Go With The Flow
A horn? Why did she hear a horn? Did Briar actually hear it? Could it be that she has already been mad from the start?
Honk honk!
“Oye! Get yaself ova' 'ere!” A voice with what sounds like a Spanish accent called over to her.
Briar turned to whoever it was and found a large fanciful hat and a group of Wonderlandians but with tails and cat ears, all dressed with striped patterns on—hopefully—faux fur. If it were real fur, then it would imply something a lot darker, haha.
Ahem! Sorry, getting a bit off track here. Anyway…
Briar hesitantly walked over to the cat themed Wonderlandians. The last time she met Wonderlandians, they threw her into the sky! Here's to hoping they won't hit her with their hat.
“Uh, hello?” She greeted the group. “Who, uh, called me here?”
“We heard you were lookin’ fer a little boy.” One of them spoke with a rough Irish accent.
“Oh! Yes, I am.” Briar lit up. “Can you tell me where he is? Please, I need to find him so that we can get out of this place!”
The Spanish cat appeared behind her. “Tsk, tsk. Wonderland isn't jus' a place, amiga! Wonderland is wonderful, ya jus' need to see it like that!”
“What do you mean? Wonderland was cursed for years.”
“Ay, believe me, The Land Above always tells silly stories about our lil' hometown! Wonderland wasn't cursed! It jus' got a lil' makeover!”
Uh huh, a makeover…
“Of course it is! But look, I don't have time to talk about that.” Briar spoke. “I need to find my brother.” She was about to walk away from the group but she was blocked from doing so. “Wh— Hey!”
“You worry too much.” said a German Wonderlandian cat.
“I worry a lot. Now if you would please step aside—”
Suddenly, a yell came out of nowhere.
Briar's startled face looked around them. “What in Ever After was that?”
The whole group smiled. “Rosa!”
“Rosa?” Briar raised an eyebrow. “Who's Rosa?”
“‘Who's Rosa?’”
Right in front of them, a girl in a yellow and black striped suit appeared, grinning widely. She seemed to have jumped out of some nearby tree due to the leaves in his brown frizzled hair. “The question should be,” They ran over to her side, her grin still present. “Who are you? Haha!”
“I— What?” Briar blinked.
“Ay, is Pink Streaks not hearing correctly?” Rosa ran on top of the hat's roof and put her head between two Wonderlandian Cats. “I said, who are you?” They repeated before running away again.
“Why are you running—”
Rosa ran to Briar's right. “I am not running! I am merely disappearing!” He ran to Briar's left. “And reappearing!”
“Rosa doesn't have the Cheshire magic.” Whispered a cat.
“We would tell her, but we all don't have the heart to.” Whispered another cat.
“And now I appear right before your very eyes!” Rosa shook herself, as if she was about to unleash something. “Ooooh! Here I am! La Rosa at your service!” They posed.
Briar tilted her head. “‘La Rosa’? Like, ‘The Rose’? But if you're a cat, shouldn't it be ‘El Gato’?”
“I am a cat! Wonderland has given me ears, a tail, and the power to disappear. Like mimamiy mi hermana!”
Rosa. They lied to you.
“Uh, yeah. Okay, sure. Wait—Godmother, what am I doing—I have to get back to finding my brother.” As Briar started to walk, she got blocked. Again. Wow. Persistent.
“Where are ya goin'?” Rosa smirked at her.
“Dios mío. My brother is missing and I need to find him!” Briar groaned. “It was great chatting with you and your pals, but I have something important to do.”
“Ay ay ay, no need to rush! So uptight. There's something important you need to know! And—ooh, what nice shoes you have! What are they, a gift?” Rosa bent over and inspected the shoes.
“Uh, yes? From Giles Grimm.”
Rosa looked up at her. “These came from Giles? Ah, no wonder they look all fanciful. Why don't we put them to the test?”
“Test? No, no. I don't need a test, thank you. I told you I—”
“Jes, jes, you need to ‘find your brother’, I know. You are so uptight! You need to learn how to loosen up! Get comfortable! You're in Wonderland for Heart's sake. Oye, Christopher! Biscuit! Kindly show Pink Streaks over here how to relax.”
Christophergrabbed something from his large poofy hair and grabbed a spray can. After, Biscuit held Briar to make sure she doesn't at least try to walk away immediately as Christopher sprayed something on the shoes. “Hey! What are you doing! I just got those!”
“Dios, suenas tan tenso! Relax! They'll wear off, now let's dance!”
Rosa led Briar on top of the hat, the other cats followed, and suddenly the hat started to move, honking occasionally as sounds of guitars and tambourines started to play. “H- Hey! Where are you taking me?” Briar asked.
“We know where we're going! Now, do you feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“The rhythm! Aye, you really need to pay more attention to things around ya, amiga!” Rosa started to dance, the upbeat music continued to play. “We cool cats learn to take it easy even while Wonderland is crumbling and scrambling away under its curse! It's unpredictable, like life!”
“Wow, what a newsflash.” Briar stated bluntly.
“Oh, I see you see how it is!” Rosa danced and spun Briar around. “For us, when Querida Vida gives us a hard time, we just improvise the things we plan to do! We get used to it when life is on the brink! Waaay out on a limb, ya know what I mean?”
“I don't see how this conversation is relevant to what I'm supposed to be doing!” Briar replied, watching Rosa dance. “Stop dancing! This is serious!”
“Why should I? You're dancing too!”
It only took Briar a moment to realize that she was dancing, always had been. “Wait— How—”
“¡Perfecto! Now we can all dance! This dance was from mi infancia!” Rosa grinned as she took Briar's hands and danced with her to a Spanish tune.
“Hey! I don't have time to dance!” Briar told her as she gets twirled by Rosa. “This is serious!”
“Well, I, La Rosa, have time to say that maybe you take everything too seriously, yes?” Rosa stated, doing a dip. “I think that we should consider every day lost on which we have not laughed at least once!”
Briar looked at her as her enchanted dancing feet swung in the air gracefully. “I didn't know cats could laugh.”
“Oh, trust me, all of us can and most of us do.”
“I don't know any that do, though.”
“Ay, you don't know much, do you?” Rose snickered. “Answer this riddle for me, Pequeña Rosa, why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?”
“Ugh! What is it with everyone here and riddles?” Briar grunted. “I have no idea.”
“Wow, you're good! I don't know either.”
“Okay, now can we stop dancing and help me find my brother?” Briar asked.
“Oh, it's more than your brother you gotta go find, rayas rosa!” Rosa smiled as he steadied herself, holding Briar's shoulder as they both danced to the cheerful guitar. “You don't have to analyze the cutting edge, so listen to what La Rosa says to you, Querida. You have to go with the flow!”
“‘Go with the flow’? What exactly do you mean by that?”
“I mean you don't fight the tide, you don't have to keep hesitating to do something, it makes no sense! All you have to do is grab that by its throat, take the opportunity, jump right in that metaphorical river and let everything take you! You'll get there.”
They kept their feet on the moving hat, the cheers of the cats rang as they kept dancing. The music's pace became even faster, making the duo dance more quick and complicated. There was sweat on their faces, but there were also smiles. Briar seemed to actually enjoy dancing to the rhythm.
“You don't need a silly PhD to stop your stress, if you want to heal it, you gotta feel it. Feel everything, anything. And yes, even the bad parts.” Rosa continued, lifting Briar up gracefully and slowly flipped her over, landing her on her feet. “You'll get it together. Learn to seize opportunities, there ain't no undertow! Just remember to always go with the flow.” She playfully winked at her.
This made Briar think for a moment.
Growing up with heavy responsibilities made her refuse any more fun in her life, the opportunities were right in front of her. It was there and she didn't even try to take that. Was Rosa right? The regret started to swell in her.
The duo finished their dance as the guitars strummed the final note. The cats cheered and whistled at their enchanted performance. “Santos gatos! Well, even with the enchantment, I believe we make a good dancing duo!” Rosa chuckled. “Ay, if we managed to see the Land Above, we would've bedazzled them, eh?”
Briar let out a laugh for the first time ever. “I do think we make a good team. You dance really well.”
“Gracias.” He bowed. “Dancing made me happy as it was all that I had in my childhood. Mami and Kitkat always supported me in it. They said it was a ‘special attribute in Cheshires.’ Someday, I'm going to go outside of Wonderland, dance all my heart out, and be known as ‘Rosabella Cheshire, La bailarina más espectacular.’ Nice name, eh?”
“Wait, your full name is ‘Rosabella’?” Briar looked at them with wide eyes.
Rosa nodded. “Of course. Though I just prefer La Rosa. More casual.”
Briar was about to say something when suddenly the large moving hat stopped. Everyone on board almost stumbled off of it. “Woah—Why did we—”
“Oye! ¡Conejito estúpido! ¡Casi nos rompes el sombrero!” One of the other Spanish cats yelled. A bunny almost apparently made them crash.
Wait. A bunny?
“You!” Briar scrambled quickly off the hat, but once she reached the ground, Bunny started to hop away. “Ugh! Not again!”
“Oh! You should chase Bunny!” Rosa slid down the hat and landed beside Briar. “She might know where your little brother is hiding.”
“Okay, thank you!” But before Briar could chase after her, Rosa grabbed her shoulder. “Oh, I almost forgot.”
She then pulled out an extra pair of thick framed glasses, decorated with cats and stripes. “You might need these.”
“Uh, thank you?” Briar took the glasses and put them in her bag.
“Oh, oh! One more thing.” Rosa told her. “If you ever meet the Hatter, you must be extremely, and I mean extremely careful. She has gone mad! In a bad way. The only way to get home is to get past her at the Eighth Square.”
“Do you know where that is, by any chance?” Briar questioned them.
“You'll know it when you see it!” Rosa grinned. “That is all from me! Now I shall… disappear!” They started to shake again like when she ‘appeared’. “Haha! Now you can't see me anymore, only a beautiful big smile.” He grinned as they sprinted back to the hat. “Am I here, or there? Who knows! Farewell, Pink Streaks! ¡Hasta que nos encontremos de nuevo!”
Rosa and the cats waved goodbye as the hat started to move. Briar smiled and returned the wave. “Bye!” She yelled, the enthusiastic guitars played loudly in reply as the music got quieter.
Now back to the task at hand. Bunny Blanc was still hopping in the distance. Time to catch a runaway rabbit.