Alyssa x Morpheus

The Tendencies of Rain {Part One}

              "Queen Alyssa, if you refuse to open this door, I am afraid I shall be forced to break it down."

        Queen Alyssa my ass, Alyssa thought foully. She couldn't fathom what had infected her this evening; there was a dinner party to be getting ready for, and yet all she found herself pondering was the human realm, and its inhabitants. 

        "You couldn't if you tried," she sneered, pushing away from her suddenly-too-comfortable bed towards the suddenly-too-vast wardrobe. "It's like, solid--" She paused and tried to name a definite tree in Wonderland. They were all as unique as a fingerprint; "Very solid. It's very solid."

        Hearing no immediate respond, she began pawing through the contents of her wardrobe. In the very back, behind all the dresses and form-fitting trousers; behind the rows of boots and random necklaces tosses about, there was a small stack of very non-netherling clothing. 

        In fact, it was what she had worn when she descended down the rabbit hole for good. 

        Hit with an unexpected amount of nostalgia, Alyssa hastily pulled back her long blonde hair and unceremoniously tied it in a knot atop her head. She thought she heard something, a muffled bump, but quickly disregarded it to pull on tight, ripped skinny jeans with colorful fabric sewn in place behind the cuts and fraying wounds. 

        She wasn't up for playing up the plain black hoodie that she tugged on next; she just...ugh! She wanted out. Not out of Wonderland; just out. She needed fresh air. Fresh air, not this intoxicating lullaby that drove her beautifully insane. 

        Feeling a bit frazzled, bits of hair curling out of their restraints, Alyssa stumbled out of the wardrobe.

        "'Lo, luv." 

        Alyssa jumped, hitting her ankle against the bottom of the wardrobe and wincing. "How did you get in here?" She demanded promptly, though wariness seeped into her voice. He was in a mood; only this time, their moods didn't match. Morpheus was feeling particularly netherling-like, and in his eyes was not a warm tinkle of kindness. She, however, was--

        She wasn't sure. 

        "The window, Alyssa," Morpheus growled impatiently, pacing several steps towards the aforementioned sill. He was tense and aggravated. And, she noted with a frown, soaking wet. 

        It's not like it didn't rain in Wonderland. In fact, it tended to do so fairly frequently, though only in patches of the land, and only sometimes vertically. But it never rained like Morpheus' attire suggested--it was drenched. His blue hair was plastered to his neck and face, droplets running down delectable little pathways. 

        She shook her head in confusion before looking outside; pouring. Unpleasant pouring, scratchy, angry splashes against stone walls and the foliage just outside. It was destructive. 

        When she looked back, so were his eyes. He'd stepped closer to her while she had her moment, and now was a decidedly personal distance away from her. Perhaps, she tilted her head curiously, in his eyes was not destruction, but what comes next. Chaos and anxiety and loss.

        "What are you doing?," he glared at her, though there was the slightest tilt in his brows that suggested there was much more to his current emotions than was surface deep. "What are you feeling that's making you act this way?"

        "I'm not acting any different than usual." 

        Even as she said it, she knew it was a lie. She felt frayed, like the jeans covering her legs. She tried to say something more, to explain the chaos inside her--chaos she had grown to love--but couldn't. 

        "You've been taking her for granted, luv," Morpheus then sighed, an edge of warmth in his voice now.

        "Who? Who are you talking about?" Alyssa whined, scrunching her face together before her body had the idea to push out her frustration in a mimicry of the rain outside. 

        And then two strong arms were around her, and dark, leathery wings encased them both. She could smell him more clearly than ever; he was sopping wet after all. She refused to meet his gaze, even as she felt the rumble of laughter in her fingertips as they were pressed against his chest.

        "Wonderland. You thrive in the chaos, in the madness. Somehow, you make sense of it all. You are meant to be here, Alyssa, but you weren't born here. You can still be overwhelmed."

        He paused when she still said nothing, though she was quivering a bit under his embrace. He kissed her cheek; "This is you being overwhelmed."

        She heaved a sigh, finally, that was far too heavy for her relatively small frame.

        "Sorry, Wonderland."

        Morpheus stretched out his wings and stepped back from Alyssa with a smirk, tipping his hat; she hadn't seen it before. A thrilling ebony with patterns laced of the finest fabric; perfect for ensnaring the rain outside. It was a spider's web, designed for the liquid crystals. 

        "Not that easy, luv. You're the one making it rain. You need to get in touch with the chaos again, and become aware of it. Then after comes the thriving."

        "The only time I was that aware of chaos was when Jeb was down here, and I was constantly between two territorial males. That is chaos. You are chaos." 

        Alyssa had responded thoughtlessly, a slight wave of her hand included. It took her a moment, and an overly smug moth, to make known her mistake. 

        "I'm going to take a bath," Morpheus sighed lazily, walking across her bedroom to the bathroom. 

        "Keep the bed warm for me."

        Then the door clicked shut and Alyssa was left standing, jaw agape. She wanted to smack herself. Getting in touch with the chaos. Okay, mothman. Fine. She was perfectly capable of handling herself and figuring out her brain just fine. Feelings had nothing to do with this.

        You are chaos.

        She cringed. 

        "The land in which I rule and I are having a small conflict...don't get involved!" She shouted above the sound of the faucet. Her face felt hot. Something a lot like nerves kicked in her stomach.

        Maybe she swallowed a moth or two. 

        It's not like she and Morpheus weren't familiar with each other. Oh, white rabbits did that sound raunchy. (Alyssa snickered at her thoughts.) Sometimes she was just a little shy. Well. Okay. She was feeling human in a realm where she desperately needed to think and feel like a netherling. Human rules didn't apply here.