~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Alirin continued to walk, trying to get as far away from the dead Knight as possible and hoping to be able to find the little blue door and go home. This is when she spotted a large off coloured striped cat sitting on a tree branch above her. The odd thing about this cat was that it was looking straight at her with an extremely large grin on her face.
“I didn’t know cat’s could smile,” Alirin said out loud to herself, “my cat Dineau* certainly does not!”
“It’s because I am a Cheshire cat.” the Cat explained, widening his grin. This surprised Alirin, she didn’t know cats could talk either. Alirin took a moment to think about her situation and finally decided that the Cat looked nice enough and so she would keep talking to him.
“Cheshire Puss,” she started, unsure if he would appreciate the nickname, but he grinned on and she decided it was going well. ”Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That greatly depends on where you want to go.” the Cat responded.
“I don’t much care where –“Alirin began.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.” said the Cat.
“- as long as I end up somewhere.” she finished.
“Oh, well you are sure to do that,” the Cat responded with a grin, “as long as you walk long enough.”
Suddenly the cat disappeared, one piece at a time, the grin being the last to go. Alirin stood there for a moment with her mouth gaping open. Suddenly the grin was back, and after a time the rest of him was back as well. He continued to smile like nothing happened.
“If you go in that direction you’ll meet the Queen of Hearts” he pointed with his paw, then hung upside down and pointed a different way, “that direction is the Gryphon,” now he was pointing with his long tail, “and that way is the Duchess. Visit any you like, they’re all mad.”
“But, I don’t want to be among mad people. I’ve had quite enough of that today.” Alirin responded.
“You can’t help that,” the Cat said. “We’re all mad here: I’m mad, you’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” Alirin asked.
“You must be, or else you wouldn’t be here.” the Cat said, as his tail disappeared and reappeared.
“And how do you know you are mad?” she asked.
“A dog’s not mad, you grant that?”
“I suppose so.” Alirin decided, though she had seen quite a bit of odd dog-like behaviour today.
“Well, a dog growls when it is angry and wags its tail when it is pleased. I, on the other hand, growl when I’m angry and wag my tail when I’m pleased.” he explained with a grin.
Alirin took a moment to think about this and realised something, “wait, you just said the same thing twice. You said both you and a dog do the same thing!”
“Yes.” he said, like he knew his point had made no sense all along. “I’m a dog when I’m invisible.”
As if to prove his point he slowly went invisible. “See?”
“No, actually I can’t see.” Alirin answered, quite frustrated at all the madness she was witnessing today, and quite relieved that Dineau could not turn invisible or grin, for this was far too disconcerting.
“Oh, what a shame.” the Cheshire Cat responded, as he slowly became visible again. But something very odd was happening. As a piece of him would appear it would then fall to the grown. Eventually there was a pile of various cat parts at Alirin’s feet. All that was left was a floating grin.
“Well! I’ve often seen a cat without a grin, but a grin without a cat!” Alirin thought, “It’s the most curious thing I’ve ever seen in my life!”
For a time Alirin just stared up at the grin, trying not to look at the odd pile of cat pieces in front of her.
“Well,” said the Grin, widening to its widest yet, “that was dreadfully painful.”
The grin then fell to the ground and rested on top of the pile. Alirin again just stared in shock before hurrying down the path yet again.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
* my RL cat's name is Beau, and Alice's cat's name is Dina
Dead
Fea - Red Queen - Cobbler - lynched Day 1
Boro - the Caterpillar - Shirriff - killed Night 2
Sally - the Dormouse - Wolf - lynched Day 2
Izzy - White Rabbit - Ordinary - killed Night 3
Glirdan - Mad Hatter - Wolf - lynched Day 3
Greenie - White Night - Seer - killed Night 4
Nogrod – Cheshire Cat – Wolf – lynched Day 4
Alive
Wintywinty – Tweedledum
Mira – March Hare
Agan – Queen of Hearts
Inzil – King of Hearts
Shasta – Knave of Hearts
Lottie – Duchess
Nerwen – the Dodo
Legate – Jabberwocky
Morsul – the Mock Turtle
Nienna – White Queen
Skip – Humpty Dumpty
Lommy – the Gryphon
Brinniel – Tweedledee
It is still Night 5.