#precurse

Branches like cobwebs intertwined above, mushroom caps and moss dotting the ground beneath. He was somewhere in between the two, though not there at all. Mostly. A smile hovered in the air where he should- shouldn’t be. It didn’t make sense, just like it shouldn’t. But to Chess, everything made perfect nonsense. It was beautiful, the reason why he loved his home. His tail, the only part other than his smile that wanted to show itself, was straight up in the ear, quivering every so slightly as he wove between low hanging branches and signs. Even the darkest thickets in the midst of the Tulgey Wood were brighter and lovelier than any part of any other realm. From the signs carefully crafted by the birds and bugs, to the luminescent fungus on the ground below, everything was odd, horrifying to the lost. But to the mad, to people like him, there was nothing more exquisite. 

A purr escaped his lips as more of him appeared, the pink stripes that made their way down from the top of his neck to the tip of his tail. The sudden appearance shocked a few of the bread-n-butterflies that had been resting on a nearby branch. For a second, he darted after them, purple fur appearing as he darted under a branch, to paw at the buttered wings. His claws were sheathed, however, and with another purr and a wicked grin, he darted away again. He’d bested the butterfly, faster and fiercer. But he wouldn’t hurt one. The residents of Wonderland were mad, not malicious. The unaligned ones weren’t, anyways. They all left that to the Red Queen and her court.

Fluttering down to the ground to land silently, Chess watched as the mushrooms under his paws grew brighter, and as more of them, one’s leading deeper into the forest, glowed as well. The perfect way to get hopelessly lost. And for a moment, the Cheshire Cat debated following them, certain of the way in and out, before deciding against it. There was nothing new in the Tulgey Woods, and that was what he had been craving when he'd set off. And with that, he lifted himself up again, disappearing as he went up. His grin flickered in and out of existence as he flew, but otherwise only the air was disturbed.

Chess flew without meaning forward for a while, then back the way he’d come. But no matter which way he flew, he seemed to travel away, following directions that would only make sense in the most twisted of minds. Lucky for the cat, he had one of the most marvelously mad mind of all.

The Red Castle… His head flickered into view, seemingly dismembered. And, with his body nonexistent at that moment, it was. I’ve lost my head… His body reappeared, head gone in that same moment. A wild giggle escaped, seemingly out of nowhere, before everything but his grin disappeared, his favorite way to fly. The Tea Party? 'Twas a shame that he’d already had more than his share of tea, and for the time being his invitation had been revoked. Forbidden… The March Hare would invite him back soon enough, the madmen were all more than fond of their favorite Cheshire. The Ocean? He’d played a prank on the Walrus, leading the oysters to disappear. Probably not the wisest move. And the cat had a particular dislike of getting wet, anyways. The Garden? The flowers weren’t particularly fond of Cheshire, considering him a pest. It seemed that he was stuck floating, for a while, unable to decide where to go.

But the clouds were as good as any place on the ground. Wisps of fluff hovered, just as Chess did, but suspended in place. They tasted like nothing when they got caught in his smile, but he didn’t doubt that it was his present lack of a tongue that rendered them flavorless. No one else in Wonderland flew this high, leaving the exploring the sky a freedom that only Cheshire got to experience. Only the dormant Jabberwock and Absolem, who was currently in his larval state again, could fly this high. Substantial air meant nothing to a creature who half was, and half wasn’t, Cheshire’s delight.