INTRO.

[ultrapenumbramods]

You wake up feeling like you’ve had a rough night’s sleep… maybe a bit jet-lagged, if you’re familiar with the feeling, or perhaps like you, uh, had a little too much to drink last night. Either way, you’re probably not expecting to wake up in a forest clearing, so that might be even more disorienting. It’s not an unpleasant place to wake up, mind. It’s sunny, and there’s a pleasantly cool breeze blowing through. The grass isn’t tall enough that you could get lost in it or that someone could be hiding in it… or something.

There are, in fact, a lot of somethings surrounding you--a veritable menagerie of creatures, some of them adorable, and some of them intimidating… but they seem to be as disoriented as you are. And then, well… you realize something’s a little off about yourself. There’s no pond to look at your new appearance, but… maybe the ground’s a little closer. Maybe you don’t actually have arms and legs at the moment. Maybe you don’t have eyes anymore?

Regardless, something’s definitely up. Fortunately, there’s a path leading out of the clearing, so once you get your bearings and speak with some of the other weird critters you’ve woken up with, you can find… somewhere you can get answers. Well, hopefully, anyway.

Comments

[meteorman]

[Oof. Even without visible ears (how is he hearing, anyway?) that's a lot of Yell. Ford flaps his way over, still a little ungainly with wings he isn't used to yet, and hovers well clear of those big chompy teeth.]

Hey. Hey! Panicking isn't going to make this easier to adjust to. Take deep breath and count backward from ten.

[After having known Dipper he's a little better handling at panicking youths, but not by too much.]

[castlethrasher]

What? Who's there??

[Susie's head whips around to face the bizarre new voice. She's glad someone's at least tried to talk to her, but she's also angry and afraid. Unfortunately, the new voice sounds just out of reach, and thus frustratingly difficult to chomp (though that doesn't stop her from trying). She'll have to fall back on diplomacy.]

Shut up!!

[So far so good.]

I don't panic!! I just. Like screaming at the birds! Gotta assert my dominance.

Now, where the hell am I?? Do you have eyes? Come closer so I can.. borrow 'em!

[meteorman]

[Ah, good. This person takes the Stanley approach to the unfamiliar, which is 'get grumpy and fake confidence until it works'. Good, great. Now Ford know a little better how to proceed. Beyond just gaining another foot or so in height juuuust to be sure he's out of bite range.]

I like my eyes where they are, thank you.

[Eye. Technically. But he's had two all his life so the plural just slips out naturally.]

Have you been blinded?

[That's... alarming. A lot more alarming than having to adjust to being an orb with wings, he imagines, using the single braincell he recently developed that handles stuff like 'imagining how other people must feel'.]

[castlethrasher]

[She hears the slight fluttering of wings (wings?) and the sporadic biting attempts subside. Coward.]

You could say that. 's more along the lines of I'm missing my eyes entirely, actually! It's super rad. Don't suppose you've got any spare on you?

[She seems to be calming down. Still pretty aggressive, but. Slightly less so. She was kinda worried she'd be stuck here alone, so this is at least a marginal improvement.]

So, uh. Which way to Pri- er.. King Lancer, pops?

[That's certainly gonna take some getting used to saying. She might as well go find the little gremlin now that's she's at least somewhere in the Dark World. If anyone can figure this mess out, it's... well, probably not him, but someone else in his castle.]