Natalya squints through the smoke, gagging at the fumes and waving wildly to clear the air around her. Once she has done so she takes in a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air and glaring up at the man above. He seems unentertained with her, not even glancing in her general direction. Simply leaning back and puffing out the smoke from his hookah.
She studies the familiar creature, a smaller man with his long black hair pulled into a low pony tail, and an arrogant look plastered on his face. All though she knew he was male, any other person to come by may easily mistake him for a girl, as he looked very feminine overall. This was unmistakably the face of China, but the rest of him was much less human looking. All though his top half was very much so the Chinese man, his bottom was more like some time of mermaid. But rather than a fish's tail it was a bright red caterpillar's, perfectly matching the antenna's on the top of his head.
She once again scans her surroundings: the grass, flowers, fungi, and everything else that was usually tiny in her perspective was now soaring high above her. And the tree that hung over head seemed more like a sky scraper than anything else. Natalya questioned this for only a few seconds before remembering her experience after drinking a vial of liquid when these strange events first began to occur. She had shrunk in order to fit through the door, and now she sees that she has yet to get back to her normal size.
"The audacity of you! Even after you have first been addressed you do not bother to speak to the other person in front of you, just stand there and stare off into space: what an ignorant girl."
At just the sound of his voice Natalya is already very aggravated by the caterpillar "You're one to talk about ignorance and audacity" she begins, climbing up another mushroom to stand close to the same level "as you sit there smoking whatever that is, blowing it onto passersby and acting as if they are the ones at fault. What is that anyways? It smells horrid." She spits, standing on the slightly smaller mushroom directly in front of his own, the two of them now only a meter away in from one another.
"It is the finest of opium. A delinquent girl such as yourself would never be able to get your hands on some as pure as this." He brags, taking a long drag on his pipe, not bothering to look her in the eye as they speak.
"Pure or not, it's a drug no less. The audacity of you! I can hardly understand destroying your body for the sake of a small high, and here you are blowing it onto other so as they must go down the same path as you." She mocks, adding under her breath "Stupid Chinese man." as she crosses her arms.
All though she was sure her last comment was too quiet to be made audible, he replies quickly "There you go speaking more of your nonsense: calling me a Cheshire, and a man. Do your eyes not work girl? I am not a man; I am not human. Nor am I any kind of mangy cat." He corrects, and as he speaks the words seem to become written in the smoke all around them "I am Yao the Caterpillar. A caterpillar and nothing else."
"A caterpillar and a druggy seems more accurate." Natalya mutter, and he simply rolls his eyes at this. She feels a hint of superiority at the fact he did not understand the word Chinese.
The caterpillar goes to take another hit of his opium but only to have the pipe clog. He hits the base a few times, looking through the pipe. "All this talk about me, but the real question here has been yet to be answered." He says as he struggles, then finally taking another long drag "Who are you?" As he asks this, the smoke exit's his mouth taking form of his words, which flout softly in front of Natalya.
She rolls her eyes at the smoke, blowing it away. "I am Natalya, the personification of Belarus." She answers curtly "A personification and nothing else."
Yao rolls his eyes at her mimicking "So what, you're not human? I find that hard to believe. You don't look like more than a little lost girl."
"No. I'm not human." She cringes slightly "And thank god for that. To live life as a human would be horrible. I'd even go as far to say it's as bad as being some useless caterpillar."
"And how is that so?" He asks, ignoring Natalya's jab.
"It is a life completely full of hardship and misfortune. Humans are ignorant selfish beings. They constantly strive for themselves, strive for their own eternal happiness but while they do so they do not realize they are knocking others down. They live for themselves and make others suffer because of this, not only other humans but our planet as well. A human must work too hard to live how they want to live and majority of the time they are stuck in a world they never planned, or wanted to be in in the first place. It is-" Natalya goes on to continue but is cut off when a line of smoke is blown into her face.
"Your sad story make me cry" Yao comments sarcastically. Natalya glares, wondering why he even asked in the first place "And what about life as a personification? How is that any better?"
Natalya lets out a small pitiful laugh "It isn't." She leans over one leg, glancing away "At least human's die sooner or later. Personifications are stuck where they are for who knows how long. We can't die unless our homes fall apart completely."
" Well if you are unsatisfied by the way you are now, recreational drugs will always be there." He says taking another long drag "Don't knock it till you try it" Yao finishes, blowing the smoke straight into Natalya's face.
She coughs, waving it away. Natalya was beginning to get very tired of doing this "Recreational drugs will always be the stupidest possible escape. And nothing but a temporary one at that. There are ways to do this without any back lash." She explains; of course the only temporary escape that would ever work for her is her spacing out into the beautiful white noise.
Yao looks over Natalya for a second, blowing little puff of smoke out around her as he does so "Yes I see, you don't really want to escape temporarily. Where is the point of that? I'm sure the only thing you want, is to be free from it all eternally." He says casually, pulling his gaze to the distance and leaning back.
Natalya feels herself stiffen slightly at his words. The words he spoke where ones she constantly thought over herself, and really did believe. The puffs of smoke around her had begun to slowly circle Natalya, just out of reach for her to blow them away. She begins to get an uneasy the feeling that he knows much more than he had originally let on.
When he sees she doesn't have any plan to answer the caterpillar continues "You know you can't die, but really what is there to stop you from trying?"
"What the hell are you going on about now?" Natalya snaps, beginning to find it very difficult to keep a calm composure. The only thought in her head was that he knows, he must know it all.
"Such a hypocrite, talking about how terrible drugs are: acting so innocent." He says, remaining completely casual, as if he was talking to no one in particular. His eye's fixed in the other direction. "Drug's make the world go round for some. But for others, it is used for the soul purpose of making the world stop spinning completely." He says, with his finally statement he glances towards her, directing it precisely at Natalya.
The balls of smoke begin to move faster, perfectly in time as the sun disappears behind a large black cloud. Natalya clenches her fists as she feels the aggression between herself and Yao grow, the atmosphere thickening: all as soon as their eyes made contact. All though there had been tension in the air since the beginning of their conversation, she can't help but feel more on edge by the caterpillar's hostile gaze.
She straightens herself, sticking here chin in the air "You think you're cleaver don't you? Acting as if your words have so much meaning to them when in reality you are going on about nothing."
"Huh" He narrows his eyes towards her, a sadistic smile appearing on his face "A little jar of pills is all it can take to make your world freeze in place. But I'm sure you know all about that, Natalya" Yao spits, the amount of venom in his voice as he said her name would be enough to make any child cry.
Natalya feels her heart quicken at the mention of pills, her composure falling completely. A jar of pills: a jar of sleeping pills that she knew was in her system somewhere. She can barely remember them, it was just a flash after all, but she is a country so they would have no effect on her. They would do nothing to harm her. So why was his mention of them making her so uneasy? How had he known? This entire conversation was pointless and aggravating, why had she stayed to talk to him?
"You call me stupid when you very well have had your fair share of drug intake. What an audacious, hypocritical girl you are. But a little jar of pills will not even be close to your first attempt, isn't that right?" Yao's knowing gaze was fixed on Natalya, the smoke spinning around her at top speed making her stomach flip. "If anything I think you need more of a taste for recreational drugs. Why don't you just come join me for some opium?"
At this Natalya finally snaps. She moves forward on her mushroom, waving away the smoke wall that had created itself between them and matching her frigid gaze with his. So much adrenalin running though her that she couldn't find any sort of proper come back "I swear, if I was my proper size right now I would crush you in a heartbeat, you insignificant bug."
"Too bad you aren't" Yao says, back to his tired casual state not even bothering to keep eye contact anymore.
Natalya lets out a long frustrated breath. She was quite finished with this conversation and turns, hopping off her mushroom and stomping away in the other direction.
She is almost out of sight of the caterpillar when she hears him call after her "The right side will make you grow; the left will make you shrink."
If he had said anything else Natalya would not have replied, but as soon as she hears the word grow, he has her complete attention. "What do you want now?"
"You want to get back to your normal size, do you not? The right side will make you grow; the left will make you shrink." He repeats, and as he does a loud crack of thunder rings out over head.
Natalya turns back to his direction, glancing up at the dark sky for a second. It had not begun to rain yet, but it defiantly felt as though a down poor was coming. She had walked to a point where she could no longer see the caterpillar, but could hear him loud and clear. "Side of what?" she questions, not caring to go back if there was no meaningful purpose.
"Of the mushroom! You ignorant girl, do you know nothing?" He shouts, aggravated at his need to constantly repeat himself.
Natalya walks back in his direct "Which mushroom? There's like fucking ten-" she stops as the spot they were speaking comes into view. All traces of the caterpillar where gone except for a small smoky arrow pointing down at the mushroom she had been standing on. She huffs, walking up to the mushroom and studying it "Well which side is left and which is right? It's a perfect circle, so the right of it will be completely different depending on the side you are standing on." She mutters under her breath, as she walks around the mushroom.
She looks up at the mushroom Yao had been sitting on then back at her own. She climes atop her own and turns to face the direction Yao had been facing. He said left and right, so he must have been referring to the sides from his own perspective. That was the only logical solution to this problem, so Natalya plopped back down her mushroom and stretched her arms out to either side. She quickly rips off a piece from each side and looks down at them. And as she does so she can hear the rain begin to start not too far in front of her. If she didn't hurry the rain would reach Natalya, and with her current size, completely wash her away.
"Right side will make you grow" She repeats to herself before taking a small bite of the mushroom in her right hand. She had promised herself she would eat or drink no more odd things, but seeing the predicament she was currently in, she had no other choice.
Natalya clenches her stomach at the familiar sickly feeling of consuming magic things. Her vision begins to blur, the grass and mushrooms in front of her warping into one. Closing her eyes she takes a deep breath, hoping it would end soon as a pounding head ache begins. Her wish is quickly granted as it all fades away within a few more seconds. Her eyes open to find herself sitting in a grassy clearing.
Standing, she measures herself with the tree at her left side and lets a faint smile slip out, happy to be back to her normal size. That happiness quickly fades away as the rain hits her, and hits her hard. She is suddenly engulfed in a torrential down poor, the rain feeling like rocks being pelted atop her head. All though she is standing at the base of a tree it does not do much to stop the heavy rain and the next thing she knows she is running through the forest.
Her hands are raised above her face protecting it as she runs looking for any source of shelter. The forest seems to get darker and darker as she runs deeper into it, and there it is soon pitch black. Barely able to see what's in front of her Natalya feels her foot gets caught under something and falls forward.
"Fuck!" She screams as she falls, hitting the ground hard. So hard that her foot comes loose and she begins to tumble down a steep hill that she hadn't known was in front of her.
She skids down the wet hillside on her bottom, unable to stop herself in the muddy forest floor, and silently praying no large rocks or trees are ahead of her. She swings her arm and body weight over to her left side and flips to her stomach, instantly gagging up mud and leafs as she does so. She takes her hands and claws them into the ground in an attempt to stop, or at least slow herself down. She had been falling down this hill as if it where some type of water slide, and she did not want to know what would happen when she reached the bottom at this speed.
Her plan does seem to work, as she slowly begins to come to a stop. Once she was fully still Natalya stands up onto her unsteady feet. The rain was still pounding down on her head and she was now not only soaked to the bone, but covered in the contents of the forest floor as well.
She brings her hend up to shield her eyes and looks around. There was no point in running if there was nowhere to run too. It was so dark in the forest, but in the distance she could see a faint orange glow of what must be a fire. Natalya begins to speed walk towards it, not trusting herself to completely run again, and is soon directly in front of a small cave. It seems the fire was not too far from her at all and she hops into the shelter of it before she even acknowledges the creature who is manning the fire.
Once she was finally safe from the tedious rain she looked around. It was a small cave: a very small cave. Though she was able to stand up straight the roof of the cave still hung very low and the fire was inches away from burning her legs (which wasn't that bad since at this point Natalya felt like she was one big ice cube). Behind the fire was a large rock that took up most of the cave, and on the other side sat a small girl.
Natalya felt the girl was very familiar but couldn't quite put a name to the face. She was younger, with tanner skin, and her dark hair pulled into a ponytail on the left side of her head with a pink flower. She also had a turtle shell, ears that looked like they belonged to a pig, and a tail. Natalya wasn't sure what animal she was meant to be, a pig or a turtle?
"What do you think you're doing? This is our cave, and you were not invited in. Go find your own!" The girl remarks in a thick Australian accent, sticking her chin in the air.
Natalya realizes instantly that this girl must be one of the micro-nations in her world. Her name was Wy, one of Australians kid siblings. "There is no way in hell I am going back into that rain. This is the first sheltered place I have seen so I am staying."
The girl narrows her eyes at Natalya "No you are not, there is barely enough room in here. Not to mention you look like you just rolled around in a pig pen: you will get crud all over the floor where we need to sit!"
Natalya lets out a laugh "This coming from an actual pig." She says, gesturing to the girl's ears.
"Hey! I am not a pig! I am Paulette the Mock Turtle." She huffs.
"A mock turtle? So not a real turtle? That's pretty pitiful."
"I am a real turtle!" She yells, visible becoming even more displeased with the present of Natalya "Funny how you are so rude to the only person who is able to keep you dry. If you don't shape up right now I will send you back out into the rain."
"Was that not what you wanted to do from the start?" Natalya asks, amused at the little girl's shortening temper. "And as if you would be able to get me out in the first place. You come over here to get me out and I will pull you out with me." She threatens.
"Well I won't be the one doing the throwing." She states, smiling slightly.
Natalya raises a brow at the girl "Oh, you won't? Then who might it be, one of your little friends? A Mock Horse, what about a Mock Dog?" She challenges.
The Mock Turtle stands, not caring to give Natalya a response or even look back her way. She walks around the rock she had been sitting on to the front of the large one that was taking up most of the cave. Paulette looks down at the rock and pokes it.
"Oh I see, it's a Mock Rock." Natalya mutters in amusement, but the smirk quickly fades from her face as she sees the "rock" move slightly. Squinting, she looks closer at it. The light in the cave was very poor, but with more investigation she was able to see what looked like feathers.
"Come on, time to get up. This girl is being really rude to me!" Paulette says, raising her voice and kicking the feathered creature.
"Bein' rude? Who's bein' rude?" The voice asks in a thick groggy voice with the same accent as the little girl. The creature sits up with its, what now appear to be wings, needing to spread out slightly so as to not hit the ceiling.
"This girl, she came in here uninvited and refused to leave. Now she is making rude comments about me being a pig, when I am not a pig." Paulette explains and the creature turns on its knees to face Natalya. She looks over him, already knowing him as Australia, but she just couldn't figure out what type of animal he was meant to be. He had very large brown wings (each as big as Natalya herself), and feathers scattered around in his hair, which all led her to believe him to be an eagle. But his hands and feet where covered in a lighter hair, with black, sharp, claw-like nails, and a lion's tail. This of course led her to believe him to be a lion, but how could he be both?
"Oi" The man says, drawing Natalya's gaze back up to his tired eyes. "What are you doin' in our cave?" He yawns, rubbing his eyes.
"What are you?" She asks, this question being the only thing on her mind at the moment.
The man looks at her confused and clearly still half asleep "Uh? I am Jett the griffin! The only griffin in Wonderland! How do you not know what I am?"
"She did that to me too. She doesn't seem know anything. Must be very uneducated" Paulette states, crossing her arms and giving Natalya a pity filled look.
Being referred to as uneducated seemed to be becoming a reoccurring even in this world and Natalya was starting to get very agitated by it "Huh, uneducated. This coming from a creature that believes it too be something it's not." She sneers at the girl, adding under her breath "Fucking pig…"
Natalya quickly regrets saying this though, as Jett rises to his feet, looming over her. He was standing very close to her, his chest inches from her face, but even though he had stepped to where the ceiling hung higher he still needed to slouch, so as his head would not hit the hard rock above. Natalya glances up at the griffin and meets his mischievous gaze.
"Oi, who are you calling a pig?" He asks, and Natalya can feel a lump forming in her throat as the large man grabs her shoulders "The only pigs here can fly; do you know which one of us is a flying pig?"
Natalya tries to pull from his grasp but is suddenly lifted into the air as Jett begins to carry her out into the rain. He spreads one of his wings out and Natalya glances down too see Paulette standing beneath one of them, smirking victoriously.
The rain hits her instantly, and hard. "Ready for your flight, pig?" Jett laughs, before gripping Natalya harder, whipping her around himself once, and releasing her into the air. Natalya feels herself sling shot forward, up above the trees, then quickly flying back down towards the earth. She braces herself, the heavy rain seemingly assisting in pushing her towards the hard ground. She had been fine in her last two "flights" so she was just praying that this one would end safely as well.