Despite all the positives of her telling off an imaginary deity in her dreams, namely it making her feel good for a whole few moments, it ended up coming with a noticeable downside afterwards, though the professors at her college would be up in arms at her linking the two events based on nothing but coincidence.
She slept like crap.
Doc shaking her awake made her finally pry her eyes open after laying in a half awake state for what felt like at least a couple hours, unable to get any more proper shuteye, exhausted groan leaving her as she looked up at the medic before reaching with a free hand towards her face to try to rub the sand out of her eyes while slowly sitting up, feeling somewhat sore.
"G-ghood mhorninhg Dhoc."
They responded in kind, at least that's what it sounded like, continuing to mutter under their mouth as they made it over to the other end of the bed, pulling the covers off to check up on Sue's leg, finding the sight to be satisfying, mostly in that in did not look any different to how it did yesterday evening, making them squeak out something short and give the recovering leg a light pat.
Animal-person's pat of approval.
Despite her grogginess and still not quite clicking back to being fully awake, Sue smiled lightly in response, nodding weakly as the blanket was pulled back over, Doc saying something to her before making a turn for the exit door- before stopping right as they were about to press on the handle, pausing in thought for a moment and looking over their shoulder back at her. It took her almost embarrassingly long to catch onto that, eyebrows raising as her sleepy expression faced the medic in return, Doc thinking through something for a bit more before walking over to the drawer they stashed the scroll from yesterday in, pulling it back out and flipping it around, getting to writing on its clean side.
Wonder what they're scribbling over there, they seemed to be about ready to go out and probably grab breakfast for her, maybe they would ask her what she wanted? Not like she knew what most of the things she ate yesterday were exactly, especially with the unknown fruits and veggies in use, the most she could go off of was their vague appearance and resemblance to foodstuffs she actually recognized.
Was this a sandwich, or some weird fruit mishmash? Not even Duck knows.
She chuckled to herself at the idea, thinking back to that weird dream drawing of what was supposed to be the imagined moon deity, wondering how much of it was attached to any sort of reality- she didn't think herself creative enough to come up with all that whole cloth, though it might've been just a combination of her mental exhaustion and some quirks of this new body, at least that's the only possibility that made sense. Despite all the outlandish things that have happened so far, her suspension of disbelief didn't quite go as far as to let herself think that an honest to god... god had actually contacted her in her dreams, two of them even- imposter or not, she couldn't have been anywhere near interesting enough to warrant such an act. Besides, they clearly seemed to have difficulties communicating with her even in her dreams, so what kind of gods could these have been even?
Regardless of the answer, she was rather sure she didn't want anything to do with them-
The light tap against her arm with the folded up piece of paper snapped Sue back to awareness, couple muttered noises leaving her as she looked around to catch up with what was going on, catching onto Doc looking up at her with a somewhat amused expression as they squeaked something out before offering her the scroll, the girl turned martian nodding abruptly in return in embarrassment before grabbing the newly finished drawing, unfurling it to take a look.
The page was filled with a couple separate-looking drawings, their contents fortunately much less confusing than those she saw yesterday. One was a hastily scribbled comic-like scribble consisting of Doc going out the door, walking over to some counter with a tray, and returning back with it now filled, followed by her cartoonishly gorging herself on it. She couldn't help but smile as she glanced over to the other sketch, featuring her getting out of bed with the help of the crutch and following Doc over to apparently that same stand, having a no less exaggerated bite outside on some bench.
Getting to stretch her legs *and* get a good look of the local area to plan her inevitable getaway? Sign me the hell up.
Enthusiastic nods combined with pointing at the second drawing conveyed her intent perfectly, Doc responding with a wide smile as they grabbed the scroll in return, leaving Sue to get up and upright. The opportunity to get out made solid headway in finally properly waking her up as her unwieldy body scooted through the bed until it could reach her designated mobility device, holding onto that rough wood like it was her only key to freedom- which at this rate, it very well might have been.
After taking a few moments to balance herself, she turned towards the medic already waiting at the door, Doc nodding encouragingly before opening it, holding it open for their patient like a true gentle... creature. Maneuvering her way towards the exit door turned out to be a bit trickier with the more limited space over there, and doubly so with her turning out to be taller than the door frame. The sunlight illuminating the grass and dirt outside making her squint slightly as she bent over just to scoot through, managing to make it past the door frame with a motion that was only partially accidental, leaving her stumbling just far enough ahead to clear the door before stabilizing herself.
She had successfully made it through ten meters to get to the outdoors of this village, time to take a look at the spoils.
A breath of fresh air was most definitely welcome, both in the literal and figurative senses, slightly chilly breeze reinvigorating her as she took a look around, taking in the structures around her- a couple other huts just like the one shambled out of standing in line with her clinic, a larger stone building without windows on the other side of the path she was on, another more haphazardly built wooden hut, a large window letting her peek in and see something that looked like wooden machinery inside-
And all around, creatures of all sizes and shapes- including what looked like a literal dragon flying its way overhead as she took a look around- nowhere near as big as Smaug, but still dwarfing her, despite looking to be rather rounded and somewhat non-threateningly orange. They might have overshadowed her briefly, but they were far from the only creature around, possibly not even the most eye catching one, something pale purple and with overly long arms sparing her a look as they walked by, Doc speaking something towards them and them responding in kind before going on their way.
A light tug on her free arm was enough to get her to follow Doc as they got a move on, the medic not locking the door to the building in any way she could see before they headed further into the village. Most of it looked quite similar, a mixture of wood and stone for construction, though with a lot more free space than the immediate surroundings of Doc's hut, couple corners leading them to an open plaza filled with what had to be a good several dozen creatures doing everything from making their way around and talking amongst each other, to snacking, sunbathing, dancing and even seeming to be making some sort of art, at least if their audience was anything to go by.
The plaza opened to the forest surrounding them on one side, which was a reassuring sight for the future, though she would likely not end up using the rather well trodden path that cut through the treeline for the sake of stealth. The remaining edges of the plaza were lined up with stalls and assorted picnic tables, looking rather similar to the ones she often saw around forest trails or at other outdoorsy places, though it's not like there was much one could innovate on as far as picnic tables went to begin with. Didn't mean they didn't try to at least some extent though, some of the tables only having benches running halfway along them, leaving the other half to just kinda dangle awkwardly- a standing table of some sort? Can't be too comfortable.
Sue was too busy trying to analyze the architecture to pay a particularly close attention to the passersby, only aware that they were there, and spotting some being as short as her knee while the others were even taller than she was. The overstimulation autopilot made her stumble forward for a few more paces before her sixth sense took notice of Doc trying to catch her attention, the shorter medic waving for her to come over as she glanced over her shoulder.
Seems they had reached their destination? The stall they were in front of was sorta reminiscent of the one Doc had drawn earlier in the day, quick look at the inside revealing it to have a rather well equipped kitchen, at least as well as pre-industrial cooking technology went. There were a handful of etched in labels above the counter with simple drawings of the meals, though lacking any sort of scribbling to denote price, at least from what she could make out. Above all the pictures of meals sat...
Uh oh. The writing on the stall's sign might have been a bit crude on behalf of it having been somewhat sloppily painted on, but it was undeniably the same incomprehensible kind of scribblings as the ones from her dream, lending quite a bit more weight to the weird dreams she had witnessed just the night prior on account of her seeming to have dreamt up this place's actual writing without ever having seen it before. And if that part of it wasn't just a figment of her strained and overworked imagination, then what about the rest of it, what actually was Duck and why did it enter her dreams like that?
A fine addition to the fort of confusion in her head, though this particular conundrum felt... more worrisome than anything else.
Before Sue could ponder the further implications of her unusually holy dreams being not quite her own creations, a small knock on wood nearby, combined with a high pitched grunt caught her attention, gaze shooting downwards towards the source of the sounds. The creature was... a fairy- r at least something vaguely fairy adjacent, though not quite the Tinkerbell type, reaching up her chest mounted letter opener. A familiar bipedal frame was welcome, though they didn't seem to have a visibly distinct head or torso, in fact at a second look they looked rather close to a bright pink blob with a familiar set of limbs, two very spiky black tipped ears, similarly spiky... wings? And a face that looked almost like it was drawn on the front of their body, with no distinction where their head ended and rest of the body began.
Oh, and they were also quite impatient, the finding collaborated by her eyes, ears and sixth sense alike, three fingered hands tapping rhythmically on the wooden counter as they seemingly waited for something. Or rather, someone. Or even more precisely, her.
Sue was somewhat dumbfounded on what to do, it's not like she could just ask what each meal was, and even just crudely pointing at the signs got complicated by her having none of whatever the local currency was- suppose Doc could cover for her considering they took her there and would've grabbed something for her regardless, but it was much difficult to have someone pay for her so immediately like that, leaving the once-student feeling somewhat uneasy, a couple somewhat grumbly 'ummmm's hopefully conveying that state.
Fortunately, Doc got what she was getting at, tapping her hand before pointing up at all the presented meals, their squeaking attempting to explain it, which would've failed and she could get to feign ignorance if not for them encouraging her to go ahead and pointing up at the drawings again, making it all too clear.
Alright, now what to choose...
Most of the sketches were far from crystal clear, some reminding her of the treats she had yesterday, but she couldn't recall all one of them. Some looked like salads, other were rather clearly baked products, but most other things were confusing to say the last, largely just looking like piles of round somethings. Though, some of those might've been these roasted fruit pieces and those were very good, but again, no way of being sure.
Guess it'd have to come down to random chance.
Confusing everyone around her even further, she attempted to bring one hand to her eyes before remembering she only had one usable hand anyway, simply just closing her eyes afterwards and resorting to the good ol' fashioned arbiter-
"E-eehnie, Mhehnie, Mhiney, Moeh-"
Half a minute and one muttered out tune later, Sue's little lottery was done, the brand new martian slowly prying her eyes open to find herself pointing at the drawing that looked like some jam-filled pastry, definitely not a bad choice to randomly stumble on, providing some well needed reassurance. Reassurance that was somewhat cut into as she glanced around, both Doc and the pink fairy creature staring at her completely dumbfounded, neither sure what any of that was about, resulting in a deadlock that she proceeded to point her way out of, accentuating her choice by stabbing what was once her index finger, and now was... probably middle finger, towards the drawing, which got the message across, thankfully.
On top of all the other weird aspects of this body, it had an uncanny ability to accidentally flip someone off- all it really took was pointing at something, the dissonance between what fingers she felt like she was using and how it actually looked making her feel a bit uneasy. Neither Doc nor the other one seemed to have taken any insult from the gesture, in all likelihood it didn't even really exist here with every creature having its own different amount of fingers- if it even had fingers to begin with, she could swear she saw one or two serpentine critters in her peripheral vision during her brief walk through the village, plus these spiders from her first day there didn't really have fingers either.
The worry being irrational didn't really make her feel any less awkward at the realization though.
While she was busy fretting about nothing, the pointy pink one, Sue's increasingly strained sanity and creativity having decided to baptize them with a very serious and not at all potentially demeaning nickname of "Pixie", got on her order, starting with preparing the dough. A wooden rolling pin was a strangely familiar, but not at all unwelcome sight, providing a connection to back home, even if a tenuous and shallow one at best. What was less familiar is the way Pixie used it, ordinarily at the start, but soon letting go of one end of it, having to hold the tool more firmly with the other hand to continue rolling the dough, while the newly freed hand... began waggling a finger, tracing out a small circle at nothing in particular.
Before Sue could even get dumbfounded enough to form a coherent question in her mind, several fruits- or at least things that looked like them, not quite matching any fruits she actually knew- flew out of a couple baskets in the back of the kitchen, just a couple small windows high along the walls leaving it mostly shrouded in shade, before landing on the counter next to Pixie, waggling temporarily stopping as they grabbed a knife with that hand instead, slicing the berries while simultaneously continuing to roll the dough.
Despite their clumsy appearance, they sure seemed to have more coordination to them than her college's entire miserable basketball team combined.
Observing the fairy cook at their work turned out to be quite a bit more interesting than expected, especially with the addition of things that just sorta seemed to randomly happen every time they waggled their finger. Fire lighting in their oven, all the berry slices leaping over onto the grate suspended above the steady flames, more berries being suddenly flung over from the back of the kitchen- there seemed to be no real consistency to their magic, things happening at what almost felt like random, and yet Pixie seemed to be completely in control, at least judging by their lack of surprise at any of it.
A squeak coming from behind her alerted her to Doc trying to catch her attention, pointing towards a nearby unoccupied picnic table, the thankfully self explanatory gesture making Sue spare one more glance towards the kitchen before turning to follow the medic- or at least that's what she intended to do, with an unnerving sight at the back of the kitchen making her freeze. A pair of large red eyes- all red and glowing, almost like a pair of brake lights, were emerging from the shadows on the back wall- or rather being formed out of them, the shape of the shadows actively changing, making it look like a figure was walking out of them, a wide grin soon forming underneath the red eyes on a body that looked almost pitch black.
Whatever the hell that thing was, it gaze appeared to be set on Pixie as it drew closer and closer without making a single noise, though Sue could swear she could see it briefly glance towards her once or twice, its sudden appearance stilling her with fear. A part of her told her to run, run like a madwoman, at least as much as she could while in this injured body, but at the same time, she felt that same desire to protect Pixie as she felt with Ember and that other one when they were being chased by that spider- except this time, there were no rocks nearby to throw, and she was separated from them by a counter she couldn't really get through in her current state.
All that combined left her with very few options, but eventually, as the shadow creature neared closer and closer to Pixie, she finally pushed through the cold paralysis and did the only thing she could thing to help- point and shout.
"W-WHATCH O-OUTH!"
Despite not being understood, her call succeeded in catching Pixie's attention, though for the most part it only seemed to confuse them as they turned towards Sue, finally spotting the pointing finger and... audibly groaning, the shadow creature behind them stopping abruptly before Pixie did what nobody on the scene should've expected.
Namely, turned around on their heel and planted a smooch right on the monster's cheek, stunning them and Sue alike, with the former erupting into a blush as they mumbled something out in response, their utterings sounding simultaneously croaky and whispered, not contributing to making any of this any more understandable. As much as Pixie was amused by their reaction, commenting on it in their twinkly voice, they only barely managed to keep on standing after breaking into bellowing laughter at Sue's expression of utter dumbfoundedness.
The spooky one soon followed, rambling on while it laughed, a better lit spot letting Sue finally make out the shape of its body- and it turned out to be very similar to that of Pixie, with lack of wings being the only real difference as far as their outlines went. They even were almost the same size, and if not considering the shadowy one's introduction and looking more like some sort of scary ghost than an actual living creature with the unnaturally large grin and all-red eyes, she might have even considered them being related in some way.
It took a couple moments for her shock to let go as she stared at the laughing duo, trying to figure out what in the world was even going on. The not-ghost snuck up on Pixie, looking like it was about to do something awful to them, but with the way the cook reacted to her alert, one would've thought this was some sort of regular occurrence between them, and Pixie was obviously unafraid of them, the kiss suggesting fondness even, but if all that's true then why would-
...
Did she just get pranked by that shadowy gremlin?
The realization of her being a victim of a joke provided some well needed relief from the seriousness of an actual threat, while at the same time making her feel somewhat unamused- she was already easy to spook before all this, and her newlyfound frailty combined with limited movement only made that worse, especially when all the creatures here seemed to be magical in one way or another, the exact extent of their capabilities unknown- and a part of Sue really wished it to remain that way.
Though, she must've really had one hell of an expression based on the duo's reactions. The thought helped in cracking her exterior, a small chuckle leaving her as the pair calmed down, followed by Doc calling out from beside Sue towards them, all the laughter having brought them back over to the stall in the meantime. Reassuringly, they seemed to be just as unamused about Sue being the victim of a prank as she initially was, with the trio seeming to argue back and forth about it for a good few moments as she watched on, feeling like she stuck out more than usual with her almost two feet of height on all three of them.
Amusingly, soon enough Pixie had to dip from the conversation as the entire assembly smelled smoke, with some of the roasted fruit slices having leaped way past well done and straight into the territory of charcoal pucks in the meantime. An appropriate comeuppance if nothing else, the cook's sparkly sounding grumbling making Sue feel all that more mischievous at heart, though it not coming from the actual culprit lessened the impact somewhat. Doc seemed intent to get something out of them as well though, their squeaking still on the sterner side as the shadowy- you know what, if they're so eager to spook people, then Spook is what they're gonna be.
In either case, Doc was barraging Spook and breaking through what were presumably their excuses until they finally caved and sighed, rolling their eyes before turning towards Sue and approaching closer, up to the counter. Their voice was understandably flat, but with them having brought it on themselves, she couldn't care all that much. While the actual contents of their half creaked, half whispered words didn't ring even the most remote bell in Sue's skullcap, her sixth sense let her feel a bit of genuine apology for their actions, and even if it was said rather begrudgingly, it wasn't all excuses.
Nobody was ultimately hurt and if not for her being new to this whole world she would've probably found it much more amusing, so... apologies accepted.
She reached out her hand towards Spook with a weak smile as she leaned on the crutch, the shadowy creature seeming to ponder for a moment before looking and feeling like they had stumbled on another mischievous idea, looking about ready to do... something involving shaking her hand before Doc brought them back in line with a single pointed squeak, the excitement evaporating from Spook as they groaned, shaking her hand in the usual way shortly after. Despite their ghostly appearance, their handshake felt normal aside from being rather cold to the touch.
With that somewhat forced introduction over, Doc patted her side and gestured over towards the table once more, and with no more terrifying pranks to distract her, Sue gladly followed, the scent of dough being baked and fruit being seared waning with every step until they had reached their destination. Fortunately, the benches were spaced far away from the table that she could just walk in in between the two and sit down, skipping out on awkward maneuvering with a crutch, the tool soon being let go of to lean on the table, letting Sue massage her wrist and arm, not expecting them to have gotten so sore just through the process of getting around.
Guess that constitutes a workout, even if it's the one armed kind usually reserved for the guys.
The thought brought her not a small amount of amused giggling while internally regretting there was nobody else around- potentially even nobody else in this whole world, that would get her joke.
That was a bit of a downer.
Before she could hit another checkpoint on the rollercoaster emotional ride, she heard Spook calling out from behind them, having exited the stall in the meantime and just standing there in the open- looking quite silly at that, their dark coloration standing out like a sore thumb, especially with how unnaturally matte it looked. And they were also seemingly levitating, feet suspended an inch or so off the ground.
A loud bark of the most familiar variety caught her attention before she could consider the implications of that fact, her head snapping towards the source of the noise to see Ember dashing across the grass in her direction, the sight immediately lifting the mood, especially as the little fox reached their goal, managing to leap right onto her lap with one clean jump, getting to excited woofing right away.
"H-hehe, g-ghood m-mhorning Embher."
The fiery pup responded to her words in the only right way, namely climbing on top of the table and using the extra reach to smother her face in very warm, very happy licks, leaving Sue too enamored to try stopping them, with only Doc's words some moments later finally getting them to leap back down to her lap before woofing something off in the direction they ran in from, making Sue look over as well.
*squeak!*
Well I'm happy to see you too Bowlcut.
The infant and Leafy had mostly caught up to the rest of the group by the time Ember pointed them out, the little-her half waddling, half running all the way up to the bench before slowing to a halt and reaching up towards her in an universal gesture for uppies, Sue breaking out into a giggle at the sight, Leafy not faring much better. Ember shifted over to sit beside her as she lifted up the martian baby over onto her lap, Bowlcut immediately getting to trying to snuggle against her front, making her heart melt at the gesture- enough to make her forget about the threat that came from their family at least for a moment.
It still felt a bit weird just how affectionate this stranger infant was towards her- with how different every living creature here is from each other they may just be happy to see one of their own kin, but Sue wasn't convinced by that explanation. With how cute it was though, and how soothingly warm their sheer joy felt there probably wasn't too much virtue in trying to internally rationalize it all away- she could let herself enjoy it, at least on that day, since there's no telling what tomorrow will bring here, especially with their actual parent being scheduled to come back.
And enjoy it she did, one hand stroking Ember's warm fur as the other carefully held Bowlcut close, with the martian tyke unable to decide whether they wanted uppies, pets, or just to be gently hugged, Sue catering to all of those by alternating between them every once in a while, much to the little one's very audible enjoyment. All the while, the rest of the table chatted amongst themselves- Doc, Spook and now Leafy had taken up the opposite side of the table, the latter one occasionally gesturing at Bowlcut to make them giggle in between conversing with the medic and the prankster, the topic seeming to be her only sometimes.
Considering the circumstances of her appearance and her disability, she'd obviously be talked about a lot, especially since she couldn't really understand their words- but it still made her feel just that bit uneasy, despite the good intentions from everyone gathered. Or mostly everyone at least, with everyone else seeming to be so accustomed to Spook's nonsense as to be able to see any pranks from a mile away and denying them the satisfaction, the ghost-alike letting out a whispered groan as their idea was dashed, though it didn't take too long until their emotional state went from disappointment back to mischief.
The reappearance of Pixie cheered them right back up though, their grin, while just as large as before, feeling much less unnatural this time. Their reaction was most definitely shared amongst the rest of the table though, with the cook having brought over a whole tray full of goods, climbing onto the bench next to the Ember to hand out the meals to everyone gathered, Sue and Doc getting, indeed, a piece of sweet, fruity smelling pastry, still warm to the touch, Leafy and Bowlcut getting small bowls of roasted fruit, very small in case of the infant, and Ember getting a different kind of berry- cut in half, seared, and judging by the smell- richly spiced. All the goods were followed up by wooden cups of water, chilled to a very refreshing temperature, Sue briefly wondering how was that accomplished in absence of any technology from even the same century as a fridge before shrugging that thought aside.
With all the meals handed out, Pixie could take a seat themselves next to Ember, giving the little fox some pets of their own as they grabbed what almost looked like toast- two flat layers of light dough, with copious amounts of jam in between them, the cook further presenting their grace in not letting any of it spill out, or even smear on their cheeks. Curiously enough, they hadn't brought anything for Spook, with the prankster seeming to not mind it either, preoccupied by intermittently chatting while staring at Pixie with what looked like infatuation in their eyes.
Some mixed messages being sent here.
Pixie's arrival marked a welcome change in the topics being discussed, in that Sue as a subject was seemingly dropped completely, letting the girl peace out completely and simply enjoy her meal, without any internal tugging warning about people paying attention to her to interrupt her. Bowlcut's squirming in between nomming on his portion made that a decent bit trickier, especially with Leafy coming over a couple times to help wipe the baby's cheeks off the resulting mess, but it was still the calmest she's been ever since she initially woke up here.
Eventually even that was helped, one of Pixie's comments towards Bowlcut getting the tyke to squeak happily and scramble his way over towards the cook, pressing into their side this time, the sight of the infant's limitless affection being extended to those outside of their kin heartwarming. Especially with Ember having taken the opportunity to snuggle back onto her lap afterwards, nuzzling her now filled stomach.
One hand pet the little fox on autopilot as she allowed herself to space out, helped by feeling all the calmness and contentment around her, the quasi meditation quaint and soothing, all the anxieties slowly fading away, becoming downright meaningless by the moment. Everything would be fine- she would eventually find her way back home, meeting the royals tomorrow won't go that bad, and maybe sometime she would finally learn the incoherent mishmash that was the locals' language.
She might not have actually consciously believed those things, but at least that's how they felt like right now, and it was a pleasant distraction from the uneasy confusion she felt in the background up until now.
A distraction that was eventually interrupted by a very unexpected sensation of a snout touching her leg- her relaxation helping her in not getting startled in response- or at least not getting as startled, the cold, damp touch still getting a small jump out of her as she glanced down under the table, Ember following suit. Their coloration was almost as fiery as Ember's, though instead of a mixture of yellow and red, it was various shades of bright orange with some black stripes along their back and hindquarters. Their body shape made her think of a dog, which fit aside from them having a soft looking mane along their chest and muzzle, bringing back hints of something closer to a lion. So far, they were the most obviously animalistic of any creature she'd found in the village- if not for the stripes and mane she might have even confused them for an actual puppy.
If literally every other creature here was any indication, that puppy had at least a similar level of intelligence to her, and was nonetheless trying to catch her attention for some reason. They didn't seem, or feel, hostile, Sue unable to sense anything negative coming from them with her sixth sense- wait, on that note, she wasn't sure she was able to sense anything from them at all to begin with, squinting her eyes a bit in confusion as Ember hopped of her lap, sniffing up the stranger- before suddenly becoming very affectionate towards them, leaning in to nuzzle them.
For the second time today, Sue's dumbfounded expression was a cause for someone else's giggling, though this time it was kept much more covert, the other canine trying to keep quiet before its head... transformed into something else, making for a very disconcerting sight- at least before she'd realized that she recognized this particular head. Dark gray with red accents and blue eyes, large vulpine ears, and a bit of black mane being visible underneath-
It's the little shit that stole her peaches.
And by an extension, the little shit that she ended up inevitably saving later that very same day while they were running away from that massive spider together with Ember- even her being unable to sense them with her sixth sense checked out, reminding her of that uncomfortable possibility. She sure didn't remember them doing anything like this... disguise? from the brief time she'd seen them back in the forest, and even now she wasn't wholly sure whether the creature in front of her was actually that one.
Her uncertainty was noticed, at least that's what their reaction indicated, with the once-orange dog having now completely turned back into that gray and red fox, smirking up at her for just a moment before reverting completely back into the more canine appearance. Which in itself raised a question of why even were they hiding like that to begin with, the intent now obvious with how they kept themselves hidden under the table.
Sue could ponder on that mystery a bit later though, right now she was too distracted by the hidden fox affectionately nuzzling her leg, Ember soon joining in, alternating between her and what she presumed to be their friend. She couldn't help but smile in return, trying to reach over as inconspicuously as possible to gently stroke their head, the sensation that accompanied the softness of their fur... weird, slightly like Bowlcut and Doc weird, but at the same time different altogether. Not uncomfortable though, making the one imposter pet the other and gently stroke behind their ear- letting her know while at it that while they could disguise their visual appearance, they didn't seem to be able to do the same with their physical presence.
And that they were just as affectionate as Ember, even if more discreet about it.
It didn't last too long, regrettably, with Bowlcut noticing them seeming to have startled them somewhat, prompting a relatively slow leave, the orange canine strutting out from underneath the table, Ember escorting them out for a bit longer before woofing them out- suppose that was ultimately much more inconspicuous than dashing away in panic.
And resulted in Bowlcut once more reclaiming their proper spot on her lap with a gurgly squeak now that Ember temporarily vacated it, Sue letting out a quiet giggle at the switcharoo before thinking back to that gray fox and all the further mysteries that came with it, starting with them being hidden to her extra sense. She took a look around the plaza, concentrating on the tugging of this body's odd radar, trying to match each individual sensation to a creature around her, though with overwhelming enough it soon became, she had to give up halfway through at the sights of a mounting migraine. Still, she couldn't spot a single other critter her sixth sense didn't also sense clearly, making her wonder whether there were any like that whatsoever in this village.
And if not, why?
She couldn't be sure of that of course, and so didn't explore the follow up question particularly deeply- it was something to keep in mind nonetheless. For how integrated this place looked, with what had to be hundreds of species seeming to be doing a perfectly fine job at coexisting, it was still disconcerting for that gray fox to have to hide because of something of such a tenuous relevance as being able to be sensed by what Sue imagined to be her species as a whole. Hell, they and Ember were way more similar to each other than either of them was to basically any other creature around, why would one have to hide and not the other?
What a mess.
As she sat there, pondering through it all, her mind once more drifted towards names, making her try to come up with something for the gray fox but turning up blank, not even anything on the same level of abject stupidity as 'Bowlcut', though she suspected that her concern for their situation wouldn't let her keep anything this dumb, not this time.
A voice being raised to her side grabbed her attention onto Pixie getting up from their seat, one more application of their unpredictable finger wagging magic bringing all the now long emptied dishes back onto the tray, letting the cook carry it all back to the kitchen, with Spook following them out in the most direct way possible. Namely, through the table as if it didn't exist whatsoever, with the total lack of reaction on the side of anyone else gathered letting Sue know that, just like Ember literally blowing fire, this was apparently normal. Who knows, maybe Spook was an actual ghost and they just kinda existed here, certainly wouldn't be out of place next to dragons, fairies, shapeshifting foxes and giant enemy spiders.
Plus her managing to keep her shocked reaction to just her eyes going wide was a welcome improvement.
With the cook and their... sidekick? taking their leave, there seemingly wasn't too much left to chat about, any remaining conversation getting wrapped up quickly until only relaxed silence was left. Sue couldn't say she minded that particularly much- it was nice to be able to chill like that, especially with something bad looming on the horizon. With that on her mind though, the glanced around on the plaza, trying to look for another pathway into the forest, only spotting one other small one off to the side- which gave her idea to try to push through the canopy on the opposite side, though that might end up being predictable and figured out.
On the other hand, if she'd managed to get away before she ran into the royal of her kin they wouldn't have much of a reason to chase after her- they'd still maybe try out of concern, but ultimately she was still a stranger and they'd give up sooner or later and write it off as a weirdo doing weird things after seeming to get better for a while. Ultimately, she'd just be another in what was probably a long list of weird events that happened in this place- or possibly, one of the very few weird events since the threshold for what constituted 'weird' here could very well be very, very high- high enough for her arrival and departure to not even register on the radar to begin with.
She really, really wish she could ask, even if just to get a feel on how bad would the wrath of that royal get when the time came.
The sensation of a leaf brushing against her arm made her glance down to see Leafy looking up at her as they picked up Bowlcut into their half plantlike, half insectoid arms, tilting their head towards the rest of the village, quick look around letting Sue know that everyone else had already gotten up as well. The closer look let her also notice that, putting aside their utter anatomical weirdness, Leafy did look somewhat cute- cuter than any insect, or plant for that matter, had any right to look.
With the baby removed from her lap, Leafy's very flimsy looking arms being able to hold them up making Sue do a double take, the once college student could get up herself, fiddling around with the crutch until she'd found some well needed stability, quickly catching up to the rest, Ember doing their best at sneaking in some nuzzles as Sue hobbled along. And while it made staggering forward just that bit more difficult, it was more than welcome on principle of Ember being very, very cute and Sue wanting to pet them all day long because their affection was basically the only reassuring thing in this whole world that she could completely and wholly understand.
Oddly enough, it seemed that it wasn't the Doc's hut that was the destination this time- not that Sue minded, she had more than enough time to sit down and let her arm recover from operating a crutch, she just didn't have any idea where else they could be taking her specifically. The mixture of meditation and relaxation over breakfast helped her in keeping herself grounded as they made their way through the village's streets and paths, the multitude of different species easier to focus now once she was sated, fully awake, and at least temporarily more at peace.
She didn't realize how many birds there were around on her first way through, perching all around on the roofs on the buildings and an occasional pole- the purpose of the latter uncertain until she made out a lantern like cage near the top, presumably to keep a source of light in. As neat as the realization that they had medieval street lights in there was, Sue had no idea what could they actually use as a light source in there- candles were much too weak, maybe torches like in some videogames she had played? Wouldn't be too outlandish, but she couldn't see how a torch large enough to really light up the surroundings would fit in there, and they definitely didn't have light bulbs or LEDs in here.
Guess she could try to sneak out at night to see for herself? A part of her was really down for that idea, but the awareness of what was to come tomorrow dampened the excitement, ultimately making her relegate that entire conundrum back to the back of her head, adding to the confusion pile and turning it into a bonafide confusion fort by now.
The next notable sight was thankfully nowhere near as confusing and actually provided some answers to sate her curiosity.
To her disappointment though, she didn't have a whole ton of time to take it all in as the group moved past the ongoing construction effort, their destination further into the village, but she could make out quite a few things in the brief window she had. Trees being felled by a grey, rock-like bipedal rhino through the means of literally tackling them hard enough to topple them over, logs being cut to shape and prepared by something halfway between an insect, a robot and a can of fiercely red paint, and the stone being carried and the whole structure being assembled by a couple creatures that were so close to humans she had to do a double take at seeing them- only to get disillusioned at the realization that humans only had two arms and not four.
Guess that explains where all the really big creatures here were all along.
To offset Sue suddenly feeling even more frail than before, at least the little brown... pangolin that seemed to be working on the foundation was quite a bit smaller than her, and quite cute even with all the spikes on its back.
Fortunately for her arm, they wouldn't have to walk for too much longer before reaching another clearing, smaller and much less busy- at least aside from the group of various small creatures all sitting down in front of a blue bird of some sort that was, somehow, sitting inside a small, localized cloud. Or at least plumage that very much looked like a cloud.
She couldn't quite make out whether the cloud bird was singing at all the small creatures or if that's just how its voice sounded- what she did make out rather soon afterwards though, was that all the little ones couldn't have not been an assortment of, well, children with how they reacted to Leafy's arrival, each and every one of them attempting to say something towards the bushbug, presumably a greeting, but with none of them being in sync and their voices sounding like anything from rumbling gravel to outright whistling, the result was an utter cacophony that made all the presumed adults on the scene wince, Doc especially.
Guess these big ears weren't just for show, heh.
Much to the benefit of her continued calmness, not too many kids seemed to be interested in her- not to say none did, a little green quadruped with an honest to god leaf sticking from the top of its head and a part blue, part black bipedal... dog? with four ears walking up to her to check her out, the latter even woofing out something towards her. Thankfully, a couple calm squeaks from Doc were enough to make them just nod in response and return to their group- a group that Bowlcut and Leafy seemed to have apparently joined in the meantime, the latter taking a seat next to the cloud bird, the whole assembly feeling even happier than before with their arrival.
Was this a daycare of some sort? It kinda looked like this with all the little creatures gathered up and just listening to something, probably some sort of a tale being told, but if that was true then what about Ember? A downward glance revealed the little fox having stayed glued to her side, not even considering joining the group of assorted kids, and it didn't look like anyone else was about to force them either. Guess they were either too old for the daycare, despite being portable enough to fit on her lap, or were granted an exception to chill with their saviour, especially in absence of their parent.
Sue absolutely didn't mind either, though the latter made her really wish she could crouch and give them a couple pets right about now.
Now that Leafy and Bowlcut were delivered to their destination, Doc quietly caught her attention and took off- though not in the direction they came from, Sue being left briefly surprised before quickly catching up- seems they weren't quite done yet.
Fortunately for her crutch arm, they wouldn't have to walk for particularly long before arriving at their next stop, and it was a stop that caught much more of Sue's attention than a mutant animal daycare, though not because of any reasons any of the rest of the group knew about.
The monument was tall and wide, a wall full of carvings that eventually began narrowing close to the point making up the bulk of it, with couple smaller tablets off to the sides, each with their own carvings, curved to face the small raised altar in front of the main wall, on top of which sat a large bowl with several large feathers in it, the exact same kind as the one Doc had given her last night. The altar was surrounded with diligently kept flowers, their colorfulness contrasting greatly with the imposing nature of the stone carvings that loomed over them.
A graven depiction of what was unmistakably Duck took up the bulk of the main wall, the depiction much more detailed than by now hazy recollection of her dream, letting her spot some details she couldn't the first time. The pair of small arms, or maybe paws on its front to which the wing-like crescents connected to, the apparently multi colored appearance of the crescent that arced over its back, masterfully expressed despite the limitations of stonework, and the crescent moon-like shape of what Sue initially thought to be some sort of tusks on either side of its head. Further adding to the Moon theming, a full moon was chiseled above the deity, near the top of the wall, the details of the craters looking different to how she remembered them, but being unmistakenly lunar in nature.
The main scene depicted Duck tending to the sick, or at least that's what the depiction of a visibly injured creature the deity was guiding the moonlight towards made Sue think of, with the other creature having a relieved expression despite the cuts along its arms. The smaller tablet to the right of the main one presented Duck driving... something away with moonlight, the huddled shapes in the corner impossible to make out and painted black, giving it an extra weird appearance with the central engraving being devoid of any paint. The remaining tablet, to the left of the central one, showed Duck shielding another creature, a small bird of some sort, from the same kind of writhing black mass of instinct shapes as what the right tablet showed.
Guess Duck was kind of a big deal.
And probably not called 'Duck' either.
While Sue took the whole scene in, Doc approached the monument- no, a shrine, and appeared to pray for a bit, holding their hands together and leaning their head forward for a few moments before turning back towards the rest of the group. Ember kept close to her all the while though, their expression unsure at best, though they made sure to not let Doc catch them like that. It didn't stop Sue from sensing the little fox being... afraid of the monument, maybe even of the Duck itself, and considering Sue's experience with the deity forcing itself into her dreams, not like she could blame them.
Doc's kind nature helped her avoid the third time today she'd get laughed at because of her expressions, the medic keeping themselves to a single amused comment at her staring at the shrine before guiding the rest of the group once more- and this time, finally back over to their clinic.
The rest of the day passed by rather quickly, for good or worse. Sue took her time recovering some more, both from the injury that got her here and the exertion on her not at all athletic arm, with Ember keeping her company for basically the entire day as they mostly just chilled. After a lunch, meal delivered this time, she'd managed to charade through asking Doc to bring her some clean paper, the request thankfully fulfilled, even though she could tell they were clearly disappointed when she used it to try drawing Ember instead of attempting to communicate further, even though they didn't let it get to their actual expression.
Ember sure enjoyed it at least.
Eventually she managed to mime out wanting to take another walk to get a better view of the construction site, the amount of differences between these four armed creatures she thought were humans at a glance and actual humans significant enough at a closer look to make her feel dumb at having to do a double take to begin with. It also made it clear that they, as well as basically every other kind of monster working on the new building, were more than strong enough to be able to literally snap her in half if they ever wanted to, carrying whole logs and slabs of rock half their size in one hand each.
Evening was somewhat less gruesome to think about, with Leafy and Bowlcut having paid them another, shorter visit, the tyke once more overjoyed at getting to see their faux-alike friend, and Sue attempting to stave off the sense of impending doom as she watched the sun sink below the horizon, knowing tomorrow was approaching fast, way too fast for comfort. And as much as Bowlcut could sense her worry and tried to cheer her up, none of it really worked, leaving the little one just kinda sad as Leafy walked them back home after twilight, together with Ember this time.
Shortly afterwards, she was left alone at last, with only mounting dread and that pale, slightly glowing feather to keep her company. The brief internal question of whether Doc had literally stolen it from what looked like a very religious shrine made her chuckle, but it was the only relief she was gonna get this evening. Its glow did help guide her to sleep eventually- though it took much, much longer than she would've preferred, enough for the Moon to already be high up in the sky by the time she finally got some rest.
For all she knew, it was the final night of rest she was ever gonna have.