Alice made her way down the alley one shaky wobble at a time, as it turns out, bipedal locomotion was a tad more difficult than she was used to without any bones to keep you upright against gravity. So imagine her surprise when, just as the though passed through her head, the entirety of her lower body fused into a single amorphous mass of glitter that oozed out from the bottom of her dress and left a slinky pink trail behind her as she moved—or rather oozed—across the woolen floor.

[color=f49ac2]“That’s not quite as subtle as I was hoping, I don’t suppose glitter monsters are commonplace?”[/color]

“Not in the Youknitted Kingdom they ain’t, ma’am.”

It would just have to do, so on Alice roved, diving into the waiting sea of partygoers with her guards, leaving behind a pair of half-melted plastic heels bubbling and hissing in the alley where she’d come. Ten thousand years of navigating political parties just like this one had taught her a great deal about the art of ducking, dodging, diving, and weaving around unwanted conversation. that no matter how diligent you were someone was always going to get the drop on you and drag you into at least one.

==========

“Goodness, I don’t remember any monsters being on the guest list.” The little man gasped.

[color=f49ac2]“Well I never—”[/color] Alice was just about tired of all these comments and ready to snap back when one of the guardsmen she’d commandeered earlier spoke up to say something clever on her behalf. “Would watch your mouth if I was you, sir. That’s the Duchess of Gluesington you’re speaking too.” Traveled a long way to get here just for you to insult her, did she?”

“You’re lucky she’s so forgiving.” The other chimed in.

“Otherwise you might find yourself stuck to a wall somewhere.”

Flabbergasted beyond words the snooty little woolen man wandered away and the last of Alice’s anger dispersed like carbonated bubbles across the surface of her sticky pink flesh, then it was gone, she adjusted her skirts which were themselves made of a nice sturdy fabric that didn’t cling overmuch to her new body type. She was getting more and more used to this.

[color=f49ac2]“Thank you for standing up for me gentlemen.”[/color]

“Think nothin’ of it, Miss Ansegisel.”

“You’re our boss now.”

“And I’ve wanted an excuse to threaten someone at one of these parties for a while now anyways.”

[color=f49ac2]“That’s a very bad habit,”[/color] She chastised. [color=f49ac2]“But I will forgive it for the time being. That said, I did not come here to mingle, I am here on a mission--”[/color]

“To spread your love to the whole Yarniverse.”

“To bind everyone together for eternity.”

[color=f49ac2]“No.”[/color] She said sharply, decisively, and they seemed crestfallen at the finality of it. [color=f49ac2]“I’m here at the request of a friend but he is—how do I say this in the politest way possible—very obtuse I’m afraid. I’m not quite sure what I’m looking for. Nor am I familiar with your dimension. If you boys could spread out and begin scanning the crowd for anything out of place, then I would be most thankful.”[/color]

One raised his stubby doll arm.

“I found somethin’.”

[color=f49ac2]“Is it me?”[/color]

“It’s you.”

[color=f49ac2]“Something other than me.”[/color]

The other raised his arm.

“I also found something.”

[color=f49ac2]“Is it [i]also[/i] me?”[/color]

“No ma’am.”

[color=f49ac2]“Well out with it then.”[/color]

“Would you consider a red panda on the roof of the palace to be strange?”

[color=f49ac2]“I suppose it depends on where you are, Red Pandas are fairly common in some zoos, are they here?[/color]” Alice adjusted her glasses and recalling her time on Earth-T0R3 deduced that Cookieham Palace was a very unclever attempt at naming the life-sized recreation of Buckingham Palace which loomed over all of them. Sweeping past wafer walls and ice cream cone ballistae she spotted a very fuzzy little red man on the periphery of her vision peering down at them all from above, dressed in a manner almost as out of place as her own though tragically without the cozy comfort of a blanket to protect him from the cold breeze all around them.

“No ma’am, I do believe this is the first one I’ve ever seen in person.”

[color=f49ac2]“Then I suppose that wouldn’t be a bad place to start…”[/color]