Down The Rabbit Hole...~

[Im Yong Soo~!]

((Rome))

"Oh dear, oh dear... what shall I do?" the King muttered to himself, pacing the many twisted halls of the Red Queens castle. "She's gone! Missing! Oh whatever can I do?" Tugging worriedly at his messy hair and nearly removing his two fly-away curls, he collapsed down in front of the remains of the Queen's throne, gnawing on a knuckle until it bled - red, red, everything must be red for the queen - alternately sobbing and giggling.

"Ungrateful slackers..." he eyed the many bodies strewn across the floor, sightless eyes laughing at him in the mess that was the Throne Room. Blood spattered the walls and melded perfectly with the carpets, giving an illusion that the poor flooring was merely wet, not soaked with the metallic liquid that made the air stink so abysmally. "Tis what they get for not going to save here..."

Getting up and kicking the body that was once the Hatter in the arm, he continued on, staggering over to the window and into the pink-stained light of the blood covered window. "What should I do? What, what what?" Dragging his fingers through the red-stained glass he froze, an idea coming to mind. "What would she do?" He turned, staring at the petite frame of Alice, the poor child coming to visit at the exactly wrong time... or was it the right time, for him? "You would agree to this - it would be... logical, yes?" he laughed, sounding more than half-crazed.

"All of you... this is your punishment. And my retribution. I'll have my Queen back - and we'll rule together again, over the not-you's." Bringing his blood-stained hands together, a dark red glow began to grow between them. "Let the trial commence."

(so, for everyones opening post - at the moment you guys are just regular human beings. But somewhere in your post, the red light should come and you'll take over the body of whichever character you picked. For those of you who are animals, you'll turn into your human selves just with ears, tails etc and be much smaller than you were before. For those of you who are human, the character you're taking over - their features will change to yours. And finally, everyone post your first post and then that will become the posting order! Have fun guys!)

[Im Yong Soo~!]

((Taiwan))

Mei adjusted her dress before she picked up her needle, being back with her brothers after her studies abroad meant so much mending! It was amazing how many shirts and pants they could tear but she supposed boys were forever boys, and destructive tendencies towards clothing were normal. She yawned softly, bending over and lifting her mending closer, her eyes drooping a little.

She sighed, before setting it aside and shaking her head," I think I'll leave it for tonight..." She rubbed her eyes again before she stood and fell into her bed. Mei curled into her pillow, clutching it as she closed her eyes; not noticing the red that slowly curled around her as she slept. Some time later in the night she opened her eyes, frowning, hearing the strangest ticking sound....Mei slid out of bed, slipping her feet into her slippers before she walked out of her room.

She roamed the entire house, the tick tock maddening by now, but could not find the source. She padded out into the moonlit yard, the white roses dark in the shadows of the house, the dogs dozing in their pens. Mei frowned, the ticking sound moving just ahead of her, something scuttling through the brush," Hello?"

She picked up her pace, running through the yard and into the wood, watching what ever it was stay a step ahead; the sound of a clock trailing behind. The Asian young lady stretched her stride, stumbling only a little, and watched the shadow stop at a tree...no..not stop. Disappear.

Her eyes widened and she tried to stop, but her momentum had her stumbling; before she dropped down the hole at the base of the huge warped oak. Mei screamed as she fell, hands missing the edge, and she tumbled into the dark; no idea where she would end up.

[Im Yong Soo~!]

((Denmark))

"This behavior, called 'mania' from the Greek "mad excitement," involves agitation, restlessness, inability to concentrate, and extremely rapid speech," the blond man read off in a drowzy monotone, eyelids drooping as he tried - and failed - to hold back another yawn. He felt his eyes begin to water with that one, and wiped away the wetness with his knuckles, blinking blearily down at the textbook on the desk in front of him. He didn't dare look at the clock - he didn't even want to imagine what time it was - but he was certain he had been at it for a few hours now. If only he had studied for that test sooner, instead of putting it off and putting off...beer was delicious, but it wasn't known for helping witless college students ace their tests.

With a tired sigh (that ended in another yawn), he resigned himself to keep reading, rubbing at his eyes for a moment before attempting to focus on his book, but...that was funny, he hadn't had anything to drink that night; he was feeling warm in his chest, like he had taken too many shots of a hard liquor at once.

And before he knew it, the warmth was spreading out over his chest, across his face, and now he was really starting to think that maybe his roommate had slipped something into his water, just to be funny; Gilbert never did have a normal concept of humor, after all.

Before he realized it, there was a soft red light, glowing, coming out...of his chest? Like a ball that was slowly growing larger and larger as the warmth spread and got hotter and hotter, and then, suddenly, it was like someone switched on a vacuum inside his body, and all of the warmth immediately sucked back into the red light, leaving his limbs feeling cold and tingly and numb.

And that was the last thing he remembered before he slowly woke up, laying on his back in a dark room he didn't recognize. He attempted to lift a hand to his head, but his arm felt like a ton of bricks. He made another attempt to shift, which only ended in a heavy grunt emerging from him, so he settled for turning his head slightly.

He could see very little of the room, apart from the fact that there seemed to be bodies littering the floor...did Gilbert drag him to another party? Honestly, that kid didn't understand the meaning of the word 'no.' The blond squinted into the murky light, feeling slightly lighter and attempting to lift himself into a sitting position. There was a throbbing pain in his chest, and he quickly moved his hand to the spot, taking deep breaths and steadying himself before he looked around again. He felt the odd swishing above his head at about the same time he noticed the suspicious red liquid coating the walls and floor. Moving his hand up carefully, he felt across his head and--

Were those rabbit ears?

God, Gilbert really did slip LSD into his coffee.

[Im Yong Soo~!]

((Germany))

"Aster, get back here!" a disgruntled man called to a soaking wet dog. "Get out of that puddle!"

The dog simply stared at the beefy blonde and shook itself, then continued to romp through the puddle. The man sighed.

"Why do you have to be so disobedient? God, you're just like him." But he couldn't hid a small grin, the dog was having a blast. Besides, Aster will learn his lesson in time. He will need a bath later.

He watched his other two dogs, Blackie and Berlitz, fondly. The two were wrestling with each other, trying to show off. However, it was getting dark, and it was time to head home. He gathered them up, which took a good 15 minutes, and began to walk home. It was a cold night; he could see a cloud every time he exhaled. It would probably start to snow soon, which meant the dogs would get even more rambunctious. But even still, he looked forward to winter. It was his time of peace.

After a while, he began to feel very warm. It was alarming; in this kind of weather, he should not be feeling this warm. Am I getting a fever?

Alarm soon turned to panic.

A red light shined in his eyes, and the three dogs barked and growled at the sight.

"W-what's going on?!" he yelled. The growls soon turned to whimpers, as the man soon lost consciousness.

----

When he awoke, he was no longer in the street. He was in a dark room that he did not recognize. And it was not a hospital.

"Where the hell am I?"

[Im Yong Soo~!]

((Netherlands))

Nightfall had come earlier than he had thought it would...the day had whisked past him far too quickly. So much stuff he was supposed to do. Papers to write, e-mails to reply to and most importantly, family to visit.
Nikolaas ran a hand through his hair, leaning back in his chair and sighting loudly to himself. God damn student life and all this fucking hard work.
Time for a well earned break.

He got up from his desk and went over to his window, opening it as widely as he could and sitting down on the window frame. Fumbling through his pockets he produced his pipe and some matches - all stress forgotten the moment the pie was lit and he felt the smoke fill his lungs. "Perfect" he mumbled to himself and closed his eyes, letting himself relax as the tobacco took effect. He lazily cracked one eye open - the lights seemed, different...a lot more red...
Nikolaas ignored it and simply closed his eyes...last time the lights had just been multicoloured...but all trips where differnt...
Drifting into a nice dream-like state he didn't bother opening his eyes again at all

---

Something was...wrong...very very wrong...
Opening his eyes he ran a hand through his hair an looked around.
okay...something was definitely wrong..he'd had bad trips..but giant mushrooms and flowers? No..this...this HAD to be a dream!

[Im Yong Soo~!]

Yong Soo sat back in his chair, wiping his long white sleeve across his forehead. It was late twilight, and the theatre’s costume department was quiet, warm and dark everywhere except for the pool of light at Yong Soo’s table. The Korean college student sighed, sitting up in a stretch and rubbing his eyes. “I’m going to have to thank Mei-Mei for teaching me how to sew, da ze~”

While he entered the art institute with aspirations to become a famous film director, Yong Soo had made many friends in the theatre groups, and occasionally helped them out with their own productions in return for their participation as actors and crew on his. It was a mutually beneficial relationship, and the Korean did his portion gladly. After all, helpfulness originated in Korea, you know?

He smiled proudly at his product, picking it up carefully and twirling it in his hands. It was a top hat, broad-brimmed and made of purple felt, with a flurrious cluster of feathers tucked into the trim and pinned by a large emerald-colored costume brooch. Very well made, if Yong Soo had to judge, and classy, too. He tucked the large embossed card of “10/6” in front of the feathers, standing up and pacing over to a nearby mirror. He flipped the hat onto his head, angling it back to see his face. He became amused by the anachronism of the Victorian article and his more modern white long-sleeve, navy t-shirt, black denim jeans, and bright red Converse boots.

“How is a raven like a writing desk, da ze?” he chuckled, tilting his head and smiling broadly at his reflection. Suddenly, he began to feel a faint itching along the sides of his head, where the edges of the hat brushed his skull, a kind of tingling numbness, pins and needles. He blinked rapidly, smile faltering as he stared into the mirror.

“E-Eh?” As he watched, his mirror self began to warp and change—his cheeks and nose turning brighter red, as though light was glowing behind them. The Korean paced closer, hypnotized, seized with an inexplicable desire to laugh and cry at once, setting his hands on the glass pane and fogging it with his breath, grinning again as his hands began to tremor. On the edges of his vision, through the corners of his eyes, Yong Soo saw things moving, heard things, but he himself remained still, watching as the red light grew brighter and brighter, swallowing him whole.

Leaving his body behind, Yong Soo felt himself slip through the looking-glass.

Once Yong Soo regained a sense of self, he blinked, trying to clear his vision of the red light. The Korean glanced around, and found himself lying down inside a large, red-spattered room. He slowly raised himself up, tilting his head, and stared, feeling the hat settle around his ears. Red, red, and more red... with a faintly metallic tint in the air.

Fuzzy headed and still tingling, the Korean looked around slowly, picking apart the scene with his director's eye, his sleeve-covered palms groping the floor. He noticed a man with large blond rabbit ears, and blinked, tilting his head further. “. . .” Suddenly overcome with hilarity, Yong Soo raised a hand to his mouth, mad giggles bubbling out of a bright grin. “Your 'hare' wants some cutting, da ze~”

It was a weak pun, at best, in yet, Yong Soo couldn't stop snickering.

[Liechtenstein]

A yawn escaped Lily as the young German balanced a tray of dirty dishes with one hand, the other rising to cover her mouth. Oh she hated having the late night shift. Especially when she was pulling a double shift already. She had been at the Teapot Diner since noon already, and it was quickly approaching one in the morning. But, Lily reminded herself as she set the dishes in the sink, grabbing a pot of coffee and heading over to one of the customers. It was going to be worth it. With the extra money she could buy Vash something for his birthday. She could possibly repay him, in a small way, for always putting her needs before his, for working so hard so she could live a good life.

Yes, thoughts like that made these late nights completely worth while.

Of course, those thoughts couldn't fight down another yawn as she poured the man his coffee. Worst of all, she still had homework to finish when she returned to her dorm. As well as an early morning class. It almost seemed like another night with no sleep. But sadly enough, Lily was getting use to those along with the double shifts.

Walking around the counter and setting the coffee pot down she glanced at the clock. A sigh of relief escaped her. One am. She was done for the night. Going through the kitchen she untied her apron, picking up her back pack and shouting a good bye to the others who were not lucky enough to be done yet.

Another yawn as she exited through the back door, shrugging her hand-me down jacket over her pastel pink uniform. All she had to do was get to the bus stop, she could take a tiny nap maybe on it. If it was the same bus driver as it had been all week, he was sure to wake her up. He already had the other night after all, along with chastising her for being out so late.

Lily only got half way to the stop though before she had to stop. Suddenly the world was tilted to one side, the German swaying uneasily. Maybe all these all-nighters were finally getting to her? Placing a steadying hand against a closed shop wall she took a deep breath. Just a yard or so, she was almost there.

Why was there a red light in front of her? Was this another sign of too many nights with no sleep? Blinking in a way to dispell it, Lily took a shaky breath. It wasn't going away. If anything it was getting bigger, brighter! Soon it blinded her. She took a staggering step back before tripping over her own feet.

She fell.

Lily jerked awake again, her breath coming in quick as she sat up. Her eyes darted around her. Why was everything so big? Her eyes drifted to the people around her. A man with a giant hat had said something, but he looked like a giant to her. Why? She didn't understand. She knew she was tiny but...

A wetness became suddenly apparent. She looked down at the red puddle she had been sitting - no lying in prior to waking. How hadn't she realized earlier, especially now that the bottom of her skirt was practically drenched in it? And now that she was aware of it, she could feel the wetness running down the left side of her face from when she had been lying down.

Then the scent hit her. An overwhelming, nauseating metallic scent. And it did not take her long to realize what it was. Oh God, oh god. Her eyes darted around more, heart beating against her rib cage as she took in the sight of the room. Blood. She had been lying in a puddle of blood. In a room stained in it, with dead bodies and complete strangers around her.

Lily did the only thing she could think of. She screamed.

[Francis Bonnefoy]

Another night, another job.

Although, Francis had to admit this party was pretty classy compared to the last he had visited. A family reunion at a park that turned a little catastrophic when a bus full of grade schoolers showed up. As an escort, he had been to every type of party imaginable. From Rowdy to reasonable, to downright rich. This wedding was one of the latter, and everything was seemingly perfect. Everything matched, from the drapes to the tablecloths, even all the guests were dressed in shades of cream, gold and white. He had been paid in advance by this client, and he quite liked her. Quiet, shy, blushy, and a very curvy body to top it all off. He wondered vaguely why she needed to buy a date instead of just asking around. Francis was sure she would have gotten a few bites. A man would have to be stupid to say no to that face.

He pulled himself from his daydreaming to agree that yes, the cake did look amazing, and it must have taken quite an artist to create such a creation. Frankly, the talk was boring him, but it was apparently the aunt of the bride, and she had to talk to everyone. The whole night had been like this for Francis.

'Oh, the groom is so lucky.' 'The bride looks amazing in that dress!' 'Did you hear about Uncle so-and-so?'

The conversation was dull to Francis, and he felt himself fading out every now and then, snapping himself back just to catch the tail end of what the other was saying and respond as if he was genuinely interested. He was good at his side job, and proud of it. With a small smile to his companion, Lori, he excused himself and walked to the bathroom.

He sighed as the door swung shut behind him, fixing his tie as he thanked whatever god was listening that the room was deserted. Francis turned on the tap and splashed his face, wiping it dry with a near-by towel. Hopefully, he could convince Lori to leave. Sooner rather than later. He had an inkling she was just as bored as he was, but it was family after all. He could respect that.

As he pulled his face up from the towel, he noticed something strange. The light in the bathroom was a dull red. Huh, that was different. He turned to see a bulb of light, floating toward him in a strange, almost hypnotic rhythm. Frowning, the reached out a hand to grab at it, only to have it disappear. He blinked, and was about to brush it off when it re-appeared, directly in front of him.

Startled, Francis jumped back, hitting the sink counter with his back as the light kept close to his face. He couldn't take his eyes off it. Slowly, it seemed to envelope him. Everything was red, warm, and oddly soft. His eyes closed and when he opened them again, the light was gone.

But he wasn't in the bathroom anymore either.

The first thing that he noticed was the smell. Francis wrinkled his nose and brought a hand up to cover it, wondering what had happened. Had he hit his head? Was he bleeding? Sitting up, Francis felt his head and discovered something that he wasn’t looking for. Ears? He felt them to the point and decided that they were like cat ears. But he could feel his fingers brushing against the fur. Was he dreaming? He held his hands out in front of him and discovered his nails were… longer. And sharp. Claws? A small hum left him as he frowned. He didn’t like the claws on himself. Vaguely, he found himself wishing they would disappear.

And so they did, but not the way he intended. His eyes grew wide as his hands vanished, almost like curling ribbons of invisibility were crawling up his arms. He finally noticed his clothes had changed as well. Thick golden strips with white between them decorated the long-sleeved shirt he wore, with matching pants. No shoes, he noticed, as his upper torso continued to disappear, but his feet looked a little different anyways. Like the rest of him, they were slightly cat-like. He also found he felt light, as if he could float away at a moments notice. And was it just him, or did things seem a little bigger than they should be?

His ears perked as voices echoed around him, along with a tiny, high pitched scream. The movement of bodies made him curious, and he smiled. If this was a dream, this could be… interesting. As long as his curiosity didn’t kill the cat, so to speak.

As silently as he could, he got to his feet and looked around, not realizing that he was mostly vanished now, save for a pair of golden eyes and a toothy grin.

[meimei]

Mei fell and fell and fell, and she didn't know when it would stop until she slammed to a halt on something flat and hard and sticky. She squeaked at the sudden jarring end to her fall and felt grateful she was fine.

She tried to take a deep breath only to gag on the metallic taste in the air, and the cloying sickly sweet of something...well something like a dead...rabbit...Mei sat up and rubbed her eyes, spots dancing in her vision when the area suddenly brightned. But when she dropped her hands she stared," Oh...o-oh my..."

The young asian girl felt her heart squeeze in her chest at the bodies littering the floor, the blood pooling and splashed on the walls of what could have been a beautiful room. She looked to her hands and immediately rubbed them off on her...dress? A pink gown with a white apron had replaced her nightgown and black shoes and white socks adorned her feet...though her clothes were stained with the blood.

Mei scuttled back a little, and bumped into something, startling to her feet she held her hands to her chest when she saw it was someone else alive. A blonde man with...rabbit ears? She whirled around, spotting others, others with strange additions and outfits.

She panicked," What is going on?! Where are we?"

[netherland]

Okay...so he'd seen a lot of bad things in his life.

This however, was beyond bad - this was surely some level of hell!
The overpowering smell of metal stung his nostrils and really made him just want to run far, far away. Looking down he noticed he was fairly covered in the sticky,red substance too.
Great...rolling in dead people's blood - what a lovely way to end a high. This better not have been his fault...

There where others around - looking just as confused as him - well that was one positive thing at least. He shakily tried to stand up, but quickly fell down.

Fuck
another attempt.
Success!
A young girl was not far from him - cute too

"Uh...What the fuck is going on here?"

[denmark]

Mathias had to bring a hand to his forehead to calm all of the swirling thoughts that were trying to meld together in his mind. He had woken up in a room full of dead bodies, blood all over the floor, and suddenly the bodies became not dead. But the not dead dead people seemed just as confused - if not slightly more alarmed, but he could thank having Gilbert as a roommate for his calm patience - as he was.

His thoughts came to an abrupt stop as he was addressed by a small Asian in a rather large hat - he seemed to be taking the situation well, or...differently, at least; it was common to turn one's fear into humor in stressful situations, but he figured that probably wasn't what was going on with the man - and then was almost immediately after, bumped into by another small Asian, who seemed much more - appropriately - panicked.

"Ah-hah, so you don't know where we are, either?" he supplied un-helpfully, looking between her and the other blonde man who had just asked a similar question. His thoughts were again interrupted by a shrill scream somewhere below his now rather high ear-level, and he turned his gaze toward the floor, where a very unnaturally small girl with mouse-ears was obviously terrified.

"Hey, there, now, it's okay," he tried to soothe, reaching out a finger toward her, for her to lick, bite, or climb on. Whatever. "Just calm down, ja? We'll figure out what's going on..."

[Deutschland]

This was all very confusing.

It took a while for Ludwig's eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness. When they did, he found he was surrounded by a bunch of confused strangers. They all looked basically as disoriented as he was, but he did not recognize any of them right away. He studied one stranger closer. Were those...rabbit ears?

Ok. It was official. This was a horrible, horrible dream. He must have collapsed while walking the dogs or something. Just need to wake up. Waaaake up. He was disappointed when he didn't. Confusion aside, it took his brain a bit to realize the disgusting metallic smell that wafted around the room. He put his hand up to his nose. That was weird. Did one usually smell things in dreams?

Ludwig jumped when he heard a girl scream. He turned towards the sound, and fair enough, the noise was indeed coming from a small girl. He decided not to say anything. This was just a dream after all.

Please let this be a dream.

[Im Yong Soo~!]

Even though his attempt at wit had clearly run dry, Yong Soo giggled a little more--the heady metal taste was leaking into his brain, he could see red seeping into the corners of his eyes and didn't it look pretty like a picture, da ze?--over the sounds of a girl squeaking. Or a mouse screaming. Funny how similar the two noises sounded when your ears are clogged in hat and red, isn't it?

Something flickered in the corner of his eye--a grin a bit more than his own, but with less face to support it. Funny, how did it float? Did it grow tired of a body? Yong Soo tried to make his face float, but it only got as far as his hair curl. He looked at it, peeking beneath the brim of his hat, and it might have waved. He smiled back, and thought of inviting it to tea.

"What is going on?! Where are we?"

Like a mirror breaking, Yong Soo came back to himself. The smile swiped off his face, replaced by blank incomprehension, eyes clearing of red. "E-Eh?" The Korean turned toward the voice, still blinking crimson from his face. Slowly, his head tilted, causing the hat to slink to the left. "M-Mei-Mei?"

Sure enough, it was his sister, standing against the hare man. Wait, hare man? As logic began painfully trying to reassert itself in his brain, Yong Soo shook his head, cradling his forehead in his sleeve, only to find that it left a smear on his skin. Jerking his hand back, Yong Soo realized it was all over him--redredredredred--and tried his hardest not to shake. He swallowed, eyes wide, and looked up.

"Mei-Mei," he called out again, stepping towards her in unsteady rolls of his feet, his sleeves held wide to try and flutter gravity into obedience. It was a bit like swimming through a fever dream, only upside down. Yong Soo swallowed again, throat dry, and tried to make sense. He looked up at Mei-Mei, and prayed she would understand. "How I wonder where we're at, da ze..."

[Liechtenstein]

Lily had been so panicked she hadn't heard the other people in the room speak. She felt nauseas, her hands covering her nose while the tail that was poking out of her dress swished back and forth anxiously. Tail? When did she get a tail? Her stomach churned, and she moved her hands to hold her head. It was then she discovered the mouse ears. Feeling them poking out of her hair. Green eyes were wide in panic. Oh God, was this a nightmare? Why did she have mouse attributes!? Why was she in a room littered with corpses and blood?

She had been just about ready to scream again when a finger came into her field of vision. Stumbling back from it she blinked rapidly, eyes locking on the incredibly big (no she was just unnaturally small now) man with... With rabbit ears!? She stared at him. Calm down, he wanted her to calm down? Was he aware of what-

Figure it out... Right... He was right, she needed to calm down and then they could figure out what was going. From the looks of it (now that she wasn't panicking) everyone around her was just as confused. Taking this as a comforting thought she nodded, swallowing and then acting on impulse. Hugging the offered finger tightly.

[Francis Bonnefoy]

At some point, his feet left the ground. He wasn't exactly sure when, but Francis finally noticed when the curled his legs up beneath him to avoid knocking off the Hatters hat.

Floating over all the commotion really did offer some advantages. For one, he could see that they were all covered in blood. Disgusting really, and he had to stop a sort of instinct to lick himself clean. For another, he could see that they were all confused and lost in this strange nightmare. Just as he was.

Looking down at all of them, he decided to take inventory. One frightened looking Asian girl in a pink dress, one man with rabbit ears, one man wearing a hat a little too big for him, one man with too (two?) many arms, one man clad in armor, and was that one tiny little mouse girl clinging to one of the rabbits fingers? Poor little thing, she looked absolutely terrified.

And like a very good snack.

Pushing back that slightly disturbing thought, he rolled over in the air, viewing everything upside down now. He found this position prime for thinking. He must have been brought here by the light. It was the last thing he remembered before waking up here. Or he was dreaming. It was a possibility.

"Hmmm.... I wonder if any of you also saw that light...." He wondered aloud. Softly, but loud enough to carry. Bringing his invisible hand to his face, Francis found himself wishing he could see himself again. This was very disorienting. No sooner than he thought of it, his hand reappeared, as did his feet, and his body slowly came back into existence, curling ribbons winding themselves up his body and torso until everything was back to normal and he just seemed like a cat man.

Floating in the air.