Decisions Decisions... (open!)

[DINAH]

The sweet song of a bird lilted through the leaves as he called out to a potential partner, his colourful crest quivering delicately. He preened and presented himself in the best light... or at least his head was ,since that was all that Dinah could see of him.

This was just a momentary pause in her quest for a sword. A rest-stop as one would say for the cat in woman's clothing to replenish her quickly depleting spirits. This new body lacked the ability to store energy for long hours and she found herself drained after her sprint from the forest depths. Her empty stomach grumbling sourly at her for her negligence to feed it.

And so she found herself on the prowl for game, unable to just wait till she met up with Nora to be fed. She was after all a feline and it would be a shame to herself and her species if she didn't know how to survive in any terrain, even a strange one such as this.

Her luck as it seemed was starting to look up, for not long after her decision to hunt, she came across this pretty morsel of a bird singing away obliviously behind the bushes with only his head visible.

Softly, like the whisper of the wind through the reeds, Dinah crept closer and closer still on hands and knees. Dark irises thinning to mere slits as she focused upon her prey, mindful that the beak could be a problem if she miscalculated her jump.

Just a bit more... aim for the throat... quick snap and I'm set... steady now... steady....

Her limbs became coiled springs, taut and ready. And she soon began the count down in her head.

3...2...1...

A sharp exhale and Dinah pounced, leaping forward with arms outstretched and jaws wide open to snag the bird by the neck... Only to find herself bouncing face first off a very flexible surface, and tumbling backwards in an ungraceful heap of arms and legs.

"O-oooer..." she groaned and begged for the world to stop spinning in a series of mewling whines, shaking her head to clear it of the dizzying images that swam before her eyes.

When she finally managed to think clearly once more, she looked up to see what barrier held her back from reaching her ex-meal. And there, right in front of her was what appeared to be a walking umbrella.
Well, if one could call that 'thing' an umbrella when it had wings and the head of a bird. A very angry bird.

"O-oh my."

The umbrella bird flapped violently and let out a harsh shriek that tore into Dinah's ears, snapping his sharp-ponted beak at the ginger woman until she started to scramble backwards on her bottom as quickly as she could , before getting up and taking off blindly with a cry.

Dinah had her eyes closed when she burst out of the bushes in shock and fright, so it was no surprise when she smacked her forehead into something else. And this time it really hurt.

"Oh for the love of tuna and cream, at the rate I'm going I'll end up with a face flatter than a Persian cat before I can retrieve that blasted sword!"
She muttered and grumbled, rubbing her forehead as he peeled herself off the ground for what felt like the hundredth time since her descent from above ground. Dusting off her knees she discovered that she'd run into a wooden signpost, with a multitude of arrows pointing haphazardly in all directions.

Squinting hard at the wording, Dinah sought out any signs that would offer her directions to a castle, any castle at all. But all she saw where the words 'Somewhere Here' and 'Somewhere there'.

"Fantastic, absolutely fantastic," she sighed, voice dripping with sarcasm, "Now where do I go?"

"Might I suggest that you go that way."
"No she should go this way."
"I know what I'm talking about and I say THAT way!"

A ginger brow quirked up as Dinah watched a couple of daisies the size of trees argued about the direction she should take, thinking it a wise idea not to bring up the fact that she loved chewing on daisies (petal, stems et all) to aid her digestion. Who knew flowers were such bothersome things when given a voice?

"I don't suppose anyone else knows which road I should take to find a castle?" she asked aloud to everyone and no one at all.

[MALLYMKUN DORMOUSE]

Mallymkun polished the small needle that was her weapon. She sat on the ground, her back leaning against the sign post. The only sound being made was the bird, and a few flowers chattering aimlessly. Mally suddenly jumped to her feet, her rag in her left paw and sword in the right, and sliced the air with the newly polished sword. She tossed the sword in the air and skillfully cuaght it before thrusting the needle at the air. Mallymkun smiled at her blade before sheathing it. The swords slice and thrusts had been silent and clean.

Mally stretched her arms to the sky happily. She heard rustling, and then a "thump". The mouse nearly jumped out of her pelt at the sudden noise, and someone cried. Something about tuna, Persians, and a blasted sword, Hmmm...? Mallymkun was intrigued, and peeked out from behind the post. Some flowers were talking about going that and this. Then a woman with ginger hair asked about a castle, but Mallymkun didn't bother stepping out.

She felt something flimsy, like paper or a leaf, poking her back. Mallymkun Dormouse spun around to see a yellow flower behind her. It was a regular sized flower, unlike those tall-stemmed ones. Suddenly, it's leaf shot out at her sword. Mally scowled and unsheathed her sword, slicing the leaf away. The yellow flower cried out in pain, and a white root blasted out of the ground, dust scattering everywhere, and getting into Mallys eyes. Mallymkun was to busy wiping away the grit from her black eyes to stop the root that wrapped around her ankle. With a good, swift jerk of the root sent Mally falling on her back. Another root shot out, and hurried over to the mouse's sword. Growling, Mallymkun sat up and chopped at the root holding her down. Mally hopped to her feet and sliced at the root, but it flinched out of the needles path. Other roots began popping out of the ground, but Mally went for neither one of them. She dashed toward the flower itself, dodging the blows of roots and hopping over them. She lunged at the yellow face, and with that, her foe was fallen.

The noise they had created had cuased almost all eyes to fall upon her and the flower. Mallymkun glanced around, and without a word or comment wiped the flower juice on her sword away on the grass.

(ooc: DEMON FLOWERS OF DEATH!! )

[DINAH]

As Dinah silently bemoaned the fact that neither the flowers nor her hunger were helping her in making any headway in this quest of hers. She was just about to randomly pick a side when a scent hit her right in the nose. A particularly delicious scent.

Nostrils flared as every muscle tensed in her body, her pupils turning to thin slivers once more as her instincts concentrated on following the sound of a fast heartbeat and the tantalising smell that lured her like a siren's call towards the patch of grass behind the signpost.

Something of a commotion was going on there, a whirl of activity that made Dinah's head spin. A bright yellow flower of some kind was trying to snatch at what appeared to be a blur of white and red. The cat knew not what else to do except to watch in a mixture of fascination and intrigue, after all she had to especially patient when the smell was centered right around the bustle.

Lowering herself to the ground till her chin just brushed the grass, Dinah blinked in delighted surprise when the flash of fur turned out to be...

A mouse!

Her stomach demanded that she strike now, but after what she'd just experienced in the forest with Nora and the umbrella bird of before, she thought it wise to play the observer first.

It looked like a mouse, smelled like a mouse and hopefully would taste like one too. But in all her years of hunting, the ginger tabby had never seen one dressed in an outfit fit for a little cavalier with buttons so tiny and details so small. Like one of the little dolls Mr Kingsleigh bought Alice from across the seas, made of porcelain and realistic hair. And to top things off, it had the littlest sword which it now cleaned against the grass.

Well, it was definitely far too small for Nora. But at least the mouse had something else to offer Dinah that would help her, nourishment.

And so, as quietly as she could, Dinah reached out with human hands, fingers reaching out towards the mouse who had its well-dressed back turned towards her.

"Curiouser and curiouser..." she muttered, mouth watering at the thought of her first meal in what felt like a lifetime.

(ooc: Yesh I shamelessly used an Alice quote XD)

[MALLYMKUN DORMOUSE]

Mallymkun Dormouse heard something mutter behind her, but decided it was just another of those flowers. But something in the back of her mind told her to look behind her, and the more she ignored it, the more it tugged on her. Grumbling silently, Mally got up and sheathed her sword before looking over her shoulder.

A woman with ginger hair was reaching for her. Gasping, Mally spun around and took several steps back. "What do you want!?" She growled, a pink paw on her needle and another one on her black belt.

Some of the flowers began to get excited, "Oh, look! They're going to fight!"

"Oh, don't be silly. Just becuase the lady over there got a bit curious about a mouse doesn't mean they're going to fight!"

"Then how come the mouse got her paw on her sword, hmm!?"

"A procuasion?"

"The mouse took that little thief well, but how will she do with the human?"

[DINAH]

"What do you want!?"

Dinah drew back quickly, barely stifling an undignified 'meep' when she was suddenly face to face with a snarling mouse. The very sight of a mouse that snarled was enough to shock the feline into a moment of complete silence and stillness. Eyes wide and nostrils flaring slightly.

"I thought that was a human?"
"She is."
"I think she may be part statue..."

The mindless chatter of the flowers soon turned to background noise as the cat eyed the mouse who was now on the defense. Her stomach churned angrily within her like an angry animal of its own, everything within her screamed at her to pouncesnapkill, but her new set of human-sensabilities held her back by an invisible leash. And cats hate leashes.

It boiled in her, bubbled like molten lava in her gut until her she began to shiver. Her fists clenched and a small growl started at the back of her throat.

"W-what do I want? What do I want? I want to eat yoo...." she bit down on her hysteria and quickly changed her tune, "...oodles. Yes, yoodles. You know, yellow noodles? Eheh, eheh..."

Her laughter was just a tad nervous, her smile a bit too wide and her jaw-clenched a bit too tight in control, but really she was just a harmless little ginger-lady. The flowers all said so didn't they.

"H-hello there." said Dinah through her toothy smile, right eye twitching a little from the muscle strain. She could hardly believe that she was attempting to converse with lunch, but seeing as that little flower had one very large thorn, she decided it wise to practice a bit of restraint. Or she could end up with a really bad scratch and indigestion.

"My name is Dinah," she semi-purred, amber eyes bright "I just wanted to see if you knew a good place to eat? I am ever so famished."

Tenting her fingers, the ginger tabby worked on relaxing her shoulders down from her ears to their usual place. All the while reminding herself that patience was a virtue.