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> STRANGER, CHURCH OF SOMETHING
You don’t know me, I’m sure, so I will keep this letter as breef as possible. I am from NORTHRRN BLACK SPACE, at the town we call HORIZON - I’m not sure what you have called our town, but it is the place with the many HEROs, KELs, BASILs, AUBREYs, and MARIs… you can’t miss us.
But I have somerhing that I think you would like to see or you woukd be inyerested in. And SOMETHIMG.
My workshop afdress is 412 LILY LANE. I look forwzrd to seeing you.
Please forgive any spe;ling mistakes, my sight is not the best in the world. And these tyoewriter keys are clpse together.
Sincerely,
ALGERNON
“That’s it ?” STRANGER raises its eyebrows, turning the yellow-papered letter over to make sure there was nothing on the back. This was … a turn of events. Another thing to put off going to HEADSPACE.
LONGSNOUT shrugs its wings apologetically. “I’m sorry, sire,” it says, tapping its pouch of mail with a feathered finger. “That’s all. We don’t get many messages from HORIZON, so I’m just as surprised as you are. I met the original messenger halfway through my rounds - a small, energetic KEL who was more fur than skin. A rabbit, I think. Called me down and told me to deliver it straight to you, so I did.”
It nods absentmindedly. ALGERNON of HORIZON. Not familiar to me at all. “Do you think I should go? I am interested,” it says, more to itself than to anyone else. LONGSNOUT just stares at it. “I have things to do here, though, but I’m curious.” STRANGER draws itself up, running a hand through its hair. “LONGSNOUT, send for LIONHEART - he’s down at the LOST LIBRARY helping KEEPER. Tell him I need him to watch over while I’m off - I’ll tell FACECLUSTER to take care of the place until he gets up here.”
LONGSNOUT falls into a deep bow (STRANGER thought it told them to stop with the formality), quickly turning around, ducking through the small doorway, and flapping off into the main church hall.
STRANGER is still staring down at the letter, though. 412 LILY LANE. 412 LILY LANE… of course, it was going to keep the letter with it - it just thought it should keep that address in mind.
For once it looks away from the letter on the desk, turning to look at AUBREI next to its bed - she’s giving it as skeptical of a look a one-eyed deer can give, as if to say You’re not seriously considering this, right?
“What’s the harm?” it asks, giving her a hard look back. “SOMETHING will be interested, too. Besides, I need to get this little town mapped out - I’m not sure how we’ve missed it yet. Uh.. you don’t mind if we use you, right?” its look turns wry and it can tell she sighs, but simply nods instead. AUBREI was its main way of transportation (and she didn’t mind, generally, as long as she agreed to it. but lately she was more nervous, more… worried.), and with her being the size of a small horse, she could easily carry two people. SOMETHING wouldn’t mind.
-
“And you’re sure this is worth it?” SOMETHING calls from in front of it, holding onto the deer fiercly as she bounds through the forest. It notices that she’s not sightseeing or looking around as she might normally do - she’s looking forward, eye screwed shut.
“I hope,” it chuckles. “I’ve got you if you fall, you know - if you need AUBREI to slow down just tell her. She’s not trying to knock you off.” it smiles, perfectly fine on the back of its friend. It doesn’t need to steady itself on her - it keeps its hands on SOMETHING’s waist so she has the extra support. It casts a glance out to the left of it at the choppy waves hitting the edge of BLACK SPACE, water being sent up and disappearing into a sea spray. They had taken the EASTERN BORDER because of the GRAINGELS on the west side - they didn’t particularly feel like dealing with them today.
“AL-WHATSIT better have good reason for this,” she mumbles, daring to open her eye and peer over the edge of the deer once. “I have terrible motion sickness. What’s that note say again?”
“He has something that he thinks we’d like to see,” it responds simply. It doesn’t want to pull it out right now, in the unfortunate accident that the ocean breeze knocks it out of its hands, but it has it near memorized. “Asked for you and me specifically, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind AUBREI.”
“Hm,” SOMETHING more-or-less agrees. “We’ll see.”
AUBREI makes quick work of the terrain - her legs pump as she makes haste in rythmatic leaps. The ocean was soothing to it - it liked the noise of the waves, the look of the blue ocean against the fade-into-indigo backdrop, with the stars barely visible. Of course HEADSPACE wasn’t visible here - it was enveloped in a heavy fog anyways, and if you went out far enough into the ocean that’s what you would find.
It hesitates - but then, what was that? Past the fog?
“AUBREI,” it says, voice loweing as it pats its friends side. AUBREI tosses her head back to look at it, but doesn’t break stride once. “Slow up to a stop. There’s something - something in the water.”
“What?” SOMETHING demands as her bounds gradually stop, to where she’s finally at a slow trot. “Why are we stopping?” she opens her eye and dares to glance around, blinking quickly. “We’re not going to up and run again, are we?”
“No,” it says, hardly paying attention to SOMETHING anymore. “Out there past the waves - can’t you see that?” it squints, pointing a black finger in the direction.
“See what?” SOMETHING snaps, but as her face turns to the water, it’s obvious she can, too, judging by how quiet she is.
Just through the fog, a dark shape was rocking with the waves. It was easy to miss at a first glance - just another rock jutting out in the ocean, or a trick of the light. But this was no mirage - this was a little boat rocking gently on the waves, clear as day could be (which, to those in BLACK SPACE, was impossible to imagine unless you could remember it).
“LIONHEART was right,” it breathes out, voice lighter than a feather. It hops off of AUBREI carefully and takes a few steps to where the land juts down into the churning water below. “There are things on our border.”
“Glad you’ve finally stopped sticking your nose into those other two and can finally see it,” SOMETHING says dryly, sliding up next to it. STRANGER shoots her a look, but she doesn’t say anything snappy back. “We’ve seen a few of these. Some farther out, but the majority of them on this border. No one has passed the fog yet,” she says, running a hand through her frizzled hair. “But it doesn’t mean they won’t .”
“We’ll keep an eye on it,” it bites its lip in thought. Many eyes, assuming LIONHEART also keeps his on the situation. Knowing him, he will. “Don’t suppose that’s our ALGERNON friend, do you? But I don’t think that - I mean, a BLACK SPACE inhabitant would know better than to go off like that.” it answers itself, turning back to go back to AUBREI. “But that’s absurd.”
SOMETHING just shrugs. “I don’t know. I’ve stopped trying to find out the answers to impossible things long ago.”
“That’s what makes you so charming,” it rolls its eyes, giving AUBREI a pat on the neck as she eyes it, concerned. “Your blatant pessimism about everything. Really lifts the spirits.”
“As if there’s any to be lifted,” she snorts, climbing up onto the pink blanket that worked as a saddle. “If I was a ghost I’d fuck off anywhere but here.”
“That’s the spirit ,” it responds as cheerfully as it can, hopping up behind her. AUBREI lets out a low huff, taking a few steps forward before casting a glance out to the water herself - the little ship is no longer there, as far as any of them can see. No longer visible, STRANGER wished that could ease its mind - but if anything, it made it more wary. Don’t worry about that right now, it shuns itself. We have something else to worry about.
-
It wasn’t exactly hard to figure out where the town was. The first clue was the docks that jutted out of the land, swarming with activity - a few vessels anchored down bobbed on the murky, foggy waves peacefully (but too big to be what was on the water earlier, it was sure), and it thought it could see a house or two. The most interesting thing of all, though, was that HORIZON was made up of mountains.
That was how it had flown under the radar, for the most part - mountains jutted out of the land, pointing toward the sea like sharp, rugged claws. Trees and other sorts of wild foliage grew off of the stone-ground, trailing down where the little town of HORIZON was in a nice, safe swampy cove.
It was obvious, even from the outside, that there was little danger here. Paper lanterns hung from moss-draped trees, decorated in ornate designs and intricately drawn lines - an egret orchid blooming here, a painting of red hands swarming up out of the sea there. Flowers bloomed along the ground, lights flickered further past in the forest where voices rose conversationally - no one speaking in hushed, worried tones like they would have anywhere else.
SOMETHING moves closer to STRANGER, now that they were off of AUBREI and simply walking side by side. “They wouldn’t know a snake if it bit them,” she hisses into its ear, and it catches a slight whiff of her syrupy smelling breath - the remnants of the quick snack one of the nuns had made before they left. “They’d walk all over it before they even realised there was a lick of danger.”
“Stop that,” it hisses back as the undergrowth begins to thicken and the area darkens. “We’re moving into their town perimeter, and I don’t want them to think we’re rude or uncivilized. This isn’t RESPITE or the CHURCH OF SOMETHING.”
SOMETHING simply rolls her eye and shrugs, but quiets as PYREFLIES begin to flicker in the foliage, sending messages to their buggy friends as they pass on light-based patterns. As the ground underfoot turns marshy, sinking the two travellers every-so-slightly more with each step, corrupted frogs chirp and bounce away in alarm.
“Ugh,” SOMETHING growls, pulling her muddied robe up. “This is going to take forever to wash out.” STRANGER gives her no verbal answer but simply nods in agreement.. and then the town is upon them.
At first it was just lights in the newly-settled fog - it had assumed they were bugs, too, but the shape of a dock loomed in front of them out of nowhere, and now that it focused it could hear the voices of people, the noises of footsteps on the docks, and even the distant arguing of a KEL and AUBREY, it thought.
It squints, eyeing throughout the bayou before glancing to SOMETHING and AUBREI. “I think we go further inland, closer to the mountains. There has to be some way up on the dock, unless they’ve developed fins and gills and live under water.”
AUBREI nods, jumping off ahead of them and sending water up and onto STRANGER, who simply sighs and shakes the muck off. It couldn’t complain - it didn’t blame her for wanting to get out of this swamp. Newly alert about the possibility of new dangers, it scans the waters for the glinting eyes of an what might resemble an alligator or the lure of an ANGI - clusters of LILLI weren’t uncommon in lily pads, but it didn’t see any yet
Trudging up onto mud (the closest thing to solid ground), it finally begins to spot people - or, well, what resembled people. A half-finished structure of packed mud and clay were built between three close trees, an abnormally tall and slender HERO smothering a laugh as a conjoined AUBREY and KEL tussled with each other in front of him. Another HERO, this one with a twisted ankle, his face covered in scars (and only one eye present), with features that looked like that of a BASIL (hair and build) looked on with a tired smile.
In an instant something dashed between SOMETHING and STRANGER, nearly running over AUBREI - a little creature that looked like an AUBREY (albeit very small) with folded back mint, butterfly-shaped wings and fuzzy yellow antenna calls back a “‘SCUSE ME!” as she darts about, flapping her wings to gain momentum as an abnormally cold force blasts past them a second after her, this time a little blue-and-white toned KEL who creates slushy mud below him as he steps. STRANGER stares after them as they’re enveloped by the dimly lit fog, turning to SOMETHING who nearly lets out a mutter it doesn’t catch.
“Looks like they know what they’re doing here,” it says finally. “I didn’t expect HORIZON to look like this.”
“Typically, people’s expectations of us aren’t really met,” a new voice greets them. It jumps, AUBREI whirls around to face the newcomer, fur bristling, and SOMETHING, if shocked, showed no indication of it and only turned to face them.
In front of them stands someone who looks .. a LOT like SOMETHING, but one side of her face is pure white to show a single eye and half a grin. Long, shaggy black hair drapes down the other side and down her back, her body in a dress robe similar to that of its friends’. Her voice is silky, oozing, and near hypnotic, but it doesn’t detect any malicious intent behind it.
“Hey,” she says, not even batting an eye at SOMETHING. “I’m MARI. or NEVER-MARI, as some people call me. I don’t mind - not like they’re wrong. You three are new here -” now she looks at them each, and STRANGER thinks she keeps her gaze on SOMETHING a bit longer than the other two. “Looking for someone, or banished here like the rest of us?”
It meets her eye, raising its chin. “An invitation.”
“How fancy,” her grin widens. “Right. Well, if you need anything, ask around. We don’t bite.” and then she’s off, in the direction of the base of the mountains. The three stare after her for a long moment, before STRANGER finally shakes itself.
“Right. Let’s move, then.” it decides, taking the lead and finally following after where the AUBREY and KEL ran off to, more lights gradually lighting up the damp, gloomy atmosphere. On the jutting docks, some dutifully built wooden houses stood out of the water on strong foundation, various little signs written on them or someone outside conversing with another. The docks were full of people, but one thing that was sure was that the newcomers gained attention .
People would glance at them and quiet down to hushed tones, now talking about them - STRANGER, SOMETHING, and AUBREI stuck out like a sore thumb with how darkly coloured they were, considering that STRANGER hadn’t seen the first pitch black being yet. Various whispers were heard concerning them ( “is that a BASIL?”, “poor BASIL and MARI.. don’t deserve this”, “look like they’re tired. what’s that animal?” ), with loud topic changes about other things while their eyes still trailed the newcomers.
“You’d think they’d take a picture,” SOMETHING growls not-so-quietly, shooting a hostile glance at the nearest KEL (who didn’t try to hide his wonder, eyes wide and curious) and sweeping it across all their watchers. “If they’re so interested in watching us.”
STRANGER bites its tongue, resisting its urge to snap at her. Instead, it takes a deep breath and gazes at the audience they had conjured, full of various shades of the darkest purple to the brightest yellow. “We’re looking for - for someone called ALGERNON. Can anyone help us?” it says, holding itself up as it registers the other’s looks.
Pure silence - before finally a, “That lunatic? Probably holed up in his workshop like he always is.”
“Really?” this time it’s a… vaguely MARI-shaped thing that asks, but her entire hair is covered in faces of MARI, but her actual face was looking at the AUBREY who had made the first statement. All of her faces are different, some looking at STRANGER and the other two, some looking at the AUBREY. “I thought that crazy old nut was on about some new guys out by the lily groves. What he said to me last time I was there.”
“Why do you go to him, anyways?” a BASIL with various dark tentacles poking out of his body at his head, for his arms, and off of his legs calls languidly from a chair outside of a house, with a similar-looking (yet more brightly coloured) AUBREY and KEL sitting next to him. “He’s got a rodent-wheel for a brain.”
“Yeah,” chimes in the KEL, who’s tentacles are pink and yellow rather than dark, before the MARI can respond. His hair is a dark pink-purple in comparison to the BASIL’s pale blue and the AUBREY’s mint green. “ Our experiments are far more efficient. Hey, mister!” he says, now turning his gaze onto STRANGER, giving it a grin. It shudders inwardly at being called a mister . “Why don’t you ditch the rat and come to us instead?”
“Your experiments aren’t even ethical !” an AUBREY cries, her face twisted in outrage and her two long, pink ponytails frizzled up. In one hand she holds what looks like a mace made out of a stick, string, and golf ball with pins stuck in it. “What happened to my sweetheart when he went to you?”
“Calm DOWN lady,” the KEL snaps back, now also bristling. He steps up out of his seat and turns to look at her, where she’s leaning on a lamp post. “Not our fault he went missing the day after he came to us! I won’t disclose if it WAS or not, but he didn’t even like you! He was BEGGING to get away from you!”
“Hey now, hey,” a HERO shoulders himself past a few onlookers, up to the three who looked rather bewildered amidst the sudden fight. He sounded normal, but he didn’t look it - out of his head, through his hair, was a sprout and his hands and feet faded into a diluted brown colour. “Don’t scare the new people away.” he faces those around him with a stern look, although not exactly mad. “For HEADSPACE’s sake, have none of you ever seen someone new? Go on! Mind your own business! You can ask them about themself later , after they’ve spoken to who they need to. Go on, get!” he snaps when his words do nothing.
STRANGER catches the KEL roll his eyes and sit down with a huff, crossing his tentacles. The AUBREY (mint green hair tied in a bun on the lower back of her head, with actual hands and tentacles rising up from under her puffy dress and legs) leans forward and whispers something to him, which causes the BASIL to bring one tentacle to his mouth and laugh, while the KEL frowns and glares at her. But the HERO had seemed to make his point - the watchers began to (slowly) move on their merry way, but glances were still shot at them as the hubbub returned.
The HERO now glances down at STRANGER, then has to look up at SOMETHING (as she was two inches taller than him), then back down at AUBREI with a smile. “Hello you three. Sorry for the fight back there - they’re always at each other. SHORTFIN, SWORDTIP, and SEA WASP have trod on everyone’s tails.” he glances over to them as he says their names - BASIL, KEL, and AUBREY. SLIME GIRLS , it registers in its mind. MOLLY, MARINA, and MEDUSA. AUBREY MEDUSA is an interesting choice, it catches itself thinking, but I can see KEL MARINA. MOLLY BASIL…
“It’s fine,” SOMETHING answers for it, snapping it out of its thoughts. “Some people just need to learn to mind their business. About that ALGERNON guy, you got an idea?” she asks impassively, as though she’s not bothered, looking down at him. She shifts back and forth on her mud-soaked feet, leaving smudges of brown on the wood below her.
“Everyone here does,” he explains. “412 LILY LANE. I’ll show you - he doesn’t actually live or work out here,” he continues, beginning to walk down the main dock. “He and a lot of others live inside the mountains - we call them DREAMER’S MERCY - if they can’t make out here work. We don’t mind, and besides, the caves in there are big and airy. Perfect for having homes in. Oh!” he stops abruptly, putting a hand over his mouth and looking back at them. “I completely forgot - my name’s BIRCH.”
STRANGER nods, glad to be out of the cesspool of hostile, aggravated thoughts. “I’m STRANGER, this is AUBREI, and this is-”
“SOMETHING.” SOMETHING cuts in flatly. “I can introduce myself.”
It stares at her incredulously for a moment. What’s her issue? I wasn’t trying to upset her. AUBREI looks at her, too, blinking a few times before turning to give STRANGER a troubled look. It simply gives her a curt nod and runs its hand down her neck in a comforting pet.
“STRANGER, SOMETHING, and AUBREI,” BIRCH muses. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but are you three a BASIL, MARI, and a…” he trails off, giving AUBREI a long look as he steps onto the solid ground, beginning to take them down an illuminated path. “Well, judging by your name, AUBREY?”
STRANGER elbows SOMETHING before she can speak, not bothering to return the blazing glare she gives it. “I used to be a BASIL. I was OMORI’s first - SOMETHING here isn’t a MARI, she was formed after the true DREAMER’s fear and guilt, and AUBREI used to be an AUBREY before she was mutated into a DOROTHI. There’s tons more like us back at where we come from - the CHURCH OF SOMETHING.” FACECLUSTER would love this place , it realises with a jolt. The people here are like them.
“The CHURCH OF SOMETHING,” BIRCH echoes, curiosity in his voice. The path they were taking branched off in various directions, houses still thrown up with others outside. This place seemed better than the water-town - two MARIs, one who was a steely-blue colour with glowing blue eyes and what looked like joints, and another who looked to be melting with two misplaced dot-eyes waved at them as they passed. The little bug AUBREY from earlier was sitting in a tree, swinging her legs back and forth as she chatted to a KEL who’s entire lower, centipede-like half hung down and met the ground.
“It’s kind of like this place,” STRANGER says, matching pace to walk right next to the HERO. “People there have befriended and work with one another to make things possible. Not everyone finds it easy, and most have their own opinions about what I do, but we don’t mind. It’s safe for everyone there.”
“It’s safe here, too,” BIRCH agrees, waving to a particular white-toned BASIL with wings and a tilted halo who was tending to a flower garden of what STRANGER thought was bellflower and heliotrope. They look up from their flowers (although not actually look , it notes, as their eyes are closed) and, after a second, send a wave back. “Everyone is at peace - well, if you’re not those four from the bayou-town, that is. DREAMER’S MERCY protects us from the resets and from anyone malicious - most don’t think about what the mountains may carry. A legend around here is that they were formed from three strokes of OMORI’s knife, brought to fruition to protect us from his further attacks.”
STRANGER blinks, considering this. This place was so different from RESPITE and the CHURCH - they didn’t have any sort of mythology like that there. Then again, they were the ones who had built both of them up - not the CHURCH, actually, but the furnishments inside of it. The CHURCH was there when it had arrived. “OMORI is no longer here,” it decides to say instead of commenting on the myth.
BIRCH whirls around to face it, eyes wide. “ What ?” he asks, genuinely stunned and taken aback by the reveal. STRANGER simply dips its head.
“OMORI is gone. He and the DREAMER have seen the truth and, together, chose to face it. They will no longer bother HORIZON or the rest of BLACK SPACE.” it says, bringing its head back up to look at him.
“Well I’ll just be,” BIRCH says, following the path to where it finally enters a cave. Firelight hangs from the high-up ceiling and directions are put on each wall, branching paths. “ALGERNON theorised that something had happened, but everyone thought he was insane. That’s generally the reaction to him now - but there is wisdom and intellect in what he says. LILY LANE,” he murmurs to himself, looking at the directions. “LILY LANE is a part of the production district, where markets and such are. Which means it’s closer to the entrance than most of the housing districts. This way!” he takes a sharp turn right, the three nervously sticking to the wall as people passed them. In the hall, market stalls are carved out of the stone - natural formed groves fitted with wood that acted as a counter, colourful displays of goods or services offered by people. STRANGER inwardly cringes, not a fan at all of how filled the hallways were - it wasn’t claustrophobic, but it didn’t like when several people pushed it into a crush.
Throughout the bustle it could make out a few shops - a KEL that had long, green hair with a singular curl at the front had drawings of various styles set out on display and was passionately working away on a drawing of what looked like a blooming rose. A bigger cleft in the rock housed a HERO who had a set of blue spines running from the top of his head to his short, fat, white-fade-into-teal tail. Behind him, fish hung on a fishing rack and he de-scaled one on a butcher’s table with his sharp claws before depositing it in a bucket next to him.
The patrons consisted of a wide range - the tiniest HERO and the tallest KEL to what looked like a KEL wearing a hat and goggles carrying a basketball kite. BIRCH didn’t stop to look at any of them (and neither did the bustling group of people look at them ), and simply proceeded down the long hall, weaving between clusters of AUBREYs and MARIs, groups of HEROs and KELs. Toward the end of the hall the crowd seemed to thin out just a bit, where the shops which were not active were.
“ALGERNON doesn’t get many visitors, so he’s in his own little quiet corner. Oh, no, we didn’t make him go there,” he adds, apparently noting the unfriendly look SOMETHING gives him. “He chose it there. Your business with him is not mine, so I’ll leave you three alone.” he smiles and tentatively reaches a hand out to AUBREI, who sniffs it and hesitantly rubs her snout into it. “Go this way,” he pulls away from AUBREI and points down a hall which led the district further into the mountain. “and take a right, then a left, and then another right. The tunnels down there are … natural-formed without any help from us. Stalactites and stalagmites and underwater rivers will be much more prominent - same with glowing algae and various mushrooms. It’s not dangerous, the way I gave you - there’s a marked path. You’ll just have to see the wonders.”
STRANGER dips its head to him. “Thank you, BIRCH. We will remember your kindness. May the DREAMER be in your favour,” it says diplomatically, bringing its head back up as AUBREI lets out a farewell bleat to BIRCH, who slips away into the group of people again with a final wave.
SOMETHING pushes past it, already on her way down the cave hall. STRANGER stifles a sigh and follows after her, AUBREI behind it as the three travel in a single file line. It’s not sure what it’s done to upset SOMETHING - as far as it was aware, virtually nothing. It had apologised to her about MEIDO and UNI - it had . She had just shrugged it off and said it was ‘no big deal’, but it knew better than that. They had hugged it out and had left it at that. STRANGER was sure it hadn’t done anything to piss her off now, and it wasn’t going to ask her.
Lost in its thoughts, it jumps when it hears a low rumble in the distance. It was dark in the narrowed passageway and AUBREI kept glancing around nervously, her noose-tail tucked between her legs and her ears pressed back. Even SOMETHING had slowed up just a bit, and sometimes it would catch her eye dart back at them and then forward again.
“So,” it says, unable to take the silence any longer. “What do you think we’ll find?”
“How would I know?” SOMETHING snaps at it, glaring back at STRANGER with a fire so intense it stops dead for a moment.
“I don’t know,” it responds, sheer flabbergasted. “I just thought you might have an idea that’s better than mine.”
“Well, I don’t.”
AUBREI snorts out a sigh and STRANGER has to catch up to her, only to stop as the cave opens up in front of them once more - even SOMETHING doesn’t try to stifle her gasp of surprise.
The path was so slim against the wall, and opposite of that it abruptly fell down, down into the tumbling, rushing river below. Stalactites that jutted from the ceiling were covered in dimly glowing lichen, and the rocks that were visible just below the river provided an eerie, multicoloured glow to the roaring water. Opposite of the river, the cavern yawned open, providing a view to several pools of water that had natural ore veins inside or surrounding them - a beautiful purple-dotted rock here, a yellow one there. Glowworms dotted the ceiling all the way down to the further caves the trio couldn’t see, as if the stars from HEADSPACE were present and shining down on them.
“This is the closest we’ll ever get to HEADSPACE,” STRANGER hardly dares to breath, completely mesmerised by the experience. It sets itself down carefully on the ledge, letting its legs dangle over the side as it takes in the view. The longer it looks, the more it notices - bioluminescent flowers peeking out of cracks, prominent by the water pools which, evidently, trickled into the river anyways. Purple and white morning glory lookalikes with dusted-on yellow shine, a cluster of crocus flowers that sparkled, bushes that were decorated with glowing moss…
AUBREI sets down next to it, also gazing out at the vast cavern, her eye twinkling. SOMETHING lets out a gruff sigh and also sits down crisscross, looking down at the river.
“Are you mad at me?” it asks after a long few minutes.
“Yeah,” SOMETHING responds after another moment of silence. “I am. Not just you though, I guess.”
It’s quiet.
“Can I do anything to help you?” it tries.
“I’m tired of being seen as nothing but MARI,” she finally hisses, bunching her dirty dress up in her hands. “I’m sick of it. I’m not MARI. I never was her, and I never will be her. And I think about what you said about how I was just like her, always expecting everyone to be perfect.” she casts it a dark look. “I don’t. We’re not perfect. I’m not perfect. I can’t be this MARI stand-in everyone wants me to be. That NEVER-MARI from earlier - the way she looked at me said Another me . She thinks I’m just like her and her stupid lineage of the piano-player. I hate it. Every newcomer at the CHURCH asks me if I’m MARI - people whisper about me. They think I don’t notice it, but I do. I always see it and I always have to suck it up and act unbothered. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of them doing it where you don’t see it and can’t do anything about it. I don’t even know how to play piano. I don’t even know the DREAMER’s real name. I don’t know how to read the lyrics to that stupid duet or how to tell a flat from a sharp. I don’t know what to do anymore. That HERO assumed I was a MARI. All I could think is I wish you would ask me. I wish you wouldn’t assume who I am or where I come from. People outside of them exist, I just don’t think they know it. They don’t stop to think about anyone else’s. Will I ever be seen as anyone other than just an extension of her ?”
STRANGER and AUBREI are silent. AUBREI is still as a statue and STRANGER has to think. “I’m sorry,” it finally settles on saying, as it can say nothing more. “I should have noticed and said something. I’m sorry.”
“Thanks.” is all she says. “We need to get this visit with ALGERNON over with. Come on,” she says tersely, pulling herself up and dusting her dress off, frowning down at the mud which has crusted on it. AUBREI pushes herself up next to her, shaking her pelt off, and STRANGER follows more slowly, taking the lead as they continue down the small path, until finally the first sign of life is spotted.
A house.
A little wooden house built into the stone, planters hanging from the jutting out roof and a firelight hanging on each one. A compact door with a stained-glass mosaic window is shut, a sign hanging on the doorknob.
STRANGER steps forward cautiously to examine it, having to look down to see the door itself. The sign reads ALGERNON’S EXPERIMENTS AND ENIGMAS (we’re open, just walk in!) .
“I’ll stay out here,” SOMETHING blinks. “This place is nice and all, but that looks small. I don’t think we’ll all fit in there.” she eyes the door for a moment, sizing it up, and then looks back out to the river. AUBREI nods in agreement and presses her snout against STRANGER’s shoulder, moving over to SOMETHING and sitting down next to her.
STRANGER just nods. “Call me if you need me. Don’t hesitate.” it says, and opens the door slowly, having to duck just a bit before stepping into the dimly lit room. A bell rings as the door closes behind it, and it can hear rummaging noises and can see various clutter around the room - books stacked unevenly here, papers on the floor there, a desk with a lamp on it which holds down even more papers. Two side rooms seemed to be present, one labelled LABORATORY and the other BEDROOM , both with dark purple dyed curtains acting as doors.
“Coming! I’m coming, hold on,” a shrill voice calls from the LABORATORY room, followed by various little curses muttered as the curtain is shoved aside. His eyes move from his coat (which he were dusting off) to STRANGER, instantly lighting up. “Oh! You actually came!”
In front of STRANGER is the smallest HERO it had ever seen.
He was tiny . Maybe just about four-foot-one, but one hundred percent four-foot at least . His nose is pointed outward a tad and pink, and his hair is messy and frizzled up. Two tawny-coloured ears poke out of the top of his head, twitching back in surprise. His eyes are a bright orange, sparkling with interest at the sight of STRANGER from behind his small spectacles, his long, slender pink tail twitching excitedly. His hands and feet faded into furry gray paws. “Oh, wow. I really didn’t expect you to show up. STRANGER, is it not? This will be so very very embarrassing if it isn’t.”
STRANGER blinks at him. “Erm - yes, it’s STRANGER. You said you had something I would … like to see?” it asks, pulling the neatly folded up letter out of its pocket, handing it over to the little rodent to see.
“Yes, yes, yes, I did . I must say, you’re more yellow than I’d imagine,” he says, moving his spectacles down as he takes the letter and squints at STRANGER. “ Are you yellow? I do have a hard time seeing the colour red and various other shades of it - that’s one of the many things I need to work on, haha,” he grins, pulling them back up. “Right, right. Where’s the mistress?” he blinks, peering around the other’s shoulder.
“SOMETHING’s outside with someone else,” it responds cautiously, patiently. “Your little shop looked small from the outside, so we didn’t want to clutter it any more. Whatever you have to show me you can - she’ll see it eventually.”
“Of course, of course!” it clasps its hands together, turning around and nosing its way back through the LABORATORY door, motioning for the other to follow him. “We had three new visitors recently,” he chuckles, sort of dancing on his feet as he moves through a sterile, clean room filled to the brim with books. A cot sits in the corner with a few drinks on it. “And I really didn’t know what to make of it. They’re very different - I think otherworldly,” he grins, looking back to STRANGER as it continues through the miniature library.
“Oh?” it asks evenly, eyes taking in everything - the nearest escape route was behind it if anything went wrong, and it wasn’t going to lie and say it enjoyed the cramped space. “New arrivals are always … interesting.” Either very lucky, or very unlucky. “We haven’t had any since the resets stopped.”
“Well, that’s around the time these three showed up,” it remarks, finally hesitating outside of what looked like an actual door built into the wall. It was wooden - easy to open and close. Not good for keeping anything in or out. “I’m not sure what to do with them, but I know you and the mistress are go-to for anything. I thought you might take them in if we didn’t.”
STRANGER nods in understanding as he moves forward to open up the door - the shadowed creature is met with the three weirdest looking things ever.
One perked up - “Oh, hello. Are you the food man?” they ask, tilting their head to the side. They’re an entire shadow - wisps of the black smoke that made them up billowed off their body, yet left no trace as they broke off. It was going as far to leak out of its clothing - very victorian, as it wore a small, flat, brown cap on its head and what looked like a hastily put on dusty overcoat -, yet it seemed to be contained. Wide, white eyes blink at it hopefully.
The one next to it was quieter - they seemed to be hunched over, water steadily dripping off of them yet not leaving an imprint on the ground. A single antenna with a glowing yellow bulb on the end of it protrudes out of their head, between their seaweed-green-textured hair. A single yellow eye avoids STRANGER’s gaze, and they seem to just pull their tattered, worn pale-yellow blanket closer over them with a shake of their head.
The third and final one - as black as the other two, this time with what looked like little spider legs poking out of the sides of its face… which was also furry. It had eight glinting yellow eyes, looking at the stranger with a face as though it had just eaten a bucket of limes - and its arms were crossed as though it didn’t like STRANGER already. Dressed in a similar fashion to that of the first, it struck STRANGER with a jolt of familiarity - all of them did, actually. It just wasn’t sure what.
“These three,” ALGERNON says, voice trembling with barely concealed excitement. “Claim to come from the DREAMER’s world.”
It whirls its attention onto ALGERNON, its surprise written all over its face. “The what?” it asks, genuinely stunned, turning to the three newcomers now. “You three come from the DREAMER’s world? How?”
“Um,” the first responds. Its face contorts into what STRANGER things is deep in thought. “I… don’t know? One day we just kind of woke up here. After being at his stairs all the time. I don’t know?”
“DARK,” ALGERNON says, pointing a finger at the shadowy-wisp. “WATER,” he moves his hand to the shy one, who simply presses against DARK upon the extra attention. “And WALLS.” the third, spidery one just frowns harder. “Named after the DREAMER’s three greatest fears. Of course, we could all call them SOMETHING, or SOMETHING IN THE DARK, WATER, or WALLS - but we have a SOMETHING.”
It blinks, still completely utterly shocked. “This is … a lot. Thank you for actually - I mean, thanks for telling me?” STRANGER turns to ALGERNON, then back to the three. “I’m STRANGER - I apologise for not introducing myself earlier. I come from RESPITE, a town that’s south from here. We’ll provide a safe harbour and shelter for you if you… wish to come. I am sorry that this is all so sudden - we can’t take you back immediately today, but if you do want to come… well, we can get an arranged date.
“I’ll do whatever these two want to,” DARK replies warmly, smiling down at the smaller two. “I’m not really that important here. I just need to make sure these two don’t get into trouble - especially WALLS,” it brightens.
“I do NOT NEED SOMEONE TO WATCH ME,” WALLS snarls, but STRANGER can tell it’s not nearly as hostile as it sounds. “I CAN WATCH MYSELF PERFECTLY FINE. SO CAN WATER.” now it turns its fierce glare onto STRANGER. “And who are YOU supposed to be?”
This receival is so familiar that STRANGER half expects to see someone else - it blinks for a long moment, wracking its mind. “MEIDO,” it finally realises, head popping up. “ THAT’S who you remind me of. And you two UNI and ABBI,” it says, resting its gaze on DARK and WATER. “I knew you three were familiar. But I’m-” it’s cut off from a noise not too far off. It turns its head just in time to hear the entrance slam open and furious ruckus of things being thrown around.
“What-” ALGERNON blinks, bewildered, as a familiar, tall, lanky being fumbles through into the room, followed by a darker, smaller figure with her arms out.
“LONGSNOUT? SOMETHING?” STRANGER blinks, going to take a step forward to grab the lanky bird before it hit the ground in what it thought was a panic attack.
“I don’t know,” SOMETHING responds, going to check the other’s pulse. “It showed up and it couldn’t get its words out. Something about the CHURCH, though,” her eye looks up and meets the ex-BASIL’s, a shared worry that it couldn’t quite put into words spoken between them.
“And where’s AUBREI?” it asks, alarm drumming at the back of its head. Surely SOMETHING hadn’t sent her off to the CHURCH?
“Outside, making sure no one gets in. LONGSNOUT stirred up a crowd.”
STRANGER merely grunts in response and pats the other’s snout lightly, their beady eyes blinking rapidly as their breaths come in quick and shallow. “The CHURCH,” it manages to get out, voice barely a whisper. They hardly ever spoke, so something was wrong - icy terror runs down the other’s spine.
“You’re not at the CHURCH right now,” it murmurs, stroking its cheek lightly. “You’re okay. Tell me what’s wrong,” it urges.
They take in a shuddering breath. “People are dead.”