight that she barely lets up at all. Jia then tries to get Min's attention, but Min is too busy dashing through the forest to care, and Jia can't be bothered to try to let go for now. Finally, after much struggling, Jia digs her fingers so deep into Min's palms that she regrets it for a second, in case she draws blood.
Min must've felt it, though, because she stops in a clearing, scaring the gathered animals away. Letting out a shriek of laughter, she turns around to Jia, who is hanging back, bent over and trying to catch her breath.
"Wasn't that fun?" Min beams. "Got it from Mother. Pity she can't do it anymore, though."
Min must be inhuman, because Jia can barely speak, much less breathe, and doubts she ever will again judging from the pain on her sides. Min merely walks around and sits on a log.
"All ready, Your Highness?" she says with a smirk when she sees Jia getting up again.
Jia attempts to glower, although it's rather difficult to do when Min is looking at her like that. Min suddenly hops off the log and puts her chin on Jia's shoulder, lips close to her cheek. Her arms wrap around Jia's body, and she lets out a small purr, nuzzling Jia like a cat. Jia freezes.
"You do smell good," Min says right into her ear.
She pulls away and grins at Jia. The blue birds flee from the tree above them.
***
Min leads her to a wooden building at the edge of the forest. It looks rather homey and not at all out-of-place against the messy shrubbery on the side; but when Min opens the door without bothering to knock, or at least peer inside, Jia feels wary. Is this Min's house? And what are they doing here?
Min turns around briefly to see Jia still standing in the doorway. An amused expression flickers across her face. "What are you doing still standing there? Don't worry, just follow me."
Jia hesitates again, but when she sees the honesty in Min's eyes, she decides that she can trust her. So she steps on the wooden porch at the doorway, and enters.
The house doesn't seem like a house at all from the inside.It contains a single room, the room that Jia and Min are standing in, shelves lining the walls and a singular table standing at the far end. Pieces of cotton are tucked between each floorboard, messy and scattered about. Random things are littered all across the shelves and various pieces of paper with numbers hastily scribbled upon them lay in front of each item. Jia suddenly realizes that this isn't a home-it's a store.
"What are we doing here?" she wonders aloud.
Min doesn't bother to answer her. Instead, she browses around the shelves. Again, Jia wonders if she lives here, though she'd imagine that Min would live in some glorious mansion rather than a dusty room like this.
"Are you sure we're allowed to be here?" Jia asks, more directly at Min this time.
Min ignores her again. She picks up a pair of two long metal rods on a shelf and examines them carefully. Then she turns around to Jia, the rods still in her hand, and hands one to her.
"Here," she says. "We'll need these."
Jia turns the rod overto see that it looks remarkably like a knitting needle. Probably what it is, she realizes.
"For what?" she asks.
Min sends her an incriminating look. "For rowing."
"For rowing?"
"Yeah. Across the creek."
"What creek?"
Min sighs exasperatedly at Jia's apprehensive look. "That-" she impatiently grabs a hold of Jia's shoulders and turns her around "-creek."
Jia blinks, and is completely baffled. They're suddenly in a small wooden rowboat, trailing along a stream of water. Tree branches and leaves are dangling in their faces, covering up the sky so well that the sun is barely peeking out from above.
"How did we-" she starts, but stops when she sees that Min isn't paying any attention to her; her eyes glow as she stares down at the water below them.
"It's been a while since I've last been here," Min says absently. She turns to Jia and grins. "What do you think?"
"It's..." Jia looks around again. The trees no longer seem afraid of her: rather, they seem to be embracing her, like their master. The grass beneath them is rustling contentedly, and through the bushes, Jia can see little animals peeking out to stare at them. Even the fish in the water are hovering near to the surface as if dying to touch them.
"Amazing," finishes Jia. She concludes that this must have something to do with Min's presence. After all, Jia would join them if she could.
Min chuckles and moves the oar in her hand-wait, oar?-and puts it into the water. Then she looks at Jia and says, "Well, you should help row too."
"But I don't have-" Jia stops again when she realizes that something large and wooden is in her own hand. Incredulously, she looks down and sees that she is indeed holding an oar. The knitting needle seems to have disappeared.
Min chuckles again, probably at her baffled expression. "Well come on then," she says, nodding her head towards the creek. "Let's get a move on."
The two girls row through the creek silently, aside from the paddle of the oars being slowly lifted up and out of the water. Jia manages to clumsily fasten the middle of her oar on the side so that it stays mostly in place, while she can roll the handle end in a circular motion. Min seems to be enjoying herself, Jia notices as she glances to the side. Jia's eyes linger on her far too long, but Min doesn't seem to be noticing: she hums softly under her breath while taking in the rest of the forest. So Jia looks around for a third time, trying to see what Min is seeing.
She must be so used to this place that she loves it, Jia thinks as she glances to the trees and the stream. Jia can't imagine getting used to this place; it's way too chaotic for her. But it's probably what Min likes, probably what Min is like. The prospect doesn't make Jia falter, though-actually, she's intrigued to know what Min's like. She's intrigued to know Min.
Jia's gaze drifts to the stream again, where the fish are bobbing near the edge. She hears a noise at her side, and turns to see Min bending down close to the water, whispering something-something to the fish. Jia watches in awe although she figures she shouldn't be too surprised. Jia tries to decipher what Min is saying, but cannot understand a thing.
They continue to row until they arrive at a little pool at the end. Min moves them closer to the edge, and Jia blinks: she's definitely not imagining the fish and the frogs sitting at the river banks, exchanging money.. But Min pays no attention to them, as she tugs Jia out of the boat and onto the grass.
"Well that was fun," Min says cheerfully. "And I think you might be a little hungry now. That pound cake hadn't been very filling, had it?"
"It was all right," says Jia, although her stomach does indeed rumble at the mention of food. To cover the embarrassed blush rising over her cheeks, she glances around. "What can we eat then?"
"I'm sure a pine apple tree is somewhere around here. I remember them being in this part of the wood." Curiously, Min glances around, examining the trunks of some trees and roots. Finally, she stops in front of one which looks remarkably like a Christmas tree, and beams, plucking a bright pink fruit from a branch.
"Here," she says, sticking her hand out to Jia.
Jia eyes the fruit warily.
"Oh come on," Min laughs. "It's just a pine apple."
"It doesn't... look like one," says Jia.
"Does your world have pine apples?" Min asks interestedly. But before Jia can answer, she shoves it into her palm and urges, "Eat it," before taking one for herself and biting it with her pearl teeth.
Still rather cagey, although at this point she's learning to let her guard down around Min, she lifts the apple up to her hesitant lips and then sinks her teeth into the skin. It's rather hard, but the juice flows into her mouth, sweet and slightly minty. Jia bites off another piece, chews, then swallows.
Min looks at her. "Good. You like it." She grins and leans over, surprising Jia with a kiss on her cheek, brief but still there. Then Min resumes speaking, as if she hadn't stopped. "The rest of the forest's food is shit, anyways," she says. "And the crab apples are so not worth catching."
"Really?" says Jia, eating her pine apple with a little more enthusiasm at Min's words.
Min nods and leans against a nearby tree. "Really. The forest fruit may be nice, but it's nothing in comparison to the food in town."
Jia continues eating her apple thoughtfully, nodding at this concept. Then a thought strikes her, and she turns to Min.
"Where do you live?" she asks after swallowing a bit more of apple. "I mean, surely you don't live here, do you?"
"Of course not," Min scoffs, taking one last bite of her own apple before tossing it aside. "You expect me to live in the wild? But don't worry about it. You'll find out soon enough."
Jia continues eating as Min watches her. She wonders what Min tastes like.
When she's done, Min grabs onto her, causing the apple core to fall from her hand; and Jia is swept off her feet once more.
***
They don't get very far when they come to a large clearing in the middle of the forest. It sort of reminds Jia of home, aside from bluegrass billowing in the breeze. Min laughs and runs toward the middle as fast as she can, flopping onto the cerulean sea of crass. Jia sits down beside her, cautiously.
"That's where we're going," Min says with a beam, pointing upwards. At first Jia thinks she's pointing to the sky, until she notices the angle of Min's finger and follows her gaze. She gasps; a large red and white castle is far off in the distance, high towers hidden by oval-shaped clouds. It's like from a fairy tale, and Jia wouldn't be too surprised if it is. She takes a deep breath, feeling something like a balloon rise in her stomach.
"Like it?" Min grins. Then she tugs at Jia's hand, pulling her down on the grass next to her and says, "Oh, you're so cute." She leans over to peck Jia on the cheek. A waft of minty apples and blooming flowers drifts under Jia's nose.
"Tell me about your world again," whispers Min in Jia's ear, lips dangerously close to her skin. Jia can feel the heat prickling off of her, but it's a nice sort of heat: heat that she doesn't want to leave.
Jia stares at the cotton clouds floating above them across the blue sky. "My world... is different," she starts. "A lot different. It's boring, it's big, and it's empty. You wouldn't like it."
"Would I?"
"No, you wouldn't." Jia sighs. "It's probably far too boring for you, not exciting enough... I wish I could live in a world like this with you, exploring, having adventures, doing anything... everything...
"But I suppose it's not too bad, either. My parents are always nice, and I have friends, like Fei and Suzy. We play a lot together. And I have lessons, even though sometimes they can be really annoying. The adults can be kind of stupid sometimes, but it's alright. There are some who are really nice. I can't wait to be an adult." Jia lets out a wistful breath. "Then when I'm an adult, I can do whatever I want... explore, see the world... with no one to tell me what to do. When I was younger, I've always wanted to be a princess..."
"Yeah, but," Min suddenly interrupts. "You grew out of that, didn't you?"
Jia frowns. "I suppose."
"And," says Min, getting up from the grass and looking down at Jia, "in this world, no one wants to be an adult. You must be crazy if you do. Everyone wants to be a child! Adults are boring."
"But they can do anything," Jia insists.
Min shakes her head. "Not here," she says. "Here, adults and children can do whatever they want-though adults barely do anything." She scoffs. "Like you said, they're really stupid."
"Well." Jia frowns again. "Yes."
"Besides," says Min, "children can even boss adults around! Tell them to do what they want! In the palace, at least. I don't know about the peasants. But at least the filthy adults know a thing or two before even thinking about telling a child what to do!"
"What do the children ask them to do?"
"Oh, you know." Min waves her hand. "Clean their rooms, take their showers, go to lessons-not that we have many, anyways." She chuckles.
"They can really take your baths for you?" Jia asks, wide-eyed. She's never really liked baths.
"Of course," scoffs Min. "Sounds a hell lot better than your place, doesn't it?"
Jia stares back at the sky. "I guess..." she says. "But it... it's my home."
Min, however, doesn't hear her response. Instead, she rustles around and suddenly appears in Jia's line of vision, her hand stretched out. Her hair sweeps in the wind, dark against the blues and whites serenely drifting above them.
"Come on," says Min, catching hold of Jia's wrist and tugging her up. Her lips brush against the skin of Jia's cheek. "We should get going."
***
It's not much longer after they've started walking back through the forest, when Jia's stomach suddenly makes a gurgling noise. Embarrassed, she tries to cover it up. She knows that they had just eaten those apples before going into the field, but-her stomach makes another loud noise and her cheeks flush.
Min turns to her, eyes glittering in amusement. "Hungry again?" she says. "It's okay. Pine apples aren't that filling, anyways. Here. I'll try to find you something."
She bends down and starts picking at the forest grounds, moving leaves and twigs aside. Finally, after a few minutes of searching, she gets back up, holding something small in her hands.
"Here," she says, breaking off a piece and handing it to Jia. "Eat it."
Jia glances at Min's other hand, which is holding something that looks like a mushroom. The mushroom has a large chunk torn off from the head, though: the chunk that Min is offering to her. Jia takes it and eyes it carefully.
"Are you sure it's safe?" she asks.
Min glances to her from tearing off her own piece. "Of course I'm sure. It's completely safe."
"But why can't we eat..." Jia looks around and points to a different mushroom, which looks oddly like a tree stump, but also more safe. "That?"
"That? Are you kidding? The toads will get furious." Min grabs the piece from Jia's hand and waves it in her face. "Honestly, you'd think I was trying to poison you or something."
"Well-N-no, of course not!" Jia splutters, snatching the mushroom back. "I just-Is this going to fill me up?"
"Of course," says Min, scoffing. "Once you eat it, that is. Cheers."
And without warning, she takes Jia's hand and shoves the mushroom piece into her mouth, and Jia swallows instinctively. Then a small rumbling noise starts in her stomach, growing louder and louder in her ears. Jia squeezes her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable to happen.
The rumbling suddenly stops, and Jia feels a poke at her side.
"You can open your eyes now."
Jia opens her eyes and gasps in amazement. The trees are all towering above them, shadows cast as far as they can see. The leaves are as large as they are, scattered, barely reaching the top of their heads. The ground is more vast than ever, and the stump-like mushroom a few centimeters away now looks like a stool of some sort.
"We shrunk!" says Min's cheerful voice, and Jia swivels her head to see Min standing next to her, about the same height.
"Yes," says Jia, "we did, but I don't see the point-"
"Are you full now?"
"I-Oh! Yes!" Delighted, Jia pats her stomach. Even if her body had shrunk, it's evident that the mushroom piece hadn't. Jia suddenly feels a wave of gratitude wash over her, and turns to Min.
"Thank you-"
"I think we should go that way," says Min, tapping her chin and not noticing Jia. She points between a couple of trees a few meters away. "Yeah. Carriage... desert... castle. Let's go!"
With a joyful shriek, Min grabs her hand and starts sprinting across the forest. They run even faster now, grass, dirt and leaves whipping behind them in a cloud of dust. Jia feels like she's going to fall behind at any moment, though,, and the only thing keeping them together is the link of their hands.
"Why... are we... going... so fast?" she manages to gasp out. "And how...?"
Min turns and sends a smile that makes Jia feel warm on the inside. "It takes a lot of practice," says Min. "But don't worry about it. I'll teach you one day, Jia."
Jia relishes in the sound of her name on Min's lips; but only for a second because then they stop. Jia sends Min a questioning look-she certainly doesn't look tired at all-but then a sudden rush of air hits her in the face and Jia inhales sharply.
Min sends her another small smirk and wordlessly kisses her on the cheek. But the moment is quickly ruined when they hear a deep voice behind them.
"Who... are... YOU?"
Jia and Min turn around to see a large periwinkle caterpillar perched on a grey pebble. He's holding a large, smoking stem, and is staring down at Min and Jia like they're a couple of the strangest pests he's ever seen.
Min grabs Jia's hand and glares the Caterpillar down. "It's none of your business," she says rudely.
The Caterpillar glances at their clasped hands, and then at their faces. His gaze lingers on Jia's for too long, but he stays silent.
Finally, Min snaps. "Well, who are you?".
"If your business is yours, then my business is mine," the Caterpillar answers simply.
Min scowls. "Fine. Whatever. We don't care, anyways. Let's go."
She swiftly drops Jia's hand and turns away, pushing through some brambles and disappearing behind them. Jia goes to follow her, but stops when she suddenly feels something heavy on her shoulder.
She turns back around to see the Caterpillar standing mere millimeters away (that is, if caterpillars can stand), his stem slung over her shoulder. He leans down and whispers harshly into her ear,
"You don't belong here. This isn't your place."
Stunned, Jia says, "What-"
"Are you coming?" Min's voice says suddenly. There's a slight rustle of leaves, and then Min appears through the thicket. Her eyes narrow at the Caterpillar and Jia's close position.
"Oh, fuck off," she says, going over to them and hitting the Caterpillar in the face with the stem. The Caterpillar backs off in slight, but sends Jia one last look before slinking off into the bushes.
Min rolls her eyes and then looks at Jia once more, who still seems rather bemused. "Well, are you coming or not? I swear, you inhaled too much of that old thing's smoke."
Jia shakes herself out of her daze and turns to Min. She nods slightly. "Yeah. We can go."
As they make their way back through the forest, she tries to get the Caterpillar's words out of her head.
***
"What happened to your rabbit?" says Jia.
Min glances to her while stepping over a tree root. "What rabbit?"
"You know. The white one."
"What the hell are you talking about?" says Min, staring at her.
"The white rabbit! You said he was your pet!" Jia says exasperatedly.
Min frowns. "When was this?"
"When- When I first came here! When we first met!" says Jia. "I fell in a hole and I saw a rabbit, and then you came out of nowhere and said he was your pet and then you walked away, and-"
"I told you you were crazy," Min says cheekily, kissing Jia again. "Now come on! We're almost there!"
"But-" Jia starts to protest; but then stops when she suddenly sees a small carriage made of leaves and twigs appear out of nowhere. She rubs her eyes and blinks to see if she's just imagining things-but of course, she's never imagined things, and she wonders where the carriage has come from.
"This will take us to the Red Castle," explains Min, tugging her into the cart. She pulls her inside and settles onto a bench, before moving over to make room for Jia. Jia sits down next to her and glances around. It's all green, with light through the thin ceiling, and shadows dancing on the leafy ground.
"You've been in this thing before?" she asks Min, who is amusing herself by prodding the other passenger in the car, a worm who happens to light up each time Min touches it.
Min nods enthusiastically. "Yeah! We just go through the Insect House, then a few more stops, and then we're there!" She points out the window in the front. "See those? Those are dragonflies. They pull some of the carriages."
Jia peers out the window. A large, scaly lizard with rather fly-like wings is dragging the cart along, looking utterly bored. Another carriage passing by them, made up of red leaves, has a pair of rocking horses in the front, leaves protruding from their backs as well.
"Horseflies," murmurs Jia.
Min turns to her and grins. "Yes! How did you know?" she says. "And there-" she points through the entrance of the carriage and indicates a few more bugs in the distance "-are the butterflies. And houseflies! I like the houseflies best. Mostly because they have no eyes and it's funny to see them run into things." She giggles.
"Wow," Jia breathes, reveling at the sight. Min's loving words ring in her ears, cradling every word like they're all her own.
She turns to Min and sees Min smiling at her. Jia can't help but smile back, especially when Min's mouth meets her flushing cheeks once again. Min's taste lingers at the tip of her tongue.
It feels like something magical, something unreal.
Next
Team: AU
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Miss A
Pairing: Jia/Min
Summary: In a world full of thrills and wonder, Jia loses sight of what's real.
Author's Note: Thanks to my awe/usome team, who will take over the world one day by upending ass. Also many thanks to the mods for hosting this! :D
This story has been kicking my ass since February, so it's a huge relief to finally post this. Since there's a lot of allusions, I feel compelled to state that I don't own stuff, because really, I don't. The title is from a song by The Cab. Also, I am completely aware of the fact that many of my puns are on the English language when the characters are, in fact, Korean. (I am writing in English though, so.) Generally based on this supplementary prompt, though the inspiration was from the song - saying, "I'm so high," tends to make me think of drugs. And, well, if you know anything about the AU I used....
Prompt Used: GD&TOP - High High
The mid-afternoon breeze sweeps through the fields, ruffling the grass in the valley below. Three girls appear at the top of a green hill, dashing down into the clearing with the wind right behind them.
Two of the girls are decked in pink dresses with bows in their black hair, but the third is wearing a blue sundress, white-blond hair free of any form of decoration. She's running and laughing, as the two dark-haired girls try to catch up to her, barely at her heels.
"Stop... Jia... stop!" yells one of the girls. "I caught you hiding there! You can't... You can't just run away!"
"But I am!" the blond-haired girl laughs, looking behind her and throwing them a grin.
"That's not fair!" shouts the other. "She beat you fair and square, Jia!"
Jia giggles and glances to them again. "I didn't think you liked to kiss ass, Fei!" she teases. "What, is there something you want to tell Suzy?"
Fei nearly stops and sends Jia a contemptuous look, her cheeks flushing red with embarrassment. "That was mean!" she says, now going after her faster than ever.
Jia laughs again and calls, "Don't let your knickers get caught in a bunch-"
"Watch out!" shouts Suzy.
Jia turns back to the front, but a second too late, as her foot slips on a rock in the middle of her path. Then suddenly she's flying through the air, dangling helplessly as her body is pushed forward by some invisible force behind her. She's about to close her eyes to brace herself for impact-when a small hole in the ground suddenly catches her eye.
It's on a little grassy mound, barely covered up by a log, but still large and visible and wide enough for her to fit inside. Curious, Jia tilts her head, observing it... she hadn't seen it before. What could possibly be inside?
Then the unknown force is pushing her harder than ever and she finds herself being forced headfirst into the hole... she squeezes her eyes shut, waiting to be met with a face full of dirt and grass...
...and then she's falling...
There's a rabbit.
He's wearing a petticoat. A large watch is hanging from his wrist as well, though it's much too dark to tell what time it is. The rabbit's eyes are red and staring at her intently.
Jia blinks.
She's sure she must be dreaming. Rabbits don't wear petticoats, much less wristwatches. Jia rubs her eyes, pinches her arm and wills herself to wake up.
The rabbit's still standing there.
He doesn't make a move to step closer to her, much less say anything; so Jia takes the time to take in her surroundings. The rest of the cavern (which apparently she's in) is dark, so it's a wonder how she can see the rabbit in great detail anyways. But when she looks up, she sees a faint white hole in the distance. That must be where the light is coming from. That must be where she had come from.
Jia looks at the rabbit again.
"Hello," she says, because it's the polite thing to do.
She stands up and pats down her dress, brushing any dirt or stains aside; astonishingly, though, her dress is as clean and smooth as ever. She looks back to the rabbit, whose whiskers are twitching in anticipation.
Perhaps he hadn't heard her? She tries again.
"Hello, how do you do?" she calls out to him.
"You!" he suddenly squeaks.
Taken aback, Jia stops moving. "Me?"
"You don't belong here!"
The rabbit's ears flick upward for a millisecond, as he continues to stare at her, gaze glossy and fixed. It reminds Jia of herself when she's at one of her lessons-but no, she mustn't think about her lessons right now, she must figure out where she is.
"Excuse me?" she says to him. She must have heard him wrong.
"You don't belong here!" the rabbit repeats. His eyes suddenly turn wide, frantic. "You don't belong here!"
Jia merely stares at him for a few more seconds, before huffing and turning away. "Well then," she says, glancing back at him. "If I don't belong here, would you mind telling me where exactly I am?"
But before the rabbit can open his tiny white mouth to speak again, another figure enters through the shadows. The figure is a bit bigger, around Jia's height. From the light in the distance, Jia can see that it's a black-haired girl.
The rabbit stops moving at the new presence. The girl grins to Jia upon catching sight of her; the girl's lips are astonishingly bright red.
"Sorry," she says, walking toward the rabbit. "Was my pet bothering you? He does that a lot."
She bends down to pick him up. The rabbit trembles slightly in her arms, as if he would pay every arm and leg to get away from her. The girl rolls her eyes, noticing, and drops him back down on the ground.
"Creepy little fucker, isn't he?" she says to Jia.
She kicks the rabbit from behind. The rabbit yelps. The girl chuckles.
"Come on, you dumbshit, let's go," she says to the rabbit, and then starts walking off into the darkness.
The rabbit turns around and looks at Jia for one last time; then after a second, he's disappeared as well.
Jia stares at the spot where they had been, mouth open in surprise. Then suddenly she calls out, "Wait, where am I?"
But the girl and the rabbit have disappeared. Jia is alone now.
***
It takes Jia several seconds to regain her composure, before she decides that she can't stand around in here forever. So after a moment, she walks to the space where the girl and her pet had gone, hoping that maybe she'll run into them again.
But this thought stops suddenly when she makes her way past her shadows, and finds herself in the middle of a forest. The forest pauses as well, as if noticing her presence. And Jia takes the time to, once again, look around.
Trees are scattered everywhere, branches and vines encircling them. Faintly, Jia can see a little path ahead where an apparent clearing has been made, although it may just be a natural coincidence. The animals and plants are all whispering to each other-about me, Jia thinks as she makes her way past a growling shrub. They don't seem to be plotting against her, though. They actually seem to be more afraid of her than she is of them.
With this idea and a newfound confidence in mind, she makes her way along her observed path. The animals are all glaring at her, though they don't make any move to attack her. However, they don't seem to be normal animals-Jia peers down and squints at one sitting beneath a leaf off the path.
It appears to be a frog, but second glance and Jia can tell that it's not a frog at all. Well, technically. Its hind legs are certainly of a frog's, though its green face seems more brown close-up, and two little horns are sticking out of its head. Jia realizes what it is at once.
"A bullfrog," she says aloud.
Startled, the bullfrog leaps up, swells, and then bounds off through the grass and the trees. Jia gazes after it thoughtfully, before continuing on her way.
The sound of a melody catches her ear soon afterwards. Jia glances around, to see a small garden on the edge of the wood. Normally, she would have wondered what a garden is doing in the forest-but she'd already seen a talking rabbit and a literal bullfrog, so it doesn't catch her too off-guard. Interested, she walks over to the garden; she's always liked flowers.
It doesn't take her long before she realizes that the flowers in the garden are singing, an orchestra of a cappella voices. The roses are in one corner, the tulips in another: none of them seem to be paying too much attention to her, caught up in their song. Jia watches with a slightly dazed look on her face, enraptured by the song.
When it seems to be over, Jia can't help but to call out, "You sound lovely!" They deserve to know, she thinks. Flowers always deserve attention and praise.
But when the flowers turn around and see her, they shriek immediately. "Weed!" they call out. "Large, scandalous weed-not here, not here, not for us!" They attempt to run around and duck out of sight-which is sort of ridiculous, Jia thinks, as they're pretty much attached to their roots.
Sighing and feeling a little less enthusiastic, Jia continues on.
She ends up on a beach. That is, the beach had appeared out of nowhere, though when Jia turns around she still sees the trees behind her, as if they're still in the middle of the forest. She speculates on this for a little, before deciding that this clearly isn't a normal place and she shouldn't question the geography of the land-if a beach wants to be here, it can be here, and Jia isn't one to stop it.
She walks along the shore, wondering how long the beach stretches out. She doesn't cover too much distance until suddenly, she spots two figures prancing at the edge of the water, far, far away. Surprised, she runs toward them, calling out, "Hello!" As she approaches, she realizes that one of the figures is a large walrus, the other a man.
Jia runs as fast as she can; the walrus and the man hadn't seemed to have noticed her. But before she can open her mouth to speak again, two more figures appear right in front of her, and she ricochets right off of them.
Picking herself up from the sand and rubbing her ribs, Jia gets up to see that two large identical boys have blocked her path. Their collars are tucked up, their rice-bowl shaped hats red, and they're staring at Jia like she's a large, seven-eyed purple dinosaur.
"Hello," Jia says cautiously, approaching them slowly.
"Hello!" says the boy on the right.
"How do you do!" chirps the other.
Jia continues eyeing them warily. "I don't suppose you can tell me where I am," she says.
"You shouldn't be here!" says the boy on the right.
"You don't belong here!" adds the boy on the left.
Jia sighs. "So I've heard," she murmurs under her breath. Then she says to the boys, "Perhaps you can tell me how to get out-?"
"We don't tell anything!" says the boy on the right.
"We never tell nothing!" says the boy on the left.
"We don't tell nobody anything!"
"We tell nothing to nobody!"
"We hardly ever never tell nobody nothing!"
"We tell everybody barely never nothing, no!"
"We don't tell nobody nothing but anything."
"We tell nobody anything and nothing, never."
"It's tell nobody nothing-"
"No, it's not tell anybody anything-"
At this point, Jia's head is hurting and she tunes the boys out before glancing around. But nothing's changed, and, as usual, Jia feels utterly and completely lost. She briefly wonders if Suzy and Fei are worried about her, although they rarely do; she's always been able to go about her business by herself.
But she feels a bit scared, anyways.
"Thank you!" she says loudly to the two boys, who are too busy bickering to notice her. Sighing once again, she turns around and heads off in a different direction. Those two boys should be grateful, she thinks. She had thanked them when they had done absolutely nothing to help her. Or maybe they had done anything but never nothing-her head hurts again, so she shoves these thoughts to the back of her mind.
***
By the time she decides to rest, her feet are sore and aching. After all, she had probably walked more kilometers than she had ever walked at a time in her entire life, and had gawked at everything she'd encountered on her way through the forest. And after seeing a large old woman chase after a baby, and then seeing the baby turn into a pig, Jia knows that she should probably stop before she loses her head. Out of all the curious (and curiouser) things she'd seen, this had probably startled her the most.
The moment she sits down on a nearby rock, someone speaks from up in a tree.
"Giving up now, are you?" says a sly voice.
Jia doesn't bother looking up, and instead stares at the dirty ground beneath her feet. "I'm not giving up, I just need some time to rest," she says.
"But you're giving up for now."
Jia glances upward to see a lone smile perched on a tree branch; she blinks, and suddenly a cat appears behind it. It takes a while for Jia to realize that he's the owner of this smile, and his mouth stretches wider the longer Jia stares at him.
"I'm sure I'm not giving up," she finally says. Her eyes rake over the Cat's purple-striped fur. "And who are you, anyways?"
"A Cat," the Cat replies, and Jia snorts; the Cat looks at her scornfully above his grin and continues on. "Cheshire, to be precise, although I am the only Cat in this forest for it to matter."
"I'm Jia," says Jia in an attempt to be civil. She bows her head in a slight curtsy, from sitting down. The Cat eyes her.
"Strange little one, are you?" he finally says.
"I'm not strange!" says Jia indignantly; she shouldn't have tried to be polite.
The Cat smirks. "You're rather normal," he says.
"I'm not normal either!" Jia shouts, for being called normal is being called not special, and Jia believes that she's certainly special in some sense.
The Cat's grin grows wider. "Make up your mind then, are you normal or not?" he says.
A thought suddenly occurs to Jia, and her defiant stare is replaced by a thoughtful one. "You... You can speak, can you?" she says dumbly.
"The last time I checked," the Cat says, his eyes glowing with amusement, "I could sing as well. Though I'm not sure if you'd like to hear that."
"I was wondering," Jia says, ignoring this statement, "if you could tell me where exactly I am. Or what way I should take."
"You should take your way," the Cat says helpfully. And when he sees the glare on Jia's face, he adds, "Of course, there are many ways through this forest. There is my way, a fool's way-which is to say your way-and his or her way. But I do heavily recommend the Queen's way. It is rather fetching."
"And which way would that be?" Jia asks, pointedly ignoring the Cat's ruse about her being a fool.
"That way, of course." The Cat points further into the forest. "You'll have to get through the Mad Hatter's house, first."
"The Mad Hatter?" Jia asks blankly, looking to where the Cat's paw had indicated. Far off, she can see a cottage in a small clearing of the wood.
She turns to speak to the Cat again-but the Cat is dematerializing, disappearing into the air. Quickly, she shouts, "Wait, wait! Don't go! I still don't know where I am!"
"You're in this world, of course," says a voice by her left ear; Jia spins around to see the Cat floating right behind her. "It's not your world, and you don't belong here. But perhaps you'll be of some use."
"Some use?" Jia stares at the Cat, stunned; but he only winks before slowly fading away again. His body and his stripes leave him, and his face is the last to go-and then nothing more is left of him, except for his wide, shimmering smile.
***
Jia trudges through the wood. She's probably being stupid, taking advice from a talking cat of all things-but it's the only thing she has, she reminds herself. Besides, it's not like he'd lead her into any danger, or else she'd squash him to death by sitting on his fat stomach.
She finally makes her way in between two trees before she's at the cottage the Cat had indicated earlier. The cottage looks like any other old cottage she would have seen back in her own world, but before she can fully examine the house, she hears a loud noise coming from the back. Startled, Jia jumps and glances around, wondering what it is.
Carefully, she makes her way around the side of the house, listening intently for any threatening noises. It's after a moment when she finally realizes that noise is actually singing. Even more curious now, she peeks around the corner to the backyard.
A large long table is placed directly behind the house, covered up with a pink tablecloth, and is lined with plates and kettles and silverware and food. All of the dishes are clanging merrily along with the beat, as a man in a large top hat and a human-sized Hare sing.
"Happy unbirthday to me!
Happy unbirthday to you!
We're as dandy as we can be
To us, happy unbirthday three!"
"Um." Jia attempts to clear her throat. But neither the Hare nor the Hatter seem to be paying any attention. "Excuse me," she says loudly.
Everything suddenly falls silent. Then a kettle hoots in response.
The Hatter shushes the kettle and turns to Jia. "Who might you be?" he asks suspiciously.
"I was, um," Jia starts, but then movement at the end of the table suddenly catches her eye. Someone else is there. And that someone else is coming towards her.
As the person approaches, Jia realizes she's looking at a girl... a very familiar girl... with short black hair and bright red lips...
"You're the girl from the tunnel," says the girl, grinning at Jia. Her teeth are shockingly white.
Jia nods absently. "And so are you."
The girl holds out her hand, still grinning. "I'm Min."
"I'm Jia."
Min tilts her head to the side and observes her. "Lost, are you?"
"How can you tell?" says Jia, her eyes widening.
"I can always tell," Min says smugly. "You're definitely not from here, too. You smell it." She sniffs the air precariously. Jia tries to catch a whiff of her body as well, wondering if she's giving off some sort of strange odor.
"Oh, don't worry," says Min, as if reading her mind. "It's not terrible at all. It's actually quite nice."
"Oh. Well thanks," says Jia.
The Hatter, who had been watching this exchange with the Hare, can't seem to contain himself any longer and suddenly blurts, "Come celebrate with us!"
Jia glances around to the pots and pans clanging around, hooting approval at the Hatter's words, and she smiles a bit. "Okay," she says, and the pots clang jovially, even louder. "What are you all celebrating?"
"Unbirthdays!" The Hare grins. "It's all three of ours-" and he points to the Hatter, Min and himself "-and it's only reasonable to celebrate."
Jia glances around to the three faces beaming at her. "What's an unbirthday?"
The Hare falls over. The Hatter gasps. Min smirks.
"Why, a non-birthday of course," she says to Jia. "Is it yours too? It'd be delightful if it was." The light dances in her eyes.
Slightly dazed, Jia nods and stares at Min's face. She hears the Hatter and the Hare cheer zealously behind her, but her gaze is focused on Min's dark eyes, her pale milky skin and her bold red lips. She's suddenly aware of the little space between the two of them.
Then Min breaks it, turning to the Hare and saying, "Oh, Hare, have you seen the Dormouse lately? I have an unbirthday present to give him."
"I dunno," the Hare says, shrugging. "Maybe he's in one of the kettles." He indicates the pots on the table, and his eyes glint, perhaps in excitement with the idea of smashing them all open.
But Min is quicker; she grabs the nearest kettle-a large gold one-pops the top open, and shakes it rapidly, letting out a loud clattering noise from inside. Jia looks on in trepidation as Min continues shaking the kettle around, and then turns it over, releasing something small, grey and furry from the top.
The Dormouse lifts its head and looks around, lidded eyes half-open. "Huh? Is it over?"
"Not nearly, my friend!" the Hatter says with a beam, scooping the little creature up. The Dormouse yawns into the Hatter's hand, and then curls up in his palm, promptly falling asleep.
"Here, gives this to him when he wakes up," says Min, pulling out a small box from out of nowhere. Jia looks at curiously as the Hare takes it, greed in his eyes. Min slaps his hand swiftly. "And don't you dare think about opening it."
"Okay, okay," says the Hare. He glances to the Dormouse again. "He's not much of the party type," he whispers to Jia, and Min giggles. Jia glances to Min, and manages to force a smile on her own face, though she's not quite sure what's amusing about the situation.
"Well, are we just going to stand here like ducks all day?" the Hatter says suddenly, toppling the Dormouse into a nearby teacup and looking over at them. "Come! We must have something to eat!"
"I'm not very hungry," Jia says truthfully, but while the Hare says, "Don't be stupid!" and the Hatter beckons them over, Min merely grabs onto Jia's wrist and leads her down the table.
"Here," she says, shoving her into a seat before taking the chair next to her. "You should try the pound cake."
Jia blinks. "Pound cake?"
"You know." Min rolls her eyes. "Surely you know what pound cake is."
"Well, yeah," Jia manages to splutter out, "bu-but it's only for the rich."
"And what? We're not rich?" the Hatter says indignantly.
"We are very rich indeed!" the Hare adds.
"Rich in wealth!"
"Rich in power!"
"Rich in character!"
"Rich in taste!"
"I'd like to know how you know that," Jia mutters under her breath, and she hears Min snicker.
"Well come on then, try some," says Min, scooping up a piece of a large brown cake and dropping it on a plate in front of Jia.
Jia looks at it warily, but when Min nudges her and says, "Go on," she can't help but oblige. Gingerly, she picks up a fork that seems to have appeared out of nowhere and digs into the cake. It tastes warm and sweet in her mouth, thick against her teeth, and Jia quickly swallows for a forkful of more. But as she continues eating the cake, she notices something odd: each piece seems to be getting a little bit heavier and heavier, until, it seems as though the last piece has the density of a bowling ball.
After staring at her piece of cake bemusedly, she glances up-only to see that the Hare, the Hatter and Min are all staring at her intently.
"Well?" says the Hatter.
"How was it?" asks the Hare.
"Do you like it?" says Min.
"It's good," Jia replies, "but a bit odd. Why is this last piece so heavy?" She lifts up her plate as if testing it, and is surprised when she feels like she's lifting up thirty times its weight.
Min snorts and rolls her eyes. "Because it's pound cake, duh. It's supposed to weigh a pound."
"What?"
"A pound!" the Hatter says excitedly. "A pound cake weighs a pound!"
"Never more or less," the Hare chimes in.
"No matter how much you eat-"
"-no matter how big the slice-"
"-it's never a quarter or a half pound-"
"-just always a pound cake-"
As they continue to chatter on, Min turns to Jia. Her eyes glint..
"Forgive them," she says. "They're a bit mad."
"Mad?" Jia echoes.
Min nods, and then sighs as she looks around. The Hare and the Hatter have stopped blabbering and started bickering. Min watches on with mild interest, before turning to Jia again.
"You never told me where you were from."
A little startled at the accusatory tone, Jia hesitates for a moment. but when she tries to speak, she has no idea what to say. "I... I don't know."
"You don't know where you're from?" Min, of all things, chuckles. "That's rather unfortunate. Where are you going, then?"
"I..." Jia pauses again, and Min sends her a look that says don't tell me you don't know that either. Determined to prove her wrong, Jia stammers, "Well-Well, the Cat said that I should take the Queen's way-"
"The Queen? You mean the Red Queen, right?" Min says immediately. "The Queen of Hearts."
"...sure," says Jia, looking at her warily.
But then Min beams. "Great! I know how to get there. You must need to go to the palace. It only makes sense."
"Yes," Jia finds herself saying suddenly. "It does."
They sit there silently for a few more minutes, with Jia wondering what exactly they're doing and why they're not moving yet. The forest seems to be as still as ever, though the Hare and the Hatter have moved on from having conversations about nonsense to prodding the Dormouse awake. With nothing else better to do, Jia turns to Min once more, a question on the tip of her tongue.
"I... I've been seeing things all day. Here," she clarifies at the bemused expression on Min's face. "Is this normal?"
"Well," says Min very practically, "I'd be concerned if you couldn't see anything, you know." She chuckles.
"That's not what I meant," Jia says impatiently. "I mean, the strangest things-like illusions, hallucinations, just things I don't think are... are real."
"Well that's concerning," says Min in a pleasant tone. "Because everything here is real. It's okay if you're crazy though. We're all a little mad here."
The wan grin that spreads across her face makes Jia feel a bit uncomfortable, and she fidgets in her seat nervously. Min takes this silent opportunity to press her palm to Jia's forehead, making Jia feel like her skin is on fire. Then Min withdraws her hand, and then without warning, suddenly kisses Jia's cheek.
"You're cute," says Min, smiling. And before Jia can even formulate a proper response in her head, Min grabs her hand and says, "Let's go to the Red Castle."
***
"What is this place?" Jia asks as she steps around an old tree.
Min is concentrating on hopping over a large rock. She glances at Jia. "Home," she answers, before leaping and landing on the other side of the boulder.
Jia's breath catches in her throat as she watches Min's black hair brushes against Min's cheeks. She finally finds the words to speak.
"Yes, but what exactly is home?"
"You don't really expect me to answer that, do you?" Min's red lips curl. She looks back ahead. "Home is different for everyone. This, to me, is home."
Jia is a little bit thrown off by Min's answer. But either Min doesn't notice or doesn't care, because then suddenly she grabs Jia's hand and runs fast, faster than the speed of light. Jia feels like she's left her body behind as the wind rips around them, and everything turns to a blur.
It's the strangest thing Jia's ever seen. One moment she's walking at a steady pace-the next, it's almost like she's flying. She can barely see what's going on at the side, like looking out the window of a fast-speeding train, with Min as the conductor and their legs as the wheels. Jia does her best to try to trust Min with where she's going with this, although a slight feeling of fear overtakes her. She does her best to ignore it though, and instead attempts to talk to Min.
"How... do you..." Jia gasps out. But Min doesn't turn around, apparently not hearing her. As Jia gets dragged around she can feel herself getting more and more weary by the second.
Not up for collapsing, she tries to wrench herself out of Min's grasp; but Min's hand is so tight that she barely lets up at all. Jia then tries to get Min's attention, but Min is too busy dashing through the forest to care, and Jia can't be bothered to try to let go for now. Finally, after much struggling, Jia digs her fingers so deep into Min's palms that she regrets it for a second, in case she draws blood.
Min must've felt it, though, because she stops in a clearing, scaring the gathered animals away. Letting out a shriek of laughter, she turns around to Jia, who is hanging back, bent over and trying to catch her breath.
"Wasn't that fun?" Min beams. "Got it from Mother. Pity she can't do it anymore, though."
Min must be inhuman, because Jia can barely speak, much less breathe, and doubts she ever will again judging from the pain on her sides. Min merely walks around and sits on a log.
"All ready, Your Highness?" she says with a smirk when she sees Jia getting up again.
Jia attempts to glower, although it's rather difficult to do when Min is looking at her like that. Min suddenly hops off the log and puts her chin on Jia's shoulder, lips close to her cheek. Her arms wrap around Jia's body, and she lets out a small purr, nuzzling Jia like a cat. Jia freezes.
"You do smell good," Min says right into her ear.
She pulls away and grins at Jia. The blue birds flee from the tree above them.
***
Min leads her to a wooden building at the edge of the forest. It looks rather homey and not at all out-of-place against the messy shrubbery on the side; but when Min opens the door without bothering to knock, or at least peer inside, Jia feels wary. Is this Min's house? And what are they doing here?
Min turns around briefly to see Jia still standing in the doorway. An amused expression flickers across her face. "What are you doing still standing there? Don't worry, just follow me."
Jia hesitates again, but when she sees the honesty in Min's eyes, she decides that she can trust her. So she steps on the wooden porch at the doorway, and enters.
The house doesn't seem like a house at all from the inside.It contains a single room, the room that Jia and Min are standing in, shelves lining the walls and a singular table standing at the far end. Pieces of cotton are tucked between each floorboard, messy and scattered about. Random things are littered all across the shelves and various pieces of paper with numbers hastily scribbled upon them lay in front of each item. Jia suddenly realizes that this isn't a home-it's a store.
"What are we doing here?" she wonders aloud.
Min doesn't bother to answer her. Instead, she browses around the shelves. Again, Jia wonders if she lives here, though she'd imagine that Min would live in some glorious mansion rather than a dusty room like this.
"Are you sure we're allowed to be here?" Jia asks, more directly at Min this time.
Min ignores her again. She picks up a pair of two long metal rods on a shelf and examines them carefully. Then she turns around to Jia, the rods still in her hand, and hands one to her.
"Here," she says. "We'll need these."
Jia turns the rod overto see that it looks remarkably like a knitting needle. Probably what it is, she realizes.
"For what?" she asks.
Min sends her an incriminating look. "For rowing."
"For rowing?"
"Yeah. Across the creek."
"What creek?"
Min sighs exasperatedly at Jia's apprehensive look. "That-" she impatiently grabs a hold of Jia's shoulders and turns her around "-creek."
Jia blinks, and is completely baffled. They're suddenly in a small wooden rowboat, trailing along a stream of water. Tree branches and leaves are dangling in their faces, covering up the sky so well that the sun is barely peeking out from above.
"How did we-" she starts, but stops when she sees that Min isn't paying any attention to her; her eyes glow as she stares down at the water below them.
"It's been a while since I've last been here," Min says absently. She turns to Jia and grins. "What do you think?"
"It's..." Jia looks around again. The trees no longer seem afraid of her: rather, they seem to be embracing her, like their master. The grass beneath them is rustling contentedly, and through the bushes, Jia can see little animals peeking out to stare at them. Even the fish in the water are hovering near to the surface as if dying to touch them.
"Amazing," finishes Jia. She concludes that this must have something to do with Min's presence. After all, Jia would join them if she could.
Min chuckles and moves the oar in her hand-wait, oar?-and puts it into the water. Then she looks at Jia and says, "Well, you should help row too."
"But I don't have-" Jia stops again when she realizes that something large and wooden is in her own hand. Incredulously, she looks down and sees that she is indeed holding an oar. The knitting needle seems to have disappeared.
Min chuckles again, probably at her baffled expression. "Well come on then," she says, nodding her head towards the creek. "Let's get a move on."
The two girls row through the creek silently, aside from the paddle of the oars being slowly lifted up and out of the water. Jia manages to clumsily fasten the middle of her oar on the side so that it stays mostly in place, while she can roll the handle end in a circular motion. Min seems to be enjoying herself, Jia notices as she glances to the side. Jia's eyes linger on her far too long, but Min doesn't seem to be noticing: she hums softly under her breath while taking in the rest of the forest. So Jia looks around for a third time, trying to see what Min is seeing.
She must be so used to this place that she loves it, Jia thinks as she glances to the trees and the stream. Jia can't imagine getting used to this place; it's way too chaotic for her. But it's probably what Min likes, probably what Min is like. The prospect doesn't make Jia falter, though-actually, she's intrigued to know what Min's like. She's intrigued to know Min.
Jia's gaze drifts to the stream again, where the fish are bobbing near the edge. She hears a noise at her side, and turns to see Min bending down close to the water, whispering something-something to the fish. Jia watches in awe although she figures she shouldn't be too surprised. Jia tries to decipher what Min is saying, but cannot understand a thing.
They continue to row until they arrive at a little pool at the end. Min moves them closer to the edge, and Jia blinks: she's definitely not imagining the fish and the frogs sitting at the river banks, exchanging money.. But Min pays no attention to them, as she tugs Jia out of the boat and onto the grass.
"Well that was fun," Min says cheerfully. "And I think you might be a little hungry now. That pound cake hadn't been very filling, had it?"
"It was all right," says Jia, although her stomach does indeed rumble at the mention of food. To cover the embarrassed blush rising over her cheeks, she glances around. "What can we eat then?"
"I'm sure a pine apple tree is somewhere around here. I remember them being in this part of the wood." Curiously, Min glances around, examining the trunks of some trees and roots. Finally, she stops in front of one which looks remarkably like a Christmas tree, and beams, plucking a bright pink fruit from a branch.
"Here," she says, sticking her hand out to Jia.
Jia eyes the fruit warily.
"Oh come on," Min laughs. "It's just a pine apple."
"It doesn't... look like one," says Jia.
"Does your world have pine apples?" Min asks interestedly. But before Jia can answer, she shoves it into her palm and urges, "Eat it," before taking one for herself and biting it with her pearl teeth.
Still rather cagey, although at this point she's learning to let her guard down around Min, she lifts the apple up to her hesitant lips and then sinks her teeth into the skin. It's rather hard, but the juice flows into her mouth, sweet and slightly minty. Jia bites off another piece, chews, then swallows.
Min looks at her. "Good. You like it." She grins and leans over, surprising Jia with a kiss on her cheek, brief but still there. Then Min resumes speaking, as if she hadn't stopped. "The rest of the forest's food is shit, anyways," she says. "And the crab apples are so not worth catching."
"Really?" says Jia, eating her pine apple with a little more enthusiasm at Min's words.
Min nods and leans against a nearby tree. "Really. The forest fruit may be nice, but it's nothing in comparison to the food in town."
Jia continues eating her apple thoughtfully, nodding at this concept. Then a thought strikes her, and she turns to Min.
"Where do you live?" she asks after swallowing a bit more of apple. "I mean, surely you don't live here, do you?"
"Of course not," Min scoffs, taking one last bite of her own apple before tossing it aside. "You expect me to live in the wild? But don't worry about it. You'll find out soon enough."
Jia continues eating as Min watches her. She wonders what Min tastes like.
When she's done, Min grabs onto her, causing the apple core to fall from her hand; and Jia is swept off her feet once more.
***
They don't get very far when they come to a large clearing in the middle of the forest. It sort of reminds Jia of home, aside from bluegrass billowing in the breeze. Min laughs and runs toward the middle as fast as she can, flopping onto the cerulean sea of crass. Jia sits down beside her, cautiously.
"That's where we're going," Min says with a beam, pointing upwards. At first Jia thinks she's pointing to the sky, until she notices the angle of Min's finger and follows her gaze. She gasps; a large red and white castle is far off in the distance, high towers hidden by oval-shaped clouds. It's like from a fairy tale, and Jia wouldn't be too surprised if it is. She takes a deep breath, feeling something like a balloon rise in her stomach.
"Like it?" Min grins. Then she tugs at Jia's hand, pulling her down on the grass next to her and says, "Oh, you're so cute." She leans over to peck Jia on the cheek. A waft of minty apples and blooming flowers drifts under Jia's nose.
"Tell me about your world again," whispers Min in Jia's ear, lips dangerously close to her skin. Jia can feel the heat prickling off of her, but it's a nice sort of heat: heat that she doesn't want to leave.
Jia stares at the cotton clouds floating above them across the blue sky. "My world... is different," she starts. "A lot different. It's boring, it's big, and it's empty. You wouldn't like it."
"Would I?"
"No, you wouldn't." Jia sighs. "It's probably far too boring for you, not exciting enough... I wish I could live in a world like this with you, exploring, having adventures, doing anything... everything...
"But I suppose it's not too bad, either. My parents are always nice, and I have friends, like Fei and Suzy. We play a lot together. And I have lessons, even though sometimes they can be really annoying. The adults can be kind of stupid sometimes, but it's alright. There are some who are really nice. I can't wait to be an adult." Jia lets out a wistful breath. "Then when I'm an adult, I can do whatever I want... explore, see the world... with no one to tell me what to do. When I was younger, I've always wanted to be a princess..."
"Yeah, but," Min suddenly interrupts. "You grew out of that, didn't you?"
Jia frowns. "I suppose."
"And," says Min, getting up from the grass and looking down at Jia, "in this world, no one wants to be an adult. You must be crazy if you do. Everyone wants to be a child! Adults are boring."
"But they can do anything," Jia insists.
Min shakes her head. "Not here," she says. "Here, adults and children can do whatever they want-though adults barely do anything." She scoffs. "Like you said, they're really stupid."
"Well." Jia frowns again. "Yes."
"Besides," says Min, "children can even boss adults around! Tell them to do what they want! In the palace, at least. I don't know about the peasants. But at least the filthy adults know a thing or two before even thinking about telling a child what to do!"
"What do the children ask them to do?"
"Oh, you know." Min waves her hand. "Clean their rooms, take their showers, go to lessons-not that we have many, anyways." She chuckles.
"They can really take your baths for you?" Jia asks, wide-eyed. She's never really liked baths.
"Of course," scoffs Min. "Sounds a hell lot better than your place, doesn't it?"
Jia stares back at the sky. "I guess..." she says. "But it... it's my home."
Min, however, doesn't hear her response. Instead, she rustles around and suddenly appears in Jia's line of vision, her hand stretched out. Her hair sweeps in the wind, dark against the blues and whites serenely drifting above them.
"Come on," says Min, catching hold of Jia's wrist and tugging her up. Her lips brush against the skin of Jia's cheek. "We should get going."
***
It's not much longer after they've started walking back through the forest, when Jia's stomach suddenly makes a gurgling noise. Embarrassed, she tries to cover it up. She knows that they had just eaten those apples before going into the field, but-her stomach makes another loud noise and her cheeks flush.
Min turns to her, eyes glittering in amusement. "Hungry again?" she says. "It's okay. Pine apples aren't that filling, anyways. Here. I'll try to find you something."
She bends down and starts picking at the forest grounds, moving leaves and twigs aside. Finally, after a few minutes of searching, she gets back up, holding something small in her hands.
"Here," she says, breaking off a piece and handing it to Jia. "Eat it."
Jia glances at Min's other hand, which is holding something that looks like a mushroom. The mushroom has a large chunk torn off from the head, though: the chunk that Min is offering to her. Jia takes it and eyes it carefully.
"Are you sure it's safe?" she asks.
Min glances to her from tearing off her own piece. "Of course I'm sure. It's completely safe."
"But why can't we eat..." Jia looks around and points to a different mushroom, which looks oddly like a tree stump, but also more safe. "That?"
"That? Are you kidding? The toads will get furious." Min grabs the piece from Jia's hand and waves it in her face. "Honestly, you'd think I was trying to poison you or something."
"Well-N-no, of course not!" Jia splutters, snatching the mushroom back. "I just-Is this going to fill me up?"
"Of course," says Min, scoffing. "Once you eat it, that is. Cheers."
And without warning, she takes Jia's hand and shoves the mushroom piece into her mouth, and Jia swallows instinctively. Then a small rumbling noise starts in her stomach, growing louder and louder in her ears. Jia squeezes her eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable to happen.
The rumbling suddenly stops, and Jia feels a poke at her side.
"You can open your eyes now."
Jia opens her eyes and gasps in amazement. The trees are all towering above them, shadows cast as far as they can see. The leaves are as large as they are, scattered, barely reaching the top of their heads. The ground is more vast than ever, and the stump-like mushroom a few centimeters away now looks like a stool of some sort.
"We shrunk!" says Min's cheerful voice, and Jia swivels her head to see Min standing next to her, about the same height.
"Yes," says Jia, "we did, but I don't see the point-"
"Are you full now?"
"I-Oh! Yes!" Delighted, Jia pats her stomach. Even if her body had shrunk, it's evident that the mushroom piece hadn't. Jia suddenly feels a wave of gratitude wash over her, and turns to Min.
"Thank you-"
"I think we should go that way," says Min, tapping her chin and not noticing Jia. She points between a couple of trees a few meters away. "Yeah. Carriage... desert... castle. Let's go!"
With a joyful shriek, Min grabs her hand and starts sprinting across the forest. They run even faster now, grass, dirt and leaves whipping behind them in a cloud of dust. Jia feels like she's going to fall behind at any moment, though,, and the only thing keeping them together is the link of their hands.
"Why... are we... going... so fast?" she manages to gasp out. "And how...?"
Min turns and sends a smile that makes Jia feel warm on the inside. "It takes a lot of practice," says Min. "But don't worry about it. I'll teach you one day, Jia."
Jia relishes in the sound of her name on Min's lips; but only for a second because then they stop. Jia sends Min a questioning look-she certainly doesn't look tired at all-but then a sudden rush of air hits her in the face and Jia inhales sharply.
Min sends her another small smirk and wordlessly kisses her on the cheek. But the moment is quickly ruined when they hear a deep voice behind them.
"Who... are... YOU?"
Jia and Min turn around to see a large periwinkle caterpillar perched on a grey pebble. He's holding a large, smoking stem, and is staring down at Min and Jia like they're a couple of the strangest pests he's ever seen.
Min grabs Jia's hand and glares the Caterpillar down. "It's none of your business," she says rudely.
The Caterpillar glances at their clasped hands, and then at their faces. His gaze lingers on Jia's for too long, but he stays silent.
Finally, Min snaps. "Well, who are you?".
"If your business is yours, then my business is mine," the Caterpillar answers simply.
Min scowls. "Fine. Whatever. We don't care, anyways. Let's go."
She swiftly drops Jia's hand and turns away, pushing through some brambles and disappearing behind them. Jia goes to follow her, but stops when she suddenly feels something heavy on her shoulder.
She turns back around to see the Caterpillar standing mere millimeters away (that is, if caterpillars can stand), his stem slung over her shoulder. He leans down and whispers harshly into her ear,
"You don't belong here. This isn't your place."
Stunned, Jia says, "What-"
"Are you coming?" Min's voice says suddenly. There's a slight rustle of leaves, and then Min appears through the thicket. Her eyes narrow at the Caterpillar and Jia's close position.
"Oh, fuck off," she says, going over to them and hitting the Caterpillar in the face with the stem. The Caterpillar backs off in slight, but sends Jia one last look before slinking off into the bushes.
Min rolls her eyes and then looks at Jia once more, who still seems rather bemused. "Well, are you coming or not? I swear, you inhaled too much of that old thing's smoke."
Jia shakes herself out of her daze and turns to Min. She nods slightly. "Yeah. We can go."
As they make their way back through the forest, she tries to get the Caterpillar's words out of her head.
***
"What happened to your rabbit?" says Jia.
Min glances to her while stepping over a tree root. "What rabbit?"
"You know. The white one."
"What the hell are you talking about?" says Min, staring at her.
"The white rabbit! You said he was your pet!" Jia says exasperatedly.
Min frowns. "When was this?"
"When- When I first came here! When we first met!" says Jia. "I fell in a hole and I saw a rabbit, and then you came out of nowhere and said he was your pet and then you walked away, and-"
"I told you you were crazy," Min says cheekily, kissing Jia again. "Now come on! We're almost there!"
"But-" Jia starts to protest; but then stops when she suddenly sees a small carriage made of leaves and twigs appear out of nowhere. She rubs her eyes and blinks to see if she's just imagining things-but of course, she's never imagined things, and she wonders where the carriage has come from.
"This will take us to the Red Castle," explains Min, tugging her into the cart. She pulls her inside and settles onto a bench, before moving over to make room for Jia. Jia sits down next to her and glances around. It's all green, with light through the thin ceiling, and shadows dancing on the leafy ground.
"You've been in this thing before?" she asks Min, who is amusing herself by prodding the other passenger in the car, a worm who happens to light up each time Min touches it.
Min nods enthusiastically. "Yeah! We just go through the Insect House, then a few more stops, and then we're there!" She points out the window in the front. "See those? Those are dragonflies. They pull some of the carriages."
Jia peers out the window. A large, scaly lizard with rather fly-like wings is dragging the cart along, looking utterly bored. Another carriage passing by them, made up of red leaves, has a pair of rocking horses in the front, leaves protruding from their backs as well.
"Horseflies," murmurs Jia.
Min turns to her and grins. "Yes! How did you know?" she says. "And there-" she points through the entrance of the carriage and indicates a few more bugs in the distance "-are the butterflies. And houseflies! I like the houseflies best. Mostly because they have no eyes and it's funny to see them run into things." She giggles.
"Wow," Jia breathes, reveling at the sight. Min's loving words ring in her ears, cradling every word like they're all her own.
She turns to Min and sees Min smiling at her. Jia can't help but smile back, especially when Min's mouth meets her flushing cheeks once again. Min's taste lingers at the tip of her tongue.
It feels like something magical, something unreal.
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