Abby furiously wiped her hands off on her apron after handing the pizza to the customer. ‘Pussy’s Pizza Parlor’ it proudly read in bold letters that were somewhat covered by flour. Her apron was purple and black to match her dull colored purple and black cheshire cat fur. Her hair was primarily black with a natural purple stripe or two in it. Her arms from the elbow down were covered in purple fur with a few black stripes each. Both arms never had the same amount of stripes but they seemed to increase or decrease at random intervals. Her legs were the same from the knee down, “Mom!” She called into the back, “I’m gonna be late!”
    Abby’s mother stomped out of the back, the lunch rush finally over, “Abigail Nermal...” She sighed at her daughter before a proud smile stretched across her lips. Abby sighed at her mother using her first and middle name together, “My little girl is finally going off to college!” She grinned as she put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. Abby’s mother was a were cat with grey hair and fur in the same places as Abby. Her apron was red and white, the normal colors of her pizza parlor. Abby’s was only purple because it matched the color of her fur. Her mom had thought of it as a cute gesture, but it really only served to embarrass the cheshire, “You’re gonna open your own pizzaria some day, I know it.”
    Abby put on a wholly fake grin, “Yeah... Mom. My own... Pussy’s,” She chuckled. 
    “What did we used to joke about you calling it?” Her mom mused aloud, “Toxo-pizza-mosis?” She laughed at her ancient joke. Abby smiled, even if she had heard it her entire life.
    “Here, honey,” A small personal pizza was thrust into the cheshire’s hands. Her dad smiled proudly at her. He had an apron that matched his wife’s, “Out of community college and right into real university!” He beamed, “Figure out your major yet?”
    Abby shook her head, “I’ll figure it out soon, dad.”
    “Well, you better get going,” Her dad smiled, “I’ll take over up here.”    
    “Thanks dad.”
    “Here, Abby,” Her mother put something else in her hands as she put her personal pizza under the heat lamp, “Pass these out to all the friends you’ll make!”
    Abby’s heart sank as she looked at the coupons in her hand. It screamed ten percent off a large pizza and a two liter soda. She smiled, just wanting to go, hardly interested in advertising the pizza place, “Sure... I’ll give it to any friends I make.”
    “Good!” Abby's mom kissed her cheek, “Go get changed, honey. I hope you have a great day! Make sure you come back once you're done to help us close up with your sister and brother!”
    “Alright, mom,” Abby smiled before disappearing into the back room. She quickly changed out of her work clothes and into some clean jeans and a t-shirt that said ‘Big Burgers’ on it on the chest. She smiled as she looked at herself. Even if her mom didn’t understand her struggle in regards to friends and school, she was at least sweet.

    First day of REAL college, Abby thought to herself. Her heart was pounding in her chest, almost feeling like it was ready to burst out. No more of that baby stuff, community college was hard but this was the real deal! She told herself, hyping herself up. No more screw ups! She had her latent powers in check! She clenched her fists and glanced to her left. A young man was walking towards an arachne. Both of them were minding their own business, he was staring at his phone and she was fussing over her hair in a mirror as her spider legs carried her down the hall. Abby felt something within her spirit. A weird pang as she watched something phase into reality. Banana peels. One for the man and two for the spider woman. In unison, they hit the peels before Abby could try to warn them. The two were flung into one another, the man ending up on his back with the arachne flailing to catch him as she ended up on top of him, her breasts in his face and her hands behind his head, holding him there. He looked up at her, the embarrassment plain on his face. The spider’s own nerves quickly subsided as she licked her lips and gave him bedroom eyes with all six of them. Abby looked down at her hands, seeing right through them, thankfully. She sighed with relief at the fact that she was invisible as the arachne dragged the man into the bathroom. 
    Abby had no control over these abilities. ‘The aura of chaos’ as she called it would do all sorts of wacky and goofy things to those around her, completely out of her control. At least the invisibility seemed to come whenever she really needed it. She usually managed to keep it under control in her parent’s restaurant, but the stress here was getting to her. She was in an old building that had a few shelves holding old looking computers that Abby couldn’t name. The building and computers were definitely from before when mamano came to this world. Most buildings on campus were just as old as well except for the dorms. Each one had been updated at some point. All the rooms were now single person and soundproofed. Even if the rules say that girls aren’t allowed in the mens’ dorms and vice versa, the soundproofed rooms were for exactly that scenario. 
    Abby’s invisibility wore off just in time as she walked into the classroom. First up was math. A small classroom, thankfully it wasn’t packed. The professor was an older man with grey hair. Abby made her way to the back of the room like she always did and found a seat. Class started quickly. Unsurprisingly to her, all the mamano and humans in the room gave Abby as wide a berth as possible. She had a little smile on her face, she was used to this. In fact, she preferred it. Less times for her chaos aura to harm people. She was too anxious to eat. She would just microwave the pizza whenever she got hungry, she decided. The lecture was boring, of course. It WAS math, after all. The professor quickly sped through the syllabus before starting on the geometry lecture. About an hour into it, Abby began to feel the familiar feeling within her body. Her latent magic was at play but she had no idea how. As calmly as she could, she glanced around the room as she searched for what was happening. 
The entire class’s focus seemed to shift to the board at once, “Hm?” The professor glanced to the other side of the whiteboard. A drawing of a cat had appeared over something he had written at the beginning of class. It was a long, strange looking cat sitting on its rear haunches with its head high in the air. He turned back and gave the class a confused look before taking an eraser to it. The face, ears, tail and every other detail of the cat was easily wiped away while the body remained. It looked like a penis drawn in permanent marker. The class erupted into laughter and Abby sunk in her chair, trying to not be noticed. Thankfully, the rest of the class passed without much issue.

Second class, Abby thought to herself, already disheartened after her first class. Perhaps psychology would be better? The seats were stacked down the room, sloped down towards the front of the room, each chair a little lower than the one behind it. The seats were not packed and there was more than enough room for Abby to sit in the back by herself. She sighed with relief, it looked like no more cartoonish shenanigans would happen. Leaning back in her cushioned seat, Abby put her bag on the floor and started eating the pizza her dad had given her. Anchovies, pineapple and barbeque sauce on a salty, cheese stuffed, pretzel crust, her all time favorite. The bitter and salty taste of the fish combined with the zesty barbeque sauce and the sweet fruity taste of the pineapple was just wonderful. At least to her pallet. She finished the first slice and let loose an elated sigh as the food hit her stomach. 
Pausing for just a moment to breathe, Abby looked around again. There was a young man sitting a few chairs down from her, the only other person in the back row. His eyes were sharp and his face was a little long, he looked as if he had a constant shifty look about him and was always up to something. For now, he stared at his phone, paying no mind to the cheshire. Abby pushed thoughts about him out of her head. She didn’t have time for it. As he glanced at her, she quickly looked away, looking down at her pizza that she once again started eating.

“Welcome class!” The professor called as she stood at the front of the room. A few people echoed her greeting with hellos of their own. The professor was an owl mage. Her body was covered and fluffy feathers and her arms were wings that ended in little talons that could hold things. She had a big smile that spread across both of her rosy red cheeks on her face, “Welcome to your first day of interpersonal relationships!” She announced, “In this class--” She stopped herself, “It would be better for us to start by breaking into groups. It looks like...” She looked over her clipboard, “We have an equal number of boys and girls! Everyone needs to find a partner of the other gender to be partners with for the term. Yes, I mean it! I don’t need to deal with the fallout of two boys alping again!” She groaned as people started looking for others to buddy up with, “You don’t have to pick someone you think you’ll fall in love with! Just someone you might be able to make friends with or want to.”
    Abby’s heart sank. Groups? She didn’t want to be put into a pairing with someone, how could she want to? It was only a matter of time until those close to her got affected by whatever magic haunted her. Maybe it wasn’t too late to drop the class? Before she could rise and leave the room, someone plopped down in the chair next to her. She was trapped now. Slowly she looked at the man next to her. It was the man she had glanced at earlier as she devoured the pizza. Abby quickly wiped off her face with a napkin, praying she didn’t have any sauce or grease on her face, “H-hello,” She stammered as she put on her best customer service smile. Despite the smile, she was betrayed by her nervousness. 
    “Heya,” He smiled, definitely just as nervous as the purple cat, “You’re one of those... Wonderland cats, right?”
    “Faggot cat-- I mean, cheshire cat, yes,” Abby corrected him.
    “Ah, you’ll have to forgive me. I grew up in a town that doesn’t have any monster girls in it,” He frowned, “I was wondering if girls like you were okay with being called that,” Abby shrugged, it was just a nickname for her kind that the internet had come up with.
    “It seems as if everyone has a partner!” The owl mage announced. Looking around, Abby could see numerous young men forced to be partners with more aggressive mamano like oni and manticores. They held their partners-- soon to be life long partners-- under their arms, “Go ahead and introduce yourselves and just tell eachother an interesting fact or two!”
    “Well, I’m Abby,” The cheshire mumbled, her fur and hair looking particularly dull.
    “Brady,” He replied
    “Use your full names! No nicknames yet!” The professor shouted above the commotion.
Abby groaned audibly, making Brady give her a confused look. She glanced at him with her big yellow eyes, “I-its Abigail... Nermal...” She muttered her middle name with an obvious fist full of disdain, “Cook.“
“Brandon Joshua Johnson,” Brady corrected himself, “So... Nermal?” He gave her a strange look, doing his best not to crack a smile.  
    “Yeah...” Abby groaned, “Like the grey cat in Garfield.”
    Brady chuckled, “Well, it could be a whole lot worse. You could be Abigail-- Abby Heathcliff. You’d never hear the end of it, from me at least.”
    “H-Heathcliff?” Abby stammered.
    Brady sighed, “I don’t even know what to call it. Its another dumb orange cat comic. Except its even more unfunny.”
    “O...Kay...” Abby blinked at him, “Oh, we’re supposed to say something about ourselves, right?”
    “Yeah, well... I grew up in one of the last remaining mamano free towns in the world,” He shrugged, “I guess you could say I got sick of it and came here. Ya think human ladies would be a little nicer considering they’re a dying breed,” He looked away from her and to the floor, “Pussy’s Pizza Parlor?” 
Abby jumped as he uttered the name of the family restaurant, “W-well... I guess my thing I’ll say is that my family owns a local pizzeria. Pussy’s Pizza whatever,” She laughed nervously, hoping he didn’t think it was dumb.
    He looked at the grey cartoon cat girl on the box below the ‘Pussy’s Pizza Parlor’ on the box, “Are you, like, THE pussy?” He held back laughter.
    She laughed, “No, my mom swears up and down that its not her, but it totally is.”
    He let his laughter out, “I like that.”
Abby smiled, laughing along with him, ecstatic to have actually met someone who was friendly with her, “Here, mom told me to pass these out to anyone I could,” She gave him a few of the coupons.
“Hey, thanks a bunch,” He smiled back.
    “Alright!” The professor shouted, quieting down the room, “You’ve had enough time to get to know one another. Just keep learning about them all year, you’ll be doing a presentation on them! I’m not asking you to marry them, but I can see some of you are already planning on that. Please turn your attention from what you girls may call ‘fresh meat’ and focus on the lecture please.”
    Abby picked up her bag, going for her spiral notebook. Brady did the same, looking for his laptop. She froze, suddenly feeling the pang in her soul. Something was happening, her aura of chaos was starting to activate. Her eyes darted around the room, furiously scanning for where it could be happening at. Her gaze shifted to Brady, just a second too late as he unzipped his bag and opened it wide. She gasped as a cream pie was flung from the darkness of her new friend’s bag. There was a dull, wet squishing noise as the pie struck his face. He sat still, shocked for a few moments before slowly peeling it from his face.
    Abby’s lower lip quivered, she had ruined her only chance, she thought. There was a dull hum as a few tears rolled down her face. As the cheshire blinked, she found herself in a familiar area. A dark and dull purple colored flat plane. Her own little dimension to cry in. And cry she did. Abby cursed her species, the cheshire cat, all of Wonderland, and pies everywhere. She curled into a ball, holding the bag to her chest as she bawled over being unable to control her abilities.
    
    Abby’s eyes opened slowly. Her face was wet and she felt exhausted. She picked herself up off the floor and glanced around. She had no way of knowing how long she had spent in that pocket realm, but class was definitely over. No one was in the room. She looked at the clock, she had a few minutes to make it to her second class. She wiped her face off and dried her eyes. She had another class to get to even if she was in awful shape. A low level computer science class was next, more general credits like this psychology class was. Ironic, considering most mamano took classes like this to hook up with boys who need the credit as all science majors required it. Abby sighed and started to trudge to her next class.

    “Hey, Abby!” Abby looked up as her big sister Danny greeted her. She had come in through the back employee door of the pizza parlor like she usually did. Her sister had dark black fur and hair like their father’s and mom’s blue eyes. Abby smiled weakly at her, still in a lot of pain after what happened on her first day of college. Danny frowned as her little sister tried to walk past her. Wrapping an arm around her sister’s shoulders, she walked with her, “Hey, what happened? Something wrong?”
    “Danny...” Abby trailed off, unsure what to say as her sister stopped her.
    “Come on, talk to me. Or, I’ll make you talk to mom,” Danny threatened as Abby shook her off and went to the fridge.
    She looked for something to eat, comfort food was what she needed right now. She grabbed the jar of pickles and turned back to her stern looking sisters, “I messed it up, Danny.”
    “What? Expelled again?”
    “No, this isn’t like that time in highschool!”
    “With the principal, that centaur, and the clothes destroying acid? Oh! Oh! And the metric shit ton of whipped cream!?” Danny laughed loudly as she remembered the principal’s tomato red face, “At least you got him to confess to his crush!”
    “While he was naked! And she was!” Abby screamed, “I didn’t even do it on purpose!” She was getting teary eyed again. 
    “Hey, hey calm down little sis’. I know it wasn’t on purpose,” She shook her head, “What happened? It can’t be that bad.”
    “I ruined my one chance at friendship,” Abby grabbed a jar of peanut butter and started to spread it on some soft bread.
    “Oh come on. There’s tons of other girls out there to make friends with and--”
    “With a BOY, Danny! I FUCKED it up!” Abby shouted as she put pickle slices in the sandwich, “The one boy who WASN’T afraid of me. The one guy who talked to me like I was a person and not a horrible, raping, eldrtich horror! He opened his bag and got a pie to the face!” She started to break down, crying as she ate the pickle and peanut butter sandwich. It did a lot to kill the pain. Her sobbing turned to quiet mewling and whining as she stuffed her face. Her purple fur had turned nearly black as her emotions spilled forth.
    Danny put her hands on her sister’s shoulders, “Come on. Its not that bad. It was just a pie. You didn’t kill him with an anvil from the sky or make him fall into the breasts of some massive girl.”
    “I made that happen earlier,” The cheshire mumbled. 
    “That's why everyone called you the matchmaker in highschool!”
    Abby gave her a murderous look, “I’m going to drop the class. I’ll take it some other time.”
    “No you aren’t,” Danny folded her arms, “Not until you know for sure that he hates you.”
    “B-but...”
    “What would mom say?”
    Abby sniffled, “To tough it out.”
    “And you already like him. Maybe he’ll be understanding or not mad with you.”
    “Th-thanks, Danny.”
    “No problem, sis,” Danny wrapped her arms around her sister for a quick hug, “Go home and rest. You need it. I’ll take care of closing up here. Robert and mom will understand.”
    Abby nodded and hugged her sister back quickly before just as hastily finishing her comfort sandwich, “Don’t tell mom about the boy, please. You know how she gets,” Danny nodded then watched as her little sister left the way she came. 
The werecat sighed, “What am I gonna do with you, Abby?” She mumbled to herself with a chuckle, “Robert!” She shouted at her brother. He had their mom’s grey hair and wore it short. He was the youngest of the three siblings.
    “Huh?” He called back from where he prepared a pizza.
    “We’re closing tonight. I sent Abby home.”
    “But--” He scowled, but simply frowned at his big sister, “Fine. But you owe me. I’ll be late for my game.”
    “Yeah, yeah whatever. You and your dumb table top nerd shit. Finish up and get the mop.”

    Abby struggled to keep herself calm. After a night of sleeping, her room always looked like a mess. The few family photos she kept around had gotten switched out again. Every person in the photo’s faces had been switched with Nicolas Cage’s again. The original photo was just behind it like it always was. Her desk was somehow affixed to the ceiling as if gravity had been reversed for it. Abby started to clean up. The cleaning of her room usually calmed her a little bit. Clothes pulled off the walls, the old poster was taken off the ceiling and put back where it went, and lastly the desk was carefully brought down and put back in place. 
    She went to the closet and sighed as she threw it open. Balloons spilled out of various colors doing not much more than annoy her. She took a claw to each one, popping it and scooping up their rubbery remains into a trash can. She threw on her clothes and did a quick tally of the stripes on both arms. Only one on the left but five on the right. She shrugged, unsure what it meant. The color of her fur was as dim as it always was, perhaps even dimmer than usual. With a grunt, she left her room to prepare for the rest of the day.

    Abby’s heart pounded as she walked towards her second class. It felt like a death march as she stepped to the psychology class door. With a deep inhale and long exhale, she opened the door. Carefully, she stepped into the room. No one gave her any funny looks-- well, any more than usual as she walked to her desk. She plopped down into her seat and sighed, not spotting Brady anywhere. She frowned, wondering if he had left the class. Abby took her seat and wrung her hands nervously in her lap. Her mind started to race, preparing for the worst as she assumed he wasn’t going to show up. 
    “Hey, Abby,” Brady greeted as he plopped down in the seat next to her, “I took notes for you after you vanished yesterday.”
    “Y-you did? Y-you’re not mad at me?” Abby mewled, already feeling on the verge of a breakdown.
    Brady gave her a confused look, “What? Why-- Oh!” He laughed, “So the pie thing was you, was it?”
    “Y-yeah... It was...” She gave him a confused look as he gave her two sheets of paper covered in notes.
    “Don’t worry about it. That lemon cream pie was great. Free food always tastes better, plus you gave me those coupons. How could I complain?”
    “Yeah it was!” An oni a few seats forward called, “Got any more for us, Abby?”
    “Uh... W-well...” Abby stammered nervously.
    “Ah, Abigail,” The professor approached the cheshire, “I heard you teleport out of the room last class after Brandon here received a pie to the face. Are you quite alright?”
    “I-- I have no control over my abilities,” She explained, “I-I didn’t mean to do either of those things.”
    “Where did you teleport to?”
    “Some sort of pocket dimension. I don’t really know.”
    The owl mage brought her wing to her chin, “Interesting... Well. I will keep my eyes open for any more shenanigans that happen. Brandon, keep an eye on her if you would.”
    “I’ll take notes for her if she disappears again,” He smiled as the teacher walked off, “So... Cheshires can just do this stuff naturally?” Abby nodded. Brady rubbed his chin as a sly smile spread across his lips, “Infinite pies? Teleportation?” He asked himself quietly, “We’ll figure something out,” He grinned mischievously at the cheshire, “I’ll just have to figure out what else you can do.”
    She laughed, “Well, once I figure out how to control any of it, I’ll be sure to give you all the pies you want,” She had a big smile on her face, probably one of the biggest in her life as she looked at the young man next to her, “H-hey, are we friends?” The smile turned a little more nervous.
    He blinked, “Friends? I don’t have many friends, especially here, so I’m down for that,” Brady smiled sadly. 
    Awkwardly, Abby put her fluffy hand on his shoulder, “Me neither,” She admitted, watching the color return to her purple fur. Not completely vibrant, but the color had come back somewhat. She slowly removed her hand from his shoulder.
    “Class is starting,” Brady mumbled, “Lets see what kinda pie I get today!” He threw his bag open and frowned as he saw no pie fly out of the bag into his face. He shrugged, “Oh well.”
    Abby couldn’t keep her laughter in. She stopped from worrying about what the future held for her and her friend.

---

Part 2

    “What are you up to tonight?” Brady asked as he and Abby sat on a bench, basking in the brief sunlight that the campus got.     “I gotta work tonight,” Abby sighed. It had been about a week of the two hanging out and studying together for classes in the library. Neither had make many strides on learning about the other person, both were too busy with work and classes, “Maybe we’ll get to hang out sometime soon?”
    “Come hang at my dorm whenever,” Brady shrugged, “Not like I’m doing much,” He held back a sigh, trying not to let his sadness flow.
    “Don’t look at me like that!” Abby chuckled, patting him on the shoulder. Both jumped as something in the cheshire’s hand buzzed. They both glanced at her open purple colored palm. There was a buzzer in her hand affixed with a band of leather. Abby and Brady both laughed at the absurdity of it. As a drop of something wet fell on her cheek, she quickly wiped it, afraid that she was crying. 
    “Looks like its raining,” He grumbled as the dark clouds rolled in, “Man. Bullshit that the sun won’t stay out for more than a few minutes.”
    “Too bad my magic can’t change the weather, huh?” Abby shrugged as she picked up her bag, “I better go to work. Have a good one, Brady.”
    “Text me on break, would you? I’ll need a break from studying,” He smiled before throwing his bag open, “Damn. No pie again. See you around, Abby.”
    Abby left her only friend with a small smile on her face that she knew wouldn’t last too much longer. She dreaded work and dealing with her mother.

    “Danny! Where is that peperoni with olives!?” Abby called from the front.
    “Right here!” Her sister slid it through the service window. 
    “Whew,” Her dad grunted as he returned from a delivery, “Huge party.”
    “Things are calming down here at least,” Robert, Abby’s younger brother grunted as he started wiping down the counters, “Two more pizzas right?”
Abby frowned as another delivery order came through. She hated working delivery, but she was the only one who could other than her father. It was the dinner rush and it was just finishing up. As the pizzeria was located in a college town, most of their sales were for parties and other get-togethers with those students, “A large meat lover with some soda?” Three or four people she figured, “Where’s it going?”
    “To the dorms of your school!” Her mom called, “You go, Abby.”
    “Moooom,” She whined.
    “Abigail Nermal,” Her mother scolded, “I know you didn’t pass out any of those coupons. But maybe you’ll know this person?”
    “Doubt it,” She huffed as she took her apron off and hung it on a hook. She grabbed a hat, purple of course, that she put atop her short hair.
    Her mother sighed, “Abby... Have you really made no friends at school?”
    She didn’t dare bring up Brady. Her bringing up a boy was asking for all sorts of trouble, “No. You know no one likes cheshires. Everyone is scared of me.”
    “Sweetie... Don’t say stuff like that,” The old werecat tried to grab her daughter’s shoulders to comfort her but the cheshire shook her off and backed away, “Abby...”
    “I’m going. I’ll be back whenever I’m done,” Abby said in a defeated tone before taking the pizza and soda and sulking towards her car. 
    The campus wasn’t too far away, but the thought of having to see one of her classmates was what was eating her up inside. It was painful enough having to work which was making her grades suffer already and had been even in community college. She didn’t blame her parents for not being able to completely pay for her to be able to go to college, she just wished circumstances were different. Working thirty hours a week and taking four classes was affecting her negatively. She was tired, stressed and the only thing she could think of was Brady wrapping her in a tight hug and kissing her on the forehead. She had no idea if he even liked her, but his friendship gave her a little bit of warmth when everything else felt bleak. She wanted to do something nice for him, but couldn’t think of what to do. 
She pulled into one of the parking lots and stepped out of her car. There was a light up sign attached to the top that screamed ‘Pussy’s Pizza Parlor’ in bold lit up red letters. Abby sighed and tried to get into her ‘customer service’ mentality as she started towards the dorms. All of the rooms in this dorm were connected by outdoor walkways, “Room 304,” She muttered to herself as she started towards the dorms, pizza in one hand and the soda in the other. She kept her head down, trying not to be noticed in her bright purple short sleeve shirt and jeans. 
Smile and be friendly, she thought to herself. Pray that there's not a picture of her ass on the pizza again, she grimaced at the thought. She climbed three flights of stairs and quickly located the room she was looking for. She set the soda on top of her pizza bag that kept it warm and knocked on the door, grabbing the receipt and preparing to face the customer. She stared down at the receipt, quickly grinning fakely as the door opened before her, “Hey! Your total is--” Abby stopped as she stared at a familiar face. 
    “Hey, Abby!” Brady grinned at her from the door.
    “B-Brady!” Her heart started to pound, making her lose her balance. She grabbed the pizza with both hands so as to not drop it.
    “I didn’t expect to see you doing deliveries!” Brady laughed, “How are you doing? Hope work hasn’t been too hard on you.”
    “Oh, its been great, hold on let me--” Abby gasped as the two liter of soda fell off of the pizza box. She could only watch as the soda hit the ground. It landed straight up, thankfully. A little shaken up, but fine. She started to laugh with relief as Brady stared at her, confused. In that moment, the cheshire’s chaotic aura activated. There was a loud pop as the top of the bottle shot off, spraying the sticky carbonated beverage all over Abby. She stood still staring down at herself. She was drenched. She felt tears welling in her eyes, horribly upset over embarrassing herself in front of her friend. She wanted to go home and lay in bed to die. She could feel herself slipping into her lonely pocket dimension. 
    “Abby!” She was yanked from the brink as Brady grabbed her shoulder, “Come in, let's get you cleaned up.”
    “O-okay,” The defeat was obvious in her voice.
    “Here,” She was handed a towel, “Showers in the bathroom back there. Hopefully my soap and shampoo works for you. Use as much as you need to.”
    “T-thanks,” She whimpered before stepping towards the bathroom.

    Abby sat on the floor of Brady’s tiny shower, letting the hot water flow over her body. At least the water hides my tears, she told herself. She didn’t want to go back out into Brady’s dorm to face him. She knew she had to. She had to be strong, but couldn’t find it within herself to be anywhere near as strong as she needed to be. With a sigh, she wiped off her face and grabbed some soap. Bringing it to her nose, she took a quick whiff. It was definitely the soap Brady used. She nodded, delighted to have the opportunity to smell like his soap. She quickly soaped up and rinsed off before going for the shampoo. It smelled like him too. Abby felt a little bad about the amount of shampoo she would need to use, but he did say to use as much as she needed to. After another round of soaping up and washing it away, the cheshire turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. 
A stool had been set inside the bathroom. On top of it was a change of clothes and Abby’s underwear. It looked like Brady had tried to wash them by hand and used something else to dry them. Did he iron them? She wondered. She quickly snatched up the clothes that had been left for her. A short sleeve shirt with the name of an absolutely ancient band on it that had almost been wholly washed away. The shirt was a little big for her, but hey, it smelled like her friend. She took a long whiff of his scent and as a reflex, a long, happy sigh escaped her lips. She again pondered the nature of her relationship with that man. She knew she was crushing on him, but what did he think of her? She didn’t dwell on it much. She was probably going to fast anyways. She picked up his basketball shorts, “Oh my god,” She mumbled to herself, obscured by the over head fan, “His DICK has been in these,” Almost salivating, Abby brought the shorts to her nose, making sure to huff the front. She caught the faintest whiff of his musk, “Ohhhh,” She moaned quietly, “Oh fuck, what am I doing?” She muttered to herself as she made a conscious effort not to get turned on. She slipped them on and took a few long, deep breaths to stay calm. 
    She stepped from the bathroom and into the main room of Brady’s dorm. He didn’t have much. A twin sized bed sat in the corner. There was a desk with a chair in another corner, a couch, a tiny coffee table that doubled as storage and a dresser that doubled as a TV stand, “Hey, Abby,” Brady got up and approached the depressed cheshire, “You feeling alright?”
    “Oh, yeah... I--” She cut herself off and shook her head, “I’m not alright.”
    “Come on, take a seat,” He waved Abby over to the couch and plopped down on the coffee table. He grabbed a slice of pizza from the box and started munching on it, “What’s up?” He asked with a mouth full of cheese and meat. 
    “What's up? What’s up!?” Abby snapped at him, “I just had that soda blow up on me because of my stupid magic!”
    Brady was unphased. He calmly blinked at her, “I’m not mad or anything, Abby. Is it because I laughed? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to upset you.”
    “No...” Abby sighed, “I’m sorry,” She whimpered as she took a seat on the couch, “I’ve got no friends, I argued with my mom today, I’m so stressed out. I just-- I don’t know what to do, Brady,” She started to break down, crying on her only friend’s couch.
    “Abby,” Brady moved to the couch with her, “I’m your friend, right?”
    “Of course you are!” She quickly tried to comfort him, her hands gripping his shoulders, terrified that she would lose him if she let go of him, “You ARE my friend! You’re... The only friend I have,” She started to cry again as she stared at her friend, “I don’t know what to do,” She sobbed as she put her head on his shoulder.
    “C-can I do anything for you, Abby? Do you need anything?” 
    She stared at him with her big, yellow, tear soaked eyes. She knew exactly what she needed, “Hug me,” She demanded in an uncharacteristically firm voice. 
    “Uh... Okay,” He reached out his arms awkwardly, unsure how to hug another person. 
    Abby leapt into his arms, forcing them under hers as she hugged him around the neck, “Braaaadyyyyy...” She wailed as a wave of happiness flowed through her. 
    “Take it easy! You’re gonna choke me!”
    Abby found it tough to let go, but eventually she stopped crying and got off of her friend, “Sorry...” She mumbled as she put her hands on her knees.
    “I-its fine,” He tried to hide how much he was blushing and grabbed the pizza box to hide his boner. Her breasts are huge! He thought to himself as he thought about how close they were to his face.
Both of them sat still, breathing heavily from the excitement. Abby glanced at him as he started to eat a slice of pizza, “S-since I spilled your soda, can I make it up to you in any way?”
“You uh... wanna split this pizza with me and just hang out? I-if you gotta go back to work, I understand,” He smiled sheepishly, “I’ve got some cans in the little fridge so don’t worry about the two liter.”
    “Well, its not my favorite kind of pizza but I’d love to hang out with you,” She had to fight with the instinct to cuddle up against him after she grabbed a slice of pizza.
“Hey... Your fur,” Brady noted. Abby gave him a confused look, “Its looking really vibrant. Did my shampoo do that?”
“Hm?” Abby found that he was right. Her light purple was vibrant, pretty even. The usual black was now a nice complimentary dark purple, “I-I’ve never seen this before...” She laughed to herself, “Thank you, Brady.”
    “Oh yeah... Of course,” He chuckled nervously, “For what?”
    “Being my friend,” He stared at her, dumbstruck, “Come on! Stop looking like that. Aren't we gonna eat this pizza?”

    Abby set down her controller and sighed, “This is bullshit, man.”
    “I told you! Mario Two is a load of crap!” Brady laughs.    
    “I wanna go back to playing Mario World!” She whined.
    “But I love this game!”
    “You just told me its crap!” She cried as she lightly punched his shoulder. He laughed back at her and downed some more of his soda, “You play it. I’m out. I’m not dying to that damn mouse again.”
    “I thought cats could beat mice easily?” He teased. Abby gave him a look that could kill as he brought the soda back to his face. 
She gasped as the soda shot out of the can into his face, “Are you okay!?” She cried.
He laughed and nodded, “Did you do that on purpose?”
    “Of course not. I don’t have any control, remember? But... I was glaring at you when it happened. Maybe I did do something,” She shook her head, “I’m not really sure. She grabbed her phone to check the time.
    “Who’s that?” Brady asked as he glanced at her lock screen.
    “Oh, my mom, me, and my sister.”
    “You’re the only cheshire while they’re both werecats then, I assume.”
    “You assumed right. I don’t know the exact details of my being conceived, but as I’ve guessed so far, my parents took a honeymoon to Wonderland. One thing led to another and poof! Here I am!”
    “Huh,” He pondered for a short moment, “Have you ever been back to Wonderland? I don’t even know if that would do anything.”
    “I haven’t been there, no. Should I go? Wouldn’t that just make things worse for me?”
    Brady shrugged, “I don’t know. Aren’t you cheshire cats like, guides or something for Wonderland? That has to be in your blood.”
    “Well...” Abby frowned and stared out the window. It was completely dark out now, the restaurant had to be closing down soon, “How do you know all this, Brady?”
    “Uh,” He swallowed nervously, “This, I guess,” He opened up a drawer of the coffee table, leaving Mario Two going unpaused. He retrieved a dusty tome from the back of his sock drawer, “Here. This was made pretty quickly after Mamano came to this world,” He handed the book to her. 
    Abby thumbed through the old pages carefully. He was right, the book was pretty old. While she had expected pro monster girl propaganda in the book, she found the opposite. Harsh, exagerated and overblown criticisms of nearly every monster girl species she could think of. Avoid the oni for their alcoholism and brute strength. Mice girls are timid and sweet so they should be tolerated. Soldier beetles are good fighters that will wholly devote themselves to a man, engage with at your own risk, “Where did you get this?” She gasped. The book was interesting, to say the least. Full of completely wrong information, called hellhounds a form a demon and numerous other errors from humans that didn’t know what they were doing.
    “Parents. They bought a few of them way back when. Followed it religiously then gave me one to follow just as religiously. I tagged the cheshire page,” He helped her open the book to the correct page. She skipped down the page, wanting to see what it said. Avoid at all costs it said in big red letters, “Never said I actually follow it at all,” Brady grinned, “But here, it says that cheshires are some kind of guide of their own hellish dimension. I assume that's Wonderland.”
    “But...” She frowned, “Maybe. Almost everything in this book is wrong. I don’t know...”
    Brady sighed, “Not like we have anything else to go on, right?”
    “Yeah, but--” Abby went silent as her phone made a loud noise. It shook as a phone call came through, “Huh? Oh, my mom’s calling,” She quickly answered it, “Mom?”
    “Oh, thank the heavens,” She sighed with relief, “Where are you!?” She snapped.
    Abby shrunk away as her mom shouted, “I-I’m at--”
    “Come back to the restaurant right now. I don’t want your latest excuse as to why you’re slacking!” She hissed.
    “B-but--”
    “You better not have lost the payment again, Abigail Nermal, or its coming out of your pay.”
    “O-okay, mom,” She hardly even finished speaking before her mom hung up. She wanted to cry again.
    “Abby?” Brady frowned at her. He had heard everything.
    “I-I have to go,” Abby mumbled as the vibrant colors left her fur.
    “Here. I haven’t paid yet,” Brady handed her a coupon he clipped out of a local paper and more than enough money to pay for the food he had ordered.
    “I-I can’t take it. I spilled your soda.”
    “You just owe me for next time, okay? I don’t want you mom to yell at you any more than she already has,” He gently took hold of her wrist and forced the money into her hand, “I’m sorry I kept you here so long.”
    “I had a great time, Brady. I just wish it could last longed,” She sighed. She looked at Brady as he silently offered her another hug, “I shouldn’t. I’ll never leave if I take it.”
    “Ah... Alright,” He sighed as he walked her out, “Uh, get home safe and text me later?”
    She smiled sadly as she stood on the walkway, the cold of the night nipping at her skin, “I will. See ya on Monday.”
    “Yeah...” Brady had a big frown on his face as he watched Abby slowly sulk to her car. He sighed as he watched her climb in before slowly leaving the parking lot. 

    Abby parked and slowly made her way into the rear entrance of the pizza parlor. Just like she suspected, the restaurant was closed down for the night. The cheshire pulled the door open, noting how dull her fur looked now. With a sigh, she walked into the restaurant, “Mom?” She called into the dimly lit building.
    The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as she heard her mother stomping towards her. Although she only wore soft sandals, the sound of them slapping against the bottoms of her feet made Abby shudder, “Young lady, where have you been!?” 
    “M-my friend’s dorm,” She meekly explained.
    “Abby,” Her mother sighed, “I’ve been worried sick for HOURS and you’re going to come back and LIE to me about where you were.”
    “I-I’m not--” Abby started to mewl.
    “Save it,” Her mother hissed holding out her hand sternly. Abby turned off her phone and put it into her mom’s hand, wondering when she’d get it back, “Where-- What happened to your uniform!?” She groaned, “Abby, did you lose it again? Did you steal some poor person’s clothes too? Again?”
    “I spilled the soda on myself.”
    “Abby...” Her mother trailed off once more with a long somewhat angry sigh.
“H-heres the money for the pizza,” Abby gave her the money and coupon that Brady had pressured her into taking.
    “At least you did that right,” She sighed.
    “I didn’t ask to be born like this!” Abby snapped, shouting at her mother, “I don’t WANT to be like this! I want to be normal!” She sobbed.
    “Abigail Nermal--”
    “DON’T call me that! Why did you have to name me that as some kind of sick joke!? Its done nothing but hurt me.”
    “Abigail!” Her mother snapped. Abby turned to look at her, the sadness completely obvious on her face as well as the pain of heartbreak, “I’m going home. Do the dishes then do the same.”
    “Mom,” Abby tried to call out to her as she felt a pang of guilt. She only watched her mom walk past her, both of them with tears in their eyes.
    “I-I’ll see you when you get home. L-lock up when you’re done,” Her mother reminded her as she choked back her own tears.
    Abby slumped to the floor, hugging her knees to her chest. There was a humming as she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she found herself once more in her own dimension. Lonely and purple, that's all it was to her. The manifestation of her loneliness and sadness. She sobbed on the ground, hugging Brady’s shirt close to herself for some form of comfort. It helped, even if it was a little bit. 

    Abby walked through the front door of her home. She still wasn’t sure how long she had spent crying, just that her face was stained with tears and that they still flowed, “Yo! Abby!” She heard Danny call as her sister came running from the kitchen to the little entrance hallway.
    “Leave me alone, Danny,” Abby murmured before going up the stairs to the second floor. Danny followed her up the stairs at a safe distance, watching her little sister retreat into her own room. Abby carefully took Brady’s shirt off and placed it over one of her pillows before changing into her sleeping clothes. 
    “Abby?” She heard her sister call again which she promptly ignored and climbed into bed, hugging the pillow covered in her friend’s scent. 
    “Is she in her room?” Abby heard her mother ask quietly.
    “Yeah...”
    “Let her rest,” Her mom sighed before sulking off.
    Abby thought of her friend-- Her crush, as she sobbed in bed, crying into his shirt.

---

Part 3

    Abby stood at the front of the pizzeria. She had a smile on her face but inside she felt nothing but pain and agony. She had no phone now, so she couldn’t even contact her only friend to comfort her. She had been getting earfulls from her mother all weekend over the smallest things. Maybe they were just small nitpicks, but Abby was not taking it very well. 
    “Abby?” Danny called out to her sister. She didn’t respond, “Come on, you don’t need to act like this.”
    “Leave me alone, Danny,” Abby hissed quietly. Danny’s ears flattened on her head and she stomped away, not wanting to deal with her sister’s bad mood if she wouldn’t speak to her without snapping. 
    Abby gripped the edge of the service counter as she tried to maintain some semblance of composure. Her thoughts quickly turned to ‘how much force does it take to destroy this counter’ and ‘would I get away with it?’ She stared at the wooden laminated counter and focused on her breathing. She hardly noticed as another customer approached, “Oh, sorry, what can I get for you?” She glanced up at the customer, “Oh! Brady!” She grinned as she gazed upon her friend.
    He smiled sadly, “H-hey... I just brought these for you. You left ‘em at my place,'' He placed a plastic bag on the counter. Abby quickly checked the bag. It was her uniform that she had spilled soda onto on friday, “I-I’ll see you at class,” There was some obvious pain in his voice.
    “Brady?” Abby felt hurt as he turned away.
    “D-Did I do something wrong, Abby?” He asked as he turned to face her.
    “W-what?”
    “You haven’t responded to me all weekend,” He glared at her, “I’ve been torn up all weekend over this shit.”
    “Brady, my mom took my phone on Friday after she yelled at me,” Abby quickly explained.
    Brady gave her a dejected look. He couldn’t believe her, “You’re in college and your mom still takes away your phone when she’s mad? I get lying to your mom, but lying to me? I’ll see you around,” He huffed as he stormed away.
    Abby watched him go, carefully taking the bag of clothes and putting it behind the counter. She couldn’t let herself cry while on the clock. She quickly glanced around. No customers nor her family had noticed. Her anger quickly ebbed away and was replaced with an intense sadness, “That was it,” Abby told herself aloud, “I messed it up. There goes my future...” Her daydreams of making Brady her man dissipated. She sighed and looked around again. She had to make this right. She couldn’t have him now, but there was no way she could live with him being pissed at her. She shook the sadness away, a new determination burning within her as she fixated on her job. 

    “I’m going on break!” Abby called as it started winding down in the pizza parlor. 
    Her father came to the front, “I’ll take over for you, dear,” He smiled, “Hey, are you alright? I know your mom’s been hard on you.”
    “I’m fine,” She said, hoping her dad would buy her lie.
    He didn’t seem to, “She just wants you to succeed. I really don’t think how your mother is handling this is right. But...” He trailed off, “I wish I could help you with these powers you have. I’m really proud of you for keeping it under control at the restaurant at least.”
    “Thanks dad,” She faked a little smile for him and hugged him back. She walked as calmly as she could into the back and stepped into the little staff room. It only had a couch, some tables and a few chairs. Abby knew she needed to get into the little cubbies by the kitchen. Her mom’s purse would be there and her phone had to be in it, “Invisibility,” She mumbled to herself, “Think, Abby. How do you turn it on usually?” She pondered for a minute, trying to recall the most recent time she became invisible. Did she say something as that guy ended up between the arachne’s breasts? Maybe she was feeling something? Embarrassed? Like she WANTED to be invisible? 
Abby stood in the break room for a few minutes, staring at her hands as she willed herself to become invisible. Despair and sadness swirled in her mind as she tried to figure out another strategy. She thought about how cheshires were usually depicted, goofy, joking and happy. She was happy once with Brady and she made something happen to him. Abby groaned as she tried to be happy. She struggled to make herself happy even while she thought of Brady. She returned to willing herself invisible. Eventually, she found success, “It was as simple as being happy and willing it?” She asked herself as she saw through her hands, “Well, as simple as being happy and cheerful can be,” The invisibility started to wane as her good emotions did. Hastily, she brought her good mood back. She thought of those pranks that her powers had been pulling. People slipping on banana peels and getting pies to the face. She DID find it funny, afterall. Even if at the time it happened she wanted to die. She giggled as she thought of Brady getting pied and then excitedly eating and sharing the pie with those around him. 
    She needed to use her invisibility now, she reminded herself silently. Hurrying, she quietly stepped out of the break room and made for the cubbies. Everyone was busy cooking or cleaning so they paid no mind to what little noise she was making. She reached her hand into her mother’s purse and felt for her phone. Too afraid to pick the whole bag up as it might turn it invisible along with her. She managed to fish it out and duck back into the breakroom. Now, how to teleport? She wondered. She was still in a good mood, she had grabbed the phone without incident. She didn’t have a clue how to teleport. She visualised herself in Brady’s apartment, maybe in his arms, cuddling with him, holding him. That's where she desperately wanted to be. She heard a quiet humming noise.
    “Oof!” Abby heard someone cry, making her eyes fly open. 
    She rolled off of Brady who was laying on the couch and landed on the floor, hitting her forehead on the carpet, “Ow!” She yelped.
    “Abby?” Brady cried as he curled up on the couch, startled by the cheshire’s sudden appearance as she phased out of her invisibility.
    “Brady!” She cried, getting up.
    “Why are you here? Going to ruin this night too?” He hissed. His eyes were puffy  and red and there was junk food strewn across his coffee table.
    “No, I’m here to make amends,” She turned on her phone and gave it to him, “I swear, I didn’t see your texts. My mom treats me like a baby because of my powers. I just wanted to come here and make things right between us.”
    Brady glanced down at the phone and watched as it received numerous texts he had sent her over the weekend, “I’m sorry, Abby,” He sighed as guilt wracked him. 
    The cheshire smiled sadly, “Even if I fucked it all up between us, I know I did, don’t lie and say I didn’t, I couldn’t live with you being mad at me,” She explained, her fur changing to a light and pleasant purple as she felt a little better.
    “No, I screwed up. I refused to believe you,” His lower lip quivered, “It's all my fault.”
    “No! No, no!” Abby got on the couch with him and curled up against him, hugging him tightly, “I get it. It's okay, I’m not super trust worthy. You were just upset with me.”
    “Yeah, but...” Brady trailed off as he hugged her back. He scratched the back of his head as he deleted the texts he had sent off of Abby’s phone. He was too embarrassed of his little melt down to let her see it, “I’m… Kinda glad you didn’t see my texts,” He chuckled nervously.
Abby smirked at him, finding his embarrassment charming. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped as her phone cried out in a jingle. She picked it up and brought it to her ear after she saw Danny’s name on it, “H-hello?” She mewled. Brady had a hand on her shoulder as he tried to give her some of his own strength. 
    “Abby!?” Danny shouted, her aggravation was obvious, “Where the hell are you!? I can’t-- I WON’T keep covering for you! Especially if mom is gonna shout at me instead!”
    “I-I--” She stammered, the color from her fur fading fast.
    “So she did steal her phone! Give that to me!” She heard her mother shout, “Abby!? I can’t believe this. Stealing your phone and leaving! What the hell are you doing? Abby, why aren't you here?”
    “I had to fix something. I was just about to come back. I--”
    “I don’t want to hear your excuses, come back RIGHT now. I am so mad at you!”
    “Mom--”
    “Abby!” Her mother snapped, “Come. Home. Now,” She hissed again. Abby couldn’t even defend herself before her mother hung up. 
    Abby curled up on the floor, the tears quickly flowing from her eyes as the humming returned to the air. Frustration and anger as well as sadness made her begin to cry. She felt herself teleported to that lonely realm again, free to cry at her own leisure. Of course Abby cried, just like she always did when she was here. Something seemed to be different this time though. She heard something, rousing her from her sadness, “Abby! Abigail!” Someone shouted. 
The Cheshire leapt up, “Brady...? Brady!?” She called as she wiped the water from her face, “Where are you?” She cried out.
    “Here! Abby!”
    She glanced up as she desperately searched for her friend. Brady floated in the air above her, desperately trying to swim in the air. He attempted butterfly strokes in the air, not accomplishing much other than spinning himself in confusion, “Brady!” She cried. She reached up to the boy, but he was just out of reach. She leapt up and managed to grab his foot, bringing the both of them crashing to the ground. The two lay on the ground, catching their breath before laughing together, “Brady, what are you doing here?” She asked as the two sat up. The cheshire touched his face, making sure he wasn’t hurt.
    “Where are we?” He asked, “This place is really... Purple,” He noted as he stared around the seemingly infinite plane, “Reminds me of you, because of the colors, I mean.”
    “I-- I come here when I get really upset. I don’t do it on purpose. B-but... How did you get here?”
    “I grabbed your wrist when you started to cry, Abby. I... don’t know how I got here with you, really. I knew you had some magic, but this is insane! I-In a good way, of course! If we got a couch, some games and maybe a little fridge this would be pretty cool.”
    “Why can’t anything go right for me, Brady?” She asked quietly as the two sat together, completely ignoring his awkward joke, “Why doesn’t anything good happen to me? It'sIts not like anyone likes me either. I should just stay here and vanish.”
    “Abby,” Brady had an obvious hurt look on his face, “I like you! What about me? What am I going to do if you vanish?”
    “You’ll find some other friends that are way better than me,” Abby huffed.
    “No!” Brady cried as he jumped to his feet, “Abby, what the hell are you saying? You thank me for being your friend and then you decide to up and leave? Why does what I want not matter to you now? I WANT to hang out with you! It's not just you that has no friends, I have no friends! I just have you! I don’t even have my family any more!” He wiped his eyes as he tried to keep himself from crying, “Abby, are you really just going to abandon me now that I need you?”
    The pocket dimension around Abby shattered. Her and Brady were in his apartment again. Abby looked at her dejected friend, “I thought you wanted nothing to do with me! I thought you hated me! I still want to be your friend!” The two looked at one another, tears on their faces. Both slowly started to chuckle, realising how ridiculous both of them were right now. The chuckle slowly built to boisterous laughter as they wiped their own faces, “Oh, god,” Abby giggled as she shook her head, her fur a vibrant purple now.
    “We’re both idiots, huh?” Brady laughed, “We cool?”
    “Yeah, we’re cool,” She smiled back before giving him a quick hug. Abby glanced at her phone after releasing him, “I need to go back to the restaurant. I’m gonna get yelled at and I’ll probably be stuck at home for a long time. Just... I’ll see you in class, okay?”
    Brady grabbed her hand as she turned away, “I’m coming with you.” 
    She shook her head, “I have to do this on my own.”
“No you don’t,” There was a fiery determination in his eyes, “Abby, you can’t do this on your own. Things are going to keep getting worse unless you let someone help you. Please, let me help you.”
    “Brady,” She smiled at him, “Thank you. I want to apologize in advance in case my mom makes you walk home.”
    “It's not THAT far,” He chuckled, “Don’t worry about me.”
    Abby took a deep breath as she tried to teleport them back.

    Abby opened her eyes and looked around, “A breeze?” She glanced up at the sky. It was purplish and orange as if it was dusk or dawn. They definitely weren’t in Pussy’s Pizza Parlor. Strange looking trees rustled in the breeze with leaves of the deepest purples and pinks and bark of matching hues. Strange heart shaped and juicy looking fruits glimmered with their rosy and damp skin. A babbling brook lazily flowed by, carrying oddly red and pink water. 
    “Abby?” Brady squeaked, “Where are we?”
    “I-- I don’t know,” She mewled, just as nervous as he was. Brady reached up and easily plucked one of the heart shaped fruit from the tree. He dug his fingers into the fruit and pulled it apart. The inside was soft and sweet smelling and was an appealing milky white color. With curiosity overwhelming him and the sweet and delicious scent tempting him, Brady slowly brought the fruit to his mouth, “No!” Abby shrieked as her instincts overcame her. She slapped the fruit from his hands and dragged him to the brook to wash his hands off, “If you take and eat the Wonderland fruit on your own, you’re going to be trapped here forever! Anything you eat has to be given to you by a Wonderlander.”
    “W-what? Wonderland? Is that where we are? How do you know that?” 
    “I don’t know! I can just feel it. It's in the air, the plants, this weird pink grass. Can’t you hear it? That laughter all around us?” She looked around as she heard snickering again.
    “No? Can we just teleport out of here?” Brady asked, “I’m really hating being here.”
    “Of course. Here,” She grabbed his shoulder and closed her eyes again. She visualised herself in the restaurant along with Brady. She opened her eyes and was still amongst the purple foliage, “Why isn’t it working?”
    Brady sighed, “We gotta find another way out then?” Abby nodded sadly, “Well. You’re my guide, right? Let's get the hell outta here.”
    “R-right...” She trailed off and offered Brady her hand, “Stay close to me, alright? We need to find a road and get outta these woods.”
    “Okay,” He put his hand in her’s, “I trust you.”
    Abby took a deep breath and took one step in a seemingly random direction, she felt it was right somehow and started to skip. Brady followed her, walking quickly behind her, “Skip!” She demanded, “We can’t just WALK through Wonderland!” Brady groaned but started to skip in sync with the cheshire. Abby could hear a song, she wasn’t sure if it was in her head or around her, “Do you hear that?” She asked Brady.
    “I-I think so. Abby, I wanna go home,” He whined. The music sounded discordant and strange like a jazz jam session that was going so wrong it was sounding like rock mixed with classical.
    “It sounds wonderful,” She smiled as she sped up her skipping. She was heading directly toward the music, much to Brady’s displeasure. She hummed along to the song as if she had heard it before. Brady couldn’t feel what Abby did, she could feel them almost bending the space around them as they skipped, as if they were literally skipping over chunks of land as they headed towards their destination. To him, all these trees speeding by were the same. He just felt ridiculous. Abby stopped skipping as they neared a clearing, making Brady stumble, “I have to talk to the jabberwock.”
    “The what?” 
    “I-I’m not really sure to be honest. Shush,” Abby quieted him down. She stepped out of the underbrush, still clutching her friend’s hand so as to not lose him. The two approached a wooden tollbooth with its placard and strawberry red barrier down. The music was coming from there. Two monster girls, a teal colored worm lady, and pink harpy stood outside the tollbooth playing instruments. The harpy played the sax and the worm played a standing bass that seemed a little too tall for her. Inside the booth was a type of lizard or dragon girl with dark red and purple scales that played a piano. It was large enough for her to sit at, but didn’t look like it should be able to fit inside the booth. Brady struggled to stay calm as the music that pained his ears so was played. Abby cleared her throat, “Hello!” She called into the booth. The monsters playing music stopped and stared at Abby, “Could you please let my friend and I pass your gate, please?”
    “Hmmm...” The dragon trailed off, disinterested.
    “I dunno if we can let you pass,” The worm girl grinned, “Maybe for a trade?”
    “I won’t give you my friend,” Abby hissed.    
    “Even if he IS really cute, that's not what I meant,” She smiled almost devilishly.
    “Abby,” Brady whispered, “Let’s just walk around this thing,” He gestured to the side in the grass where the tollbooth didn’t block the path.
    “Oh? You wish to stray from the path?” The dragon woman growled as she climbed out of the tollbooth. She squeezed out of the window, a feat thought impossible when Brady saw her stand at her full, near gargantuan height. She towered above the boy at around eleven feet tall and muscular, “Boys who stray from the path get their pelvises bruised violently,” She warned with a threatening tone and a bit of hunger in her eyes.
“Either that or the Queen of Hearts will shriek ‘off with your head!’” The worm lady giggled coyly.
    “N-no, of course I’d never stray from this wonderful path!” Brady hastily squeaked, seeming to shrink under both their gaze. 
The jabberwock puffed air out of her nose. Satisfied with his answer, she stretched the window open like it was made of rubber and stepped back into her booth, “That’s too bad, I really wanted to put someone in the prisoner fruit wiggler today.”
    “T-the what?” Brady whimpered in fear. His gaze was directed to a machine full of the heart shaped fruit he had almost eaten earlier. It jostled the fruit to and fro in a mech container that hardly looked like it could fit him. He was sure the massive dragon woman would find a way to cram him inside anyway. 
“Naughty boys get put into the prisoner fruit wiggler every now and then,” The worm giggled.
Abby put a paw in front of him defensively, “You said you wanted a trade? What can we do for you?”
    “What we need,” The worm girl kept smiling, “Is a drummer!”
    “A drummer! Yes-yes!” The harpy squawked as she approached.
    “Yes,” The dragon from inside the tollbooth nodded, “Ever since we got these instruments we’ve been looking for a drummer,” She gestured to some underbrush that moved aside revealing a full drum set.
    “Me?” Abby mewled weakly, “I don’t have any rhythm...”
    “Well, until you bring us a drummer--”
    “I’ll do it,” Brady stepped forward, “I played drums in middle school. I’m only doing one jam session then you let us through, alright?” 
    “If I like your music, then maybe,” The dragon girl huffed as she returned to her piano, “You, cheshire. Sing.”
    “M-me!?” She was shocked.
    “All good bands have a singer-musician!” The harpy announced.
    Brady sighed as he got on the drum set. He gave Abby a weary smile, “Here goes nothing,” He started to drum, the rhythm slowly coming to him as he tried something jazzy, a 4/4 time signature with a simple fill every so often. The girls joined in, their music a little less discordant than it was before, but it still sounded completely random to Brady. Abby swayed with the rhythm and sung quietly, finding it in herself to sing.
    “Sing with your heart, not your brain,” The dragon ordered. Abby nodded and blushed as she started to sing about ‘a boy’ in her life and how much he meant to her.

    All in all, the jam session lasted about ten minutes but to Brady it felt much longer. He grimaced as he twirled the drumsticks in his hands, “I’m not bleeding from the ears right?” He grumbled at Abby. He hadn’t been able to control the flow of the band at all and each of them had done their own thing.
    She laughed as did the other band members, “You play a mean-angry beat-beat,” The harpy squawked happily. 
    “You sure you don’t wanna stick around for more?” The worm asked. 
    He shook his head, “We’ve gotta get home.”
    “I almost forgot!” Abby cried, “I forgot we have to get to Pussy’s Pizza Parlor! My mom’s gonna kill me! How long have we even been here!?” Brady shrugged in response. 
    “You two better skedaddle,” The dragon huffed sadly as she opened the gate, “Oh, take the drum set with ya, why don't you?”
    “Not like any of us can play it,” The worm giggled.
    Abby and Brady both shook their heads, “I insist,” The dragon growled before stretching the window open, stepping out and loading every part of the drum set in Brady’s arms. Amazingly, he could carry all of it. Carefully the two stepped under the barrier as it was raised. The dragon closed it behind them, “Come back and jam with the band some other time, alright, kid?”
    Brady grunted as he struggled to carry the heavy instruments, “Sure, if I ever make it back.”
    “Brady, we need to hurry,” Abby warned as she took his hand and led him along the path. The two waved goodbye to the Wonderland Jazz Band and skipped quickly to their next destination, the drums and cymbals pounding and crashing as they went, “This has to lead us somewhere,” Abby mumbled before stopping for a short moment to help Brady dump the heavy percussion instruments into the undergrowth on the side of the path. It was slowing them down and they didn’t have time to spare. The two hurried along, both now in a good mood as they continued to skip over the path. Eventually, they came to another roadblock.
    An ornate table was set up in the middle of the road with three people sitting at it. A woman in a tall purple hat wearing a gaudy outfit that was just as purple as her hat, a pink rabbit lady with incredibly fluffy legs and a sleepy looking mouse girl all sat at a table. The two wakeful ladies dashed back and forth, sitting in different chairs as they sipped on tea and ate cookies. The mouse girl was face down on a loaf of bread using it as a pillow while she slept. “Are you sure it’s today?” The rabbit asked.
“Of course it’s today! It’s nearly every day-- Unless…” The hatted woman gasped, “You don’t suppose today IS her birthday, do you?”
“Excuse us,” Abby interrupted. 
The rabbit and the woman in a hat turned to face the cheshire and her friend, “You’re not Alice!” The woman cried.
    “Yes, yes, we’re waiting on our friend Alice to celebrate her unbirthday party!” The rabbit girl whined, “Quite rude showing up to a party uninvited.”
    “Yes, rude indeed,” The hatter huffed as she poured herself another cup of tea.
    “Rude!” The mouse girl shouted as she woke up for a moment, revealing that she had been nibbling on the bread she was using as a pillow. She glanced around for a moment before thumping her head back down onto the table, fast asleep.
    “But--” Brady started.
    Abby swiftly put his hand over his mouth, “Oh, my apologies for being so rude, but you see, it's OUR unbirthdays as well!” 
    “Oh!” The hatter smiled, “Well, then you simply MUST sit down with us!” 
    Brady gave Abby a tired look but she still made him sit down with her. She sat in a plush chair and he sat in a flimsy wooden folding chair, “So, uh...” Brady trailed off, “The tea smells nice,” He mumbled.
    “You think I smell nice?” The rabbit laughed and blushed before sipping more tea.
    “Here, darling, have some,” The hatter placed a cup on the table and picked up a kettle. She poured the tea between her cleavage and let it pour out of her sleeve into the cup in front of Brady, “And some for you~” She did the same for Abby.
    Brady looked completely confused but Abby merely smiled, “Thank you very much,” She gladly sipped on the sweet tea. Brady didn’t want to drink it, but not wanting to be ‘rude’ he brought it to his lips. In a flash, he noticed his cup had been swapped out for an empty one. He glanced at Abby who gave him a sly smile and a wink.
    “You! Boy!” The mouse suddenly woke up, “Eat!” She demanded as she pushed a dish of cookies to Brady, using all her body’s length to get it there before falling onto the table, zonked out once again.
    “Uh,” He frowned as he looked at them. Everyone at the table looked at him expectantly except for the mouse who was snoring bubbles into a teacup she had landed in.
    “Here,” Abby picked one up and offered it to him, “I’m offering to you so you should be safe.”
    He smiled nervously, “Alright, but only because you offered it,” He took it and nibbled on the cookie, “Uh, tastes good.”
    “Oh, but you haven’t even tasted me yet!” The horny rabbit giggled, hiding her blushing face. 
    Brady shuddered violently, “I feel kinda... Weird,” Abby watched in awe as her friend got taller, maybe a few feet taller and crushed the flimsy chair under him. He sat on the ground, staring down at himself now about nine feet tall, “Uh...” 
    The hatter, the mouse and the rabbit all howled with laughter at their little prank, “It’ll wear off,” The cheshire explained with a little giggle at his expense. 

    The tea party continued. Abby sipped on the tea that Brady found to be scarily questionable as he just sat around. He was a normal size now-- mostly, it seemed like he had gained an inch or two. He still refused to eat or drink anything else. Abby looked at their hosts, “If you don’t mind, my friend and I need to get going.”
    “You’re leaving?” The hatter whined, “You’ll be late for tomorrow’s unbirthday party!”
    “Well, I’m sorry but we simply must be going,” Abby stood to leave, “It's getting quite late.”
    “Late?” The rabbit mused as she pulled an oversized clock from her pocket, “Huh, my clock doesn’t say it's late!”
    “Your clock is wrong, dummy. You must have had cock on your mind instead of ‘clock’ when you last reset it,” The hatter huffed.
    “Cock!? Oh, I must have set it to cock o’ clock!” She laughed as she threw the clock over her shoulder, “Well, I think yours is wrong. If you’d stop huffing tea like it's going out of style, maybe you would have it right! I can’t read your clock's hands from its feet!”
    “Well! I never!” The two started to argue while the mouse continued to sleep.
    “We should go,” Abby grabbed Brady’s hand. He nodded with relief. 
    Everyone froze as they heard a whistle, “Oh, shit!” The mouse cried, her head shooting straight up from her teacup, “It's the fuzz, cheese it!”
    Abby and Brady looked into the woods as a line of playing cards walked out. They quickly encircled the table, “Act calm, we’ll be fine,” Abby told Brady.
    He watched as armored women stepped out of each card. Each girls’ uniforms were themed on the suit of card they came out of; their height and age depended on the number of the card they stepped from with twos being the shortest and tens being the tallest. One stepped forwards, a seven of hearts. She cleared her throat and presented a scroll which she unfurled. It was comically long, at least thirty or so feet, “By order of the Queen of Hearts, those that block the paths of her kingdom without a permit will have their heads removed post haste!”
    “W-well, you see--” Abby looked for the hatter, the rabbit and the mouse. Each had vanished in an instant, “It's not our party!”
    “Nice twy, cwiminal shcum,” A two of clubs huffed, barely standing up to the cheshire’s waist.
    “No one here but you two!” A four of diamonds pointed at them.
    The seven of hearts puffed out her chest, “Well, what about your litter?” She held up one of the cymbals from the drum set, “That earns you at least an hour in the prisoner fruit wiggler!”
    “Abby,” Brady looked at her with fear in his eyes, “I don’t wanna be put in the wiggler! You’re the guide, what do we do!?”
    “Come quietly,” One of them ordered.
    Abby looked at the table. The cookie Brady had nibbled on was still on the table. She snatched it up and quickly downed the cookie. She suddenly hoped that eating all of it was safe. The trumparts all stopped as they watched Abby shudder and shake. She grew to a massive size, knocking the table and many of the card ladies aside. Most started to shriek and panic, unable to fight the massive cat. Abby purred as she played with her prey, batting them around as she scared them off. They screeched and screamed as their spears did nothing to pierce the playful and smug purple cat’s hide. Eventually, they dispersed, their morale broken and most of them crying.
    “Nice one, Abby!” Brady smiled at the twenty five or so foot tall cat.
“Looks like the fruit wiggler wasn’t… in the cards!” Abby snickered at her own joke, earning a groan from Brady. She reached down and plucked him up in her hand, letting him sit in her palms, “You’re so small!” She laughed before moving him to her shoulder, “Hold on,” She started to skip down the path, doing her best to not knock any trees down.
    “Where are we going?” He asked her, “You seem like you know.”
    “The factory, I think. See it?” She pointed out on the horizon where a few smoke stacks billowed weird colored smoke.
    “That... Looks a little out of place,” He tilted his head at it.
    “Don’t think too much about it. It's what we’re here to see. I can feel it.”
    “Well. You are my guide. Let’s get over there, I guess.”
    It wasn’t long before Abby felt herself start to shrink. She hastily removed Brady from her shoulder and set him down. Quickly, she shrunk to her normal size, just a little bit shorter than her friend, “Okay, come on,” She took his hand again and started to skip in sync. Brady panted as they arrived at the factory, “Are you alright?” She asked him.
    “A little winded is all. All this skipping is hurting my legs,” He huffed and puffed as Abby took a curious glance into the window. She saw a factory line making numerous pies and placing them into boxes. Mamano of various races worked tirelessly on the conveyor belt. Every so often, a girl would pick up a pie and throw it at another sparking a massive pie fight that only died down once there were no more pies, “What's all this?” Brady asked as he joined her.
    “Those are the pies from my pranks,” Abby mumbled, “I-- I just know it is. Look, the banana peels,” She points to a group of monkey girls with pink or purple hair all pulled bananas from an endless supply, unpeeled them, ate the bananas and put the peels into other crates, “The source of all my problems,” She mumbled to herself as she saw the joy buzzers, water sprayers, and other various practical --or impractical--  joke products being produced, “I-I just have to burn it down and I can be normal...” She told herself, her vibrant fur turning dimmer and dimmer with each passing moment.
    “Abby?” Brady frowned at her, “You are normal. You’re you!”
    “No I’m not. I’ve been a freak my entire life. It's why my mom yells at me so much and why I mess up all the time. I’ve had no friends because of how I was born,” She stared at the factory. ‘WONDERLAND ACME FACTORY’ it read on the side, “I’ll burn it down. I’ll burn it all down.”
    Brady grabbed her as she started to unconsciously phase into her pocket dimension, “Abby, don’t say stuff like this!” He begged as they stood in the purple void. 
    “I’m just a freak, I’d be better off gone. You’d be better off finding another girl and putting babies in her,” She started to mewl.
“You’re not a freak! For fuck’s sake, Abby. I know I’ve been whining all day, but I’ve had such a good time with you in Wonderland and back at home! A-and what you sang during that jam session. I-I know you mean everything you said. I--” He got choked up on his tears, “Don’t you get it!? I wanna marry you! I love YOU Abby. I love the YOU that I see right now. If you torch this shit you’re not gonna be you. You can do all these amazing things, things even casters wish they could. You have wonderful and fun powers that I’d hate to see you lose them.”
    “B-Brady--”
“I wanna... Marry you and put babies in you. If you still want to disappear or stop being you still, I’m going to disappear with you,” He offered the purple cat his hand.
    Abby took it, staring into her friend’s eyes as he tried and failed to hold back his tears. He pulled her gently close to him before she wrapped her fluffy arms around his neck, “B-Brady,” She stammered before breaking down again, “I love you too,” She pulled back from him, just a little bit to look him in the eyes. His arms were wrapped around her waist as her big fluffy hand touched his face. Her instincts took over. She grabbed the nape of his neck and pressed her lips to his, forcing him to the ground as she assaulted his mouth with hers. Both of them hardly noticed them warping back to Brady’s apartment, plopping onto the couch as the cheshire continued her assault. Her hips grinded against his as she tasted his tongue.
    Brady once wondered if the rough tongue of a cat would be unpleasant to kiss. He found himself enjoying the ticklish feeling. He pushed Abby away from him as her grinding was bringing a pressure in his hips to a breaking point, “Abby!” He cried as she desperately tried to kiss him more, “Y-you’re gonna m-make me...” He trailed off nervously.
    “C-cum? Do you want that? Y-you can cum anywhere you want on me!” The perverted purple feline moaned, starting to undo his pants.
    “I-I want to wait. U-until we’re married.”
    “What if I just touched you? M-maybe I can just watch and encourage you? You could blindfold me and I could just smell it, I-I’ll even clean up after you!”
    Brady shook his head, ignoring the throbbing member in his pants, “A-as much as I want you to, I’m sticking to that.”
    Abby sat on the couch, leaning against him. She withheld every bit of her horny for a few moments as she touched his face, “Of course. I’ll try to restrain myself.”
    “Thank you for being patient with me, Abby,” He kissed her on the cheek, making her start to pant again and blush beet red.
    “C-can you touch me at least?” She begged, “I-If you don’t want me touching you that's fine but I NEED those hands one me,” She panted, “J-just kiss me and play with my breasts, please!”
    “A-Abby...” He trailed off nervously.
    “I’m sorry... I’ve just been daydreaming about this for so long now. I’ll try to calm down.”
    “Thanks,” He gave her a little smile and tried to relax. 
Abby laid herself across his lap, “W-will you rub my tummy at least?” Brady sighed and nodded, not really seeing anything wrong with it. The cheshire purred loudly as her friend rubbed her bare stomach. In repayment, she scratched him under the chin and caressed his face, “So... Are we... Dating now?”
“I guess so,” He laughed, “Otherwise that kissing would be a little weird.”
    Abby smiled at him before kissing him again, “I’ll get in those pants one of these days and make you my husband,” She threatened, “But I’ll wait till you’re ready. How about--” Abby leapt up, “The restaurant! Oh fuck, how long has it been!?” She grabbed her phone and checked it, “O-only twenty minutes!?”
    “How!? We were in wonderland for what felt like an entire day! Maybe a week!” Brady shouted back. He shook his head, “That doesn't matter! We gotta get to Pussy’s!” 
    “Pfft,” Abby laughed, “Pussy’s.”
    “ABBY!” He cried.
    “Okay, okay,” She grinned before kissing him again, “Let’s go.”

    Abby’s mother wiped down tables in the seating area. She was fuming at her daughter, but she had no idea how to reach her. She hadn’t ever acted out in the past, but all of the sudden she was getting worse. Usually something would happen that inconvenience everyone, but now Abby seemed to have some kind of intent on what she was doing. The old werecat sighed and wiped her eyes, “What happened to my little girl?” She asked herself, “Where did I go so wrong?”
    She nearly jumped out of her skin as there was a somewhat loud humming noise. Hiding behind one of the tables, she watched where the noise was coming from and soon someone appeared from thin air. It was her daughter and-- A boy? The two materialised in the middle of the dining area, both falling over as they landed, “Ah!” She yelped as she hit her head on a table.
    “Abby!” The boy cried as he rushed to help her, “Are you hurt?”
    “No, I’m fine,” Abby grumbled as she was pulled to her feet, “But... Could you kiss it? Right here?” She pointed to her forehead. 
    The boy sighed but nodded and swiftly kissed her on the forehead before giving her a hug, “Okay, what's the plan?”
    “I dunno... We just go back there and talk to my mom, I guess,” She shrugged, “Hopefully she’ll believe me now. But I don’t think anyone will ever believe us about our Wonderland adventure.”
    He nodded, “I’m with you, alright?” He gripped her shoulders and smiled at her.
    Right before her mother’s eyes, Abby’s dull purple fur brightened, almost to a bright purple with the black turning to a dark violet, “Thank you,” She sighed, taking his hand, “I just hope-- Hi, mom,” Abby chuckled nervously as she quickly spotted her mom. She dropped Brady’s hand.
    “Abby? Who is this?” Her mother asked as she carefully stepped towards them.
    “Oh, you must be Abby’s mom,” Brady nervously stepped forward and offered his hand, “I-I’m Brady. Nice to meet you. So you’re the, uh, Pussy on the pizza box, right?”
    She laughed as she shook his hand, “No, I am not. It's just a generic cat on it.”
    “Really? But the- the P-Pussy is so cute! L-Like y-you and--”
    “BRADY!” Abby shouted, shutting him up as he started to embarrass everyone.
    “Why so embarrassed, Abby?” Her mother asked as she laughed at the boy’s awkward attempt at flattery.
    She quickly tried to change subjects, “I haven’t been lying to you mom,” She insisted.
    “She spilled soda on herself on Friday when delivering that pizza and I gave her my clothes,” Brady added, “I brought her uniform back to her today.”
    “A-and he was mad that I never responded to him this weekend since you took my--”
    “Sweetie,” Her mother interrupted her, “You never told me you had a boyfriend!” She laughed.
    Abby felt a rage burst forth. “You wouldn’t have listened to me!”
    “Abby,” Brady grunted at her, “Calm down. You’re not gonna make anything better by shouting at her.”
    “I-I know...” 
    “Abigail,” Her mother sighed, “I’m sorry. I should have believed you. I’m just so hard on you because you know how your grandparents are. They were so hard on me just because they loved me and wanted to see me succeed. I just wanted the same for you, really.”
    “I forgive you, mom,” Abby smiled as she hugged her mom. The two both sighed with relief as they seemed to make peace with one another.
    The two split apart and Abby was looked up and down by her mom, “Look at my little girl. All vibrant and happy now. Who knew all you needed was a boyfriend! A really cute one too!” She laughed as she pinched Brady’s cheek. He grumbled quietly but didn’t fight against her, “You working, Brady?”
    “Working? N-no...” He frowned, “Struggling to find a job.”
    The old werecat hurried to the front counter. Her other daughter, son and husband were all staring at the three of them, “Back to work! Stop staring! I want to be out of here on time!” She snapped at them. They all quickly disappeared into the back. Brady and Abby both followed the werecat in confusion, “What size are you? Medium, large?”
    “Uh, a large one just to be safe?”
    He hardly caught the red apron and red shirt that was tossed at him, “You seem like a nice guy, but if you’re gonna date my daughter, you gotta work in the family business. I need another pair of hands around here. Plus, you’ll get to work with my lovely daughter. I’ll be able to give Abby here a few less hours so you have more time for school. You start Tuesday. Wear slacks or jeans for bottoms.”
    “U-uh...”
    “You better agree,” Abby warned him, “She’s not a person to turn down.”
    He sighed, “Alright. I-I’ll try my best. But I want this in purple.” He held up the apron and uniform, “Y’know, to match?”
    She nodded, “I’ll get you one or two. Don’t worry about how you’ll perform. If Abby can do it, anyone can!” She laughed.
    “Moooom!” The cheshire wailed in response to the teasing.
    “Alright, alright, I’ll calm down. Why don’t you two go back to Brady’s? I wanna see some purple grandkids before I die!”
    “He wants to wait, mom,” Abby explained timidly.
    “Then go back to his place, and start planning your wedding! We gotta get in talks with Brady’s parents and figure something out quick.”
    “I’m... Not on the best terms with them,” He stared at the floor, “I don’t even know if they’ll show up.”
    “Oh, sweetheart. You poor thing,” She touched the boy’s cheeks and smiled softly at him, “Well, plan for them anyway, you never know! For now, we’ll be your family. Abby! You better take care of him!” Her mother wagged a finger at her, “I made him sad so take him home and cheer him up any way you need to. Danny!” She shouted into the back, “Get these two some bread sticks and one of those cookie brownie things!” 
    “You got it!” Danny cried as she started getting them ready. 
    “I’ll help clean up while we wait,” Abby tried to walk past her mom.
    “No, take Brady with you and go home and get some stuff for the night,” Her mother ordered.
    “You want her to crash at my place?” Brady asked, a little taken aback, “I-I’m not opposed! But I’ve never seen a mother so adamant about this.”
    “Oh, sweety, you don’t know many monsters, do you? It's what my parents did with me and it worked,” She shrugged.
    Abby offered Brady an outstretched hand with a mischievous smile on her face, “You look like a bonafide Cheshire cat with that smile, Abby,” He chuckled. 
    She dropped the smile, “D-do you not like it?”
    “It suits you. You look cute when you smile.”
    “Aren’t you two adorable!” The old werecat beamed.
    “Okay, mom be back soon!” Abby hastily grabbed Brady and teleported both of them to her room. 
Brady collapsed onto the bed and panted wearily, “That went better than I expected,” He smiled, “Got a job and I get to keep you. Glad your mom seems to like me too.”    
“Sorry if she’s being really pushy. She’s so controlling,” Abby sighed as she threw some clothes in her backpack and grabbed her school stuff.
“She cares, Abby. More than my parents do. I’m kinda jealous.”
    “You won’t be jealous for long. She’ll start doing the same to you.”
    “Maybe I’ll just get her to fret over me instead of you.”
    “Go right ahead, you’ll regret it,” The cheshire warned. She got up and kissed his forehead, “But thank you. Better you than me,” She took Brady’s hand and teleported both of them back to the restaurant. 
    Her mother was waiting for them with the food in her hands, “Here,” She gave them to Brady, “Guess you don’t need the Pussy Wagon anymore, huh?”
    “I guess not. I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on this teleportation stuff,” The cheshire smiled, “It's the family’s Pussy Wagon anyways.”
    “Abby,” Her mother smiled, “I’m proud of you. My little girl got herself a cute boyfriend, does good in my restaurant and gets good grades! When I was your age, I could only do one of those things,” She laughed, “Anywho. You two have fun tonight. Feel free to grab a soda, Brady, since my clumsy daughter spilled yours and all.”
    Brady nodded and grabbed one right before Abby teleported them again to his apartment, “Oh thank god it's all over,” She cried as she fell onto the couch.
    “Are you tired from using your magic?” Brady asked as he started digging into the breadsticks.
    “Not really. Just emotionally taxed. Can I play Mario again?”
    “Play anything you want,” Brady sighed as he leaned back to relax, feeling just as taxed as her, “Oof!” He grunted as Abby plopped down onto his lap.
    “You make a good chair, Brady!” She giggled as she started playing video games, “I love you!” She reminded him as she settled in.
    “Yeah, love you too,” He sighed.
    
    Abby thanked a customer as she took their payment. She sighed, content with the work she was doing, “Abby!” Her mother called as she came to the front with four pizzas in hand, “Got an order for you to deliver!” 
    Abby nodded, “Got it! You’ve got things under control up here?” She asked a small kobold. She was her little brother’s girlfriend and had quickly started working in the restaurant after they had started dating.
    “Of course, chief!” She nodded with her tail wagging violently.
    Abby stepped into the staff room where her husband was working on his laptop, “Hey, I’m stepping out for a bit. You alright?”
    “Just thinking about college again. It's been four years since we met, remember?” He showed her a picture taken shortly after the two had started dating. Brady’s first day on the job. 
    “Reminiscing, hm?” She sat with him, “You’re supposed to be doing the accounting.”
    “On break,” He smirked, “Wonderland delivery?”
    “It's band night, remember? They still ask about you,” Abby giggled, “They wanna put you in the prisoner fruit wiggler!”
    “Well, now I’m definitely not going. Tell ‘em I said hello, alright?” He smiled, “And good luck, dear,” He gave her a kiss for the road and adjusted her dark purple colored marriage collar for her. She grabbed the necklace she wore with his wedding band on it and adjusted it.
    “Be back in a few,” She smiled and kissed him on the cheek before leaving. With a deep breath and a hum, Abby vanished and appeared in the now familiar Wonderland. She appeared near the factory, the one that made all the practical joke products. They were going through renovations, a smaller building was being set up nearby. Onis and other tall mamano unloaded gear from a delivery truck with a baby bottle and a binky on the side. Abby touched her stomach. She wasn’t swelling yet, but she knew she would soon. With a few skips, Abby made her way to the Wonderland Jazz Band’s building and toll booth. She passed the mad hatter, the excitable march hair and the sleepy dormouse. Each had their own husbands now. All six at the table, which was now sitting off the road, waved at Abby as she passed. Abby arrived at the house where noise streamed from every crack in the foundation. The Wonderland Jazz Band’s jam session was in full swing. The jabberwock, wonder worm and jub jub all played their instruments while three men played alongside them, “Heyyy!” Abby called as she entered the band room.
    “Heeeeey!” They cried back in friendly greetings. The men were the three girls’ husbands. Abby had led some of them here herself. She was glad they didn’t resent her for it, even if one or two of them had gone into the fruit wiggler.
    She placed the pizzas on the table for them which were quickly examined for errors, “Looks good,” The wonder worm smiled before paying the cheshire. 
    “You ever gonna bring your hubby back here?” The jabberwock asked as she picked up her personal large pizza. “The wiggler’s open.”
    Abby shrugged, “We’re both super busy. Sorry. I’ll talk to him about a vacation here at least. We’re overdue for one.”
    “Come visit-see us if you do!” The jub jub grinned before the cheshire left, “I’ll try to make sure he doesn’t go in the wiggler-shaker!”
    Abby easily teleported back to the pizza place. She plopped onto the couch next to Brady. At one time, that would have startled him, but he was almost immune to it now. Abby leaned on her husband and wrapped her arm around his, “Shouldn’t you get back to work?” He chuckled.
    “Nah, on break,” She smiled and cuddled up against him, “Love you.”
    “Love you too,” He settled in, letting her use him as a heater before she went back to work.
    “Have you put any more thought into my mom’s offer to help us make our own Pizza Parlor?”
    “I have. Maybe when we have kids we could. Are we going with toxo-pizza-mosis for the name?” He smiled at her.
    She laughed, “Cheshire’s Cheezey Pizzey was what I was thinking. We’ll ONLY call it pitza and we pull a roulette for your toppings whenever you order. You don’t get to pick,” She smiled.
    “That sounds like REAL hell,” He groaned.
    “And our slogan would be ‘the CHEESIEST pussy around!’ Whadda ya think?”
    “A-Abby...” He sighed, glad he only had one cheshire to deal with-- at least for now.