InsaneJournal

Who: Anya, Brennan, and Gabrielle
What: Entering Candyland! the City of Illusions
Where: Smack dab in the middle of the chess board
When: Morning, Day 12
Rating: PG to PG-13, depending on who answers?
Status: Incomplete


"Pooka, get back here!" Anya scolded, hurrying as quietly as she could after the dog. Dimitri and Vlad were discussing how far she'd come in her 'Anastasia Lessons', and she really hadn't wanted to hear it. The thought of pretending to be someone's granddaughter made her a little sick, to be honest. But apparently exploring the woods of Germany on her own wasn't recommended, either. Mostly because she had a mischievous little gray mutt with her. As alike as the two of them were, Pooka was bound to get her in trouble sooner or later.

Sighing, she ducked under a tree branch, still tailing the little dog. "Dimitri's going to skin us both if you make me late," she babbled out loud, knowing the dog couldn't understand her. If he could even hear her. "They'll think I've gone off and left them and then how am I supposed to get to Paris, hmm? Walk there? That'll be attractive, I'm sure!"

She was so lost in her monologue that she hadn't noticed the shimmering light the dog had gone through. From a distance, it had merely looked like a sunshine-filled break in the trees. But as she passed through it, Anya immediately knew there was something different. More colors. More room. And... And the smell of sweets?

Eyes darting up, Anya gasped. It was honestly like nothing she'd ever seen before, not even in her daydreams. The trees weren't the ones she'd just been in. They couldn't be. They were brown, yes, but... "Chocolate?" she yelped. Bushes made of peppermint twists? This was completely insane. Maybe she really had finally snapped and gone mad.

Apparently even the little dog beside her had been caught by surprise, because Pooka stopped his mad dash run and stared in awe. Before he could go getting into something else, she scooped him up, looking around a bit more. Though she'd never played, she'd swear she was standing next to a giant chess board. Larger-then-life pieces with that queen piece and the knight and the little one with the round top whose name she couldn't remember all stood displayed proudly on the black and white squares.

This? Was so not normal. And the light she'd passed through to get there was gone. There wasn't any sign of the trees she'd just passed. "Oh... Ooooh, no, this is so not happening. Not here, not now, why?"